Get out the vote. . . or get out of the boat?

I took Joseph to vote with me last week. We waited for 1-1/2 hours. I explained to Joseph that voting was when grown ups got together and picked the leader of our country, where we live. The leader would be the President, and he was kind of like Joseph's teacher at school. He got to make the rules for us.

I thought I'd done a good job explaining, until we got to the end of the line and Joseph asked excitedly, Is it our turn to get on the boat?

He was sorely disappointed to find out that instead of a boat, we just got to push a couple of buttons. He was excited about the sticker though.

Tempe or Bust!

As you probably know, Joseph and I headed cross country, 1900 miles, to see the Bulldawgs take on the Sun Devils in Tempe. And as you can probably guess, we had a blast!

I also learned something about American culture - its really cute for a mom and little boy to travel alone, but they are only allowed to go see their grandparents. So many people came up to Joseph and asked him if he was going to see his Grandma. When I told them that no, we were actually going to the UGA football game in Tempe, they looked at me as if I was an alien and just walked away.

First thing when we got to Arizona, we got our vacation car and headed to Scottsboro where we visited the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park. Visiting other cities reminds you what a raw deal we get here in Georgia with our public parks.

This place had a replica 1:4 train that you could actually ride for $2! It was so much fun - Joseph was so excited that we rode it twice!


And it also had a carousel and a huge playground with misting water and huge sunshades, and a cute old timey stage coach.



Here's Joseph whizzing down the slide!


After playing for awhile, we headed over to Taliesin West to learn about Frank Lloyd Wright. We went on their walking tour, and made it through an hour of the 1-1/2 hour tour. Then I used Joseph as an excuse to duck out.



I'm not really a Frank Lloyd Wright fan, but I thought since I was there I ought to try to learn a little about him. I learned he's a freak, as was the poor lady giving our tour.



But it was fun, and it was a really cool place, and part of American history. . . sort of. And it was in the book of the places to see before you die, so I can cross that one off.

The next day it was time for the football game! Since it's so hot in Arizona that your eyeballs boil just walking down the sidewalk, people don't really tailgate. So instead we headed to their little restuarant/bar strip for lunch. They aren't really used to the Georgia way of doing stuff, so we all took the town by surprise. So much so that the restaurants ran out of beer. Apparently the ASU fans show up and have a drink before the game. Right before the game. Whereas Georgia fans like to arrive about 8 hours before the game for about a dozen or so drinks.

After lunch, Joel, Joseph and I headed over to their Tempe Towne Lake Beach Park (another awesome city park) to play in the splash area.



Hold on. When did Joel get here? Joel, the true jetsetter, flew in "for the game", not even spending a full 24 hours in Tempe before he had to jet set back home to Atlanta for a couple of days before heading out west again.

Finally, it was time for the game. Monique and I posed with Joseph (although Chris cut him out of the picture) while Joel tried to scalp our extra ticket.


As you probably know, UGA kicked some Sun Devil butt. Despite the fact that ASU was the Pac 10 Co-Champion last year. SEC baby!

UGA-Central Michigan Tailgate

So last Saturday, was a little warm . . . to say the least. But we had a good time.

While most people try to recreate their living rooms at the tailgate site - there were plenty of folks there with televisions, satellites, and comfortable chairs, we went for the bathroom.

Oh - and the best part. We met Vince Dooley. Or accosted him - depending on who you ask. But we did get him to slow down long enough to snap this picture. . . . before Mamoo kissed him! (on the cheek). What a day!

Another successful day on the potty

Joseph had another successful day using the potty. He wore his big boy britches all day at school with no accidents!

This evening at bedtime, Joseph picked out two books to read. First, we read the new Brown Bear Brown Bear. And for his second story, the OLD Brown Bear Brown Bear.

Ahhhh to be two again!

First UGA game, and the unveiling of UGA VII, and potty training

We made it through the first football game. It wasn't easy, but we heard the bugle player, and saw all of our seatmates, and watched the crowning of UGA VII.



That was especially hard, as UGA VI was in UGAdom for our whole marriage. Kris's bachelor party was held at the South Carolina game, which was UGA VI's first showing. And then of course UGA VI died not long after Kris.

Joseph had a blast at the game though. Despite the 94 felt like 104 degree heat that nearly wiped both Greg and myself out! He cheered and screamed during the game, and has talked about the "new" UGA, Hairy Dawg and the football players non stop ever since. How 'bout them Dawgs!

I was pretty exhausted after the game. I don't know why, but those always make you sore. So Sunday and Monday we just hung around the house to focus on our next big hurdle: the potty.



Joseph did GREAT! He only had one accident. We even ventured out to the Varsity Jr for lunch with Kelly, Kyle and Kimi. And later, Joseph and I went to Barnes and Noble where he picked out a prize since he had done so well using the potty. We looked and looked and looked through all the books they had. We made another round. We looked at Toy Story books and potty books and Thomas books and Cars books. After much deliberation, Joseph finally settled on the classic Brown Bear Brown Bear What do you see? (which we already own and read every night). But I guess it never hurts to have another copy.

Grand Cayman Adventure, Day 4: Turtle Farm, Beach and Stingray City

We went back to the beach - this time with Joseph's life vest thank goodness - and swam like fish in the ocean. Jake and I made a "Joseph" sandwich, which Joseph just thought was hilarious!


After we got tired of swimming, the bucket brigade took to patrolling the beach.

We visited the Turtle Farm. Joseph was very excited about the opportunity to touch a turtle.
Kris and I visited the turtle farm years ago - at least 8 years ago - and it was a bunch of concrete tubs. We thought it was a conservation facility, however it turns out that they process and sell the turtle meat. It has now been reborn as Botswain Bay, and includes a swimming lagoon, a snorkeling experience, and a nature trail. In addition to the large concrete tubs where the turtles live until they become burgers!

The lagoon was nice, there was a waterfall that you could climb under then jump off of. All the other kids loved it, but Joseph just thought they were crazy and safely climbed back down!


Later that evening, we took our final boat ride to Stingray City, where you can actually swim with sting rays! Joseph and David soaked up the last bit of sun before we headed home.


We got to the sandbar, and Joseph put on his "scuba diver feet" and got ready to dive in.

The sting rays were HUGE and they were all over everyone!


And although Joseph looks absolutely terrified in this picture, touching the sting rays is one of his favorite things to talk about from vacation.


After our daring sting ray adventure, we headed back home as the sunset.

Grand Cayman Adventure, Day 3: Margaritaville, Hell and Dinghy rides

We woke up bright and early and went on another walk.
Poor Jake and Joseph got so tired! We had to keep finding big rocks to sit down and rest on.
Then we went swimming some more in the pool with Riley.


After Joseph's nap, we went to Margarita-ville (Mommy's FAVORITE restaurant) for lunch.

Joseph usually loves the sharks at Margaritaville, but this time he wouldn't get near it! Jake and Grande posed for a picture though.






This Margaritaville had a water slide.
Usually little kids aren't allowed, but they were able to make an exception for us if I went down with him.

Grande waited at the bottom to help catch Joseph. Turns out, the water slide went a lot faster than any of us expected. I'm not sure which of the three of us was the most scared!

After visiting Margaritaville we headed over to Hell, Grand Cayman where we sent postcards to the only people whose addresses we have memorized - Mamoo and Papa. We then went out and looked at the hell rocks. About this time the milkshakes from Margaritaville kicked in and Joseph and Jake raised a little hell of their own!



We got back to the house and went swimming. For the first time EVER Joseph got his hair wet and did not melt down like a snowman in July! He actually loved it! We threw him and threw him for hours. We were all exhausted, but Joseph just kept on laughing.


We finally ended the day with a sunset dinghy ride. It was beautiful. We tried to catch a fish, but the only thing biting were "weedfish". For those of you who aren't familiar with that breed, they look remarkably similar to a piece of sea grass.

After this adventourus day, we ALL slept well!

Grand Cayman Adventure, Day 2: Swimming, Sand and Lobster?

We woke up bright and early our first day in Grand Cayman. Joseph, Jake and I went for an early morning walk before it got too hot. We saw lots of crows. Jake found this wonderful palm branch that he used to help shade us from the sun.

We went swimming to cool off. Riley loves to float around the pool on the raft, much to Joseph's delight.

Then we headed to the beach. The current was kind of rough, but Joseph loved the waves!

We came home for lunch, and Joseph took a nice long nap. You may remember that our luggage didn't arrive with us, so I had been thriftily using the few diapers I had tucked away in our carry-on bag. I had actually put Joseph down to nap in his very last diaper, not sure what I was going to do when he woke up. While he was sleeping, Marty and I ran to the airport to try and find my luggage. Of course as soon as we left, the luggage was delivered to the house. But at least it was there!

After Joseph's nap, we played in the pool some more, and Joseph and Jake morphed into bucket heads.

Jake and Grande caught a lobster -Joseph was so excited when he got to eat it for dinner. Gross!

Before dinner, we headed out on the boat and went over to the Ritz for a drink.

We just barely made it under the bridge.

Joseph and Jake enjoyed fruity drinks (as did the rest of us, but we weren't as cute).

And they posed in front of Grande's boat.

And then enjoyed a quiet ride home.

Grand Cayman Adventure: Day 1, Going to Cayman

Our day started out bright and early. Joseph and I got to the airport at 6 am! In plenty of time for our 8:15 am flight.

We had breakfast at Pascal's at the airport. What a treat! Joseph entertained me and the rest of the termianl by making a bacon tongue. (Bacon tongues are a trick that his Daddy taught him on our cruise, much to my dismay).

We got to our flight in plenty of time, and boarded right on schedule. There was a little delay, but then we pulled away from the gate and got into line to take off. We were the next flight to depart, when they called us back to the gate. This little old lady had boarded the wrong plane, and when she went to get off, her bag spilled all over the aisle.

The TSA had to sweep the plane in order to ensure our security. It was quite an operation. We all had to deplane and take our bags off with us. A whole team of people boarded the plane wearing heavy plastic gloves and carrying some sort of scanner detector thing. Several police were present and interviewed the entire crew about what they witnessed. I went straight to the counter to see if I could get rebooked on a later flight from Miami to Grand Cayman, since I could tell this would be taking awhile and we would miss our 12:30 connection. They weren't able to rebook us, since we hadn't actually missed our flight. They were confident that we'd be able to get on the 3:30 flight once we landed in Miami.

We finally got to reboard the plane. By this time, I had to pee pretty dang badly. I instructed Joseph to sit in his seat and not get up while I went to use the bathroom. As soon as I sat down on the comode, I hear over the loud speaker "Andrews, please report to the front on the plane immediately." I just about died! Surely they understood that parents traveling alone couldn't take their kids to the bathroom with them! Those bathrooms are so small, Joseph wouldn't even fit in there with me. I pictured myself being hauled off in handcuffs for child abadonment!

I tore out of the bathroom and back up the aisle; luckily Joseph was still sitting quietly in our seats. A flight attendant rushed up and told me that we had been rebooked on a direct flight, but we only had 15 minutes to get to the International Concourse (from the very end of the A gate). And, they had to get our stroller out from underneath the plane.

I loaded Joseph up and tore through the airport. I walked up just as they were calling the final boarding.

The gate agent smiled and said she had a surprise for me. I was really confused, but then I looked at my boarding pass, and they had upgraded us to first class!

We had an awesome flight! Joseph laid back and fell asleep before we even took off. I had a nice cocktail to start my trip off right, and we left the country in style.

We finally got to Grand Cayman, but our bags didn't. Luckily, I planned ahead and brought our bathing suits in our carry on bags.

We got to the house, and Grande took us on a boat ride to Rum Point. Joseph sat right up in the drivers seat and took it all in.

Joseph loved Grande's big white boat. In fact, every morning since this ride, when I asked him what he's dreamed about, its Grande's big white boat.


When we got to Rum Point, the restaurant and bar were closed, but we managed to take a photo of Jake with the giant painted Iguana. (Joseph wouldn't get near it!).

We then headed over to Caibo. Jake (6) and I played volleyball against David (11) and Joseph. Sadly, David won. He actually killed us! He was pretty excited about it until I reminded him that he beat a short person and an old person.

We ate chicken fingers until the mosquitos came out, then headed back home for a good night's rest.

Donate to the Troops

I got this from my friend Sarah and I thought it was very cool and very easy.

On the below link, click on "Troop Drive". HBO will donate the item you select to a deployed service member at no cost to you. I just 'donated' a phone card. All of the items seem to be things that troops overseas need or would like (batteries, hand sanitizer, band-aids, phone cards, beef jerky, magazines, etc.).

http://www.hbo.com/generationkill/?ntrack_para1=feat_main_image

Getting ready for vacation!

We are getting ready for our vacation to Grand Cayman! Every morning Joseph wakes up and says: "We're going to see Grande on vacation! We're going to see scuba divers. Scuba divers are scary!".

I tried to tell him that his Mommy and Daddy were scuba divers, but he's not believing a word of it!

I'm still packing, but so far I've got a charged DVD player, some goldfish, a new Nemo book, and (just in case) some Benadryl! Ugh! Let's hope for a quick, nap-filled flight!

And I added the picture of May, Joseph and the cupcake back to the July 11th post. . . it's not the best picture (Sorry May) but Joseph looked so cute I couldn't resist!

Dinner with Rowan and Joseph's new shoes

Rowan (and his mom) came over after school today, which is the first time Joseph has invited a friend over. And really the two of them initiated it. Yesterday after school, Rowan said he wanted to come over. Joseph said he wanted Rowan to come over. And like the super moms we are - Heather and myself made it happen!

They were both so excited. When I picked Joseph up from school, his teacher, Miss Jena, told me that the two of them had been talking about Rowan coming to Joseph's house all day long. When Rowan arrived, Joseph was so excited he couldn't even sit down. The two of them ran all over the house making a ton of racket.

They finally calmed down and we went to Steak and Shake for dinner. The two of them were so good! They both sat in their chairs and ate their dinner and drank their chocolate milk shakes like big boys!

Thank you Grand-ma-ma for the wonderful green gator splashers! Joseph LOVES them! We haven't gotten to splash in any puddles yet, but they are also great for clumping loudly through the living room and match any outfit! Here's a photo of him wearing them while reading his favorite book of the moment - last year's Christmas card showing Hunter and Savannah (Beverly's kids) wearing Santa hats!

Wakeboard Tournament at Lake Arrowhead

We went to watch Joseph's cousin Jake compete in a wake board tournament at Lake Arrowhead this weekend. I haven't been up that way in years. It was very nostalgic, and made me more than a bit sad, to drive through Canton. Just yesterday Kris was telling me yet again how "It's all different. None of this used to be here," in his exaggerated South Georgia drawl. I tried to recreate the experience for Lemuel and Joseph, but it just wasn't the same.

Jake did great in the tournament. He's one of the youngest kids out there and he made both passes without falling, and even managed to sneak in a few tricks! After he finished competing, we all went swimming. For some reason, neither Joseph nor Anica would wear their bathing suits!

The swimming area was just off one of the holes on the golf course. Luckily, no one was playing since it was about 110 degrees! The sand trap made a great playground though!

It was a crappy swimming area. I mean really crappy. There was goose poop everywhere! But Grande and Joseph raked it all up!

Here are Joseph and Grande swimming like crappie fish (get it? That was supposed to be funny!)

We really had a lot of fun! If you ask Joseph, he says he wants to wake board - but he also wanted to jump off the diving board until he found out his hair would get wet! We'll see how he does. Maybe I can get him a shower cap!