Men and planning.

  Okay, so every woman who has planned a wedding knows that a man just does not get it  where planning is concerned.  Most men think that it is something that you whip up in a day at the most (Yeah right! We wish!)  So although this is not about a wedding it is about planning.

          Today Christopher's Scout pack had a camping trip.  Because we have lacrosse games and other activities to deal with tomorrow, I allowed him to go, but not camp.  I planned on picking him up at the end of their campfire event 9:30 pm, so that he would miss nothing other than sleeping outside.  At 9:00 pm as I was getting ready to walk out the door, I get a worried phone call from one of the dad's.  "I don't think you will be able to get into the campgrounds, they close the gates at 9:00"  

           I replied, "Uhhh, actually they close the entrance gate and tell everyone who is camping to use the exit gate if you need to enter after hours."

         "Oh are you sure, I don't think so.  They said we were going to be locked in." 

 What is this? Prison or a campground?

            I assured him of the facts and left to pick up Christopher.  I had actually camped there last year with the girl scouts so I was familiar with this rule.  The reason I knew about this particular rule though, is not because I needed to leave, but because as soon as I heard that they closed the gate, I asked how would I get out in an emergency.  See what I mean? Planning...????

        Guy's never think about what would happen in the worst case scenario.  Gals do.  We have to protect our family.  Our kids safety comes first.  Think about it.  Is it most often Dad's or Mom's that throw their kids in the air and catch them? Let them run off in the woods by themselves?  Let them ride a bike without their bike helmet? Let them use the opposite sex bathroom by themselves? Make the kids wear sunscreen? etc.   

         Mom's by nature protect first.  That is the battle a mom has with child-rearing... letting them become independent.  Letting them fly on their own.  It is not an easy path to watch my little ducks slowly leave the nest.  I can hopefully guide them on their journey, but I will have to sit and watch as they each fly away hoping that I taught them well and praying that they don't find too many obstacles on their way.

Family Lunch Date

           For lunch on Friday we had our friend and Parish Priest  Father F. over for lunch.  We had a picnic lunch and ate outside in our backyard.  I was hoping to avoid rain, and we luckily had very nice weather.  It actually got so hot and sunny that we  were glad when some clouds came by.  Something about eating outside always makes a meal more fun. After a pleasant lunch,  Father posed with the kids for a photo.  It had to be next to the lacrosse goal or Christopher would get a little upset.  I think the photo turned out nicely for everyone. 

Bacon

My Friend Mary (Passionate Perseverance) posted this for her husband. It made me laugh so much that I had to share with my friends. I hope you enjoy this. Elizabeth LOVES it and has been quoting it for the past two days. Enjoy Jim Gaffigan's Bacon monolog.

Visit from Afghanistan

This is a picture of Honey and S-- while they were both in Afghanistan.

             Last night, Honey's friend and former Afghanistan coworker S--came over for dinner with his wife.  We had a great time visiting a eating dinner.  The kids were crazy of course, but reasonably well behaved.  Christopher challenged S- to a game of air hockey and he won one game and S- won the other.  Thankfully!  Christopher tends to win the game quite a bit and can be unbearable if he doesn't loose every once in a while!  

   Of course, per my typical luck I clogged the kitchen sink 5 minutes before they were supposed to come.  Ughhhh!  Twice in one week! This time it was completely my fault for sending too much down the disposal at once.    Just for the record, I can disassemble and reassemble the sink drain pipes, drain the sink, clean up the water and get rid of the clog in under 5 minutes!  Go Me!!!

  Of course as I was changing for bed I realized that I was wearing my sweater inside out. (ALL DAY!!!)  I guess I congratulated myself too early.  It sort of removes the sink victory if I can't pass Dressing Yourself 101!  I guess I need to go back to being 3 again!

Memorial Day Fun

Baltimore Aquarium

We all went with Elizabeth's Girl Scout Troop to the Baltimore Aquarium.  We saw the Dolphin Show, the Jellyfish Exhibit, the 4-D movie and part of the rest of the aquarium.  5.5 hours is a long day to be shlepping 4 kids around a crowded place, but we all had a great time.  The most interesting for me was the the 4-D movie.  It is like Rocky Horror Picture Show meets Documentary.  The Seats in the Theatre had special effects that you felt, smelt and got sprayed with.  Definitely a fun experience.  

          The Jellyfish were amazing and beautiful.  They took my breath away.  Too bad they are such a pain at the beach. (sorry for the pun)  I could probably watch them float for hours.

Look at all these Jellies.

   

 

  

         I think the kids liked the dolphins the best.  They are a lot of fun to watch, but honestly I'm getting to the point where I've seen enough dolphin shows.  How interesting can it be that the dolphin taps a ball suspended from the ceiling?  Nonetheless it was fun to watch the kids experiencing it for the first time.

My Boys                                 Elizabeth and her good friend MB  

 

The Girl Scout Troop

The Girls getting splashed in the "splash Zone"

 

Here is one of the Dolphins.  

   

The kids also had fun hiding between these bubble tubes.

   

There was also a large tank with rays and sharks and one sea turtle.  The kids liked looking for the sea turtle since he moved around a lot. 

Creations

 

            Christopher loved the Navy Blue Angels so much that he made his own lego ship out of them.  Super Cool Sweetheart!  Luckily for Mommy he does not want to be one.  They have such a high mortality that I would be happier if my Christopher was not a pilot, but it is of course God's will not mine, so I have to make the best no matter what.

  The kids have been very creative lately.  Here's once from Christopher.  Can you tell he's a sport's nut?  He is constantly telling me sports scores and giving me updates on games.

 

This one is from Rolo.  He made it in Preschool.  This is his "beach".  See the shells and the net.  I think it's adorable.  Luckily a picture will be a good reminder in the years to come because the "beach" is very crumbly and already destroyed from boy abuse.

Boys and Balls

          Boys will be boys but they are foreigners to me!  As many times as I say "Don't bounce, throw, catch, hit, shoot or pass balls in the house, I still get footballs flying past me and balls hitting me in the head.  Here is Christopher ready to pass the football and Rolo bouncing a ball.   I know they will grow up fast and I will miss this. Although sometimes it seems hard to imagine. 

          I had the privilege of a break from the kids this weekend  while my sister took the kids to spend two nights and a day with her.  It was eerie being in church without them and all the noise and distraction.  It was funny how different of an experience it was to not have them with me.   I missed them even though I  actually got to hear all the bible readings, sing all the songs and hear the homily.  It definitely made me appreciate them more to have them gone for a little while.

   

Boxed up.

Some clever comrade snapped this picture of Honey carrying the box with the lacrosse balls, gatoraid, snack mix, easter eggs, etc.  See, I wasn't kidding.  The box was VERY long and awkward!

Kitty

          Kitty has been with us for 2 days longer than our puppy dog.  He is a very sweet cat, but likes to hide out in my room all day.  Whenever I go on vacation though, he is VERY friendly to whomever is taking care of him.  He comes out and follows them around.  I guess he doesn't like me that much since he never follows me around, but that's okay  it doesn't hurt my feelings.  When we lived in Hawaii, he would go outside to hunt mice and birds, but thankfully he never brought me any "presents".  I personally consider that to be the perfect cat.  He can hunt, so I get a mouse free home, but since he doesn't want to share, I have never had to deal with the "gifts" from my cat.  I wonder if I could train our next cat to not like me enough to bring me presents?

           While Honey has been gone Kitty has been on a strict diet to get rid of his extra weight.  Because of this he meows for food to try to "trick" me into feeding him again.  Elizabeth has the duty of feeding him, so he hopes that I do not know when he has been fed.  Bad Kitty!  Hopefully he will be a thinner and healthier cat once Honey returns.

  Here is a photo of him begging for food.

Sign of Summer

As I was coming inside the house tonight I saw my first Firefly.  He was a feisty little one and I had to put him in a glass to get a photo.  I always see them as a sign of the summer and I was grateful to see him.  Maybe it will stay warm for a while.  The biggest problem I have with living here is that the cold just does not "get out of my bones from the winter"  I normally feel a lot better when I go visit my mom in the summer because it is just a little bit warmer and I can get the chill out.  Here's to us all having a Happy Summer!

A Day Out

            In between the sink not working and waiting for the plumber, I took the kids to the National Zoo with Honey's Auntie S and Uncle J.  We had been trying to do this for a long time, so I did not want to cancel.  The kids had a great time with them.  It was a lot of fun.  We did not see as much as we normally would since we had to get back to meet up with the plumber, but the kids had a nice time with Auntie and Uncle and that's all that really matters.  Here are some of the creatures we saw.

Lioness, Lion and tortoise.

Orangutan

Prairie Dog

Auntie S and Uncle J with kids.

         After seeing all those strange and magnificent creatures I am reminded of one of my favorite songs, and favorite books too,  All Things Bright and Beautiful.

Maker of Heaven and Earth ( All things Bright and Beautiful)  by Cecil Frances Alexander

All things bright and beautiful,  All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all. Each little flower that opens,  Each little bird that sings, He made their glowing colours, He made their tiny wings. The rich man in his castle, The poor man at his gate, God made them, high or lowly, And ordered their estate.  The purple-headed mountain, The river running by, The sunset, and the morning, That brightens up the sky;  The cold wind in the winter, The pleasant summer sun, The ripe fruits in the garden, He made them every one. The tall trees in the greenwood, The meadows where we play, The rushes by the water, We gather every day;-- He gave us eyes to see them, And lips that we might tell, How great is God Almighty, Who has made all things well.

Typical

           I think that Honey will come home to a whole new house and car.   I finally got Honey's car back from the shop.  It is really hard to try to fit into my schedule picking up the car, but luckily my neighbor goes to the same mechanic, so when she dropped off her car, she picked up mine and got a ride back to get hers.  That was a huge help.  So now that the mechanic has another mortgage payment from me, the kitchen sink decided to clog up.  Ahhhhhh!  will it never end?! The plunger, liquid plumber* and the 15 foot plumbing snake were of no help.  So as my dishes sat piled up around my sink last night, I realized that I was going to have to call a plumber.  Luckily for me, I got a night off from cleaning my sink!!!! So this morning, I took the approach from my brother in law: start calling plumbers until you get an appointment, never a maybe.  Especially since it is Memorial Day Weekend!!!  It only took 2 phone calls, a lot of $$$ and 2.5 hours to clear it, but I now have an operational kitchen sink-the central lifeline of my house.    The clog was 56 feet down the pipe!!!  He also fixed (for free!!) the toilet handle which conveniently broke off yesterday as well.  Happy Days!

* Personally I see it as a bad sign that when I bought the Liquid Plumber, a coupon for Roto Rooter popped out.  It did not give me much confidence in the Liquid Plumber.  Luckily? they have a "money back guarantee" if it doesn't work.  I think that means I get to lend them my $8 for three months and they might mail me a check, but they are hoping I will forget about it.

Air Show Pictures

 
   

  

 
Here are more pictures from the show.

Blue Angels

            Today we went to see the Blue Angels Air Show in Annapolis.  They give a show during commissioning week for the Naval Academy.  Since we are military, we were able to go to the Naval base across the River from the Academy.  This meant a significantly easier time finding a place to view the show.   We had a great view and a wonderful time.  My sister met me there and all the cousins got to watch together.  The only bad thing was that I forgot to put sunscreen on myself and my shoulders were fried.  Reminds me of my childhood.

Here are the some of the many photos.