Suprise Visit

Guess who stopped in at the shop and chatted with Sam last week!




Steve Park! How cool is that? I guess he knows the Lynchs from a past mutual team. He's racing a GN East car and was looking for some parts. Sam didn't have what he needed, but they had a nice chat.

Saturday At The Ballfield

Wow, what a day and what a game! The weather forecast was calling for afternoon thundershowers, but they held off until late evening. We had a beautiful 76 degree day! It seemed much hotter (maybe it was humidity), and my shoulders are burnt.

Emily played with the coach's daughter. They spent two hours with a caterpillar and a canker worm. Silly girls.



Blake's game was called for time (2 hour limit) at the top of the 7th. They were awarded a 7-6 win! They played against another team full of big kids (7th graders), but held their own!









Not much else going on this weekend. We drove around to look at a few houses after the game. That evening we sat out on the deck and watched the lightening show. On our bums nonetheless. I want these!



Sam's been working today and the kids and I just hung out. We had one rain storm roll through earlier and the kids were timming each other to see who could stand in the rain the longest, lol. They were soaked! This evening clouds have taken over and I once again hear rumbles in the distance. I've always enjoyed rain storms on hot days! Uh-oh, just got an alert from the National Weather Service, better go read it!

Hope you all enjoyed your weekend!

Field Trip

Today has been a fun day. I was able to chaperon Emily's class on a field trip to Discovery Place in downtown Charlotte. Pretty cool! The place has all kinds of hands on displays and activities for kids. Sea life, Rain forest, weather, geology, wild animals, machines, health.... lots of stuff. We only had an hour to roam around, and Emily is excited to go back sometime.



We got to watch a dinosaur movie in the IMAX theater that was great. I saw a sign that said they will be playing the new Speed Racer movie there starting May 9th, so we'll have to include that in our trip back.

They're Back!

Greys Anatomy is finally back on with new episodes tonight! Woooo-Hooo

I have loved this show from the very first episode. The writters are amazing!

If you watch, have you ever checked out the writter's blog? It's pretty cool to get their take on the episode. Check it out sometime, http://abc.go.com/primetime/greysanatomy/index?pn=scoop

Saturday Baseball Report *UPDATE*

Blake's baseball team had their second game on Saturday. After the first, Blake was feeling kind of discouraged. He's playing right field, and doesn't like it out there. These kids are very advanced compared to the last team he played on, and Blake doesn't feel his skills match the others. We talked to him about how important it is to not only stick with it, but do his best at least until the end on this season. Saturday, he got the boost he needed when he caught a pop fly. I think he surprised himself, and he was thrilled that other kids were acknowledging it. Unfortunately, my little man's play wasn't enough to help the team that day. They suffered a loss of 6-2. As we were leaving, Sam asked Blake if he felt different about baseball now. With a big grin Blake responded "Oh ya".

*UPDATE* Blake was awarded the game ball in recognition of his great catch!

CatDog

What a crazy (not to mention gross) pooch. That's the cat's litter box!

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Monday was opening night for HYAA baseball. Despite only getting in 3 practices, the Alabama Roll Tide pulled off a 3-2 victory! Blake was feeling pretty good about it. There are some great ball players in this league. I'm not sure what the age range is, but there were kids taller than me! It was a frigid 50 degrees so parents were all bundled and lots of coffee and hot chocolate was sold.

Today is gorgeous (upper 60's I'd say) and no sight of rain, so they should get their practice in tonight. Next game is scheduled for Saturday.

Spring Break 2008

The kids and I took a few days of Spring Vacation to spend at Myrtle Beach, SC. I did some research and made a list of hotels that took pets so we didn't have to worry about the animals. Tuesday evening we started packing and finished up Wednesday morning. With the rig loaded, we headed out at about 11am.

Less than an hour into the trip the kids noticed Timmy the cat acting very funny. They said he was drooling nonstop so I had them put him in the kennel. Not two minutes later we were all overcome by a horrible smell. Poor kitty had doo-doo'd in the kennel. With windows down and kids moaning, I was stuck in a construction area with no way to pull over. Luckily within a mile we came to a rest stop where I could pull over and clean up with the Clorox wipes I had brought along, just in case, lol. Amazingly enough, I had also brought a can of air freshener!

Mess cleaned and everything secure, we continued along. About halfway there, we stopped for some lunch. It was pretty hot that day, so we just hit a Micky D drive-thru so we could leave the A/C running for the animals. My mom called, so I pulled into a parking space first to finish our chat. The kids were going bonkers and my call was winding down, so I pulled up to order and had to say good bye to mom. Orders placed, I drive around to the next window and grab my purse to find my bank card, BUT IT WASN'T THERE! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! I had enough cash to pay for the food and pull over to eat. I searched my purse, but still couldn't find the card. Since I had no other way to pay for a hotel or have access to any funds, we'd have to go home. Unbelievable! After finishing my salad, I frantically searched one more time and found the card slid between the pages of a notebook. Whew!

It's about a four hour drive to Myrtle Beach from our place and the rest of the trip was smooth sailing. I drove Ocean Blvd to check out the hotels and the kids picked one out. We got a oceanfront room with double queen beds and a full kitchen, cheap (woohoo).

The kids couldn't wait to get out on the beach, so we quickly unloaded and went out for a walk. We all got hungry, so we went a few blocks up the road to Friendly's (home of the commercial jingle Emily had been singing for days). We had a great meal and went back to check on the animals. After a little more time on the beach, we hit the pool. We had fun swimming and splashing around. It was late, so we headed up to bed and set the alarm so we could catch the sunrise.

The sunrise was working up to be a brilliant show, but got taken over by fog. Blake had really been looking forward to seeing the sun rise up from the ocean...maybe another time.

At 9 am we were out on the beach, but it was a little chilly, so we decided to go sight seeing for a bit. The kids talked me into doughnuts and hot chocolate from Dunkin Doughnuts along the way. We went to check out Broadway At The Beach, a big attraction, but nothing was open yet. We decided to go back to the beach for a while. Loaded up with sand buckets, inflated toys, kites, bubbles, and towels, we headed out. The fog had already burned off and it was beautiful! The kids played tag with the waves, collected shells, dug, dug, and dug some more in the sand. Hours just flew by.

Hot, and ready to eat again, we went back to Broadway. We decided to try Hard Rock Cafe. We waited 15 minutes after being seated and were never even offered drinks, so we left and found Senor Frogs. We were seated and had drinks pronto. The waiters were a lot of fun and the food was great.

Renourished and recharged, we walked around and looked at all the sights. The kids wanted to do MagiQuest and I obliged. What a fun place. You get a magic wand that when waved at certain objects activates them (like a treasure chest opens). There are quests you can chose to do that are sort of like scavanger hunts. We spent an hour playing and were still having fun. You get to keep your wand and all your information is saved. If you ever return to any MagiQuest center, you can continue your magi training. Really cool stuff. We even discovered several magical spots throughout Broadway shoping areas.

Before we knew it, it was 7:00! Time to head back and check on the animals. We ordered a pizza and then went swimming again before calling it a night.

The fog was thick again Friday morning, but it was still warm, so we went back out to the beach for a while. Checkout was at 11, so after a couple hours, we went in to rinse of, and load up.

The trip home was a breeze, and we can't wait to go back!

Back On Schedule

Sigh... So Spring Break 2008 is offically over. The kids are back in school and Sam's on his way home. It was a great week I'll remember forever. I hope the kids do too. If you haven't heard yet, we drove down to Myrtle Beach, SC for a few awesome days.

I've got some errands to run (especially since I lose driving priveldges tomorrow). I've also got to pick the kids up from school, drop Blake of for his first baseball game, pick Sam up at the airport and hustle back to watch Blake's game. Busy day, so not much time to organize and post pictures. Here's a teaser to keep you checking back!






Light or dark, clear or foggy, it didn't matter. The kids wanted to be out on the beach! I didn't mind much =)

Mama's got a new toy!

Okay, not really a toy, a required piece of household equipment. I'm acting like a kid with a new toy though! I vacuumed for an hour tonight! I have wanted one of these babies for a couple years now. My old vac was not doing the job anymore. Disgusted today, I decided to take the plunge and get this dream of a machine.



OMG you would not believe how wonderful this is. I can't believe I didn't allow myself to get it sooner!

I'm so going to have to get a job when Sam sees it though.... =)

Great Job In Phoenix WRE!

"David outran runner-up Nick Lynch (No. 29 Mr. Gas Dodge) on a green-white-checkered finish that concluded the event at the scheduled 150 miles. Jeff Jefferson (No. 42 MJ2 Racing/Gran Prix Imports Chevrolet) edged Brett Thompson (No. 61 PetsBest.com/Windmill Inn Chevrolet) for third place. Rookie Jeff Barkshire was fifth in the No. 46 Centennial Batteries/SPE Dodge." - NASCAR.com

SECOND PLACE! Sam says it's been a good week and he sounds like he's enjoying himself. We are still braced for what next week may bring though.

Congrats to our friends Jeff Jefferson and of course Sam's former team, Barkshire Racing. Jeff B had some serious car troubles and still pulled off a great finish! WOOT! Sam will be in AZ until Monday, so he's spending some time helping the Barkshires get their cars ready to head to Texas. I'm sure there will be pleanty of play time too!

Back To One Vehicle

Saturday afternoon after Blake's baseball practice, we headed out to the shop to say hi and check out the car. Blake was quickly put to work and Emily was quickly bored, lol! She and I had a little shopping to do so we went in to Mooresville. The Walmart parking lot was CRAZY packed so we bypassed that and went to rent a movie. From there we were going to hit the Target back towards home. While sitting at the intersection though, my Expedition started shaking. I could smell fuel too, but there was a gas station nearby so I attributed the smell to that. Once the light changed and we got going the shaking seem to ease a little, but at the next one I could tell something was really wrong. While trying to switch to the outside lane in order to get of the road I called Sam. I limped my girl into Hardee's and shut her off. Emily and I decided to go inside to have a snack and wait. When Sam got there he tried to start the car, but only to hear a "clunk". She wouldn't even start now! He looked around at it for awhile and a nice kid stopped to see if we needed help. Near as either could figure it was going to require more work than we wanted to do in the parking lot. Soooooo, Sam called up his friendly neighborhood tow truck (he transports the race stuff around sometimes).

















Back at the shop, Sam put her on the lift and did some more trouble shooting. He was pretty sure the starter had broke, so they took it back to town where a guy confirmed it and sold them a new one. Sam got the new one put in, but my girl still wouldn't start. Frustrated and sure the engine was toast we went home.

Good news is after sitting a couple nights, on Monday morning she fired up! Sam says it's still shaking and spitting fuel out of the exhaust, but it looks better than at first. Next Monday he and another guy are going to check it out a bit more before taking it in to a repair shop.

I've got the Trailblazer this week while Sam's gone, but it's going to be back to hooffin' it for me once he gets home and until the Expedition is fixed. Oh, and the warranty on the Expedition expired 4,000 miles ago. Got to love it.

Our Town

Not where we live, but our name-sake. Who'd have thought we'd be an hour drive from Roebuck, South Carolina. Sam found it while browsing the net and couldn't wait to go. As we neared a sign said "Roebuck Next Right", but it didn't seem correct so we stopped for directions. We were told to get back on the highway and take the following exit. We headed out, but Sam was sure we'd gone to far. Finally the next exit came, but there was no signs to point us to Roebuck. We went left by chance and pulled into a mini mart. Sam went in to ask for directions (that's how excited he was to get there!) and came out laughing. As he started explaining, I looked up and saw the address on the building... we were there, lol! We spent all of a half hour there driving around snapping pictures of everything that said Roebuck. I'm quite sure we looked ridiculous to the locals! It wasn't much of a town, but we were glad we went.