Babysitting

Melissa and Jamie needed to go talk with their builder, so I was recruited to babysit for a couple of hours.

I remember when my kids were young and my mother would take them to the lake. She had all these games and activities to keep them busy. So I decided to take a painting kit so Violet and Lincoln would have something different to do.

Violet is very neat and precise in her painting. Lincoln was more interested in getting the paint on his shirt and hands than on his refrigerator magnet. The painting didn't take quite as long as I anticipated, so we played Barbies, iPad games, trains and ball. Then we spent the next 30 minutes watching out the window for Melissa and Jamie to come home. Next time I need to take more than one project. I was pooped!

Touch A Truck

The City of Independence must be running out of things to draw attention to the city. We went to Touch a Truck where kids could climb on trucks, tractors and motorcycles, honk horns and learn about different vehicles in the city. This has been going on for 11 years, so there must be some entertainment value here.

Violet started out climbing onto a boat. Her favorite part was swinging around on the seat that was much too high for her to climb on.

Lincoln posed with the fire dog.

And they both enjoyed sitting in the back of the police car. Let's hope they don't get used to that!

Our favorite truck was the ice cream truck. Violet was trying to be silly with her face covered in ice cream. But towards the end of our visit, that's about the only way I could get her to pose for a picture.

Jamie's 5 Second of Fame

I received a text message from Jamie telling me he was going to be interviewed for Channel 9 news. I don't usually watch the news but every time during the day that the news was on, I was focused on watching for the interview. Not at noon, not at 4:00 but on the 5:00 news there was mention of interviewing a student for the water rescue program.

Jamie is learning to do swift water rescue. This is a part of technical rescue dealing in white water river conditions. Due to the added pressure of moving water, swift water rescue involves the use of specially trained personnel, ropes and mechanical advantage systems that are often much more robust than those used in standard rope rescue. The main goal is to use or deflect the water's power to assist in the rescue of people trying to overcome the power of the water. So far he's practiced in the Missouri river (at night) and World's of Fun. The interview was conducted at World's of Fun using their white water river attraction. His actual time on air was only 5 seconds but it's exciting to say that someone on TV is related to you. Way to go Jamie!

Violet Turns 4-1/2 Years Old

Every day is a chance to celebrate something.

While Violet was at Disney, she celebrated turning 4-1/2 years old. Going to Disney your 4 year, 6 month birthday? I wonder what she'll get when she turns 5!

Violet & Lincoln go to Disney

The aftermath of hurricane Irma wasn't going to stop Violet and Lincoln from going to Disney just days after the storm.

Violet was up bright and early on the day of departure ready to go see her favorite Disney characters.

While I was stuck at home watching Lola and Khloe. As soon as I dropped the Taylors off at the airport, they began to pout.

The airport in Orlando is just the start of a magical adventure.

Violet got to experience the true meaning of the word princess. She had her hair and makeup done.

Then posed for pictures with many of the Disney princesses.

Lincoln was totally awed by the magic of Disney. Quite a bit bigger than his frequent trips to Worlds of Fun.

Violet even got to have breakfast with the Disney characters. I asked her to bring me a shirt that said "Ma is Goofy" but she said Goofy was a boy and I needed a shirt that said "Ma is Daisy". The child doesn't quite understand sarcasm yet!

Melissa and Jamie say they're taking the kids to Disney but secretly I think they enjoy it more than Violet and Lincoln.

Lincoln wasn't with us when we made our first trip to Disney and we each got a monogrammed hat. So this was his trip to get his own special hat.

Even though the temperatures were soaring, the Taylors had a very exciting trip to Disney with no after effects from hurricane Irma. Maybe next time they'll let Ma go!

Bathroom Paint Job

It's amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do to a room to make it more modern and bright.

I decided to paint my guest bathroom. It only took me a few hours. I already had new tile floors installed, so the new paint just brought it all together. Slowly but surely, my house is coming into modern day times.

Me vs Hurricane Irma

I can't catch a break. What started as three friends taking an annual trip to Florida ended in an evacuation because of Hurricane Irma.

Never did we think when we met at the airport on Tuesday that by Thursday we'd be stuck in bumper to bumper traffic all the way to Nashville.

We did have one good day with clear skies and ocean breezes. But that was soon to fade when we found out our flight was cancelled and they were closing the hotel. We were literally being kicked out of Florida. Luckily we had a rental car which we hijacked to drive back to Kansas City.

Thinking that the night time would be less crowded, we headed out of town. I was amazed at the bumper to bumper traffic. How many people actually live in Florida? I swear we were all trying to leave at the same time. And God forbid you needed to stop to go to the bathroom. Lines along the freeway were at least 2 miles long just waiting to exit. I've never seen anything like it.

We finally made it to Nashville 14 hours later. We didn't even have the energy to do any sight seeing. We just wanted to go to bed, get up, and head home. We did stop along the way at an antique store thinking that might be fun. I don't even remember the name of the city but it was so small. There were a few antique stores but most of them were going out of business. They were so desperate to get rid of things, they were literally giving stuff away. I got a spatula...for FREE!

Words of advice. If you're ever in a place where they say there's a "possible" evacuation. Leave immediately. Otherwise you'll be searching the store shelves for bottled water, standing in line to get 6 gallons of gas and desperately searching for at least one fast food restaurant that wasn't closed.