MIA

Yes, no blogging in a long time. Sorry. Right now I have Walking Pneumonia if that's any excuse. The kids are doing pretty good, a runny nose here and there and some coughing. No flu though. Either of them. I have a TON of pics to get caught up on but I did get them up on Facebook. I'm just crazy behind in bloggerville. I mean to do better. Soon.

Trains can be very loud.

Last week while doing a little photo shoot on some old train tracks we heard train whistles in the distance. So, as any good Mommy would have done, we jumped back in the car and drove toward the trains so we could watch. We saw one from the car (which is the way to go) and then we saw one just sitting. The lights were on and Jackson wouldn't let me drive away because he just knew it was going to move (we were actually on our way to the Zoo so I was ready to go). There is a little train platform and some picnic benches so I parked, unloaded the kids and we waited for the train. All was well in the world. For a minute. We watched men getting off and on the trains and they waved at us. Very nice. For a minute. More lights were coming on, the train was going to move. Jackson was so excited he was jumping up and down. So cute. Isabel was getting a little nervous and clingy. Smart girl. The train is moving closer and closer. The engineer waves through his little window as he gets right next to us. The next thing I know he starts to blow the whistle and the horn. It was so freakin' loud my heart jumped. Isabel literally climbed up my body like she was a squirrel and I was a tree. She was crying and freaking out. Then I look at Jackson and he is crying and every time the horn blows he jumps out of his skin. It was awful! I have never seen my kids like this! Sheer terror! I am now carrying them both and RUNNING back to the car. I got them loaded and now we were stuck. We couldn't get back to the main road until the damn train got out of our way. And it was, of course, the longest train in the world. We sat there for 30 minutes waiting. The kids finally calmed down but talked for days about how the "Black Train" scared them and made them cry. I was seriously worried that Jackson's love of trains would be lost but that was silly, huh? :)
(We did eventually make it to the Zoo, btw. Pics on next post)

Very, very loud train!

Her best try yet!

I believe this is Isabel's 4th ballet class and she finally danced! She participated, followed the teachers lead and I think I saw a couple of "almost" smiles. It was awesome to see her finally loosen up a little. I want her to really enjoy this! Of course I didn't have my camera to document this amazing event so I had to rely on the iPhone. I got a nice, fuzzy image so I played with it a little and I actually like the end result. Oh, happy day!
Today should have also been Jackson's first swim lesson but his teacher called in sick so we'll get back to that next Saturday. I did get to show him where he would be taking lessons and tried to prepare him for what was to come so it wasn't a total loss. I had originally thought that I would be swimming with him but soon learned that was not how things worked. So I was just going to settle for taking a photo-documentary of his swim lessons BUT I learned today that not only was I not swimming with him but I was not even allowed in the pool area! What?! No parents allowed. There is a "Pool Observation Deck" where I will be held. This is so not how I had envisioned this but I'll play by the rules. But no pictures? I don't know about that..... ;)

One Day - Two State Parks

As I have mentioned before, the weather in the South has really sucked lately. Rain and more rain. And when the rain finally stops and the temperatures cool off and the humidity drops, and you have 2 - 3 year olds, well, you just gotta get outside. So Wednesday I decided to forego my morning of no work and no kids and keep the little angels out of school and head to a nearby State Park. They have a huge barn, petting zoo and pony rides and I have just not ever taken the kids so the time was right. We get there and I mention something to the gate attendant about the pony rides and she informs me that "the barn is closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays in the winter." In the winter. What?! It's October! It just now got below 90 degrees. What? Oh, I was so mad. I didn't have a Plan B. Crap.

It's ok, I breathe and ask the nice lady at the gate what else she recommends for 3 year olds. She suggests the Wildlife Rescue building. I think it only cost like $4 to get in so I decided to give it a try. I was here, right? So I park the car and while we were getting out we heard (and felt) this huge boom. It ended up being a transformer and this thing shook the ground. Isabel was scared to death. Now she didn't want to get out of the car. But out we get and now I really have to pee. So I hurry the kids and walk inside. The first thing we run into is a freakin' real (well, it was alive at one point) black bear. This place was starting to look like a taxidermy museum. There were stuffed birds and squirrels hanging on the walls and again, Isabel is freaked out by all the dead animals. Jackson has a worried look on his face by this time and I still really need to find the restroom. We go through a couple of rooms of dead critters and I find the bathroom. But as I am walking in a lady informs me that the transformer that blew knocked out the power to the part of the building with the restrooms. There are no windows so it's like a dungeon in there. So now I'm about to wet my pants and the kids are crying because they don't want to stand inside a pitch black bathroom. I ask the nice volunteer lady to watch the kids so I can go in and they don't like this idea either. Volunteer lady has an idea and disappears and comes back with a really big rock. She uses the rock to prop the door open allowing enough light to come in so everyone is happy. I am happy to report I did not wet my pants. :)

After this I'm ready to just leave and look for another spot. In the car we go and I start to drive looking for the Beach area. But while I'm driving I glance down and see that not only is my Fuel light on but the dashboard is informing me that I have ZERO miles of gas remaining in my car. My husband can attest that this is a fear of mine. I like to fill up my car at the first sign of low fuel. I got so busy on my "mission of fun" that I didn't get gas. So now I have to turn around and drive out of the park and to the closest gas station. Now I'm freaking out a little bit. Running out of gas in the middle of a State Park with 2 kids in the car is not my idea of a good time. But I must say that Kevin was right (I can do that because he doesn't read my blog). He said I overreacted about the gas meter on the car. There really is still gas in your car when your car tells you there is not. Good to know.

Now I had to decide where to go next. We had not had any fun yet and it was almost 1:00. I knew there was another State Park about 20 more miles away that I have great memories of time with my Grandparents. I called Rhett (my bro) to get directions. Off we go.

We pull into our next State Park and the first thing I see is the Deer Crossing sign you saw at the top. I laughed out loud. Love that reindeer!

Park # 2 was a success. We walked to an old furnace used during the Civil War. I thought the kids would think it was cool. They did not but they did love a pile of dirt they discovered underneath. It turned out to be a great day. I bribed them with candy to take some pictures and everyone was happy. That's all I want. Happy. :)