One more pound, gone!! I'm down to 152, which brings my total weight loss to 85 lbs. That's both my kids put together. I keep moving my goal; it was 155, now it's 150 and now I'm thinking, if I keep eating healthy and swimming, biking and running - how much more can I lose? Can I get to a size six? Can I get to 137 making my weight loss a nice, round 100 lbs? I really need to learn to be happy being healthy, but at the same time it is fun seeing my body change - and buying new clothes. I used to think I would be happy in a 12. I thought, "That's what I was in high school, right?" I had forgotten that Mom bought me clothes that were too big so they were 'modest.' Now I'm in an 8 - except for the freakishly small size 8 Victoria's Secret jeans I have - and I'm just curious to see if I can get into a 6. When I told Jeff that last night he said, "Is that all?" and laughed.

My (hopefully) last body issue is the loose skin left behind by the weight loss. When you lose 85 lbs, there's a lot of empty skin there. One reason I have been determined to get it lost before age 30 is that I hoped my skin would snap back into place. For the most part, it has, but it takes a long time. Everytime I lose a bit more, my skin looks worse for awhile and then it adjusts.

Not that any of you want to know that. 

I really think my sugar scrub, with safflower oil and cocount oil, helps, but I haven't been using it as often since you aren't supposed to put on perfume or oils before getting into a pool.

Jeff and I went swimming last night. We swam a total of 400m (the triathlon distance), one lap (25m) at a time. We only swam 4 laps with the kickboards and did the rest freestyle. Jeff's making it across the pool more often; I made it across every time until the last two laps I tried to do consecutively, without a break, and I quit halfway back on the 2nd one. That's what I get, I suppose.

We watched the swimming trials Saturday night for the Olympics and were in awe. Michael Phelps and another guy finished 400m in less than four minutes. Jeff has been trying to use the dolphin kick when he kicks off so he doesn't have to stroke as far! He showed it to me yesterday and it does make the pool seem shorter. 

We also lifted, working chest, and I increased my weight in each exercise we did. I am sore this morning. 

Tonight we'll go swimming with Jenn again. Looked up swim lessons for the boys at the new Aquatic Center in RR and may be doing that later this summer. 8 lessons for 37 dollars, which I thought was pretty reasonable.

Jeff just told his bosses he was separating effective March 2009. 

Excited, scared, nervous 

Yesterday morning Jeff and I went swimming, then took the kids to lunch and out to see Wall*E. I have to say, I wasn't expecting much out of this movie. A kids' movie with a trash-collecting robot as the main character? C'mon... 

I was pleasantly surprised and laughed the entire way through. Pixar animators always amaze me with the way they can take an ordinary, inanimate object and infuse it with personality. By the end of the movie, I was completely in love with Wall*E, his robot girlfriend Eve and even his pet cockroach.

I glanced at Yahoo! user reviews of the movie and those who didn't like it said that the first 1/2 hour was boring, no action, etc... but that was probably my favorite part! The entire first 1/2 hour is all about Wall*E's lonely life on earth, Eve's arrival, his attempted courtship of her - it really showed Wall*E's personality. Heck, it made him more believable as a person than some real people that you see on the street!  

And you have to love the environmental message of the movie too. It's a bit over-the-top, but in an amusing (sort-of) way. I just wish companies like Pixar/Disney realized that they are part of the problem, not the solution, manufacturing tons of plastic junk to sell to kids who have to have everything and then it winds up in the landfill... let's hope all the Wall*E toys are biodegradable or at least recyclable.

Taking kids to a theater is always an experience, though. The first time they see a movie it is always a bit iffy because they don't know what to expect. They get more frightened of loud noises, unexpected happenings, explosions, etc... so Caden asked to go home every five minutes for the first hour. After that, he calmed down somewhat. By the end, they both wanted to be Wall*E.

Wall*E is somewhat box shaped and folds himself up into an inconspicuous little box when he goes to sleep. So Bryce likes to imitate him. He makes noises, jerky motions, and slides to the floor in a little heap. They spent this morning drawing Wall*E and looking at the stickers they got for free from the Disney store at the mall. Caden loves saying, "Wal-we" in a robot monotone. 

I really can't wait for it to come out on DVD. 

Jeff is improving on his swimming!! He made it all the way across the pool yesterday! 25 whole meters. He has to be able to do that 16 times without a break between. We picked up this year's pamphlet for the triathlon we want to do next year. You have to predict your swim time within 2 minutes. It's a serpentine swim in an indoor pool, so there will be other people in the water. No screwing up and stopping. It's a really good thing we have 14 months to prepare for this! 

I'm resisting the urge to bake brownies and make ice cream... 

Last night I finished Bryce's Buzz Lightyear cross stitch. I started it 2 years ago as his reward for finally being potty trained. I finished it about the same time I finished The Golden Compass, which I've been listening to on audio while I've been stitching. I think it was 1:30 am when I finished. Anyway, The Golden Compass is very, very good. The author is an atheist and there is an anti-religion message, but so far I'm perceiving it as more an anti-established-religion message rather than an anti-spirituality or even anti-god message. Obviously there are 2 more books which I can't wait to listen to (I don't have the patience to sit still and read very often anymore) and that observation may change. I also can't wait to see the movie, but must wait until Jeff reads the book.

Today I began working on Mom's birthday present, the cross-stitched afghan. The design is of dogwood blossoms, which Mom likes. My goal is to finish 1 panel every 2 days which would take 16 days. Theoretically, I have at least 5-6 days to finish each panel, but I have other things to do too! :) Like write. I haven't touched my novel in several days. 

My next book to listen to is an account of a child soldier in Africa. I'm not sure if I actually want to listen to it. It may just be too disturbing! Watching movies like Hotel Rwanda or Sometimes in April or Blood Diamond was hard enough, actually listening to a factual tale written by the (now grown) child himself may be more than I can handle.

 Woke up this morning 1 more lb lighter! I not only lost all the weight I gained on vacation, but 1 more lb. I haven't weighed this little since... high school. I'm feeling lean and strong. :) It's got to be the swimming.

Last night we went to a promotion party for some of Jeff's coworkers. The party was waaaay down south. We went swimming first and were late. But it was a good time. I actually talked to people I didn't already know, which is unusual for me! Turns out another guy Jeff used to work with works at the place we'll shop for a bike first on Saturdays, my birthday is a Saturday, so we're hoping he can help us pick out a good bike for me. I would like to start riding a bike to the gym, which is 6-8 miles, but I'm not sure if I can do that with Caden. He might be too big.

Woke up this am to more ants in the kitchen. Bleah...

Going swimming again this morning, then lunching with the boys and going to see Wall*E. They are really excited!

For some reason, swimming really saps my energy, more than even running did, I think. Jeff and I lifted together last night and then swam a total of 400m one way or another. Jeff is ready to give up, but has agreed to give it 6 months before throwing in the towel. I haven't been taking in as much water lately, so that's a good sign, for me. It's hard to concentrate on all the things we're supposed to do - the breathing, the stroking, the kicking and then keeping our butts up. But I always feel good after we're finished.
Today my back muscles are sore.  I couldn't sleep very well last night even though I was entirely wornout. All I want to do is lie around today. I think it's going to be worth it, though. I can already see a difference in my body. And I can't imagine how I'm going to feel when Jeff and I finish this triathlon which, btw, isn't until next September. I'll be 30!

I think I am going to increase my calorie intake. I find myself getting hungrier since we started swimming, usually at odd times like 4 am. Not exactly the time of day I feel like fixing myself something healthy. Today I had about a 500 calorie healthy breakfast.

Yesterday morning I took the boys to the library for story/craft time for 3-6 y/o. I think they had a good time and I got 20 minutes to browse, alone! We checked out as many books as I could carry and went to Hobby Lobby to look for some summer craft ideas. I found several on Oriental Trading but I was hoping Hobby Lobby might have something similar. Most of what they had was for VBS (if Jesus were real, I think he'd be pissed at the commercialization of his execution device. Foam crosses to decorate? Puh-lease). But we found a few things to paint. I also bought a book of Halloween cross-stitch patterns. 

And, I used my 40% off coupon on a hermit crab habitat, which I was really enthusiastic about until I opened it up and discovered it was going to cost me $20 more for the actual crabs and food!! What a rip off. Should be fun, though. The boys' favorite Eric Carle book is "A House for Hermit Crab" and the crabs come with extra shells and things to decorate the shells with. And apparently hermit crabs are supposed to be bathed and exercised??? Crazy stuff. I thought they could just kind of be, you know, ignored. 

Oriental Trading has paper lanterns shaped like hot air balloons to decorate and hang (I thought they would go great in the boys' room), as well as scrappable board books which I thought would be neat for the boys to use to 'scrap' their summer. 

Would you believe I have to force my kids to play outside? What's up with that? Granted it is hot as blazes here, but still. I made them go out at 8:30 this morning for 1/2 an hour (only 1/2 because I couldn't find the sunscreen). Caden likes being outside, but Bryce would rather stay inside and do crafts, read and play make believe. I think if/when we get around to riding bikes in the evenings, they will enjoy that. 

Speaking of which, Jen is loaning Jeff her bike while she is deployed to DC (yes, it's actually a deployment. Weird, I know) for six months. So when I get my bike for my birthday  (in 2.5 weeks), we'll be able to ride together. Yay!

Since finishing school, I've been lazing around and working on Bryce's Buzz Lightyear cross-stitch, which I started two years ago. He's excited that I am finally working on it. If I get it done in time, I can work on a special project I got for Mom. I'm hoping I can get that finished in time for her 60th birthday, coming up in August. I think the 23rd. Since she doesn't read this blog, I can tell you what it is - a cross-stitched afghan with dogwood blossoms. 
I also want to finish the kitchen table so I can have my scrapbook table back and work on that!

At the end of my writing class, my novel was at 100,300 words. Today it is at 101,??? words. A few more scenes and I'll be ready to go back, edit and cut out the dead weight. 

Here are a few pictures I forgot to post. We went to Lake Cochiti last Monday. We were going to go sailing with the neighbors, but they had car issues and didn't end up going. So we went alone and just sat in the sun and played in the water (which was really cold). The boys ate popsicles, I read one of my books for my feminist theory paper, and Jeff spent his time skipping rocks.








The yellow line in this picture is the barrier that separates the swim/beach area from the boating/fishing area. There was a stead breeze that day and Caden lost his Nemo beach ball because the wind blew it over the yellow barrier. Jeff wasn't willing to dunk himself in the cold water to retrieve it, especially since we'd warned Caden over and over that it was going to float away. He was disappointed for about a second, and then he didn't care.








As I already stated in an earlier post, I got my first pedicure at the Great Wolf Lodge in Ohio. I had my toenails painted dark, dark pink. The boys decided they wanted their nails painted too, so that's what we did!


The boys and me shortly after a shower. 

Off to research Napoleon's takeover and how Josephine helped him accomplish it! 

I just submitted my last assignment for the semester! An hour and a half before the deadline. Go me. :)

Two months off. Bryce has been counting down the days. "Mommy, it's Wednesday. That means you have to work on your paper today, Thursday and Friday, and then you'll be done! And Saturday you can have fun with us!" 
Today when I appeared to be slacking as I was reading a book (one of my Josephine biographies), Bryce said, "Mommy, why aren't you working on your paper? You have to get your paper done so you can have fun with us!" 

Wednesday we had a conversation about my life plans. 
Bryce: "Mommy, maybe when you get your paper done and I'm in first grade, you can work at my library again." 
Me: "Well, Bryce, after this class, I have a whole other year before I graduate, so I can't do it for first grade. I might be able to do it for second grade, but probably not if I get a job."
Bryce: "What kind of a job do you want?" 
Me: "Oh, working in a library or museum, or I might just stay home and write books."
Bryce: "Well, you could look in a newspaper to see what kind of jobs there are." 
Me: "I could." 
Bryce: "You could see if there's maybe a job at the zoo, feeding the animals. Then you could feed the animals at the zoo. And, mommy, when you get a job feeding the animals at the zoo, can me and Caden come to work with you?" 
Me: "I don't want to get a job feeding the animals at the zoo." 
Bryce, puzzled: "You only like writing? You don't like feeding?" 

I don't know why he has this obsession with me working at a zoo, but I did not (am not) going to school for a total of 6 years (counting 97-98) and spending oodles of money I don't have to feed zoo animals for minimum wage. Try explaining that to a six-year old!!

My writing teacher returned my assignments today. He had some comments for my book that were good impetus. Basically, I slacked. He still gave me an A. I spent the day taking the portion I had sent to him, deleting, re-wording, and adding. It wound up 3900 words longer even after all the deleting. I probably wrote 5000 words of new material today before submitting it for my final grade. It's good - gives me motivation to work on it again. A few more long, dramatic scenes, lots and lots of editing and I get to start writing query letters! Wahoo!!

But tomorrow, as promised, I get to have fun with my boys. :) 

And swim with Jeff. Jen has been working with us a few times, teaching us freestyle. We are both sad and pathetic. it takes a lot of coordination!! Neither of us can quite get it together for longer than a few strokes. But we're working on it and wearing ourselves out in the process. If I'd give up the chocolate, I'd probably lose those last 10 stubborn pounds. I never realized how horribly I swim. Our family's idea of swimming was just "don't drown." And Dad's idea of teaching us was tossing us into the middle of the pond in a real sink-or-swim situation.

I haven't started physical therapy yet. I can't run or bike until I get that knee fixed. I promised Jeff I'd make an appointment as soon as school is out, so that means Monday. 

I'm exhausted and Jeff is home from a dinner meeting so goodnight! :)

To begin, I know this will be a controversial post. Please hear me out with an open mind while I lay out my (admittedly inexpert) observations.  

Last Saturday, as I stated I planned to, I drove down to ABQ and attended the Pride parade as well as the tail end of the festival that night. The middle of the day was taken over by rock climbing and an extended lunch with Jenn, which I thoroughly enjoyed. However, this post is about Pride! 

I've heard of GLBT (LGBT in lesbian circles, apparently) people being harrassed and hassled in public, I've heard the homophobic elitist vitriol spouted in church and by people who claim to be loving Christian people. I've never seen it in action before. 

I arrived at the parade late - I arrive everywhere late these days - by about thirty minutes. I drove further east than planned (the direction the parade was to travel) so I wouldn't miss as much. When I parked my car and joined the colorful crowd on the sidewalks, I discovered that the parade hadn't even started! 

It turned out the traffic police and other workers were not stopping traffic when they were supposed to. When the parade finally started, forty-five minutes late, the first few groups were broken up by non-participants traveling down the street going about their daily business. We had the parade officials in their cars, then Joe Schmoe and his family, then Dykes on Bikes, then another minivan or two. 

When the parade finally began flowing rather smoothly, those lined on the sidewalks stepped a foot or two beyond the sidewalks to see better, to cheer for the floats - and were promptly and repeatedly yelled at by parade security to "step back onto the sidewalks!" They weren't hurting anything, being rowdy or violent, but at one point the security guy at our area brought four other security people to get them back "in line!"

I suspect the attitudes of the security, as well as the lackadaisical way the police failed to stop traffic, and the lack of cooperation from the traffic itself were subtle attempts to give the GLBT community as much trouble for their pride as possible. 

Then the church people showed up with their signs. There were different groups, one with signs like, "God Doesn't Hate". The other had signs like, "Jesus' Blood Covers a Multitude of Sins" and "Remember Sodom and Gomorrha!" Some stood silently on the other side of the street, one or two crossed to our side and were instantly bombarded with water guns that made the ink on their signs run. I couldn't help but laugh, but I really laughed when a man with a rainbow boa blew a kiss in the direction of the haters.

Being in a heterosexual relationship, I may always feel like an outsider at such events, but watching the harrassment the GLBT people had to endure just to have a damn parade made me feel a connection with them, a sort of group anger directed at the same people.

Pictures with more commentary:


Live, Love, Be, the theme of the events


Love Safe, good advice for people of any orientation


One of the church groups in the parade. I don't remember if this is the 'queer' church or not, a church for and by GLBT's.


I thought this float was neat. I think Sidewinders is a gay bar.


I loved the message of this float! "Be Label Free!" The sign, if you can't read it, is covered with "labels" that people attach to others and often accept for themselves. The point is "be yourself!" You don't need to put a name to it.


The Self Serve float. Self Serve is a great little sex shop owned and run by two women. It's not much bigger than my kitchen. The atmosphere is very open and straightforward. They are not afraid to talk about sex! They even hold workshops on technique, toys and discussions about political/social issues relating to sex. 


Not sure what organization this is, but I call this one "the rainbow bus"


Native Pride (Native lore regarding homosexuality is interesting. In some tribes, gay or effeminate men actually lived as women, even taking husbands. They were often highly regarded as super-spiritual people.)


I call this guy the gay angel. Check out the rainbow angel wings! He was smiling and enthusiastic (not to mention attractive) and engaged one of the religious protesters for a few moments before skating on. The fact that he was wearing angel wings could not have pleased the protester! 


Several signs about gay marriage. One read, "We want to get married too!" I loved seeing the couples walking around holding hands, being openly affectionate with one another. I wondered if they were able to do that on any other day. 
This sign is just another reminder of how life is different for a white, straight, Christian male than an ethnic, gay, atheist woman, and the range of lives in between. 


Quite poignant, no? I dare say they both take courage in today's society. Perhaps being a man in love with another man takes more courage than being at war. Everyone is ready to praise the troops; and people are equally ready to harrass and abuse gay men. Now, try being a gay troop... there's guts. Every step has to be watched to avoid being 'outed' and subsequently 'booted.' I'll never understand why gays can't serve openly. Are the straights so egotistical that they really think they're being lusted after every second?

That's another debate, I suppose.

Anyway, after lunch with Jenn, I wandered back home around five pm (yes, it was a late lunch!) showered and returned for the festival that night just before 7. It was just wrapping up when I got there, preparing for the final show which was Amber. For those few of you who may have seen The L Word, Amber reminded me of Kit. She was entertaining and talented, even for the small crowd that remained. I forgot to take pictures, though!

I also got to peek at the art exhibit just as they were beginning to tear it down. I wish I had taken pictures of it! There was one piece in particular that really touched me. It was of a man, head down, naked (the picture stopped somewhere between his navel and penis, so no, it wasn't a full nude). He was very muscled and clutching a bouquet of flowers with long stems that draped across his body. As soon as I saw it, I felt an overwhelming sense of compassion. And when I read the label, "Compassion" was the name of the piece! I wished I had had $400 extra! I later saw a man carrying it around and I wanted to ask if he had painted it, but it was during the concert so I didn't. 

In my observations, having never been around so many non-heterosexual people before, I found myself constantly checking for... breasts. I kept staring at peoples' chests to determine their biological sex. Many women had such short hair and such slim, boyish figures, and dressed like teenage boys, that I simply couldn't tell. (There were several in dresses and heels with made up faces and hair as well.) Later I reprimanded myself for caring. Interesting enough, not many of the men had long hair. At all. Come to think of it, I don't remember seeing a single man with long hair... hmm...

I headed home after the concert. Next year we plan to go and take the kids. This was not some out-of-control orgy like so many conservative groups assume. It was fun, enthusiastic and open, and I think it would be a great way to show the kids diversity as well as foster a conversation about various sexual identities and just sex in general. 

Not talking about sex and related issues is what keeps society in the dark, under superstition and in poor sexual health, physically and mentally. We can all benefit from open discussion about it, even if we don't all agree. 

One last observation - in the craziness to 'discover' what 'causes' anything but heterosexuality, (why isn't anyone trying to figure out what causes heterosexuality again?) scientists are now saying that gay men have something in common brainwise with straight women, while gay women have the same thing in common with straight men. I don't remember what it was. 

An interesting blog I found today on the topic of "changing" homosexuals is here if you would like to read further about the topic! It is called "Rising Up Whole." Another nifty resource is PFLAG, Parents, Friends and families of Lesbians And Gays.. Just google it. 

Happy Pride (month)!

Well, since returning home I've finished two classes, or I will when I have the ink to print the assignments out and mail them. I have a bit more writing to do and am on my final paper for feminist theory. Right now I'm reading for it. The topic is sex workers as feminists, and the reading is fascinating. Current book is Whores and Other Feminists.  I also read Female Chauvinist Pigs and next on the list is Bare, which is by and about a stripper.

Bryce is complaining because I don't have time to play with them. Today he told me, "But homework is boring! You could just not do it!" 

A-hum... if he only knew how tempting that is!

Yesterday afternoon Jeff and I met, with the boys and Jen, at the pool on base. Jen did competition swimming in high school and she's very good so she's helping us figure out exactly what the heck we're doing in the water. I'm thinking the triathlon will wait until next year as we have a long way to go. My first issue is breathing and putting my face in the water. Jen had me sitting on the bottom of the pool blowing bubbles out my nose. She told Jeff he does everything wrong! We took turns working with her while the other watched the kids. The boys had a blast in the pool; they are turning into little water bugs. It's so cute! Bryce wants to learn to really swim; Jen was helping him float, but he gets a bit freaked out. Caden was moving around quite a bit with his lifejacket. Then we got them jumping into the pool so they went all the way under. Jen says that helps them get used to water in their faces so they aren't afraid of it. They just thought it was fun.

I have a sore throat today, probably from swallowing all that water. I asked the boys if their throats hurt and they both said yes but I didn't tell them why. I think they swallowed a lot more than I did. 

I'm taking a small break Friday night to go rock climbing with Jen. She leaves in a few weeks for DC for 6 months so we won't be able to go for awhile. Saturday I'm planning to step out of my comfort zone for a bit to go to PrideFest at the fairgrounds. Should be interesting and fun. Sunday is apparently Father's Day (?) and the HSNM yearly picnic at one of the parks near the mountains. I'm hoping, hoping, hoping that our kids won't be the only ones there! 

And next Friday is my deadline!!! Ack!

               Every time I hear this song, I feel a tickle of irritation. Unfortunately, it’s played on Sirius Kid’s Stuff quite a bit so I feel that irritation often.

We flew out on the 20th, right after Bryce was finished with his last day of school and arrived at Jeff's parents house at some ridiculous hour after a hastle with the rental car (which cost about 2x as much as originally estimated after taxes, fees and the additional charge for the 'premium' vehicle since the one we had reserved wasn't available). We spent most days driving around visiting family and out of 6 days were only with Jeff's parents for about 2 of them, one of which was spent sleeping!
 
Caden on the airplane. He really loved his first airplane ride. He squealed and yelled, "Look, Mommy, we're flying!" when we first took off. We flew Frontier (which I highly recommend). They had tv screens on the back of each seat and showed a map of where we were and how far we had come. Caden kept pointing at the screen yelling, "Mommy, look how far us went!" 


Bryce on the airplane. He was a little more calm about it than Caden.


Bryce under a tree at Grandma Crawford's house (Jeff's maternal grandmother)


Caden, Jeff's Aunt Becky, Grandma Crawford, Me, Jeff, Eleanor and Bryce in front


Jeff's cousin's wedding was called off, so we went to this one instead. The bride was a classmate of Jeff's from high school. His class had 13 people if I remember correctly and here is the bride and groom with the classmates and their families who were there. I love the bride's pink dress! (Hated the ceremony, but the wedding was visually beautiful.) Caden is the one who won't show his face. He was cranky by this time. At one point he threw a fit and the only way I could get him to calm down was to put his shirt on backwards!!! 


Our kids with the Spiering kids. Todd and Charlyn were in town for the same wedding (Todd's an old classmate too). It was nice to see them and for the kids to get together and play. In back are Evan and Bryce, in front are Arin, Nina and Caden. Bryce was upset because he dropped his corn (yes, corn) on the ground before he got to throw it at the bride and groom. The day after the wedding, we went to Todd's mother's house for a cookout, which is where I picked up my horrid case of poison ivy. (Which still itches 2 weeks later, though it's almost all healed.) Todd's mother has a greenhouse and her property and plants are gorgeous.


Jeff (on left) with his brothers, Timothy and Nathan. Tim built the swing they are on.

After Memorial Day, we drove from Illinois to Ohio where we visited with my grandmother, cousin Carrie and her parents and my old friend from CAP, Nancy.

Nancy and me.

Wednesday we went to the talent show at my old elementary school to see our nephew, Brennan, perform Def Leppard's "Go". I have the video on youtube but I made it private so not sure it'll work on here. But I have pictures of him singing for us later at their house:



Caden playing with Brennan's Incredible Hulk Gloves


Playing with Brennan - the boys were fasciated by his collection of action figures. Besides playing with the Spiering kids, this was the first time (1 week into our vacation) they really got to play with another kid. The lack of grandkids on Jeff's side and distance of the other great-grandchildren was really grating on them during this trip. In other words, they were bored silly and restless.


Thursday (May 29) we went to Lori's and the kids had a blast playing with her six kids. Here's Philip pulling the bulk of them with the tractor.


Caden insisted on climbing up here with Tommy to eat his popsicle. He'd've had quite a fall had he actually fallen, but he didn't.


One of the joys of our trip - the kids actually got to get their feet dirty.


Lydia playing with Lori's hair. Lydia's 12. She looks (and acts) 16.


Friday we visited Terra, who has been my best friend since I was 9 or something like that. I can't believe we'll be 29 this year!! Here's Bryce with Terra's son Emmet, who is 4. He's only a few months older than Caden but seems much older. I really enjoyed seeing Terra. I hadn't seen her since we moved here and missed seeing her on my trip there last August. By this time, my poison ivy was really horrible so I wasn't taking pictures of me with anyone!! 
It's odd seeing friends I remember as teenagers now that we're all nearing thirty. We all look much the same, but our faces are more mature and we're all starting to get those fine lines around our eyes. Fun, huh? :) The dynamic kind of changes too. I remember being giggly girls but there isn't much of that going on these days. We all have lives, I guess.

I don't remember what we did on Saturday. Sunday we visited Bonnie and Ron, but I didn't take pictures. We took the kids to the park, chatted a bit and watched them play with Ron's Wii. Monday and Tuesday we spent at Mom and Dad's.


Monday night was our attempted campout. We roasted marshmallows over the fire, but the boys said they didn't like s'mores!!
I have strange (but wonderful) children. 
We set up our big tent in the field behind my parents' house where one of their gardens used to be. We went to bed at about 11 with the top off of the tent. The Big Dipper was framed right in Jeff's window. It was nice looking at the stars while we told 'stories.' (The boys love making up stories.) The boys went to sleep surprisingly fast, but by 2 am I was still awake, so I snuck back to the house, took an oatmeal bath and sprayed myself all over with Super IvyDry (great stuff) and worked on homework until 4:30 am. At 8am, Jeff and the boys were awakened by raindrops on their noses and Jeff had to rush to put the rain roof on the tent! They wanted to sleep in it that night oo, even though it was raining. :)

Wednesday we visited Jason and Rhonda and their daughter, Hayden. This was somewhat confusing. Caden never answers to his name, but whenever I called Hayden, Caden answered. 

Hayden. She has the cutest personality. You know how some babies just have no personality? Hayden has it in spades. She chatters, talks to you, laughs and smiles for no apparent reason. She'll be completely serious and as soon as she sees you looking at her, she'll break into this huge grin. She looks a lot like her father.


With the boys.


The vacation from the vacation - Great Wolf Lodge in Mason, Ohio. 


The waterpark part. It also had a "Cub Club" where kids could go to do crafts, read books and play. And a spa. And a fitness room (which I never even saw, let alone used), stores and restaurants. I was the only one to go on the big blue water slide. Bryce tried to go with me but apparently his school, when they said he was 49 inches tall, kept his shoes on. Either that or the waterpark's measurements are wacky. He was about an inch too short. He cried. But there were plenty of other slides and things to do and he had a blast. It was nice to see the kids smiling again, genuinely smiling. 


Caden


Bryce - he actually swam around quite a bit, kicking his feet. I couldn't get him to use his arms for much more than balance. He had one scary episode on a water slide. He couldn't wear his life vest for it and the girl pushed us off before I could get Bryce in position over my legs in the second half of the tube. He wound up on my lap. When we landed, the tube flipped and we both went under. The lifeguard dove for Bryce and got him up very quickly, but he was scared after that and refused to go on that slide again. We really need to get the boys some swimming lessons.


My handsome hubby. :) Just looking at this picture makes me miss him (imagine having poison ivy so badly you can't even hug people and you'll get what I mean) and he's only downstairs!


Me at the waterpark. By this point, most of the poison ivy was healed. I still had angry red spots all over me - my right arm and leg, my chest, left arm and my right leg was still very, very swollen. My right arm was scabbed over. You can see a bit of the lesser rash on my upper right arm in this pic. But most of the rash on my face was gone. I didn't originally want to appear in public in a bathing suit because of it, but once Jeff and the boys drug me to the waterpark and I saw how happy the boys were, I didn't think about it. And the chlorinated water helped quite a bit too.
Friday, I got to pamper myself at the spa with a pedicure. I also had my eyebrows and lip waxed but I don't really call that pampering! I'd never had a pedicure before. Very, very nice. 
I've gained a bit of weight this trip, due to nostlgia, poison ivy (feeling sorry for myself = eating lots of crap) and possibly a bit of conscious or subconscious sabotage? and of course my own lack of control. I'll have to work on that at some point. Right now I'm worrying more about diet and homework than exercise. I'm looking forward to getting back to running and swimming on June 21st (day after my final deadline for classes).


Caden

The boys also colored t-shirts in the cub club and received free ice creams for "winning" a coloring contest - we concluded that every kid who showed up for the judging "won". The ice cream cones were huge, too! Caden's melted all over him and had to be put into a bowl. I've never seen a kid eat ice cream so slowly and delicately. Bryce, on the other hand, attacks his and devours it in seconds. 

So, we got home last night at about midnight local time after an exhausting flight (note to self: never fly with kids at bedtime). I've never been so happy to see my house. I want to write more about our trip later and the question of whether or not you can really go "home", but let's just say I am happy to be in my own home and back to my own life. I knew we were back to routine when Jeff and I were watching Star Trek last night and Caden came in several times to tell us he couldn't sleep. :) It was nice in a weird kind of way.

When we got home, Tiger was waiting at the door meowing. He'd run out of water while we were gone!!! Jeff filled his water bowl and he lapped it up for about five minutes straight. We felt really, really bad. Then he followed us around the house meowing at us until someone petted him. 

I don't plan to take another trip like that one for a long, long time. Jeff wants that on tape, in triplicate and notarized!

5. Dry Climate, little to no snow, short bursts of rain, no tornadoes
4. No Mosquitoes!
3. No "trapped in a snowglobe" feelings
2. No grass to mow

And the number one reason to stay in New Mexico...

NO POISON IVY!!! 

You know, the one I used to crawl inside of with a pillow, blankie, stuffed animal, good book and a huge box of chocolate to shut out the outside world.

One more day!!! Eeek!!!

Jeff's already packed half of our stuff. The boys packed their own suitcases - Jeff was very brave for supervising that one. I, of course, am the only one who's barely started.

I'm taking a break from writing about ecofeminism. I've done three geography assignments today. Three more to go and I'll be done with that class. Then I need to write 15,000 more words to finish my novel, write a 2000 word paper for history and 2.5 more papers for my feminist theory class. In 1 month with 2.5 weeks taken up with vacation. Yes, my head feels like it's going to explode.

I forgot to tell you all that Jeff spent 6 hours in the ER at the VA hospital Thursday. He sprained his ankle playing basketball. Is there any reason why a sprained ankle should take 6 hours to treat? I certainly can't think of any. A person could die waiting for treatment in that place. And yes, this is the same ER that took 2 hours to tell us that Caden didn't need any stitches in his lip when he was the only patient.  Anyway, Jeff was on crutches for about a day and has a brace but I think he'll be ok by Tuesday to go on our trip without it. I think he's a little unhappy with the level of sympathy I did not give him.  

Friday night we had our first date in months. We went to a store and did a little shopping and had dinner at Pappadeaux's Seafood kitchen. That place is sooo good. We dressed up, I in my black and white dress and Jeff in dress pants and button down shirt, and we spent way too much money and ate way too many calories, but we talked and laughed and had a good time and indulged in some outrageous adolescent behavior in the parking lot of the Railrunner station.

Today was our 2nd meeting of the Humanist Society's family co-op. We had six boys, all in the same age range as ours. We had it at another family's house and a new family was there. Liz read "The Lorax" and we did a "craft" which was planting seeds and making truffula trees out of sticks and tissue paper. It turned out pretty cute though didn't look much like the pictures in the book! Liz and her husband also helped the kids plant ivy as the science experiment - Bryce was confused that they didn't have seeds. I'm hoping it thrives so I can plant it outside and grow it along the house. The host family also led a critical thinking discussion with the kids that resulted in some hilarious answers. Listening to kids talk is entertainment itself sometimes. 

Thanks to today, I now have 8 plants sitting in my kitchen window. One is an orchid Jeff gave me for mother's day; one is a flower of some unknown sort that Bryce bought with his own money for me for mother's day; I have two containers of ivy, one of catnip, one of cilantro and one of African daisies, the last three all seeds, and another some sort of 'bean'? Not sure. Anyway, I hope none of them die while we are gone. 

I'm sick of homework. I'm going to hang out with Jeff. Goodnight!

I took my new swimsuit and goggles for a test swim at the gym today. I still suck, but it was easier to at least get my face further down in the water and my butt further up.  I still can't get my entire face in the water. I love the swimsuit; it wasn't quite the suit I wanted but... some of us need more support than others. The one I wanted had no support for 'the girls' but it was sleek and sporty and showed my tattoo. This one is sleek and sporty, covers a lot more and holds up the twins. I suppose they are more important. So, whaddya gonna do? *shrug* (No men read this blog, right?)

I actually asked a guy for some pointers; this guy was about the size of my BIL, Todd. Maybe a bit shorter. But he was like a fish in the water!! He told me not to be scared, that it was ok to swallow a little water once in awhile and breathe out underwater and in above and just keep practicing. So I took a kickboard and kicked across the pool (with frequent stops to breathe actual air), trying to get my face underwater while exhaling. I'll get it at some point. Whether I'll be ready for a 400 m swim in September is another question. Oh, and the bike ride is 15 miles, not 12. And I still don't have a bike. June or July.

As I was nearing the end of my swim, a cute little old Asian man said, "You're beautiful, you know that?" I was like, "What?" He said, "Well, if you didn't know, you know now!" I said, "Thanks, that's so sweet!" I am so bad at accepting compliments. Why are the little old men always the sweet ones?

Oh, and stimulus checks rock. (Even though I think it's a stupid 'fix' to the economy and well, I just think our government is stupid in general, the whole damn lot of them!) Vacation, here we come!

Tonight Jeff and I have a date. Things have been stressful lately and this trip will be stressful too, (not the least reason for that is that I will be working on my final feminist paper on the trip, which is all about feminism and female sex workers so carrying around my research material with me to some conservative households should be interesting!) so we figured we need it. Not sure what we're going to do, but I am going to wear my size 8 halter dress that has been hanging in my closet, unworn and unloved, since last fall. I can actually get it on myself, without Jeff zipping it up for me. :) Yes, I rejoice in small accomplishments like that.