First Day of School

Alexandra and Isabel were absolutely thrilled about starting school. I registered the girls last Friday where we received a tour and met their teachers at a Christian School which is highly recommended in our area. We decided to enroll them one week early since Michael and I were both home for the week packingng and to allow for more time to drop them off if necessary. We had to do some school shopping to get some essential supplies: sleeping bags and pillows for naps, scissors, pencils, etc. The girls thought they were soo cool! That first day of school, we dropped the girls off with no problems whatsoever. They were actually very excited for me to leave. When I arrived to pick the girls up, they did not want to leave.. in fact, Alexandra tried convincing me to come back in a little while. On the way home, they told me all about the things they learned. They knew a parable Jesus had taught, worked on memorizing a scripture (which they do every morning.. sort of like seminary huh?), were learning some sign-language, letters, and numbers. I was amazed at how productive they had been in just one day. They even took a field trip to the local park since the weather had been very nice. There first week at school went better than I could have ever hoped.. definately making it easier for me to go to work. Isabel has even mastered potty so that she could go to school! The school goes up to first grade so we are actually considering possibly keeping them there rather than enrolling them in the public schools next year!

BACK TO LIFE - BACK TO REALITY

Reality struck all too quick. The night before I left for home, I found out that our basement had gotten a little bit of water in it after the last large snow fall! This wouldn't be too bad except for the fact that our house is under contract and we are to be settling March 30th!! Out of the 3 yrs we've been there, we never had problems and then we have one a few weeks before settlement! Our buyers, to say the least, were not thrilled to hear about this. We had waterproofers come to the house for recommendations. It was suggested that we put a whole drainage system in our basement and sub-pump to prevent water from ever making it in the basement again. We got the go ahead from the buyers..and well, there went a few thousand dollars!! blah! S0o just as we think everything is fine and dandy.. we moved most od our stuff from our house to stay with my Uncle Ed temporarily. Friday, we got a call from our buyers. They sound up in the air about the transaction! I am so frustrated with this situation! I don't think I would ever recommend FSBO. We gave our buyers 6 months to find buyers, we are letting them move into our house a week early w/out reimbursement, we've let them come into the house atleast a dozen times with family, maintenance personnel, etc, put in a 20 yr backed drainage system.. and now it may all fall through! Talk about wanting this situation to come to an end!! Not to mention, we had a settlement which fell through last month due to their buyers backing out!! So needless to say, we are playing the waiting game to see what happens in the end.

Along with our house being sold, Michael had surgery last week to have a fistula removed and he is doing well with recovery. I have accepted a job working at Countrywide with Andy, my brother-in-law. One day Andy called me up and said that his boss wanted to sit down and talk to me about a position. I typed up a new resume and eventually sat down with the boss where I was offered a position. After much talking, Michael and I came to the conclusion that I should accept the position. . knowing we would be enrolling Alexandra in pre-k this year and Isabel next year, that I could use the experience on my resume if I would be finishing my degree to be in pharm. sales in the near future, and that they help pay for school! We enrolled the girls in a school that was highly recommended in the area. I started my job Friday where we left early due to the snow!! So, if anyone needs a loan.. i'm your man.. or woman!! lol!

Anyways, we'll keep you updated on the house and i'll e-mail our new address, phone #, etc.

Devil's Island aka Alcatraz

Sorry this has taken me so long to post.. I spent my last day with Jolene in San Francisco where we stayed in Fisherman's Wharf and went on an awesome tour of Alcatraz! Jolene has a much more detailed account of our adventure here but just a synopsis.. We stayed in a hotel walking distance from everything. In the morning we ran down to the ferry at Fisherman's Wharf and took it to the island. To my surprise, Alcatraz was not just a huge prison but also a military base, made home to Indians for a short time, and a wildlife sanctuary. Military families actually lived on the island making up quite a large community. The children would take the ferry to school each and every day! After a brief video, we took a tour of the jail.. it was pretty amazing.

Some highlights: The cooks outlined their knives with marker so that they knew if any knives were taken by the prisoners.. they said knives went missing all the time! When prisoners did something wrong they would be locked up in a pitch-black jail cell for days at a time. In order to stay sane, the prisoners would rip a button off of their clothing, throw it, and spend the day crawling around on their hands and knees trying to find it. No prisoner was ever thought to have escaped Devil's Island!!

After our amazing tour we ate at Hard Rock Cafe, did a bit of shopping, and danced with the mimes. We had the most amazing time!

A DAY AT THE AQUARIUM..




Yesterday, we took a trip to the Canery Row Aquarium. It was much more artsy than the Baltimore Aquarium with lg diving tanks where you could watch divers work and even ask them questions as they were doing so. They had a whole floor totally devoted to kids with slides, puppet shows, touch and feel stations, etc. It was a bit smaller but more kid friendly.

I bet you're wondering what this critter is?! I put this pic on just for you Brenda! I thought you would get a kick out of it. Why it was at the aquarium, we had no idea.

Along with the aquarium, we stopped to get a haircut, ate at Chipotle, and grabbed ice cream. That night/ morning I had Jolene take to the emergency room due to my ongoing stomach issues. If anyone has any recommendations.. I would appreciate them. We were there from 12-4am to see if I was having a gall bladder attack. My tests came back clear for that and there were no clear problems w/ my blood levels. The best they could do was send me home w/ a heavy duty pain killer to try and control my stomach cramps and said to see a specialist when I make it back to PA. Anyways, we're headed to San Francisco tomorrow!