At the end of May, Bob and I surprised the kids with a trip to Busch Gardens, Virginia. We packed the van and told the kids we were going for a ride. Hee hee. We had a great day and rode all the roller coasters. We learned that Jenny is terrified of coasters, and that Emi and Tony love to ride in the front seat. :o) In these pics, the three girls enjoy the pool at the hotel. Then Heather and Jenny ride the teacups. Emi and Jenny ride the train. And here's a fun pic of Tony. The only kind I'm able to get anymore, it would seem. :o) I never thought I'd find a coaster I didn't like, but I didn't like the Alpengeist. It went so fast you couldn't even enjoy it. But I really truly loved the Griffin. That one was a hoot. There isn't a floor, so you can see under your feet, and they haul you up five stories and suspend you there long enough to get nervous about the drop, and then off you go! That one was fabulous. Jenny found a few rides she liked a lot better, like the scrambler, the tea pots, and the bumper cars. We were all totally pooped by the time we got home. Would we do it again? Heck, yeah, but we'd spring for the Que Cutter Pass next time, which allows you to go to the front of the line on the major rides. It would have been totally worth it.

June 14, 2009
We're doing good. The summer is heating up nicely. (Too warm too fast, for us!) But the weather has been reasonable and the garden is thriving, so . . . life is good.
Bob lost his job April 24th. KCST offered a severance package that was too good to pass up, and we could see the writing on the wall. The plant he was working at is cutting back every expense they can, so he was going to be unemployed anyway, this way we can do it on our own terms.
I am keeping busy with writing and home school. I submitted articles to two magazines that publish sci-fis, and I'm nearly finished with my second Super Hero book. On school, I am running "Mom's Taxi Service" with two high-schoolers taking college
courses and another one taking Driver's Ed. (Can you believe it, we have three kids in high school this year!! Agh!!) And Jenny, who is in fourth grade, is having fun getting together with friends and doing arts and crafts stuff. This month, we have played with stamps, making paper, iron-on transfers and tie dye. Always something going on. :o) We bought our curriculum for next year, so we are good to go and looking forward to another year of learning cool stuff.
Tony is almost nineteen. He is getting tall and becoming a very good man. He will be a senior this year, studying to get his associate's degree in arts. Hopefully, he will then be able to move on to a degree in video games.
Emi is sixteen, and into boys and makeup. She is a junior this year, studying for her associate's degree in fine arts. She then wants to go to BYU and study writing.
Heather wants to be an artist. She will be a freshman this year. She won't be able to go to college for another year and a half, but she is looking forward to it.
Jenny wants to dance and sing and do art. She is getting good at reading and growing up too fast. Don't they all??
We still have two dogs, Azel and Sparky, and two cats (for now), Proto and Ghost. Ghost is expecting and getting quite fat, so we hope there aren't too many kitties in there. Jenny's hamster died and so we got a mouse. (We already had a cage and everything.) And we got some fish. What the heck.