Kevin banged the camera a few times and got it to upload the photos. Hooray.
Easter package from GiGi! Woo!
This is his favorite book. Grandma and Papa Thayer got it for him for the ride out to TX in February, and I didn't know we had left it until GiGi mailed it back. Oh the splendor of the Planes book. (This one is a close second or tie, because it has 3 pictures of helicopters.)
Kid C got this dress from GiGi, just in time for the Easter egg hunt. She put it on right away.
This was our Palm Sunday family activity. Egg decorating. I blew out the insides of a bunch of eggs and then got some spray glue and glitter and let them decorate. And then Kid C and I made the golden tree and strung ribbons through the eggs to hang them. I didn't take photos of any of that taking place, but...
...I did take pictures a few days later when we dyed eggs the old fashioned way and then ate them for lunch.
All looked like it was going well and then--
--yep, he spilled his dye. Oh well, time to eat the eggs.
When I ask them to say "cheese", they end up just saying it in any direction. I've started asking them to say "ham sandwich" instead.
Can you tell what they are waiting for?...
...It's an eternity when you're at a birthday party...
...and the cake is sitting there on the table, but it's not time to eat it yet. It's a discipline tester for sure. This was a little birthday we hit before the big egg hunt.
And here we are. Dressed cute and ready for egg snagging action.
We each had our spring colored knit cardigans. What's an egg hunt in the park without a pastel sweater and a ruffled dress?
20 years ago, my best friend at the time Courtney Chancellor would tell me about how her family goes down to Cozumel (or as I heard it "Cozy Mel" and that confused me) and scuba dive on vacation. She was scuba certified and they had a grand old time. I tried not to act jealous. But I was. I was also jealous of her piano lessons, and how her dining room walls were upholstered with the same fabric on the chairs and the drapes, but that's another story. (I should have an entire blog post devoted to her, and her house/family one of these days).
And last year we started watching Mexico One Plate at a Time with Rick Bayless. We began tuning in when it was one of the few shows that came in HD. But we're still hooked, because that man is so mellow and charming that he could be talking about AmWay or buying timeshare properties and I'd still listen to him. Anyway, he goes on and on about the Yucatan and how wonderful it is.
But the final straw was, as I said before, the Mythbusters Shark Special. Kari Byron (who I think I could totally do her job, but whatever) was sitting there on the boat in the Caribbean and I said to Kevin "I want to go too." And I expected the standard "no." But he said "maybe" which is the closest I ever get to a "yes" from him, about anything.
So I am proud to announce that tonight, with many thanks going to the desperate-slump travel industry, Travelocity, my mom, and Kevin's mom, I booked our [Aug] 5 yr anniversary trip to Cozumel tonight (!).
It was so incredibly cheap for the flight and a week's stay. Now, it will be baking hot in August and the flight down there is koo-koo-ka-choo (1 stop in Tacoma and another in Houston, with fat wee-hour lay overs) but I'm not too good for it. This *is* the silver lining to the economy in the crapper.
So we have one thing in common, maybe we'll do that everyday? Who knows. We do know that we are not interested in: bars/nightlife, zipline/climbing, or scuba.
I have found these resorts, that aren't completely for the rich and famous, but that I'm nowhere close to booking. Way out of my league. They are purely beach destinations.
Villa in Thailand (with that whole political crisis, you'd think they'd be giving tickets and rooms away for Phuket. But oh no, it'll still cost 5,000 bucks for a a flight and week hotel for 2 ppl)
Plush resort in Okinawa (I remembered this unexpected jewel from a late night tv channel surf. I mean, check it out. It's like the Hawaii of Japan)
This is the only picture I have this week, because our camera needs surgery. I've been told that the "E18" error on the camera means that there is debris stuck in the camera somewhere. And so that means until Kevin fishes it out, I have only my camera phone and my laptop camera.
We're dying eggs in this picture. We made really fancy sparkley ones a few days prior, and we even painted a little branch gold and hung them on it like an egg tree, but I took photos of that with my real camera. :/
Oh, wait, I just got some off my phone. The kids are nipping at my heels because they don't want me on the computer, I don't know how much more I can upload!...
Again, I must preface my crazy ideas with, this probably won't happen. But, now we've moved our destination possibility to Kauai. I mean, I still want Caribbean, but on paper, it looks like Kauai might work better for us. It's all still a hazy fantasy.
However-- if we *did* go to Kaua'i, I have already decided that despite the trip being a celebration of our marriage to one another, there will be at least one day of the trip where he gets to go deep sea fishing and I will drive around the island on a scooter.
And in all likelihood, he will sit and read a book and I will go get a massage at least one other day--
--That's the difficult thing about he and I on vacation. We want completely opposite things from a vacation. Snorkling and sailing are the only things we have ever shared happiness in. Otherwise, we drive each other crazy with what we want to do. So IF we do go on a trip, I am going to try to learn from all of our previously disastrous vacations together and make it so that no one flares his/her nostrils at his/her spouse. That probably means horseback riding will get nixed. I wonder if he'll let me go by myself on that too.
We watched the Mythbusters Shark Special last night and even though the cold northern Pacific waters are just chock full of sharks, the mythbusting team travelled to Bermuda to conduct most of the experiments.
And watching the show made me want to go to Bermuda.
So I looked up how much it would cost to fly there, say, for our 5 year anniversary later this year, and it turns out, it's only 216.00 per person. I mean, that's cheaper than my flight to TX was. Crazy.
And then I thought "well hell, maybe the whole Caribbean is my oyster, maybe I should look at other islands?" Because the price of the hotels there per night is comparable to the price of the plane tickets. I just want a hut with a swamp cooler, really. Because during the day, I would rather be at a spa or at the beach. I don't need 300 thread count sheets or anything. But then I don't want to go to a country where I need to fear being kidnapped, like Jamaica or Mexico, or whatever.
I'm not sure, but I'm slightly obsessed with the idea. And if I book the tickets, I think I might eat rice cakes for the next 4 months in preparation. ;)
P.S. I am also working feverishly to get my mom on the Mexico mission trip next week. Yes I said next week. I'm crazy like a fox. It's getting final approval and then she can book her ticket. Those that pray- please pray.
UPDATE: I looked up other locations, and they are not as cheap as Bermuda. And two funny quotes from Kid C in the backyard just now (to Baby R while playing pretend "Mexico Doctor") ""dont ever touch a girl who has arms that aren't working" and "go make some more peas in your peamaker!" That last one sounds like an insult.
This set of lines goes thru my head all the time, when I'm working on stuff. It's the nature of the job, and even though Hanks' character is an architect, I feel it's the same issue.
"She's on her sixth painter. And now she wants the fireplace rebricked.
- I know her. I could call her. - I'll just hit her with a brick.
That's so funny. You're so funny.
When she wants something done she says: "You know best."
"But couldn't we flip the house so the back is in front?"
"Put the front on a hinge so I can get in with a garage door opener."
- "Yes, we can. We'll just ..." - "Move the cabinets."
These are the photos that I meant to post last week. But just pretend they're fresh out of the oven.
Kid C really loves ballet, as you all know, but Baby R doesn't want to miss out on any fun. Even if it involves a tutu. So from time to time, they both put on their tutus and dance. This time it was in the vegetable garden, with pea pods in hand.
Aforementioned pea pod.
Ballet and peas = exercise and greens.
Believe me, he asked me to put it on him. But he only wears the black one, and honestly, he never keeps it on longer than 5 minutes. I think he knows it's on the girly side.
Dirt face.
I encourage the dancing. I mean, he bites and hits and tackles- it all balances out.
Sunday's family activity last week was releasing ladybugs that we bought from the nursery. If you've never done it, it's good clean family fun. And they eat all your aphids off your plants, so, win-win.
I don't know if you can see here, but Mojito had ladybugs on his head. They were everywhere. If it was any other kind of bug, it would be gross. But they're cute, so it's like live-confetti.
I told Kevin to take a picture of me and the kids since there are so many of him and them and hardly any of me. And this is what he took. I'm just sayin'.
They liked climbing on us more than the rosebushes.
be free!
I have no idea why I took these photos. But it's Tuesday, let's put 'em out.
Yep, no idea.
Baby R likes to boogie. He likes to get down.
Kevin was invited to a "green data center" conference, or something like that, that was held at the California Academy of Sciences. And everyone who came got a free family pass for a visit to the museum. Which is awesome, because it's way too expensive to go there otherwise.
Like a science see-saw...that I was sure Baby R was going to injure himself on somehow.
Here the kids are having fun with a device meant to depress everyone about how much carbon we all produce and how much we have to change our behavior to do anything about it.
Yeah, you get the point.
On bottom floor there's an aquarium. And Baby R loves "issshhh."
He's blurry, but wow, look at that fish behind him. Wacky.
Crowd-pleasing giganta-fish** (**real names have been changed)
The taxidermied dioramas were definitely my favorite. And yes, they are more sideshow/freakshow than science. Although I wanted to not bring up the fact that the animals were dead and stuffed, Kid C worked it out of me. And then after I explained it, as nicely as I could, she kept asking how each animal we saw "got dead." As in "Oh Lions. How did these lions get dead?" It cracked me up and then I had to say something like "maybe they got sick or got hit by a car." Instead of "some scientists use guns and kill the animals so they can stuff them and stick them in these boxes."
I made this design tonight for a friend who leads mission teams to Laos. I hope he likes it, I just emailed it to him just now. Man, I'm tired, and it won't end until Easter is over. I have a ton to do....
The more time I spend with other house-mom's the more I compare myself to them. And lately I've noticed I'm not playing with the same rule book as other moms. And I have no intention of changing my ways right now. But I have to get it off my chest:
1. Calling other adults Mr. or Mrs. I knew as a kid, if I ever had to address one of my friends' parents, I would have to use the Mr./Mrs. formula. So no joke, I avoided addressing parents at every turn. I think I was backed into a corner once and had to say it, but it has always weirded me out and made me feel like a dork. When I was ever in a K-12 classroom as an adult during college, I wanted the kids to just call me Charlie, but I compromised with the law of the land and went with Miss Charlie. I seem to be the only one that sees our society as not-really-formal, at least in the house-mom world. Maybe moms that stay home are more traditional? Because they embrace the traditional role of a woman in the home? (Ugh, the sound of that kind of turns my stomach...)
2. Asking permission to play with a toy Now, if I didn't know how park dynamics worked, this one would come really naturally: if you want to play with someone's shovel/truck/ball, you should ask him/her first. However, park playgrounds are a giant mixed salad of toys everywhere, if 2yr old kid, not even mine per se, had to locate the owner of a toy, then ask, for every toy that he/she wanted to play with, we'd be there all day. I don't expect the other kids to ask to use our stuff. I dump it all out, and whoever wants to use it can use it until we leave.
3. Being excused from the table Baby R and Kid C eat like birds, and when they are done they cause a ruckus until I tell them to go away. I do intend to have them a) eat more b) sit longer for 5 min at the table when they are older, but right now, they would constantly be punished for not obeying the rules and no one would eat in peace for the next 2 years. This one embarrasses me the most when we go out. Because I have wolf-children.
4. Saying butt Who knew that this would matter? But I think I'm the only one that doesn't use a cute word instead of butt. I often get the nervous look from other moms when I say it around other kids or when Kid C says it. I'm completely unapologetic about this one.
5. Yelling and Screaming I have realized in the past few months that my kids are total loudmouths. Kid C couldn't say a quiet statement if she had a bandana around her mouth. I'm pretty sure I'm suffering hearing loss from it. Baby R can hardly talk at all, but his babble is on Level 10 volume all day long. I have shushed and shushed and shushed and shushed, but they are just loud talkers. Kid C in particular does the little girl shriek which is so-- horrible.
6. Peeing in public Kid C now fears all public toilets, except for the little ones at church. It began with the auto-flush and now she fears them all. But as you all know, she has no problem droppin' her drawers in public and peeing in nature. And if I tell her she has to use a toilet or wait until we get home, she pees in her pants (which comes at a cost of an hour long time out.) That's how much she fears the bathrooms. So I let her pee behind rocks and bushes. I know it's bad, but I don't have alot of options. I feel like I should take photos because of all the exotic locales she has left her mark. If I'm ever arrested, I think it will be related to my daughter urinating in public.
I saw on Yahoo's homepage that a new UK store was opening it's first cross-pond store in NYC this week. And there was something about it being some sort of recession-friendly store.
I mean honestly, RuPaul would probably put this back.
It caters to that annoying NYLON magazine demographic. The young, wealthy, trust-funders that live in big cities go to silly parties and never have real jobs. Very annoying. Total drivel.
(I know too much about them because I got a subscription to that magazine for free, thinking that it was more like a Glamour magazine or a Lucky magazine. But it's totally not.)
