There's No Place Like Roam

I came home from work to a dead chipmunk in the driveway. I'm unsure of its cause of death, but Jason is on night shift and the trash runs in the morning. I ask Carter and Hunter to deal with it, but they wanted no part, even for a dollar. Graham said "I'll do it!" I fully expected him to back out, but he really didn't hesitate. I did get a 100% price increase after he fully evaluated the situation, but it was totally worth it! ;-) The video is here:  http://youtu.be/Nfa0I0mfB-s

So telecommuters don't get snow days, but I did get an early Valeversary surprise outside my office window. 16 years tomorrow and I swear he ask for the same gift he would have wanted 16 years ago - a gallon of Bondo and a gallon of primer! Ha! LOVE HIM! ~Kay

Graham McKinney is quite the character! Our conversation while we were waiting for the doctor at Graham's 5 year old checkup. Graham: I can't wait until I'm as old as you are. Kay: Why is that? Graham: BECAUSE...I will have my own house and a wife and that will be *AWESOME*! Kay: Oh really?!? Graham: Mom, will you watch my three kids when me and my wife are both at work? If I pay you two dollars and one cent? Kay: Lol...sure! Graham: Do you want to be called a babysitter, or a nanny? Kay: Grandma will be just fine! :-)

On Tuesday, January 28, 2014, we were told by the NWS and local meteorologists that we had a 30% chance of a light dusting of snow. I chose to work from home and got the boys off to school. I started a meeting at 9:00 and noticed that it had started to sprinkle...but was not yet snowing. When my meeting wrapped up at 10:00, I glanced out the window and the ground/road was completely white. It was snowing and it was STICKING. I was surprised that school had not yet cancelled, but I had another meeting at 11:00. I chose to go ahead and pick up Graham. On the way out of the neighborhood my tires spun all the way up the big hill. I was immediately concerned that I may not be able to get back home. Schools announced they were dismissing at 11:00, and I arrived to pick up Graham at 10:30. When we passed the road to the elem/middle schools, I realized that the roads were already blocked with cars who could not make it to the school. Buses were unable to get to the schools.  Graham and I m...

Friday....WHAT.A.DAY! Friday we finally were able to Kayak the Ecofina Creek. 7 miles if smooth paddling that passes 6 beautiful springs. It was a long day and Carter & Graham both ended up in the creek, but I absolutely loved it!

On Wednesday we had a "dry run" on the kayaks, since we plan to have a 3 hour paddle on Friday. We had no problems. Graham & Hunter sat nicely in the boats and Carter was a big help with the paddling.  Later in the afternoon, we hit the pool for a bit and then took out the bikes to get ice cream. That trip was quite comical. Jason & I took turns pushing our bikes and hanging back with Graham. It took much longer than expected, but the ice cream was very yummy! Later that evening, Jason and Hunter fished in the lake, but still no luck! On Thursday there were "double red flags" due to Tropical Storm Andrea. The waves were 5-7 feet high and there is a strong rip tide. So, though we couldn't go into the ocean, we went to the beach to check out the 5-7 foot waves. We were able to see how the ocean comes into the coastal lake, which makes the lake brackish. My friend Laura and her son Lawson came for a visit in the afternoon and we went to the pool and to dinn...

We started off Tuesday with a swim in one of the pools. Sanctuary at Redfish has four pools and is not crowded at all. Everyone at the pools had an entire pool to themselves!  After lunch in the condo we headed to Grayton Beach State Park. We took a hike on a one mile trail through the coastal dunes and around a costal lake (brackish water). You would have thought we forced them to traverse Death Valley, but we all survived! The boys were hoping to see an alligator, but no such luck today. After we cooled off at the hotel, we headed shopping get bike helmets and buy bait for surf fishing. We headed out at sunset and the boys chased fish, crabs and a big crane while Jason fished in the surf and Big Redfish Lake. It was a great day! The boys fell fast asleep in minutes and Jason and I had a few minutes to enjoy the stars, waves crashing and lightning in the distance in peace. :-)