Into a New Month Already
4 - 7 September 2008 [Tuesday - Friday]
Worked as normal. I'm working on a huge Motorola Import with Cheryl and Laura Harris. It's no fun at all and is very complicated. Taking all of my time. I need to be done by Tuesday and will be thankful to get this pushed out. Hopefully I have caught all the bugs at this point. Worked from home on Wednesday as normal, nothing else out of the ordinary. Amanada has been working extra hours at Dr. Dunsmoors since the front desk lady was fired so she has been really tired. On Wednesday night, I took the kids to see Alex and TJ at football practice at Bond Park. They were interested for about 10 minutes then went and played in the baseball diamond dirt! They were a total mess from head to toe. I had to strip them to their undies before getting in the car and try to dust off as much as possible, then in the bath and shower they went. It was like a sand pit at the bottom of the bathtub when I drained it! :) Boys will be boys I say (and they looked to be having much more fun than Alex or TJ during practice).
1,2,3 September 2008 [Saturday - Monday]
We were camping at the Smithfield KOA! We loved it and will be back for sure. Only about a 45 minute drive and a very nice clean facility with nice people. We'll pick a different site next time as we didn't like being close to a light pole, but being close to the bathrooms was nice. We'll just pick a site down the line a little bit. We had tent site #1, I think we'll try tent site #4 next time. Kids had a great time and it was one of the most fun and relaxing camping trips I can ever remember. No bugs at all, heat wasn't bad. We swam, ate, played. We'll bring their bicycles next time too. We went to he Battlesboro Civil War site which was cool to see. Our first civil war site and was a nice break during the warm part of the day. Kids just did terrific! Saturday night they had a DJ, a waterslide and a great free dinner in celebration of Labor Day! Was a nice treat we didn't know about. The KOA was booked solid so I really lucked out getting it just two days before!!! It was mid 60's at night and we covered with several blankets and about mid 80's during the day and plenty hot for swimming (although the pool was very cold). The kids played checkers and one game of chess with these big huge pieces that you moved on the concrete. Last night and next day there the kids made friends with a boy at the site next to us and they played and had a good time. Was so nice to see. Of
31 August 2008 [Friday]
Got to leave at 3pm today from work as a treat for all the work we have done lately. Headed home and began the packing, starting with gathering the wood in back to lay out overnight to get the bugs out. Kids helped, but mosquitos where bad as usual. Amanda had already gotten the food ready so that made it easier (we ended up forgetting the peanut butter!).
At 5:30pm we are to go to North Raleigh to see Keegan's school friend Timothy perform in a play he helped write during a track out class. It was a fun time and Keegan and Carson really enjoyed it. Afterwards we all headed across the street to a Wendy's with Timothy and his parents and Noah and his mom and little sister. It was actually fun to be going out with some of the parents and the kids did very well considering we were all sitting at one long table.
30 August 2007 [Thursday]
Normal day at work. Kinda slow. I've been invited to participate in our companys 401k Investment Committee! Only 5 of us choosen from Peopleclick, based on money in the account and years we have been here. I was shocked and happy. Never done anything like this and am a bit nervous too. Was handed two books to read by our HR department before our first official meeting at the end of September. So now I have those to read on top of my welding class and my normal books I like to read. Luckily, I have been throwing away any renewal subscriptions to all my motorcycle magazines. I think I am going to let those die out awhile before I renew. I did that one a long time ago and it was a nice break.
Just before leaving work, I tried to find a campsite one last time as the weather was looking perfect. I found a place and I made last minute reservations at the Smithfield KOA site!!! I'm so excited to have committed to it as I know the kids will love it regardless, as it's an 'adventure'. :)
29 August 2007 [Wednesday]
Welding class was GREAT! I was nervous, but the group of guys finally seemed to meld and we all joked around and got to do some actual welding and cutting last night for about two solid hours. We used an OxyAcetylene torch! Woohoo! I was cutting thru 1/4" steel no problem - like hot knife in butter. Amazing. Flame temp was about 4000F! Yikes. Took me a couple of tries to get the hang of setup up the torch and keeping it lit and then getting it adjusted. Was great fun though once I got the hang of it. The sudden loud pops that sometimes occur makes me jump still and once in awhile a lot of sparks come flying by from the people working next to me, otherwise it was great! In the end I made a 3x4" steel plate and carved KCI in it for the kids. They kept asking me to bring something home to cut, and I was happy I could do that for them on my first night. I really look forward to the next class and we are going to get to Arc weld and MIG weld also!
Worked from home today. Amanda found out that the front desk lady - Anne - quit/was fired. But Dana was there to help out for a bit. Looks like Amanda will have to go in now and then to help with paperwork until they hire a new person. Good because the extra money is fantastic for us, bad because it's a lot more work for her.
The kids and I tried to clean the house good and I cooked my first attempt at fried chicken last night. Really stunk up the house, but boy, did it taste good! All the kids liked it too, except for Keegan of course, but at least he tried it. It's best done outside though, where the stink doesn't mess up the house. I think I need to get one of those outside turkey friers to keep the smell out.
After the kids went to bed, we watched a very long movie called "Flags of our Fathers" - good movie though and I learned something about the famous flag picture on Iwo Jema.
28 August 2007 [Tuesday]
Welding class tonight. Going straight from work to welding class at Wake Tech. This will be my 2nd class and hopefully the first class in which I will get to do something.
27 August 2007 [Monday]
Nothing special for me. Keegan and Ian went to the YMCA with Amanda. Amanda did kick boxing which she said was really hard. Ian went to his class and Keegan went to the game room for the first time. He LOVED it! I was so happy to hear that. He got to play outside as well and was playing chase with some other kids when Amanda went to pick him up. He also got to play some air hockey with one of the two ladies who watch over the class. Really nice to hear he tries new things without being scared now and makes friends easily on the playground. That is so important to me. Ian did great in his class until the end when he had a pee accident, but it was just two minutes before Amanda's class was over so that worked out well. Amanda was able to sign Carson up for another swim class which I was excited about too. I think she is seeing it's good to spend the money and get them involved with stuff and I am so proud of her for that finally as before it has always been a fight for her to bring them to new things. Amanda had her volleyball playoffs tonight. They ended up winning the whole thing - and were crowned as the YMCA Volleyball Champions for this season! She got a nice free t-shirt and was really excited.
26 August 2008 [Sunday]
Called parents. Swimming at the YMCA - storms came just as we left early for dinner. Went to O'Charlies. Nice to go to a new place for a change. We wouldn't go back as food was good, but not a lot and took awhile. Kids loved the bread though! 3 baskets we went thru - that's 18 rolls. :) Amanda wasn't happy that the van got dirty from the rain. Funny to me how careful she is about it.
25 August 2007 [Saturday]
Three kidss birthday party's to go to! Keegan went in the morning roller skating with Amanda to a birthday party. Then Keegan had a second party at White Tiger tae-kwon-do place (everyone went, but only Keegan participated) and then we all went to the final party at night at Pump-It-Up. Very tiring day for everyone, but fun still.
24 August 2007 [Friday]
Worked late Thursday night to get QADB server replacement tested. As of 8pm, it was still not working, so we went home. Finally we left around 9:00pm last night with the env. still not working. Went home, watched a bit of TV to wind down and then hit the bed.
This morning (Friday) no one woke up until 8am! Wow! We missed the recycle truck (last week it was the garbage truck we missed). Left for work in the morning as usual. Got in and the environment issues from last night were resolved, but when we tried to continue our testing we ran across new issues. So as of Noon so far today, the env. is still not working and I have this huge Motorola Import to test.
Worked as normal. I'm working on a huge Motorola Import with Cheryl and Laura Harris. It's no fun at all and is very complicated. Taking all of my time. I need to be done by Tuesday and will be thankful to get this pushed out. Hopefully I have caught all the bugs at this point. Worked from home on Wednesday as normal, nothing else out of the ordinary. Amanada has been working extra hours at Dr. Dunsmoors since the front desk lady was fired so she has been really tired. On Wednesday night, I took the kids to see Alex and TJ at football practice at Bond Park. They were interested for about 10 minutes then went and played in the baseball diamond dirt! They were a total mess from head to toe. I had to strip them to their undies before getting in the car and try to dust off as much as possible, then in the bath and shower they went. It was like a sand pit at the bottom of the bathtub when I drained it! :) Boys will be boys I say (and they looked to be having much more fun than Alex or TJ during practice).
1,2,3 September 2008 [Saturday - Monday]
We were camping at the Smithfield KOA! We loved it and will be back for sure. Only about a 45 minute drive and a very nice clean facility with nice people. We'll pick a different site next time as we didn't like being close to a light pole, but being close to the bathrooms was nice. We'll just pick a site down the line a little bit. We had tent site #1, I think we'll try tent site #4 next time. Kids had a great time and it was one of the most fun and relaxing camping trips I can ever remember. No bugs at all, heat wasn't bad. We swam, ate, played. We'll bring their bicycles next time too. We went to he Battlesboro Civil War site which was cool to see. Our first civil war site and was a nice break during the warm part of the day. Kids just did terrific! Saturday night they had a DJ, a waterslide and a great free dinner in celebration of Labor Day! Was a nice treat we didn't know about. The KOA was booked solid so I really lucked out getting it just two days before!!! It was mid 60's at night and we covered with several blankets and about mid 80's during the day and plenty hot for swimming (although the pool was very cold). The kids played checkers and one game of chess with these big huge pieces that you moved on the concrete. Last night and next day there the kids made friends with a boy at the site next to us and they played and had a good time. Was so nice to see. Of
31 August 2008 [Friday]
Got to leave at 3pm today from work as a treat for all the work we have done lately. Headed home and began the packing, starting with gathering the wood in back to lay out overnight to get the bugs out. Kids helped, but mosquitos where bad as usual. Amanda had already gotten the food ready so that made it easier (we ended up forgetting the peanut butter!).
At 5:30pm we are to go to North Raleigh to see Keegan's school friend Timothy perform in a play he helped write during a track out class. It was a fun time and Keegan and Carson really enjoyed it. Afterwards we all headed across the street to a Wendy's with Timothy and his parents and Noah and his mom and little sister. It was actually fun to be going out with some of the parents and the kids did very well considering we were all sitting at one long table.
30 August 2007 [Thursday]
Normal day at work. Kinda slow. I've been invited to participate in our companys 401k Investment Committee! Only 5 of us choosen from Peopleclick, based on money in the account and years we have been here. I was shocked and happy. Never done anything like this and am a bit nervous too. Was handed two books to read by our HR department before our first official meeting at the end of September. So now I have those to read on top of my welding class and my normal books I like to read. Luckily, I have been throwing away any renewal subscriptions to all my motorcycle magazines. I think I am going to let those die out awhile before I renew. I did that one a long time ago and it was a nice break.
Just before leaving work, I tried to find a campsite one last time as the weather was looking perfect. I found a place and I made last minute reservations at the Smithfield KOA site!!! I'm so excited to have committed to it as I know the kids will love it regardless, as it's an 'adventure'. :)
29 August 2007 [Wednesday]
Welding class was GREAT! I was nervous, but the group of guys finally seemed to meld and we all joked around and got to do some actual welding and cutting last night for about two solid hours. We used an OxyAcetylene torch! Woohoo! I was cutting thru 1/4" steel no problem - like hot knife in butter. Amazing. Flame temp was about 4000F! Yikes. Took me a couple of tries to get the hang of setup up the torch and keeping it lit and then getting it adjusted. Was great fun though once I got the hang of it. The sudden loud pops that sometimes occur makes me jump still and once in awhile a lot of sparks come flying by from the people working next to me, otherwise it was great! In the end I made a 3x4" steel plate and carved KCI in it for the kids. They kept asking me to bring something home to cut, and I was happy I could do that for them on my first night. I really look forward to the next class and we are going to get to Arc weld and MIG weld also!
Worked from home today. Amanda found out that the front desk lady - Anne - quit/was fired. But Dana was there to help out for a bit. Looks like Amanda will have to go in now and then to help with paperwork until they hire a new person. Good because the extra money is fantastic for us, bad because it's a lot more work for her.
The kids and I tried to clean the house good and I cooked my first attempt at fried chicken last night. Really stunk up the house, but boy, did it taste good! All the kids liked it too, except for Keegan of course, but at least he tried it. It's best done outside though, where the stink doesn't mess up the house. I think I need to get one of those outside turkey friers to keep the smell out.
After the kids went to bed, we watched a very long movie called "Flags of our Fathers" - good movie though and I learned something about the famous flag picture on Iwo Jema.
28 August 2007 [Tuesday]
Welding class tonight. Going straight from work to welding class at Wake Tech. This will be my 2nd class and hopefully the first class in which I will get to do something.
27 August 2007 [Monday]
Nothing special for me. Keegan and Ian went to the YMCA with Amanda. Amanda did kick boxing which she said was really hard. Ian went to his class and Keegan went to the game room for the first time. He LOVED it! I was so happy to hear that. He got to play outside as well and was playing chase with some other kids when Amanda went to pick him up. He also got to play some air hockey with one of the two ladies who watch over the class. Really nice to hear he tries new things without being scared now and makes friends easily on the playground. That is so important to me. Ian did great in his class until the end when he had a pee accident, but it was just two minutes before Amanda's class was over so that worked out well. Amanda was able to sign Carson up for another swim class which I was excited about too. I think she is seeing it's good to spend the money and get them involved with stuff and I am so proud of her for that finally as before it has always been a fight for her to bring them to new things. Amanda had her volleyball playoffs tonight. They ended up winning the whole thing - and were crowned as the YMCA Volleyball Champions for this season! She got a nice free t-shirt and was really excited.
26 August 2008 [Sunday]
Called parents. Swimming at the YMCA - storms came just as we left early for dinner. Went to O'Charlies. Nice to go to a new place for a change. We wouldn't go back as food was good, but not a lot and took awhile. Kids loved the bread though! 3 baskets we went thru - that's 18 rolls. :) Amanda wasn't happy that the van got dirty from the rain. Funny to me how careful she is about it.
25 August 2007 [Saturday]
Three kidss birthday party's to go to! Keegan went in the morning roller skating with Amanda to a birthday party. Then Keegan had a second party at White Tiger tae-kwon-do place (everyone went, but only Keegan participated) and then we all went to the final party at night at Pump-It-Up. Very tiring day for everyone, but fun still.
24 August 2007 [Friday]
Worked late Thursday night to get QADB server replacement tested. As of 8pm, it was still not working, so we went home. Finally we left around 9:00pm last night with the env. still not working. Went home, watched a bit of TV to wind down and then hit the bed.
This morning (Friday) no one woke up until 8am! Wow! We missed the recycle truck (last week it was the garbage truck we missed). Left for work in the morning as usual. Got in and the environment issues from last night were resolved, but when we tried to continue our testing we ran across new issues. So as of Noon so far today, the env. is still not working and I have this huge Motorola Import to test.
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