The New Park

The kids have loved the new park in town. It isn't huge, but it has some unique structures I've never seen before. We took my niece with us when she came to visit. It was a really fun visit. Ephant was especially happy since we so rarely see her.

A Fabulous Fefe Summer

There were ups and there were downs.

She knows enough to put the strap around her wrist, but that is about it:

The results of falling backwards in a chair:

Bananas make some pretty funny faces:

I just thought this picture was funny:

Life Preservers

Some pictures from swimming lessons:

The last day of lessons the kids were able to do some fun games:

Fefe has a new fascination with walking around in the lifejacket:

Hagg Lake

Back at the end of June I took the kids to Hagg Lake for lunch and a swim. The mud there is really pretty gross, but the kids enjoyed sticking their hands it. Fefe didn't care much for the hosing off afterwards.

Fefe didn't care for how the mud tasted. It's amazing how oral she still is:

I wish I had taken this picture one second earlier when Brother B had his arm around Loofa:

I Know

It's been awhile since I've posted, but I haven't felt like it so I didn't force it. This'll be short and sweet.

A Spaghettio Nap

I've been neglecting the yard pretty heavily the last couple weeks because of the heat wave we are just coming out of. While mowing I noticed that the blackberries were finally ripening up. I had to clear the path behind the fence so the kids could get to them. Fefe was eating lunch when I went out, but it must have taken me longer than I though because when I came back in, this is what we found. She had sauce smeared all over the side of her face. She was not a happy camper when I had to clean her up. She was pretty happy when I finally laid her in her crib.

The hottest day it got up to 106. We had a grand total of 4 days over 100 degrees. The window units made it possible to sleep at night, but it would get up to about 80 degrees inside by nighttime. I'm glad to have it back in the 80's now. I used the oven for the first time in a week last night. It was great to have a good home cooked meal again. Before that we were either eating out or having cool foods like pasta.

We haven't been doing a whole ton otherwise. Last week we went to Jenn's pool and swam for a bit. She was kind enough to even feed us dinner. She made my favorite, garmie (grape) salad. It was delicious! Later than week she took me out for a birthday dinner to an Indian restaurant. I've been craving it for so long and it was yummy. Afterwards we went back to her house and watched Twilight. I enjoyed it much more the second time around because I was able to dampen down my expectations more.

The kids are in the middle of swim lessons right now. Loofa has a fabulous teacher right now, but Ephant and Brother B's isn't so great. I wish I could complain. She spends the whole criticizing without ever complimenting. It is a pretty negative experience. Regardless, they are getting pretty good. I'll post some pictures later.

Lizard People

I've always been a sci-fi kind of gal. I was pretty excited to find out one of my favorite shows from the 80's is being remade. I'm a little sad that they are stealing one of my favorite Lost characters, Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell), but at least she is going to a show I want to see. She'll supposedly still have some guest spots on Lost too. The same people that created The 4400 (a show I really liked on USA) are in charge of V so I have high hopes.

Jogging Strollers

Yesterday I didn't wake up in time to go running so I decided I would push the kids in the jogging stroller while Brother B rode his scooter. I knew it would be harder than just running by myself, but man, my arms hurt! For some reason, one arm hurt more than the other. This is definitely good incentive to get up in time in the future.

About an hour later, Loofa said "My legs are tired from the stroller. I'm tired from riding in the stroller for that long time." Really.

Tennis and Soccer

We just finished a two week course of tennis for Ephant and Brother B and a 1 week course of soccer for Loofa. We do it through Hillsboro because their rec programs are so much more extensive.

It was pretty amazing to watch how far E and B have come since we first started doing these classes a few years ago. They had really good teachers this year, patient and funny. J bought them both tennis rackets, hopefully we can put them to good use this summer. I wish I knew how to play it, but at this point I don't have the time to spend on that. Maybe when we are enjoying retirement or maybe when I am dead.

Fefe did not care for being on a leash:

Loofa was pretty funny with soccer. The first day he said "they don't play soccer the right way." I don't know what soccer he is thinking of. Each time they had him play goalie he would sit in front of the goal and refuse to stand up. This was usually towards the end of the class. I would tell him to sit up and he would say "I'm tired, I want to go home". The last couple of days he started being more willing to stand up and defend the goal. Other than that, he did a pretty good job. He wasn't afraid to go after the ball and most of them time managed to get it going in the right direction.

Brother B found a nice resting spot.

Why the Government Sucks!

Yes, I did say suck.

A couple weeks ago I decided to apply for the Amex card from Costco since it has slightly better rewards than my current one. My application was put on hold because they needed proof that my social security # was actually mine. I'm still a tad confused as to why it was necessary, but figured I wanted the card so I would jump the hoops.

The biggest hoop involved going to the SS office and getting a letter from them verifying it is my #. If I had known how long the wait would be, I would not have thought it worth it to get this credit card. I was a little disheartened to see how many people were waiting when we arrived, but our line number was only 4 away from the front. Two of those numbers took 1 1/2 hours to process. We were all hungry and Fefe was exhausted since it was past her naptime. Plus she has this terrible screaming habit that kept manifesting itself. I should have let scream more, maybe we could have gotten a line jump :)

About 20 minutes into the wait, I sent Ephant out to the car to fetch Fefe's blankie. The security guard came over to me and here is our conversation:

Guard: "I don't let kids go out to the parking lot alone."
Me: "Is this a dangerous neighborhood?
Guard: "No, I just don't let kids go out alone."
Me: "She is just fetching something from the car."
Guard: "I know that, I could see the keys. I don't let kids go out alone."
Me: "Is there a law against it?"
Guard: "No."
Me: "Well, I'm okay with it."
Guard: "I don't let kids out alone."
Me: "I'm okay with it!"

Talk about a frustrating conversation. I understand concern, but as soon as I showed no interest in "obeying" him, he should have let it go. One problem is that so many people think Ephant is younger than she is because of her size. She thought it was funny when I told her later.

I was so relieved when we finally got up front. It took us a grand total of 3 minutes to get the letter I needed and head out of there. If I never have to visit that office again, it'll be too soon. Halfway through the wait, I said to Ephant, as loud as I could "This is why I don't want government taking over healthcare!"