Crazy Week

Whew, finally time to take a breath. This has definitely been a crazy week. After getting back from the beach last week, I spent Monday and Tuesday in full day training at work, then Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday driving back and forth to Virginia to watch Kenzie play in a softball tournament and Friday I did a full day of work and then watched Tyler test for his orange belt. The drive to the games in Virginia ordinarily wouldn't have been that bad except we were having to do it in rush hour traffic...both ways. Ugh! Andy did the drive on Friday and the 1 1/2hr trip took him 3 hrs. No fun. During the first game of the tournament, we ended up in a rain delay for a couple of hours. It started raining during the first inning and by the second inning it was pouring. People were scurrying everywhere to get the equipment bags and such off the ground and under cover. I would have loved to have gotten a picture of what our canopy looked like...all the bags, chairs, people that were underneath it but my bag was buried underneath the pile. The rain finally slacked off some so we made a break for the car. Kenzie and I jumped in only to have me jump back out again. The reason for me vacating the car so quickly was because I'd looked down to see a yellow jacket walking down my shorts onto my leg. Thankfully it didn't sting me. We went back to the hotel, grabbed a quick bite to eat and an hour or so later were back at the field to resume the game. Amazing enough, the fields weren't in bad shape...which was totally surprising given that there were rivers running down them during the downpour. The girls ended up losing that game and Kenzie got hurt on the last out of the game. The first baseman really whacked her as Kenzie ran by trying to get on first. She was hit so hard she ended up flying over first base without ever touching it. Thankfully she wasn't seriously hurt but she did end up with a hurt wrist which kept her out of their second game until one of her teammates popped her shoulder out while batting. Kenzie ended up going in to replace her. Nothing like a hurt player replacing a hurt player. LOL She did great...ended up getting on base and then did a great job on first base which is a tough spot to be playing with a hurt wrist, which happened to be her glove hand. They ended the day Thursday with 1 win and 1 loss.

Andy went to the game Friday, which they won. Yay! He left after that game so he could make it home in time to watch Tyler test for his next belt. You'd think leaving at 2:30 for an hour and a half drive would give you plenty of time to make it home for a 6:30 exam. Ha! It took him over 3 hrs to get home but thankfully he did make it home in time to see the exam. It was our first time watching a belt exam...it was very cool! Ty ended up getting his new belt. Way to go!!

I went back to Virginia on Saturday...the girls needed to win 4 games in a row to make it to Sunday to have a chance to play in the championship game. They ended up winning their first game but lost their second. The girls had a good season, won 41 games overall which is a huge improvement over last year. They now get the month of August off and then it will be back to practicing starting in Septemer.

Back to Work

The first day back to work is never easy but I guess today could have been harder. I was in training from 11 - 4 today so really only had to work for a few hours this morning. I'm in training again tomorrow, then off for two days, then work from home on Friday. Guess I'm kind of easing myself back into the work world. LOL

I could have done without the traffic on the way home. I was already running late because the training let out later than I normally leave...then I ran into wire repairs on one of roads that was left over from the storm that came thru yesterday...then hit a big backup at the bridge. I'm not sure what caused it but it tied me up for almost 40 minutes. I just missed getting Tyler to karate class but I did go over to watch after Andy dropped him off so he could come home to make dinner. Tyler got his first invitation to test for his next belt this Friday...should be fun to watch.

Stripes

Tyler has been taking a karate camp this week, and has been taking actual classes for a couple of weeks now. Through the camp, he was able to earn 4 stripes on his white belt. He has one more to go before he can move up to the next level. I'm very proud of him, he really seems to have a knack for this, which is good cause I told Andy that he wasn't allowed in the house today after camp if he hadn't earned at least one stripe. He blew me away with 4. Way to go Ty!

We're heading to the beach for a week. I took off work today so that I could get all the packing done. It took me all day but I finally got all the clothes washed and packed. The only thing left to do is get everything packed into the vehicles which we'll do after Kenzie's softball tournament tomorrow. This is her last regular one of the season...all that left after tomorrow is Nationals which are 7/28 -8/1 in Virginia.

Freedom

As of 3:30pm today, I am officially off work until Monday 7/26. Ten wonderful days of not having to hear...that data is wrong, can you get this for me, when can you have this done, can you check that out, can you tell me why, etc. Ah, bliss! Can you tell that I'm really not in a good work frame of mind right now. I don't have a lot of patience for the requests coming in and I'm really tired of the unrealistic expectations where projects are concerned (just got another one today). Hopefully the 10 days will do me good and I'll be ready to face the work world again when they are up. We will be heading to the beach for a week with my parents and my sisters family...it should be interesting to say the least. ;) The week officially starts on Saturday but most of us will head down on Sunday because Kenzie's last softball tournament is Saturday. Alex has a drs appt first thing Monday morning to check out why his shoulders are popping out so he and I will be heading down to the beach Monday after the appt. Hopefully nothing serious is going on with him and that the problem can be corrected with exercises. I have to get my act together and actually start packing for the trip...haven't even begun to do that yet but I took tomorrow off just for that reason so I'm sure I'll be able to get everything done. But for now, I'm heading to the river on a walk with the girls and Adam.

Unwanted Visitor

I was working this morning when Kenzie comes running into the room (Weds & Fri's are my work from home today) talking about the fish and frogs going crazy in our pond. When she went to investigate what the problem was, she found out that a brown snake was swimming around in the pond. While she watched the snake slithered out under our pool deck. Nice! NOT!

Was a nice day with all the rain showers that came thru...third day in a row that we've had rain..and things actually cooled off some this afternoon, contrary to what the weather forecasters were predicting this morning.

Andy came running in this afternoon as I was just about wrapping work saying that he was going kayaking because the wind was whipping up some pretty good waves in the river. He knew this because he'd just come back from a walk by the river with Adam. He heads out with Kenzie but they actually don't stay as long as I would have expected. Kenzie isn't quite as fearless as she lets on sometimes and didn't really like the waves trying to overturn her kayak.

Almost Empty

Almost all the kiddos are out of the house right now...how often does that happen? Tonight is Kenzie's softball practice and 5 of the 8 kids went with Andy to the practice. The 6th is at work... so that just leaves 2 in the house with me. I've been enjoying a nice quiet evening playing with Adam...Connor will pop in every now and then. Been a lovely, relaxing night but could have been better if this darn headache, that I've had since yesterday, would go away.

Can tell already...

that it's not going to be a good day. I woke up with the same headache that I went to bed with last night. :( I also didn't sleep well, partly because we had a big thunderstorm come through in the middle of the night that woke me up. Walked outside at 6am to leave for work and could already feel the humidity...blech, I so hate that! I'm still having to take medicine that is making me feel sick...nothing like a constant reminder of a bad thing. :( Thankfully I will take my last dose tomorrow morning.

Tyler is participating in a karate camp all week. He seemed to enjoy his first day yesterday and loved his class last night. He could have tested for his first stripe but I think he's still a little shy and nervous about things. I think wants he gets the first one under his belt, he should be okay.

The kids are certainly enjoying the pool...Bekah is like a little fish and you literally have to drag her out at the end of the day to get her to go to bed. Keari is also enjoying it more now that the water has warmed up...she loves to show me her pruny fingers and toes when she gets out now. LOL

Just Those Few Weeks

For those few weeks -
I had you to myself.
And that seems too short a time
to be changed so profoundly.

In those few weeks -
I came to know you . . .
and to love you.
You came to trust me with your life.
Oh, what a life I had planned for you.

Just those few weeks -
When I lost you,
I lost a lifetime of hopes,
plans, dreams, and aspirations . . .
A slice of my future simply vanished overnight.

Just those few weeks -
It wasn't enough time to convince others
how special and important you were.
How odd, a truly unique person has recently died
and no one is mourning the passing.

Just a mere few weeks -
And no "normal" person would cry all night
over a tiny, unfinished baby,
or get depressed and withdraw day after endless day.
No one would, so why am I?

You were just those few weeks my little one
you darted in and out of my life too quickly.
But it seems that's all the time you needed
to make my life so much richer
and give me a small glimpse of eternity.

- Susan Erling Martinez