We Had Fun

After reviewing them on my laptop, I decided to post a bunch of pictures of all the things we did together as a family over the past 9 months. Actually, it was a bunch of fun.

We went geocaching, painted a bunch of containers at a geocaching get-together, went boating, swimming, hiking, exploring, to the Rennaisance Festival, attended a Monster Truck show at the stadium, went bicycling on the trails, visited some monster trees that are hundreds of years old, watched ships come and go under the Sunshine Skyway bridge and at the Port of Tampa, went night-fishing near the Sunshine Skyway bridge, celebrated a birthday for one of Jaime's friend's, celebrated Jaime's birthday at Malibu Grand Prix (twice, once during her parents Christmas visit and then again on her actual birthdate), watched the Space Shuttle lift off in the dark, watched an Anhinga sun himself to get dry for half an hour, sat in a swing at the water's edge as speedboats went by, had fun putting up the Christmas lights and decorations, had snow cones from a cute little Cushman cart that the girls got to sit in, went to a Tampa Bay Lightning hockey game, beachcombed for shells on the beach several times, dressed up and went Trick-or-Treating for Halloween, worked on a science class "Observation of Nature" project together (every morning for a week), laughed at how I buried the truck and left a deep rut in the front yard when I was bringing home the pair of Jetskis, and a whole bunch of other things that I don't have photos for. We definitely had some serious fun. Thanks for the fond memories, kid...

News Flash! Death In The Family Story Was A Lie!

After the whole, "Jaime is going home for her grandmother's funeral", it turns out that Mom & Dad Anderson sent a card of condolence to the twin brother of Jaime's mother, Andrew saying they were sorry that his birth mother had passed away. Since Andrew didn't know about her passing, and felt that their older brother, Johnathon didn't know, he called John and gave him the bad news. After that, Andrew called Jaime's mother Aimee to find out the details, to which Aimee admitted that there was nothing wrong and had made up the story in order for Jaime to come home a few days early. Wow, what a mess...

Apparently, Jaime had talked to her parents Saturday afternoon and told them that we were constantly arguing with her and had called her a thief, so she wanted to go home now. The interesting thing is, the one and only heated debate Jaime and I had was April 5th, after I had picked her up from her second episode of attending ATOSS, which is an out-of-school suspension program, for fighting in class. I asked her what she wanted to do with her life and she started yelling and screaming, saying I made her the way she is, which caused me to break out in laughter. I then explained to her that the only victim here, was our family for what she was putting us through, what with dealing with the police for her physically assaulting one of the Hillsborough County Commissioner's kids in class in the first ATOSS episode and trying to strangle a girl in the second ATOSS episode. She then became verbally abusive and eventually became sullen and just sat in the truck and sulked. Now, I guess you could call this an argument, but it would seem to me that you would need 2 people yelling for it to be considered an argument.

As for her being called a thief, on April 2nd, we had discovered she had taken a bottle of my cologne from our bathroom cabinet and had it in her school bag. When it fell out of her bag, we asked her about it, and she "Swore to God" that she didn't take it. I later found out through my contacts at her school that Jaime had taken the cologne to give to a boy she was interested in at school, but he rejected her gift. Not only was she caught with the goods in her bag, but I had a teacher and one of her friends tell me she was seen in school with it, and why it was taken. So, she was never called a thief in such specific terms, because the questioning ended with me stating that the cat must have taken it and her storming down the hall and laying down in bed. End of discussion.

Since Aimee decided not to call us and question us about our point of view regarding Jaime's claims as any responsible adult would, I feel that this dirty laundry must be placed in a public forum so those who know us can decide for themselves what the truth is. To be honest, we would prefer this sordid affair were put behind us and no more contact be made between the two factions. With regard to Aimee, her husband Jason and Jaime, we have acted with truth, honesty and integrity in all of our dealings. We were hoping to give Jaime a stable life in a comfortable, loving home that believes in legal pursuits and aspire to the lofty goals of health, wealth and happiness. That was the best we could do. Now, we just want this behind us so we can go on with our comfortable and happy lives, leaving the angst, frustration and depression to others who want it.

Happy news will be coming soon, I promise.

Ladies & Gentlemen, Jaime Has Left The State!

It seems that there was a death in Jaime's mother's family, so rather than wait for the full details to emerge, Jaime's parents wanted her to immediately fly back to Arizona on Sunday, May 20th, rather than to wait until Thursday night after Jaime had finished with her school work. So, Jaime flew back to Arizona prematurely, and as a result, she hasn't taken any of the final exams for school. Hopefully, she will be able to pass the 7th grade and move up to the 8th grade. When I mentioned this to Jaime and her parents Saturday night, they said they don't care if she passes or not. I went to her middle school and withdrew her. I was told that withdrawal before 'Finals Week' typically results in a No Grade assignment for the semester. Four more days, and she would have made it. So close...

So, Jaime has quickly departed and we are now dealing with cleaning up the aftermath. There are a few loose ends we have to take care of. This would include calling off the big celebration dinner we had planned for Jaime for graduating to the 8th grade, cancelling the appointment for her new prescription glasses so she could have them for the return flight home, the shopping spree at Hot Topic we had planned as a congratulations and going away gift for her and informing the people that had made plans to be at the airport to see her off. Oh well, the plans of mice and men...

A page in the 'Book of Life' is turned to reveal a new chapter... See ya, kid.