Going, Going, Going.... G.O.N.E.



First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for the kiddos.  Derrin is now a fifth grader, a "big kid" in elementary.  Kloe is now a third grader.  I went to school with them this morning to meet their teachers.  Both teachers seem to be really nice, so hopefully this bodes well for a good school year.  Actually, both kids just walked in the door from their first day and said they LOVE their new teachers.  This does bode well.

I can not believe that summer vacation is over for them already!  This summer was one of the fastest on record- I'm pretty sure that is a documented fact.  It looks as though I will have one more month before my summer vacation is over and I go back to work to my part time office job; I am still working for Derrick's business keeping the numbers balanced.  So, while I have more free time, I better concentrate on soaking up every last molecule of sunshine out there.  I'd also better concentrate on bringing some order to this house.  There are still bags that have not been completely unpacked from our Seattle trip.

We went camping with our friends Rob and Deana and their kiddos this weekend.  It was our last chance to really soak up some friend/nature/sunshine/swimming time for the summer. 

The lake we went to was AWESOME; warm, calm and beautiful.  It even had a sandy beach; something rare for these parts.  The kids lived in the water while we were there, and even the grown ups (myself included) spent a lot of time in the water.

We had a great time with Deana and Rob, and the kids all got along really well, which always makes me happy.  Age wise, she is right between their little girls Olivia and Alena.  They all ran around together (usually in groups of two... the mystery of why groups of three NEVER work out with little or big girls goes on and on....) and Derrin was able to hang out with their son Tyler.  All of them had a great time:)

Kloe and Alena seem to have a lot of similarities.  Same sense of humor and that little splash of crazy that makes us wonder what we are going to have going on once teenhood sets in.

I came up out of the lake at one point to dry off on the beach, and Derrick was smiling about something.  When I asked him what was up, he told me that the little girls had run over to him and told him very seriously that there was a headstone on the beach. 

He laughed, thinking their imaginations were going wild (not an uncalled for assumption, actually), and said he was pretty sure that there weren't any headstones on the beach.  They insisted that not only was there a headstone, but you could actually see stones around a grave.  When he again said he didn't think that graves and headstones would be allowed at the beach, they asked him if he'd like to see it. 

Looking Oh So Sad

He agreed, and as they let him to a stone sticking up that really did, strangely enough, look like a headstone.  He was thinking that was weird, he could have sworn there wouldn't be an actual headstone, but then he looked closer and saw the name on the stone was HIS (in little kid handwriting), and the girls were behind him giggling. 

There is no way to tell that story without sounding morbid, but I tell you, this is SO FUNNY.  No one EVER tricks Derrick, but because of their perfect delivery, these two little monkeys pulled a bit of a fast one on him!  I laughed so hard when he told me the story:) If it is a flash of what we have to look forward to when they get older, we'd better hold on to our hats.

Anyways, we will have to remember weekends like this one to get us through the winter.

Even a cold water wuss like me could get in the water!

Olivia's night art around a campfire

The Fam Visits Seattle

We spent this last weekend in Seattle with David and Tia. It was SO good to see them. I wish we lived closer. I wish I had a vehicle that's abilities included warp speed travel...

ANYWAYS, our time there included sushi (at Marinepolis, one of our favorite sushi joints), going to the aquarium, spending some time at Alki beach, and on Saturday the guys took the kids on a ferry ride to Friday Harbor while Tia and I stayed in Seattle and had a marathon girl-talk in which we solved all of the world's problems before going to a movie and dinner.

We ended up taking Jessy with us on our trip. I've never had the experience of traveling with a dog before this little one showed up. She is good in the car, sleeping most of the time. Whenever we would stop for her to go out and go potty, it felt like we were traveling with a rockstar. There was one instant where her rockstar status was severely compromised, but I will get to that in a minute...

I had coffee for breakfast every morning I was there and it was so stinking great. I knew I would pay for it when I got back (and I am), but it was heaven. I always feel really good in Seattle. It might be that it's closer to sea level there, or maybe the extra humidity, OR maybe the fact that it is always vacation time with no responsibilities, or the conversation with Tia (which I suspect may be the real reason- what beats a good talk with a friend in the feeling better department?), but I just felt great.

Then we come home.

Fire on the Mountain

It turned into fire season here while we were over there.

And no coffee means a big, all-day head ache.

And there is road construction on the road leading to my house again.

And I forgot my wallet at Safeway.

And I was going to drive back to Safeway to get my wallet, but then I realized I'd lost my keys, so I couldn't start my car.

I finally gave up finding my keys and borrowed Derrick's, had to reface road construction again and made it back to Safeway. The good news is that my wallet was still in the shopping cart out in the parking lot where we'd left it.

SO, I went home and took a nap.

That has been the bulk of my first day home, with a couple loads of laundry in there too.

School starts a week from today. I can not believe this summer is over. I was able to do pretty much everything I'd hoped to at the beginning of the summer, but I still need more time!!! We have one more camping trip this weekend, a final hurrah to summer. It's with good friends, it will be awesome. But then school starts. *sigh*

SO, on that sorry note, I will tell the story of what happens when you take a puppy to a beach in Seattle...

We'd been working with Jessy to go potty while on a leash the whole time we were over there. She'd stubbornly refused to go at all unless allowed off of her leash, which was only allowed while at David and Tia's place.

We went on a couple outings to Alki beach in West Seattle. It has one of the best views of Seattles skyline I've seen, AND you get to be in sand by the water while seeing that view. It is a win/win for all involved. We decided to bring little Jessy with us because she'd been inside for most of our visit over there; puppy needed to stretch her legs and run around.

We knew she wouldn't love being on a leash, but those are the breaks. As someone who has never been a dog owner as an adult, I have been very surprised by how many places flat out don't allow dogs, and the places that DO allow dogs all seem to require leashes. Seems unnatural, but I didn't make the rules. We would follow the rules at Alki beach; Jessy would wear her leash.

The guys dropped us off so they could find a parking place. We (Tia, kids and myself) made our way down to the water. Jessy was being drug along by her leash. Derrin was limping along in a dramatic fashion because he'd hurt his foot by jumping from high places earlier in the day. Tara and I were carrying our beach chairs, getting ready to do a lot of sitting, talking, and taking pictures of the kids frolicking. Kloe was already heading for the water with every intention of jumping in.

We set our chairs down and proceeded as planned. Eventually the men joined us, and we all were enjoying our time by the water. We were completely surrounded by people (that beach is crazy busy), but it felt like we were the only ones on our little spot of the beach, enjoying our time together.

Then Jessy happened. The puppy who wouldn't go potty while attached to a leash the WHOLE TIME we had been there? Well, whether it was the sand, the sound of the water hitting the shore, or just the relaxed atmosphere we'd all been enjoying, she was all of a sudden in her comfort zone. All of a sudden she was squatting and without thinking I cried out "OH NO!!!", just so if anyone else on the beach WASN'T witnessing our dog soiling the sand, they were now alerted to have the opportunity to do so.

Oh Lordy. There was a lot of illegal puppy poo there, and as new puppy owners, we have NOT developed a good checklist of puppy related things to take on all outings, the first of which would be a plastic baggie for such an occasion. I stood up and started fumbling for my shoes, only thinking "MUST FIND BAGGY". In my shoe finding haze, I missed the heckling calls from the group of people closest to us, but I heard later it was to the effect of "Get that dog off the beach!!" And when I heard them shouting to pick up the poo, I shouted back,"Well yeah, of course we will" because I am a QUICK thinker like that. Did they want me to pick it up with my bare hands and carry it away as penance? Maybe they did, because I felt their eyes on us until we had the situation resolved. David was the one who ran up and found a bag, and then I scooped up the shameful deposit, problem solved. SOOO dramatic. *sigh*

In looking for the baggy, a sign was discovered by David and Derrick that while dogs were allowed on the sidewalk above the beach, they were not allowed in the sand. This was a huge surprised to us, because we had seen literally dozens of dogs down there. If you can't take your dogs to the beach, where CAN you take them? Not only were they not allowed, however, but there was a five hundred dollar fine for having a dog down there. Derrick and David took off with Jessy, intending on going for a walk and avoiding a fine.

As for Tia, myself and the kids, we stayed. We couldn't let the hecklers think they'd driven us off, so we hunkered down and enjoyed the rest of our time there, every extra minute a triumph.

Eventually we had to pack up all of our stuff and go out to find the men and the cars.

We were a pitiful looking crew. Derrin hobbled along like he'd actually LOST his foot at some point, so I carried a chair and my big camera with one arm, and held on to him with the other. Kloe was completely soaked from jumping in the ocean, AND she had about four cups of sand in her underwear from scooting along the beach on her behind while playing. She walked bowleggedly along behind us, tears in her eyes, every inch screaming pitiful, miserable girl. Tia finally took pity and started carrying that 8 year old girl on one hip while carrying one of the chairs in her other. We should have been carrying tin cans so West Seattle could at least throw dollars in there to help relieve our suffering.

Eventually, we found the guys, the puppy and the cars, loaded the broken children in them, and back home we went.

Our Family River Adventure

We took the kids floating down the river this last Saturday for the first time this summer. It turned into such a beautiful, hot August day, and a summer without at least one river float feels as dismal as a winter without a least one ski adventure.

We missed out on going with a bigger group that planned on starting earlier in the day. Our float trip was not so much the product of good planning, as an impulse brought on by a warm, unexpectedly free Saturday. So, instead of the usual large floating group, it was just our little family of four and our friend Parker.

Since this was very possibly the only float trip of this summer, we decided that we'd make it be a long one. We were looking forward to a least three hours on the water, enjoying the hot sun, the cool water, and all of the junk food we had packed away in our cooler (which also had it's own inner tube).

We all carried our tubes down to the water, and put them in it, gasping at it's chilly-ness. The boys all got ahead of Kloe and I, so I held on to her tube's rope with my foot and paddled us both out to where the current was a little faster. She allowed herself to towed along with much grace.

Whenever we float the river with our kiddos, we always have them wear lifejackets, and we always link up our tubes into a big caravan so we can be together and safe. When we caught up with the guys, we all linked up and relaxed. Tubing is the singularly most relaxing thing one can do.

Well, it's one of the most relaxing things you can do UNTIL you find yourself caught in a current,  hurtling toward the side of a mountain with no brakes (brakes on river inner tubes would be a very cool thing). We all paddled our arms furiously against the current. Well, Derrick and I paddled. The kids mostly voiced dire predictions of what our near future would entail, like hitting the mountain.

I hit the sharp points first, with all of my family's and coolers weight hitting against me as their buffer. My tube managed to survive the first bounce. It did not fair so well on the second bounce. The rocks punctured it and it deflated immediately. By this point Derrick had pushed himself, Derrin and the cooler back into the current to stop hitting me against the rocks.

Without all of the bouncing against me, it actually was a lot less dramatic. It was fairly easy to stand up on the rocks (pointy though they were) and deliberate about my next move. I still had Kloe and her big tube with me. It was a pretty easy choice; either take a long walk back to the car for a different tube (with girl in tow) or climb on board with the girl and share a tube for the next two and a half hours... um, maybe not such an easy choice, but a logical one.

So, we set off together, side by side, for the rest of the float. It was actually pretty great getting to be right there with my girl, eating Twizzlers and Whoppers. FYI, Whoppers happen to FLOAT. We unwittingly set several little round brown whoppers free on our journey, to the interest/disgust to any river floaters coming up behind us, I'm sure.

Kloe complained dutifully about the unfun-ness of sharing a tube with ones mother, but it was pretty apparent she secretly enjoyed telling me how and where to paddle in fast water areas.  She was very focused on pointing out any potential inner tube popping rocks, which she now assumed I had a complete inability to avoid without a LOT of guidance.

Anyone who has ever made a long river float will tell you that you will NEVER see anyone getting out to use the bathroom. It is just a quiet understanding that like the fish and all other river life, you will become one with the river in that sense. It's fine that we all do it, we just don't need to talk about it. Well, Kloe never got that memo, or maybe she was trying to be polite, but she informed me that she was indeed going to 'become one with the river', as I sat there with her, side by side, in a tube. Yippee... it would have been much nicer to have just remained unaware of what was happening, but I had the privilege of full awareness. And you are WELCOME for that little tidbit.

Two and a half hours later we made it to our destination. It turned out to be a pretty fantastic day, and maybe by some miracle we'll get to do another river float soon.

Willing Abstinence of Chocolate and Coffee??? And other life stuffs...

I quit drinking coffee FOUR days ago.  The first two days had predictable headaches, but I am on to better times now.  Living coffee-free is one of the first steps I am taking to feeling better, month-round. 

I am TIRED of being out of commission so much of the time, so it's time to come out fighting... again.  I bought super absorb-able multivitamins (with lots of the B's), and a giant jar of calcium/magnesium.  In September I will start a 'feel good again' diet, which will be challenging, but I think worth it. 

When I went to the vitamin store, I talked to the 'vitamin guy' for a long time about my general symptoms of icky-ness, and he gave me a weird test to try to see if I have an overgrowth of candida.  He said (and it is kinda gross, but fascinating) to spit into cup of cold water first thing in the morning before you take a drink of water or even swallow.  You are supposed to check in on it for about an hour, and if it stays all pretty floating on top, you don't have a candida overgrowth.  But, if it starts sinking, and looking stringy and gross, you do (sorta sounds like how they diagnosed if someone was a witch or not at one point in history...).  The faster it sinks, the more candida you have.  I did his fun little test, and it immediately pointed to yes. I am, indeed, a witch.  Or I have candida.  ONE of those things.  

I'm not completely sure about the validity of the spit test.  I did, however, read the list of symptoms for candida, and the list pretty much describes all of the symptoms that I would like to go away.  I have a doctor apt. in September, but I'm pretty sure she'll just prescribe the usual meds that every american eventually gets prescribed, and send me on my merry way.  I just don't want to mask a bunch of symptoms; I'd like to get rid of the problem.  I've got things to DO, kids to raise and play with, a husband I'd like to be clear-headed enough to talk things through, friends and family to have happy times with.  I don't have TIME for dead-on-the-couch days! 

The candida diet seems to mostly involve eliminating sugar and carbs.  This is going to seriously compromise my consumption of chocolate.  *Sigh*  Just one more re-affirmation that if I love something too much, most likely it is bad for me. 

Anyways, I'm waiting for September to start the 'diet' because August still has a trip to Seattle (yay! Get to see David and Tia), and other fun friend times.  So much of social activity has to do with food!

Bailey and Kloe

Different subject (again): SO, since I was a blogging lam-o last week, I didn't mention that Heidi, Tammy and all the kiddos came and stayed with us last week.  I was going to post pictures of some of our time together, but then I realized I was so busy gabbing with my fellow ladies that I didn't really take any.  My bad. 

It was nice getting to be with them!  Lots of playing at the park, in the water, and loud craziness (that's a given with five kids running around my little house).  Kloe went home with them and stayed for four days with her buddy Bailey.  A good time was had by all.

While she was gone, I took Derrin school shopping.  Yes, it is that time of year again.  Today, he gets to go hang out with his grampa while I take Kloe school shopping.  It is always better to divide them for these sort of out-goings; reduces the chaos greatly.

We went to the Celtic festival the weekend before, but in my blog-funk, the pictures never were posted.  Time to remedy that:

My childrens' 'having fun' faces

My husbands 'having fun' face

A little Riverdancing



Miss Kloe and Miss Sklyer

  



Letting the kids play in the middle
of the road



Heatheree n Me, Downtown

Puppy dog eyes