At Grandma's house

After Momo's house, we stopped by Grandma's house. We are leaving to go to Alabama early in the morning. This was taken just after we finished dinner while I was getting everything ready to go back in the car. I am slowly collecting things as we go. So far we can still fit everything in the car, but I'm only half-way done with the trip.

Going to Charles Towne Landing

Today we went to Charles Towne Landing. We didn't get there until about 3:15, so we didn't have a lot of time to wander around. We basically just went to see the animals and then it was time to go home.

It wasn't too cold, but we still put the kids jackets on because we were going to be out there for a few hours.

Most of the time Kaitlyn was in her stroller being pushed by Grandma, but I was able to steal her away for a little while and took a picture of it.

Grandma was the only one allowed to push her!

This was in the Visitor's Center before we started. I don't remember this place, but a lot of it has changed since 1999.

When we got the the bathrooms, Kaitlyn couldn't pass it up. She likes to go the bathroom's just to see what they look like.

Me and Austin waited outside.

I still like the Otter's the best, but I only saw one.

Getting the windows tinted

I looked up a tint guy in the Yellow Pages, when I got the Summerville, and found a Mobile Tint guy that would come to the house. He tinted all the windows on the car in about 2 hours and did a pretty good job. I checked it a few hours after and the back window still has some bubbles at the top, but they are going away as it drys, but it does have a nationwide lifetime warranty so it doesn't really matter. If it "breaks," they will fix it. I'm a big believer in before and after pictures, so that's what I did.

  

At Momo's House

The first stop on our trip was to Momo's house. She had just bought the drum set for Guitar Hero and Austin and mary were playing with the box.

After a while he decided he didn't like it anymore and wanted out.

Kaitlyn got her ear's pierced (again)

Back when Kaitlyn was two years old, she wanted to get her ear's pierced. Carintha took the girls to get them done. They did one ear at a time, and it took them about 45 minutes to get Kaitlyn to let them pierce the second ear. She wouldn't let anyone come close to her ears to turn them because she was afraid it would hurt. Some days it was even hard to get her to let you brush her hair. Eventually we had to just pull the ear rings out and let the hole grow up. So yesterday, I was just joking with her and asked if she wanted to get her ear's pierced again. She said she wanted to. So while Carintha and the girls were at the mall, they stopped by Claire's and got Kaitlyn's ears pierced. She didn't fight or squirm. She didn't even cry this time. And it has been no problem cleaning and turning them.

Carintha's Car

The last time we bought Carintha a vehicle, we decided that it was going to be my turn next time. But, I gave in and bought her something smaller to drive everyday in order to save on gas. The next one is going to be mine though.

My (short) trip to Vermont

Yesterday, me and Erik went up to Vermont to pick up a '55 Jeep that he bought. When we got off the interstate I looked over and saw a bunch of outhouses in an empty field. Erik, being from Maine, proceeded to tell me they were not outhouses, but ice shanties on a lake. You don't see that too much back home, so I made him take a picture so I could post it. I wanted to get a picture of the "moose crossing" signs, but we were too slow to get the camera out, and I wasn't stopping. We left about 1 pm and I didn't get home until about midnight, after dropping it off at his house and driving home. I love road trips, and now I can say I've been to Vermont. Now I've been to every state in New England.....at least for a few hours anyway.

Read the User's Manual

OK. For the last couple of months I've been comparing my TV to my friends and have been a little dis-satisfied with the quality of picture. Today I was looking at the owner's manual and it says specifically, if you noticed the picture darken, consult a TV repair man to clean the interior. Well, I'm not going to call someone to come fix my TV, so I took the back off to see what I could do. I've vacuumed it out before, but this time I noticed something else. Mostly the huge amount of dust on the projector len's. I was very careful and vacuumed the inside and wiped off the lens. Huge difference. I usually can't stand to watch TV with the living room curtains open, but now I can see the TV. It's amazing what you can do when you read the manual!

Carintha's accident

Yesterday, Feb 4th, 2009, Carintha came on base to take Austin the see the doc. She was going to drop Kaitlyn off with me at the office and then pick her up after the appointment. She was on her way out of the parking lot waiting to pull out. I was headed into the building, and then I heard a crash. The first thing that came to my mind was....was that her. I didn't see it. All I heard was the noise. By the time I looked over, everyone had stopped. Then I saw her backing up. I went over to see if everything was okay. You couldn't even tell she had hit anything. I can't say the same about the little car she ran into. The rear passenger's side door and rear quarter-panel got dented pretty good. But, after she called the insurance company, they said that since we've had them for almost 10 years and never filled a claim, this one wouldn't change anything. She does have to go see Judge Judy on base about her ticket though. (I forgot, she was in the Expedition, not the Fusion. Even better.)

Carintha's 31st Birthday

Carintha's 31st Birthday was yesterday. She had to work and didn't get home until after 5, so she took the girls to get pizza and we did presents and cake after. I got her the car for her birthday, and she almost killed me when I said I wasn't going to give her the keys until her birthday. Me and Morgan went out after she got out of school to get Carintha a couple of other things.

Morgan made her a couple of "coupons" to use to get things, like time to herself among other things.

Morgan also gave her a candy bar that she bought at daycare, a candle that she got from Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and a ticket to a East Lyme High School basketball game. Not sure where that come from.

Kaitlyn made her a card at daycare, but she forgot to bring it home.

I got her one of those massage things that you put in the chair. We were fighting over who was going to use it first. I thought I should get to use it so I could see if it worked like the one in the store. I lost though.

Then, after the girls got ready for bed, we did cake and ice cream. Probably not the best time to give them sugar, but it all worked out.