Target Practice

My friend Doug and I have been planning on doing some target shooting for awhile.  Waiting for the weather to lighten up.  The days to be longer.  He wants to go up in the hills.
Well I, being me, was tired of waiting.  So I hired a babysitter and invited him and my brother to go to a local range and shoot some ammo.  My brother bought a 9mm so I figured I could use that.
Today was the day and we all met up there.  Doug brought one of his friends with so we had a group of four.  I did okay with the 9mm.  Nothing to write home about.  Did much better with the 22.  Just like pinging pop cans back when I was young. I didn't like Mom's 38 special at all.  Doug let me use two of his Sig's.  I have no idea what one of them was and the other was a P238, and they both had a nice bang.  Then his friend was teasing about not forewarning me about the gun.  Doug's response was then I wouldn't shoot it. Who knows?  I still did all right with those.  His friend let me fire his FN5.7 and boy was that one nice.  I had shot enough already that I couldn't tell how I was doing.  So they told me to aim for the 7 and so I did.
It was a great afternoon with friends and brother.  Thanks guys.  Let's do it again soon.  When we do it in the hills I have a babysitter lined up who doesn't have a time frame to maintain.  ;p

Saturday Dalliances

We had a big work day planned.  Instead we went to the duck pond to look for rocks and leave a few.  We also fed some geese, goslings and ducks. Then on the playground.  They found a white spider in a clump of dandelions.  And no outing is complete without a blow for wishes.
Then it was back home to get some of our work done.  The lawn is mowed.  I was sure I did not have enough gas.  I was wrong.  And then I weedeated the front to make it look a lot better than it did.  From there we hit the grocery store for the weekly shopping.  So tomorrow morning is house clean day and the littles were informed they were helping.  Because they want Ashley to come over and paint rocks with them.

Thirty Seven Years

My day started with a trip to the eye doctor.  Yay!  I get to get new glasses.  My old ones just don't like to stay on and I'm so afraid to bend them.  They can only withstand that so much and they have been bent a lot.
Then I went and visited my friend Karen.  She knew exactly how long we knew each other.  Next month is 37 years.  Some people come into your life and stay.  She is one of those for me.  We both worked at a restaurant way back in 1980.
We were roommates for a summer.  I remember her youngest son being born.  I remember when her oldest son caught her house on fire.  I remember her wedding.  She was my insurance agent and taught me a lot.
We reminisced about the bottle of tequila she bought me and my dad having a little chat with her.  And about how he kept on eye on us after that.
We talked about life and death and how she is sometimes just waiting to die.  Open, honest, brutal.  We talked about Dave.  We talked about Sam. We talked about Darius, her grandson and the path he was on.  Like the path my son is on. We talked about kids and cats and her dog Sammi.  We did our usual comparison of rental properties and all the fun they can bring.  We talked about family.
A conversation in the important things and the mundane things.  We touched on people who have died who have visited us.  I wasn't sure if she was going to be receptive to that, but she was.  It was an ordinary conversation and an extraordinary conversation.  Two friends being connected.  We never know when this worldly connection will end, but today it did not.  She is my friend and I'm glad I pushed for the time to see her and that she was awake.  I hope I didn't wear her out.  I didn't intend to stay as long as I did, but it felt important.

Lull

I am enjoying the lull at work. Ah, heck, I always enjoy the lull at work.  I have managed to schedule all the appointments that needed done.  We've done a lot of rock things, with more to come.  Ashley is coming over on Sunday to paint rocks with the littles.  They are all excited.  I bet she gives them some new ideas.
I'm not sure I am getting a lot of rest this time, but that is all right.  We are getting out when we can.
We tried to go to Dizzy Castle yesterday, but the boy ended up with melted marshmallow all over his pants.  And naturally I didn't know that until we were at Dizzy Castle.  So we went home.  I cleaned the marshmallow out of the car.  Today we went again and everything was fine.  They played for a couple of hours, running, stretching and making friends.

Check Up

I had procrastinated enough.  Took the little man in for his well child check up and to get his vaccines he needed to go to kindergarten.  He received two injections and he was so brave.  He told us it hurt and he said he got a couple of tears, but I didn't see him cry.  When he was little the shots would wear him out, but not now.
We went home and played in Lego's for awhile.  We were trying to follow the directions and make a cat which was actually a bunny.  His attention waned about the time we got the head done.  There are a lot of little pieces to put together to make this kind of stuff.  We will try again another day.  Sometimes I forget he is only five.

A Rock Beyond Ours

Another lady in our community bought a carmel cat from Nola Cross.  She found Nola's display of rocks for sale in her shop.  Said that there was a patchwork cat also if anyone wanted to go get inspired.  Oh my gosh.  We went and we saw and the patchwork cat was precious.  But the little man was really really drawn to this green cat.  I told him we would have to find one.  About that time Nola asked him which one was his favorite and he told her.  She signed the back and gave it to him.
The little woman and I are excited because now we have a template to try and paint our own.  So yes we got inspired, but our talent will probably never surpass Nola's.

Rock Hunt

There was a post on facebook about rocks being hidden at Hockinson Park.  So we headed right over.  We walked all over the park following the trails, meeting dogs, playing on the playground, and writing our names in the gravel.  We were beginning to think it was a complete bust when we found one rock.  I was amazed that I found it.  Usually eagle eye boy finds them.  I think because he is closer to the ground.  Anway he claimed it after I took a picture of it and it went into his treasure box.  I'm going to need to work on him about rehiding ones we find.
We also found part of a robin's egg.  Obviously the baby bird had hatched.  They were fascinated.  And the shell feels different than chicken eggs.  Course this shell had been through the egg becoming a baby bird process.  The things we find and the things we learn.

Happy Birthday Mom

Mom turned 74 today.  We took a raspberry cake and a couple of cupcakes for a celebration.  We gave her a new french bulldog for her room.  She enjoyed the cake and the kids enjoyed the frosting on the cupcakes.  She had balloons and shared the small balloons with the kids.  The little man really wanted one of the helium balloons, but he accepted what he got.
We may try for a family dinner on the weekend.

Welcome Skye

Skye joined the world last night at about 10:30.  She weighed in at eight and a half pounds in twenty inches.  One beautiful baby girl.
She is the brand new granddaughter of my best friend and her son's second daughter.  Kylee became a big sister. What a great moment.
I loved this picture of Skye's feet.  Brittany took it.  She had made a fast drive from NM to be there for the birth.  She made it.
Mom is doing wonderful and so is Dad.  Although we know Mom did more of the work.
Congratulations Jeremy, Kiah, and Kylee.

Beef and Broccoli

The last time we went out for Thai food, I decided it was time for the little man to have his own beef and broccoli.  When we share, I don't get enough broccoli.
So we went out for Thai food.  Had some vegetable rolls, that they both turned their noses up at.  The little woman had french fries and then ate more food at home.  I ordered two beef and broccoli.  Well the little man had had too many snacks before we went out so he wasn't all that hungry.  He ate half and I ate half.  We could have shared.
Well at least I now have two lunches for this week.  ;p

Healing

Mom's place posted pics of her and the littles on facebook.  It made me realize that it has taken a year but the littles are finally letting her touch them again and give her hugs.  Those four months we lived together were really really hard on the littles.  And we are still dealing with the affects of it.  But at least it looks like they are healing.  .
On another note....Mom had a hallucination when I visited her yesterday.  She was talking to me and said someone was holding her hand.  No one else but the two of us were in the room.  I looked it up and it is not unusual.  But I probably need to say something at her place so they can  monitor it.

Paint Lessons

We had another painting session.  This time we did not waste as much paint.  Every one, including the 5 year-old understood that a little goes a long way and you can always get more.  Sharpie runs when sprayed with the sealant. We had better plans this time.  And no one was rushing.  So the little woman painted two, the little man did four and I did three.
The little woman is going to take one of hers to school to show her art teacher before she hides it.
After the rocks dry, I will seal them and then take a better picture.

Rocked the Duck Pond

It was a lovely day.  So we took our rocks and hid them all over the duck pond.  Some of them weren't hidden very well, but that is okay.  The kids had a great time doing it.  We noticed that a couple were gone before we left the park.  The little man gave a little girl one of his rocks.  I told him how much I liked how kind he was to her.
We spotted baby ducks.  These aren't the ones the little man and I saw the other day.  We counted five swimming in the pond and staying out of areas where people could bother them.
We are so enjoying the "rock" movement.  This weekend we plan on painting again.  I'm not sure which part the littles like best.  We posted on the BG Rock page on fb and one woman told us she was going to use the pictures for the fundraiser today to raise money for the local food bank.  Very cool.

No Rocks, One Car

We had planned on taking our painted rocks to the duck ponds today and hiding them.  But the weather wasn't cooperating.  So we will try that tomorrow.  Maybe.
For years and years I have commented about wanting cat tracks painted on my car across the hood.  Like a cat had walked across it.  My old neighbor, David, had suggested vinyl cutouts and tried to get me some.  At that time it was just not feasible and I gave up.
So I'm on facebook and I get all kinds of ads depending on what I am searching for at the time.  And this love and paw print in an infinity symbol came up.  And naturally I fell in love with it. So I clicked the link and went to the website.  Ordered it.  While perusing the site I also found die cut vinyl stickers of paw prints.  They aren't cat tracks, but they are pretty darn cute.
The littles loved helping me put them on the car.  And yes I know, it just made my car even more distinctive.  C'est la vie.  I would rather enjoy the things I like, as opposed to hiding myself from people.

ROCKin It

We painted our rocks today.  Eighteen got finished.  I found it to be harder than I thought it would be.  And that being the case, the littles did excellent work.  We worked on them for almost two hours.  Then they had a bath.  I asked which they might want to share and which they might want to keep.  Well the little woman is keeping all of hers and he gave up half to sharing.  Got the ones to be shared sprayed with a protective coating.  Maybe tomorrow we will hide them at the park.

Rock Hound

A post was made on the BG Rocks page that a moon rock had been hidden and not found for five days.  We decided to go see if we could find it.  Right off the bat the little man finds a turtle rock.  And then we saw very new baby ducks.  Briefly.  They moved pretty quick back in a hiding hole.  We actually met the person who posted and she gave us a clue.  We found the moon rock.
As we kept following the path, the little man wanted to play on a stump and lo and behold he finds a cupcake rock.  The little girl who hid the moon rock then tracked us down and gave him some clues to more turtles.
He found three turtles and consented to rehide one of them for someone else to find.  Turns out there were four hidden so that leaves two for someone else. He came home with four rocks and we think maybe we will paint tomorrow ourselves.  Because I want him to experience the fun of that part also.

Pie Face

When the littles were picking out an Easter present from Chad, the little woman wanted the Pie Face game.  So today they sat down and played it until they ran out of whipped cream.  I'm not too sure that she really enjoyed getting pie faced.  But she sure loved it when he got it.

Easter

We met Uncle Pat and Grammy up at Oak Tree Restaurant for Easter brunch.  It was all right and the price was right.  I expected more, but it is all right.  The little woman wore the dress that Chad bought her.
After we got home she changed.  And then we went and checked out the duck ponds.  Spent about an hour on the playground.  She wasn't going to let boots or a dress stop her from crawling all over the play structure.  He did lots of messing around also and showing off how strong he is.
Then we came back to baths and getting ready to get back to routine.  A lovely weekend we did have though.

Busy Day

Our day started with breakfast and shopping with Chad and Ky.  The kids got to pick out an Easter gift.  And then Chad thought Audrie needed a new outfit since her choice of toys was small.  The little man picked about fifty things that I kept putting back.  I always think Chad goes overboard and yet it's okay.  I know he loves doing it and it is one person who spoils them a bit.
We had a lovely breakfast and Gina was able to join us for that.  She is just so personable.  We had a great conversation on our end of the table.
We had a little time to kill after that so we went and hung out at Uncle Pat's house and played with the dogs.
Then it was on to Grammy's place for a little egg hunting.  There was a nice sized turnout for egg hunting in the courtyard.  Both kids filled their baskets and neither one seemed upset that most of the candy in the eggs wasn't their kinds.  Grammy scored and had a plate full of mini snickers, mini butterfingers and mini milky ways to savor later.  The kids just loved the thrill of the hunt.  Afterwards we had snacks in the dining room.  Wonderful cookies and fruit on skewers.  And then as we were leaving they each got a "carrot" that was filled with gold fish.  What a great day and a great treat.
It was great spending time with Ky, Chad and Gina.  We made tentative plans to see each other in July when we head to Bellingham.  Again thanks for breakfast and the wonderful presents Chad.
Thanks to Highgate for putting on a lovely egg hunt where the kids could thrive and fill their baskets without being trampled.
It really was a great busy day.