Look out Florida - Here we come!

"But we're too excited to sleep!" So Kevin and I were up at 3:15 (yes, that's am) finalizing the packing, and pulling out of the driveway by 4:00. Back in the driveway by 4:06 for something I forgot, and then on our way again. Hopefully anything else forgotten can be purchased at Walmart.

Not sure how many stops we made, but we were actually in good spirits by the time we reached Pensacola at 1:30. The kids held up a lot better than anticipated, especially since none of them went back to sleep once we left....ever. Even Brady was hanging tough - although he was getting fussy about the time we got there.

We checked in and then took in the mall and had dinner. Luckily our hotel has an indoor pool, I took them down there and let them burn off some pent up energy from the long ride. Now it is 7:30, but feels like 10:30. Kids are all sprawled out everywhere in various stages of sleep. Tomorrow we will get up early and hit it again. Look out Orlando!

Thanksgiving

We were very thankful to have all our children with us to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. We feel blessed to have such beautiful, healthy children so full of life. Looking forward to our trip to Orlando in December....5 kids in a minvan for 16 hours....let the fun begin!

Newest Family Member

Yes, it is official - we have lost our minds! As if a 15 month old baby and 4 other children were not enough, we now have a 3 month old puppy. He is a miniature long haired daschund named Riley. That was the one name the kids came up with that we felt we could live with. You want some true entertainment?? Let kids brainstorm names for a pet....better than a six pack and wrestling anyday.

In all honesty, this puppy is a good addition to our family. He has the best personality and loves the kids. He plays until he drops, and then he is a cuddler....and once he is out....he is OUT (as you can see in the picture).

The Cat Story

Poor Calvin.....that's the first thing that comes to mind. But this is a story that is so incredible, it has to be told.

For about a month now we have been trying to find a new home for Calvin. Since the arrival of Brady, we have not been able to give Calvin the attention he needs, and his behavior lately reinforces this (pooping on the carpet, keeping us up at night 'howling', etc). We were unable to find any suckers....uhhh, I mean takers, so we decided to take him back to Petsmart (where he was originally adopted). So, about two weeks ago I toted Calvin for his farewell ride up to Petsmart. About 1.5 hours later I am on my way back home.....with Calvin. Apparantly the lady at Petsmart gave us the wrong information about when the adoption folks would be there. So Calvin remained ours on thin ice. Since our schedule was crazy for the next couple of weeks, we decided we would take Calvin back to Petsmart on Saturday the 15th.

Fast forward about a week and a half now. Kevin comes home from the airport around 1:30 am, opened the garage door and out darts Calvin. Being too tired to chase him, he made the executive decision that Calvin would enjoy a night in the wild. The next morning we could not find Calvin, but made sure we left plenty of food and water for him. We just assumed that he was out playing and would be back home soon. We didn't think twice about it and left. Again, this was Thursday morning.

Friday morning, after the funeral, we were walking back to the truck when the kids began discussing the fact that there was a cat sitting under our truck. We look under the truck to see, and yes, it was Calvin! Poor tired, filthy, scared, Calvin. We could not believe what we were seeing. This poor cat had apparently crawled up in the truck somewhere (best guess is the wheel well where the spare tire is kept) and had the ride of his life! Not only had he survived (unhurt), but had made the 250+ mile trip from Magnolia to Corpus - stopping in Refugio to eat lunch...stopping at Grandma and Grandpa Mericles to visit...3 hours at the funeral home for the viewing...dinner at Chili's...all night at the hotel...etc. And where does he choose to make his grand appearance? The cemetary, sometime during the service. Talk about a sign from God. We decided that this meant Calvin was destined to be our cat...whether we wanted him, or not.

He may have had a rough and scary ride down there, but he definitely earned his posh ride back home...a cushy pillow on the floorboard of the truck...with lots of attention from the kids. I called Petsmart to schedule his beauty treatment to scrub the grease off of him, bout could not get him in for a couple of days, so Kevin and I gave him a bath ourselves. Lucky for us, he really is a sweet cat with a good disposition - otherwise we would be in bad shape about now. I will post a couple of pictures to show how pitiful he looked after his bath. -- JM

Trip to Corpus

We are very sad to say that Mamaw passed away this past Monday, April 10th. She lived to be a grand 82 years old (remaining young at heart). We loved her very much and she will definitely be missed. We found out on Tuesday, the 11th and I had to call Kevin and give him the bad news on our anniversary. He was in Lincolnshire for work, and was supposed to come home Friday evening. He managed to get a flight home Wednesday evening, and got in about 1:30 am Thursday morning. We loaded up (just like the Beverly Hillbillies) Thursday morning, and about 9:00 am left for Corpus. Since just about everything we do ends up including a good story, this trip was no different.

The kids were pretty good on the way there, just full of questions (particularly Emma)...."Are we going to stay in a hotel?...What floor is our hotel room going to be on?...Who is going to be there?...Are we going to have dinner in the hotel?..." Obviously all legitimate concerns for any inquisitive 5 year old mind. When we stopped in Refugio for lunch at Whataburger, I told Emma she had about 5 minutes to ask all the questions she could think of, and I would answer them, but then we were going to have a "break" from questions for the remainder of the drive. Remarkably, she could not think of anymore. Funny part about this story is the 2 men sitting in the booth next to us. There were no other tables large enough to accommodate our crew, so they were stuck sitting by us - although I noticed they finished their lunch in a hurry! =)

Later that evening at the funeral home, we were privileged to be part of what soon became a family reunion of sorts. I was introduced to a cousin who looked at me and asked if we had stopped for lunch at Whataburger today. I was a little hesitant to respond, quickly running through my mind what catastrophies may have occurred there...no spilled drinks this time...no food fights...no screaming (by us or them)..."Yes, that was us"! Ironically enough, this was one of the men sitting in the booth by us (who had quickly left once we got there). He not only remembered seeing us, but commented on how well behaved our kids were. I thought he was mistaken (ha ha), but then he also mentioned the conversation we had about the 5 minute allotment for questions. That was when I knew it was definitely us he was talking about. Funny how small the world can be sometimes. As it turns out, Kevin learned his cousin Dennis and his friend Richard did not live too far from us. Hopefully this is one of several family members we can keep in touch with on an ongoing basis. -- JM

First Post!

Wohoo!