One Year Later...

folks, it's been one whole year since i left Hays America to come to work out here in beautiful Wisconsin! (love the cheese!) amazing how time flies! Dallas in now in EIGTH GRADE and approaching 14 years of age! Mei Mei has turned two in June and both kids are adorable as can be! i feel very blessed although right now, as i write this, i am exhausted and sweaty from working around the house doing chores all by my lonesome. kim is currently working nights and that has left us all with a sour taste in our collective mouths. yuck. i wish that i could post some pictures of Dallas at practice but i have yet to see him at it! he's having so much fun! i am very glad and thankful that he went to Kansas this summer and made peace with himself. he is now starting the school year fresh, from the beginning, with new friends. he is very excited about most things again and the general attitude around the house has lightened noticeably. we are still up to our eyeballs with work around here and the house is in a perpetual state of dissaray but it is a happy mess! just ignore our grumbling as we enter the door each and everyday though! will this stuff ever end? didn't we JUST clean this and that? amazing.
even though we are working our buns off, we may not be able to head to Florida this November! our projects around the house and responsibilities are keeping us mired in a perpetual bog of work and general 'fixing up' of, well, things! we need to get ready for the winter and the house still has some issues that need tending to. we are all in need of fresh winter undergarments and whatnot too! i love it! we still try to get out and live a little but the checks and balances of life sometimes dictates that we forego certain items to do others. we need to rearrange priorities regularly as lifes' events come rolling our way. time will tell. (gas prices will be most telling too)
my trip to Florida was bittersweet in that i really enjoyed going and driving around to reminisce but on the same token, i realize just exactly why we left! it was a good decision even though we left many loved ones behind. i miss my parents, friends and Kim's family too. i felt surrounded by a bunch of wonderful people but then again, i spent 17 years of my life there! SOMETHING good is bound to come of that! life is too crazy there though and the humidity! oh the humidity! it's a killer... simply standing at mom's wedding left me sweating profusely! yuck! trying to hold on to a sweaty slippery daughter in one hand and a slippery sweat infused camera on the other sure was interesting! sorry that i didn't take/post more pictures!
speaking of the wedding, my new family is very good looking! wow! what a great bunch! hey mom! you did great! what a catch! Louis is amazing, what a guy. his kids, though quiet, are kind and very intelligent, hard working people. i enjoyed thoroughly listening to Louis talk about his life's exploits and all that he has done and accomplished. what an amazing man. he seems content with life and i like that. he and mother go bike riding together and enjoy each others company in ways that only age and experience can accomplish (or polish!). i felt very relaxed in their home and felt welcome too. Mei Mei sure spiced things up for all of us too! what a ham! she is a riot! such a wonderful child! she tolerated the plane trips better than daddy did too! i received many comments on how well behaved she was and i was very proud. we had many setbacks and delays but she took them all with aplomb! only during the very last flight towards the middle of the flight did she finally let go and start crying. what was i to do though? we had exhausted all of our food and drink! i could not console her and i thought that this was just going to make us all very miserable for the last half our of the (late) flight! but wait! what's this? the young, beautiful and sexy stewardess come to the rescue? did someone prompt her to do this? NO! this gal, though serving drinks near the back of the plane, came all the way forward to tend to Mei Mei's cries!!!!!!! i fell instantly in love with that woman! an angel come to rescue us all! i don't think that she realized that in that one minute of her time, and the rest of the passengers time, she totally changed the demeanor of us on board. Mei Mei instantly quieted down and started singing again and just went back to being her regular happy self! wow. Chandrie, thank you so much! suddenly, all of the days problems just melted away and my thoughts turned happy once again and looked forward to seeing my family reunited again! once i arrived at the airport though, what happened? happy ending? of course not! one last blow needed to be dealt. no luggage. no surprise there though so i was not upset, just extremely tired. Mei Mei? still singing and playing quietly and unobtrusively! amazing precious child. air rage was averted. no stiff drinks were consumed or profanity was uttered. the thoughts were certainly there though! my luggage arrived at home promptly the next day too. gotta love DELTA. yes, the trip was an absolute success! loved it! i wish that i could've seen a few friends and family but it felt good to relax and enjoy the company of my parents. both sets of them!
Thank you all! I love you all very much!
Sincerely and forever,

Nixy
p.s.
'Uncle' Joe, though unmentioned in my post, played a crucial role too! thanks go to him too!
:-)

'57 Caddy

wedding 050
Originally uploaded by KDCNMorales.

so no, perhaps this picture has nothing to do with my mothers wedding on Friday night but it played a role in it anyway. Mom's husband is pretty amazing and has an amazing collection of rare vehicles that he has restored all by himself! He's a great man and mom is pretty lucky/happy to have found him! Hector, Dad and I are pretty happy for her too... i didn't take many pictures as i was chasing Mei Mei mostly and making sure that she didn't go near the pool unattended! the ceremony was short and sweet too, which i liked. no long drawn out speeches. the humidity woulda killed us! at least the kids behaved pretty well and the rains quit before the ceremony so all went well.
Mei Mei and i are headed back home monday afternoon and i just can't wait! then we'll return in november... good times.

family day out!

even Isobel had fun!
Originally uploaded by KDCNMorales.

so far, in the few months that we have been living here in Green Bay, we have done more and gone to more places than in the three years that we lived in Kansas. still love Kansas though! amazing... so even though i didn't take all of the pictures that i wanted to due to kim and i separating, check them out for a small pictorial story of our day today. Mei Mei and Dallas (and even the Chihuahua) had tons of fun today! we walked and walked and then we walked some more! i don't think that we saw everything that there was to see though. Dallas and i shot expensive high tech modern Bowtech parallel limb bows! Dallas shot a dreaded 'black rifle', an assault rifle! an awesome DPMS carbine w/a collapsible stock chambered in .223 Remington! best 5 bucks we spent all day! happy kid! he could not drive any of the ATVs or vehicles but we participated in those events too! you shoulda seen all of the boats, trailers, atv's and whatnot that there was displayed! i know, that's the purpose of the festival! so cool. tomorrow we would like to go to the downtown Green Bay 'Art Street' art extravaganza in the streets of historic downtown Green Bay! (did ya like that sentence?) that should be interesting! i hope that the weather holds, or improves! it was overcast and muggy today. we are all tired and happy. plenty of exercise was had by all. i am not on call. that is all. g'nite ya'll!

cheesy, i know but i am tired! canoe dreams await...

Kim and I celebrated 6 years!

walking through a trail in Penninsula State Park in Door Cty
Originally uploaded by KDCNMorales.

Life is grand.... and then you go to work to be told that you need to be spoken to for 'performance issues'. nice.

NOT THE TOPIC TODAY!!! quit it already! no negatives! good.

We all had a grand time yesterday! oh yes. ALL of us! we left the dishes and laundry to go hiking! oh yes. a lifelong dream realized for me and an eye opener for my family! yes, the weather was about perfect (70's) and we were all pumped to go exploring some woods! too bad that it was a bit overcast! check out my pictures! just a few because we were so tired walking up and down these trails! we need to do this more often! there are some trails that we can take the ATV and others for the horses so we will explore those in good time too. so nice. so relaxing. love it.
Dallas is starting FOOTBALL practice this Wednesday! yikes! i wish that i could be there! i'll be there for weekend pratice though! wow. kid's growing up fast! he's very handsome too. you should see.
i'm going to bed now. tired. need to be in to work by 0600 tomorrow. gotta wake The Cakes up earlier than normal. this'll be fun! c ya!

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it's tough to post on a regular basis when, well, we are all so happy and everything is going well! not much going on either! Dallas will be starting FOOTBALL this monday though! ouch. stay tuned. school starts soon after... Mei Mei is still the most adorable/beautiful/cuddly baby in the whole wide world! what a precious child she is! Dallas too is incredibly tall and handsome! good grief! Kim and I celebrate a six year wedding anniversary thing tomorrow! yippee! three days later we'll celebrate her birthday! what fun! the weather out here is still in the 70's. are you jealous or what? well, just come on out here then! there's plenty for everyone! plenty of room! plenty of homes and jobs! you won't regret it! life is good