Passing Our Time By

Mikey got to CA safe and sound. He got in late Wed night, and worked all day Thursday. Then he met up with Leonard, Michelle, and Elektra. They had dinner at Hooters and had a great evening! (that's all I can say, because, so far, that's all I know!)

We are having a nice time hanging at home. Christina is driving more, so we went out driving for a little bit yesterday. I really wish I had brakes, and a steering wheel on my side. She has done real well so far, but I am a paranoid passenger. I don't think I help her very much either. "Look out for that car!" "MOM, its 2 parking spaces away" "Slow down, your turning too fast" "Its slower than you turned last time" "Speed up, you almost cut them off!" "You just told me to slow down." Ugh, I'm not very good at this. I swear I age every time I ride with her. Caleb loves to go out front and ride his tricycle. I'm trying to get him to ride his big boy bike, but this is a start. We made frozen Yogurt Popsicles today. Raspberry! Yummy! Its so simple. Couple cups of Greek (or plain) yogurt, 1/2 - same # cup frozen fruit, couple Tbs to taste Confectioner Sugar, blend till smooth, put in Popsicle cups, insert sticks, and freeze!

Wed night Christina has several girlfriends stay over, last night she stayed over there. She has been busy almost every day this summer. Her best friend, Katelyn has been over or with us so much, I feel like I've gained an extra daughter! Now I know how my parents felt when Ursula went every where with us! They always said they thought of her as an additional daughter. I don't get it. The boys chase the kittens, grab them, hold them, swing them, and are generally pretty rough with them. We are always telling them to BE GENTLE. Well, the cats must enjoy it, because they sleep snuggled next to the boys. All 3 cats!All night long, no matter how much the boys move around, those cats snuggle right in. Zachary is waiting for his favorite show to come on in our room... SpongeBob. Mike should be up to Seattle today. Provided the camera he worked on behaves it self. Have fun with my hubby! Send him home safely to us! Check out my Recipe Blog, if your interested, I have a few new recipes on it! http://myfamilysfavoriterecipes.blogspot.com/

Cat Condos R Us

This is a no traveling week for the kids and I. Not Mike tho. He has to work in San Francisco.

Wish we could go with him, but that is too far... Bummer!

Some of you may be wondering why Mike and our family gets to travel so much.

Most of his work sites are in remote places all over Florida. We live in Orlando because it is central Florida, and he can easily get to all of his sites. He only has 2 sites in Orlando! Which means that most of the time, he has to drive 100+ miles each way.

Mikes company has no problem with him staying over night. A lot of the time a part that is put in is done after hours, or when they are not using the camera, so until the next day you might not know if it is working properly. So Mike either drives back home, to possibly come back the next day (and put in ANOTHER tank of gas), or stay the night, and be right there first thing in the morning. His boss is the one that says to stay (quicker customer service), and if he wants,

is welcome to bring family. Food is paid up to 50$ a day. If we go over (we do) we pay for the overage. He is approved for up to 150$ a night in a hotel. If we go over (rarely) we pay the difference. His company never pays over a set amount whether Mike goes alone, or we go with him.

This is a small, family run company. The owners children and wife works in the office with him. He encourages this lifestyle for his employees. Mikes several coworkers take their families with them also. In fact, Aug 7- 8, we are meeting his coworker and family in Miami. Mike and him will work Aug 8, and then we will stay till Sunday, and go to the Keys. We have a Marriott Rewards Card (we almost exclusively stay at Marriott's). We are racking up the reward points and have several nights free already! (will be used at the Keys)

His boss also suggested that since he wanted Mike to work in San Francisco Thurs, that he would pay to fly Mike to Seattle to see his family, and then fly him home Monday. How cool is that?!!Plus, since he is working in San Fran, he gets to see Leonard, Michelle and Elektra. He will stay with them as well. Lucky!!

Its a great company, and we feel so blessed to be able to travel and see this beautiful state as much as we do! And that we both get to spend so much time with the kids.

With 3 kittens in the house, and 2 older cats with claws, we seriously needed a scratching post for them. We went to PetSmart and checked out their Cat Condos. Although neat looking, they were expensive. Of course the ones we liked ranged from 150 - 200$. So we decided to build our own. Went to Home Depot bought boards, posts, carpet, etc for under $100. Then got to work.It didn't take too long. not really.

Unless 12 hours is long to you.

Forget those wimpy 5 ft PetSmart Condos!

Ours is 7ft and 4 stories!It is strong enough to hold the boys, but don't tell them that! The kitties love it! I put Nascat on it, and all he did was hiss. Yes he is still mad.

The little ones love it, but won't go to the top level yet. They cry when we put them up there.

This is the coolest cat box we have ever had! Look at the stairs going up and to the inside of it! No matter how much they kick the litter around, it doesn't come out!!!

Lately we have had a flock of ducks in and around our yard.

Good way to use up old potato chips!

We FINALLY got our license plate for our Durango.

Can't tell what sport we are fans of can you? Oops, I see we have Ford of North Scottsdale still. Gotta get a checkered flag holder.Florida has more license plate choices than any other state I have ever seen. They have at least 40 choices of plates.

With Mike being gone over the weekend, I don't have much planned for the kids. Zachary is having his friend Avery sleep over, so that will be a noisy night. I just hope it doesn't rain too much, so I can send them outside!

Camping Nanny

Mike and I have some EXCITING news!!!!

We have our own Patent!!

Yep!

Its a provisional patent that we have for 1 year.

(after that you apply for a full Patent, which is why you see Patent Pending on products)

We came up with an invention that no one else has, and we just got our patent approved,

and are marketing our product now!

What is it?

It is the...

CAMPING NANNY

http://www.inventionhome.com/InvPortfolio/PortfSite.aspx?tif=&Cat=&Key=&PageNum=0&TheCount=0&TFN=736X47188TX417188X1882&AudioSwitch=1

Be sure to listen to the Audio on it!!

Here's the background to our invention.

10 years ago, Mike and I took Christina and Chase camping for the first time.

They were 6.

We went to Burro Creek, AZ. Its between Wickenburg and Kingman.

As we were setting up camp, the kids wanted to explore.

Even tho it was desert, once they got behind a few bushes,

we couldn't see them.

They weren't far from us, just not easily visible.

So we were constantly calling for them to yell back to us,

so we knew they were in earshot.

After about an hour of that, Mike said,

"We need some kind of alarm that lets us know they went too far."

So we started brainstorming.

Our first idea was a perimeter with some kind of posts and a base unit.

You set up the posts at 3 or 4 corners and that would be the perimeter the kids could go.

An alarm on the base unit would sound if they passed the perimeter.

We looked at Camping Stores for something this when we got home.

There was nothing even remotely like that on the market.

Each time we went camping after that, we said,

"I wish we had that alarm system."

Soon we started calling it the

CAMPING NANNY.

We have taken the kids camping at least 4 - 6 times a year,

and every single time we wished we had it,

we would brainstorm on how to make something like that.

Each time we came up with a different way we thought it might work.

Now that the boys want to explore we have really put some serious thought into it.

Mike finally came up with the exact way he thought it should be like.

So we took the plunge.

We hired a Patent Attorney to do the research,

to see if there was anything any where else.

Theres not!

Then we hired an Invention Company.

Mike drew up the designs and ideas we had.

He sent them to this company. They liked it, so they finalized the design and concepts.

It is now on the market! We are looking for a manufacture as we speak!

How does CAMPING NANNY work?

The parent wears the base as a clip on their belt buckle or keys or purse, etc.

The kids wear a 'watch' or bracelet.

That has a lock on it that can only be open by a parents base unit.

The parents set the limit of how far away they will let the children go.

When the child passes the limit an alarm will go off on both the parents, and the childs.

When the child comes back within the perimeter the alarm will stop.

There are other features that may be implemented as well.

Such as a clock, or even a GPS on the more expensive models.

http://www.inventionhome.com/InvPortfolio/PortfSite.aspx?tif=&Cat=&Key=&PageNum=0&TheCount=0&TFN=736X47188TX417188X1882&AudioSwitch=1

We also are setting up a website www.campingnanny.com.

But its not ready yet.

We have the domain name tho!

So keep your fingers crossed that this thing takes off!

GO CAMPING NANNY !!