A little excitement

It's never fun to have a dead battery.  It's even worse when you realize that it's dead with all the kids in the car, buckled, and everyone else has left for the day.  Luckily, my dad has an extra car and I found the keys to it.  I thought, "no biggie.  I can do a jump all by myself.  Worse comes to worst I can pull out the owner's manual."  (It was a cool morning, and the doors on the van were open for the kids.)

I put the key in the ignition, start it up, and, since the truck is on a hill, I pull the brake release.  As soon as I do that, I realize the brake is not on, and the brake pedal goes all the way to the floor.  Throw it in reverse, and down the hill it rolls.  Without stopping.  No amount of pushing on the  brake pedal works.  I (thankfully) missed the trees, and got to a point on the driveway that was a bit level.  I knew I couldn't leave the truck there, so I try the gears, trying to see if maybe one of the gears will help me stop.  Maybe Park?  So, let's try to get this thing down and get going.

Not too bad, right?  Looks like a good parking spot.

Nope.  Not so much.  Can you see where the driveway ends?  Yeah, the truck wouldn't stop.  I kept trying brakes, gears, park....you name it.  All I could see was me hitting the garage, the concrete.  Or just hitting anything at all.  The thing I did hit was a tree.  Can you see it?  I turned the wheel hard, went past the house and into the tree.  Thankfully, I barely bumped it at all.  It was enough to stop the truck, and not do any harm.  Guardian angels were working overtime guiding and slowing the truck.

Needless to say, I was pretty freaked out.  I was shaking and crying, and called Tommy in tears, and said "I HIT A TREE!"  But as I told him the story, he started laughing.  He said I had better take photos and blog about it.  My kids (who were in the car the whole time) never really noticed anything, except when I came out crying and to to answer the phone call from my mom.  She came home so fast, and was picturing everything much worse than it was.  I was just thinking to myself that I feel a little like a teenager again living in my parents' house, and almost wrecking my dad's car just validated all those feelings!

Oh, and if you were wondering, I didn't get the car jumped.  I was a bit shaken up, and Mom wasn't feeling to confident in the process so we got help from the neighbor who is a firefighter. 

My Smart William

We played a game at my in-laws house called Poke E No (I think).  We all took turns announcing the cards and William decided he wanted a turn.  I was so impressed with his ability to read the cards with barely any help!  He got a bit confused with the clubs because the kids called them clovers.  He's going to be another smart one.

Dear mumbling lady from the grocery store:  I am sorry my door is in the way.  I am in the process of changing my baby's diaper, and I will just be a moment, which I did express to you with my "excuse me" and "just a minute".  I saw you, and I knew you were there, and I did hear your insistent tone.  You are able to use both sides of your car, I assure you.  Both doors work, though the other side "is locked."  I am only able to get my baby in on one side of the car.  Sigh.  I wish you hadn't been quite so snippety with me and my baby.  It figures that the lady I avoided in the store because she was talking to herself and plowing down the aisles would be the one who's car would be parked right next to mine.  I would like to add that I had to wait quite a long time for you to get out of the parking spot, but I hope that I wasn't too impatient. 
Signed, the lady with the 3 children trying to get everyone strapped in and clean in a timely manner.

Williamsburg Weekend

Tommy planned a really nice weekend with the family to Williamsburg.  Our first night included a show in front of the governor's palace (mansion?) in Colonial Williamsburg.

Fife and Drum band came up and gave me chills.  And then we had a great fireworks show!  Superb seats, and the best kind of show with all the noise.

The next day we went to the Ripley's "Believe it or Not" museum.  The kids rushed through that place faster than a roller coaster ride, but seemed to remember the most about that day.  LOL

 The tallest man (only 8'11") makes Daddy look small.

4D showing.  Matt and Huijie joined us while we were down there, and treated to an amazing seafood buffet. 

 Love this photo!

 We had to visit Jamestown.  :)

Emma wanted to know if there was a waterfall still nearby.  Ah yes, our history lessons of Pocahantas are from Disney.

It was soo hot, but we hoped to spend some time at Busch Gardens.  We got William on some kid rides, and even the ones he was too small for and he LOVED the fast and high ones.  He and Emma will be good buddies. 

 We let the kids play in the forest of fun and cool off.  Daddy got to join them, lucky duck.

We hoped to stay for the fireworks that night, but the temperature dropped, thankfully, and some thunderstorms rolled in.

Tommy treated the family to lunch with Elmo and Friends the next day, and it was inside (yay!) and delicious!

 Cookie monster was a hit with William and his hat.

 The monsters were not such a hit with James......

 ....until they walked away.

That day was cut short by thunderstorms as well, so we had some really good family time, running in and out of stores for necessities.

On our journey home, we stopped in Richmond at the Science Museum of Virginia.  The kids loved it, and it was reasonably priced.  Everything was so hands-on for the kids and Mommy learned a bit too. 

William did some playing with Bonesy Jonesy.  William wanted a shirt that had the "bones" on it.  I think I will have to find one for his birthday.  He is growing up so much!

The kids loved this area, and I was so happy that it was inspired by Mr. Rogers.  He's the best for kids.

 Patrick squished and shaped some pennies.

Daddy and William built THE trolley.  They also molded stuff with wax, put car parts together, and put the proper items in the right mold.  We could have spent so much longer there, and I really think that I may got back soon.

We were able to see the pendulum knock over one of the pegs on our way out.  Our next stop was Krispy Kreme, where we inhaled a dozen.  James enjoyed the first taste of the good stuff.  :)  We came home happy and exhausted.

Happy 4th!

Fun with Gregory's

 We had a great visit with some out of town family, and had *almost* all the grandkids together.

 My James LOVES watermelon.  What a stinker. 

See that spot open?  That is for my brother Glenn, who is the only one missing.  Apparently, I didn't get the memo to take my sunglasses off.

 Missing 6 kids (I think.)  I am going to count the little guy with his back facing the camera.  There is always one who would rather not be part of the group shots. 

 This was the first time we went to this park, and the kids had a lot of fun.

 Some of them were happier to pose than others. 

My boys having fun

I discovered something about my boys: they LOVE to dance!!  I tried to catch at much as I could on video, but this is as much as I got.  (To be honest, Mommy was having lots of fun at the wedding too.)