Boat Trip

Yesterday we went out to move the boat from the naval marina down to a marina that is much closer to our house, only a 5 minute drive! A friend of ours was along to give us another set of hands. We thought it would only take about 2 hours or so....

Dan and Ronnie tieing the pick up stick onto the pennants so we could drop off the mooring ball and head out:


As soon as we started off I realized I had almost no power and the steering was really tight. We hoped that as we went along the growth on the bottom and the running gear would wear off and we would pick up speed. Ah no! We could only go about 1500 rpm and about 2 km over the ground! We usually travel 15-18 km! So we decided that we would just clunk along and it would just take much longer to get there. Mom was great to ok leaving work early and pick Danny up at school since we figured it would take us about 7-8 hours to get to our new marina.
Dan was really frustrated, kept checking the engines, the gauges, the strainers. But all looked ok. We had tried to get a diver to clean the bottom and running gear before we left but he said it was too cold and we didn't think it was that bad, boy were we wrong :(

Ms V. enjoying snack time :)


Chillin out on deck with Ronnie and daddy while momma struggles to keep the boat on course:

She had a great time, kept her floatie on and walked all around the boat, playing with toys she had forgotten about :)

Taking a nap onboard, she slept for an hour and would have slept more but we had anchored and she heard the noises:


After about 4 hours we hit the halfway mark and the part of the river that intersects two other creeks and the cross currents were so strong we were not going fast enough to keep our motion forward. We tried several things, Dan thought it was me and took over, but we just could not make any headway with the cross currents. So we decided to head into one of the creeks and anchor and then figure out our next step. Ronnie called his wife and asked her to pick us up and drive me down to our car we had left at our new marina. Since we were heading in I called mom to tell her we were stopped and I would pick Danny up.

Ms V swinging after getting off the boat and waiting for Ronnie's wife to pick us up. We left Dan on the boat to wrap things up while I headed down to the marina to get Dan's truck:


We had to head back up to the base to pick up my car after getting Danny at school and Dan at the marina.
If you look closely over the boat you will see the helicopter, they were doing rescue practices. Danny was just thrilled to watch the guys jump out of the helicopter and then get lifted back up:

We remembered that we had unlimited towing with BoatUS so Dan called them to see if they would tow us from the creek down to our new marina and they said yes!! Best part is that it would not cost us anything!! Dan then called the yard next door to our new marina and told them what was going on and asked if there was any way they could haul us out of the water and clean the bottom now and they said Yes!! wow how amazing!
So this am we headed back up to the creek so Dan could meet the tow boat, of course it was pouring!
Poor Dan in the pouring rain bailing out the dinghy. You can just see his blue raincoat, it took him almost 30 minutes to get the water out:

When he stepped in the dinghy the water was halfway up his leg!

The boat anchored in Julington Creek:


The boat at the yard ready to be pulled and cleaned:

The boat is supposed to be hauled out this afternoon, we can not wait to see how bad it is! Danny was so excited he did not want to go to school. But it is pe and pizza day so he went :)
We will take pics and hope that the problem is just the growth on the running gear!
Please pray that is all it is!

Road trip and Poor Dan!

Last Monday was a holiday so we decided to take a road trip! We got in the car and drove up to Fernandina Beach!

The obligatory pirate photo:


Mom!! Victoria is being eaten by a shark!


It was a little windy:


Playing on the huge anchor in front of the Fernandina Beach Marina:

This marina has spot in our hearts as we stayed here back in 1995 when we cruised down the coast in our sailboat!! It was so cool looking at all the sites and remembering.

After a great lunch at a sidewalk cafe we drove down to Amelia Island to hit the beach.

Love this pic of Victoria's footsteps in the sand:

Of course I told Dan to not let the kids get in the water as we had no clothes or towels. 2 minutes later he was rolling both kids pant legs up so they could wade.
2 minutes later Victoria fell on her butt when a wave hit her.

The kids having so much fun playing in the ocean:

Yes she is in her undies :)

Dan chasing Victoria after she ran down the beach after some birds:


Danny practicing his letters in the sand:


No mommy I have NOT been using the crayons again, why do you ask??

She is pretty much potty trained. We are using a step stool to help her be more independent at going. But her undies are always getting tangled :)
But she still is taking her clothes off at nap and bedtime. There is only one set of dora pj's that she will wear and I have not been able to find any more of them. Today's nap she took it ALL off! :)
She did learn a new trick this last week - she has figured out how to open doors :(
She has used this new skill to her advantage. We told her she has to stay out of Danny's room and let him sleep, so she comes down to our room if she wakes up and he is sleeping. This am she climbed into our bed at 5:30 and promptly fell asleep till 7:00. Danny has learned to yell Ma and she knows to run back to bed. We used to be able to keep her out of certain areas and now need a plan b.

How to impress a 6 year old:

Dinosaur sandwiches :)

Poor Dan:
He had an eye appt last week where they take pics and do an ultrasound of his eyes every 6 months. This is the first time we have been to Mayo and they were very nice. Victoria was very well behaved and it only took a couple of hours. On the way home Dan complained about his left eye really bothering him. As his eyes were dilated he would not be able to see for a while. Ms V slept in the car for about 1 1/2 hours so I took her with me to pick up Danny and do errands so Dan could relax in the dark.
When we got home his eye was really bothering him still. He said it felt like something was in his eye. I got him and ice pack and he said it felt a little better.
The next morning his eye was red, goopy and he said he could not see out of it! (Dan only has eyesight in the one eye) I thought it looked like pink eye so we called his Dr and they got us in within 30 minutes.
The nurse practitioner put some drops in and used a funky light and told him he had a very large corneal abrasion!! Luckily the drops medicated his eye. The Dr called Mayo and got us right back in again, but we had to be there in 45 minutes!
We boogied and made it. The Dr saw us pretty quickly and could not believe it when he saw it. He said it was the first time that something like this had happened. It had to have happened when he did the ultrasound. He has to have eyedrops 4 x's a day and it should heal in 1-2 days but his vision will take a couple more days.
We had to go back again the next day for another follow up.
Poor Dan :( Here it is 4 days later and his eye is still a bit sore and his vision is not yet all the way back. Today is the first day he drove at all as I have done all the running around.

New Funnyism

I have related many funny Dannyisms over the years. Now Ms V is starting to add her own :)
Last night I went up to do a clothing check :) and found her in her dora Pjs happily sleeping!!! As she had not really gone before bed I was afraid she might have an accident so I got her up and had her P in the potty.
I got her back to bed, tucked her in, gave her her babies and we kissed.
Just as I hit the chair in front of the tv I thought I heard Danny.
I got up and walked over to the bottom of the stairs and heard Danny yell "Ma".
Just as I got up the stairs I heard the pitter patter of bare feet running through the bathroom from Danny's room to Ms V's. I walked into Danny's room and listened to him complain that his sister was just in his bed! I cut through the bathroom into her bedroom to find her tucked in her bed, holding her babies and "snoring"!!!
I leaned over her and whispered that she needed to stay in bed that Danny needed to sleep. She rolled her head towards me and said "mama, I missed Danny"
what a little stinker!!
Danny heard her and yelled over "I miss you too Victoria!"
Just melts my heart!
I told them both to go to sleep!

clothing issue :)

First things first - Happy Birthday to my beautiful niece Kathryn who turned 18 today!!!


Now onto serious things:

This is how I found Ms V. after nap yesterday:


Here are her clothes in a pile on her bed, usually she throws them across the room:


This is what she woke up in - her pj bottoms. She couldn't get her top on :)

She stripped off her clothes, climbed out of bed, opened up her dresser drawer and pulled out her favorite pj's :) :)

She has decided that sleeping is for being naked. No matter what she wears when she goes down she takes it off. We haven't put a diaper on at naptime for a long time, but she still strips to skin. At bedtime she takes her pj's off, whips her diaper off and we usually find her with just her pj top on. I end up going up after an hour of sleep and re-dressing her. Two nights ago we put duct tape on her diaper so she could not get it off. That really pi**ed her off, but she could not get it off. When I went up to check on her she had only her diaper on. Last night we let her pick out her pj's and decided to just go without a diaper at all. We put the plastic sleeve over her mattress and a towel and layers under her sheets. Last night was the first night in weeks that she kept her pj's on!!!!
Then today's nap she wanted pj's and I told her they were for nighttime. When Dan went up to get her up she was naked with her clothes on the floor.
So I guess maybe we need to put her in pj's for nap too??
I guess we will see how it goes tonight and see if she keeps her pj's on.
If that works I hope we can convince her that all pj's are good and not just the DORA ones!!!!

Pound For Pound Challenge Widget

Exciting morning

This morning we were making coffee, getting the newspaper and chillin when the doorbell rang. Dan answered it and came back to tell me he had to help Bill, our neighbor, and would be right back.
About 15 minutes later I heard them on the porch and went out and found this:


This is what was inside:


Bill was walking his dog down our street and the dog sensed him. I wish I had known they were going to catch it because I would have filmed them doing it :)

I did some internet research and Bill made many phone calls to find someone that would take it in and care for it. We found a place in Elkton that specializes in birds and they were one of the few that actually answered their phone :)
So we had a great road trip! We all got dressed and piled into my car and drove the half hour to Elkton to turn it over.
The founder of the organization met us and quickly looked it over and told us that it was an old male horned owl!! She thinks he is starving and very weak and that is why he was sitting on the ground at the base of a tree. As they get older it is harder for them to catch food and it has been cold which makes it worse.
We gave her a donation and thanked her for taking care of him.

We felt so good!!
Bill is going to keep in touch with her and let us know how he is.

Just some pics :)

Busy week here, back to school for Danny :)
He started Karate again and was very excited to get his new tiger belt and show off his uniform with his name stitched on it :)
He starts track next week.
I go in for my back shot on Wednesday and am hoping it is no where as painful as the hip shot. :)
Dan sees his Dr this week to go over all his meds. His VA DR had added two new meds and the side effects have not been pretty :( His regular DR thinks he is on too much stuff too.
Ms V is her usual self, we put a diaper on at bedtime just to be safe and she rips it off as soon as she lays down to bed :) I sneak up later and put it back on. Knock on wood there have been NO accidents for weeks :) :)
(yes I know I just jinxed myself)
Here is a hodgepodge of pics from the last week:

Trying to get Nana's kitty to play


"helping" daddy clean the back porch


Sitting on the front porch relaxing (danny has the towel over his head because of the sun - he could not find his sunglasses)


Say "Cheese"

Back home!

We are back home in our shorts and tshirts!
Pictures from vacation:
Our niece Nicole with her shadow aka Victoria before the family dinner on New Years Day. We all got together and had dinner at Bertucci's, yummy!


Anyone for a little bit of chocolate?? We celebrated my OLDER sisters birthday :) :)


Victoria playing with Grampy :)


after dinner we all sat around watching Mamma Mia! I have now seen it 3 times in the last couple of days :) What a great movie!


My bil and nephew playing wii. They were so into it :)


We got a call Friday am to say that our flights home had been cancelled and they booked us on new flights. Turned out so much better for us, we got home 2 hours earlier! Victoria was so good for all the traveling.
I called Dan once we were about 5 minutes from home so he could wake Danny up. When we pulled up at the house Dan, Danny and the dogs were waiting on the porch for us!
We were all happy to be in our own beds for the night!

Danny funny - Dan had taken Danny fishing Friday. They had bought shiners to fish with. After fishing for a little bit Danny was pretty upset by the live shiners in the bucket so they were set free!
Dan made the mistake of taking Danny to see Marley at the movies - they both cried!
Danny is still talking about the sad movie!

Danny has been a real stinker all weekend since I got home, I think he is still mad I left him home :(

Happy Birthday to my OLDER sister!!!!!

PTL school starts again tomorrow!!! :) :)

Happy New Year!!

We got our snowstorm yesterday!! It snowed all day! We ended up changing our family dinner plans to today. So we had the fire going and watched movies all evening!!

Driving home from the mall yesterday! Thank heavens my sister was driving - it has been a really long time since I drove in snow :)


Winter Wonderland!


Victoria playing sausage with her cousins!


We finally got her to go out in the snow and play today, but she did not know what to do with it :) It was COLD....


I can even swing in the snow!!!!


Making snow angels in the house!