Why Did you do this?

I am not a good writer. i think I used to be. I took an English class in college that I really enjoyed and I think my writing improved greatly. Then I went to work for the Federal Govenment and in an effort to conform , I think I lost all writing ability.

So here I am, writing matter of fact posts that describe the pictures so that the kids and g'parents can enjoy one day.

Tonight, after going through several menu options, the kids and I settled on pancakes. While Special Agent Oso was playing and the medicene was flowing, I cooked pancakes. Quite proud of myself I thought I'd put a little IHOP spin on them. Originally the bananas made a mouth, but I decided they should become a tongue and eyebrows.

I know in advance that they would be critiqued to death, so I was prepard for "I don't like blueberries". Uttered by my blueberry fein. And, I don't want the bananas and why did you put a cherry in the middle? Well because of course I knew you'd hate it! I wasn't upset or offended by their reaction, amused is more like it. We don't commonly serve food that is prepared like this, so I think I caught them off guard.

I emailed these photos to Den whilst we spoke on the phone and he thought they looked like moose. I thought a dog and a cat, but regardless, Eddie was making animal requests for the next time I decided to go this route.

Ha, as if. Cookie is basically out the rest of the week. Her grandson is doing much better, but it really is quite serious. I am happy we can do this for her and equally happy that backup childcare is available.

Possibly Why We Don't Get More Visitors...

I'm always amazed at how fast time goes. I distinctly remember as a child being told to be careful about wishing I was a year older than I was because before long the time would pass more quickly than I wanted. I am there now. And have been for a while.

Den was gone the last week of June, the transition week of July, he was gone on a 1.5 day business trip and no sooner did he get home, then g'parents Ohio arrived for the weekend (previous post). They left on a Monday and by Sat. we had Den's cousins with us for 5 nights.

During their stay with us, we had them helping to build the playset that had been broken (see a July post), help us hang and re-arrange photos that have never seen the light of day and in general clean the house for a 10-person work-related dinner party. Pluck the flowers from the neighbor's yard and make beautiful flower arrangements for said dinner party, oh and make a desert for the party as well. I know I left something out, but they were machines. I don't usually let people do 'stuff' in my house, but I felt like I was on a home improvement episode where you give general directions, come home and the place is amazing! I didn't exactly leave, but lets just say there were a lot of opportunites for keeping busy. Plus, Den was working long days (and nights) with customers from out of town.

Needless to say, they were sure troopers.

They left on a Thurs. and then we left on vacation that Sunday, coming home on the 29th and bam it's August. I've got to find the pictures that the Cousins took, because they have some great ones, these are from Eddie's camera.

Gparents in July

It's well known that g'parents Ohio come out about once/month for a visit. Before this weekend's trip, they were out over July 4. G'ma wanted to see the local parade, and despite that we had told her it was hot, crowded and not 'all that', she wanted to go anyway. As I understand it, our outing took care of her need to attend this parade for at least a couple years. We all gamely wore some variation of red, white, and blue.



This below picture of Eddie was him nestled between 2 chairs in his stroller. He claims to have had a fine view.

This is what it is all about--popsicle treats after. Josie had the biggest popsicle and of course she polished it off. It was about as long as her forearm.

Waching the g'parents leave--it was raining. The kids love climbing on the couch and each opening a window shout out goodbyes.

Goofing Around

This top photo was taken on Friday, my 2nd straight day home with the kids. Den had 2 full 7:30-6 days when we returned from vacation, and the kids had trashed the family room. I know what Josie is pretending to be, but not sure about Eddie.

While Den was waiting for the plane to fill we were trading emails real time. I was also sending him a couple photos of the kids (the rest of the photos in the post), who were playing with g'parents Ohio. Thank heavens for g'parents, that's all I have to say. G'parents Ohio drove over on Saturday after just one day at home after their own 12 day driving tour and hung out all day Sunday and Monday morning before heading back home. I think they'll be home a week before they are off to Atlanta.

Watching the kids in g'parents convertible is pretty entertaining. They watch intently as the top goes up and like an amusement park ride, ask to do it again.

It was a good thing I got the break from the g'parents as our nanny's infant grandson is having emergency abdominal surgery tonight. Don't really know a whole lot, as it was a bit missed in translation from English to Spanish and back to English again, but something about a twisted/inverted or something intestine. I told her to take the time she needed and I'd figure something out.

Good thing our nanny is such good friends with the nanny across the street, who happens to have 2 teenaged girls who are free tmr and whom the kids know well. Whew. Follow that?

Double Deckers

Den is headed to Japan today (left the house at 830 for the 930 flight). He took this picture of the double decker plane he'll be on and I showed it to the kids.

Eddie promptly built a double decker plane of his own. This is the 2nd version, the first version fell to the ground before I could get a picture. It had wheels on both levels. Eddie changed that in this version, believing that it didn't need wheels on both levels.

The Alpine Slide!

The only other Alpine slide I'd been on was in Europe right out of college. We'd told the kids it was a really big slide, but weren't sure how they'd react. The chair lift we rode to the top made my palms sweat, I was so nervous about either kid falling out, so I made Den ride with Josie so I wouldn't be an utter mess.

This was the absolute highlight for them. They wanted to go over and over, but we were headed out of town back to Salt Lake City and were only able to squeeze in 2 trips. The video is more enjoyable likely for us, but thought it was pretty fun. In case you can't see it clearly, Josie is grinning ear to ear. I'd say they are hooked...

Took over 2100 photos and I'm not entirely to blame as Den had the camera a good portion of the time. Course that doesn't include whatever photos g'parents Wisc. snapped.

Best Day of the Year

Today felt like one of the best days of the whole year with the kids. We just got back from a 10 day sojourn to Salt Lake, Yellowstone and Jackson, WY last night and then Cookie called early this morning to say she wouldn't be making it and was quite ill. I was a bit worried as a day w/ the kids, but w/o plans can go awry in a hurry.

The kids just wanted to hang out in the house all day, which is typical for them after being away on a trip.

I unpakced and started laundry (highly unusual for me to do so soon) and the kids played happily ALL day long. It wasn't until the proverbial witching hour of 5:30ish that things started going downhill. I even defrosted some cookie dough Cookie had made and baked cookies (which turned out quite good if I don't say so myself).

Then in an utter departure I cooked dinner--it was sloppy joe's--from scratch. I took the opportunity to call my college roommate for her mother's receipe when I discovered it was not in the receipe box we haven't opened in at least a year. Her mother happened to be visiting and I'm sure was amused to listen to her daughter describe for me how to peel an onion (considering in college she was almost as clueless as I). Den of course arrived home in time to stress about my cooking prowess and hovered around, able to take these photos of first Eddie and I cutting green beans an gree peppers (the IKEA kid knives actually do a fairly nice job and you don't risk losing a digit). Then the kids cutting up the squash. All from the garden--which again, unlike me, we went right out to harvest from the garden today.

I'm sure it won't be long before we return to our old routines of procrastination and bickering, but it sure is nice to come home from a good vacation.

The Swingset, Take One

After 1.5 years of research, I finally wore Den down enough so he agreed to buy the kids a swingset (citing among other things that we could allow them at younger ages play in the backyard than we would let them cross major streets to get to a park).

I think I selected well, as we were very pleased with the project. The only major issue was human error. I think there were less parts to the swingset than there were to the Purple Martin House, posted about earlier.

I had taken Eddie to his swim lesson and everythingw as going great--Den had made lots of progress and was in the process of putting the 'tower' together, getting ready to put the first bolts to hold it together when, 'crash!', it tipped over. The last picture is of the piece that sustained the worst damage, you can't tell well, but the piece is basically cracked in half. The company was great in quickly sending a replacement timber, but it meant a week's delay in the assembly.

Oh and below is the picture of the retaining wall and steps. Now to landscape...

construction projects...

We've had a couple projects around the house, but have also had a slew of houseguests...
When we did the addition last year, I really wanted a bigger screened porch. Den prevailed in that conversation and so we had to create a low retaining wall and 3 steps to access the lower levels of the yard. They did the project, but the workers slightly goofed up and the 2 sides (on either side of the steps) didn't align, so they had to redo. I'll post a pic of the finished project.

As usual, we supplied plenty of drinks for the 3-day job. Had the whole neighborhood wondering (and askng) what we were doing (what with the contractor sign in our yard).


The Purple Martin House. I think this will go down as one of those projects Den will discuss at cocktail parties. It said some assembly required, it did not mentioned that included nearly 100 screws and washers or close to 50 actual house 'parts'. Then I come to read that Martins are especially difficult to get to inhabit the house. And to make matters worse, the pole we bought apparently needs cement to stay in place, so it's still not up (doesn't really matter though because we missed the season this year, as spring will be our next shot.

The Beach...Lewes

We don't typically visit the beaches near us, as I like the water a bit warmer. However, this year we are not likely to be able to squeeze in a beach vacation, so after a week in which Den traveled and I attended the funeral of a colleague, I decided the beach would do us good.

G'parents Ohio were driving over on Friday July 3 and Den had a day off during the week, so we made what on a good day would have been a 2.5 hour trip in each direction, but was around 3 hours the day before July 4 so that we could spend around 2 hours at the beach.

Not just any beach, the most crowded beach I had EVER been to in my entire life. Growing up in FLA and of all the beaches I have visited all over the world, I have never myself been to a beach when it was this crowded. The phone above does no justice. I'm not sure why there was that open space, in fact I'm quite sure that when we first got there, this open space did not exist.

The kids didn't seem to care, although Josie also thought the water was too cold, and she's our waterbug. Den convinced Ed to get in with him, but Josie would have none of it. The kids kept asking to play, but I had such a headache, I just wanted a nap.

Near the end of our stay, Josie decided to take off her swimsuit. We learned later this was so she could poop. Den had put the non-disposable swim diaper on backwards, so while we were able to catch the first episode, the 2nd left us with a chair to wash off and a good time to head home.

They had people parking on the side of the road, it was that crowded. The walk wasn't that bad, but it wasn't the best spot to be in relation to the beach-house.

So glad we went, it addressed my need for a beach 'fix' and it reminded us why we don't like visiting the beach in this way.