Look Rebecca, no more scary turtles!

Okay, no more turtles. I must say though, Chris and I both went to University of Maryland and fully expect people to Fear the Turtle!

This evening we went to the beach for a bit with the kids. It was not the ideal beach weather, but the kids still had fun. It was very windy, cloudy, and chilly thanks to Gustav. And thanks to Hanna, the ocean was VERY rough.



Look, twins!

What the...

Okay, so I was on my way out of the house this morning to go to work when I noticed something in the lawn moving. I walked closer toward the animal, and to my surprise there was a strange-looking turtle. This isn't the exact turtle that I saw, but it looked like this one (I think). The one I saw was about 10 to 12 inches long though.

After some online investigating, I think it was an Australian Pig-Nose Turtle. Apparently they are somewhat rare and, get this, native to Australia and New Guinea. Go figure. Now I am really kicking myself that I didn't take a picture of it. I figured it was just another weird Florida thing. I take pictures of everything and I didn't take a picture of this! Ugh!!

UPDATE 1.0:
I also found a picture of this turtle online. I think its "snout" looked more like this one, although I remember it having different feet. Anyone know what the official name of this turtle is?

UPDATE 2.0:
False alarm. My first instinct was correct and it was just a weird Florida thing. The turtle I saw was in fact a Florida Soft Shell turtle and they are not as uncommon as I originally thought. In fact, they are very common and they are actually living all around me. So much for my rare find. It still looks weird though!

Coasting Along

Thankfully, we have had a fairly normal week at school. One classroom flooded so they are still sharing with another teacher and Will and Noah's class had no AC for two days. Overall though, the classrooms were fine. Campus was a mess on Monday when we got there, but by mid-morning, the grounds crew had it looking nice and neat. It was actually quite impressive - an amazing transformation. Monday it poured for the last two hours of school and everything flooded again! It was crazy. The kids are not nearly as calm and quiet as they were that first day. I think the storm ended the honeymoon period just as soon as it started!

Will and Noah seem to have quite an interesting character in their class. They come home every day telling stories of a certain student. Noah had a personal run-in with the kid during lunch today. He had A LOT to say about that. But, he did say Mrs. White handled it perfectly. For the teacher's sake, I hope things get better soon. It sounds like Mrs. Nelson has her hands full.

We had a bit of a scare with Hanzie these last couple of weeks. He got really sick the night before school started and was sick for the days following. Thanks to Fay, the vet was closed for most of last week. We were unable to get an appointment for him until Monday. It was a long week of not knowing what was going on with him. I was relieved that the vet was very certain it was his IBD acting up and nothing more serious. Since he is nearly 10 1/2, it was a week full of worry. I think even Chris was a bit worried. That says a lot! Since his injection and medicine have kicked in, he is doing much better.

New Helmet...New Ride

The sun finally came out today! It was blinding to all of us. The boys have been begging Chris to take them on a ride on his motorcycle. Today he took them each for a ride around the neighborhood. (These pictures are not in a good order. Sorry!)

Ethan returning from his ride.
Hanzie telling me to give him some attention!
Abby seeing what all the fuss is about!
Abby's newest trick is to spin. Noah is doing a little training session with her here. (On a side note... Noah trained her to jump in his bed early this morning with treats. So, much to his surprise, after her morning swim, she came right in the house and plopped down in his bed. I wonder if he is regretting that training session!)
Notice anything odd about Ethan's hair? Yeah...he decided to cut his bangs. He may need to wear that helmet to school on Monday to cover it up. I told him I thought the best punishment for that awful mistake was to go to school like that!

Will excited to head out for his 0.6 mile loop around the neighborhood!
A happy boy returns.
Noah held on for his life.
Just some crazy boys that were hanging out in my yard!

NO SCHOOL AGAIN TOMORROW!

I'm seriously going to go out of my mind!!! Now, it appears our house is flooding in one area. The worst part is that we have no idea how the water is coming in!!! It is puddled under the carpet in one specific spot. Ugh....

I'm not even sure how much rain we have gotten. I have seen news reports of over 20" from today alone in some areas of the county. We were in that same band of rain throughout the day, so we have got to be close to that. Thankfully, Florida is all sand so it drains fairly quickly. Oh, and the lab that won't stay out of the pool to save her life, won't go out in the rain!! Go figure...

Fay WAVES Hello!

Although the news vans were there to cover the storm, I had to see it for myself. The waves were pretty good and there were even a few surfers out there. I have a feeling that there were probably a lot more at the inlet, because that is where the big waves are. Still though, these waves are pretty decent-sized. If only I had my swinsuit on!

Guess what...it is STILL raining!

Once again, we are stuck at home in the rain! Today the weather is actually bad enough to warrant staying home. Emma and Paige spent the night last night. After convincing Chris to go get them Dunkin Donuts in the driving rain, they decided to go swimming. The pool was only 80 and with the strong winds and cold rain, they didn't last long in the pool. I turned the spa on for them, but even that didn't last for long!

Hanzie is sporting his USA bandanna to support the USA's Women's Soccer Team during their gold medal game.
This was taken earlier this morning. Water is beginning to pile up wherever it can. I just checked on the pool and the drainage system is having a hard time keeping up with the rain. It is above the drainage line at this point. Hopefully Chris will not be out there emptying buckets of water like he has had to do in the past!
This photo was also taken this morning. It is far windier now. Still not that bad though. Our power has blinked several times today. The neighborhood just behind us was without power yesterday. I'm sure lots more people will be without power by the end of the day. I just hope we aren't one of them!
Of course since the weather picked up, Chris rushed off to the beach with his cameras in tow. He can share those later!

It is official...Fay has us out of our minds!

Because of the storm, we have missed much of the 1st week of school! We had a nice, smooth first day on Monday. Now we have had off Tuesday and today, and have off again tomorrow! We are sort of getting a bit bored at this point. It is rainy, windy, and yucky. We have been going on lots of walks between squalls. Hanzie enjoys the weather. He has been able to go on nice, long walks without getting overheated. Abby is not enjoying the weather nearly as much. Despite the walks, she is bored! Today the eye of the storm was over us for much of the day so the weather wasn't all that bad. It didn't rain much and for the most part it was just breezy. Melissa, Noah, and I just walked the dogs for an hour and the winds and rain are beginning to pick up again.

The kids decided that they would swim. They just wanted to say they went swimming during a tropical storm! The pool was a chilly 82 degrees! They weren't going to get in because it was so cold, but when I told them they could jump as much as they wanted to because the pool was so filled from all of the rain, they quickly changed their minds.
Abby during one of her calmer moments after her swim. (You'll see a different side of her below.)
Jumping galore!

I don't know if Abby thought the pool was cold or what, but when she got out today, she went completely bonkers!

Fay forecasters!

After-School Update

Well, the first day of school has come and gone and they already have tomorrow and Wednesday off. Something about some hurricane or something. I don't know. Anyway, when we were on our nightly walk, I asked the boys what their favorite part of the day was. Ethan said that his favorite part was doing math in class. Will and Noah both said that the best of their day was singing with Mrs. Jones. I guess they have a little thing for Mrs. Jones. I have a thing for Mrs. Jones too! You could even say that "we got a thing going on."

First Day of School!

Although they had to go to school with Jen most of last week, today is officially the first day of school for the kids. I managed to snap a quick picture before they left the house (in between all the running around trying to get them ready).

Josephine Owens

My grandmother passed away early this morning at the age of 94. There are so many wonderful things that I could say about her, but foremost is that she was everything a grandma should be. Growing up, my sister and I would spend many, many weekends with our grandparents. Since our grandparents' houses were just blocks away, we could spend Friday night at one and Saturday night at another. Grandma Owens was our Saturday night. To set the stage, she had a candy dish around every corner of her apartment. Of course they were always filled with our favorites when we arrived. Grandma let us do all the things that we could never do at home. She allowed us to eat our dinner on TV trays! Often, we ate at the card table she had set up for playing rummy or putting together puzzles. Bedtime was always a bit later at Grandma's house as well. We would watch Love Boat. While Lori would stay up a bit later to watch Fantasy Island, I would head off to bed. You see, Fantasy Island scared me a bit, so I much preferred having Grandma read Little Red Riding Hood to me from her big Grimm's Fairytale book. I wonder whatever happened to that book. Sunday mornings we would head off to church. Grandma was always excited to show us off and then usher us to Sunday school. Although most weekends were the same, they were always wonderful.

For the Owens Family, Christmas was probably the most important day of the year. It was very traditional, which made it so amazing. You knew exactly what to expect on Christmas morning and looked forward to it each and every year. We also made some unforgettable memories each year in Myrtle Beach, SC. Most laughs were probably had there.

As I got older, I would hold on to those memories and wish that traditions would never change. The importance of my grandmother became quite clear when I became an adult. She was no longer just Grandma. She was this amazingly strong woman that lost her husband and two of her three cherished boys and somehow managed to carry on. She was remarkably honest and I learned to respect her for that trait. I feel blessed that all three of my sons were able to meet her and have their lives touched by her even if just for a brief time. As an adult my biggest memory of her would be how she would cry each and every time she saw me and say, "You look just like my Paul." Even though she had lost him 30 years before, it was quite clear how strong her love for her children was and how she thought of them constantly.

So, although the grandma of all grandmas may be gone, she will forever live in my heart. I sure will miss her.

Grandma, Pop-Pop, Dad, Uncle Eddie, and Uncle David. Grandma, Lori, and Guess Who!
On my last visit with Grandma in May 2008.
I will miss you.

It is graduation day!

Abby graduated from puppy obedience class tonight! Woohoo! I mean, look at that sit!

Will vs. Wii Fit

Will has set a goal for himself. He wants to unlock every Wii Fit game within the week. He is well on his way. Today he was only able to play for an hour and unlocked gobs of games. He constantly showed me the sweat he was working up.

The boys have been waking up early to get to school in the morning. Ethan has been EXTREMELY tired and grouchy. So much so, that today he threatened to run away from home. He packed his bag and went out the door. Why such the dramatic exit? Well, he was upset that Will and Noah were going to play with the Eagney girls while he was at soccer practice! I explained that Will and Noah were actually jealous that his soccer season has already started and they have to wait over a month for their practices to begin. Even so, he was not happy with the injustices within our family, and decided that he was leaving. Being the cautious, safety-minded one in the family, I knew he wouldn't be gone for long. He didn't even make it all the way down the street before turning around and returning to our yard to hide in the garden. He threatened to run away again when I told him he had just lost video games for the week for putting on such a display!

The pre-planning days at school have been going okay. My room is all set up and ready for impact. Ethan has shown an interest in decorating and has been anxious to help me hang things. Will and Noah could care less and stick to watching movies, playing board games, and drawing on the chalkboard! Tomorrow is Meet the Teacher Day. It is an exciting day for the kids. They get to come to the school for an hour to check out their new classroom. You wouldn't believe how the parents crowd around the class lists. You would think that they are crowding around a board displaying the names of those that got into Harvard! Some parents herd through the crowds and head off with their excited children to meet their new teacher. Others head directly to the office to complain that they were not happy with the classroom that their child was assigned. Some say that their child cannot possibly be in a class with a specific student, some say their child can't possibly be in a class without a specific student, and some just say, "Hey, I want my kid in ______'s class!" At the end of the day, usually everyone ends up happy! My own boys are quite excited to check out their new rooms. Ethan will be in Mrs. DeGroff's class and Will and Noah will be in Mrs. Nelson's class. Yes, they are indeed together again. Their kindergarten teacher thought they did great together and saw no reason for splitting them up. That made my job easier. I know how heartbroken they will be when the time comes. They are very excited to see their friends. It is wonderful to see kids so excited to see summer come to an end. I wonder how long before they are counting down days until the weekend!

Are Wii Fit?

Sadly, no! The Wii Fit came today. Thankfully the UPS guy came first thing this morning so we could spend our last day of summer playing with it! I personally think the soccer heading is the funniest, but not necessarily the most fun. So far, it is the only one I have been able to try since I can't squeeze in a turn with the boys. Will loves, loves, loves skiing! Noah is also a fan of soccer. Unfortunately, Ethan lost video games for the day. He has not been able to try it out yet. Bad day to lose video games!
I'm still in denial that school starts for teachers tomorrow. I woke up at 5:30 today to let Hanzie out and it was dark. That is what time I have to get up on school days to walk the dogs. I am not at all looking forward to it! Back to a 9:30 bedtime! The boys have been getting to bed by 8:00 this week, for the most part, so they will be all ready for the early morning wake up calls. Every year they are completely miserable to be around the first two weeks of school. They are tired and not adjusted to the routine. Plus, Ethan has soccer two nights a week for two hours. He should be quite a joy to be around next week. Yikes.

This weekend we did a little back to school shopping. We bought all the boys new Vans over the summer for school. Since they have PE every day this year, we decided to go get all of them one additional pair of new shoes. We need to load up on socks as well. It seems to be a major issue finding a pair of socks every morning in our house. Every morning at least one of the boys is reduced to tears in a quest to find socks. Senseless stress for all involved, I promise you!

Summer highlights...

Noah ~ Going to the DC United game with Grandma Pat and Pop-Pop Bob.

Ethan ~ Riding a four-wheeler for two weeks on vacation.

Will ~ Seeing his grandparents since he hadn't seen them in a long time.

No Better Way to Spend a 100 Degree Day!

Today was even hotter than yesterday! We spent the entire morning in the pool. Chris made some funny videos of the boys. They love it when Dad swims with them because he tosses them around the pool like rag dolls.


After swimming the boys had their favorite lunch. What is that you are wondering...honey chicken from the local Chinese restaurant! As soon as we finished lunch we headed out to go ice skating. The boys all had a blast. They displayed their typical personalities. Ethan went out cautiously until he gained some confidence. Will went out full force and didn't care how many times he hit the ice hard. And then there was Noah! He spent his entire time on the ice on the ice! I don't think he could have possibly been standing for even 10% of the 2 hours they skated!

Ethan in the foggy mist of the ice rink.

Oh, look, Noah is on the ice!
Will snuggled with Chris for a bit.
After ice skating the boys relaxed for a bit. I got back in the pool with Abby to wear her out. It was honestly too hot to walk her! We swam together for 45 minutes. (As I write this, I assure you her energy has all come back!) Hanzie looked on but refused to get in with us. I think just watching us exhausts him! I dragged myself out of the pool to come in to make the boys favorite dinner...tacos! After dinner, we went to the beach for a bit.

The water was a bit cooler than it was yesterday. At first Ethan refused to get in!

Will and Noah headed right out for the waves!
As Chris says, Endless Summer!
After catching some waves, they build a castle until the rains came in.
To end the perfect summer day...ice cream cones for all!

An Evening at the Beach

Melissa and the girls came to school with me to help me move stuff from my old classroom to my new room. It took far more time than I imagined it would so I didn't get much of it organized once it was moved! Ugh... But, thanks to all the help from everyone, everything did get moved. Now begins the daunting task of getting it all in a proper spot! The AC in the room I'm moving to also wasn't working properly so it cooled the room from 98 degrees to about 88 degrees! Blah.... Clearly, after sitting in a hot classroom for hours we all needed to swim. We ended up spending hours in the pool. And, oh my, how those hours flew by!

This evening while Ethan was at soccer practice, Melissa, Bobbie, and I took the rest of the kids to the beach. It was 92 degrees when we arrived at 6:15 and 88 degrees when we left at 7:30. You could say it was a bit hot today! The water was very warm! Last week it was actually a bit chilly.

First the kids had to make their way out to the sandbar to catch some waves.
It was fairly flat while we were there but they did manage to catch a wave every couple minutes.
Will has the nice, expensive board that makes him fly on the waves. He is also is very good about paddling super fast to ensure he catches the wave at the right spot.
Noah managed to fly in on a few as well!

Here Melissa holds on to her poor mother. She is too scared to put her feet down in the deep water. Apparently sharks only swim at the very bottom of the ocean and she is safe if her feet don't touch the bottom!?!
Ah... it sure is nice to live so close to the beach! Sure, you can't get homeowner's since you only live a mile inland, but, hey, who needs homeowner's insurance???