Miller Family Adventures: Summer Update

The kids have been with us for 3 weeks so far and time is flying and Rob can not be any happier or more tired..LOL The weather has been touch & go but we’ve certainly managed to spend plenty of time in the sun, at the beach or in the pool.
In only 3 weeks, the kids have been to a Marlins game, Ice Skating, Surfing (several times), One trip to Bass Pro, swimming and have been to the movies twice, and today we (just Me, Megan & Nate and Allie a friend from the neighborhood) saw Kung Fu Panda, the kids loved it. And can I just say the prices at the movies for food, ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! Seriously bottled water was $3.50. Thank goodness for the kids special, which is $5 they get popcorn, drink and Oreo’s. Thank goodness we had a gift card that we used for our tickets.
The company I work for gave us $75 Visa gift cards to use because of the crazy gas prices, wasn’t that great? I work for an amazing company!! I was also lucky enough to score two of them; thanks go my very generous friend Vicky!!
So with the gift cards I took the boys shoe shopping and back pack shopping for school. Ian just had to have the special kind of Skateboard shoes and Nate being the little brother, has to be equally as cool. But Rob told the boys we could not spent $60 or $70 on shoes this year, we just couldn’t afford it and we were NOT going to the mall, so instead we were off to Ross and Marshalls, and Nate found himself a pair of Vans for only $14.99 at Ross and Ian got a pair of Circa’s for $29.99 (Normally $65) and they both got backpacks, Jansport and Swiss Army for less than $20, everyone was happy and we didn’t break the bank. Plus we had money left over for the movies. And Megan found a pink lunch box for $4.99 she already got new shoes for her birthday (which also came for Ross). Personally I hate shopping at those stores for myself because I swear I can never find anything, but it’s my new favorite spot for shopping for the kids. They have the brand names the kids want and the prices we can afford geez I sound like a commercial.

Nathan has been going to work with Rob a lot, as he is a big help (Rob does cable, Internet and phone installs) and this kid has scored some major items, customers have given Nathan; a Giant remote control boat, a stereo and motorized scooter and he got someone to give him a kite at the beach. Some of the items he got were broken but of course Nate fixed them all immediately as the kid is a genius at 10 years old. Oh yeah, he also fixed the sub woofer in Rob’s car stereo. Did I mention he’s only 10!?!?

Besides all the FUN things, we’ve had a few little issues, let’s see…Ian dropped his cell phone in a glass of soda (cell phone ruined), Megan woke up at 2am puking one night, but she was fine after she got sick. Ian managed to lock himself out of the house once and had to wait about 2 hours for us to come home. Nate had a little accident this week he crashed on his scooter, I blame Rob for letting him go so fast!! He’s fine, not even any tears but he is pretty scratched up.
Let’s see what else, oh yeah; the boys are in love……yes both of them. Ian is 14 and just as cute as he can be and there is a girl his age, Brittany, that lives in our building who has been smitten with Ian for the last few years, Ian hangs out with her but no romance on his part, but she adores him (calls him nonstop) and this summer he met Jessica, who Ian just adores, now you see the problem forming? We have one jealous girl now. Jessica lives a few buildings away. The problem we have now is Ian doesn’t want to spend any time with Brittany now and he only wants to hang with Jessica. Jessica & Brittany are friends (at least they started out that way). Oh the drama!! Jessica is a sweet girl and we adore her. She’s a joy to have around and she surfs. Brittany really has nothing in common with Ian, so when Ian & Jess go surfing Brittany gets mad…ah young love.
Also, Brittany’s little sister Ali is smitten with Nathan and Nathan seems to adore her as well, yes they are only 10 but Nate wants to spend every waking minute with her. Of course NONE of them are allowed to be alone together; they can come over only when we are home. Today I had 6 kids in the house, as it’s raining outside today. I don’t mind the kids being over but when they start knocking at the door at 8:30 am still in their PJ’s, I kind of have a problem with that. Yes Ali was at the door this morning, at what must have been the minute she woke up. I sent her home and said, come back in about an hour after everyone was up and breakfast was over. And I’d had time for several cups of coffee.
Yesterday, I was off work and after we went shoe shopping we went swimming over my cousin’s house (they have 4 kids) and Megan & Nate love going over there, of course when it was time to leave they were begging me to stay. So I left them there for a few hours and Rob picked them up on his way back from taking Ian & Jessica surfing and I had a few hours to myself to NAP!!! It was AWESOME thanks Jen & Frank!!!
Okay, I think I should end this monster post….I’m not sure what the next 3 weeks has in-store for us, but probably a trip to the water park, more swimming and surfing and a few sleep over’s at my cousin’s house.
Here are few pictures……

The was the view from thier seats at the Marlins game, not bad..huh

Thanks Doreen & Dave!!!