Day Trip

Jon's parents are in town and our kids only had two days of school this week so we took the entire crew up to Blowing Rock for the day. We met Kristine, Chris and my adorable nephew and niece there.

The leaves are still changing here in Charlotte but we just missed peak up in the mountains. The tornadoes that ripped through the night before may have helped that process along a little, but the view was still beautiful.

The kids climbed around the rocks and enjoyed the fresh mountain air. Like Ben's tattoo? That's from his dentist visit on Wednesday. He has no cavities so the least I could do was let him brand himself.

The monkeys. Camryn is getting along just great with that cast of hers. She has started walking and running. She's quite a trooper!

There is the actual Blowing Rock. From here we went to lunch, caught some lake trout, visited Mast General Store, and then enjoyed ice cream in historic Blowing Rock before heading back to the Queen City. What a nice day! I love when my kids are out of school!!

Timing

Timing is everything, so the saying goes. And it's not just essential for comics and Olympic athletes. Timing has the ability to make or break almost any situation.

Camryn breaking her leg the night before we are set to leave for my brother Matt's wedding was bad timing. The off chance that my mom, Cory, and his girlfriend Stephanie, were here at that exact moment was good timing.

Getting to Cincinnati around noon the day before the wedding was good timing.

Camryn sleeping through all the wedding pictures was bad timing.

Camryn napping just before the wedding so that she was in good spirits and cooperative while being pushed down the aisle by Kate was good timing.

Having my desktop crash JUST after I transferred all the wedding pictures was bad timing. Really bad timing.

So for now while I mourn the temporary loss of the most adorable pictures of my children ever you will have to put up with some random recent pictures from my laptop.




Will and I snuck in a game of Mouse Trap one afternoon before picking up the big kids while Cam napped. Good timing.

And if you think he's cute in this picture just wait until you see him in those wedding pictures. He was working that camera in a serious GQ way.

This has nothing to do with timing. This is just Kate's idea of the ultimate coordinating outfit for school.

Planting fall flowers in 80 degree heat just before the temps dropped was pretty good timing. Not to mention lots of fun for me and the girls.

Notice the lack of cast on Camryn. This was before the bad timing of breaking her leg.

Sacrafices

Our kids attend Charlotte Latin School. And because of this people assume we 'have money'. (What ever that term means: 'have money' ... but that's for another day.) It really is a pretty safe assumption. Private school is expensive. Latin ranks right up there as one of the most expensive schools in Charlotte. But us? We? We don't 'have money'. Sometimes Jon and I think we must be crazy to spend the money we do to have our kids learn essentially the same things they would in a FREE public school. I'm not going to defend our reasons today. Maybe someday, but not today. Today I'm going to tell you about how 'having money' to send your child (or children, like FOUR children) to private school and 'having money' are two different things. Some people have both. Good for them! We are not those people. We don't 'have money'. The reason we don't 'have money' is because we DO send our kids to private school.

For example. There is no picture with this post. My Nikon is still not working. It's been over a year now and I'm just beyond frustrated and sad about it. So why not just run out and get that D90 you ask? Because we send our kids to Latin. And we must pay for them to go there.

All of my photos are now (and have been for a long time) shot on a point and shoot Cannon that was hand-me-downed (you know what I mean) from Jon's brother, after my Cannon's screen died. If we didn't send our kids to Latin I would have run right out after my screen died and replace my Cannon. Heck I'd have a new Cannon AND a new Nikon. And a BMW M5 for that matter. (.... mmm me love me a M5...)
Oh, sorry, got distracted there for a minute ... ANYWAY.

I haven't had my hair professionally cut since last fall. Colored. HA! I wish. No more $200 dollar salon sessions for me. I'm shopping target with a coupon to 'wash this grey right out of my hair'.

Even as I type on my laptop, that is SIX YEARS OLD, I am reminded of what we as parents must give up in order to send our kids to private school. This laptop WAS being held together with duct tape, but now is in two pieces, so really it's become a desk top. Screen propped up against the wall while I type on the really weird keyboard. It's great fun.

My running shoes have over 600 miles on them. (You are supposed to replace them every 300 or so.)

I haven't had a manicure or pedicure in way too long.

Shoe shopping went out when with the inflated real estate prices.

I am the nanny, the cook, the maid, the taxi, the tutor, the landscaper, the laundress, the dog walker, the bedtime story reader, the bill payer, the floor washer, the boo-boo kisser, the girlfriend and the wife.

So the next time you see me in my tattered running shoes, with my drugstore dyed hair, chipped nails and food all over the shirt that reads "Because my kids go to Latin" ... you'll know what it means.

But you know what? I wouldn't change a single thing. And that means a lot from someone who doesn't really agree with traditional education (which Latin is).

And I don't write this for sympathy or sainthood. It's merely the truth. So when my kids ask me "Why can't I have a ds?" I have no problem saying "Because you go to Latin that's why."