My last few days in Virginia

This is in the final days of my trip to Virignia! Kim came over for coffee! It was so good to see her. I missed my other girls, Sondra, Pam and Jackie! :( Hopefully I'll see them on my next trip out to the East coast!

Chris' family came out from Rhode Island and Mass. to visit for a few days. Here they are making sandwichs for our lunch to take to the Children's Museum.

Jonathan, Madison, Ryder, Summer & Tyler! What a great looking group of kids!

The big chair makes Ryder look so small!

Out for a short day trip on the water!

The kids running off a little excess energy!

This is Chris with his beautiful sister Alyssa! I am so excited to have made a new friend!

Here is Christopher with his mommy . . . .

Heather in the atrium taking pictures of Ryder!

On my last day in Virginia, we went to McDonald's for lunch and to let the kids play.

They didn't have a table big enough for all of us so we made the kids sit at "the kid table". Everyone is enjoying their Happy Meal!

This is Chris' dad. See the scowl on Chris' face?

I don't know what he was thinking!

Just the boys!









Me and Heather! I sure do love this girl!

Poor baby was all tuckered out after a long day!

Me and my little princess in the car!











I'm going to miss her so much!

Our God is an AWESOME GOD!

Well if you're on my page because you just got done reading Heather's blog, just scroll on down. If you have just "tuned in" to my page, continue reading. To say "what a day" is an understatement. Heather had to go to a meeting tonight and left the kids with me and Chris. We had a very relaxing evening. Chris is one awesome man and he knows how to run a household too. He is not a "typical" dad. He fed all three kids (he cooked), cleaned the kitchen, did laundry, bathed all three kids and oversaw them doing their homework. (I assisted him) Heather called Chris when she was on her way home to make sure I was ready for her to pick me up so we could go to a coffee date @ 8:00 p.m. with the girls. (I've been here for 3 days and haven't seen any of them yet) The older kids were supposed to get a drink of water and I was in the bathroom changing my clothes. The next thing I hear is a huge crash and Chris yelling my name. (Of course my first thought was, "I didn't do it! I was in the bathroom".) I went running down the hall and saw Chris trying to calm Tyler down, telling him he wasn't in trouble and if he was hurt anywhere. Chris was checking him over looking for blood. Heather was standing near him (I never heard her come in the house) with Ryder screaming in her arms and Summer was sobbing on the couch. As usual, *I had no clue to what was going on*. The blinds on the patio door were moving so i thought maybe Tyler had ran into the glass door and broken it. Tyler was getting more and more hysterical. Summer was inconsolable and Heather and Chris were repeatedly asking Tyler if he was hurt. He was so afraid that he was in trouble he didn't answer them. He just kept saying that he was stupid and that it was all his fault. Turns out he climbed up on the counter (like he does every single night) to get a glass for water. Only this time, while on the counter he slipped and as he started to fall he grabbed onto the cabinet door. The whole cabinet, including all the contents, came crashing down. How thankful we all were, that the hand of God was on Tyler and Ryder. Tyler came away with relatively minor injuries. Ryder plays on the floor in kitchen and it was a miracle that he was off to the side by the refrigerator. I don't even want to think about how this might have turned out differently. Below are the pictures showing the grace of our God!

This is Tyler's left shoulder. He is going to be bruised and sore in the morning. Notice he has two marks on him here.

He has a "rasberry" about the size of a hard boiled egg on the left side of his head. He said he can't feel anything there, but I'll bet when he wakes up in the morning, he'll feel it then!

This picture isn't very clear. He was bleeding from the cuticle on his left pinky. It hadn't started to swell and bruise yet. (it was by the time he finally settled down and went to bed) His left hand was the only thing he complained about, but he said it wasn't that bad.

This is the cabinet EXACTLY where it fell! Thank the Lord that Tyler had such quick reflexes to jump out of the way! Or was it an angel or the hand of God that moved him out of the way? ? ?

Pretty much the only things that didn't break, were the kids stuff that was made out of plastic.

This is showing the empty space where the cabinet once hung! And the counter that Tyler was standing on!

When the cabinet fell, somehow it made a hole in the ceiling.

It also damaged the lower cabinet that was on the other side of the kitchen as it came crashing down.

Close up of the hole.

4-15-2009 Virginia Living Museum

We went to the Virginia Living Museum today. I've been here before, but I hadn't been on the outside trail. Even though it was rainning, I had Tyler & Summer be my guides and show me what they thought I needed to see. Our first stop was at the otter tank. They put on quite a show for us. The otters kept diving down deep and them swimming faster and faster to jump up out of the water. It was quite impressive. I could have stayed there for hours watching them, but my guides pulled me away!

This is a red wolf. We spotted three of them living in the enclosure.

This is a couple of Bald Eagles. I had never seen any "real" ones up close before.

We stopped for a photo op. I just love all the green in Virginia.

This is a bobcat. It reminds me of my "Buffy" kitty at home. She just sat there and let us take lots of pictures.

A little hard to see, but this is a pic of two deer.

This looks like the "Tom" we ate a Thanksgiving!

This is a baby alligator that was sleeping with his nose up against the rock.

This is one of the fish tanks! They look like baby sharks, but Tyler assured me that they weren't!

Summer asking one of the volunteers for advice.

Chris, Heather and Ryder . . . .

This is my kind of state! I could live here on the window ledge! When I move to my next house, this is the kind of view I want to be looking at every day.

Even though it was an overcast, rainy day, (my kind of weather) you can see that Spring is in full bloom. Had to get a photo with Heather in front of the beautiful tree.

Fun Times @ the Perry's

It's always go, go, go when I try to keep up with Heather. Today we took Ryder to a follow-up dr. appointment with the ENT. He received a clean bill of health (on his ears) Then we had Chris pick us up and we jetted over to the commissary so that we could get some food! Ryder really adores his daddy!

Summer asked me last night if I would bake her some chocolate chip cookies. When Heather and I had stopped laughing, Heather told her "she's not that kind of grandma". WTC? So I picked up some cookie mix and baked cookies for my little princess. (I scored big points with her!)

Heather is having a bar-b-que on Friday night, so we are getting started now, preparing food for the shin-dig! This is Heather doing her best "Vanna White" with the Suddenly Salad. Can't wait to get my taste buds on some of this!

Not to be outdone by my daughter, I started frying bacon and onions for the baked beans that I will be making. It's a recipe that I got handed down from my mom, who got it from her mom, etc. (Family secret - don't ask)

Heather was trying to put the rest of the groceries away, but Ryder wanted her to hold him. He would not stay out of the cabinets. (Notice the "girly" leg warmers he has on? Are the 80's back? And are you kidding me? Heather calls them pants without a crotch)

He does seem to like having his picture taken. Once he noticed the camera, he started smiling. (Must be a Skadsem trait!)

Summer and Tyler were busy occupying themselves playing on the computer. I had been playing computer games with them and surfing on You Tube, but I had to go help Heather. (After all, isn't that what I'm here for?)

Ryder was not happy that I pulled him away from him mommy, but he got over it quick enough. Turns out he really likes the song "Play That Funky Music". I had him laughing in no time. He was much easier than Rachel to convince that his crazy Nana was who he wanted to be hanging out with.

Tyler takes his computer games very seriously! The flash made him "lose his concentration" but he forgave me, gave me a kiss and told me he loved me anyway.

He even posed for this next picture for me. I am so lucky to have such wonderful grandkids.