End of the Summer...Beginning of the School Year

I can't believe the summer is over. If you have been reading my blog, you know that for a while we were all go, go, go. For the past month we have slowed down...a little.

After the family reunion, I came home to a real mess! MSC had been cleaning...not a good sign. He decided that if we got the house all nice and clean we could get a maid. Well, I'm all over that! Two days after I returned, he left for L.A. (landing 30 minutes AFTER the earthquake). I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned! When he came home I think he thought he had returned to the wrong house! When I say I cleaned, I mean every cabinet, book shelf, closet, etc (downstairs) was gone through and if I didn't know what it was, when I used it last, who it belonged to, etc. it was gone! I made at least three trips to Half-Priced Books and at least that many trips up to the church to unload boxes for the October garage sale. Now, all I have to do is the upstairs. Maid, you say...probably not going to happen...I don't want anyone in my house! But you know it feels really great to come in and be able to find what I am looking for (unless I realize that it has already gone to HPB or the church).

Well, now that school is getting ready to start I wish I could say no more cleaning. Oh contrary now is the time to keep up with the cleaning so I don't get overwhelmed. My plan is to stay on top of things and keep them put away and cleaned...now you must remember I live with two boys, so as the old saying goes...best laid plans. We'll see.

The perils of shopping

We found that when you travel with two adults and four childen it is not the best of ideas to shop...a lot! We worked hard and we did successfully get this "bag" on top of the vehicle! You should see the video! AFV here we come!!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Family Reunion

Our family reunion...we have one every year. I've been to most of them through the years, only missing because of circumstances beyond my control. I do love seeing everyone, and I get so excited I can hardly wait to get here (even though it typically marks the end of summer).



Now, I'm sitting here at the Clubhouse looking out at the playground seeing the five little kids (Charlotte, Cynthia, Kristi, Stoney@ & Scott) running around in my memory spraying water guns at each other and having the best of times. Now, we are all grown up with children of our own and who would have ever thought we would be down to four.



Our laughter won't fade, our memories will live on, our numbers will only decrease over time. The saving grace is that right now we have each other to lean on and get through today, building new memories along the way.



Hey and Cynthia made her presence known last night when we were having dinner at Clark's. We were talking about some of our fun times and all of a sudden my bracelet (the one with CG on it and the breast cancer ribbon) broke. Angie said, "Okay, we know you are here with us sit down and quit breaking stuff!"



It's comforting to think she is here with us. It is almost going to make today bearable.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Memories

It seems that at every turn here on the coast I am struck be memories of the fun times we all had with Cynthia. Yesterday, on the way down here we stopped for lunch at The Smokehouse. Now, I don't remember ever eating there with her, but it seemed she was with me showing different signs of her presence, the most obvious was a pink hat that says, "Cancer Sucks" (I remember this one very well), but the very best sign was a little card at the very bottom of the card display ( I'm still not sure what made me look ALL he way down toward the floor). It said, "What if the stars were just openings into Heaven so our loved ones can tell us they are okay." It was the only one and I full believe Cynthia wanted me to see it and know that she is okay.

Believe me, there is no way I would ever want her to be back with us in all the pain she had to suffer, but my heart is so extremely heavy with grief right now I can hardly stand it. I'm sitting here by the pool that just two years ago we were running around taking pictures, pushing each other into the water and having the best of times as a family. This was before the "C" word! I was in such a dream world I never thought anything would happen to any of us. The three of us would be at the family reunion until we were the oldest...well, actually CRG would be the oldest...I'm the baby!

In my heart I know she would want us to carry on and have fun, but this weekend is going to be hard and we are going to have to make a conscience effort to honor her memory by having fun, carrying on.

She is having her own family reunion this weekend with all of the family members we knew and loved, and also the ones we never knew. Have fun up there Cynthia, give Granny and PaPa a big hug for me. We miss you all terribly.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Dolphins at Clark's

We are having dinner at Clark's in Port O'Connor (on the Texas coast). We have a table right beside the channel and we have seen dolphins the entire time we have been here. CB's in heaven.

A little bit of rain coming down, but not bad. The wind is blowing pretty hard though. Keeping the temperature down, so it has been nice.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Still in Austin...

Well, the A/C situation is not as bad as we initially thought...thank goodness! The repair will only cost $330 (happy for insurance)...CASH ONLY! Okay, we can handle that...we have only been in Florida for three weeks (Disney, Sea World, Islands of Adventure, and Universal Studios, not to mention Among the Flowers - Vera Bradley)!

I have been working on some online staff development called "23 Things". It is a playground of different web2.0 resources and we have been introduced to them all through this program. It has been a great deal of work, but also very informative and fun. I have learned about a number of different productivity tools, image generators (so much fun and very cool), and the one I have gotten the most use out of this summer...BLOGGING!

Back in Texas!

We are back inTexas, but MSC and I are not home. We had to leave early this morning to come to Austin for Annual Assembly for TLA. We will be attending meetings for the next few days, but having fun with friends in the evenings.

We enjoyed being home for the one day before coming down here, except for the heat...we have no A/C upstairs. Before we left our A/C and refrigerator were knocked out when our electricity were blown out by a huge wind storm. The repair guys are coming today for both. We just found out we have to have a new A/C unit...we're NOT excited about that! Oh well, what can you do?
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile