Routine

Audrie fell right back into her routine. Thank goodness. Bedtime is easy and nap time is easy.

Work is work. Same old same old returns. We are still learning the new inventory system. Makes everything take just a little bit longer. It's good to be back at it though. Vacation is nice, but I like my job.

September is going to be busy. Dave has plans for one weekend and I have plans for another weekend. We have work to get done at the neighbors before Labor Day weekend for her big bbq. Whew.

Minnesota

Audrie and I have returned from our trip to Minnesota. We had a good time and visited with the relatives. We even got to see my Uncle Wayne who was up from Illinois. That was a bonus.

Mom did really well. We did spend quite a bit of time looking for misplaced items. We found everything but her hat, my hair clip and Eeyore. She had a great time at her reunion and was very glad she went. She admitted that she wouldn't have been able to do it without me. I'm glad we took the time to do it.

Dave missed us lots and was happy for our return. Audrie was happy to be home. I'm sure she liked the trip, but you could just tell she was most content at home.

Now back to routine.

Safe and Sound

Home.

Swimming

We invited Myk and Cassie over for dinner tonight so they could spend time with Audrie before she and I fly to MN. Cassie had to work so it was only Myk. After we picked him up we went to Lewisville park for a quick dip in the river. It was Audrie's first experience with water not in a tub or kiddie pool. She was a bit nervous. Amazing. Usually she has no fear. After she got over it she had a good time.

Then we came home and bbqed burgers. Myk spent quite a bit of time interacting with Audrie. That was so good to see. Usually Audrie is distracted and doesn't want to play with Daddy. Today it was different because it was just the two of them and they had a good time. Creating memories and bonds. We like it.

BG Lake

Pat is camping up at the lake with Crissi and Paris this weekend. We went up and visited them. Audrie is going to be so sad when Paris goes back home. She just loves her.

Dinner at Cris's

Uncle Jerry is up visiting Aunt Cris for a bit. We went up and had dinner with them after he was done working. Yes he is working from home while here. Poor guy. We had a lovely dinner and a fantastic visit. Audrie kept us all well entertained. Another dinner is planned for when we get back, but that one will be picnicking at the park with a playground.

Funny

These are some of the new hats that we received this week. Jacob and Danny were being funny and I caught it on camera.

Busy Weekend

The weekend continued on being busy. Audrie got a new ride toy from a lady that works with Papa. She loves it.

Saturday we went to Buckley as her Aunt Treva was having an open house for her new business venture of home party selling. http://www.mythirtyone.com/trevaclay

Audrie got to see some of her cousins and she got her face painted. Can't you tell she is a cat? She must not have liked it because she only got the nose.

After that we stopped at Aunt Cris's house and visited with her and Uncle Jerry, who is here for a few weeks from Colorado.

Today Audrie is spending the night at her Grandma Nita's house. Dave and I took advantage of that and went and saw the final Harry Potter movie and had dinner at the new place in BG. And now we are home and it is much too quiet. This is only the second night she has spent away from us in over a year.

Family Dinner at Pat's

Pat decided to host a family dinner last night. He bbqed hamburgers and hot dogs. He requested that I bring shrimp salad and devilled eggs. It was very nice. Funny how having a girlfriend brings out good things in him. ;p

My Blog

It is my blog and it belongs to me. I can post whatever I want on it as long as I am not slanderous or libelous. So today at lunch we were talking about one of my posts and my friend Mona said she thought I wasn't going to post anything like that anymore. Ahh. Well I don't on facebook. And mostly I don't make postings here to stir the pot. But I do make posts about my feelings when I want to. So again it is my blog and it belongs to me. If you don't like it or it hurts your feelings...don't read it.

Which goes to giving our children advice, solicited or unsolicited. We tell our children what we think because we always want what is best for them and for them to be happy. And sometimes we are just pointing something out that we see as not being in their best interests. So when one of them does stuff in secret it means they already know what our advice would have been, but they want to do it anyway. What do you say to that? Nothing. All of my children have to learn life's lessons the hard way and so it goes.

Sometimes we are right and sometimes we are not. We are not all knowing. Time always proves one way or the other. I am thinking that we were wrong on Doug's relationship with Kristi. I am thinking Tanya will be nickeled and dimed by her old car. And dang if Myk isn't all up in the air yet, but he is still young. But they are grown-ups and will have to suffer any consequences of their actions, and not come crying if we were right.

Running

So BG likes to put out this machine that tells you how fast you are going to get people to pay attention to the road. Today I was sitting at a stop sign when I realized that these three boys were seeing how fast they could run. I had never thought about it being used for anything other than cars. So the first kid was running and he hit 11 miles per hour. The second and third kids hit 15/16 miles an hour. Pretty fast for a short sprint. I would have guessed them to be 12 or 13 years old. Obviously I had waited and watched them before I pulled out and went 25 miles per hour as is the posted speed there.

Windows

At work we are changing our inventory software to a windows based system from a dos based system. I got a brief training in it today and was then given the stack of paperwork we did the last week to start entering it. Yeehaw. I am sure that once we get used to it, it is going to be nice. But in the meantime....I can't find where to print price tags (it's a right click), where to add items (it's a right click) or what to do with my error msg (click yes). Whew.

So Sad

Amanda came to work today with this bruise on her arm. I asked her where she got it and who did it to her. She replied that she got bit. My first instinct is the child she is nanny to part-time. Nope her boyfriend did it. No big deal. He bites her all the time. She did not want to hear that it is assault and that he could go to jail for it. He doesn't mean anything by it....it is not a control issue. We asked her how come she didn't bite him back and she said she couldn't hurt him. Why oh why does she care more about him than he cares about her? I told her that if she could/would not bite him back to inform him that next time I see a bruise like that on her I will call the cops. It is assault and it is domestic violence. I'm not the first one to tell her. She is not listening to anyone.

Ah I remember the stupidity of youth. All women seem to have had that jerk of a boyfriend at some point in time who thinks it is all right to treat her badly. Some of us outgrow it. I hope she does. She isn't there yet and in the meantime she has went through all her schooling money being social with him. So so so sad.

Seriously

A pool table? Really? Wow. Funny how money can be spent on grown-up bar toys, but money needed to be spent on school supplies is complained about. What is up with that? To each his own, but really???

And It Is So

Cassie and Myk have officially moved on. They rented a room on the other side of BG. They are now totally responsible for themselves. It is very quiet here now. We like it.
Now to do some deep cleaning and go grocery shopping. :P

The Fair

Tanya, the girls, Audrie and I went to the fair tonight. We didn't do rides, just the exhibits and looked at all the animals. Audrie and Adrianna loved the horses. They got to pet the sheep, goats and a cow. A sheep had escaped and it was hilarious watching the people try and catch it. They did manage finally, but it reminded me of the time I chased sheep. They are hard to catch. We had milkshakes and ate dinner there.

Household of Three

So Cassie decided it was time to take a grown-up step and move out. She found a place and probably starts moving today. It is time for them to be more on their own and responsible for themselves. We were a good stepping stone, but it is time to move on to the next one. Now they will have to pay rent and figure out their own transportation needs. Audrie will miss them and so will we.
That said I am going to like being a household of three. It will be quieter, cheaper, and less messier. Audrie will probably still make just as much mess, but she is at an age now to start helping clean up her toys. :P Dave is almost done with his summer job so he will be full time caretaker.

Joy

It fills my heart with joy when I see Cassie connecting with Audrie. Today she painted her nails. Audrie loved it and sat very still.

Spokane

My weekend was spent mostly on the road. Myk needed to go to Spokane to check in for his in-patient treatment. We opted to go up Sunday and spend the night in a hotel and then I drove home Monday.

On the drive up we came across the windmills. Come around a corner and whoa there they are. They look pretty big when you are close to them. About this time you realize everything is pretty brown. Yup Eastern Washington/Oregon. So imagine my surprise to come across a tree farm by the freeway. Wonder how much water they use to irrigate those trees. Dave figures they are pumping it up from the Columbia River.

We hit some nice hot weather on the drive. The hottest was 98 degrees. It was only 94 in Kenniwick when we stopped to eat. The drive back was much cooler as it was in the morning. :P

Myk is all checked in and working his program. I am home and back to work. It was nice having some time with Myk, just us. We talked about all kinds of stuff on the drive.