Mom2my4

Or This?

万春英

Read and Write?

Can you write this?

龙美莎

Snow Piles and Forts

   I often tell my Virgina friends and students about the snow "when I was little." I can remember being at Netherwood Elementary in New York. We would all race outside to the playground and blacktop area... no matter what the weather! (I can't remember ever having indoor recess except when it rained.) After a snow storm and for the next week or two, there would be huge piles of snow. The piles were pushed off the blacktop and roads and piled along the blacktop on the playground. We would race to the top to be the King of the Mountain. We would climb behind them and build forts and tunnels in the huge mounds of snow! We got water and poured in on our creations hoping that the snow would turn to ice and make our forts strong.

   Speaking as a teacher today, I cannot believe that we were allowed to do this! The teachers couldn't see us behind and in the huge snow piles. What would happen if one of the forts collapsed? I didn't worry back then and apparently neither did the teachers. We played and played.

  Well, it has been soooo long since I had seen any snow piles that big. I was beginning to think that they were one of those imaginary things from childhood. Well fear not.... they exist! I was so glad to see the huge piles in NY. The girls climbed all over those piles. Kelsey slid down and raced to the top.

   So here are some pictures. I am going to show my class on Monday just so they don't think I made it up!

Traveling Part 2

   We got all strapped in and situated in Chuck's expedition for our trip north. The GPS was telling us we would be there by 4:35 PM. We start down the road and the sun is bright. Well, Rachel is very sensitive to a lot of things, light being one of them. She starts screaming that she is hot, and she needs glasses.(Translation: The sun is in her eyes.) We only have one pair of glasses between the four of us. So we decide since we have not left Waldorf, Maryland yet, we will stop. Oops! No sunglasses in WaWa or 7-11. I know we should tell Rachel to tough it out, but we are still trying to have a great trip. She can scream forever, so it is just easier to buy a cheap pair of sunglasses. We swing into the Target parking lot, and I run in to get two pairs of sunglasses. Success! They settle in to watch Shrek 2. (Did I mention that they already watched that the night before?) 10 minutes later... "POTTY". OK, we are still happy people. We are not in any hurry and Thanksgiving wasn't until the next day. We stop and us the bathroom.  30 minutes later.... "I still have to go. This time I have to go poop!" Well, thanks for telling us. She was so gassy that we didn't dare not stop. We start looking for a rest stop. No rest stop, no McDonald's ... nothing! Finally I see a sign that says Visitor's Center. Great! Stop! Duh... I guess I didn't read too closely. It was a visitor's center for Annapolis Naval Center. We don't see any restaurants, so we click on the GPS to find a McDonald's. Now us and a GPS is a whole story in itself! Suffice it to say, we saw the McDonald's on the left, but the GPS said to turn right. OK.. we are new to this, so Chuck turns right. He figures we must not be able to make a left at that intersection. It winds us around a road or two and takes us into an elementary school parking lot! What??? Only we can get turned around with a GPS!

    We finally go in the McDonald's and we are off. I have turned around in the seat and handed them a ton of toys, while Shrek is playing. They decide they want Kai Lan, so OK. I put the DVD in. They are singing and having a good time when 20 minutes later they want Shrek 2 again! (We end up watching Shrek 3 times  on the way up and 3 times on the way back!)

    It's lunch time and we stop for lunch at a rest stop and use the potty on the way in and the way out. We continue on our way with toys and videos and no naps in sight! They end up sleeping a bit. Kelsey slept for 20 minutes, and Rachel slept for 30 minutes. I had told Chuck not to tell them where we were going. He said they could handle it. So 2 days before we left Virginia, he told them they were going to a hotel and then to Aunt Beth's. The hotel part was now over, so every 5 minutes they said... "I want Aunt Beth!" I grinned sweetly at Chuck every time they said this, because he had to admit that I was right.

  My memory is a little cluttered. That night was so long! We stopped many times to go to the bathroom and stretch our legs. We get about 75 miles from Beth's house and hit snow! Not just snow, but lake effect snow from the Great Lakes! It is only snowing a little, so we press on. (I was raised in New York, so I am used to snow. Although, I have been in Virginia for 15 years. Chuck says he is fine driving because he has visited his sister many times in the snow.)

   We get 35 miles from her house (20 more on the interstate and 15 more on back roads). The traffic is crawling. We are doing about 25 miles per hour, which is fine. Most of the rest of the traffic is going that slow. (...except of course big trucks which are going too fast!) We see a deer on the side of the road. A couple of miles later a deer jumps out in front of the car ahead of us. The car swerves. We fishtail a little, but we are OK. We press onward. We pass 4 or 5 cars off the road. There is no place to stop. People think they know New York state. Well, let me tell you there are places in NY where you are in the middle of nowhere!

   10 miles until we get off the interstate. All of a sudden out of the blue, we start to spin. There is a car right behind us. (Chuck had just commented that they guy was following too closely.) I can see everything in slow motion. Chuck says to hang on, I turn my body backwards with my hands reached out to both girls. (... a lot of good that would have done.) The girls are watching Shrek! We spin into the other lane of traffic and our tail end slides back towards the guardrail. Suddenly, we stop. The car behind us has managed to stop, but now cars are coming from behind him. They also manage to stop. Chuck says that he is glad we didn't hit the guardrail or go down the embankment. We are both shaking. (Miracle... I who is usually emotional was not crying.) Chuck slowly pulls us back on the road and we continue on at 25 miles an hour to the Watertown exit. We get off there and check into a hotel!!!(Yes, we were only 15 miles from Beth's, but some roads were closed and we were a little freaked out!)

   When we got to the hotel it was after 9 PM (so much for 4:35). We called his sister and told her we were staying in a hotel. Then we ordered pizza! Yes, in upstate NY they deliver pizza in that kind of weather!

    (My New York family will probably get a blast out of the fact I was taking pictures of snow! I know... like a tourist. :-) But it had been a long time and the girls were so excited! Plus I  did it for my bloggy friends. :-)

Our Trip : Part 1

  OK... since so many people have asked. Here is the story of our trip! We live in southern Virginia. Chuck's sister lives in northern New York (near Canada). His sister Beth comes to visit us often, and we travel to southern New York to see my (Karen's) family--about 4 hours from Beth. We have not been to Beth's house in quite awhile. Chuck wanted to see her for Thanksgiving. This after... I said we were NOT traveling anywhere until the girls were 10! I tried getting him to invite Beth down, but ended up giving in to the trip. I love to see and visit with my sister-in-law and her family. The only downside was the DRIVE.

   We left on Tuesday night and drove to Maryland. Daniel and Morgan were going to spend Thanksgiving with their dad and step-mom. We made in to Maryland with just a few incidents and a couple of potty stops. Morgan looses her patience after sitting between two cranky girls for 3 hours. She didn't want to change seats with Daniel because then she wouldn't be able to see the video. (..or so she claims..) Kelsey and Rachel are telling Morgan to keep her hands off their car seats, not to lean on them, etc. Of course, Morgan has to lean one way or the other. Oh yes, and we had a few cries of "Stop looking at me!!" Yes, they have learned to annoy each other by looking at the other child. (Yes, that is Kelsey and Rachel doing that..)

   We stay overnight in a hotel. We have only traveled 3 hours, but it was night time and a good spot to meet John.

   One king bed and 4 of us....hmm... it should be big enough! The girls toss and turn in a ho-towel as they call it. Chuck has been wonderful up to this point. He is determined to keep his sense of humor and for us all to have a great vacation. I am also determined to smile because I know once we get to Beth's house, we will have lots of fun. Plus Beth and I have Black Friday shopping planned!

   It is usually 11 hours to Beth's house depending on the traffic. Our new GPS said when we left Maryland, we should be there by 4:35 in the afternoon. Great.... hmm.... we made it there after 9 PM at night!!!

...stay tuned for part 2

Good News for Lydia's Healing!

It looks like good news for Lydia and her family! Her biological family is going to help!

Click here to see Monica's site (Lydia's mom). http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/lydialimeieikomiyashita

Click here to read the article in the paper. http://www.ohio.com/news/top_stories/35273589.html

Home!

We are home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Safe and Sound

My cousins Jim and Joy are safe! They are now in a different part of India!

OK, Jim and Joy.... I want pictures too!

More Snow Pictures!

Of All Things!

Ok... I have huge stories to tell of our LONG trip. However.... I packed my camera cord, 2 cell phone chargers, my Kindle charger, and both GPS chargers. I can't find my computer charger!! Duh... it has to be here somewhere, but for now I am going to shut down and save batteries.

We are all fine. Daniel and Morgan are in Maryland. The rest of us are in a hotel 30 minutes from Chuck's sister, Beth. We couldn't drive any further.

Catch us on cell phone!

(PS My cousin Jimmy and his wife Joy are in India. We are thinking they are a little further away from the attacks. But we are still waiting to hear from them!!)

Here's a pic of Jim and Joy...