Conversations with Cameron

This was from a while ago, but I am just getting around to posting it.

January 12

Tonight I was reading a book about Quack the Duck in Spanish to Cameron, as a joke to see what she would do. She never complained, but when Raeley walked in the room, she said "I just have to ask, um, do you understand what you are reading?" Cameron said no. I asked her what language it was and she said "Duck?"

1-13

Cameron said today "I like grandmas. You can always stay the night at their house." "Is there anything else you like about grandmas?" I ask. "They are nice and smart and buy you things."

We had fish for dinner. Cameron said, "Did this fish come from the water?" Yes. Blech! Did they wash it good? And did they take all the yucky stuff out? Are you sure they washed it good? In SINK water?"

1-14

I worked all day and I was sad that I didn't have any cute Cameron sayings for the day. As I went to put up the leftover pizza, I found a glass of ice water in the bottom drawer of the fridge. I get smiles from that girl even when she's tucked in bed fast asleep! How do I know it was her? It was her special Star Trek glass given to her as a gift from her BFF.

Snow Day

I don't even remember how long ago it snowed here. Maybe January? Maybe December?

Enjoy the photos!

Vacation

Mark and I had a chance for a weekend get away and we jumped on it - and jumped on a plane to Naples, Florida. It was great. It was a nice drive from the airport in Fort Myers to Naples, and we followed the scenic route through the small towns on the coast. We stopped for ice cream and milkshakes and coffee and stopped to look for a few geochaches along the way. There was a great beach with lots of shells where we tried to get to a geochach on an island near the beach. Mark waded out there almost all the way, but when he would have had to swim, he turned back. It was fun collecting shells for the kids.

We stayed at The Inn on Fifth Street, which was a nice hotel. Even though I didn't even peek my head into the spa, we had free usage of the steam room and sauna (I know, what was I thinking? You had to schedule it a day ahead of time - to my defense), but we had fun relaxing in the hot tub. The beach was beautiful and cold so we didn't spend a lot of time out there, but we did watch the sunset from the pier with a bottle of wine one night and went back for a stroll at sunset another night. While we were there, we spent half a day deep sea fishing. I was the only lady, and I think I caught the most fish, 4, but no one caught a keeper. It was fun, though. I'd love to take my kids one day, especially Robert, our in-house fisherman. We also took an airboat ride in the Evergreens with two of our friends, Desiree and Brian, and went walking on a few trails in the Evergreens. Wow, lots of alligators, but we didn't see any on the trails.

Airboat Ride

We went to some great restaurants. Tru Lucks was my favorite - great seafood.

Lots of things on the trip went wrong, really. It was funny after a while. Mark and I got along great and all the trouble brought us even closer. Thinking back, all the things that went wrong on this vacation would have made me so upset ten years ago, but this time, I was so glad NOT to be working and even just sitting in the airport while the rental car mix up was straightened out, I was just glad to be there with Mark and no computers or interruptions.

Mark was going to Naples for business, and so on my last night there, we got to hang out with some of our mutual friends who are club owners also.

Here's some of the club owners Mark had business with.

Mark, Cindy, Desiree, Nathan, Richard and his wife. Brian is taking the photo.

Light at the end of the tunnel

I'm just checking in with you guys. I have been so busy lately, I haven't even had a chance to keep up with my friend's blogs. Life has been busy but good. This is a busy time of the year for us and we opened two clubs in the past three months during the busiest season for us. And it has gone well. Notice I mentioned busy four times in 4 sentences? Um, yeah. Busy.

I am excited about some things that have been happening with work. We've had some great hires lately (one of whom is the daughter of a well known Homeschool Speaker. How cool is that?) and we are wading through the new training. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and it is so nice to be fully staffed. Say a prayer for me that this will last for a while, OK? Actually, we are lacking in certified personal trainers. My kids are having fun thinking of nicknames for our new staff. HA! Should I encourage this? Inside jokes do bring bonding. We will have a family discussion with our kids about this and see how they feel.

So what's been keeping me busy? Training staff, working hard to keep our clubs in tip top shape, and hanging out with our new staff, getting to know them. Homeschooling the kids. Obviously blogging hasn't been on that list, and I'm not sure if anything that fits into keeping a house is on that list, either. It is so nice that the boys are getting better at being independent with their school work. Unfortunately, I can't even remember the last time I had a reading lesson with Cameron. Raeley and our tutor has, though.

The library meeting was lots of fun. Thanks for your input.

What else have I been doing? I just got back today from a vacation with Mark. It. was. nice. understatement.

Maybe soon I will post the 5 drafts I have saved. Just Maybe.