What To Do When It's 103, Part II

...Get the hizizzle outta here. On Wednesday, the hubby surprised me and had scheduled a day off. We drove to the Everett waterfront and caught the tiny, free foot ferry to Jetty Island for a day of water play. I had read about this spot in this book and some friends of ours had also extolled its virtues.I am kicking myself for not taking more pictures, but hopefully you get the idea. This was our spot on the beach taken from the water. Pack some chairs and a blanket, an umbrella (there is very little shade) and a picnic and you are good. Remember, it's a foot ferry, so you are only taking what you can carry. They sell some bottled water, but there's no concessions or retail or anything like that, so take what you need.

This is a truly unique spot in the Pacific Northwest. It is a long sandy beach that you can wade out into Puget Sound for a hundred yards and the warm water is still only waist deep. You could also spend time here exploring the island, but the sand was too dang hot for that on our trip.

It was a whopping twenty degrees cooler here than at our house in the Cascade foothills where it felt like a giant blow dryer was trained on us.

This is a fantastic outing for family fun. The kids love the novelty of the four minute ferry ride and the danger quotient is extremely low. They can just run and splash and wear themselves out. If you have puppies for children like I do, it's a perfect spot. For such a hot day, it was surprisingly not too crowded, though I suspect that changes on summer weekends. I highly recommend it. The ferry is free, but donations are suggested to help subsidize the ferry at $2 per adult and $1 for children, round trip.

What the Dooce?

Came across this and laughed out loud at the alternate definition for "sahm"...Shit Ass Ho Motherfucker. It has a certain je ne c est quoi, non?

Hmm, it seems like I'm laughing a lot lately...I sense a theme.

SEVEN years old?!?!?! How did THAT happen?

Happy Birthday to my big boy! Mr. excited came in to snuggle at 6:30 this morning. It's now like snuggling with a bag of squirmy sticks in contrast to Big Red's soft little body that still curls into mine.

It's all suddenly going by too fast. This boy who listens to Green Day in his room like a teenager, rides his bike fearlessly and reads for hours at a time.

Lots of festivities all weekend and family coming in. What happened to my baby? Happy Birthday to you, my sweet.

Did you hear that?

We haven't been camping since we had kids. We bought a new tent last summer and finally pulled it out for the first time this weekend. I always said I wouldn't change a diaper while camping and Big Red pretty much potty trained himself on his third birthday, so that was it.

It was time for a backyard campout to test the boys' ability to brave the great outdoors. They read until it got dark, then promptly fell asleep without incident. It is surprisingly loud in the backyard at night and I couldn't sleep at all. Every little noise pricked up my ears.

We decided that they passed the test and the whole family came in about midnight to our cozy beds...next stop - a real campground.

Ummm...Oops?!

So, I wanted to get the boys' hair cut short for the summer. Boy haircuts is not something that I know a lot about...buzz cut, flat top...these are not meaningful terms to me.

We went to Rudy's in Bellevue and there was a sign, $10 buzz cuts. I thought, hey, this sounds like just the ticket. Tank was first. The stylist was a little impatient and I didn't know what number on the clippers to request. They both usually get a #2 on the sides with a regular hair cut, so I said how about a 1 1/2?

Ummm...oops. You can actually see the bones in his skull. I'm hoping it grows out a bit before his birthday in two weeks...

Big Red went next, had a better stylist and I had the good sense to say #4!

His, father, without missing a beat, said "You look just like a Jedi, buddy" and suddenly, all's well.

Mommy and Me

I took advantage of a few more paid days of preschool/daycare for Big Red so that Tank and I could have some quality time just the two of us.

It's easy to forget, when you have two kids, that each of them needs dedicated time with each parent. It had been far too long since T and I had a little one on one.


We dropped Big Red off and Tank was a total celebrity. It's been two years since he left the school and kids and teachers all remembered him and were excited to see him. He looked so BIG among all the little squirts.


First stop: Top Pot...for chocolate milk and a doughnut the size of his head.


Then, we went and made a hand print plate to match the one we have of Big Red at the paint your own pottery place.
After that, we did the playground, lunch out, a few errands, and then I let him play baseball in the cul-de-sac with the older boys for a little bit. The day is capped off with swimming lessons.


It was wonderful to have some time just the two of us and we will always have the plate to remember today. When we were eating lunch I was thinking that there was nowhere I would rather be...

Son of Smoothie

I toyed with calling this post "dispatches from the land of pajamas".

This morning was a first. The boys got up early so I sent them both back to bed...with me. We rolled out of bed around 8:30. At our house, smoothies and pancakes are a weekend ritual, but I broke with tradition and we made them this morning. We missed papa, but it was also fun to do it just the three of us.

What a stark contrast to our hurried working mommy/school/daycare mornings.

Big Red, enjoying his pancake and smoothie.
The picture above also illustrates the full, swirly head of red hair that tops our youngest. His aunt calls him "Trump", as in The Donald.

Into the Breach

Well, today was the last day of school. I officially have two boys on my hands 24 x 7.

Here we go......

Far Afield

Evidently, I do things like chaperone field trips now. I've been on two in the past month. Yesterday was the zoo and I must say that I am not as patient as I would like to be and was very much looking forward to a gin and tonic at the end of the day.

The kids are a little squirrelly as it is the end of the school year and they seemed more interested in hiding in bushes than looking at the animals. Generally speaking, the boys are jostly and the girls are bossy. Upon further reflection, these generalizations of gender are not confined to the elementary school set but seem to continue late in life.

Life's a Beach

Like the title of this post? Haha, that's funny, right? You've never heard that one before, have you?

Seriously, we had a totally free day today, so took the opportunity to go over to West Seattle, the old stomping grounds. We checked out the Farmer's Market and were about five minutes too late to enjoy some food from Skillet. I've got to get some of that bacon jam, man.

We went and had pizza on the beach, explored some tide pools and just messed about. On the way back we saw a sign that our realtor was having an open house, so we stopped to chat with her.

I have to confess that I do miss the city a bit. I don't think I really miss our old house or West Seattle in particular, but just urban life and all the diversity and energy it offers...

Those su-hu-mer ni-heights

Anybody else completely unable to get their children to go to bed at a reasonable hour in the summer??? Tank comes downstairs wanting a passage in a book deciphered or to discuss the middle east peace process at ELEVEN P.M.
Last night I removed the lightbulbs from their rooms so they have to go to bed when it gets dark...farm style. This made Big Red really mad.
This morning, I blared music and opened their blinds wide and sang at the top of my lungs to rouse them. They were contrite and agreed to go to bed tonight when mama and papa say so.
I enjoyed it more than I should have.
Oh, and here's some zucchini bread that I healthed-up a good deal...what can I say, they ate it...

New Low or New Normal?

I drove Tank to school in my pajamas today. I had not brushed my teeth even. I put on flip flops and a sweatshirt over my pj's. Glasses on an unwashed face and hair in a scrunchy.

I have heard that this can happen to you...

Little Leagues and Big Leagues

It was Little League Day at Safeco Field, so the whole family went down to sit with Tank's team and cheer on the M's (who won). Big Red was relatively well behaved for a 3 year old and there was a lot of scoring action and perfect weather. I haven't been very many times but this was one of the best.

Sundays are strange. There's no need to try to get all the chores done before the week starts. There are home organization projects to tackle and cleaning cleaning cleaning, but still I find that I'm a little at loose ends.

from powerpoint to popsicles

We are experiencing an unusual heatwave for this early in the summer. Big Red and I did a little baking yesterday afternoon and I am starting to wade through the severance, retention, unemployment, COBRA document forest.

Not willing to completely abandon my structure, I have been making lists, lists, lists and cleaning up the home computer now that I am sans laptop.

Tank continues to want to go to afterschool care, so I am letting him. We are going to ease into this...

As soon as Neufie shows me how to download pics off the good digital camera, there will be visuals to go with my posts...any day now.

Revolutionary Road?

Okay, so maybe this wasn't the smartest thing to read right out of the gate....

One day home and I have completely lost all sense of urgency. Our summer fun doesn't really start until school gets out but everybody seems more relaxed already.

looking down the barrel

24 more work days and counting until I will be thrust into the ranks of the suburban stay at home moms. I just turned 39 and am becoming philosophical about my impending 40's, my almost unemployment and what it all means. Follow me on my journey if you will.

jftb