The Second First Day of School

Today was the second, "First Day of School". I am not quite used to MD and it is not quite used to me. MD schools start at a weird time -before Labor Day!- along with most of the country but who's counting. 


VA schools start after Labor Day- And so the first, first day of school snuck up on me (yesterday). We were quite disorganized yesterday and as it turned out due to the hurricane that caused devastation here - some leaves fell on the ground!! (that's sarcasm people) Faith's school was closed on The First Day! 


(To be fair kids come from all over to attend this school and so they take many, many counties into consideration when deciding if they should close.) 


So today I count as the real first day of school. I felt a little more mentally prepared -breakfast didn't burn and wasn't late and both my kids got on their buses. 


Please note in the photo that Faith is really growing up since she did her own hair! (hehe gotta see it in person) They look pretty cute if I do say so myself.


  

Hmmm, Beginning to think about the election next year

I am beginning to think about the next election. Humor (and lots of it) helps. This is a funny and entertaining clip but shows how people/journalists just repeat 'talking points' over and over like they are
original thoughts - makes me crazy.

I HAVE NOT DECIDED who I am voting for, but this is interesting...makes me wish for the extinction of
the 24hr news cycle, maybe we could get someone who actually has good intentions for America.

Sorry no you-tube link you gotta actually click the link below :)

http://www.hulu.com/watch/268553/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-indecision-2012-ron-paul-and-the-top-tier

Enjoy!

Recent Camping Trip

We just got back from a really fun camping trip. It started out kind of hard.
-Hard time shaking off work
-Hard time shaking off 'the world'
-Hard time taking a deep breath
-Hard time finding the place
and
-Hard time staying dry

We arrived late after driving WAAAY past where we were supposed to. Anyway, we finally arrived to our friends clapping as we pulled in (which made us smile...which we really needed to do) That night we endured a horrible thunder/lightning storm. Now I wish I had some pictures of this but we were just doing all we could to keep it together. But we did and we moved forward.

We were SOOOO impressed by the camp ground. 'Yogi Bears Jellystone Park' (this is a link to the main sight) We stayed in Luray, VA. It was THE CLEANEST friendliest campground ever. The activities are so organized from sun up to sun down, almost like being on a poor mans cruise - haha. We never left the campground and we only did 30% of what they had to offer. Here is just a peak at what we did.....

The jumping pillow - way better than a trampoline, never saw anyone fall and get hurt. Kids were on it from dawn to midnight. It was close to campsite so we could send the kids ahead with little worry. 

Our View - this picture doesn't show nearly as pretty as is really was

This next picture Grace took while I was interpreting for a Zoo presentation. This was another FREE activity!  

Feel The Burn

This week I have been reminded of the gospel principle of 'The Refiner's fire' We are desperately trying to save money to BUY-A-HOUSE. It is hard. I means saying no. I don't mind saying no to my kids actually, don't mind it at all (sometimes i enjoy it, insert evil laugh) BUT, saying no to family, friends, etc is much harder. Telling people we can't go here or there with them, THAT is the hard part.

We have NEVER been good at saving money...EVER. Short term goals we can accomplish but $20,000+ in one year...yeah right. So, we had to do something different. We have opened a savings account in another state. We have virtually no way to access the money, no debit cards and no checks.  If we wanted to access the money it would take a week or more. The money is automatically deposited weekly into our account. It has been quite effective. It has forced us to make do with what we have. But since we began saving it feel like one thing after the other. Dog sick - Mom sick - Car sick - etc - etc. so we are feeling the burn.