Total Pageviews

Monday, May 28, 2018

When Things Are Just Going All Wrong - Memorial Day '18

Ugh. I know I've posted a ton on Facebook about our issues with our plumbing issues and we're still dealing with it today. I'm not sure if it's the rain that makes all this mess worse or what, but today we not only had water in our basement, but now sewage and toilet paper as well. Fabulous.

I don't know why the other plumbers just didn't quite feel like getting to the bottom of what was going on in our house, but I called back the folks that pumped our septic tank on Friday, as they deal with plumbing and septic issues. Surprisingly, they were at our house within an hour and a half on a holiday. Turns out that (thankfully) we don't have a busted pipe going from the house to the septic tank, but we do have a pipe that dips down and forms a pool so when it gets clogged, it backs up into the house. The new plumbers we used today cut down through all that mess and cleared the clog, but to fix the problem permanently we're looking at some big renovations (talking busting out concrete, re-doing the plumbing, etc...) He said that what they did today will temporarily fix the issues, but it could last us another 4 years or another 4 months, there's just no way to know.

I'm just over it. I don't think I've ever felt so danged irritated with any situation the way I feel with this. There is no easy or inexpensive fix so we'll just have to buckle down and do it. Ah, home ownership.

PS our kids have been wild this weekend, and they're all sick. Charlie has some sort of cold and her nose is like a faucet and she coughs all the time. Dillon has the same thing, now, so it's really just not been our week.

It really all sounds like first world problems. "Oh man, my indoor plumbing is backing up" or "We all have sniffly noses." In the grand scheme of things, it's really not a big deal, but it feels like a big deal and I think Dillon and I both just feel beaten down a little. Luke's new favorite show is the Roseanne reboot and last week's issue they had a flooded basement and no money to fix the huge costs, and I always wonder how they just seem to laugh it off (because, ya know, it's a tv show)... but then Dan got so frustrated that he took a crowbar and beat in a door in their basement. He talked about how he worked so hard and still couldn't get everything done that he needed and it was some sort of validation, like, yeah, other people get it, too. So, for right now, we hold out for the rain to stop. We wait on yet another estimate from a plumber, and we move one step in front of another, as annoying as it may be, we'll get through it.

While most of the weekend was spent stressing about our sewage needs, we did have our first pool day and some good family time. A few pictures below!



How most of the weekend was spent. She has a runny nose, teeth coming in and is just miserable in general. Poor baby. 

Luke has about another 2 months of pre-school. He'll spend the last month before kindergarten with my mom and dad and they're going to do some fun pool days and running around.

It's not a pool day without Cheetos.







Luke also helped clean our fridge off with shaving cream. That was a fun morning and my fridge is shiny now!

Luke's smiley face








One of the few smiley faces from her this weekend.



Sunday, May 20, 2018

St. Simons 2018

I think our days of staying in a small hotel room are behind us because I just sent the boys out to walk in order to try and get Charlie to sleep (only about 3 hours past her bedtime!)

We're finishing up our last day on our mini-vacation here in Georgia and we've had a really nice time. Traveling with kids is no easy feat and it's gotten even harder to keep up with 2 kids and not just one. We were at the beach the other day and Dillon had to run back to the truck and as soon as he left, Luke was at the water's edge and Charlie was running in the opposite direction. That was fun.

The weather this weekend has been pretty good even though it rained a lot. It actually made it really nice because it was overcast and it wasn't a billion degrees down here.  We spent some time at the beach, but found some other stuff to get in to. I'll try and just let the pictures tell the story below.

Just know that we've all really enjoyed being here together. Luke is super sad that we have to go home tomorrow (and so am I actually), but I explained that we can always come back and that's what  makes it special!

We ended up staying at a hotel that we always used to stay at when I was little. The pool is awesome and they've redone the rooms so it's super nice. I was just a little jealous when we walked past a suite today that had all kinds of room. We've been on top of each other in here.

Charlie spent the majority of the first day in this mood. It was fun.




Hey, Megan Markle, keep looking all dreamy eyed at Prince Harry. This is what it's like 10 years later. HAHAHAHA









So  I've been here about a billion times and Dillon's been here probably 10 times or so. We tried really hard this go round to try new restaurants. Porch was first on the list and they have Nashville style hot chicken. The owner was very kind and the food was good. A++

There was a fenced in front area and cornhole!






Luke finds friends everywhere we go.

We did eat at Iguana's just because they have my favorite fried shrimp.


And Dillon got crab legs!


I took too many pictures of this darned bird.








boys... 

We went to Driftwood Beach at Jekyll Island and it was easily one of the coolest beaches I've ever seen!








I didn't take extra clothes for Charlie so she decided to roll in the water...




This is a funny story too.... I signed us up to take the Gatorology class and I received all the confirmation emails and such. It said that was at Horton Pond which I assumed was on the Sea Turtle Center property. We went to check in and the girl seemed confused and she said it wasn't held there. Another girl told us to walk through the parking lot and make a few rights and we'd get there. Only when we walked through the parking lot a map told us that Horton Pond was on the other side of the island. So we hightailed it back to the car threw the kids in their seats and tried to find this place. We were 20 minutes late but that's ok because all Luke wanted to do was hold the gator. 



















Takin'  a walk!
















Luke was a fan of the hot tub, even more so than the pool! 




HAHA Luke. 


We also went up in the lighthouse today at Luke's request.



Our truck!


We made it to the top! And I was terrified!











Vacation!









Ice cream! 




This guy caught a ton of fish! 

Luke caught a tree frog with his net!