I Won't Swerve

I found out something about myself tonight that I have wondered about for many years but haven't had the chance to test; I won't swerve.

Driving home alone tonight in the dark with the rain beating down I almost ran over some little animal crossing the road (or maybe I did run it over but didn't feel the "bump"). I have no idea what "it" was but drove away from the situation thinking, "wow, I didn't swerve." (although I did cringe) I've always wondered if I would be one of those people who do swerve and go off the road or have some sort of other accident trying to miss an animal in the way of my car. I am not sure how I feel about it. Right now I am kind of proud of myself for not swerving because I would never want to endanger the life of any passengers I might have or myself over a possum but then I also feel a bit melancholy over the idea of hitting "Thumper" or some other woodland creature that I find so cute.

It was just one of those nights when I got to learn something about myself.

I'm Impressed

Tonight for FHE we decided to take a family walk around our neighborhood since daylight hours are dwindling and we had a break in the rain. This walk requires lots of prodding of Mr. B to actually walk because he spends the first three quarters of the walk dragging his feet, moaning and complaining that he needs the scooter in order to "walk". By the last quarter we are on the home stretch and he perks up and will usually manage on his own forgetting the abuse we are heaping on him.

After our invigorating walk we enjoyed playing on the rope swings for a few minutes until Beeb announced she was getting chilled. As she started to head back to the house she turned to us and said, "How about I put my helmet on and Daddy you push me on my bicycle with out my training wheels on!" She then came over and dragged Daddy away.

Unfortunately for Beeb her bike wasn't in the best condition and Daddy had to take a few minutes to get her chain back on before she could ride. After he finished and while he was cleaning his hands Beeb took her bike from me, hopped right on and started riding without any problem or needing one of us to help her balance. She took off out the driveway and down the street and then came back.

A while later she stopped her bike, looked at us and said, "I'm impressed!" Me too Beeb, me too.

Meal Time & Bed Time Moments

Last night as we all sat down to dinner Beeb announced that there was too much on her plate and that she couldn't eat it because she had a "small mouth and small teeth." One of these days I am going to have to video tape these "Beeb Logic Moments" because she is just so darn funny.

I had a tender moment with Mr. B last night when I was putting him to bed. He had a great day at school and we talked about how happy his teacher was with his efforts. We then read some stories, said prayers and then he asked me to stay and snuggle with him so I did. He just chatted away about various things on his mind and then rolled over and I snuggled with him until he went to sleep. I love these moments of peaceful time with my kiddo's; it just fills my heart right up.

Kindergarten for Mr. B

Mr. B had his first day of kindergarten this past week. Unlike most kindergartner's Mr. B was NOT excited to go back to school. Despite his eagerness to tell every stranger we meet that he is, indeed, a kindergartner I had to burst his bubble with the cold hard fact that he is not actually a kindergartner unless he physically goes to his kindergarten class. He reluctantly agreed to go. . . ha ha.





We were delighted to find out one of Mr. B's best buddies is in his class!




Despite his reluctance he had a GREAT time and has two terrific teachers. I think he will have a great school year.

The Last Hoorah

We've just returned from our last summer trip before school starts next week. We met up with the family at Priest Lake and spent our time goofing around and relaxing. This time I took my neice Katie with us which brought a new level of energy to our days (she never gets tired!) and so we had many adventures.

The weather was so-so and the water was cold. Those who braved it generally didn't stay in for long.

Katie braved the cold cold water!


Chris with a low low turn.


My Amazing Husband - still a hotty!










The "Triplets"




A little Beeb attitude on our walk back from the tennis court.


On our hike to the rockslides Chris found a snake. What I didn't photograph was Beeb grabbing the snake out of Chris' hands and holding it in her own. She is such a funny girl!




Also along the hike to the rockslides we found a Geocache - that was exciting!


Mr. B is modeling the latest in swim and eye wear.






That is Mr. B demonstrating his swimming skills for us all. Swim coach Donna would be proud!




Katie and Me - Katie is trying hard not to laugh!


We also had fun riding the motorcycles, out on the Sunfish during a nice windy afternoon (and thanks to AH's amazing sailing skills, not getting tipped over), Katie did a scramble with AH and Chris one evening and scraped up her leg pretty good, we got caught in a massive hailstorm on our hike to the rockslides, a Geocache treasure hunt (I missed this since I was out riding the motorcycles with Katie), and lots and lots of games. It was a nice way to end the summer.

The Sounds of Nature

Last night I went to bed kind of early for me (9pm) and while I was laying there I was noticing how peaceful it was with the windows open and the sound of the rain falling onto the leaves of the trees that surround our property. It reminded me of those nature CD's people buy at Target (the ones with the demos so you can listen before you buy). I then started thinking that this last week we've had a number of interesting nature sounds that make me really enjoy living where we do. On any given night the frogs in our neighbors pond will serenade us with their croaking, over the weekend we had some whopper thunder and lightning storms and the last few days the beautiful sound of rain. I think I'll open up my bedroom as a yoga or spa studio and see if I can make some money to help cover our property taxes.

Boogeyman

Driving home this evening with the kiddo's I wasn't paying much attention to their conversation until I heard the Beeb mention the "Boogeyman". I thought, "Who told my daughter about the Boogeyman?" As a child my older sister educated me about the Boogeyman and I was tormented each night when I made my way into my bedroom knowing the Boogeyman was in the closet or under the bed.

So after my initial shock wore off I asked Beeb about the Boogeyman. She said, "You know. He teaches dance shows." Well duh! Of course she is talking about the Boogie Man not the Boogeyman.

Whew! Crisis narrowly diverted.

The Scale Effect

This past weekend my AH took off with his brother and a friend to climb Mt. Adams. I was worried about how I would do with the kiddo's all by myself but as you can read below we had a fantastic time without Daddy. Unfortunately for Daddy, just like a scale of justice, when one side is up the other side is down. Poor poor Daddy was on the downside this weekend.

The Abridged Version:
It all started out on Friday when he was out the door at 6:45am for the 4 hour drive to the Mt. Adam's trail head. He met up with his cohorts in Tacoma and they consolidated down to one car for the trip. To make a long story short the route they thought they were to take dead ended after several hours and so they had to backtrack and try a different route. By the time they did finally get to the trail head it was 6:00PM; 11 hours after AH left that morning. They hiked in for about 90 minutes and then set up camp for the night. During dinner preparations my husband realized his freeze dried meal had expired some 5 years earlier and was inedible so he went without.

The climb the next day was easy and fun and they were by far the most relaxed climbers on the mountain not having crampons, plastic books and other arctic gear with them. AH was proud to say they passed about 50 people on the way up (he hates to be passed).

On the way home they stopped in the little town of Trout Lake to cool off with a swim (and probably BO deterrent too) and once back on their way it was just 2-3 miles outside of town that the car decided it had been abused enough and wasn't going an inch further. Stranded in the middle of nowhere and with no way to call for help (the cellphone was out of range) they caught a lift with a local back into town to the only garage. Being that this was 4pm on a Saturday the mechanic wouldn't be able to get parts from his supplier in order to fix the car so the boys were stuck.

A tow truck was called to take the poor car in to the next major town (over 30 miles away) and the boys were once again left stranded as they closed up shop for the night. Luckily a family member didn't live too far away and offered to go get them and loan them a car to get home. AH called me at 10:45pm Saturday night to say they had just arrived that their house and I urged them to spend the night instead of trying to drive for another 3-4 hours late at night when they were all so exhausted.

The next day when they arrived in Tacoma to retrieve AH's truck they noticed some broken glass in the parking garage but AH's truck looked okay. When he got in to start it the engine sounded like a Harley and AH immediately knew what had happened. Someone cut his catalytic converter off his car while it was parked in the garage. This is a growing trend due to the valuable metals contained in the converter and the number of thefts are rising dramatically across the country.

The underside of the truck today:


The culprits are lucky AH didn't catch them in the act since he's 6'3" and was carrying his ice ax.

Water Fight!

Today we spent the late afternoon into the evening at the lake with friends and family. It was the perfect day since the heat and humidity are really up there and we were all way too hot at home.

Today was also one of those rare days when I opted to leave my camera at home - boy am I stupid!

Mr. B had such a great day playing respectfully with everyone and the beach toys but in his exploration of the lower cabin he found a stash of super soaker water guns - he struck gold. I talked with him about how to properly use the guns and with only one little slip he followed the rules (yeah!!!).

Now who I really should have spoken with was Uncle Gordon because when he came out to swim he found one of the super soakers, loaded it up with water and started a water fight with Mr. B, which delighted him to no end. I soon joined in and between the three of us we had quite a bit of water flying about. Not too long after our fun began the other cousins decided to join in (all adults) and the fight took on new measure and during it all Mr. B kept right up with the big boys and was even able to sneak in and get some face shots on a few folks. This water fight went on for some time and I was just delighted with Uncle Gordon for engaging Mr. B in a fun game and with everyone else participating and making it extra fun. It was exactly what was needed to make the day a complete success.

When everything got back under control we enjoyed a nice dinner and then Mr. B and I headed back out to the water to play some more. Beeb joined us and the three of us ended up using the super soakers again and having our own little water fight. Beeb (who abstained for the earlier fight) was a real trouper and got me very wet. It was too much to resist for the cousins who once again joined in and all chaos broke out. Mr. B and Beeb stayed in it to the very end.

This has been one great week for us and tonight was a perfect way to end it. My heart is very full. Thanks everyone for a great day!

Getting Caught Up

This has the potential of being a really long entry BUT, luckily for anyone who reads my blog, I am tired so I am going to leave out some stuff for next time.

It's been a crazy few weeks which started out with my going to YW Camp for the first time EVER as the Historian (took a LOT of photos) and that in itself occupied 2 weeks of my time and will be a separate entry on it's own.

This week, however, has been quite enjoyable and looks to be getting back to our old selves of not being overbooked and playing quite a lot. It all started last Saturday when we decided to get up before the crack of dawn and haul our kids and gear up to Anacortes to go clamming.

This is one of those times (we've had quite a few in our marriage) when I come to realize how differently I was raise from my husband. See, I was very confused when he packed a bucket with some hand rakes and hand shovels (gardening stuff) for our clamming adventure. When I asked him about the gear and "where is the clam gun?" he assured me that this was the proper gear for the Butter Clams we would be seeking. Having grown up near the ocean, I had only ever been clamming for razor clams so this, at the time, seemed like it was going to be hard work.

We got there toward the mid-point of low tide to high tide so we were limited in our areas of digging/raking due to the rising waters but did manage to find some decent clams (enough for dinner) and the kids had a total blast turning over rocks and chasing the crabs they found underneath. I thought it was really a good time and look forward to the clam hunt again at full low tide.

We then treated the kiddo's to a healthy McDonald's breakfast and aftewards walked over to the marina and purchased some live fresh shrimp at a premium price ($11.00 per pound and that included the head and other stuff you remove before you cook). We bought 1 pound and ended up with about 7 shrimp - ouch! (Costco I'll never doubt your shrimp bags again)

At this time (roughly 10:30am) AH wanted to know if we should drive home to which my reply was, "Heck no! I didn't drive all this way to go home this early." and so we decided to head over to Deception Pass and the site of our very first date . . . but we got lost (again by "we" I mean AH got lost. I didn't get lost. I kept saying, "you passed it, it was back there before the bridge.") and eventually ended up at Ft. Casey. Now this, this was an adventure. What a wonderful facility with a view that is amazing. Mr. B was so hyped up to be at this old military facility, to run and explore and see all the old guns - pure boy heaven.

Big Gun, Little Kiddo's


A Maze of Stairs


Mr. B is the perfect size!


No More Pictures Please!


Who is that I see?


It's a Beeb!


Well duh! (this had to have been put up as a requirement for insurance)


Nothing quite like a driftwood fort to hang out in.


We saw a submarine - it was so cool!


This one reminds me of Winnie the Pooh & Christopher Robin - just missing the paper hats and stick swords.


We ended the day by taking the ferry back over to the main land and driving home where AH proceeded to level out the kitchen floor while I cooked up the clams. Having spent the day with our little "buddies" I found it difficult to eat them (seriouly, you eat all of them, head to tail - ugh!) so AH's Dad brought me Teriyaki and I gave him my clams. (I think I got the better end of the deal)

Overall it was one of those fantastic, I got so much done, days. It felt great and was a perfect start to this week.

On Tuesday with a lull in our schedule I took the kiddo's to a free movie (Veggie Tales Pirate Movie) and then to the new water spray park nearby. A major hit and definately worth a visit!




Mr. B and the Frog




I am going to assume that the designers expected kids to do this and that the water is clean (please don't burst my bubble).


Beeb lounging sprinkler-side (this is so teenage girl - I am freaking out!).


Amazingly enough I never saw him lick it.

Pinched

Do you feel the pinch? Financially I mean, hopefully not physically. I feel like we are being squeezed, pinched, sucker punched, etc. by the drastically rising costs from all angles; school bonds, food prices, gas prices, heating costs, sales tax increases, luggage fees on flights, trail parking permits, snow parking permits, bridge tolls, $5.00 ATM fees, etc., etc., etc.

Today I got pinched again and it really hurt. The county says my property is worth 66K more than last year. Do you think AH will be willing to move to another state now? (or at least another county) I'm thinking he might.

Little Vandals

My kiddo's artistic temperaments are in full bloom this week. On Monday the sheet rockers started their work and just as they were packing up for the day it was called to my attention that little fingers had been at work in the still very wet mud.



The vandal hit three separate areas. Of course my initial thought was that DS hands were apart of this until I noticed the stick figures and then I absolutely knew Beeb was the culprit. Highly unusual for her but I can understand the temptation.

Upon questioning her I was flattered to know she paid tribute to her loving mother when she said, "Mommy, I drew you!"



It is a rather good likeness, and she made me thin! How could I stay mad at her when she was so considerate.

That evening we met DH down at the lake for some relaxation and tubing. DS did his second trip ever on the tube (with me) and I was even able to talk Beeb into trying it for her first time (with me). They loved it and laughed the entire time. I only received half a dozen head bunts as we bounced over waves and otherwise survived (though my arms are still sore today).

As we packed up for the night AH (amazing husband) found this in the cabin:



Where he wrote his name in black (I know it's small) can you squint and see how well DS spelled his name? I am so proud of how he must have taken his time to form such beautiful letters! I guess in addition to my own kitchen and entryway I'll also be painting the cabin walls. Humf!