family vaca 2008 First Stop: Henderson, KY

First Stop - Henderson, KY!

david and i lived in henderson, ky for 3 years. it's where we were married and began our life together. there isn't much there other than some special friends of ours - the owen family. we hadn't seen them in a long while and finally we were able to find a date on the calendar that worked for all of us and make a weekend visit. for us, it happened to be the beginning of david's 2-week vacation so we just decided, "why not just stop in henderson on our way to florida?" and that's what we did. 

 brian and cindy have 3 boys so it was an all-boy weekend to say the least. we arrived just in time for grilled out burgers and delicious beers. we sat on the patio and caught up while the boys got acquainted and sweaty.

really sweaty.

so, of course a bath was in order...

saturday morning, davidrussell and big O made super yummy and fattening breakfast. big O makes scratch gravy now. impressive. 

we hung out and hung out and hung out some more. the boys did... well, boy stuff.

will and i bonded over our macbooks...

big O and cindy had arranged for a sitter to come saturday evening so we could go out. (awesome.) we payed a visit to henderson's newest attraction, ruby moon vineyard and winery. after that, we grabbed dinner at hacienda. if you know evansville or henderson, then you know hacienda. if you don't, well, insert your own favorite mexican chain.

after an evening of good cocktails and conversation, we headed home to find what we expected - a bunch of sweaty super heroes. it was unbelievable at this point that we'd only been in their home for about 29 hours. between the 4 of us, we had roasted marshmallows on the fire pit, ate a ton of food, went for a long walk, ate some more, got in the Word (c'mon), laid in the hammock (cindy is a good snuggle friend), enjoyed a leisure wine-tasting, cut out laminated cards for cindy's kindergarten class, ate more food - this time, mexican, and even found some shoes at stein mart. 

sunday morning came early, bringing a special surprise - did you know they make these breakfast corn dog things made of sausage and pancakes?! cindy had one ready for each boy, it looked like a sunday morning carnival. we paid a visit to good 'ole First Baptist of Henderson (where we were married) and listened to brian speak some words from the Lord. it was time to say goodbye, so there was only one thing left to do... cracker barrel, of course.

great friends, great family. we love these people.

back in the blog saddle

i suppose i'll start with an update on my big news. it still stands. a dedicated blogger would document the good, the bad and the ugly. but what about the crappy? i don't know. my first trimester was crappy. with my first 2 babies, i was very nauseous all the time and exhausted. this pregnancy has been no exception. so that's where i've been... in bed. or on the couch. bode has met his t.v. watching quota for the year. i've felt really guilty about that when i've been awake. anyway, i'm almost 17 weeks now and feeling lots better. thank you God! 

i mean, i really feel like i missed out on 2 months of my life. i tried to put any energy i had into actually enjoying autumn with my family. it was such a warm, beautiful fall. but i missed a lot of it. last week when the weather was in the 70's, i felt like it was just for me. God said, "hey, i know you missed out on some of this season you love so much, so here's a bonus week for you." when stuff like that happens, it reminds me how much He loves me - pretty cool, huh. so i hope all of you enjoyed my special bonus week gift my heavenly dad gave me. 

i tried to enjoy it as much as possible. went for a run, to the park, just played outside. probably my favorite was last tuesday. mac was out of school for election day, but bode was not. so mac and i went to Cincinnati Nature Center and did some hiking. very fun and nice to have some special time with mac. 

my blog feels a little empty to me as so much has happened in the past few months and little of it is represented. so my plan is for the next several posts to be an update of sorts. that's the plan anyway...

some news...

(now might be a good time to invest in Yum! brands.) 

off to kindergarten

i just dropped my tiny newborn baby off at his first day of kindergarten. that's how it goes, you know... you have a tiny little newborn keeping you up all night and then, all of a sudden, you take them to kindergarten. 

he's been bouncing off the walls with excitement. we've been discussing it for weeks, he loves to talk about how "great kindergarten will be." it's all day, so i've explained he'll be eating lunch there. he asked, "will i eat dinner there, too?" and "will i stay there and sleep there?" no, buddy, you won't live there. i'll pick you up everyday. 

he was so excited to see his teacher, mrs. cooper, aka miss meghan from preschool last year. over the summer she went from "miss" to "mrs." and also from preschool aid to bonafide kindergarten teacher. so it's a day of firsts for all of us. 

i was fine until i said goodbye and then i totally teared up and did that laugh/cry combo thing. mrs. cooper fussed over me a little and looked as though she was tearing up, too. it was really funny. i've always wondered what makes a mom cry on this day. what specifically is it that brings the tears? is it b/c she's not ready? or she'll miss him or she's worried? or she's just so proud of him? or maybe she has regrets. maybe she knows the highs and lows school can bring and she longs for a way to prepare him, shield him. well, i suppose you could say it's all of that b/c what made my eyes sting this morning is how much i love my son. i just love him. 

and so begins little man's 13+ year career as "full-time student." 

now what? i guess bode and i will go to the pool. 

or maybe we'll just listen to lee ann womack all day. sniffle, sniffle... sob, sob... i hope you dance, mac. for the love, i hope you dance.

we're back!

am i the only blogger (or person for that matter) that has grandiose notions of blogging constantly about my life as it's happening and, therefore, placing ridiculous expectations on myself to which i can not possibly measure up? 

so we're back from 2 weeks of super fun vaca. from henderson, ky to destin, fl, the russell family shared i adventure after adventure. instead of blogging about how much fun we were having, i decided to keep having it. like erica says, "i don't want to miss the moment b/c i'm trying to capture the moment." that being said, i'll tell you all about it, minus the parts that aren't your business or i just don't feel like talking about. but my boundaries are loose so anything i don't share will result more out of laziness than appropriateness. 

we came back refreshed and rested... except for bode who came back super sick. so for the past 2 nights, the only one who has slept is mac. the rest of us are exhausted zombies. so today, instead of talking about vaca with you, i'll probably take a nap. in the meantime, here's a small preview:

the only way to kick off vaca...

is at the Owen Bed & Breakfast in Henderson, KY. right now the big boys are cookin' up some biscuits and gravy and the little ones are just cookin' up a lot of trouble. and moms are doing what we do best: coffee talk.

vaca prep and errand runnin'

lots of stuff to come as we're about to hit the road for a 2 week vaca. but right now i'm just drowning in a sea of stuff to be packed. preparing for vacation is exhausting, isn't it. i've ran so many errands this week, i've already been in the car as much as i will be driving to the beach. 

all this car time as raised some questions:

a. have you ever been driving down the interstate and all of sudden your vehicle starts shaking and acting funny and you start thinking "ohmahgah!! what the H is wrong with my car?! what's happening??!!! this is it! ohmahgah!! i'm driving like 80! there are cars all around me! what should i do? should i pull over? what's wrong with my car?!" and then it stops as suddenly as it began and you realize, "oh. bad stretch of interstate." phew.

and, i tend to this on the same stretch of I-71 every time i'm on it.

b. have you ever accidentally hit your horn at a red light or something? your desperately waving at the person in front of you with a big smile - "so sorry! accident. really. take your time." 

c. have you ever been using your husband's car to run errands and as your walking from store to store at the outdoor shopping center, you catch a glimpse of his vehicle in the parking lot and you start thinking, "what the H is he doing here?! he supposed to be at work. he specifically told me he had a 2 o'clock meeting and... what the H?! that no good, lying, son of a..." 

and then you're like - "oh. wait. i drove that car. right."