whatsup

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Don't worry - I'm not telling anything about the story!

Loved it!  I've enjoyed reading all the books and couldn't wait to find out how everything ended, so I read as often as I could and finished in less than two days.  I'm quite satisfied with how Rowling wrapped things up and don't feel that we've been left hanging.  I'm glad that she's finishing it and hope that she won't subcomb to the demands of fans who want more.  It's been a great series and I would hate to see it continue until it's ridiculous.

Now all I have to do is keep my mouth shut while I wait for mom and Jillian to finish reading.  If you've finished send me an email so that we can "talk" about it.  It's hard not to share my thoughts!

Harry Potter mania

We got into the Harry Potter spirit last night.  Jillian and one of her best friends, Rebecca, got in costume and we (along with Nana) went to the local Books-a-Million for the excitement of the last book being released.  Jillian looked terrific as Luna Lovegood and Rebecca was a totally quirky Tonks.  Tons of people - kids, teens and grown-ups - were dressed up at the event.   We saw Colin, Draco, Mad-Eye Moody, Snape, tons of Harry's, Rita Skeeter, the Fat Lady, Prof. McGonagal, Madam Pomfrey, Dobby, Nagini, Hagrid, Prof. Trawlawny and lots others.  My favorite of the night was Moaning Myrtle - she looked the part, complete with a toilet seat around her shoulders.  There were crafts, costume contests, trivia and games, but the best fun was just being around all the excitement.

Around 11 folks started "lining" up to be able to get the book when it became officially available at 12:01.  It was a complete disorganized mess, so we decided to head home so that the girls could have a midnight swim.  Mom went back to get the book this morning and I'm already several chapters in!  I just love the Harry Potter books!

It's not always fun to go to the dentist...

But before I get to that, I'll mention how we wrapped up our trip "up north" to Gwinnett County.  Karen was gracious enough to invite a bunch of old friends from church over for an evening catching up, and they were gracious enough to tolerate me telling them all about Creative Memories.  It felt wonderful to be in a room filled with inspiring, Christian women that I had spent so much time with in the past.  Relationships are so important!  Everyone there had challenged me to grow in some way and it was neat to have them all in one place.  The next evening our old playgroup (minus Mike, who was very missed by all)  was back together at the Milak's house for a BBQ dinner.  It felt as if a year hadn't passed at all - surreal, really.   One of the other hightlights of our visit to Gwinnett was getting to shop at Costco.  Boy, I miss that place!

This week, the girls, Cindy and I went to see Are We Done Yet?  I wouldn't call it the best movie ever, but it was a fun diversion for an afternoon, made all the better by the fact that Cindy treated.  "Free" movies always seem better to me!  It had one of the guys from Scrubs in it and I just love watching him because he's so darn hilarious.  We all also got out to the zoo, meeting up with Karen and her kids and Maribel and her kids.  Cindy was in kid overload, but I think we all had a fun time.  Zoo Atlanta isn't a very big zoo, but it is really well done and they have some of our favorites.  Their only problem is being too expensive for a day visit.  $19 for a zoo you can get all through in less than 3 hours is just too high.

So, that brings us to dentistry.  I had my check-up and my teeth are fine even though I almost never remember to floss.  Jillian had a small cavity.  But my poor sweet Marisa.  Today she had to get crowns on two of her molars.   She did great for the procedure, but did not handle the numb sensation afterwards.  She bit her lip over and over and ended up with a hugely swollen lower lip.  It looks so awful and it breaks my heart.  I just couldn't get her to understand that she had to leave it alone.  I'll have to come up with a proactive plan for the next time she gets numbed up for a  procedure.

Driving around Georgia

We're continuing to stay very busy on our vacation.  Isn't that an oxymoron?  Shouldn't we be lying around when it's our vacation time?  But it's all been fun, so it's okay.

At mom's we had back to back party days.  She loves Independence Day and so she had a big to-do with friends, neighbors and us.  It was a fun day in the sun.   A couple days later, my parents hosted the monthly neighborhood get-together.  Again a fun event.  The girls were the only kids there (against the rules apparently) and were doing their best to be sophisticated.  Lots of fun to watch!

We got to see another new movie this week.  This time it was Evan Almighty and we all had lots of laughs.  I had been hesitant to see it because I was afraid it may have some of the hard edge of the first movie, but this one was a great family movie.  I can't wait to see it again on DVD.

On Saturday, we drove up to Varnell, Georgia, to spend some time with our friends, the Gwin family.  The most difficult part of being a military family is keeping up with the friends that we make at every duty station and it's a real treat to get together for visits.  That afternoon, we picked blackberries to make into a cobbler for dessert.  It felt like a very country thing to do for us city/suburb girls.  Marisa was particularly thrilled with the whole thing. 

We had a couple busy days with the Gwin's.  On Sunday we attended church at Varnell United Methodist Church and later went to the Creative Discovery Children's Museum in Chattanooga.  We love that place!  There's so much fun stuff for the kids to do.  This time, the temporary exhibit was all about Alice in Wonderland.  Marisa loved going through the rabbit hole and Jillian and Rebecca were moving around so fast that I couldn't figure out what they were most interested in.  Everything, I suppose!  After the museum, we all went wading in the Passage; it's like a staircase fountain that is meant to be enjoyed on a hot summer day.  Totally cool!  On Monday morning we hiked around Red Clay State Park.  It's in Tennessee and is on the site of very important events in Cherokee history.  The kids all loved being immersed in nature for little while and were watching for butterflies and playing in the stream.  I found it to be a very peaceful place... even with kids!

That afternoon, we headed for Gwinnett county to stay with the Gimnig family, friends from our old neighborhood.  Jillian hadn't had enough time with Rebecca yet, so we asked to bring her along, too.  We drove by Jillian's old school and discovered that it's been taken over by trailers; I guess that the unending growth in this county is taking it's toll on the school.  We also drove by our old house and discovered that the new owners are not much into taking care of the yard and have interesting decorating taste - Bud Lite sheets for curtains in Marisa's old room.  The girls were a bit upset, but got over it when we went to Stevi B's for their pizza buffet and arcade room.  All our best buddies from playgroup met us there and we had so much fun that we had to continue it at the pool until 9pm.  It was so cool to see Marisa, Megan, Jordan and Katie all together again.

World travels continue

The last few days have taken us around the world... literally. 

We got home from Italy in "just" 11 1/2 hours.  The girls were great overall, but I sure was glad to get out of the car.  The highlight was a stop at the St. Goddard South rest area.  I love that one and am sure that it's the best in all of Europe.  It's in the middle of the alps, right next to a crystal clear mountain stream and there's quaint farms with goats just across the way.  Beautiful and peaceful.  Love it!

Thursday was a blur of laundry and planning and packing and drinking wine with friends and then on Friday, we were up early to get to the airport for the flight to Atlanta.  Again, the girls were great, but I sure was glad to get out of the plane.  Over 9 hours with crappy movies that we couldn't see well because they didn't have those cool screens in the seat in front of us.  We really like planes with those.

On Saturday, jet lag got me up at 4am, so I got my swimsuit on and spent some time in the pool.  It's very relaxing to swim in the early morning.  Jillian joined me around 5 and Marisa wasn't too far behind.  Mom, dad and Cindy were amused.  A little later, I hit Wal-mart with Cindy.  I hadn't even been in country for 18 hours yet - Mike will be disgusted when he finds out!

Today, we attended Peachtree City United Methodist Church and I enjoyed their contemporary service.  It was a really big church and very well attended.  I don't know if I'd ever be able to join such a big one; I'd feel lost in the crowd.

For lunch we went to one of Jillian's favorites, Steak and Shake.  It was on her list of places that we had to visit while stateside.  Then we went to see Ratatouille.  I loved it.  It's the food snob in me, I know.  Who cares if it's a rat in the starring role?   The kids had alot of good laughs, too.