Shopping

Overheard yesterday at Costco:

"Kate, don't draw on your sister." -Tim, addressing his eldest daughter, using a command that is sure to be issued regularly over the coming years

"So, what I'm wondering is: do you drink because you have kids, or do you have kids because you drink?" -woman in front of us at cash register, referring to our 4 bottles of wine, Costco-sized tequila bottle, and 24-pack of Pacifico beer

"Look, she's using Claire as a pillow!" -Tim pointing out that Kate was leaning heavily on her sister in the shopping cart

"Kate, which cake do you want? Honey, that's not a ducky, it's a stork. Do you want balloons or flowers or a princess on your cake? You really want the ducky, huh? O-kay, then." -Jen trying to talk Kate out of her stork ducky birthday cake, to no avail

Confessions of a 30-something drama queen

Okay, okay! I'm fine, really. I know that after that last post most of you are wondering if I am doing okay in the mental department. I'm fabulous, really. It's just hard being a mom of 2 small children sometimes, you know? Anyone? Someone back me up here. Anyway, these things make for good blog stories, and so you have to take some liberties.

Like yesterday, with Claire the Sprinkler. That's a fun story. But I promised Tim the rights to that one, so you'll have to wait.

Kate surprised me last week. We were over at Dana's and she started saying her ABCs. She does this often. But this time, she kept going. I think she made it all the way through V. Since then she has done this several times (including WXYZ nowIknowABCsingwithme), so I know it's not just a fluke. She is also counting past 10, but I'm not certain where past 10. I heard 19 once, but I can't recall if I heard all the numbers between 11 and 18 first.

Claire enjoys a nice amber ale.

Finally, we are back!

6mo.

We got back on Saturday afternoon, but our modem was fried (monsoons? lightning?) and we couldn't get online. I realized then just how very horribly addicted I am to the internet. And how much other stuff I can get done when my beloved internet is not working. Tim, luckily, is also addicted to the net, so he was on a mission to fix it. Thanks to his efforts, I am back online.


The drive back was...somewhat more painful than the ride up. It didn't help that we took the 'long' road back through Idaho and Utah. Six days later (and more than 3000 miles driven in the past 5 weeks) we are all much happier to not be sitting in a car.


We spent 2 nights in Boise, soaking up the fun and the good beer (we took the girls to 2 breweries while we were there); drove to Ogden, UT, where we stayed at Hill AFB; braved the crazy torrents of rain and flood waters south of there to arrive at Cedar City, UT, near Zion; drove through Vegas on a Friday, stopping only at In N Out Burger for lunch; spent a night in Kingman, AZ; and finally arrived home on Saturday afternoon. Overall it was a fairly uneventful trip home (minus Kate's total meltdown at McDonald's in Wickenburg on Saturday - she just did not want to go into the restaurant and threw one of the biggest fits I have ever seen when we tried to get her to sit down and eat her cheeseburger).


Our house is still standing, although the pool is quite green and so is the yard. We are still unpacking (I think this process might take a week to 10 days) and trying to get organized. Monsoon season is in full force; it took Tim 45 minutes to get to work this morning (normally a 15-minute drive), and the girls' swim lessons are cancelled today. It's dark inside even though it's almost 8am, and I can hear thunder rumbling in the distance. Time for me to go make some breakfast and get some stuff done while the house is still quiet. Pictures soon, I promise.

Grosse Pointe Blank, Oregon-style

We came to Oregon for the month of July for 2 primary reasons:

1. Tim's dad's 60th birthday on the 4th, and
2. Tim's 20th high school reunion this weekend

Last night was dinner and drinks at Mac's, the local watering hole. Tonight is the formal dinner downtown at a hotel. We had fun last night. I wasn't sure how it would go; I had never met any of Tim's friends from high school, save Mary whom I met at our wedding. Tim's sister, Buji, who graduated 2 years behind Tim, also was there last night, so that meant I knew a grand total of 3 people. But as I sat thinking about it over blueberry pancakes this morning, I realized why I felt (and apparently) looked so much more comfortable amongst all the spouses: I have done this before. I have done this many times before. The military does it to you all the time: you go to events where your husband knows a lot of people and you know no one. So there I was, trying to talk to these wives of guys Tim had gone to school with, and they're giving me the "I don't know you and I don't want to be here so I'm not going to make eye contact with you" look. Thanks to Mary, Buji, Tim and a couple of other people there who were not afraid to talk to someone they didn't know, I had a pretty good time. Also, it was a night out at a bar with good beer, and my kids were at home with grandma and grandpa. I could have stayed out all night. Well, not really; I was yawning by 10pm, but that's beside the point.

So last night was fun, and tonight will be...well, I don't know. I kind of hope not all the fun was had last night. We shall see. In any event, I hope no one has to kill a blonde guy with a ball point pen.