Star Island

For several years we owned a Fairfield, now called Wyndham, time share, in Branson Missouri. Last year we traded that for a time share in Florida. The resort is called Star Island. It is in Orlando, just 20 minutes from Disney World. It is also close to a Sea World, Universal Studios, Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach water parks. Sounds like the perfect place to take grand kids! So... later this month we thought we would go check it out before we actually made any attempt to take kids there. Besides, we could wait a couple of years or so, to let the grand kids grow up alittle :) This trip will be called "what not to do in Florida". We will go test everything out just to be sure it's fun- although Ron will have a difficult time getting me to do any of those things without any kids along. Some how, doing all of those things as "two old people" is just not right! :) And as far as our "what not to do list", we already have that started and we haven't even left yet. Number one: Don't book the reservation at the last minute, when only the small, one bedroom, no kitchen units are left! (And it is a one bedroom, with two double beds- I guess we each get our own bed.) We are off to a great start. Now our next problem is, what will we actually do in Florida for a week- just the two of us? There is a swimming pool reserved just for adults. My only challenge there is trying not to be seen in a swimming suit. And we can eat all of the hotdogs and ice cream that we want. We could go snorkling with the dolphins- although I have a problem getting in water with fish bigger than me. Tennis courts? Golf? Fishing? Nope, can't do any of that. Maybe we can handle the hot tub and the walking path. Let's see- eating and shopping, I can handle those. Ron will love the shopping idea- not! (at least the airfare was cheap) I guess the only thing worse than spending a boring, uneventful week there would be spending a "hurricane" week there. Nope, I don't even want to think about what the weather could do in central Florida.
Any way... we will go see what's there and let the younger generation go next time. (By the way when we traded for this timeshare we also doubled our points, and those one bedroom units are cheap, so we have lots of points to roll over to RCI for this year and soon we'll have points for next year. So if any of the kids want to go some where, we will share the time share!)

Five Year Old Wisdom

On Monday we spent some time in the car with Nathan and Jared. Since Jared doesn't actually say very much- guess who did all of the talking? In fact, Nathan warned us as soon as he got in the car, "I can't stop talking!" Here are some of the highlights of our conversation- keep in mind, I'm skipping lots of random things and just giving you the best parts. I'm "Baba" and Nathan is...
well he's Nathan :)

Nathan- "You guys don't have anything to jump on at your house".
Baba- (I'm thinking, what does he mean, we don't have anything to jump on? Then I remember that they have a trampoline) "No, we don't have a trampoline at our house."
Nathan- "We got a trampoline so that we would stop jumpin on Momma and Daddas bed".

Nathan- "Who is going to have a baby?"
Baba- "Ashley is going to have a baby. Do you know that Jaden will have a sister?"
Nathan- "Oh no, Jaden will have to give up with a girl!"
Baba- "What do you mean?"
Nathan- "He'll have to for sure give up- he will NOT play with a girl!"
Baba- "Did Jaden tell you that?"
Nathan- "No, I just thought that."

Baba- "Do you think you will have sister?"
Nathan- "Yeah, maybe five."
Baba- "When do you think you will get a sister?"
Nathan- "Right after we get a dog!"
Nathan- "If we got one now, Momma would have to feed two babies. Dadda might have to have one."

HeHe :)

Yesterday, We Played Hard

We took the boys to the Children's Museum and to the play ground. Things went well, we only lost Ron a couple of times :)

Running with the Big Dogs

Jared's entire personality is formed by being the
"second born". He thinks he is a 5 year old, but in a three year old body. He is stuck to Nathan like glue- like a little shadow. Everything Nathan can do, he can do and...he can do better :)
One of the activities at the Children's Museum
is an obstacle course that ends with two poles- one pink and one orange. The pink one is easier to get down, it is closer to the edge and easier to grab. The orange one is just a straight pole and is alittle farther away from the edge.

Cautious

Fearless

Don't Tell Annie...

what we have been doing with the boys. This first picture is Jared eating ice cream after only eating chips and ketchup for dinner. It was such a nice evening that we decided to "eat out" for dinner-- outside that is. We had a picnic, of hot dogs, chips, salsa and strawberries, out on the deck. Nathan loved it all, but Jared pretty much only ate chips and ketchup. But we knew we were going to really be in trouble, when the boys were playing in the grass, and Nathan said, "Woo hoo, we are playing outside on Sunday!" They also got to play with little Lego cars all during sacrament meeting and stay up late last night watching a basketball game. We'll have to see what kind of trouble we can get into tomorrow!

I have a new memory game called 2by2- it is animal picture cards. The boys were amazing- Jared has a very long attention span for a three year old and loves games and puzzles. Nathan beat us every time- we decided that the only person he should play games with is Alex !

All I can say about the next picture- is yep, he looks guilty of something! If nothing else, he is guilty of sitting ON my coffee table. It was rather dangerous to be a student in our temple prep class this afternoon- seems like we had at least one problem with a yellow plastic ball being thrown from the porch across the living room :) Usually I help Ron with the lesson, but today I had other things (and boys) to chase around.

Ron's next idea was for us to play hide and seek- here is how the boys hide. They are not very good seekers either- neither one of them like looking in dark rooms, closets, or bath rooms, knowing the Ron might be hiding in there. I told Ron and the boys that I would play if I could hide and nobody finds me :) They also hid in this same spot every time.

These last two pictures, Ron is teaching the boys about the "straight edge pieces" of a puzzle- to start by putting together the edges and then filling in the middle. Of course Nathan caught on right away- and it really was amazing how well Jared caught on for a three year old. And yep, they are still sitting ON the table.

Those Blooming Weeds

When I went out walking this morning, I saw a tree in someones yard that was surrounded by some beautiful ground cover, with cute purple flowers. At a closer look, I realized that it was actually bind weed. Then I started thinking about the world in which we live where sometimes the weeds are just as appealing as the real plants. My next thought was about the fact that the weeds seem to grow easily with out much effort, but the real plants require lots of work.

It reminds me of the scripture about the wheat and tares growing together. The battle between good and evil is very subtle. It's easy to be tricked and not recognize the difference between the wheat and the tares, when they appear to be the same. Or when the weeds appear to be just as beautiful as the real plants. By the way, I had to hunt for this weed in our yard- Ron works very hard to keep them out.

GPS

When I started the store and I have all of the store book keeping to do- we decided that Ron would have to take care of all of the home book keeping. For many years that was my job and he had very little idea about the checking account and the bills, now I have no clue about the home checking account and the bills. Plus he got double duty with this deal because he also helps me with the store book keeping. Anyway... the reason I bring all of this up is Ron has his own GPS system on me. He can sit at home, looking at the computer and know exactly where I am by the charges on the debit card showing up in the checking account :) Yep, she's at Walmart, nope, she's at Walgreens, oh, there she goes to Randalls...

I have asked Ron to just give me a cash allowance, twice a month. That was working fine for a while, but lately I have been having trouble staying in my budget. Now when my cash runs out, I have to resort to my (GPS) debit card. One of my recent budget breakers was I have decided to start a new hobby- making my own jewelry. To make a long story short, I have trouble buying jewelry that fits and that I like. It seems like I can't ever find exactly the right color or size. So when Hobby Lobby put all of the beads, wire, jump rings, stretch magic etc. on sale, I decided that would be a good time to start. Ron would say that he can't afford to save that much money :) I haven't been able to start yet, but I have my pile of stuff. I'll let you know how it turns out. I'm sure that Karen is thinking, "It's about time".