The Stanalands

Mid-winter break arrived this year with little or no winter attached. Savannah seemed like the destination of choice. It has been a hard year with only a few tiny day-trips thrown in to local attractions. Brian has vacation days and we wanted to go somewhere with all of our children. We have taken them to Chattanooga, and our original destination that time was Savannah but thunder storms prevented us from making it. THIS TIME…we made it!

Friday Night
We arrived at our hotel around 9:30 on Friday night. Normal people would have headed to bed in order to start their day fresh on Saturday. Us? No. We went to our room and changed into bathing suits so that we could go swimming in the indoor heated pool. Woo Hoo! That is the key reason that we chose this hotel. (That and the fact that they have suites with enough beds for all of us to sleep without throwing anyone in the floor!!)

Saturday Morning

We woke up bright and early despite the fact that we all stayed up until 1am watching Battlestar Galactica. (We HAD to) After breakfast we decided to head to the Air Force Museum. I wasn’t expecting much, and I was pleasantly surprised. The museum was set up to follow our Air Force’s involvement throughout WWII. We were lucky enough to have someone offer to take our picture so that we could all be in it.

The museum had a beautiful garden with beautiful benches and an awesome chapel.

After leaving the museum we headed back to the hotel and made lunch. The lack of sleep caught up to us and we were all in desperate need of a nap. zzzzz    zzzzzzz    zzzzz

Obviously, there are no pictures of Brian and I sleeping. That is simply because everyone who could have taken the picture was asleep.
After our nap, we all headed back into the van for a driving tour of Savannah and Tybee. We were out long enough to stop for dinner on Tybee Island. MMMMMMM!

We then headed back to the hotel for a few hours of swimming and then off to bed. (Jonas Bros are on Saturday Night Live Tonight!!)

I finally got my cat. Kitten actually. I have been waiting until we were moved in, and since we are now moved in I went into overdrive looking for a pet. My friend Julia saw a sign that said “free kittens” and called me immediately. (I have been letting everyone know that I wanted to find a kitten) Brian and I went to the location of the sign and picked up one of the kittens. I tried for two, but I was DENIED. (I will find another one mysteriously on our door step in a few months, I am sure!)

Taylor had not been feeling well in church that morning, so right afterward she proceeded to fill our minivan with vomit. I got to clean that up before being able to drive all the way home with the kitten. We got home and she went to bed. Our new kitty is officially a member of the family, since it decided to comfort Taylor while she rested. Its HI-Lariously adorable.

Once we got home we had to turn back around and head to the store for the material to make drapes for our new living room. We came home and I was working the sewing machine so furiously it was smoking.

I am very proud of my accomplishment. I think they look great, and the afternoon sun is not going to be baking our p’leather couch.

Parenting is a daily struggle. Should it be? I am not one to complain about my kids too terribly much, but the past couple of days I have been ready to scream. We have one child that insists on not obeying the rules. Not just our rules either. This one doesn’t obey school rules, or rules at home.

I started to think that I was doing something wrong, and then Brian sent me a link for an article/essay to read. It made me feel a LOT better.

Orson Scott Card on parenting.

OSC is a brilliant writer, but only because he is such a brilliant mind. His thought process never ceases to amaze me.