Jack's trip

VA NJ/DE

NC

Of course he did have a little puppy shopping spree for coats and snow boots but what a difficulty trip for this little one?!?!?!?

Happy New Year to ALL!!!!!!!

Well we finally made it to NY a day late and of course had to spend the anniversary on the road but the traffic wasn't so bad. Also the weather held out enough for us so we were able to get here in good time. Also forgot the champagne so no toast tonight :( Oh well.
I don't know how many of you are staying up but wishing you all a happy new year!!!! Gotta go watch the ball drop and get some cheese and crackers!


Happy Anniversary baby!!!!!!

a little special

Well we are off to our trip in NY with the other half of the family. So far the trip (which should've started yesterday) is not off to such a great start but a start nonetheless. I went to the dentist today which didn't go tooo well but I won't talk about that now. we'll just leave it at my clenching has gotten me into trouble. But during my appointment Mike found some caches nearby and the caches did have some travel coins in them which he is tickled pink about. One was a state park coin and the other was a pirate booty coin. He's thinking about taking them both up to NY. He took some pics and will likely post them soon. He has tried to look at various caches along the way but I reminded him I did want to get to our destination some time in 2008. We'll see. Obviously after our fun yesterday we won't be able to go into the city for the ball drop so that'll have to remain on our bucket list for another year at least. Well we do have 3 more or so to plan for (until 2012). Well at least we get to spend our 2nd anniversary together with our little man. (even if it is on the road) As you can tell by the picture he is having a very eventful trip :)

As for the title of my blog. We were in the car we are listening to my ipod and a beach boys song comes on. "Who's that" he askes. I know I can't be married to a guy who doesn't know the beach boys so I tell him to keep listening and guess. Hmmm "Bob Marley" shocked but ok if I reach really REALLY hard i can see it. both beach music and all so I said no not quite,...."Bob dylan?" he says next. OMG!!!!! BOB DYLAN are you crazy!!!!! I can't even reach on that one!!!! Yes honey, bob dylan and the beach boys sound exactly the same. (shaking head). Anyway, it gets better. I proceed to play both bob marley and bob dylan for him to see just how off he was and Mr special that he is, he proceeds to say "No wonder I don't know him he's country" to bob dylan. Yea, move over Travis Tritt! Then again this is the same man who said Bonnie Raitt is country music too. I know that's def not as bad as BOB FREaKIN DYLAN. HE's special.
Anyway...Happy Anniversary baby.

everything happens for a reason

Well I should be blogging from the road right now but never the less the fates have decided to make us wait until tomorrow. We had the car all packed up and I was disappointed we couldn't ride the horses today becuase it's so beautiful but was ready to go. Jack found his normal trip seat (on my lap) and settled to fall asleep. Well we were bringing the girls and hucky to be boarded and guess what!?!?!? Well apparently they are closed from 1- 3 30 and we were there at one. I have to admit I was fairly irked at mike(I know suprising right!) for not checking this out earlier (especially since this would've meant some great riding time) But we went home and decided to eat and then try again in the next few hours. Well while finishing my puzzle and enjoying a turkey and swiss sandwhich I bit onto something hard. Hmmm...tomatoes aren't supposed to be that hard. Turnes out,,,it was my crown on my last upper tooth. Honestly, i'm not suprised since I have been a bad clencher and March was really in excruciating pain from clenching and i think I messed it up then and just getting worse since. But it still happened and worst timing cause my dentist is off this week. 3 dentists later I have an appt tomorrow to get it fixed. Apparently you can't go that long without getting it fixed and it is starting to hurt. :( Well at least the dog place was closed or else this would've happened in east jesus va or something. At least I'm a big believer in everything happens for a reason and so this is just along the same line. Problem is I STILL can't go riding cause i'm starting to hurt :(!!!!! Well maybe I was just jealous of katie having holes in her mouth and so had to be like her. Oh well! At least I finished my puzzle and Mike can transfer ITunes to the Vaio. Of course my supporting husband is searching for geocaches and found one in a drain pipe. I know you can guess my reaction to that one!

Last one of Savannah

Here's just some more random pics of our trip from the Seafood festival. Really awsome band! And the one of the guy is a glass blower who made me a glass elephant to match mom's. He made the whole thing right in front of us---sooo cooool!!!!!

More Savannah--Fort Pics

Actors demonstrating and actually setting off a mock cannon fire (actual left over smoke from the shooting. )

playing catch up---Savannah Part 1

well its my own fault for not posting in so long but now I have figured out how to post new pics on here so I've got some making up to do. I'll first make up with some pics from mommy and daughter halloween adventure in Savannah from this Oct! We had a blast and got to explore many of the sights. Mom had to give a presentation and did great! The rest of the time was spent exploring, meeting some of savannah departed residents with ghost hunts where we even got to tour some places that Ghost Hunters went. We got to explore an old fort, a Lighthouse were there were def some activity and we even got to climb to the top to an extrodinary view, various tours, Seafood festival where there was a neat band, went to tybee island, had some awsome candy at the candy kitchen. We also got to take an awsome horse carriage tour but those pics didn't turn out too great. We loved it though.

>Mom at the top of the lighthouse overlooking tybee island.

Tybee island hurricane catagory surge elevations. Mom is just tall enough for a category 1.
Ate at the pirate house where it is said Captain Flint still roams (really great food):

Horseback riding

Today went up to near 70 degrees!!!! Although its was very cloudy and headache weather, Mike and I got to go see the boys and do a little riding. Plus Mike got to play with his new saddle. Cody is much happier as I think this saddle fits him better and Mike even said Cody felt more relaxed with the new saddle. I got a new helmet and gloves and that's the other picture is of me with Cody in my new helmet!

My anniversary present!!!!!!!!!

Well aside from saying goodbye to everyone today we did get some caching in earlier with mom, rick, and brat which was very fun. Mike of course is hooked and so after saying good bye we found some more caches to postpone going back to the empty house. Mike even found his first travel bug and micro. BUT in between saying goodbye and caching we went back into Best Buy and Mike got me the BEST anniversary present ever!!!!!!!

Pink Sony Vaio and a pink wireless mouse to match!!!!!! :) I think this is my very first laptop that I can say is all MINE!!!!! I'm having a blast figuring out vista and the new settings but am totally in love with it! Thank you baby!!!!

Empty home

well as they say- All good things must come to an end. This is now true of our christmas holiday with the family. We really loved having everyone over and getting a chance to spend time with the family (most of it anyway as we really missed AJ). I think it went really well with even puppies having a blast (especially when they discovered both grandpa and great-grandparents liked to share treats :) ) It was of course sad though saying good bye but we'll be together again soon with the cruise! Maybe even AJ can go on this and bunk with us?! Unfortunately Brat's spring break is the next week though. I really like this getting together every few months. Mom and I had the best time together at the end of October in Savannah and now we get together again for christmas and then again in March :)

Catch up-stories (pics will follow soon)

Well since it's been 6 mo that I had been slacking, I figured I would fill everyone in on some of the goings and comings and basically make up for the time. Hmm well I think last post before Dec was in June.
*We moved into our new home over the summer and have been fairly busy unpacking and settling in. We are loving it though and even the puppies seem happier (except for stairs) . We also got to upgrade our living room and bedroom furniture. The bed is a canopy and a bit higher off the ground so we needed more stairs for the dogs to get up. We upgraded to a king size bed so we actually can have some room to sleep along side 3 dogs and 1 cat.

* we adopted a new kitty who is Kokopelli. She's a long haired siamese and a love bug. Mom just fell in love with her as I knew she would.

*Katie graduated highschool and we all got the pleasure of sitting in the sun getting burned while listening to a very detailed life story of an old graduate. Overall though it was nice and we are very proud of her.
* In Aug Mike took me to see Brian Adams in an accoustic concert in Pittsburg and afterwards we drove up to Niagra Falls. We had a beautiful view of the falls and once Mike gives me the pics I will upload some. We also went to Marine Land and played with fishes.
*We were also lucky enough to get front row seats and meet and greet to Brian Adams and Foreigner. LOVED IT!!!!! Even got a pick tossed to me after "Everything I do".
Pretty much everything else going on involves horses and puppies. We had a sad discovery and my little angel is deaf but otherwise very happy and enjoying life. Horses doing great and I've gone to English riding now with minor jumping. Katie and mom even got to enjoy riding the boys. Katie rode bareback too!!!!
* Well I guess I can't update everything and not mention Mike loosing his job. We are doing well overall right now and Mike is enjoying some extra time on his hands but is looking.

Well I think those are the major highlights over the past year. I'll try to be better from now on and maybe even some pics to follow.

Geocaching

Well Mike finally got to fully introduce me to geocaching. (thanks Rick). I have to admit I did enjoy myself though. (Shhh!!! don't tell Mike). Actually it wasn't so much the hide and seek as much as getting to find new areas I wasn't aware of and hiking. We went to a waterfall yesterday and an old part of the museum that had old dinasours in it. Very interesting and fun. Great workout after all the christmas cookies and other christmas goodies. We had better luck today with actually finding the stuff than yesterday. Still miss the horses on trail but we burn more calories this way.

Christmas 2008

Well it's day after Christmas and yesterday was wonderful. It's really great to have most everyone here except AJ and we really miss you Bubba. Brat is feeling better overall after having her wisdom teeth out and is REALLY looking forward to going back to Chicago this time of year ;). She racked up on hello kitty stuff with a really cute toaster oven and celtic necklace. We got her a pretty neat flypen that she can write and download her notes and few other small things. Mom is enjoying her new laptop and camera and other gifts. Rick is stylin with new bike clothes and tools. Mike can't wait to go riding with his new saddle and horse gear and introduction to thinkgeek goodies, plus he can get outside and do some weed wacking if he can finish anythi. Gail looks great with her new tink necklace and smells great with bath and body works goodies. Don's enjoying the time with a beautiful airforce watch and other small goodies. As for me, I got a beautiful horse necklace, horse purse, horse calendar, and my troxel helmet and gloves for riding. I also got a new digital frame with a beautiful wood color for possibly the bedroom. Aj- Mom'll bring down your goodies from us. The other great thing is all the food and goodies. I must've gained at least 10 pounds already on cookies, truffles, gingerbread house, and a wonderful christmas dinner last night. Mom outdid her self on the sides and Rick on the turkey. At least I got some great workouts in with my initiation into geocaching. Unfortunatly they were both DNF's but they were beautiful areas and we had fun family time looking. Even brat got into the action.

Bad Girl

Well I have apologies to make. I've been slacking on this popular kids thing and Grandma Gail was quick to remind us to keep up the blog ;OP. A lot has happened over the past 6 mo and I'll go back to update everyone over the next few days with pics and stuff!

Code Red

Forgot to also let you guys know about another thing going on in our neck of the woods. Apparently we are having wildfires in the coast and are actually seeing a lot of smoke out here. It smells pretty bad outside and was very "foggy" today. We are under a code Red air quality for tomorrow and was under Code Orange initially and then Red today. It is affecting over 39.000 acres and is only 40% contained according to the latest news. The sad part is it's at Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. Apparently it was started by lightning. We don't have tv yet and so it was really weird going outside this morning and seeing all the smoke and wondering what is going on?!?!?!?

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea."

Well it's been a little while since I've posted but LOTS of new and exciting things have happened. First of all, found a great quote to describe one of the biggest changes and that is Miss Kokopelli! She has def adapted to the new world of the Garafola home. She is now beginning to be a typical vocal Siamese and tolerating the dogs. However, I think she found out the hard way that if you growl at the girls that's the sure way to get them riled up and get chased. Still she's getting flirtatious. She's also the perfect cat for me. Guess what her favorite thing is?! "Squeeze the face" she actually rubs her head into my hand and enjoys it!

We've also moved in and are slowly but surely getting unpacked and really making it a home. We are both LOVING it and are so happy to be moved in and starting a new chapter. Closer to horses, closer to patients, bigger house, horses next door, and HUGE kitchen. We are really hoping all of you get to visit soon and join the excitement. Now for the other part of the quote: mike's slowly learning that she who does most of the unpacking gets to do most of the choosing on where to put things :OP

horses and dogs doing well. Got tossed off Majic again yesterday but not bad at all and really it was my own fault. I didn't run him first and it's been a while since he's been ridden but all worked out well and I'm not hurt. I have a few favorite quotes when it comes to horseback riding and magic. One is what I named my blog after : .....enjoy the RIDE (trail ride) . got it off of a bumper sticker. And then of course : Churchill's : There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man. But the one for majic and me is a Mexican proverb: It is not enough for a man to know how to ride; he must know how to fall. (slowly figuring this one out. I need the shirt that I saw: printed upside down "If you can read this please put me back on my horse"

of course another quote " A woman needs two animals - the horse of her dreams and a jackass to pay for it." always makes me laugh.

Post

Ok, so Mike says I have to post again in order for all of you to get my blog info so here's another post! Btw......AJ---still waiting on my reply :OP. Mom can you forward to brat. Tried e-mailing her but never heard back so don't know if I have the right address.

Popular kids club

Ok...we'll I guess I'm now apart of the popular kids blog club. I figured since everyone was getting one I would be next. just call me a lemur. Actually, I think this is pretty cool but I may get myself into trouble with this so bear with me!