A Drawing

Audrie draws a lot.  And while this isn't one of her better drawings it shows some personal growth.  The boy is our neighbor and the girl is her.  She tells me he is giving her a heart.  I think we have our first crush.

Burnt Bridge Creek

I thought we were going to take a longer walk.  Turns out I parked way too close to the playground.  We did get a small walk in though and saw interesting things.  Checked out some bugs, some fungus, some wishes and maple helicopters.  They got to play on the playground for about an hour which always is a plus.  Next time I park in my usual spot and we walk to the playground.  I really love the Burnt Bridge Creek trail.  It is so lovely paved.  I want to take our bikes down there and ride on it.

Out Again

Mike is out of jail again.  Said he will talk to the PO on Thursday about the transfer.  We shall see how that goes.  He had said something earlier about there being a time limit on the transfer.  There has to be enough time left on his probation for it to be worthwhile.  If there isn't enough time left they won't even start the transfer.  I just don't know what the limit is.  Anyway he said he got back in touch with the temp agency and plans on working while waiting.  Good plan.
The neighbor upstairs wanted to know if Mike was still in jail before he got out.  I said yes.  Then he went on about it being a long time and did I think Mike was back in the cycle again.  I just looked at him and said I wasn't going to speculate nor talk to him about Mike.  If Mike wants to share his life that is up to Mike.  The neighbor doesn't ask out of concern for us or Mike.  He asks because he is an addict who hopes Mike is in the cycle and coming here.  Mike can get him things that he just can't seem to get since he doesn't go anywhere.  That alone is almost a compelling reason to move.

Neverending

We spent the morning picking up and cleaning.  Got the living room all cleaned and then we did the carpet.  Looks so much better.  It is amazing how fast two little kids can get a carpet looking dingy.
Tomorrow may be tackle Nana's room. Or maybe we will play tomorrow.
Looking at our dining room table.  Boy that is the best investment made here at the apartment.  It has survived pens, pencils, paint pens, stickers, markers, crayons and paint.  The littles have done more art projects on it than I ever expected them to.  We have had birthday parties, family meals, solstice cocoas and just general eating.  It gets a lot of use on a daily basis.  What is amazing is how many of those things that occur on it seem to bug other people.  I remember Papa taking half an hour trying to get all the stickers off it.  He did a pretty good job even if he didn't get all the stickies.  I have had people give the littles the markers that only work on certain colorbooks so they wouldn't get crayons or markers on my table.  Things that so don't bother me.  It is our table and I would rather they mark it up before they start marking on walls.  Anyway it is all cleaned up again.

My Cat

I rescued her.  She now lives with us.  She is adapting to life inside.  She even let Connor pet her today.  She has been letting Audrie right from the get go.  She is just soaking up the love.  Poor thing is so starved for attention.
Got her a little box and she took right to it.  I like her having access 24/7 to fresh water and food.  I think she likes it too.  She isn't gorging.  She just eats.
I forgot about her and her eccentricities.  She attacks feet when you sleep.  Have to lay very still.  And she still loves to bite heads.  That is always a pleasant way to wake up.  NOT.  She will relearn not to.  Even so I love having her here.  Wish I would have known about the look the other way on cats before.  She would have come with us when we first moved.  That's all right though.  We did love the freedom of not having a pet.  At least cats still give you some leeway in plans.

Ash"a"lie

The title is the way Audrie pronounces her name.  She was one of the first big kids we met.  I never got a feel for where she lives but it is close to us.
So tonight Ashlie got a ride to the hospital in an ambulance.  Seems she way overimbibed on alcohol.  At least that is what the kids that were with her said she was on.  Time will tell on that but she was beyond messed up.
We watched this young man try and carry her up the street to her friends house.  She was like a rag doll.  One of the neighbors here went and asked about her.  The young man called the neighbor a bitch and to mind her own business.  That is when I called 911.  Then the neighbor ended up calling 911 after Ashlie's mom arrived.
Ashlie is 15 and I just knew she was going to have a bad day.  I saw her this morning skipping school with a couple of guys and I just had a feeling.
So here is sending her light and love because Audrie loves her.  Here is hoping she will be okay.  She probably is not going to be okay in that she will have some legal troubles now.  MIP.
Makes me wonder where her parents were all day.  Makes me think I should take the littles and find an island so we don't have to go through this.  The littles will not have hours at a time where I don't know where they are or what they are doing.

Mom's Birthday Family Dinner

So the whole group was over again.  We had lasagna with salad and garlic bread.  Then we had cake to honor Mom's birthday.  It was suppose to be a white cake with white frosting.  The frosting was white anyway.  We cut into it and it was a chocolate cake.  Trying not to give Tanya a migraine.  Hopefully her piece was small enough.  What was interesting is she doesn't get migraines from Red Velvet which is made with cocoa.  Maybe it's all in her head.  Ahahahahah.  Sometimes I can be sooo funny.
Pat forgot the switch for the disposal and the battery charger.  Seems Mom's car has a dead battery again.  Who knows.  Hopefully Pat can figure out why every few months that happens.  He bought Mom a new blu-ray player so now she needs a movie or two to watch after he gets her a HDMI cable.  Bummer that players don't just come with those anymore.
Elizabeth is still going to take her retest.  Guess she is doing it this week instead of last week.  Fingers crossed.
Next family dinner is postponed a week.  Think we will bbq that one.

Blogs

I am contemplating starting a new blog.  Yeah, like I need three.  No actually I do.  This blog in itself is the oldest and has went through a couple of transitions in its lifetime.  Now it is mostly a documentation of all that we do.  Our activities, funny kid stories, life in an ordinary day.  And I like it like that.  I like to be able to look back and see it.  I like the pictures.  I like remembering how it felt or how it came to be.  So it will continue on in its present form.  Just not maybe every day.  Or maybe every day as it is.  We shall see. It has changed domains to a more personal one.
I'm thinking the new blog needs to be the start of the book.  The ideas, the trials, the work.  Will it be public consumption? /That has yet to be decided.  Maybe I will write chapter one and post the link on facebook and get a consensus of how it is and then decide.    It will pull a lot from the the second blog which has a lot more emotion (well as much as I feel) in it.  That blog is definitely not a public consumption blog and will remain as it is.  It should not be a surprise to anyone that it exists as I shared that information will all who needed to know.  My child and Dave's children knew about it and that it was not appropriate for them to read.  They can read it in the book.  I'll keep out the sex parts.  ;p
And so it goes.  The continuing journey of my life.

A Tree

My intention was to go to the home and garden show and buy two trees.  I wanted a Coral Bark Japanese Maple for Papa's tree and I wanted a star magnolia.  I came home with neither.  First the only magnolias I saw were the tulip kind.  I love them, but they have a tendency to get bigger than I wanted.  And I have taken a shine to the star ones.  I found the coral bark maples right off the bat.  Didn't want to buy right away so I perused the rest of the show.  After I had bought a jasmine I discovered these Dancing Peacock Japanese Maples.  The tree doesn't get as big as the coral bark.  It is suppose to have exquisite fall color and the leaves are unique.  We love unique.  Debated for about five minutes and went with the dancing peacock.  I also found a hanging basket for Mom for her birthday.  All in all a good day at the home and garden show.

Locked In

The kids and I went and checked again on the cats.  Marseilles was there.  So she had to have been locked in somewhere when we were there early in the week.  I hate that.  No sign of Mica, so she is probably still locked in somewhere.  That is better than the alternatives I could come up with in my mind.
So I will go back to going up and feeding the cats.  There is no food outside for Marseilles.
My plan is the first opportunity to catch Mica (assuming she is locked in and eventually will be free) I am taking her.  I may take Marseilles also.  This locking them in and letting them out is ridiculous.  Especially when they are locked in with no water and no access to the toilets. And even if they could access the toilet....those are disgusting.

Happy Birthday Mom

Today is my mom's 72nd birthday.  She will tell you she is 70.  She really thinks she is.  To celebrate the day we went out for dinner at El Rancho Viejo.  She had a large margarita.  She enjoyed it.  The littles were very well behaved.  I was a bit worried since we had already had a lunch engagement today in a restaurant and they were behaved then too.  Connor ate his dinner and at least half of mine.  I think that boy is getting ready to grow.
After dinner we went up to Tukes Valley to check out the playground.  Audrie is just so excited.  We decided we would come back another day when it hadn't been raining
Took Mom home and Connor sang the Happy Birthday song to her.  We will do cake at family dinner.  :)

Kindergarten Roundup

This is the week that registration is done for kindergarten.  All kids in the district who are 5 on Sept 1st can go to kindergarten.  Now Audrie will be five on that date and for about two months after that.  So I did all the things I needed to do.  I got a new birth certificate to prove her age.  I got a new copy of the custody agreement that allows me to sign her up for school.  I have her immunization record.  I downloaded the registration form and the health form.
We took all the paperwork to Tukes Valley and signed her up.  Naturally there were a few more pieces of paperwork to fill out.  Language form, use of Internet form for family access and a reminder card about her assessment in August.
Audrie was so excited.  She handled herself very grown up in the office.  She introduced us to the secretary.  She can't wait for it to be her new school. I love that enthusiasm and hope to find a way to maintain it.  We plan on making another trip back when school isn't in session and check out the playground.
Connor is almost as excited as she is.  I don't think he quite grasps that he has over two years yet before he goes to school.  She is excited and almost understands that she still has four months to go.
The secretary told me I could get a boundary exception and have Audrie go to Maple Grove since we will eventually live in that boundary area.  For now we choose to go with the boundary we are in.  We can always change it if things change.  And if it is in the middle of this school year she can stay in Tukes till the end of this school year.  We roll with it pretty well.

Down Day

We needed a down day.  The only thing we did was go to the post office to mail a package to Mommy.  We spent the afternoon playing outside with the neighbor boy.  They rode bikes, played with trucks and broke eggs.  Egg white makes flooring look beautiful after it is cleaned up. Who knew?
After they were wore out from outside we moved inside and made a pizza. I love it when one meal feeds all of us.  Audrie loves our homemade pizza.  Then it was bubble bath time and bed.  A really good down day.

Small World

I love small world stories.  So my neighbors upstairs named their wifi with their last name.  Every time I log on I get to choose which wifi and I get a list of all available in my vicinity.  So I saw it.  One day I asked the young man if that was his last name and if he knew Ed.  Well yes, yes he did.  Ed is his father.
Ed was our logger.
So that was that until this weekend when the neighbor asked me my name because his dad couldn't place me from saying he did logging for us near BG Lake.  So I told him and said Ed had logged Grandma's property first with Lyle.  The neighbor goes oh that was a long time ago.
Yes, yes it was although it doesn't feel like it to me.  Betty told me Grandma's was logged in 1996. So we met Ed almost twenty years ago.  The neighbor would have been a little kid.
Then I proceeded to tell the neighbor my Ed story.
Ed did logging on our place to get ready for a house in 2001.  So on Sept. 11 he had come to work and I went outside to tell him about the world trade buildings.  He came in and watched it with me for about ten minutes. Ed is a strict Apostolic which means he doesn't watch TV.  After ten minutes he went back out to work.  I admired the man.  He took it in and then got back to doing what was really important in his life.  Working to support his family.
Just a small world sometimes.

Really? Okay Then

Went to feed the cats and they aren't there.  There are nice spanking new "No Trespassing" signs though.  Methinks Doug didn't like someone going in and rescuing the cat.  So now there are no cats.  I will have to wait and hear through the grapevine where they went.  Assuming that the grapevine is told.
Judy is going to keep an eye out just in case they were locked in the house and get released someday.  But neither one of them did the look under the towel thing at the front door.  So I think they aren't in there.

Postponement?

Looking at the weather forecast and it says rain on Sunday.  Not showers.  Rain.  Maybe we need to rethink the tree plant and postpone it to another day.  Betty wasn't going to be able to come anyway because of a previous engagement.  The tree will come in a container so it will actually be fine waiting for a bit.

LOL

Oh yeah.  So Mom and I were talking.  It was a similar conversation I had with Jeannie last year.  Jeannie told me I had a sign on my back and I'm sure I do.  The sign that says alcoholic wanted.  I told Mom I was going to find myself another one, only this one won't be living with me.  It's comfortable.  It's normal.  I just won't live with another one.   I hope.  

I don't know if it is true that I would find another one.  But I do know where to find them and how to find them.  Easier than any other kind of man.  Especially once I figured out that they look for someone like me.  

Mowing

Betty told me it was time to mow again.  So I arranged the babysitter and got them all squared away.  Went over and mowed.  Took a few moments to remember everything I had learned about her mower. She gave me orange ties to tie on trees with low limbs.  This time I only got whacked one time so only used one tie.  I know there is a tree in the orchard that gets you if you are just right.  I wasn't just right this time.
Betty had commented on a busy week for her so I tried to make sure I got all the mowing done, even the part she likes to do.  I was almost finished and I got a flat tire.  Oy.  Well turns out she has had a flat before.  I limped it to the garage and she will get it fixed.  And I was almost done.
It felt like deja vu.  Seemed like every time a mower breaks I am the one driving it.  Now to be fair....on the old john deere I was the only one driving it so it had to be me when it broke.
I noticed that Jeannie has one of her boys mowing.  That made me feel better.  It felt wrong to not be able to do that job.  But I no longer have access to a mower to use for her yard.  Guess her son now has the gravy.  That was what one of them told me mowing was. Gravy work.  :P

LOL

So after my encounter with Doug and his physically restraining me from going in Dave's house he made several comments but wouldn't discuss anything.  The first was all the slandering I do on the Internet of him and how they have it all printed out.  First slander is verbal words.  Libel is written words.  And they must not have had it all printed out because one or the other of them got on my blog and downloaded the complete thing.
I wrote a nice little post about my trip down memory lane in reading the whole thing.  Afterall I can't remember every thing I wrote.  So I did want to see what could be construed as "slander".  Did not find a single thing.  I'm sure they did.  Here is the thing though.......No one is mentioned by name on my blog as far as first and last.  I do not blog under my own name.  So anybody reading my blog who doesn't know me wouldn't have a clue as to who Doug is.
So after my post today it looks like they discovered my blog counters.  Really??? They have been there from the beginning.  Tells me who visits and how often, which posts they look at, what they download, etc.  One of the counters has a place where you can remove your own ip from the counter and they did that.  Which of course tells me they found it.  Unfortunately for them they can't do that on the other one.  Or on the one that blogspot keeps.
So I'm wondering what they are so worried about.  I'm wondering what Doug is hiding in the house.  I'm amused and beyond that I am again working on letting it go because he really isn't worth my time.  I just found it amusing the whole blog thing.  And then I think wouldn't he just poop if he knew about this blog.  It is even more covered though as I blog as no one here.  :P

Digging

The littles were a big help in digging the hole.  We are getting it prepared for the tree we will plant in Papa's honor.  After digging they discovered there were many kinds of bugs in the dirt.  Ants, worms, potato bugs, etc.  They were fascinated.  They also liked digging the hole.  Lucky for us the dirt wasn't all compacted and hard.  Came out pretty easy.  We may have made a good choice to do it today.

History of the Blog

It was time to take a stroll back through time to the beginning of the blog.  It is almost seven years old already.  It has had a transformation in 2012 when its address changed.  The layout has changed slightly and I have added and taken things away from the gadgets. The pictures are kept in Picassa and because of the change in 2012 means there are two different folders.  Very interesting to go back through that way and see the changes in quick motion because there are only a few pictures from any one outing or activity.
There is a lot of history in those seven years.  Makes me wish I had done it years before just for the history aspect.  All the things that are documented in the blog are amazing.  The good, the bad and the ugly.  I stand by it all.  I own it.  I own it as digital property and I own it in how I felt and what I wrote at any particular time. Lots of things changed over the years.  I changed.
I can see where I tried to foster positive relationships.  I can see where I tried to convince myself that I had positive relationships.  I can see my own personal growth through co-dependence and success and failure in it.
The biggest thing was the break with Tanya.  And then we came back together.  Illness and death give you quite a few different perspectives.  I swore numerous times I would never have her in my life again.  I was wrong.  Did my feelings and thought change about the break?  No, they did not.  Did things go back to the way they were before?  No, they did not. Its growth and change.
I could not remember just when Dave realized he was an alcoholic.  Early in 2009.  It's in the blog.  Reading some of those posts and I remember exactly how I felt.  I think I must still feel the same things.  The shock at how much he drank and I never knew it.
All the activities and outings are well documented from the beginning of the blog history.  The growth of the littles.  The trials and tribulations of addiction.  The ups and downs and hopes and disappointments.  Sometimes I wrote a lot and other times not so much.  The past couple of years have had a lot of writing.  Part of that is getting the habit and getting ready for the book.  Nothing has changed.....going to keep right on writing.  The good, the bad and the ugly.
It was good to go back and take a look.
It is always the continuing journey of my life. My life. Don't like it. Don't read it.

Mystery Film

So I had a roll of film in one of my boxes.  Decided it was time to get it developed and see what it was. I love mystery film. As time goes along there is less and less of it.  I haven't used film in over a decade.
Took the roll to Walgreens.  Well they don't just do film anymore and had to send it out.  Took a week to come back.  Costed $11.  I remember why I hated film.  Turns out it was a roll of Mike's stuff.  Him.  Friends of his.  Mishka.  Funny.   Not worth $11 but it is what it is.
It was the roll of the dice and now I know.  No more mystery.  The date stamp on the pictures were from 2004.

Bikecapade

So the littles and I got our bikes back today.  We had to take them down to the street to get them loaded.  Connor decided he really needed to take the little blue bike and he hauled it all the way down.  Once home he only wanted to ride Sissy's bike.  She, naturally, wasn't happy about it.  He kept saying her bike was faster.  I pointed out that his new bike and her new bike were the same size and go the same speed.  Then he was fine with his new yellow bike.  I put the little blue bike on the patio as the cage is full.  I asked him if he still wanted it now that he was riding his yellow bike.  Nope.  Of course not.  All that effort for naught.
Once home they rode and rode and rode.  Then when it got dark they wanted to ride more, but we put the bikes away.  They weren't inside for five minutes before they were asleep.

Beach Trip

We took a night and went to Seaside.  We stayed at the Hi-Tides Motel.  The kids played on the beach and just had a blast.  I was the only one who got wet from the waves.  I thought I was far enough up on the beach to not have to worry about it.  I had turned around to watch Audrie come down the beach.  Connor ran by me saying 'run', but I didn't catch it until the water was half way up my calves.  Grammy never made it to the beach.  She always opted to take advantage of the quiet in the hotel room when we were at the beach.
We drove down the Cannon Beach to get donuts and a glass switch plate cover.  And then we returned home to routine.  It was a really nice outing and a lovely break in our routine.  And we noticed that Dave was looking out for us again by sending us the most beautiful weather for our outing.

Mica and Marseilles

Audrie forgot her tiger at Joe and Judy's so we went to retrieve it.  While there, of course, I went up to see my cat.  My God.  Something knocked the bricks off the feeder so the cats were out of food.  I just filled that feeder on Saturday.  As hungry as the cats were I'm going to guess the container got emptied Saturday night.  Does that mean Doug hasn't even been up there?  He did not know that I had filled the feeder on Saturday so he should have been there on the weekend to take care of it.  Poor kitties.  Guess it is time for me to be checking more often and risk being accused all the time of stealing things.  Damn.

Decisions

Decisions decisions.  I keep thinking about my bed.  Trying to decide if I just want to find a bed frame for it or replace it with a king.  Since the mattress and box spring are only a year and a half old it seems silly to replace it.  Don't know if it is just my frugal nature or what, but I know there are nights a king would be nice.
Still watching for a new computer desk.  My frugal nature definitely kicks in here.  I have found a couple on craigslist that I like but the price is too high for a used desk.  It may have to wait until we move because my other criteria is I don't want a lot of heavy stuff that has to be moved.

Right Choice

So I had decided that although Tanya is back in the fold that I wasn't going to expect anything from her.  That means not asking unless it is an emergency.
So Pat and I comment about Vegas and I said "oh yeah I don't have a babysitter anymore".  Not for a trip.  Pat pipes up with what Tanya won't do it.  Well then Tanya pops up with no way would she do it.  The littles would torment her cats so therefore she can't watch them at her house.  Wait....what?  That is an excuse if I ever heard one.  Cats hold their own.  Bianca babysits them and she has two.  John lets them over all the time and he has one.  Audrie and Connor lived with four cats until Papa died.  Really???? Seriously???
I made the right choice in not setting that bar too high.

Moving?

Audrie informed me that she is ready to move and wants to know when we are doing so.  Ummm after November.  Our lease isn't up till then.  I would pay to get out of the lease under a couple of certain circumstances.  Mom moves.  Jodi moves.  But not just so we can move unless there was a compelling reason to leave the complex.
I think she is tired of the kids from the other complex coming over.  They don't necessarily play very nice.  She will go out to play and pretty soon she is back in doing quiet work.  Maybe she is missing John and his kids.  She will play for hours with his kids or at his house.  And right now there aren't any other kids her age.
On the other side of the coin....Connor made a new friend in the complex.  He is getting to be more social.

I'm a Thief

While at Joe and Judy's I did go up to see the cats.  Took Connor with me.  Well he was done pretty quick and went back to the gate and bellered liked a calf.  We saw Marseilles.  I could hear Mica but because Connor was yelling I couldn't distinguish where it was coming from.  I think she might have been locked in somewhere.  Maybe someone is trying to kill my cat also.  Who knows.
Anyway I stole a lilac bouquet.  They were just blooming beautifully and a bouquet called my name.  Something could be said that since Audrie and Connor are 2/3 owners I didn't really steal anything.
My house has smelled lovely these couple of days.

Second Family Dinner With a Sleepyhead

Family dinner time.  I think the postponements are done for awhile.  We had cheesy hamburger hot dish per Elizabeth's request.  I haven't made it since sometime before I moved into the apartment.  I remembered how.
Tanya got to run back and forth to the breaker box.  Pat was trying to fix the outlet for the disposal.  Turned out not to be the outlet, but the switch.  So for now it is again on hold until he comes with a new switch.  Taking care of small things.
It was Elizabeth's and Adrianna's last day off for spring break.  Back to their grind tomorrow.  Elizabeth is feeling confident about taking her writing test to get into running start.  I am sending her positive vibes.
Mom slept through it.  She was up all night.  Definitely has her nights and days switched again.  We left her a plate.
Next family dinner may be tree planting time.

A Grand Day

What an absolute grand day.  We went over to Joe and Judy's for Aryanna's birthday party.  And Dave made the lilacs bloom just for me.  Oh I know it was completely good timing but it sure felt like a Dave thing because he knew I loved them.  I picked a bouquet and have been smelling them ever since.  

Then Jodi and I hopped Max and rode downtown Portland.  We found a little hole in the wall Mexican place and had burritos.  Watched a lot of people.  Then we walked back to Harvey's Comedy Club and met Marti.  We were seated right up front.  Had a great time. We laughed so hard.  We watched people.  We filled out the comment cards and then I won the drawing for a gift certificate.  How divine is that? I was already thinking I need to return and then they gave me reason to.  Laughter is good for the soul. 

We rode Max back to the car.  Amazingly enough there was a drunk who was talking to himself or someone we couldn't see.  Seems every time I go some place with Jodi we find someone like this.  She didn't take a video this time though.  Too funny.  

Mica

Going to see my cat today.  We were invited to Aryanna's birthday party.  I'm that close I will be visiting my cat.  Sure hope nothing goes missing because I hate when that happens and I get accused of taking whatever it is.  Maybe Doug will be there and he can watch me like a hawk.
Wonder how long that is going to really annoy me?

Collection Call

Wow.  I am always amazed when I get a call from a collection agency.  For my own personal finances I have NEVER gotten a call.  I have the money gene which means I pay my bills and I pay them on time.  I never make other things a priority.  I tend not to spend above my means.  Doesn't mean I haven't carried a credit card balance....I have back in the day with kids.  Learned a lot since then......won't be carrying one now with kids.
When I got married there were a couple of calls from Dave's past.  We took care of those and never again.  Until now.  Seems Dave has a balance on his VISA and no one has paid the bill.  I passed on the relevant numbers to the woman who called.  Then I called the attorney.  Now Jill explained that Doug does not HAVE to pay them until the notice to creditors expires.  Okay.  I'm sure the creditor is looking at it like it has been over four months since death and that is when the ad USUALLY runs out.  So time for them to make calls.
Luckily for me it is not my problem.  Other than having to take that call.  Wonder how many more of them I am going to get? Because if one bill wasn't taken care of I'm sure none were.

A Visit at the Chinese Garden

We took advantage of a day off and a lovely day to trek over to The Lan Su Chinese Garden. The littles were intrigued with the doorways and the water.  The walkways were fantastic.  It wasn't too crowded.  The garden is all walled in so you wouldn't even really know it was there.  No one fell in the water or entered it on purpose. While I was taking a picture of a tree Connor did bypass a gate that says no climbing on the rocks.  And up he went.  It is like stair steps to the top about six feet up.  When he finally realized Nana was not happy he almost fell coming down.  Hence the gate and the sign.  Not safe for little guys.  It was pretty cool though.

A Little Outing

After work and carehouse today we ventured on down to Wintler Park for a little stroll by the river.  We met some dogs and played in the sand.  Then we hit Dairy Queen because we were so close to the one on Macarthur Blvd.

Flying Out House

Rush week means security and bag checking.  That means we get to look out the window.  So Brenda comments about looking out side and watching the crane. Wow.  There were a portapotty going across the air on the crane to the top floor of the new building they are constructing.  Makes sense that that way the workers don't need to go up and down to use a potty.  It just looked very odd.
And that is the only thing so far this week that is blog worthy.  ;P

A Million

I hit one million steps today.  Puts me at 430 miles walked since starting this step thing.  I passed Belinda.  I'm pretty sure her mom is way ahead of me.  It's a nice little milestone to keep me going.  Let's see 500 miles soon.

Easter

Our first Easter without Dave, although it is not our first brunch without him.  We made it through it with little fanfare.
Audrie wasn't feeling well and did not eat at brunch. Connor on the other hand felt fine and ate quite a bit for a little man.  The food was good.  Pat and I behaved.  No dessert.  The cheesecake looked good though. The cheese blintzes were divine.
The only complaint was being set next to a rather large group who were quite happy with their $5 pays for all the champagne you can drink.  They definitely hit the loud that comes from a little too much alcohol.

Go, Go, Go

We have been doing a lot of activities again.  It is reminiscent of our first year here.  We did a lot then also.  It keeps us moving, burning energy.  Keeps me taking my steps.  I lost twenty pounds that first year and then gained it back the next year when we slowed down and weren't doing stuff all the time.  It feels right to be back at it and doing well.  I've relost 13 of those twenty.  :)
The littles sleep better if they get a lot of activity.  I didn't have to remember this year because we had such a mild winter.  They have had a lot of outside play.
Still watching for a bike carrier so we can incorporate riding bikes into our repertoire of activity.

It is What It is

Picking up the kids and they always get called.  Usually they are told either it is time to go or that Grandma is here to pick them up.  Well Connor got told that about the grandma and he said 'Mom". So she asked him what he wanted her to call me and he again said "Mom".  It warms my heart and breaks it at the same time.  We have a very special relationship and always will.

First Friday

We went to the Portland Children's Museum again today.  It was First Friday.  Got to love getting in for free. Again they liked the water room best.  This time they also explored the room with the store, cafe, vet's office, dig pit and pipe room.  It was a great afternoon.

Ok Then.

Mike sent me a text that he was returning to jail.  Okay then.  Guess his choices were not so good in Wenatchee.  It is what it is.  So far though he isn't  listed on the roster.  No idea what that means.  So while I was looking forward to some help......not yet.  Back to routine.

Playing

We are working on being quieter in our apartment.  Big task that.  So today was a nice day and we went to Marshall Center to play on the playground.  Hoping to burn off some energy so that when we settle in for the night quiet is the word.  They added a rope structure at the park since the last time we were there.  Both kids thought that was pretty cool.  And it uses a lot of muscles and brains.
After an hour and a half we came home and they dined at John's.  Then Connor spent a good hour scootering with a neighbor boy in the parking lot.  I was surprised he had that much energy left.  Audrie had already come in and settled down for the night.  Now he is in and quiet.  I think it worked.  Probably won't tomorrow.