Florida Residents

Its official! Mike and I are now residents of Florida. We finally got our Florida Drivers Licenses. And they TOOK our AZ drivers licenses! Took them! I asked for it back and the lady said, "You are now a resident of Florida and not of Arizona so you do not need it any longer." What? I can't be both? We are also in the process of getting Florida plates for the Durango. We waited for so long because we knew they were coming out with NASCAR plates in Jan, so of course, we want one of those! Since we just got our temp plate last week we had AZ plates at the race. Last weekend people kept saying to us, "Wow you drove a LONG ways to see the race, you are true fans." At first we were like "What do you mean?" After the 3rd time we stopped correcting people and just said, "Yep, diehard race fans!" This past weekend was a crappy one. I got a cold and didn't move out of bed all day Sunday. Then Monday morning both boys woke up with the same symptoms as me. Fever, coughing, running nose, aches. In the afternoon Christina came down with it. KNOCK WOOD Mike wont get it, he is out of town, down in Boyton Beach. I am much better today, so its only a 48 hour thing. Caleb is better today. No fever. Zachary still has a fever, but everything always seems to hit him hard. I hate that he is missing so much school. For someone struggling, this is soo not what he needs. I am buying a case of Lysol to spray EVERYTHING down in the house so Michelle and Elektra aren't exposed to it. "I'm so sorry Michelle! I am going to do everything I can to get rid of the germs!" What bad timing. The last time Mikey and I went on a cruise my mom and gramma Ann watched the kids, and the boys got sick. I'm just hoping that this time they've got it out of their systems and are healthy for Michelle! Zachary is really learning to ride his two wheel bike very good. Wont be long that we will take off the training wheels!

Mikey and I leave for the Bahamas on Thursday! We will be back Sunday. I'm sure I will have some pictures to blog! I have yet to pack, or even think about what to bring. Does anyone else procrastinate on packing and wait until the last minute? That habit has made me guilty of under packing on occasion. Mikey on the other hand over packs. Like 2 outfits per day. And yes, I have had to resort to wearing something of his because all my clothes were dirty. (I always get an "I told you so") I think I will plan on buying most of my clothes on the island. I love all the touristy clothing!

Calebs 4th birthday is March 1st! I can't believe my baby will be 4! We will celebrate it on Sunday. He wants to go to Chuck E. Cheese and golfing. Big surprise! So I will have lots to blog next week!

Daytona Week!

What a fun week at Daytona!! It truly ended much too quickly. We thought Zachary would be the one that would be fussy and grouchy when we first arrived, but too our surprise, it was Caleb. He, who for the last 2 months has asked, practically once a day, "When is the Racing going to start?"

The loud speakers were fairly close to our campspot, and Caleb immediately covered his ears. All he wanted to do was stay in the truck.

The announcers were talking about the upcoming Gatorade Duels.

They commentate almost the entire day!

Zachary was bouncing around all over the place. Helping his dad, and getting all the games ready to play. It took Caleb a few hours to get out of his funk.

Here is our campspot. Which actually wasn't ours.

We arrived shortly after it had rained. All the spots are 20 x 40 and numbered.

Some of the numbers were blended into the wet grass. The campground was pretty full already, so the guy directing cars told us "4 or 5 on left".

Well number 5 was open. We backed in and set up camp.

After everything was up, we walked down 3 rows (which had names like 'RedNeck Way' and 'Trailer Ave' ) to the fence to watch the Duels. Going back to camp afterwards led us past an empty campsite, with our camp number.

Oops!

Since we already had everything set up, we didnt want to move.

Luckily, when they came in the next morning they just picked our spot, which was the last one left.

Here is Jr. winning one of the Gatorade Duels. Here we are in our turn. Turn 3. Notice Caleb holding his ears. He wouldnt put in the ear plugs I brought for him. In the past when we have gone to the races, we have not taken the kids. My parents have always babysat, and Mikey and I get a little "ADULT" time. Since we don't have that option here, we made the race all about the boys. What a fun time we had! We flew kites. We bought a Daytona 500 Bean Bag Tailgate Toss, and played it day and night. We brought Calebs golf clubs and played a 'golf croquet' game. There weren't any moments that they didnt have something to do or see. People were giving the boys free stuff all the time! They got boxes of candies, and toys. Everyone there is your friend. We even had some guy come to our camp and give them a hand held TV driver scanner. This is not a cheap item either! We told him "No thank you" but he INSISTED and left it on our table for them. He said he'd be back for it tomorrow.

We never saw him again. Caleb finally let me put the earplugs in and we spent about half of the races trackside. It was incredible being so close to them at Daytona. In Phoenix we often walk down trackside and are actually closer, but just knowing it was Daytona made it that much more exciting! Caleb totally got out of his funk and had a blast! Mikey and I sitting on top of the truck watching a race. Next year when we go, we are doing alot of things different! We are going to be like the rest of the rednecks and build us a platform ontop our vehicle to see the race from. Alot of them even had their TV's up there! Our TV was inside our truck. Here are our flags. See the platform in the background? There were hundreds of different ways that people built viewing platforms. We got lucky with the spot next to our "spot that wasn't ours". The people behind us used it for a parking lot, so we had an extra wide, open, area next to us. We were able to have more room than most people. (and if we would of been in our true spot) They had the Budweiser Clydesdale horses there. Didn't get to see Jeff, but we did get to see Casey Kahne. If you pay close attention while you are in the infield you can often see the drivers being escorted in their golf carts. It was such a great weekend that we have already scoped out the spot where we'd like to see it next Feb!

No, Jeff didn't win, he didn't even come close....39th? Ouch!!!

This Week

We are getting ready for Daytona this week! We've got our camping gear ready to go, all I have left to do is buy the food! Caleb is so excited! Every day we check the calendar to see how many more days till RACE DAY! Zachary acts like he could care less, but he is excited that he gets to miss a day and a half of school.

Christina won't be going with us. She was supposed to fly to Phoenix, but decided that she'd rather stay here with her friends, (and boyfriend) and not miss school.

Mike and I went to the book store a few nights ago to get him a book. He loves true stories about people having life changing adventures. 15 minutes later he found me with my arms FULL of books and games, and his were empty!

(My dream job is to work in a bookstore. I'd never make any money tho. It'll all go to the inventory I would be collecting!) He finally found a book, and we were out of there for $68.

Among one of the items we bought, was this Shrek Scrabble Game. Zachary loves Shrek, and he needs to work on his reading and spelling. Its learning disguised!! YES!!

He loved it! This is now our new family game.

The boys like to hang out in Zachary's bed and watch cartoons. Christina is in the process of redoing her rooms style. We sold her bunk bed and got her a futon sofa bed. She picked it out. She also repainted her Chest that I had painted years ago white with butterflies. She did a great job! Gramma--this is the dark green chest that came from you and Grampa. Is it from World War II? Caleb has discovered the computer. This is one of the reasons I haven't been on in awhile.

Every time I sit in the den to get on, he runs over, jumps up and says, "Lets play c'puter mommy!" How can I resist? He has been asking me for the past 10 minutes if its his turn yet. I woke up at 6:30 Sunday morning, and came into the den to this:

Caleb on the computer and Zachary playing playstation.

Zachary said they had been up for awhile. At least they were quiet!

Zachary had his first sleep over on Friday night! His best friend Avery, who lives just down the street, came over to stay. It was his first sleep over as well.

They wanted us to tell them stories. So we gathered them around and told them a 'Scary' one. They were intensly listening when Mike scared them. It was hilarious!

Our plans for the rest of February after the race, have changed a little bit.

My Mother In Law was admitted to the hospital for testing due to some pain she was having in her stomach. She has Diverticulosis. She is doing ok now.

***Mom2, you are in all our thoughts and prayers.***

However that means she needs to have it taken care of soon so she wont have to worry about having the pain again. Unfortunately that time is over the time they were due to come out and now they have to postpone it for a few months.

(They are pretty anxious to get out of WA because its in the low 40's and rainy. BRRRR!)

This of course also means that they cant watch the kids while Mike and I go on the cruise.

That we all ready paid in full for. aaahh!

So I asked, ok, begged and pleaded my Sister In Law Michelle, who lives in San Jose CA,

that she could have an all expenses paid trip for her and my niece Elektra to Florida if she'd babysit for us.

She said YES!! Yeah!!! Michelle!! I SOOO owe you big time!! Thank YOU!!!!!

Well there is supposed to be a big storm tonight with the chance of tornados.

Its all over the news, and warnings running across the bottom of the all the channels.

I think we will be sleeping in the laundry room. It is the safest room in the house. I hope.

They recently put in a tornado siren at Zachary's school.

I am glad we live in a brick house. That helps. I hope.

hmmm, maybe I shouldn't of put that. Michelle might cancel her ticket here.