Florida Fun - Friday Beach Bums

That Friday we went to the beach. Since Meghan was napping in the car, I stayed with her while Kyle went to swim. Periodically he would come back and check on us.

These pictures clearly say "Hey! I'm wet!" and maybe "Hoo hoo hoo! I'm ticklish" (actually, he was commenting on how swimming is a good work out for his core muscles).

Eventually, Meghan woke up and we went out to the beach. She thought that was the funnest thing in the world. She and Steven played in the sand. Sam, who was cold, quickly stole her towel to keep warm.

Meghan loved the water. She would laugh and laugh as the tide would wash over her and go back out.

This is one of my favorite set of pictures because it tells a little story. Meghan walks up to the ocean, Kyle follows her. "Hey Meghan! Yay Water!" Kyle seems to say as he raises his arms. Meghan, meanwhile sits down. Kyle realizes she is sitting down. He takes a seat himself. They watch the water together. Anyways, I think its cute.

Florida Fun - Trampoline and Race Cars

After the exhausting train ride, Meghan took her turn on the trampoline.

And Dad showed off his mad Tarzan skills.

Finally, Meghan tried out the race car. She just might be in NASCAR next year - keep your eyes peeled.

Florida Fun - Friday Train Ride

During the photo shoot, the Toddler Express drove in circles. It's a good thing we're of a cheerful countenance or our customers might switch providers.

Unfortunately, we ran into a bandit who held up the train and enacted a quick train robbery.

Meanwhile, Handsome Rugged Explorer Kyle examined the local botany and tasted the fruits to see if they were edible. He also located some hostile insects (Fire Ants) and local wildlife (Burrowing Pugs).

Having gotten the lay of the land, he took the Toddler Express on a botanical tour. Some of the natives tried to hijack the train but Explorer Kyle managed to shake them off.

Florida Fun - Friday Photo Shoot

For Thanksgiving this year we drove down to Florida. It was a long trip but definitely worth it. Plenty of fun was had by all. Sadly I didn't take any pictures on Thanksgiving day. But I took plenty on Friday.

On Friday there was a photo shoot! Hans was getting his picture taken so Mom can have a 8x10 on her wall.
There were several versions but my favorites were "Adam", "Formal Wrestler", "Flying Ninja", "Crouching Tiger"and "Pretty Princess". I think that after some point we were no longer very serious...

Can You Dance Dance?

And after all that work the final score is:

E. For Excellent.

Is that a Nupboard in the Cupboard?

My $70 Free Piano

As some of you have probably heard, Kyle got me a piano for Christmas! Hurray! (Even though its not quite Christmas yet but we won't tell him that) Some guy in Arlington, VA was giving away a piano because he is moving and trust me, you do not want to move a piano. So he put it up on craigslist.org which is kind of like classifieds online. Kyle spotted it 20 minutes after he posted it on Saturday night and jumped at the chance to get me a piano. Even though it was 10:05 at night, Kyle gave him a call and left a message. The next morning, the guy called back and we made arrangements to pick it up on Monday evening.

So, during Elder's quorum Kyle asked for volunteers to help him pick up the piano since Arlington is about an hour away and we don't have a truck. One brother volunteered his truck and another volunteered to help unload once we got it back to Waldorf.
Monday afternoon, the wild goose chase began. The guy giving us the piano called and told us to bring furniture dollies so that his floor wouldn't get scratched up. So, diligent wife that I am I called the Relief Society President to find out who might have some. We both did a little calling and concluded that either a) nobody is home in the middle of the day, b) wives have no idea what is in their husband's garage or c) people just plain don't have furniture dollies. Hmm. This was looking to become a problem. As it gets closer to Kyle coming home and leaving, the brother who volunteered his truck (we will call him Brother S) said that his truck bed was probably too high so we should try to get a UHaul. Uh oh. Kyle comes home at 6. We start calling places with UHauls. They all close before 6 for some strange reason. But wait! One guy says he's open until 8. "Great, we'll be there" we say. We call Brother S and make arrangements to meet near the UHaul place.
So we leave by 7. We have to stop at Lowe's to pick up two furniture dollies. But the people in Lowe's aren't helpful. They tell Kyle "Oh, those are in Aisle XX" and send him away. He spends fifteen minutes trying to find the dollies. Finally he locates them, buys them and rushes out. We head towards the UHaul place. At this point, we realize we don't have the hitch with us. We call Brother S. He has a hitch on his truck. So he will pull the UHaul trailer. He then proceeds to tell us where he is. So we're driving along, find the UHaul place but can't find the place Brother S said he was. We drive further, realize we're lost and call Brother S. We misinterpreted his location so we had to turn around and drive back to where he is. At this point, time is running out for the UHaul place. We drive like mad and get there at 7:55. But the manager has already locked the door for the night. Kyle bangs on the door and indicates that we had called so the nice manager guy rents us a UHaul trailer. By this point I am a little stressed out.
We call the piano guy and tell him we will be late. And we start driving. I feel anxious because I hate being late and we'll be keeping Brother S later than originally planned - and he gets up at 5:30 in the morning. Talk about a guilt trip.
We finally arrive and begin moving the piano. We have to take it out the back door, down three stairs and across a short yard of grass because the front door has way too many stairs and the side door has a sharp turn that the piano just will not navigate. While Brother S's son keeps an eye on Meghan, I help move the piano by being the Official Dolly Adjuster. The dollies were definitely worth the stop. About an hour struggle later, we get the piano into the back of the UHaul. Kyle secures it and we head back home.
We decided that Brother S should just drop the trailer and head home for some sleep. So once we get the trailer in a parking spot, we checked the status of the piano. The piano had tipped over turning the journey. This was bad because it was resting on a part of the trailer that looked like it would break off if we left it. So Kyle and Brother S jack up the piano and Brother S leaves for the night.
The next day, I spend the afternoon trying to find people to help move the piano into our house. I manage to find 1 and Kyle found 1 when he came home. So, near 7:00 two brothers come and help move the piano. They upright it after a brief struggle, then start rolling it out of the trailer. As they're pushing the piano out of the trailer onto the sidewalk, the trailer starts rolling backwards! So one of the brethren goes and tries to secure the trailer while Kyle and the other brother get the piano out. Our neighbor offers to help and between the four guys, they muscle and roll it into our house.
Hurray! The Chaos is over!

Meghan loves the piano. The first thing she wanted, once it was in place, was to sit on the bench and plunk away. She's a regular little Mozart. Its an old piano and needs a little bit of work, and it has two broken hammers but it sounds good. I am very happy with my new piano.

Furniture Dollies: $50
UHaul: $20
Piano: Free
Beautiful Music: Priceless