Filling Up Our Calender

The school is offering some after school activities this fall.  One of them, the arts and crafts, interested the little woman.  So we signed her up and then waited to see if she got a slot.  There is only so much space and it was first come first serve.  Well lucky for us she got a slot.  She starts next Monday and does this till the week before Thanksgiving.  It is the first thing she has shown interest in herself.
Then she came  home and told me she had a flyer for the girl scouts and she wanted to do that also.  Well the flyer was a couple days off and we missed the day of the informational meeting.  But I was able to go online sign her up.  Now we are just waiting for more information.  But those meetings are every other week. 
So we are filling up our calender.  Now we need to find something for a boy to do.  But I am so so happy that the little woman is branching out of her quietness and wanting to do some things.  It will be so good for her. 

Bothered

So we have a couple neighbor boys that I like to call hooligans and they have the potential to become hoodlums.  Either that or lawyers.  I think of them as Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn kind of boys.  And they can be mean.  They are not stupid and they know how far not to push things.  The little woman will go out to play and if they bother her too much she comes back in and does her thing.  The little man fights back and two minutes later they are all fine.  They are never disrespectful to me.  And sometimes I think it is good for kids to learn how to deal with some stuff on their own.  I'm watching, but not always involved.
So last night another boy had borrowed the little man's bike.  We finally went to retrieve it.  Well that boy was still out riding it so we just told his people to make sure he returns it.  We were almost home when we ran into him, the hooligans, another boy and another girl.  He gave the bike back and they went on their way....no biggie.
Until one of my neighbors comes up to me and I didn't even recognize her at first.  She wanted to know what the group was up to and if they were cursing.  I don't know what they were up to and I tend to tune groups of kids out.  I don't need to be bothered by what they are talking about.  She proceeded to tell me how the hooligans had been hitting my little man a couple of days ago making him scream.  My little man was still there and neither confirmed nor denied that action.  He only tattles when it benefits him or gets his sister in trouble.  Then she tells me those kids are terrible and she can't believe their mother lets them run the streets after all the destruction of property they have done.
Wait....what?  I have lived here almost two years and have heard nothing of any destruction of property, other than my little man's scooter.  And that would be between me and their mother and it is a non-issue.  I know the cops have been called many many times, mostly by another neighbor and I never knew why, but I take all of that with a grain of salt.   
My neighbor is in education and works at my kids school.  I am bothered by her calling an eight year-old and an 11 year-old terrible kids.  They are not terrible kids.  I don't know ANY terrible kids.  And I heard the judgment of their mother.  A single parent doing the best she can.  I don't see any of the other neighbors ever lending her a hand.  Our neighborhood is not our village.  And that is sad because I sure could use the village and I'm sure the hooligan's mom could also.  Their mom is the only one who has helped me in dealing with my little man and a meltdown.  And if they talk about them like that, I can imagine what they say about us.  Afterall we are the house that had the gun incident.

Sun Flowers

Every day on my way to work I pass this roadside flower stand.  It's not on the freeway but you see it from the freeway.  There have been these beautiful sunflowers there for the last several weeks.  Just gorgeous.  I see them and always think I should stop.  But I'm on my way to work and I'm already on the freeway.
This morning I didn't get on the freeway.  I took a side street up and then an overpass and to the roadside stand.  I bought five Sun Flowers.  Took them to work.  I had an ulterior motive.  I immediately went down to the vet resource office.  I gave one to Kelly because she is just an impressive woman.  I gave one to Nicole because I had unintentionally made her mad this week at bag check.  She was really glad I came and apologized and she too realized it was a stressful week and emotions run hot during this time.  I gave one to Leslie for being so patient and waiting for her baby Ryan to be born.  She is three days past her due date.  I gave one to "Auntie" Amy, who may not have been at work today and one to Heidi for always being so sunny. 
This picture is the one of Heidi's and she took the picture.  I just borrowed it for my blog.  I am surrounded by amazing people and sometimes I just want to show how appreciative I am for that. 

Boy

That little man of mine.  He sure knows how to be a boy.  Takes me right to the edge of the abyss and then pulls me back with cuddles and kisses.  He told me today that he likes school and that he is learning there.  And sometimes he is naughty.  Well that sounds about right. 
But I think I am seeing some positive change in attitude with our new perspective of not butting heads.  He isn't having as many meltdowns and that is a good thing.  Meltdowns really try my patience.  ;p

Almost Done

Last long day today.  I switched it up some so I spent time in bags and as security.  Jan, our new guy is quite the talker and has no problem carrying on a conversation in the midst of chaos of bag checking.
Came home and just vegged on the couch binging in Netflix.  Those days are about over as we move into the new season on regular television.  :)
Two more days this week, but much much shorter days.  Then our lull starts.  Next week I am only scheduled for two days.  I'm so excited. Ready.  It has been a long two months gearing up for fall.

Fall Rush 2017

The day starts with the little woman still being sick. She spent a good part of the night not sleeping well.  Naturally that means I slept worse than normal.  She still had a headache when we got up so she spent the day with Uncle Pat.  The little man was fine and went to school. 
Rush was slower than it used to be.  I think this is the new normal.  Still glad we had four people manning security and the bag check through the day. Every one seemed in a good mood and patient.  Our extra people were new and so not as fast as we are.  It takes a little time to develop the dance.  That said I danced well with Jennie.  I like it when it works nicely. 
Jennie got called sweetheart and I got called sweetheart, sweets and my love.  I'm not sure now but I think it could have been the same person all four times.  Too funny. 
Never saw the unicycle boys.  Thought about them.  Maybe they moved on.  They were entertaining. 

The Beach

Since we didn't make it to the actual beach on Saturday, we took a little time this morning to play on it before heading home.  We looked for sand dollars and found no whole ones.  Lots and lots and lots of broken ones though.  They got a kick out of them so it was all good.  The little man played with the waves and she did not.  They did play with the Frisbee we bought for the June trip so it finally got some use. Grayland Beach really is nice for playing on. Lots and lots of sand.
So we camped, ate, met dogs, crabbed and had fun.  Even the little woman admits she had fun despite her trip to the ER.  She is just worried about when those stitches come out.  These ones don't dissolve.  The doc said because of where they are they had to be the better ones.  It will be all right baby, I promise.
The drive home was just as quick as the drive out.  We made two stops on the way. Good to be home and excited to sleep in our own bed.

Crabbing and Dancing and Getting Stitches

The guys headed out early.  The little woman and I were not too far behind.  The littles had a blast crabbing. They loved hauling the net back up and dropping it in.  They thought catching the baby crabs and throwing back in to be great fun.  They were crabbing off the docks in Westport.  We watched people come and boats go.  We saw a sea lion swimming in the marina.  The little woman danced on the docks.  It was great fun.
And then we headed to find a store and big pot to cook the crab in.  They had caught two when we left.  Found a store and a pot.  Was heading to the checkout when the little woman started screaming and bleeding.  All over.  She had two good cuts on her fingers.  She had ran her hand under a shelf as I was pushing the cart.  Ohohhhh.  We had to fill out an incident report.  All the while she is bleeding and no one can tell me where to take her.  I was having a great sense of deja vu.
Took the pot back to camp and asked the ranger.  We got sent to the hospital in Aberdeen.  And while they did a fine job.....she did not have a great experience.  They do things old school so shots in the wound for numbing.  She got eight stitches altogether.  We spent the whole afternoon there.
We got back just in time for dinner.  The guys had ended up with five crabs total.  And they were cooked and in ice.  We were going to have hamburgers but the burger smelled like hard boiled eggs.  Have never experienced that before.  We opted to do hot dogs instead.
And it was an early night.

Buffalo

I was taking a little nap before the littles got home.  Pat called and told me there was a small herd of buffalo on the way to camping.  So after the kids got home we headed out.  And sure enough, just after we got off the freeway at the Vader/Ryderwood exit we found the buffalo.  We counted eight.  The littles were extremely excited.  They don't remember even having seen any.  I don't remember if they had or not.
The GPS kept trying to get us back on the freeway.  It is so annoying for it to keep telling you to make a u-turn.  Finally we stopped in Ryderwood and rebooted it.  Then it took us through Pe Ell and correctly on the way.  Methinks it may be time to invest in a new GPS.
I got pulled over for speeding.  47 in a 35.  I was yelling at the kids.  Saw the cop and the 45 MPH sign just beyond him and thought to myself....bet I'm not in a 45 zone.  Felt like it should have been but it wasn't.  The little man was quite entertaining.  He asked if I was getting a ticket and told the cop he didn't think I should get one.  He wanted to know what all the things were on the cops belt.  I got a warning and we were again on our way.
Got there just before dark.  We called it a day.

Weekend

And my work week is done.  Another long one.  The littles only had one day where they hit daycare in the morning and the afternoon.  I still worked long days just not as long.  Got them on the bus and then pulled out of the driveway heading to work.
Tried to box up my cocoa today.  Realized how much it weighed and said no.  Found a flat rate box and it is ready to go to the post office tomorrow.  That has to be some kind of record for me.  I'm not usually that quick.  I'm sure Carey will be happy.
Next week is Rush and then we should find our lull right after.  I am so ready.  Two months of working hard and lots of hours....for us.  Since our supervisor has some new roles, that means we are doing more and more.  And it is okay but we are going to need our lulls to recuperate.  Just looking forward to it.  And I'm thankful for my three day weekend this weekend.  :)
I snuck in a visit with Mom today after work.  Not my usual thing, but it worked out all right.  After my visit I got startled by Will on my way out of her room.  So I helped him down to the dining room.  He told me all about his trip to Rocky Butte today.  I listened with great intent.  I like that man.  My little man likes that man.

Hot Chocolate

Shopping at Costco and I saw these canisters of hot cocoa that you make with milk.  I thought that might make them really special and I have a special girl who loves hot chocolate.  So I grabbed one.  Then I thought about it for another minute.  I have been sending hot chocolate k-cups to my niece in the Midwest because she loves hot chocolate.  So I grabbed another one for her.
I tend to procrastinate sometimes.  Brenda helped me find a good box today at work and some packing materials so I can box it up and ship it to her.  Wonder how long it will take me to do that?

What's Up

I'm almost obsessive about my blogs.  I like knowing who visits.  Sometimes I am greatly amused.  I think I have blogged about that before.  So Doug and Kristie had decided to make our family persona non grata and that is fine.  We don't really want anything to do with them either.  And yet.....
They keep reading my blog.  Their IP was captured a long time ago and one of my counters goes by IP address.  So anytime they get on the blog from their house I am aware.  I can tell that she took one of my posts to heart about being able to delete yourself from one of my counters and she religiously does it.  He must not have read that post or doesn't care because he thinks I don't see them.  And why would they.  I don't talk about the counter that keeps IP addresses.  .
All of my counters count different things just because I'm curious about it all.
So as time has gone on Kristi and Doug had been coming around less and less.  We were down to once or twice a month.  And then September hit.  Got me really wondering what is going on.  She has been here six times in September.  Averaging out to be every four days or so.  Either she is way too bored or something is up.
I went and looked in the courts and nothing is still happening with Dave's estate.  Other than that I don't even have a clue as to what could be happening that would make her worry about what I am posting on my blog.  Just amuses me that they keep reading about us when they don't want anything to do with us.

Unfriended

A friend at work today asked how another friend was.  She commented that the other friend had recently unfriended her on Facebook.  She wasn't sure why.  It could have been unintentional.  It could be the other friend is just moving on since she no longer works with us.  Millions of things.  But my friend today commented about it hurting her feelings a little bit.  I get that.
We talked about how we notice that our friend number might go down and we both scan through the friend list trying to figure out who left.  Facebook doesn't tell you, it just happens.  Most of the time I figure it is just people moving on.  I do it.  Occasionally I go through my list and purge.  And most of the time I figure out who purges me.  It is okay.  But yeah, sometimes it does hurt feelings.  I doubt that is anyone's intention (well most of the time).

Cookbooks for Catie

Catie made a list a month ago of things she wanted for her birthday.  In a range of prices.  Cookbooks were on the list.  So I sent her two cookbooks.  One for her birthday that arrived a couple days early.  She loved it.  It was crockpot recipes and her dad had given her a crockpot.
Then today she got the sneaky chef one.  How to sneak good things in the food your kids will eat.  I don't know if she has picky eaters, but I thought there might be some value in it for her.

New Skills

My little man can at times be a challenge.  And so I have been doing some reading on ideas of things to try.  Different things.  Changing how I react.  Much easier said than done.  But I think as time goes on it will get easier.  Sometimes the different thing is quiet.
What I have noticed is that it works.  Patience.  And lots of it.  His meltdowns are reactions to his really big emotions.  And it is better to learn how to get through them than to stuff them down inside.  So he is learning new skills and I am learning new skills.  As we are putting our skills into practice the meltdowns are getting shorter.
Each child has always given me something different to learn about.  Not a single one ever prepared me for any of the others.  And of course the little man has unique challenges that the older ones didn't have.  We just take it all one day at a time.

Making Plans

I have given the little woman a couple of ideas for her birthday.  Usually she says no party and just cake.  Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  Your birthday, your choice.
Now I am just waiting for her to decide if either of the two ideas appeal to her.  Her first response is just no.  But then after she thinks about stuff sometimes that changes.  And now she has a friend to invite.
I was told the cake would again be chocolate this year with chocolate frosting.  A girl just like her Papa.  One of his favorites also.

A Friend and Her Birthday Party

The little woman got invited to her new friend's birthday party.  Promising.  The friend's grandma told me how excited her granddaughter was that the little woman was there.  The little man and I dropped her off and we hit the grocery store.  We had an invite to come back when we were done.  So we did.
Turns out one of the guests was in the little man's class.  So they ran around together.  That was cool and they made plans to see each other again in school.  Threw the little girl's mother who hadn't realized the two knew each other.
There were lots of gifts for the birthday girl.  Nothing over the top.  She had family there mostly.  The little woman was as helpful as she could be.  The little man wanted to help too much.  But then he got distracted and went off and did other things.
I was so happy to see the little woman having a friend.  She is so introverted and for some reason doesn't make friends easy.  Here is hoping the friendship continues.  And maybe she would like to come do something when it is the little woman's birthday.

Water

The little man loves water in a plastic bottle.  The small ones would probably be perfect, but I can't bring myself to buy them.  So on a facebook sale page someone offered up two 3 pound beef summer sausages and a big package of small bottles from Costco for free.  So I put sold on it, really not expecting to get it.  Another woman posted and then my facebook sale pages acquaintance, Dawn, posted.
I messaged Dawn and told her that if I got the stuff I would share it with her.  I'm always happy to share the bounty and really I just wanted the water.  Well Dawn had sent a private message before she posted on the post.  So she got the stuff.
I wasn't upset because anymore it seems to happen a lot.  I may be first on the post but for whatever reason I don't end up making the sale.  And I was happy for Dawn.  She is in the same boat as me....raising grandchildren and she still has a couple of kids at home.
After Dawn picked the stuff up she messaged me and asked when we could meet to divvy it up.  Wait...what?  I'm so not used to people being like me.  So today we met at our usual spot and she gave me 40 small bottles of water.  And she was happy to keep the summer sausage as she had a use for it.  We were both happy.  And I will have a happy little man.

Meltdown

Oy.  I'm not sure who had the bigger one.  The little man or me.  Started with the little woman insisting that she wasn't going to school.  So I'm annoyed to begin with.  Get the little man in his backpack and out to the bus he goes.
He decided that he would get on at Maggie's stop.  Now the bus driver has said he can get on at Maggie's stop as long as I supervise the crossing of the road.  And I did.  He got to her stop just as the bus comes around the corner.  I'm watching from home, but I'm far enough away that I can't tell what is transpiring.  After all the other kids get on the bus, one of the parents point  him back in this direction.  The bus was waiting and then moved on.  He walked a couple houses up and the bus stopped for him, but he wouldn't get on.   I walked to meet him and I could  not convince him to get on the bus.  So the bus stops at our stop and gets the kids there and the little man still will not get on.
But now he is really unhappy because he wants to ride the bus to school.  I'm exasperated.  Then why not get on the bus.  So he runs away from me and sits further down the curb.
I go home and wait.  I watch  neighbor go try and talk to him.  Nope.  Not happening.  Then he starts working his way back.  I've calmed down.  We missed the bus and they will be late to school and it just is what it is.  Finally Galina comes walking with him to the car.  He got in and got his seat belt on and has an invite to go back to her house after school to play with the cat some more.
His mood is fine all the way to school.  Amongst all of this one of the neighbor boys said something about a bus ticket.  Turns out one of those parents at Maggie's stop told him if he gets on the bus he will get a bus ticket.  Hence.....he was scared to get on the bus even though he wanted to ride the bus to school.
After school I asked him about it.  He told me he was mad.  He was afraid he was in trouble and he was nervous with the other kids watching him.  He had it all worked out as to how he felt and what happened.  We talked about bus tickets and how he would not have gotten one.  But we did decide that perhaps he would not try and get on at Maggie's stop anymore since those parents don't understand he had permission and it is just easier.  I was actually pretty amazed at his understanding of the whole incident from beginning to end.  And hopefully he isn't afraid to get on the bus tomorrow.  I'm still amazed at the parent that told him he would get a bus ticket.  Seriously.

And They Are Gone

The stitches were suppose to be dissolvable and disappear in seven days.  Well that must not happen all the time because we were told if they are still there at ten days to snip and remove.  At seven days they were still there.  At eight days she wanted me to remove them.  We had a stitches scissors.  Well it was dull and pulled rather than cut.  So that ended that for that night.
The next day I bought a new scissors with a very sharp point.  Well she wouldn't hold still long enough to get the stitch with the scissors.  So that ended that.  I told her the doctor or nurse, at her appointment on Thursday, would have to get it.  I'm not going to pin her down to remove stitches.
Picked her up from daycare today and there are no stitches.  They must have finished dissolving or I had snipped them and they worked their way out.  However it worked, it worked.  No stitches and it looks pretty good.

Gain Outweighs the Loss

It was posted in my group as a reminder for the children.  And us.  I've talked about it before....how we got here.  But it is always a good reminder to myself of all the hows and whys.
If Dave and I had not chosen to parent the little woman and then taken in the little man when asked by the state.....they would no longer be in our lives.  The state would have terminated the parents rights and they would have been adopted into another family.  We have already experienced that loss from adoption earlier in our lives.
Life being what it is leaves me and the littles together.  A family.  We are a family of three making our way.  One day at a time.  We are a family, we have a home and we are blessed.  The three of us have experienced great loss and continue to do so.  And yet we have each other.  The lesson here is that while some "family" chose to break ties for their own reasons...that is okay.  We still have each other.  We are better off the way we are than having people in our lives who really dislike and dishonor us.
The best scenario would have been for the littles's parents to step up and do the job.  But at the time they could not.  And the longer time goes, the less it can ever happen.  They have a place, a grounding, a life.  And it would be more loss to take them from it.  I wish I could give them the family they deserve, but life doesn't work that way.  So while the majority of their family chose to abandon them, I have not.  And they have not abandoned me.  We are family and blessed to have each other.  And I feel like I am the lucky one.  I get these two awesome little people in my life every day.

Quicker

Neither little really wanted to get up and then I got the usual squabbles of I want to stay here.  But then as they woke up more....the little man quickly got dressed including his socks and shoes.  He ate all his breakfast and was ready to roll.
The little woman continued on with she didn't want to go anywhere.  Oy.
The little man went to the bus stop.  And then he said he wanted to go down the street and get on with Maggie because it is quicker.  It is only quicker getting on the bus.  Still takes you just as long to get to school, little man.  Glad he is so excited.
After he left and she essentially missed the bus....it came out she wanted warmer clothes.  Found what she wanted and then we had a nice drive to school.  At least the squabble was over. And I still had time to drop in and see Mom before work.

David At the Park

David is back from his trip.  He texted and asked if we wanted to hang out.  Well the best place for the littles to hang out is at a park.  David met us at Kiwanis park and the littles played.  We caught up with each other's lives.  All the important aspects anyway.
The little woman kept trying to get a picture of David and he kept giving her all kinds of grief.  I liked this one the best and told him I was going to post it on facebook.  I didn't tell him I was going to change it with paper artist though.
Speaking of paper artist.  We love paper artist.  I hadn't even realized that we didn't have it when we had the iphone.  Now that we have the LG the little woman said something and I was like oh yeah we had that on the Galaxy.  So it should be no problem getting it now.  Costed me all of $1.99.  Course it is a little newer now and has a couple more features to play with.  We love it.

Movie Night

Thought I was finally going to get to the pirate movie.  The little man went and hung out with Uncle Pat.  The little woman and I were set to go see the movie when she pops off with she doesn't want to.  Well I learned awhile ago to not push too hard or it all goes to pieces.
So she could not be convinced and all the things she wanted to do it was too late.  So we went to the mall and hung out. She utilized the play place to burn off some energy.  She is almost too big for it now.  Had a treat and shopped at Old Navy.  Got her two new outfits for school.

Long Week

Liz was on vacation this week.  So I manned the warehouse.  Four long days.  Four long days on concrete.  I have learned to sit when I can.  It helps.  I got a lot of freight in and got it almost all done.  Just left a couple deliveries, some shrink wrapping and one PO to receive.  The "boys" did excellent and got the whole pallet of binders put away so it doesn't even look like I did anything one day.  ;p
I did a whole bunch of web orders.  I love web orders.
It was a good week.  I am tired.  The littles are tired.  They had to get up early all week and go to daycare before school.  Now a couple of weeks of normal days.  I sure appreciate them the week after a long week.  And then we have Rush to look forward to.

Changes

So my last kid is in kindergarten.  That means no more pre-schoolers.  They are growing up.  Their daycare days are shorter except for days off from school.  This week they hit daycare morning and afternoon.  Mostly though we just use afternoons.
So now we have to plan around school schedules.  I had a heck of a time trying to get a doctor appointment for the little woman.  Finally took one mid afternoon and I will take her from school early that day.  Then I had to bump her dentist appointment...again.  And there is no getting that on a  day off from school.  It is what it is.  But I am not in the mindset of school schedules when I am trying to make appointments.
I almost had a wild hair and planned Disney for this fall.  There is a week of early release and we could have missed a couple of days then.  But then I didn't.  But I do think they are old enough now for that trip.  Still need to find someone to go with to do the rides with the littles.  Talking with one of the guys at work and he said good luck.....and then realized that maybe that wouldn't be so hard...if I paid for someone to go with.  Time will tell.  They get old enough and we won't need anyone.  ;p Whenever we go, we will try and see our friend Tanya and her son Jayden.  They moved down that way and we miss them at camping.
Anyway time is changing.  The littles are changing.   The season is changing.  It's all good.

School Lunch

Due to the littles receiving TANF, they get free lunches at school.  Now that is no benefit whatsoever to the little woman.  She does not eat school lunch.  Every day she takes her lunch.
I figured the little man might do school lunch though.  And maybe even some breakfasts.  So I did not send a lunch yesterday or today.
I asked him about lunch and he told me how they didn't have chicken nuggets (they did yesterday).  They had tuna fish sandwiches and fruit and chocolate milk.  He filled his plate and must have liked it.  I'm so glad he is eating lunch there.  And we will just continue with him doing so on the days he is in school.  :)
Life is always interesting having one picky picky eater and one who is not.  ;p

Full Day

The little man had his first full day of kindergarten.  He loved it.  He was so excited to tell me about it.  He met all the kids in the class.  They didn't get recess outside due to the pollutants in the air.  Now he can't wait to be able to ride the bus.  Sorry little man, no bus this week.

Home Again

We packed up pretty early and headed home.  To the joys of the mess in the kitchen.  So I went through all the cleaners and condensed.  Threw some out.  Threw out all the vases and things I had kept the last purge.  Found my leak.  The hose from the dishwasher to the drain has a hole in it.  I have no idea how it got the hole, but it is there.  And it is the kind of hose that can't be repaired.  Think I will wash dishes by hand for awhile.
The little man has a poop theory.  He says some people poop slow and others poop fast.  He is a slow pooper.  This came up while using the portapotty at camping.  He wanted me in there with him and it was hot and smelly.  And I didn't want to be there and was trying to get him to speed it up a bit.  But he is right.  Some are fast, some are not.
The ash is starting to settle on things here.  The smoke has been around a bit.  At least at camping there was a breeze most of the time which kept it out.

Fishing and Swimming

Uncle Pat spent another day fishing.  The little woman was hanging kind of close most of the day.  So she helped him with lures and getting fishing lines ready.  She got to go out on the little boat for a quick ride.  She spent a good amount of time in the water but close to shore.  The little man has no fear and he was always out with the big kids and Buddy the dog.  Part of the time he told us he could not touch bottom.  Then we had to set a new rule that he seemed to follow.  But it was kind of funny watching him bob in the water.
Cliff is always good for entertainment at camp.  He is always telling stories.  He found the mask and tried to scare the kids.  No one fell for it.  Riley just told him he was a killer.  Too funny.  I like when he gets out his guitar and plays.  Reminds me of my dad doing that.
We had our halibut.  And it was delicious.  We managed to keep enough ice on the food to keep it good.  Every day we had to buy more as it was so hot.
The night ended with this spectacular moon throwing light on the river.  The picture really doesn't do it justice.  All the smoke in the air really made it orange and incredible.  I had fallen asleep and then woke up.  Looked up and saw it.  The whole weekend with its trials and tribulations were worth it for that glimpse of the night moon.

Camping

Our camping joy actually started yesterday.  The little man and I had the afternoon while the little woman was in school.  So we went and did the shopping for camp food.  When we got home I noticed there was water on the floor in the kitchen.  Wait...what?  My first thought is so the dishwasher finally gave it up.  But the water came again after I cleaned it  up and it wasn't under the dishwasher.  I opened the cupboard door and saw no water but under the cupboard was water.  I'm totally confused at this point.  And then I opened the other cupboard door.  Oy.  All that stuff under the sink that I avoided having to deal with with the garbage disposal had to come out.  Got all the water cleaned up.  No more water anywhere not even when I'm running the faucet.  So my guess is going to be it still has something to do with the dishwasher.  But until I run it I won't know.
Got to camp and the kids raced off.  Uncle Pat was fishing.  I set up our camp.  Got it all ready.  When we went to go to bed the air mattress was half flat.  Nothing much to do that late at night.  So we aired it back up.  Well it was flat flat before too long.  And let me tell you the ground is hard.  And I am too old to sleep on the ground.  Don't think that will ever happen again.
So today included a trip home to get the other air mattress and some things from the store we forgot.  Like cooking oil for the fish.  Got to have our halibut.
Then when it was just about time today to cook dinner Pat called me from the beach.  The wind was blowing and all I got was the little woman and split lip.  Well she came up to camp covering her mouth.  Blood running down her arm.  She was wet so it probably wasn't that much blood.  I pulled her hand away from her face and she had been bit by a dog.  Time for a quick trip to urgent care.
Ha.  Urgent care closed an hour before we got there.  So then on to the ER at Salmon Creek.  We were there for two and a half hours which wasn't bad considering the numbing cream they use now takes 45 minutes.  She got two stitches and her lip is aligned perfectly.  She was so brave and she took her first pill that had to be swallowed.  The deal was if she could take it she sould not have to have liquid antibiotics.  She was a trooper.  And it doesn't look too bad.

Kindergarten Orientation/Conference

First day of kindergarten for my last kindergartner.  It was a short day with only half the class there.  Our district likes to start this way. That was each one gets a good first day with seeing how the routine works and not dropping through the cracks.
So my little man had to ride the bus with his sister first.  That meant he was there half an hour early.  They beat me by a minute and a half and that was all the time it took for him to be in line.  He was in  his line for half an hour and would not leave it.  So I left him and watched from the parking lot until more kinderagartners and some parents showed up.
After class we had the conference and of course I was all up in it since the little woman just did it a couple of years ago.  I think he is going to have so much fun and he has already shown his teacher how bright he can be.  Hope he keeps it up.  We gave her her gift card and she was beyond appreciative.
And so it goes.  Two school aged kids now.  Mike called before school to wish him luck on his first day.  Mike so absolutely has the potential to be such a good parent.  It is just too bad we mostly see it from incarceration.  Anyway he called and that is the important thing.