Well since I have had a few days to process my time with my cousin on Saturday I think I can blog about it now. I know I was a nervous wreck leading up to Saturday, I didn’t know what time we were meeting or if I would see him before Saturday. I am a person who doesn’t like the unknown I need a plan to keep me sane. So Friday afternoon I received a text from him saying he would call or text me in the morning with the time and place to meet. I was anxious about meeting him and very worried about our workout together. As he is in the Navy and running is an every day thing for him and he will run like 10 miles just because.
I woke up super early Saturday morning and so did the boys lucky for me Ashlyne was going to watch the boys that day and she was up and ready early too which worked out great. I picked her up and headed back home by way of Sonic for Blake and Nathan and Ashlyne wanted a cherry limeade. As I was heading home my cousin texted me that he wanted to meet at my Great Grandma’s nursing home parking lot and to wear my workout clothes. Ugg I dislike everyone seeing me in my workout clothes and had spent a good deal of time getting ready that morning figuring that we would change somewhere after visiting my Great Grandma nope I was wrong. We met in the parking lot and I could tell he was shocked to see me all grown up and well I was just as shocked at how much he had changed.
When we got to my Great Grandma’s room she didn’t recognize either of us, we had figured she wouldn’t know who he was but I was shocked she didn’t know me! I had made her a book of photos of the boys for her to keep. She was happy about that but demanded to know why I didn’t bring them with me. I tried to explain with it being flu season I didn’t want to intentionally take them places where there were lots of germs and a nursing home with old people who like to touch kids makes me weary in winter months. We visited with her for awhile and then it was her lunch time so we left.
On the drive from St. James to Rolla my stomach was in knots we pull in to the park where I usually go on my lunch hour and we get out and he starts in giving me advice asking questions etc. The whole trail round trip is 3.2 miles and he asked if I had ever completed the whole thing well I can say I have now! We went the entire trail and ran intervals the whole time now I know I probably was running a slower pace than he was used to but it was nice having someone to run with. I pushed myself harder than I ever had before but kept going. When we returned to our cars my legs were jello and I was red faced and all sweaty. Fully thinking ok now I can return home I was once again wrong. He wanted to take me out to lunch at Applebee’s. Once again thrown out of my comfort zone I had to go to Applebee’s right after a workout in my workout clothes but I survived and we had a great lunch and great conversation.
The time with him didn’t seem near long enough to make up for 14 years but it was well worth it and I enjoyed every minute of it. Even when I was so sore I could hardly move later in the day it was still worth it.
I learned that I could do so much more than I thought it just took someone there next to me pushing and encouraging me to go farther and longer to find that strength. I took a super hot shower that evening at the advice of a good friend and it seemed to help a lot. And really only the backs of my thighs are sore which surprised me and also made me know that I could have went farther.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Something exciting
Well something exciting to me anyways, however most of my family isn't to excited. A month or so back I found my cousin on Facebook just by some weird chance he was recommended as people I may know. Anyway I wasn't sure it was him as I hadn't seen him in 15 years but went ahead and added him to my friends. We have sent several emails, texts and had a few phone calls since, he had told me he was planning a trip home after the first of the year. Well last week he messaged me he is coming home this weekend from Thursday night til Sunday evening! He hadn't told any of our family yet as he wanted to be sure I could arrange for a sitter so we could hang out and catch up. We were always close while I was young and well we have lots of years to catch up on. I hung out at their house for several years and helped watch his little boy who is now 16 (first time I really felt old is when I realized he was 16 and I watched him as a baby and toddler)
He has only made a handful of trips home since rejoining the Navy partly due to being so far away and had been on submarines for long periods of time and partly due to the fact our family is strange. I am overly excited about the weekend ahead and we are even going to try and plan a run together which I am partly afraid of dying during.
He has asked me to go see my Great Grandma (his Grandma) with him on Saturday and I have to admit I don't go see her nearly enough but no one in my family is excited for us to go see her to bad, because I am her only great granddaughter and I am pretty sure he ranked pretty high in the line of grand kids. I hope to get some good pictures this weekend to post next week.
I wish I had a picture of us together when he still lived here but I don't since it was well before digital cameras but here is one of him all dressed up in his Navy uniform and he looks totally different.
I am sure Blake will be excited to meet him as he is fascinated by people in the military and will probably ask him one million questions. Not sure what Nathan will think but so far he hasn't found a stranger yet.
He has only made a handful of trips home since rejoining the Navy partly due to being so far away and had been on submarines for long periods of time and partly due to the fact our family is strange. I am overly excited about the weekend ahead and we are even going to try and plan a run together which I am partly afraid of dying during.
He has asked me to go see my Great Grandma (his Grandma) with him on Saturday and I have to admit I don't go see her nearly enough but no one in my family is excited for us to go see her to bad, because I am her only great granddaughter and I am pretty sure he ranked pretty high in the line of grand kids. I hope to get some good pictures this weekend to post next week.
I wish I had a picture of us together when he still lived here but I don't since it was well before digital cameras but here is one of him all dressed up in his Navy uniform and he looks totally different.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Annual Dinner and fun for Blake
Last night was the Vichy Volunteer Fire Department Annual Thanksgiving Dinner. I had not planned on going as I knew Kenny was trying to get the steel tied in our porch so the guys could pour it early next week. The thought of taking two kids to a big dinner with a large crowd scared me. But yesterday afternoon I talked to several people and eventually got talked in to attending. I knew that there would be plenty of people to help me with the boys (mainly Nathan) but I am stubborn and don't like to ask for help with my kids I feel I should be able to be super mom and do it all.
We arrived at 6 and was able to get a good seat and save enough seats for the rest of our group. Blake was happy to see Dimisha and they took off playing, Nathan was a little confused by all the people but he recognized Don and Brenda and gave them huge smiles and "talked" to them. Going thru the food line was a bit awkward carrying Nathan but we managed and thanks to Brenda for helping me scoop food on my plate I survived. I wish I would have took a picture of Nathan shoveling mashed potatoes and mac n cheese in he had it everywhere but was a very happy boy.
When the dinner ended it was time for the meeting and electing of new board members. One board member was a founding partner in the Fire Department in 1977 he had been on the board ever since but has decided to step down this year. They had a very nice plaque made for him and the President gave a nice speech. Then they did the elections for the two open spots and I heard it was a very close race between all who ran. As I was sitting there I kept hoping no one would nominate me, well I was wrong wrong wrong! I over heard Don saying something in regards to I would make a good secretary for the Fire Department and the current Secretary was resigning this December. I wasn't sure what to say but inside my mind was yelling no no no won't happen won't do it. However I kept my mouth shut and thought well if its meant to be then it will happen, so I heard this morning I may be the only candidate for the position. The executive board members will be the one to vote in the new secretary and most of them know me and have known me since I was a little girl so my chances of getting it are pretty good. Especially since the Chief is the one who nominated me and I doubt anyone would second guess his opinion on who should take over. I however am a bit terrified as I will have to sit up in front of everyone with the President, Vice President and Treasurer once a month for a one hour meeting. Totally out of my comfort zone but I think I am ready to give it a try. I haven't told Kenny I was nominated yet figured I would wait until I knew who all was running against me. Not sure how happy he will be about it, but he seems to be fine with me volunteering to help with the auctions.
After the dinner and elections we were getting ready to leave and Blake noticed the door to the fire bay was open and he could see the trucks. He immediately asked me if I could take him to look at the trucks, I hesitated and tried getting him to go ask Mark to take him back there and instead Don told him to follow him back there. We spent an hour with Blake and Nathan back there with Blake asking tons of questions and sitting in every spot on all 5 trucks and then climbing up in the back of most of them. When Don told Blake that his mommy was a fire fighter Blake looked puzzled and said no you weren't. I snapped these two pictures with my phone while we were back there.
Here was Blake sitting in one of the bigger trucks pretending to drive. Blake had me climbing up on all the trucks with him asking tons of questions, I had wore my brown dress boots with a 3 inch heel defiantly not the thing to wear to get in and out of trucks.
And I can't leave Nathan out, he crawled all over the fire bay and tried climbing up on all the trucks with his big brother.
We arrived at 6 and was able to get a good seat and save enough seats for the rest of our group. Blake was happy to see Dimisha and they took off playing, Nathan was a little confused by all the people but he recognized Don and Brenda and gave them huge smiles and "talked" to them. Going thru the food line was a bit awkward carrying Nathan but we managed and thanks to Brenda for helping me scoop food on my plate I survived. I wish I would have took a picture of Nathan shoveling mashed potatoes and mac n cheese in he had it everywhere but was a very happy boy.
When the dinner ended it was time for the meeting and electing of new board members. One board member was a founding partner in the Fire Department in 1977 he had been on the board ever since but has decided to step down this year. They had a very nice plaque made for him and the President gave a nice speech. Then they did the elections for the two open spots and I heard it was a very close race between all who ran. As I was sitting there I kept hoping no one would nominate me, well I was wrong wrong wrong! I over heard Don saying something in regards to I would make a good secretary for the Fire Department and the current Secretary was resigning this December. I wasn't sure what to say but inside my mind was yelling no no no won't happen won't do it. However I kept my mouth shut and thought well if its meant to be then it will happen, so I heard this morning I may be the only candidate for the position. The executive board members will be the one to vote in the new secretary and most of them know me and have known me since I was a little girl so my chances of getting it are pretty good. Especially since the Chief is the one who nominated me and I doubt anyone would second guess his opinion on who should take over. I however am a bit terrified as I will have to sit up in front of everyone with the President, Vice President and Treasurer once a month for a one hour meeting. Totally out of my comfort zone but I think I am ready to give it a try. I haven't told Kenny I was nominated yet figured I would wait until I knew who all was running against me. Not sure how happy he will be about it, but he seems to be fine with me volunteering to help with the auctions.
After the dinner and elections we were getting ready to leave and Blake noticed the door to the fire bay was open and he could see the trucks. He immediately asked me if I could take him to look at the trucks, I hesitated and tried getting him to go ask Mark to take him back there and instead Don told him to follow him back there. We spent an hour with Blake and Nathan back there with Blake asking tons of questions and sitting in every spot on all 5 trucks and then climbing up in the back of most of them. When Don told Blake that his mommy was a fire fighter Blake looked puzzled and said no you weren't. I snapped these two pictures with my phone while we were back there.
Halloween 2010
Halloween weekend was a very very busy long weekend for me. Friday Blake had his party at school and thanks to Ashley being the great person she is she snapped this picture of Blake at the party.
Friday night the kids stayed with my in-laws since Kenny and I had to be up super early the next morning. I had to arrive at the Fire House to load up for the auction at 6:30am! Way to early to be out doing something on a Saturday morning. I worked at the auction until 6pm when I left to pick up our babysitter Ashlyne and then to pick up the boys for a Halloween Party at the Fire House.
Here is Blake at the party with two of his friends Elizabeth and Cadey. They have been around each other since they were born. Blake sits next to Elizabeth in class and from what the teacher says they are quite the buddies.
And here is Nathan and our babysitter Ashylne. It was the first time she watched both boys, but she did great and everyone was still happy when I returned home Sunday afternoon.
Sunday morning I had to get up early once again and be at the Fire House to reload everything and work the second day of the auction. Everyone was moody on edge and down right grumpy. So I stayed to myself and kept out of of the arguments. Returned home at 5 to get the kids ready for trick or treating. Lucky for me Blake is quite satisfied with going to grandparents houses, so we went to his Great Grandparents house, then to my parents house and then to Dwayne and Connie's.
Here is Nathan at our first stop, he was happy to get there as he hasn't seen his great grandparents in a couple weeks.
Blake trying to decide what candy he wanted and of course since he is the only great grandson and I am the only granddaughter we ended up with the whole bowl of candy!
And this was the face Nathan made when it was time to leave Connie and Dwayne's. He hasn't made this face again, I think he missed them and wanted to stay and play longer.
I took Ashylne home and finally got the kids home and in bed around 9, was a very long weekend but it was a good weekend. We now have a new sitter that loves the boys and has the energy to keep up with them all day. I was almost happy to return to work on Monday to rest!
Sunday morning I had to get up early once again and be at the Fire House to reload everything and work the second day of the auction. Everyone was moody on edge and down right grumpy. So I stayed to myself and kept out of of the arguments. Returned home at 5 to get the kids ready for trick or treating. Lucky for me Blake is quite satisfied with going to grandparents houses, so we went to his Great Grandparents house, then to my parents house and then to Dwayne and Connie's.
I took Ashylne home and finally got the kids home and in bed around 9, was a very long weekend but it was a good weekend. We now have a new sitter that loves the boys and has the energy to keep up with them all day. I was almost happy to return to work on Monday to rest!
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