This was posted in the clipper in honor of my Dad. Three years after his death and his life is still touching others! Page 2 follows below.

Scales, Guts and Skin

High five to me!!
I did something I am still having a hard time believing that I did!
I spent Friday fishing with my DH and my neighbor. We caught fish all day, sometimes two at a time. Mostly blue fish and croaker.
I have had a hankering lately for fish tacos. See where this is going??
Saturday I woke early and wondered if my fishing gurus would be available for instruction on how to properly clean and fillet a fish. Then I realized I had the best instructors on the planet and lots of them! YouTube!! (How did we do anything before YouTube??)
Yep! Found specific video for blues and croaker and, with my ever- doubtful husband in tow, I set out on a mission. I removed scales, sliced carefully, laid open, used my flexible fish knife at just the right angle and filleted all those fish. They weren't all perfect by any means, but this was for fish tacos! It didn't have to be perfect and it was a learning experience.
The fish was lightly dusted in House of Autry Seafood Breader and fried to perfection. (I don't fry so this too was a learning experience!) I placed the fish in the bottom of a tortilla and topped with a shredded cabbage and carrot mix, generously used fresh salsa full of cilantro, red onion and lots of tomato, and drizzled with my own sauce creation that was a mixture of buffalo sauce and sour cream. OMG!! They were good. My doubtful DH was in awe and said anytime I want to make these again he's all for it!!
So I caught, scaled, filleted, cleaned, cooked and served MY fish!!! Woot woot!! Who would have ever thunk it?

Surf Fishing

I have neighbors that finally seduced me into their world. The seduction was a long process. I spent last summer watching and explaining politely that I do not fish. I do remember saying something about "next year" and apparently they did too.
First trip out and they indoctrinated me. There was nothing even slow about their instruction. "Here's a rod, there's the bait." Really?
Fast forward a few weeks.
I rummaged around the garage and found a surf rod. In the corner, under the water heater,  a tackle box sat forgotten and barely used. I picked up a couple of rigs and a few weights and for less than the price of a movie ticket, I can fish any time.
I love the beach. I think by now if you know me, you know I love the beach. The beach cleanses me and heals my soul. Everyday I go fishing I stand in the surf, rod in hand waiting for my line to vibrate. The first fish I caught, I don't even remember it. What I do remember is watching the dolphins play.
 I am an avid beach goer but I can tell you honestly, that I have never seen such activity in the ocean. The dolphins were breaching, fish were jumping and as I watched a pair of dolphins go across the water and do a routine that would have brought a Sea World audience to their feet, it brought tears to my eyes. All these years I have spent sitting in a chair, reading a book, boogie boarding or playing in the waves and I could have been standing in the surf holding a rod and watching the ocean come alive. For me, it was like a religious experience. One that I wanted to experience over and over.
Yesterday my DH and I went to the beach for a day of fishing. We didn't catch much. As a matter-of-fact, we began to wonder if there were any fish left in the ocean. I caught a flounder and he caught a houndfish and a crab. We also got caught in a rainstorm. As I stood in the surf, rod in hand waiting for the line to vibrate, the storm began to move on and what did it leave behind?
A rainbow appeared, and then, for a moment or two, there was a double rainbow. The drops were passing and as the ocean smoothed and turned from green to blue the dolphins again began to dance. They were framed against the horizon by the rainbow. The beauty of nature takes my breath away every time. These are the moments that bring me back to stand in the surf, rod in hand waiting for my line to vibrate.
A bad day of fishing is still just another beautiful day spent at the beach!!!

U up yet?

My DH sent me a text from the road this morning at 7am as they began day 2 of their journey to visit the Motherland.

"Were driving. U up yet?"

Of course the message comes through with a "ding". I am awake now, thanks! I acted like any good brat, ignored the message and tried to get back to the art of sleeping in late.

I listened to the dog snore. I could hear the other dog, in the next room, snoring too.
I heard a bird singing outside my window.
I wondered if Judy was still shooting squirrels.
I wondered if the trash men were going to come before I got the bins out front.
I thought about which beach I would go to today.
I thought about the squeals of delight brought about from a boogie board and some waves.
I wondered if my children had brushed their teeth. I wondered when the last time was that they had brushed their teeth.
I wondered if Rick Perry would win the GOP nomination. I thought it to be a good thing that he didn't let the coyote attack his dog!!
I thought about getting new knobs for the dash of the Jeep.
I remembered today was supposed to be the hottest day of the year.
Should I go surf fishing?
Do I really want to cut up fish for bait?
Am I going to be able to rip the hook out of their mouths without assistance or therapy?
Should I paint today? What should I paint?
Maybe I would clean? Ha! Maybe pigs would fly out of my @$$ too!
I wondered what the muted people were saying on the TV.
Bailey's or coconut creamer in my coffee?
What was I going to have for breakfast?
Would I eat breakfast?
I could live on cereal for the next 2 weeks!

Obviously, the sleeping in thing, well it didn't work out. Thanks dear. Maybe tomorrow.

You are going where? With who?

OMG! My husband, in a very thoughtful, quiet moment made a huge announcement. He is going to KC to visit with family and taking the kids. ALL of them. It took a few moments for my over-tasked brain to understand what he was saying. The end product of that process and the root cause of the underlying confusion was in the details. He is taking the kids and I am remaining home. Could it be true? I had him repeat the info slowly. And then again. And by-crackity I was right! I had heard him correctly and my brain was not playing a cruel joke of "Aha- psyche! Got ya!" He is really going to take the kids and I will remain here..... ALONE!! Now, I will be working quite a few shifts at the hospital but that part doesn't matter. I will be kid-free for almost 2 weeks.
Wow!

How do I...? What will I...? Where will I....?  Oh my... I don't even know where to begin.

I still need time to process this. And it doesn't start till tomorrow. Today I still have to get these kids out of bed and motivated to face the day!!

Miss this...

As always, when life slows down I miss the day to day writing of the happenings in our world. I do not promise daily updates. I do not promise weekly updates. But I will make an attempt, to every now and again, post updates on our lives for friends and family that we have had to leave behind.

Here goes....
This will be a transition year for all my kiddos. The Girl will go to the middle school, Tyler will start at the intermediate and Trey will start kindergarten. Woohoo! They will all be in school! That is huge for us as parents! I can't wait, and neither can they.
My DH is still stationed here with helos and loves it. His friends from the command come and go, but they all eventually return, even if just for a visit.

I have taken a job as a school nurse but still couldn't part with the L&D position. School nursing is a great job and I am in the same school system as my children. Having the same schedules is a blessing and I love it. However, I love L&D and haven't been able to give that up yet either. I am now an extremely flexi employee at the hospital. Since I have the summer off at the school, I have been able to pick up more hospital hours. That's nice for the piggy bank!

I have again taken a few weeks off mid-summer. We had thought we were moving to New Orleans and if that were the case I was going to head to Maine on our summer camping trip. The move has been, delayed, so with gas prices being what they are I am thinking of camping locally, but as of yet, I am still unsure where. I have thought about Amish country and Hershey PA or maybe just visiting VA state parks. Perhaps the mountains? Maybe even KC to visit with Kev's family (but it is their year to come here!!). I am never good with plans. I may not know till I get to the interstate and have to choose left or right.

So that's it. That is all I have for this moment in time. I may add more today or it may be months before I sit here again. For now I need to go make breakfast for my boys.

Summer Recap

So today is the first day of school for the kids. While most parents are celebrating I am lamenting over the loss of lazy days, camping on a whim and summertime fun spent with the kiddos. Trey will have his first day of pre-school tomorrow. He is very excited and I am excited for him.
Today also is the beginning of the madness. When summer was approaching I told the kids we were done with sports because the summer was OUR time. This week alone is filled with swim team, cub scouts (tigers), soccer and girl scouts (juniors). So begin the hectic schedules; shuttling the kids to and from whatever, making time for homework and reading each night and all the other activities and requirements that come with back-to-school!!
How did we spend OUR time this summer? That question is easily answered. Camping!!! If you remember we purchased a class C motor home back in March and probably spent half the summer living out of the camper. The beginning of the summer we spent a lot of time at Cherrystone on the Eastern Shore. Kevin developed a love of crabbing and this place was right on the bay with lots of piers to keep him happy. (We ate A LOT of crab this summer! Yummy!) The kids had a pool with a splash pad, pedal boats, bike trails, activities and discovered lots of other happy camper kids!
If we weren't on the Eastern Shore than you would probably find us on the Outer Banks. Just past the Serendipity House featured in the movie Nights in Rodanthe, are a couple of beach front campgrounds. Ohhh, they are my favorite! If I had chance and opportunity I was there. Working flexi and making my own schedule gave me lots of chance and opportunity. My neighbors thought I had quit work completely and just left in the camper. Although that would have been nice, I did have to come home every now and then to cut grass and work for a couple of days!
Kevin's family came to visit in July. They always rent a great big house in Sandbridge and this year they rented 2. I think there were 28 people in one house and about 10 or so in the other. Whenever you get this much family together it's always a good time. They were here for a week and the only complaint was that the visit just wasn't long enough!
Judy, Kev's Mom, arrived a week before everyone else and we all went to the Outer Banks for a few days. She got to see the famous house and we took her past Corolla out onto the sand, in the search for the wild ponies. She laughed and giggled like a little kid as we climbed sand dunes and drove through the surf. As always, we got lucky quickly, and saw several of the ponies. Two were with their colts and one was even nursing. I love that we have the ponies living wild and free so close by to visit. Another great day spent in 4WD on the beach!!
Kelly Davies and I had planned an extended trip for July-August. My childhood friend and her 3 children, took off with me and my 3 children for three weeks of camping up north. We left and went through PA. to a Yogi Bear campground nestled in the mountains that was fantastic. (The ride was scary- can you imagine a camper going up a narrow mountain, no guard rail road vertical, to the point that we weren't going over 5 miles an hour at 4 in the morning?? Yeah, never follow a GPS in parts unknown without verifying the route on a map!! LOL!) We went from PA to Niagara Falls and through the finger lakes of NY. The area was beautiful and the weather was humidity free and wonderfully cool for summertime. Niagara was awesome and the kids were all amazed at the incredible force and size of the falls. The kids had a blast playing together, sight-seeing and traveling through new places to discover. We had taken Samantha Sue with us and she became ill. Although we had a great time we had to cut our trip short. The plan was to continue north to Maine and then come down the coast but we will have to re-schedule that for next year.
We brought Samantha home and we buried her a week later. She spent 12 yrs with us and was the best puppy ever. We miss her everyday. It took about a week before we had a new best friend to love. One dog can never replace another, but they sure can make your heart smile. A friend of ours had a 4 yo black lab he could no longer keep. Being the dog people that we are and finding ourselves suddenly without one, we welcomed Niko into our home. Niko is wonderful. Loyal, friendly and well-trained. The dog doesn't beg, doesn't get on the furniture (including the beds!), doesn't jump on people, doesn't chew anything left on the floor and he usually only barks when told to speak. He doesn't run off when in the yard and loves to play with the kids. It's having all the benefits of a well-trained lab without going through the puppy hassle. We love him and after a few weeks of constant companionship, camping, letting him swim at the lake or the beach and showering him with lots of attention, I think he doesn't know who he loves the most!! He will obey commands even from my 3 yo and checks on the kids each night before sleeping at the foot of the bed. Sometimes I think he is too well-trained cause I certainly would like him to cuddle every now and then!!
That brings me back to summer's end. Although the kids have now returned to school I am looking forward to a few more trips in the camper before the season ends. We would like to go out in October to enjoy Halloween fun, up to the mountains to see the beauty of fall and of course back to the beach simply because it's the beach. The camper has become our/my escape. We spend time playing games, enjoy our time as a family and being able to leave hectic schedules behind and go where ever we choose is priceless.
Kevin is back in Iraq. The kids miss him dearly and we are all waiting for his return in early December. I am thankful he will make it home for the holidays. I make no promises but with the kids back in school, I am hoping to update a little more often. Maybe even add some pictures. Hope everyone had a great summer!

DC Part II

My mother really seemed to enjoy the camper experience. This was solidified when I overheard her say to my Dad that he needed to go on the next trip to learn how to hook it all up. That's HUGE!!! Perhaps there's an excursion possible in their future???
Friday we woke again to glorious sunshine. We lingered a bit longer through breakfast and the morning rituals. It was 12 before we climbed aboard the metro. My grandfather had asked if we had seen the Navy Memorial so we made it our first stop. We found him in the archives. He retired from the Navy as an RMC in 1950 something. It was a nice tribute but I wish we could have taken him rather than just pictures to show him.
Our next stop was the Zoo. Warm weather plus sunshine equals a very crowded zoo. We walked the entire zoo. The Panda's were out nibbling on bamboo and most of the animals were pretty active. The kids were also able to catch the Octopus during a feeding so of course they loved that! The Zoo starts at one end and ends downhill at a parking lot. Big Guys little legs were exhausted. Luckily I asked how to get back on the metro.
The guide tells us we have to walk back uphill a mile and a half to the front gate and then the 3 blocks to the metro. Or, he says, we can take the complimentary shuttle back to the top.
Thank heavens! We were the only ones on the shuttle so I don't know if we caught it at a good time or if it's a well-kept secret but keep it in mind if you go!!
Big Guy pointed out a guy playing the sax on the corner. He knows it's one of my favs so he grabbed a dollar and dropped it in his case! Ya gotta love the city sights and sounds!
Since it was warm and sunny Tara was ready to set-up the outside of the camper. We pulled out the awning and set out the chairs. It was good practice since I hadn't done it without Kev and
the awning was damp and needed to dry. Big Guy and Tara were off on their bikes buying ice cream at the store and spending their money in the game room. There's a foos-ball game that gives you a bouncy ball at the end so they are now the proud owners of way too many bouncy balls. Every time the camper moves there's a little ball rolling out from somewhere!
They showed National Treasure at the outdoor amphitheatre and Tara and Mom watched the movie while I hung out with the boys. We were once again exhausted. Big Guy fell asleep sitting up at the table watching Tara play Club Penguin. I put him on the couch, Tara took the bed next to Grandma and Trey and I slept up top for the first time. The "cab over" is a queen size bed that is usually reserved for the kids. I stretched out, Trey snuggled in and there was plenty of room. The kids and I may fight over that on the next trip!
Saturday morning we all slept in and I had the camper ready to pull off without a hitch. We sat in some traffic, stopped for lunch and everything was just dandy. We were going to make one other stop at Pierce's for some BBQ that we thought we could have for dinner. We pulled off the interstate and the camper began to cough and sputter. Oh my God! I had my mother and 3 kids and my rig was broke down on the side of the road! The gas gage said we had more that a 1/4 tank of gas but there was a gas station ahead so I again tried to start her up hoping to make it that far. I turned it over and we moved forward only to die again on the corner. I was saying a small prayer when a guy stopped and asked if we needed anything. He jumps out of his truck and tells us he'll tow us to the gas station. My mother asked the question we were both thinking "Are you going to be able to tow us with that?"
He looked back with just a simple nod, grabbed chains from his truck and had us towed and next to a gas pump in minutes. Thank God for a country boy!! (If I had only had the presence of mind to take a picture!!) I pumped gas and crossed my fingers. We put 34 gallons in a 35 gallon tank. I turned the engine over and the magic of gasoline in an engine made it run smoothly!! We didn't get any dinner but we had no other problems!
So what did I learn this trip? Never let the gage get below a half and never doubt a country boy and his pick-up truck!!