Seriously, snow?? In Florida???

That's right, folks - the forecast is for possible sleet and/or snow on Thursday. In Florida.  And temps will be BELOW freezing all week long.  Well below.  As in last night was in the TEENS!!  Our poor old heat pump is having a hard time keeping up with these ridiculous temperatures.  When Paige heard the forecast for sleet/snow (maybe) on Thursday, she just let out a big groan...she has had ENOUGH of the snow!

You can see in the photos that all of our plants are covered up...which usually works when we have one or two nights below freezing.  This?  A week of this?  I'm not so sure it's gonna work.  Anyway, even though it is ridiculously cold - it is a beautiful day!

I just ran to Costco to stock up on various and sundry Costco type items, and Tim took the kids to see Avatar.  Has anyone else seen it?  I know it's gotten good reviews, blah blah blah....but honestly?  I had absolutely no desire to see it.  Maybe I'll catch it when it comes out on DVD.

The bad parent award goes to.....

US!!  Tim and Lisa Van Kuiken.  Yup.  Oh, we feel so low!  We had a fairly quiet, mellow day today, running errands and orthodontist visits, I made a pot of chicken noodle soup for lunch and dinner was yummy grilled ahi tuna.  After dinner we decided to have a family movie night and watch Dead Poet's Society.  I was excited to have found it at Best Buy because Paige is studying "O Captain, My Captain" and I thought it would be fun for her to see how Robin Williams taught it.  I DID remember that part of the movie.  I remember the ending too - where Ethan Hawke stands on the desk and says, "O Captain My Captain"...and then one by one all the other boys do as well.  (One of THE best movie endings.  EVER)  Unfortunately, both Tim and I forgot about the part where the boy kills himself.  Bad move.  Really bad move.  Remember that only two months ago friends of theirs were killed by their father who then committed suicide.  Sooooo.......poor Clay and Paige were both crying and sobbing inconsolably afterwards.  Not about the movie, but about Kevin and Katie.  Family movie night turned into Family sob-fest and group hug.  

Truly, I feel terrible.  Bad Mom and Dad.

BRRRR!!!!!!

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Hi 46°	Hi 48°	Hi 52°	Hi 59°	Hi 52°	Hi 51°	Hi 51°
Lo 24°	Lo 24°	Lo 28°	Lo 38°	Lo 26°	Lo 27°	Lo --°

Brr....it's cold here!!!  


What's going on with the VK's:
-  Paige had a wire pull out of two brackets on her braces over the Christmas holiday, so she has an appointment with the orthodontist today
-  Had to reschedule the ATT U-verse installation, which we missed because we were driving from Michigan - can't wait to get this all set up and be DONE with Clearwire and Comcast!
-  Clay still has two more days of vacation....he starts back on Wednesday, the same day Tim goes back to work.
-  Most of the holiday decorations  have been put away (the only things that are left are the odds and ends that always turn up after I think I have put it all away!!) and the house looks so bare - and so big!!
-  We have all been sleeping late every morning (especially with these chilly temps - hard to get out of bed in the morning) and I am a bit nervous about how Wednesday morning is going to work - 5:30 am is going to be a bit of a shock to the system!
-  Yesterday I made homemade hummus and it was yummy!!
-  Also on the agenda is making Drs. appointments.  Ugh.
-  ...and getting the kitten in to the vet for shots...
-  ...and grocery shopping..
-  ...and starting (again) a diet/exercise program.


Sigh.

Random photos....

A few random photos from our trip to Michigan....

While we were in Michigan I found out that:

*Paige was amazed with the way the snow settled on the branches of trees.  She always thought that was just a special effect in the movies!

*Paige also spent much time studying snowflakes, and was also delighted to discover that they really ARE all different and that they really DID look like the snowflakes she used to make in kindergarten!

There's no place like home!

Wednesday morning, 6:00 AM, we finally got seats on a plane - only to have the flight cancel due to a mechanical.  After that, we tried for three more flights - but everything was oversold (because all the people on the canceled flight had to be accommodated)....the kids and I rented a car and started driving.  The first day (because of our late start and extreme fatigue from waking up at 3:45 am!!) we only made it to south of Dayton, Ohio....got a hotel room and a good night's sleep.  We woke up early Thursday morning and started driving again.  After a slight (ok, a big) detour in Tennessee/Georgia (the quick version - traffic on I-75 came to almost a complete standstill for about thirty minutes...no idea why...I was finally able to get off at an exit and saw a sign for 64 EAST...for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to keep moving east...which would have worked fine except after about 30 minutes of driving the road was closed due to a rockslide...followed the detour way out in the boondocks in Nowhereville, Tennessee, and finally ended back on I-75 North of Atlanta...a three hour detour!) we made it home at 10:45 pm.  We welcomed 2010 in our own home and we are very, very happy!!

A few photos of our odyssey (taken by Clay, and you will be able to tell from the photos that driving conditions were a bit challenging!!)....and some fun facts from the kids:

CLAY:  I counted 14 live turkeys, 15 live deer, 1 dead opossum, 1 dead coyote (I think), 7 dead raccoons, and 18 dead deer.  When we took our detour in Georgia, I saw a sign for a restaurant called "Edna's Roadkill Cafe" which I thought was funny because of all the roadkill we saw, but I didn't have time to take a picture.

PAIGE:  We passed exits for Milan, Paris, Versailles, Athens (2 times), Rome, and London.