...it's back to school today!
Wes is hopefully enjoying his first full day of first grade. Kindergarten for him last year was half day, so he is taking a big step today by going to full day. He will be eating lunch as school, having recess on the "big playground" and riding the bus home.
He was very excited about school today. I'm happy that he likes school and doesn't seem to get stressed about new things like this. I can't wait to hear how the day went for him.
On a mom note...I'm a bit sad about his being gone all day. While the peace is sure nice and Connor is loving it..it's just hard to believe that my little boy is old enough to be at school all day. Where has the time gone? I don't want him to grow up just yet.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
It's Official...
...football has begun.
Chris had his first of a series of officials football meetings last night and tonight is his first game to ref. Even though he says, "It's just a scrimmage"...it's the first of the high school football season. I have to get my game back and start the boys and my Friday night rituals!
And something else football season means....school starts for Wes next week. Thank goodness. I didn't think I was going to make it another week with a bored first grader. He is excited to go back to school. Good for him and even better for me. Connor will start pre-school a couple of weeks later.
Chris had his first of a series of officials football meetings last night and tonight is his first game to ref. Even though he says, "It's just a scrimmage"...it's the first of the high school football season. I have to get my game back and start the boys and my Friday night rituals!
And something else football season means....school starts for Wes next week. Thank goodness. I didn't think I was going to make it another week with a bored first grader. He is excited to go back to school. Good for him and even better for me. Connor will start pre-school a couple of weeks later.
Friday, August 08, 2008
ADT update
Props to ADT. I must admit that I didn't expect much to happen with ADT. I was wrong. It was nice that they took me seriously and decided it was worth the time to fix things at our house.
A repair tech was here earlier and replaced the basement fire detector. While here he also looked at and changed batteries in another problem area in our house.
Thank you ADT for good customer service and hopefully fixing our fire alarm problem.
A repair tech was here earlier and replaced the basement fire detector. While here he also looked at and changed batteries in another problem area in our house.
Thank you ADT for good customer service and hopefully fixing our fire alarm problem.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Fire ADT?
It happened again at 2:45 last night. It has probably happened, with us at home, 3 other times and always at night. Every time it happens I swear it takes a couple of years off our lives.
You are wondering what IT is, aren't you? Our very loud, very intense, ADT fire alarm went off again at 2:45 in the morning. This happens from time to time and there is no logical reason for it...according to ADT. It is terrifying to wake from a dead sleep to a deafening alarm and a male voice blaring "FIRE, FIRE, LEAVE IMMEDIATELY". And, of course there is no fire - thankfully! Another scary part of this is that our boys do not wake up. I know they are sound sleepers...but it is mind boggling to me they can't hear it. I believe the neighbors could hear it.
Chris and I bolted out of bed. I failed to get the alarm turned off upstairs during my heart attack and Chris ran downstairs to turn it off. We have this routine down now. I grab the phone because ADT will be calling in seconds from when it goes off to decide if they need to stop the firetruck.
Yes, a firetruck is deployed automatically unless ADT tells the fire department it is a false alarm. We have been out of town when this has happened and the firetruck came to our house. We have also been home when this has happened and somehow missed the call from ADT only for me to have to greet the firemen at our front door in the middle of the night. That was embarrassing. It NEVER happens during the day, of course.
You can see that that this is highly frustrating. I've tried to deal with ADT about it and I refuse to pay for a service call to fix their problem. Last I talked with them the basement fire detector (which is always the one with the problem) had been put on stand-by to not do this, but obviously something has changed.
Now here is our dilemma. We keep talking about firing ADT. We hardly ever use the home security part. However, I do feel safe having the fire service (even if it doesn't seem to properly work) because it would definitely protect our house if we ever actually had a fire. Hell, firetrucks have been out to our house twice. The system also has a dinger on the doors whenever a main door is opened. That is my favorite feature. I know if the boys have gone in or out and it really helps to keep an eye on them. No one can get in without me knowing it.
All that being said, the heart attacks in the middle of the night are getting old. We can never get back to sleep because it is just terrifying to wake up like that. I could only think last night after going back to bed what could have happened and I really never got back to sleep. How would we have gotten out, would we have been able to get out the main floor, would we have to use the fire ladder....aghhhhh.
So, we don't know what to do. I'm going to call ADT back again today and "talk" about last night...but I don't think anything will come of it. Anyone out there had this problem?
You are wondering what IT is, aren't you? Our very loud, very intense, ADT fire alarm went off again at 2:45 in the morning. This happens from time to time and there is no logical reason for it...according to ADT. It is terrifying to wake from a dead sleep to a deafening alarm and a male voice blaring "FIRE, FIRE, LEAVE IMMEDIATELY". And, of course there is no fire - thankfully! Another scary part of this is that our boys do not wake up. I know they are sound sleepers...but it is mind boggling to me they can't hear it. I believe the neighbors could hear it.
Chris and I bolted out of bed. I failed to get the alarm turned off upstairs during my heart attack and Chris ran downstairs to turn it off. We have this routine down now. I grab the phone because ADT will be calling in seconds from when it goes off to decide if they need to stop the firetruck.
Yes, a firetruck is deployed automatically unless ADT tells the fire department it is a false alarm. We have been out of town when this has happened and the firetruck came to our house. We have also been home when this has happened and somehow missed the call from ADT only for me to have to greet the firemen at our front door in the middle of the night. That was embarrassing. It NEVER happens during the day, of course.
You can see that that this is highly frustrating. I've tried to deal with ADT about it and I refuse to pay for a service call to fix their problem. Last I talked with them the basement fire detector (which is always the one with the problem) had been put on stand-by to not do this, but obviously something has changed.
Now here is our dilemma. We keep talking about firing ADT. We hardly ever use the home security part. However, I do feel safe having the fire service (even if it doesn't seem to properly work) because it would definitely protect our house if we ever actually had a fire. Hell, firetrucks have been out to our house twice. The system also has a dinger on the doors whenever a main door is opened. That is my favorite feature. I know if the boys have gone in or out and it really helps to keep an eye on them. No one can get in without me knowing it.
All that being said, the heart attacks in the middle of the night are getting old. We can never get back to sleep because it is just terrifying to wake up like that. I could only think last night after going back to bed what could have happened and I really never got back to sleep. How would we have gotten out, would we have been able to get out the main floor, would we have to use the fire ladder....aghhhhh.
So, we don't know what to do. I'm going to call ADT back again today and "talk" about last night...but I don't think anything will come of it. Anyone out there had this problem?
Monday, August 04, 2008
Girls Weekend Revisited
We had a great weekend. I would recommend this trip to anyone looking for a quick getaway, families included. We loaded up the car and left around 5:00 on Friday and it only took us about 2.5 hours to get to South Haven, Mi. We went to our camp ground, which I will give high points too.
South Haven Family Campground was easy to find and almost brand new. Any concern I had about the facility being clean were quickly gone. Our cabin was just as cute as could be and very clean. It had two beds that could sleep 4 on the "main" level and then a loft that could also sleep children. Plus, it had AC or heat, if you were there in the winter. Directly across from us were the bathroom facilities and they were also very clean and had individual showers with doors that you could lock, a bonus.
We had some very interesting neighbors. Let me just say that they provided lots of entertainment for us while we were sitting out in the evenings. I will say no more! They informed us once (and I think they thought we were lesbians) that we were the quietest neighbors they have ever had. I don't think they thought it was a compliment, even though I took it that way.
We spent Saturday making our way from South Haven, to Saugatuck and then to New Douglas. Each town had lots of fun shops, cool places to eat on the water, beaches, and bonus, wine tasting shops.
We made our way to only one winery on Saturday and that was Fenn Valley. We were there with less than a half hour before their closing. That wasn't a problem, but the ladies behind the counter serving us were grumpy. They hardly even conversed with us. Which, isn't generally the way wine tasting works.
We had a great time in the tasting room for Tabor Hill Winery located in Saugatuck. The gentleman that helped us spent lots of time with us and answered lots of questions. Plus he carded us...that made our day!
While in New Douglas on Saturday we came across a little wine tasting room called Corkscrew. They make their own wine from purchased grape juice. We were the only two people in the shop and the gentlemen there spent lots of time with us explaining how certain wines are made. He was lots of fun!
Sunday we packed up and headed out to roam around the Benton Harbor area. I think we actually ended up in St. Joseph. We lucked out and found a large antique show going on. That was interesting to check out. We went through a few shops and then headed out to find a few more wineries in the area. Along the way we came across the town of Coloma. The Glad Peach Festival was going on, who knew?
We checked out the Glad Peach Fest and then headed to the Karma Vista Winery. Karma Vista had very nice views perched on top of a big hill. We enjoyed tasting there. There was an expensive painting there that I just loved. Had I known at the time that my husband, back home taking care of the boys, had purchased himself a new toy (a Play Station 3) I may have pulled the trigger on that painting. Probably best for our budget that I didn't know!
Our last winery of the trip was Contessa Wine Cellars. Contessa wasn't there. Just two odd girls who weren't very talkative. They did have a cat, but that was about the coolest part of their place.
We had a fun time. I ended up buying a lot of wine, local fruit, and a new purse! It was relaxing and as always, full of laughs with Heather around. We get in so much trouble together. Thank you to Chris for taking care of the boys this weekend, I couldn't have gone without him.
If you are interested in visiting any of these places check out the following:
www.southhavenfamilycg.com
www.karmavista.com
www.taborhill.com
www.miwinetrail.com
South Haven Family Campground was easy to find and almost brand new. Any concern I had about the facility being clean were quickly gone. Our cabin was just as cute as could be and very clean. It had two beds that could sleep 4 on the "main" level and then a loft that could also sleep children. Plus, it had AC or heat, if you were there in the winter. Directly across from us were the bathroom facilities and they were also very clean and had individual showers with doors that you could lock, a bonus.
We had some very interesting neighbors. Let me just say that they provided lots of entertainment for us while we were sitting out in the evenings. I will say no more! They informed us once (and I think they thought we were lesbians) that we were the quietest neighbors they have ever had. I don't think they thought it was a compliment, even though I took it that way.
We spent Saturday making our way from South Haven, to Saugatuck and then to New Douglas. Each town had lots of fun shops, cool places to eat on the water, beaches, and bonus, wine tasting shops.
We made our way to only one winery on Saturday and that was Fenn Valley. We were there with less than a half hour before their closing. That wasn't a problem, but the ladies behind the counter serving us were grumpy. They hardly even conversed with us. Which, isn't generally the way wine tasting works.
We had a great time in the tasting room for Tabor Hill Winery located in Saugatuck. The gentleman that helped us spent lots of time with us and answered lots of questions. Plus he carded us...that made our day!
While in New Douglas on Saturday we came across a little wine tasting room called Corkscrew. They make their own wine from purchased grape juice. We were the only two people in the shop and the gentlemen there spent lots of time with us explaining how certain wines are made. He was lots of fun!
Sunday we packed up and headed out to roam around the Benton Harbor area. I think we actually ended up in St. Joseph. We lucked out and found a large antique show going on. That was interesting to check out. We went through a few shops and then headed out to find a few more wineries in the area. Along the way we came across the town of Coloma. The Glad Peach Festival was going on, who knew?
We checked out the Glad Peach Fest and then headed to the Karma Vista Winery. Karma Vista had very nice views perched on top of a big hill. We enjoyed tasting there. There was an expensive painting there that I just loved. Had I known at the time that my husband, back home taking care of the boys, had purchased himself a new toy (a Play Station 3) I may have pulled the trigger on that painting. Probably best for our budget that I didn't know!
Our last winery of the trip was Contessa Wine Cellars. Contessa wasn't there. Just two odd girls who weren't very talkative. They did have a cat, but that was about the coolest part of their place.
We had a fun time. I ended up buying a lot of wine, local fruit, and a new purse! It was relaxing and as always, full of laughs with Heather around. We get in so much trouble together. Thank you to Chris for taking care of the boys this weekend, I couldn't have gone without him.
If you are interested in visiting any of these places check out the following:
www.southhavenfamilycg.com
www.karmavista.com
www.taborhill.com
www.miwinetrail.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)