Searching for family
May 15, 2012 By 6 Comments
Do you ever just spend time searching for family online? Once I get started, I can waste a ton of time. I was doing research on the 1940 census release and got caught up looking up information about my family. I found that my dad would have been 77 this year. That means he was five when the 1940 census was taken. My mom would have been 64 this year. Which then led me to look up my sister, brother, and nephew who were all too young to die. Yes, I’ve had a lot of loss!
I’d also like to do a search to find my sister. I have a sister that I’ve never met. She was adopted out of the family when she was 6 months old. My mom had her when she was under 18. (She was raped by someone at work.) I’ve never met Melody but would like to. Who knows if she even knows she’s adopted! She’s probably close to 60 if not over that by now. I have to find her birth certificate. It’s in the house somewhere! My Mom had planned to look for her, but she got sick and died before she could start. Same with my sister, Michelle. Maybe it’s a curse and I shouldn’t look?!
Every once in a while I try to find my brother-in-law, Paul. He lives somewhere in Arizona, supposedly. He refuses to give the family his mailing address and only calls someone, maybe once a year. We all miss him and wish we could know him as the person he is now. He refuses contact with all of us, though. Maybe someday he’ll get to know his, currently 8, nieces and nephews. They all know of him, but none of them remember him. Most of them haven’t even met him.
Do you have any missing family members? I’d be interested in hearing your stories if you were adopted or had an adopted family member that you found.
Edit to add: Apparently I’m bad at math, as my sister pointed out! My mom would have been 69 this year and so my missing sister would be around 52. Geez…
Stargazing with Dewey #GulfCoast #Brandcation
May 15, 2012 By 2 Comments
Time to pick up where I left off telling you about my Brandcation trip. Saturday after we went ziplining and tubing we went back to our condos to freshen up and eat dinner. We had pizza and just enjoyed each other’s company. After that we headed down to the beach to meet Dewey who heads up the Escambia Amateur Astronomers Association. That night happened to be the night of the Super Moon.
Popularly known as the “Supermoon”, the moon appears much larger above us when the elliptical orbit brings it within 221,802 miles to Earth, the closest point. The effect is magnified during a full moon, when we see our nearest celestial neighbor appear roughly 20 percent brighter and 15 percent larger. -boston.com
We got to the beach and there were a bunch of people with super telescopes set up! It was so awesome! Not only did we get cool pictures of the moon on our smart phones (that picture of the moon on the left was taken on my HTC Sensation through a telescope owned by Dewey) but we were able to see Saturn, as well. It was SO cool to see Saturn. It seemed like we were looking at a drawing instead of the real planet. Amy from Grinning Cheek to Cheek was actually able to get a pic of Saturn! I tried and tried but couldn’t get my phone or camera lined up right with the lens.
If you’re in the Pensacola area and would like to meet up with the Escambia Amateur Astronomers Association, here are some dates for you:
Fort Pickens Gazes at Battery Worth
May 18, June 15, July 20, Aug 17, Sept 14 and Oct 12
(The gaze is free, but normal park entry fees of $8.00 will still apply)
Gulfside Performance Pavilian Gazes
May 25/26, June 22/23, July 27/28, Aug 24/25, and Oct 19/20
(Free parking is available in the Casino Beach parking lot, near the Beach Ball Water Tower.)
Members telescopes and binoculars will be set up for views of: the Moon, Planets and other Celestial Objects. Clear skies permitting, Members will begin setting up their telescopes for these events just before sunset.
For more information about the Astronomy Club, or for scheduling a star gaze for a school, scouting, or other social event at your location…
Contact Dewey Barker after 4:00 PM at (850) 450-7767 or visit www.eaaa.net or go to http://rlwalker.gulfweb.net/astronomy/index.html to view their calendar of events and club photos.
Note: Dewey and his club members were awesome to us and allowed us to look through all of their telescopes, took time to explain things to us and helped us to take some great pictures. Thank you Dewey!
We’re going on a Global Resort Vacation! #GlobalResort @globalresorts
May 12, 2012 By 2 Comments
Check out that beautiful house that my crazy family will be invading next week! I can NOT wait! Starting Friday, my family will be driving to Kissimmee, FL to spend a week relaxing, visiting old friends, spending family time, and possibly visiting Mickey Mouse. Global Resort Homes is making this possible for us by allowing me to review a home while we’re there.
I got to stay at Global Resorts while at Brandcation Kissimmee and since then have been dying to bring my family there to experience the awesomeness that is Global. The house we’ll be staying in is: 2,182 sq. feet 2 story 
home with pool & spa 6 bedroom 4 bath 2 story home in the exclusive Windsor Hills Resort. 6 bedrooms, do you know what that means? Kids can go to bed at night and we can stay up and talk, watch tv, play cards, read, swim, whatever and NOT bother the kids like we would in a hotel. Charlie’s parents are coming with and I can’t wait to share this with them. None of us are going to want to leave the house to come home. Check out that kitchen, I know I won’t want to leave that! All that space! Speaking of kitchen, think how much money we can save by stocking the kitchen for the week with breakfast and lunch foods. Eating out every meal on vacation is expensive, especially for a family of 5 (7 this trip!)
On our way down to Kissimmee we plan to try to do our own “Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives” tour along with trying to hit some state parks and fun things to do with the family. If you have any suggestions of places to eat between Chicago and Kissimmee, please let me know! We will probably be stopping in Kentucky to hit the Mammoth Caves and we’re talking about spending the day in St Augustine on the way back home. We went there on our one year wedding anniversary and loved it.
I can’t wait to share our trip with you. If you’re interested in learning more about Global Resort Homes and possibly booking a home, you can visit their website or follow them on Facebook and Twitter. Also, follow along on my Pinterest board to see what ideas I come up with for our trip.
Global Resort Homes is allowing me to review one of their homes for a week in exchange for my honest opinions.
Ziplining and Tubing at Adventures Unlimited #GulfCoast #Brandcation @adventursunltd
May 9, 2012 By 7 Comments
picture courtesy of http://writespell.com
Our second day at Brandcation started off bright and early with a trip to Adventures Unlimited in Milton, FL. We got to zipline and tube down the Coldwater Creek. I’ve been ziplining before, but this was different. When we got there, they asked for volunteers to go on the “adventurous” course so that they could keep the groups moving along. I volunteered since I fell in love with zipping on the last Brandcation trip to Kissimmee. The group that came with me was Awesome! The only person that said she was scared, was Amy from Grinning Cheek to Cheek and you wouldn’t have known it! She jumped right in and did great. I was so proud of her and everyone else in my group. Our guides were Dave and Brooke. Dave showed us some ripe Mulberries on our hike to our first zip. It was Brooke’s 18th birthday. Both of them were so nice and just a joy to be around! Our zip tour included a 900′ zip and a 700′ zip. I got to almost maximum speed on those two! I was FLYING! That also meant that as I was trying to stop myself, I burnt my hand through my glove. I still have a blister on my middle finger from it. I wouldn’t change it for the world, though. I love zipping and want to take my husband sometime soon.
Photo courtesy of http://theblondecritic.com
After ziplining we were served a quick lunch of sandwich, chips, oranges, cookies and pop or water. Then it was time to suit up and head down the river! I was one of the first people on the river. A few people decided we were going to get off our tubes on the other side of the bridge to wait for everyone. I hopped off and tripped over a stump in the river and moved out of the way. I should have stayed there, because Megan jumped off right after me, hit the same stump and lost her entire toenail! (Sorry Megan!) There was crossed signals and a few of us took off down the river. The majority of people hung out to take care of Megan. (Again, sorry, didn’t mean to ditch you!)
Picture courtesy of http://therebelchick.com
Adventures Unlimited offers more than just ziplining and tubing. You can rent cabins, kayak, do rope courses for team building activities and so much more. Check them out on their website, Facebook, and Twitter.
Share your Sweet Story and Win #SoSweetSoGood
May 9, 2012 By
Remember when I shared with you my pregnancy story for Buddy? Along with that post is a contest. If you share your story below, you can win one of several prizes including: Chef Services, Personal Organizer, House Cleaning, American Express Gift Card or Flip Video UltraHD Camera! Not only do you have the chance of winning, but I do, too! If I get the most votes, I will win the new iPad. I would love to get one for my family to use! You can also visit www.sogoodsosweet.com to read other’s stories and vote for them. You can vote for multiple stories, once each day. I know there are many wonderful stories to chose from!
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