We are finally home from vacation. We had what seemed like a forever drive home. It took us two days to get from Key West Fl. to Volant Pa. Our entire family had so much fun there. I will have pics and video to upload this week. But for now I will leave you with the picture I took of the sunset!

This was the sunset on the last night we were there. We took a great catamaran out for a sunset cruise by sunsport cruises if you are ever there you will hear alot about the furry and although theirs is fun the sunsport cruises are so much better!

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For those of you that live in states that have tons and tons of sunshine, Go ahead laugh it's OK. afterall I am laughing too. So once again I have come to our condo in Key West Fl. now you would think after being here off and on since I was 18 years old I would know that I am GOING to burn. So this year I not only put 50 on my kids but on myself as well. Little good that did, us Northerners as we are called here got burnt. I of course am the worst my face is lobster red, Anne is just slightly pink and Robby only has it a bit on one shoulder. So last night mom and dad went and got more (a different kind) sunblock. So we shall see but I have no intentions of coming home BURNT!

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My family and I are about to embark on a two day trip from our small town in Western Pennsylvania to Key West, Fl. If you went on summer driving vacations as a child you will remember the typical "are we there yet?" and you parents enlisting the typical driving games.... Lets see who can stay quiet for the longest or the licence plate game or even my fave punch buggy and pa-diddle. Then there was the typical how many times can we get mom and dad to stop and eat. I like to think that I am smarter, and that the tricks that we pulled on our parents just wont work on me. So I have a few basic things to help you get thru those long car rides. 1. If you have a DVD player in your car USE IT! I do recommend going the week prior and purchasing or even now a days you can use netflix and getting the kids some new movies. Ones that you know they havent seen and they want to. If you do not have a DVD player in your car check out on line and in your local stores they are portable and very affordable. We like ours because not only will it work in the car but if we are staying in a hotel and there is no DVD player ours will hook up to a tv and plug into the wall. So I make sure I get some great family movies for the evening or a rainy day. 2. I also like the wipe off tablets. Now I do not mean the ones with markers unless you have older kids but I am speaking about the ones with the little bar that when you swipe it across it erases the picture. I also like the new markers for kids that will only write on the special paper. I know they can get expensive but again these can work for in the car or in a hotel room and you do not end up with marker everywhere. 3. For the older kids I have found that your basic things such as their hand held video games and Ipods are great distractions. I make sure that the night before we leave I have them all charged up and on my son's Ipod I put a movie or two that he can watch but may be too old for my younger daughter to watch. This gives him something to watch when we are watching the kiddy shows on the DVD in the van. 4. Seating. This can be one of the most important issues. We have a mini van and my daughter still has to be in a car seat. For long rides her legs hang over the side and this can get very uncomfortable as well as not being good for the circulation in her legs. We take a cooler or a Creight packed with things we will need when we stop at her legs and if necessary I put a pillow on top. My son lately has opted out of sitting in the seat right next to his sister and is now sitting in the "way back" as he calls it. This is a bit easier because we can allow him to buckle himself in and then turn sideways with a pillow behind him and put his feet up in the back. I also have a pocket hanger on the back of the seat in front of him so he has places to put all the things he wants to take with him. 5. Clothing is an extremely important thing to have on and with you. Even for older kids this is important. We always try to leave in the evening after the kids have had a full day of playing while my husband gets to sleep in that day. So as we start off I have the kids in comfy climate appropriate clothing. As we get closer to our destination (sometimes a much warmer place) this clothing can get too hot and uncomfortable on your child. I put an overnight bag for each child with some more appropriate clothing. Keeping in mind what we will be doing that day if we are getting out to play a bit and then have to get back in the car for more driving I will give them something a bit loose fitting so when we are getting back in the car they are still comfortable. Keep in mind that you might want two things just in case of accidents. 6 Food. This can be a tough one considering you are probably passing what seems like every fast food restaurant known to man and you child reminds you every time you pass one. This is something that I like to get the kids involved in. I recommend if you are traveling more than one day have a specific bag for each day, and remember the more your child consumes the more unscheduled bathroom breaks you will need to take, as well as if your belly is overstuffed think of how uncomfortable you are which in kids relates to the more complaining. I will have a Vlog up later today on how to pack these but the basics are have snack bags. You can always make these yourself or purchase them already made up. I find that if I follow these basic things we have a successful road trip. Good luck with yours and have fun out there this summer.

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The last few weeks I have been reading a great book. Life on Planet Mom. Now let me preference this review with this, If you are a MOPS mom this is this years theme book.

Now let me tell you about this book. First there are little sections in the book that you have to stop and read I call them Coffee Time (since they have a graphic of a coffee cup with them) I believe they are there to give you something to think about. My fave is "Do you understand love better now that you're a mom? How so?" I used these as journal entries during the three weeks I was reading this book. Let me just say I understand me so much better and have recently started to read excerpts to my husband at night and he seems to be getting a better understanding of me and what it means to me to be the mom to our children. Also in this book there is the Holmes-Rahe Stress Scale now I know what you are thinking, classic magazine quiz. But I have found this one to be right on the money if I am ever feeling a bit stressed just sitting and taking this sometimes can put things in perspective for me. Another section is How to rediscover your mate as we all know after having kids your relationship with the hubby is the first you put aside. There is a part of this chapter that is Ten Discussion Starters That Do Not Center on Children. Who couldn't use that. One of the other chapters that I found my self pondering on was My family Tree is Suddenly a Forest basically this talks about how you relationship changes with your parents and siblings now that you have a family of your own. I feel this book has given me the perspective not only to be a better mom to my two children but how to be a better person to my self as well as the world around me. Prior to reading this my world consisted of my children, Husband, a few friends, and what was going on in all their lives I didn't step back and think about how what that small group of people and what we were doing affected the world around us and how I can do better not only in my little world but in the bigger picture.

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Today I went to the local outlet mall to get some clothes for my kids for our vacation to Key West. I had to get my daughter a bathing suit, she is two years old and looks adorable in anything. Although her father is WAY overprotective of our little girl. Knowing this I bought her two suits, both bikinis one was a shirt looking top with a small bottom and the other was a typical two piece. As I pulled out all the clothes I had gotten for the kids I purposely left these for last knowing my hubby would FREAK! As I pulled them out I stated that there was one that he would like and one I liked and we would see which Anne liked and the other would promptly go back. I of course put mine on first with the hope that once it was on she would not want to take it off like most of her clothes. She got the bottom on no problem and the top on and I pulled it over her chest she then promptly tried to pull it down over her belly as I explained that it didn't go that far she looks at me and says "No mommy too small I want that one" pointing to the one daddy was holding. So I pose the question How old is old enough to wear a two piece?

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I am sitting here today waiting for my son to get off the bus on his last day of 2nd grade. Everyone keeps telling me I am being sappy, altho I just can't seem to help remembering his first day of Kindergarten. How he got on that bus so excited and I held it together till he got out of our long driveway and I lost it. At the time I had no other children and he was my entire world. Shortly there after he started into sports first there was karate, that was fun but it was way to time consuming. Next came soccer and he was good but again we were getting into arguments to go to practice. Then this last year he asked me to skip soccer and sign him up for baseball in the spring. I did reluctantly after all the only thing I knew about baseball was to go to games and look for cute guys when I was in collage. Let me just say that was one of the best things I have ever done. Besides getting to spend time with his friends he is really excelling. According to my father who knows way more than me about baseball my son has over an 800 batting average. (Apparently this is really good) So at the game the other night 6-2-09 Robby came away with the game ball. A little thing the coach does at the end of each game for the MVP of that game. Robby not only got up to bat 5x but he hit all five and scored 3x. I am so proud of him!!!! So as of now my son has gotten off the bus as a proud third grader. I know there will be many more accomplishments to come and so many more reasons to stand up and proudly exclaim "Yes I am Robby's Mom!" as of now I am a the Proudest Momma Ever! Oh and he just gave me his report "WOW could I get any happier today!" Way to go bud!

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