Our Family – Page 53 – Andelin Adventures

Kyle’s Trip to Florida

Before starting back at Symantec, my manager had let me know that there would be a training in Florida, at our Heathrow office, covering one of the products I would be supporting. Since I had been gone for so long, we felt it would be a good refresher. It would also be a good chance to meet with people outside the company, as there would be partners that would also work with it.

At the airport, I met a coworker from our Oregon office, and we would end up traveling together on the trip. This was my first trip to Florida, and the flight from Salt Lake airport was entertaining. A large number of the people on the flight were families going to Disneyworld. Once we boarded, the flight attendants pointed out that our flight was full, so to be sure we got airborne, we had to lift our arms in the air like it was a roller coaster. They did other silly things and jokes, for example when we landed, they got over the PA system and asked if anyone lost a briefcase full of hundred dollar bills, as they had an empty briefcase to return. It added to the experience, which really feels that Disneyworld (and the other parks in the area) get a lot of attention. Some day I hope we get there for a vacation.

We arrived in the evening to mild, rainy weather. I understand Florida is like this quite often, and was a decent change from a Utah winter. It took around an hour to reach the hotel from the airport, but fortunately the hotel was pretty close to the office. During our trip, we got a chance to explore the area whilst looking for food and other things to do, although they wasn’t much. We drove down to Cocoa Beach, the city I Dream of Jeannie took place in, although it didn’t look like I imagined it from the TV series.

We got a chance to try some new food, like Alligator and Frogs Legs, at a local place a coworker recommended. Whoever thought Frogs Legs taste like chicken was eating some bad chicken, because it tasted nothing like it, and not good at all, either. At least the Alligator was decent, when battered and deep fried.

As for the trip, the training was good. Over the few days I was there, I met some people I had worked with in the past, and got the refresher and update I needed on our product. I am glad I went, even if everyone missed me during the trip.

Jeremy’s First Pinewood Derby

We have been preparing for this for the past month, and the day we have been waiting for is finally here! It’s the day of Jeremy’s first pinewood derby! He has been working on the detailing of his car ever since we got home from Grandpa’s house, and it looks pretty amazing. We went to the scout shop this morning to buy some weights to get it as close to the 5oz as possible. Weighing it at home the scale said it was 4.990 oz. I didn’t dare make it 5oz even, because I realize that scales are all slightly different and the weight that is going to count was the weight on the scale AT the race. At the race it rang it at 5oz even, so I was glad I didn’t add anything to make it 5oz even, at home.

Kyle wasn’t able to come to the derby with us tonight because he is in Florida. I am REALLY, REALLY upset about this business trip, and the fact that it means he would have to miss the pinewood derby and that he wouldn’t be here to help or support Jeremy. He also had two of his Webelos receiving their Arrow of Light and bridging our of cubs to boy scouts and he wasn’t here for that. And because he wasn’t here, nobody else made sure to get the bridge out for those boys! The bridge is currently in a closet at the church, so it’s not like it wasn’t there because I couldn’t get it there, all they had to do was get it out. I was also really nervous about bringing all of the kids to the pinewood derby. I didn’t feel like I could help Jeremy with issues with his car (if they arose) AND keep all of my children in line. So I asked a neighbor to watch Adam and the girls and I just brought Ethan and Jeremy to the race.

Jeremy’s car looks awesome, everyone was quite impressed. However, I’m kind of bummed that it wasn’t as fast as I was hoping. After all the trouble we went to to make sure the axles were aligned properly, and it didn’t go faster….apparently we haven’t learned the secret to a fast car yet.

Jeremy didn’t make 1st, 2nd or 3rd place, and they didn’t announce an order for anyone but 1st, 2nd and 3rd. I guess in the past too many boys have been disappointed at seeing how far down the list they placed. I kind of like to see that to kind of gauge whether we are making our cars better or worse. Really they shouldn’t be afraid of showing that information. Part of good sportsmanship is seeing how you did, and congratulating and being happy for the winners despite of your own performance. Jeremy did get a special award though. He got “The Sweetest Ride” award.

Ethan’s Scouting Skills

Ethan came home from scouts yesterday with some homework: to set up and take down a tent twice. So this afternoon I got out a tent and sent him out in the front yard to do his assignment. I let Jeremy go out to help him, but I stayed in the house and refused to do any of it for him. I really wanted HIM to do it, and I didn’t want to risk taking over.

The other kids watched excitedly from the front door. Adam really wanted to be outside with the boys. He was totally smashing his nose against the door just to get that much closer.

The hardest part of Ethan’s assignment, was getting the tent back IN the bag. We brought the tent into the house to refold it to see if we could get it to fit better.

Excitement

I previously mentioned that when Wendy and John delivered Grandma’s piano, they also brought my parents trampoline. Dad was so excited to get that out of their backyard, but it does make me wonder what the kids are going to do the next time we go to visit them….

I really want to have the trampoline set at ground level in our backyard, and the kids really just want to get it set up. Today I looked out in the backyard and found several of them trying to dig a hole for it.

Dog Sitting

Kyle’s mom had to go in for some surgery because they found some lumps in her breast that needed investigating, so we get to take care of her dogs while she was in for that and while she is recovering. Her dogs, Darcy and Ziva took a little bit to warm up to us, but they seem to be enjoying their stay here so far. They are licky dogs though, anytime someone is sitting on the couch they will cuddle up next to them and just start licking their arm or their hand or something. One night after we put the kids to bed, we heard Lydia just start laughing and then she said “The doggy’s tasting me!” sure enough, Ziva was sitting there on her bed just licking her. 😛

Chewy and the cat were unsure what to think of our house guests, and watched them cautiously. Chewy seemed to hide more than usual to stay away from them I guess.

Ziva, on the other hand, wasn’t sure what to think of Jango, Jango being so much bigger than she is.

We had been told that Darcy and Ziva tend to fight a lot, but I didn’t see them fight once. In fact they seemed to like to cuddle with each other.

They got to spend a lot of time playing outside with Jango, which is a huge contrast from what they do at home. At home they are usually kept in a small pen in the kitchen, and are only let out when Karen feels like supervising them, and they rarely ever go outside. I just didn’t want them inside during meal times. The kids tend to be messy eaters and all kinds of things end up on the floor. I didn’t want the dogs cleaning that up and end up being sick from it. It was funny though, anytime Kyle or I were in the kitchen and we opened a wrapper or a package of something Darcy came RUNNING. If we were eating she would just stare at us, watching the food go to our mouths and back. Ziva didn’t seem to care if we happened to be in the kitchen, but Darcy made sure to be right there waiting for any possible handouts.