Spring Break 2013- Part 1

Yes, now that I am going to be officially retiring as a teacher, I think about "lasts."  This will be my last "Spring Break," working as a teacher.  With the start of a new dental office that some of the members of the family have put together, George decided that we should go over and take a look at it now that it has officially been open one week.  George has been doing the books in the evenings and on Saturdays, so he wanted to talk to the office manager there in order to get everything synchronized.  It just doesn't hurt at all that we happen to have three of our children and their families who live there, too--nine grandchildren in all, so we were very excited to spend time with all of them!

So exciting to finally open the door of the family business that has been in the planning stage for so long:  Introducing Sol River Dental.  Kevin, John, Cameron, and Kent took care of the contracts and getting everything off the ground.  Kent has spent so much time in designing the rooms, along with hiring and planning for every dental item needed.  He will work here in Dallas a few days a month in between working at his two practices in Washington.  Also, Craig will put in a few days here and there, in between working at his dentistry office.  Cameron is head of operations and has spent countless hours working with the contractor and workmen for the building, plus getting all the permits, etc.  George is doing the accounting at night for the company from Florida, and Amy is the assistant who runs wherever they need for her to go, literally any time of day or night.  It will be great because she can take Lola with her, and yet it still will be a part-time job for her.

As soon as the Certificate of Occupancy was issued, literally, everything had to go in the next day.  Natalie had been planning all the colors, designs, and the entire look even living far away in Washington.  Cameron and Amy had to go pick up so many items, and literally, Amy put together almost every chair and table in the place, along with Cameron and a few other people.  It was a daunting task, but they all accomplished it!

Cameron found this place when it was formerly a Blockbuster Video.  To see it transformed like this is just amazing.  Obviously, there are still pictures to be hung and other decorative items, but it looked really good the day we were there, and they are already seeing patients.

There are eight operatories, with two that are completely being outfitted so that an anesthesiologist will be there for all surgeries.

The rooms will all have a galaxy theme with planets and fun passports for the children who go from planet to planet according to the room they are in.  Anne will be the party planner at the office and has some great plans for that. 

This is the office manager--Paula, who has worked so hard to get everything organized that went into the actual dental part.  She is helping George to know all that he should be doing as the accountant for the practice.  Thank goodness for e-mails and scanners.  He is able to do it all from our home in Florida in the evenings.

The break room--all outfitted with dishes, microwave, refrigerator, etc.  They had a little luncheon for George when he came.

This is the mechanical brains room with all the wiring that is needed for all the machines there.

Two of the dental assistants. 

This is one of two surgery rooms.  The anesthesiologist will sit on the chair at the right with all the controls for the anesthesia. 

The front desk women who schedule and greet the people, plus bill the insurance agencies.  Everyone was so sweet to us and definitely knows what they are doing.

The consultation room.

It is always a little scary starting a brand new business, but with so many family members involved who have so many different talents, we hope it will all go well.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

 Let's back up to when we got into Dallas.  There was Amy waiting for us.  As I opened the door, there were these smiling faces greeting us:

Lola . . .

Isaac and Garrett.

Of course, George had to start "bugging" Lola because Amy said that she missed Papa bugging her.

We then met part of the family at Cici's for pizza.  It was so great seeing everyone!  Kent had just flown in the night before, so it was nice that he was here for a few days, too.  Amazing to have three sons, a daughter, one daughter-in-law, and one son-in-law all in a picture together, plus of course five grandchildren.

Gavin and Lola weren't in the picture because they were in the game room.  They weren't that interested in eating and didn't even realize that they needed money.  The machines all lit up so they thought they are working.

That night, we watched Brigham Young University play Southern Mississippi.  We were thrilled that BYU won!

The next day, Craig and Cassie invited those who were able to meet at the Bowling Alley.  It was a great idea because the kids had such a great time. 

Little Kennedy had grown so much since we last saw her.  She is absolutely the best little baby--you never hear a peep out of her.  She just smiles and smiles!  She has now learned to jump which Cassie says she learned at her Grandma's house in Louisiana while they were gone on their cruise which they just came home from.

Actually, it was pretty chaotic with so many little kids - - here is Craig examining Riley's foot after he dropped a bowling ball on his toe!

 

 Soon, he was okay when he bowled a spare!

 Whoever invented these bowling ball holders is a genius.  The kids loved doing it!  Here's Lola getting ready to try it.

  Gavin got his going just right.

  Mason was such a good sport to look at me for the picture--I shouldn't have distracted him from what his ball was going to do--it looks right on, doesn't it!

 And Jaxon was pretty happy about his strike!  I can't believe I didn't get one picture of Sidney bowling.  She was having a great time, too!

 Then we headed over to the game area.  Cassie and Riley were having so much fun on the dance game. 

 So, Syd and Lola decided to try it.

 Sydney was very patient showing Lola how to play it.

 She, also, showed her how to play the light jumping game, which isn't that easy to play, but Sydney is very good at it!

 There was another game that Lola wanted to play, but it involved dinosaurs.  Knowing how scared she is of them, I warned her, but she was excited to play because you actually shot the dinosaurs, so she thought that was okay.

 

 Of course, Jaxon headed for the basketball toss.

 He, also, wanted to play the air hockey.

 Gavin and Mason loved driving the cars.

And Mason wanted to ride the motorcycle.

I thought this was so fun--all four of Cameron's kids got on the motorcycles. 

Here they come . . .

and there they go.  Absolutely none of them had any money in the machines.  It was just fun to pretend.  Great fun for everyone! 

That evening, Kent was pretty hungry because he hadn't eaten much all day.  He had been too busy working, so we headed to Chili's.  George and I went along because it was about the only time I would see Kent before he left the next day.

Cameron and Anne now have built-in baby sitters, so they went, too.  This was what Anne had since they had eaten at the bowling alley.  Wow!  That was hard to take--it looked delicious!  Oh, if only I could be skinny the rest of my life without worrying about every calorie!  Hah!

I made the boys sit down long enough for a picture.  It is rare to get a picture of very many of them together anymore.

The three families all live very close to each other.  These four all go to the same pre-school together and have the best of times.

One time, we could hear them, but didn't know where they were.  We opened the cabinet, and there all four of them were tucked inside!

Here Lola and Riley were playing with her princess tea party set--of course, with pretend hot chocolate! 

Kennedy will soon be six months old, and since we had been there when Riley had his first solid food, Cassie thought it was only fitting that we watch Kennedy with hers, too.  Riley had loved eating all the vegetables, cereal, you name it . . .


Kennedy just wasn't a fan of any food.  We were all shocked because if anybody around her is eating anything, she always looks like she wants to grab it right off your plate.

Most of it ended right back out of her mouth!  Well, that does that for awhile!

The next day, we were off to the pre-school for their Easter party.  I was in the back seat with Kennedy.  She is so adorable and entertaining, I just kept snapping pictures.

At the preschool, we were just in time for Mason's Easter egg hunt.  Look at that big smile--I love his cute bow time with his plaid shirt.  Don't you love the little boy's pose in the center.  He looks like he's getting ready for a dance move instead of running to get Easter eggs!

And they're off.  Little girl in orange!  This is a time when a girl shouldn't be shy!


Next, was Lola's class.  She certainly wasn't shy--but she had to ditch the hat to run faster.

So, I tried to get a picture of Lola's class.  This is hysterical.  The little boy next to Lola (second from the left) is named Jesus.  He has a green Easter basket and would only pick up green eggs--nothing else!  The little girl on the right end looks clueless of what is going on!

So, she gets the hat pushed back, but now I think the sun is too much for her eyes.  Aren't little kids so much fun to watch!

Then, when I went inside to watch Gavin's class get ready for the hunt, this is what I saw--don't exactly know what brought on all the tears of this little boy at the right, but a very caring teacher is trying to figure it out, too.  This is why I teach teenagers!!!  About the only tears I see is when I'm trying to teach Algebra to someone who only went to seventh grade and they are now in their 30s or older!  ("Do I really have to learn that?"  Sniff, sniff.  My heart actually really goes out to them!) 

And Kennedy just went along on her Papa's shoulder observing it all!

Riley and Gavin are in the same class, so out they went to find their eggs.  And when I say "their eggs," Riley took that literally.  He had seen his mother pack the eggs that they contributed for the class, along with several other mothers.  So, each egg that Riley found he inspected to see if it was one that he and his mother had packed.

If it wasn't, he just put it back, no matter how we all tried to tell him to keep finding any eggs!

When the Easter egg race was done and Riley only had a few, he said, "Why did people take all my eggs?  I didn't take any of theirs!"  Memo:  Next year, we need to review the rules of an Easter egg race better with Riley.

The kids were all moving so fast, and I looked ridiculous trying to stay ahead of them to take their pictures, but they all looked so cute and I did my best!

I only had a second to snap this before everyone was up wiggling again.  The sun was right in their eyes, and they were way too interested in their eggs anyway, but you get the idea of Riley and Gavin's class--the first two on the bottom left.

Like I said, best little baby.  No trouble at all!

Then, we went inside for a little lunch for the kids.  Lola's room party.


Mason's room party.  I love how the parents tried to give fruits and vegetables since there would be so much candy in the eggs.


 Riley loved the grapes.


And so did Gavin.

So, I asked for all the moms to pose with their kids.  Gavin and his mommy, Anne.


Now, Anne with Mason.  Cameron and Anne have two children attending this pre-school.

Cassie and Riley.

Amy and Lola.

Soon, it was time for the kids to see what was inside their eggs.  One of the teachers told the kids since they had eaten their lunch (well, sort of), they could have the candy from two eggs.

Of course, Lola wanted to open the pink one.

Riley's teacher gave them little candy holders that looked like carrots.

Then I lined up all the kids for one final picture.  There are 80 children attending this school--four of which are our grandchildren.  It was so much fun watching all of this!  George and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole event.

Two more days of fun on the next blog!