Rough life

Its so rough when I get 12 days off from work, then work 3 days (2 of which were 12's) and have my regularly scheduled 4-day weekend! I hate it when that happens. Someone sure knows how to plan well!

We had a really nice weekend. I ran on Saturday morning, took the kids to the Farmers Market, a bike ride/walk on the loop trail, went to a dinner party Saturday night, church on Sunday, ran an errand for my Mom, golfed with My Honey and Bubba on Sunday afternoon and today I got a massage and a much-needed chiropractic adjustment after an unfortunate fall on the golf course.

I don't claim to be graceful, never have been, never will be. But I was especially un-graceful after hitting my ball to the high side of a hill, traipsing up to get it, knocking it down the hill and then taking a slider down the hill on my ass. Nice Rainey, very nice. It must have looked pretty funny Bubba was a giggling fool - not to mention me! I was cracking up at myself. But I was hurt, twisted my knee and wrenched my back. Luckily I had a massage scheduled for today and then I was able to get adjusted right afterward. Hopefully it will be feeling a bit better tonight.

My Honey played golf on Saturday morning too. Unfortunately he had a bad experience at the golf course, needless to say he's done playing there. His punch card is all done and so is he. They just don't treat their customers very well out there. Thankfully there are quite a few choices around here so we headed out to Three Lakes on Sunday. It was a little windy on the back 9, but we managed. Bubba throws his ball out, hits it, runs, hits it, runs and then tries to putt when we get to the greens. He only actually did this on about 6 holes, but it was enough to tucker him out!

Today he is at the YMCA day camp program again. Next week he has a day camp called "Knights, Castles and Kingdoms" it should be fun, and we will close the week by going to a Shakespeare play! While at the Farmers Marked on Saturday, the kids in the Short Shakespeare program were doing snippets from the play coming up next week "A Midsummer Nights Dream." I happen to know the director from my childhood when her daughter and I were friends and when I did the program and she invited us to be her guest at the play! Super cool, not only do we get to go to the play, it will be free! I would love it if one of my kids were interested, likely it will be Miss I, and did the program one summer. We shall see.

Nothing much planned for tomorrow, Emilee comes over, we're going for a walk with some of the girls from work, and then the rest of the week is work, work, work. It's my long week and I think I have a 12 hour shift, or two... I cant remember for sure. August is full of overtime already and it hasn't even started, plus, you never know who will call out sick or any of that stuff.

Home sweet home

Well, we are back. I tried to find pictures of the highlights of each day. Hope you enjoy them. Yes, the kids sleeping was the highlight of the first day! It was so cute because they were in the same room in "big kid" beds which Miss I thought was the icing on the cake!

We broke our travel into two days. The first day was all the way to Portland, the second day we set out for the Portland Zoo, which was pretty cool, and then to Lincoln City. The rental house was good, but had several small details which weren't taken care of that drove us nuts (for instance no washcloths in any of the bathrooms...)

We spent time on the beach, we went to the Newport Aquarium, a lighthouse, and of course the outlet mall.

Several of us went to Depoe Bay and did a charter-fishing-boat-thing. I have only fished a few times, like 3 from the shore of small lakes. I didn't particularly care for it, but I figured I would try deep-sea fishing, I would at least like the boat ride. Which I did, until me and the starboard rail became best friends. It was a foggy, foggy day and I spent a lot of time puking over the rail! I couldn't believe it. I love the water, love boating, never, never have been seasick before. Apparently the wide-open foggy spaces and 20-foot rollers and me don't get along. So, I will probably never go deep-sea fishing again. It was such a disappointment (the getting sick part). But we did get fresh crab out of the deal! And fresh fish too.

While we were letting the kids unwind after the aquarium in Newport the guys went to the Rogue Brewery next door. We met them at the door and My Honey was carrying a case of beer. My favorite beer, Dead Guy Ale! It was such an unexpected treat! Big ol' 20 ouncers too! We first tasted the beer at a restaurant here, but the next time we asked for it they weren't carrying it anymore so we were glad to come by it and bring some home.

My Honey and I celebrated our 16th anniversary while we were down there. We went golfing and then out to dinner with his siblings and their spouses. it was a lot of fun. The golf course was pretty nice, but COLD. In fact, the whole trip was COLD. We left 100 degree temps for 60 degrees in Oregon. Brrrr. It was a nice way to spend our anniversary.

All in all a good trip! I would definitely do it again, with the whole family, but maybe not to Oregon ... too cold this time of the year anyway. I am looking forward to going down in October though!

"Lost tooth"

Bubba is an official big kid. Here is his story (as told to me)

"I lost a tooth on Tuesday. It was a night that I was being babysat and my sister."
"My mom liked it that I lost a tooth. Dad was pretty proud."

Me: How did the tooth come out?
"The person that had the wiggly tooth pulled it out. It was Harry. And thats it. Well, it bled a little."

Pretty cute huh?

It was a pretty wiggly tooth, he had been playing with it for several days and I was ready to pull it. I asked him to come over to me so I could "feel" it (with the intention of pulling it) and he wiggled it right out of his mouth. He was so excited! He did a little happy dance. Then he freaked out that it might be bleeding. It would have made a great video but how do you know when something like that is going to happen? Kind of like Miss I helping My Honey discipline Bubba, but thats another story!

We were going to a baseball game so My Honey and I were pretty glad we were still home to see him lose it!

We are off on vacation tomorrow. I understand we will have internet connections so I will try to brag, I mean post, a few pictures. (Thats for you, Mom!)

The 4th and more

The 4th was fun. I worked hellacious hours all weekend, but we did take the kids to the annual show in town.

Bubba has been every year since he was about two and it was Miss I's first show. It has been tradition that I meet them at the park because I am usually working, but this year was different, I was off for the show! I just had to be to work at 5am the next day!

We arrived at the park with PLENTY of time to waste so we found the cotton candy vendor and sugared up the kids. Bubba kept asking every 2 minutes "how much longer?" and My Honey made a big production of getting his phone out of his pocket to check the time and making him do the simple math of figuring it out for himself. It was pretty cute.

Miss I had no idea what to expect. She was in her stroller all snuggled in a blanket, reclined back waiting when IT happened. The first fireworks. She shot up with her eyes, huge as plates, glued to the sky, her fingers went into her ears and she watched in awe. When the first few ended she said "NEN MAMA! NEN!" (Translation: again mom! again! and quickly!) And so it continued for the first bit, then she wanted to make sure everyone else was enjoying the show, so she went around to Bubba, Grandma, Grandpa, me and My Honey and sat with each of us. It was really sweet. Bubba did his usual plugged his ears and waited it out. Hes a good sport, but the loudness really gets to him.

On our way out of the park we saw a small brush fire across the river. Thankfully the fire department was able to get there in a few minutes and not much was destroyed. Why are people careless though? Just because there is a river nearby does not mean that water is easy to come by, especially in the dark. Oh well, hopefully someone saw something and the people who started the fire will get into trouble. Hard to say though.

The rest of the weekend was shot for me. I worked 5am-5pm on Saturday and Sunday so those were pretty much my days. My Honey took really good care of me, he had dinner started on both nights when I got home and worked on laundry and vacuumed and all kinds of stuff!

Today was busy, I took Bubba to Emilee's to play for the morning, Miss I and I went to pick raspberries (she has pink-eye so I didn't leave her with the other kids). Then she and I went to my moms house for lunch and her nap. While she napped I took Bubba to Super Cool Science Camp (SCSC) where he learned about the parts of a flower today and that leaves give off oxygen. They put leaves into a mason jar of water and watched them bubble. Pretty cool experiment. I guess they are keeping some kind of a log of their experiments so it will be fun to read that at the end of the week. They even got to do a painting of the parts of a flower today. It was everything he loves! While he was there and Miss I was at my moms I took a few hours to shop. I wanted to find a portable DVD player for the car. I had to look at 5 stores before I found one that had 2 screens. After that was Karate then pick up Miss I to see the doctor, then to Safeway for a quickee dinner and to get her prescription, then home to eat and now everyone is in bed, it sounds like they are even asleep!

Tomorrow is not nearly as busy, but still a lot going on. Emilee comes here in the morning, I am taking all 3 kids to a swim lesson, then we are meeting 2 gals from work for a walk in the park. Lunch, SCSC and a baseball game tomorrow night. I guess it will be busy. Then back to work on Wednesday for 3 days and then ..... VACATION! More time off, just what I need! Can't wait, it should be a fun one too!

Before & After

Amazing what you can do in two weeks!

Yes it was

The water park was a blast. I got fried though, AND I was wearing sunscreen. I think it might be expired or something. Bad news, my back is red, red red, and so are my upper thighs - you know the place where my shorts usually cover, toasted on the front and back! Oh well, we had a lot of fun.

They put in two new features at the water park; a lazy river ride where you just float along on an inner tube and a surf/body board thing. The lazy river was fun and the surf/body board thing looked fun too, but we didn't try it. Dani MADE me go down a water slide. Twice! Okay, it was so fun I went a second and a third time! Bubba is too short for the big water slides, but there is a whole section of little kid stuff so he didn't feel left out or anything.

Today is an Emilee Day. We left the house for a swim lesson this morning at 9 but it has been re-scheduled to next week so I brought the kids home, vacuumed the pool and let them swim here. Amazing how tolerable the water gets after 3 or 4 one hundred degree days!

Its a little cooler today, its actually refreshing to have an eighty degree day. Dani keeps saying "its freezing here" now that she is used to the 100's. Silly girl, she has to go back home where its overcast and 70 on a warm day! I told her she can stay longer if she wants to. I ain't kicking her out!

We went and had our toes done last night, then stopped for ice cream on the way home. It was fun. We came home giggling like school girls! My Honey thought we were cute. "It was cute to see you acting like sisters" is what he said. It was fun to be like sisters :) I will miss her when she goes. It is nice to have her around for the convenience but also for the 16-year old energy. Positive energy. Maybe having a little girl won't be so bad after all!

Continuation

Auntie Dani is still here. Its been a real treat. My Honey and I have actually been able to steal away for a few minutes here and there. Even for a walk around the block it has been nice to just say "Do you mind, we'll be right back." Kind of a freedom we haven't had in a long time. Well, ever since kids! I have decided that everyone needs a 16 year old!

We had a great weekend! Saturday we got the pool set up. My Honey had worked hard on getting the ground level, and it was time. So we got it out and set it up. Later that day was some friends of the family 50th wedding anniversary. It was a nice event out in the sticks. We got to see lots of old friends and their grown up kids! Play in the sun, swim, all kinds of fun stuff. Miss I missed her nap so we left while the party was still going on to take the kids home, feed them and get them to bed. Since we had a babysitter we went back to the party! We had dinner on the way out there and crashed the party. They had a movie screen set up for an outdoor movie, so we all found a chair, sat around the movie screen and watched a flick outside. It was really fun! Kind of like the drive in, only better because you knew everyone. There must have been 40 of us between the ages of 3 and 83 watching "Wild Hogs" it was really fun.

Sunday My Honey and I went golfing which was really nice. We played early before it got too hot, and I did alright. I still don't keep score, but my drives are improving and my putting was a lot better than the last two times. They have a womens clinic every Thursday evening, I might go check it out. For $15 a little extra practice with some instruction can't hurt.

Did I mention that I played in a golf tournament last week? No, I kind of lost last week. Even though I have Auntie Dani here I sure haven't gotten much time at the computer. There was a dispatch-techie conference in town last week which included a golf tournament. I talked a couple of people from work into playing. It was free, what did we have to lose besides our self respect? Turns out one of the guys I recruited played with the winning team! My team was only 3 strokes from LOSING! But it was fun.

Sunday afternoon, while My Honey golfed some more, we spent in the pool. The kids love it even though its FREEZING cold. Although, it was 100+ yesterday so it was pretty refreshing! The chemicals aren't balanced though so we are working on that. We all got quite a bit of sun and I didn't feel like cooking so McDonalds it was. Quick, easy, cool inside.

Today we are headed to the water park. Miss I gets to stay with Grammy while Bubba, Dani and I go. It should be fun, fun, fun!

I am pretty sure we will be going through withdrawal when Dani leaves! All this freedom gone. We'll work it out!

Working Girl

Whew! Its been a busy few days. Auntie Dani arrived by plane into town on Friday. I was just a little freaked out ... My 21 year old step-brother was flying her. He had an instructor with him and it was all cool, but I still worried. But they made it here and all is well. I REALLY like having a live in sitter, the kids are loving having her here and she is really great with the kids. Its been fun all around so far.

I worked two long shifts this weekend where I went to work at 3am so it made for some long days. This week Bubba has a day camp program he goes to and he had a blast today. They got to eat lunch with the Apple Blossom Royalty. When I asked him what they were like he said "The princesses looked like working girls."

"Working girls?"
"Yeah you know, like you?"
"Like me?" What do you mean?"
"You know, button up shirts, name tags. Working Girls."
"Oh, you mean girls that have jobs ...."
Not what I think of when I hear the phrase "working girls" but it makes for a good story!

Tuesday

Why is it that a boy/girl combination is so much easier than a boy/boy combination?

I swear I don't even know Bubba and Emilee are playing together they have been so quiet all day! They have played in the tree house, dug in the dirt looking for worms to "fish" with from the windows of the tree house, they rode bikes a little I think, they played with blocks, all kinds of stuff and they were absolutely angelic about it. I sure hope Bubba and Miss I are as good at DW's house! And if they aren't, I just want to apologize in advance, "Sorry DW!" :) I am sure they will all be just fine.

I even fed them a nutritious lunch of gummy worms, cake and coke! Just kidding, they got grilled cheese, and apples. Snacks were grapes and some cheetos. MMMMM. What a good mom huh? I nearly let them get ice cream from the ice cream man, but no one came running out to ask for some so I just let him drive on by. Its a rare day when the ice cream man doesn't drive by in the summer so we have to limit our purchases to weekends only or else we would be dishing out 30 or 40 dollars a week to that guy.

Happy Birthday Honey

It was a very nice Fathers Day/Birthday weekend.
My Honey was born on Fathers Day in 1967, so every once in a while his birthday falls on the actual holiday. Not this year, today is his birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY :)

Thankfully it was my long weekend (plus an extra day off this Wednesday) so I didn't have to stress about how to get Fathers Day stuff in. It just worked out.

We started out on Sunday morning with breakfast in bed. Bubba was adamant that his Dad wanted "cheezy eggs, pineapple and toast." So thats what he got. We putzed around the house, I mowed while everyone else washed the Jeep. Its so pretty now! We finally got the hard top off Saturday! After lunch, the boys went golfing while I did a little cleaning and then me and Miss I took much needed naps.
(the boys going golfing in the clean, topless Jeep)

My SIL planned a Fathers Day/Birthday BBQ at her house Sunday night so dinner was a piece of cake. AND... I actually made a dessert. I baked an apple pie. I know, don't fall out of your chair, I baked an apple pie. It was pretty good too. It happens to be My Honey's favorite (not necessarily MY apple pie, but apple pie in general).

Then home and to bed. It was a pretty full day but it was also pretty relaxing.

I worked a short overtime shift on Saturday morning (3am - 7am) then My Honey went golfing. Then kids and I packed up their bikes and went to the farmers market, on a short walk/bike ride then grocery shopping. It was a pretty nice day, but tiring. I tried to take a nap but it just didn't work out. We went to a party on Saturday night. Fun stuff! One of my officer-friends moved into a new house so he had a house warming/college graduation (for his wife) party. It was a pretty good time. I am sure there is a lot I missed out on, we left after the first two rounds of Jagermeister shots (which were yummy)... It was fun to get to know some of the newer officers, one in particular is very funny (and very young!) he had nicknames for a few of us girls - Mountain Lion, Puma, stuff like that. They were calling him Boy Toy. I am pretty sure thats going to stick. The next time I talk to him on the phone its going to be "Hey Boy Toy, hows it going?"

My MIL is leaving town today or tomorrow to go to Portland so we had a bunch of babysitting challenges for the next couple weeks. Wednesday I took off, Thursday My Honey took off, and Friday Auntie M is watching the kids. Friday afternoon my youngest sister Dani comes to town, she will be here for awhile (maybe through the 4th) to help out! Check this out: I was trying to work out transportation logistics for her and her brother offered to fly her over! He is training to be a pilot so he worked it out with his instructor to get a plane for Friday. Its a great big help, but stresses me out!!! I will be much better once she is safely on the ground here and he is safely on the ground in Renton.

My MIL is going to stay with Auntie Portland. My niece was born with a cleft soft palate and its time for the surgery to repair it. I am also a little stressed about that. She is 11 months old and will go under full anesthesia for the surgery. Its not an uncommon surgery, but its not a routine thing either. Anyway, I will also feel better after I hear that her surgery is complete and she is awake and doing well.

And then there's today . . .

So far so good. Best Buddy and Sister are spending the day here. Its actually not that bad to have a couple extra kids around. Miss I and Sister play pretty good considering Sister is 9 and Miss I is 2. I think Sister looks at it as a chance to sort of babysit she did a very nice job getting Miss I to eat breakfast this morning and helping to get her in the car and everything else! It will be an interesting afternoon trying to get Miss I to nap while the big kids are playing ... I think I will make everyone take a 30 minute rest time so she has a chance to fall asleep while its quiet.

The rest of the week is pretty busy. I have an extra kid tomorrow too, Emilee, she is my girl DW's daughter. She and Bubba are the same age so it should be fun. Plus we have karate Monday and Wednesday and it seems like there is something else... but it escapes me right now. Maybe it is work Thursday through Sunday? Maybe that was it.


And lastly, we have a new pet. "Cadi" I found Cadi at Guemeus and brought it home. I wasn't sure if it would make it or not but so far so good. Bubba took it to his class for the last week of school, hoping it would do its cocoon thing, but it didn't. Still hasn't.

Looking out for Mom

I was at my Moms house earlier today and she pointed the yellow rose out to me. I know it isn't the prettiest rose anymore, but its the story I wanted to tell.

The red rose plant was a mothers day gift to another tenant at the apartment complex from her son. Her son passed away sometime that year. Every year since then the red rose bush blooms with one yellow rose. As if he is watching out for her every spring.

Graduation Day

It was Kindergarten Graduation Day today!
Bubba's teacher did a great job of doing her thing. She barely made it through her "welcome parents" speech without crying, but she did it! She read a little biography for each kid which was included with their end-of-school-packet. Here is Bubba's:

"Bubba is 6 years old. His favorite colors are blue and orange. Bubba's favorite thing to do at school is to play on the playground. His favorite things to do at home are make snowmen in the winter and swim in the summer. Bubba's favorite food is SUGAR." (Note: the teacher did a spot-on imitation of him saying "SUGAR", it was great!)
In twenty years Bubba will be 26 years old and he will work construction. He said he will always live with his parents. He will not get married and he will not have kids. Bubba will have 1 dog. When Bubba isn't working he will go golfing with his dad and Uncle Danny."

Isn't that priceless? I loved it! I am not so sure I always want him living with us, but he's only 6 so its alright for him to think that he will always live here isn't it?

Weekly Review

What a week! School is nearly out so the kids have been doing fun stuff this week. Wednesday was Field Day and Thursday they went on a tour of the fire department.

Did you have Field Day at the end of the school year in elementary school? We did, all throughout the year we would practice the stuff that would be at field day; 3-legged race, sack races, wheelbarrow races, 50 and 100-yard dashes, relays all that stuff so we could win the coveted 1st, 2nd or 3rd place ribbons. I am not much of a competitor myself, I don't recall ever winning a ribbon (well, maybe 3rd place once, but I doubt it and I definitely didn't win any 1st place ribbons).

Well, it ain't so anymore!! There are no longer winners or losers, everyone participates in "group activities". It was a lot of fun though and they had it pretty well organized. I volunteered for the morning and ended up working a station that was called the "Pig Push". The kids started with sideways jumping jacks or crabwalk or running to a cone, there they picked up a bat-type thing with foam on the end and they pushed or swung low at a foam pig through the grass round a second cone and back to the first cone where they did the jumping jacks or what-ever back to the start. It was all of 2 minutes for each kid but they had fun - and remember there were no winners or losers. They stayed at our station for about 10 minutes then they moved on to the next station where there was a different activity. In all there might have been 15 stations.

I had a blast. It was a time to act all goofy and be a kid. I asked all the kids their names, who their teachers were, dumb stuff, but we all got along and they seemed to like me (well they acted like they did regardless).

My Honey went with Bubbas class to the fire department on Thursday. They took a bus down there and then had a tour and climbed into a fire engine. I had meant to call and ask if I could do an announcement while they were there, since I was at work and how cool would that have been for Bubba to hear my voice on the radios at the fire department? He still remembers hearing my voice on an officers radio as he passed by during the Fourth of July one year at the park! But I am a loser and forgot to call so I missed my opportunity. Dang. Maybe another time.

One day of school left ... well sort of, they "graduate" on Monday and thats it! Then he is a First Grader. What ever will I do? Full days of school, packing a lunch every day, having fights about why he can't take hot lunch all the time, homework every night. Yikes!

Work has been busier and busier which is nice! Today was one of our officers birthdays, his radio number is 5 so I called him "Birthday5" every so often. He's usually quite a crank, but I think he liked it, he didn't crank at me once today! It was fun to add some fun to work too. My bosses didn't seem to mind so that was nice too.

New Book

In the mail today was the book Dearly Departed written by my friend Mikki Hauso! So far its a great read. It takes off at a break-neck speed, has a great story and a lot of wonderful language. I can't wait to finish it and call her and tell her I loved it!

I am kind of a book nerd, I guess, I almost always read the acknowledgments and the introductions to books, and boy am I glad I did on this one. My good buddy Mikki mentions me. I'm published!! Just kidding, but you know. Its pretty fun and humbling all at the same time. She and I have been friends for nearly 30 years I guess, and have not really kept in touch regularly since our 20's, she moved away so we just don't get together or call that often, but I guess I am still as special to her as she is to me. Needless to say, I was and am touched.

So I am off to read some more, its a rainy day, and the kids are resting.

Who'd A Thunk?

You Are 77% Feminist

You are certainly a feminist - whether you know it or not. You believe in gender equality, at least most of the time. You also believe there are a few exceptions.

Are You a Feminist?

A little distracted

MY 3 H'S

Blowing Bubbles

Flying Solo

Grandpa Helping

Miss I

Bubba

There you have it, pics from Memorial Day. Didn't I tell you it was beautiful?!

My Honey and I decided to get away this past weekend, just the two of us. So we spent the week talking about where to go and what to do and where the kids should go. Finally, last Thursday evening, everything came together.

My sister watched Bubba and my MIL watched Miss I. We decided Lake Chelan would be a wise, close, fun choice so we called around looking for a place to stay. Most places were $200 (per night) and booked Saturday night so we went a little further north. We ended up staying in Pateros at a little known place that was only $90 per night (for a kitchenette) and, AND its on a golf course so we got to golf too! It was great. Close enough to Lake Chelan to visit and eat there, away enough that we didn't feel too close to home. And, AND we got to golf.

Its been YEARS since I golfed regularly. Like at least 6. The last time I was golfing regularly, we took a golfing vacation for our 10th anniversary to Reno, but that was almost 7 years ago. Golfing was a lot of fun, I forgot how much I enjoyed it. My Honey even suggested that I take a lesson to improve my swing -No, its not like that, it was a welcome suggestion, and it would be a nice way to spend some time for myself. Plus I wouldnt look like such a fool. I was a hacker this weekend! Bad news!

The kids are a wreck!! They are both over-tired and in bed already (its 7:00). Bubba had a really good time at Auntie Em's:
"We went on a hike and saw a bull snake and two lizards, and jumped off a rock, and I climbed up it by myself without Uncle Doug's help the second time and we went to get Slurpees and I had a Dilly Bar and we slept in the tent only I didn't like it so we ended up sleeping in Madi's room and last night we slept in her parents room." And on and on all in one breath!

Miss I had a good time at Grandmas too. She just didn't sleep very late and I am sure that Grandma let her stay up "until she seemed tired." I can't wait until my kids have kids!!!
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I went to tuck Bubba in the other night and he was sitting on his bed with an old, un-charged cell phone messing with the buttons. I asked him what he was doing and he says to me "Texting ML."

ML is a girl he went to preschool with, her dad works with My Honey, but we have never gotten the kids together. (You know, boys and girls.)

"Really, what are you texting her?" I ask.
(Prepare yourselves)
"I love you" he tells me in kind of a whispery voice.
"WHAT??!!" I want to scream, "YOU ARE ONLY 6!!"

It's killing me how fast kids grow up these days. Really it is. Several times a week I get calls from parents whose 14 or 15 year old daughter has a kid or is pregnant. And now my 6 year old is already declaring his undying love to another 6 year old. Yikes!
Needless to say, it was all I could do not to laugh out loud. It sure was cute though.

To and Fro

Well, we made it to and fro and we are no worse for wear!

It was GORGEOUS in the San Juan Islands! Pictures of clear blue skies to follow. It was fun to be a part of a ... well, I don't even know what to call it. A resort I guess. It's the same folks going to the Resort for the last two and three decades. It was amazing how quickly the kids got together, the adults just mesh and the newcomers (thats us) were welcomed.

I had a wonderful time, so did the kids. The beach was great, the food was divine, the company was fun (and some of them were drunk) and the teenagers were a hoot! I bonded with a few of the 13-year-old set over the campfire Sunday night. They are such cute ditzes a that age. I had a good time, I hope they did too.

My sister was hanging out with the 16-19-year-old set and I took the time to hang with them too (actually we were avoiding Very Drunk Anoying Woman.) The teens were in the rec room watching video stream of something or other so I started to twenty question Steven on how "video streaming" worked. Apparently its different than downloading (who knew?) ... One of the girls, Michelle, asked me "what do you do?" as in my job. It caught me off guard, its not the type of question I am EVER asked. So I told her I was a dispatcher, why did she want to know. Turns out her mom is a dispatcher too. She wondered because of my questions. It was funny.

Anyway, those are just a few of the fun things. Bubba made a new friend, Miss I had a blast in the sand and rocks, we all got SUNBURNED!! In western Washington none-the-less! And now we are home safe and sound.

Weekend recap

Not a bad start to my vacation. Several days of My Kind of Weather (90*), sunburn from sitting out in My Kind of Weather reading a book (Vanishing Act by Jodi Picoult), two trips to the park to play in the water, runs at the park yesterday and today, church, just hanging around and shopping for food for the weekend. Not bad at all.

I was the wrong person to go shopping today though!! Our job is to bring snack foods and THEY ALL LOOKED GOOD. I bought one of nearly everything Costco carries. For shame! We are all gonna gain 18 pounds from eating snack-crap and drinking all weekend. Wouldn't you know they had a plenty-pack of Fat Tire available. But it will be fun and worth it, its only a few times a year right?

Hmmm, well I thought I had a lot to say today, but it seems not. I will leave you with this picture of the kids a week or so ago. They were having a snack outside or something and Bubba thought he needed to balance something on his head. Such a clever kid.

Summer time ahhhh

Bless his heart, after a HOT day playing golf My Honey put the air conditioners in for me tonight. Well, I guess it would be for us, since we all benefit. Its just hard to cool the house down if its still 90* at 8pm. I think the motivating factor might have been Bubba.

He was all done. He played soccer in 80* weather, went to a birthday party, then played in the sprinklers and then, we went to the park to play in the water. It was just too much. Poor guy pretty much passed out an hour after we got home (after he had thrown up twice.) He just doesn't tolerate a lot of physical activity on an empty stomach or in the heat. Its kind of a weird phenomenon.

Just one more work day and we are outta here!! yay!

Ahh, summery weather

If you happened to view my blog today and check my weather girl she would have told you it was in the 90's around here. In fact, its almost 9pm and its still in the high 80's. Gotta love Central Washington summers! I don't really think this heat wave will last for a long time, but its nice to have while its here. My kind of weather as My Honey calls it, yes it is. I can't wait for a free hour or so to sit outside with the headphones on (or not) and bake in the sun. Yeah, I know its so bad for me, but its so good for me too. Its a ritual, I can't live without it.

Speaking of sitting in the sun, I got a new bathing suit for this year, and the next few if I am lucky. Its hard to find stuff that fits me. I had a great suit from Land's End once and I never invested in another one after it wore out, until this year. I finally bought me a modestly cut long torso suit from Lands End in the tangerine color. The only problem might be the underwire. I really don't need it (TRUST ME) but its there, so I will need to wear it a few times to see if its going to bother me or not. I also bought some new tank tops from them. I tell you, they really make great stuff.

Its my 4-day weekend, I work one day then off for 6!! (Really, you could say I work one day in the next eleven, which sounds even better than 6 days off doesn't it?) Yay!! Tomorrow is a soccer game then a birthday party then nothing, probably play in the sprinklers again. Sunday, no plans so far, probably church then work in the yard if its not too hot. Monday and Tuesday are regular days - you know, school, karate and all that and then Wednesday back to work and tah-dah! Done with work for 6 whole days; off to the Islands! I hope the weather is decent. The 10-day forecast predicts it will be in the 60's with "showers" not a bad forecast. Not bad at all.