Yoga

I caught Jon in this interesting pose while watching the movie tonight. Of course, by the time I grabbed the camera, his hands weren't clearly behind his feet as they were earlier, but you get the idea. For all of you who do Yoga, I challenge you to add this to your routine next time. I didn't even try to see if I could do it quite frankly.

Spiderwick

The kids favorite thing to play together these days is Spiderwick Chronicles. They dressed up and made a sign and asked me to take their picture for the blog, so here it is. Ashley and Sami are pixies. Jon is Thimbletack the brownie/boggart.

Black Eyed Susans and Fireflies

Today on the way home from church, I noticed a beautiful patch of black eyed susans on the side of the road. I nearly stopped in the rain to pick some. I don't usually think of black eyed susans as favorite flowers not even as favorite wild flowers, but something about them was just lovely. The last couple of nights, the fireflies have been out. I think they like it that we have had rain. Everything is damp and humid. Tonight, all the kids were able to come out and see the fireflies. It was nothing like the picture I posted. There were just groups of small flashes here and there, but they all found some, and it was a lot of fun. It also brought on lines from Mater and the Ghostlight, which brought on plenty of laughs. Why am I posting this goofy musing? It reminded me how grateful I am sometimes for small seemingly insignificant things. Little Wonders. By the way, midsummer's night has come and gone. Happy official summer to all. The days will now begin to get shorter until late December.

I've Been Tagged

I have been tagged and am somewhat late in doing this. So, for what it is worth:

Two Names I Go By: Tiffany, Tiff, Mom (o.k. that is more than 2 and there are several more)
Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now: Red T-shirt, denim capris
Two of your favorite Things To Do: Read & Go Adventuring with the kids
Two Things You Want Very Badly At This Moment: A good massage (I have been working out diligently this week and am sore in bizarre places) & A Presidential Candidate that I feel confident in
Two Favorite Pets: Not really applicable to me.
Two People Who Will Fill This Out: I am not going to ask anyone to, so again, it doesn't apply.
Two Things You Did Last Night: Watched part of the John Adams mini series (it is very good by the way) with Trent & laundry (exciting I know).
Two Things You Ate Today: Cantelope & Scrambled eggs
Two Last People You Talked To: That would be my children. I can't say for certain what order it all went in when I put them in bed, but probably the girls.
Two Longest Car Rides: Drive from Colorado to Virginia hands down & Drive from Utah back home to California on New Years Eve 2005 when a mud/rock slide closed I-80, and we had to go down to Carson City and around Lake Tahoe to get home.
Two Favorite Vacations: Hard one, because I have many vacations both big and small that I think of fondly. I would have to say our trip to Istanbul for our 1st anniversary & Our time in Utah, Colorado, and at Camp Loll last summer.
Two Favorite Drinks: Limeade & Cherry Coke Zero though I am all about Water.

I am not going to tag anyone. So few read this that also blog that it seems futile. I was glad to be tagged though. Thanks Shea.

Happy Birthday Sami!

This Sunday was Samantha's 3rd birthday. It is hard to believe that she is that old sometimes. We had a quiet day for the most part, but she loved it all. We are getting her "big girl" bed but haven't settled on what exactly we are getting. I might post about that when I get it together. For the most part, she just loved opening her gifts, looking at cards, and telling everyone it was her birthday. She has also been asking for a butterfly birthday cake since Jon's birthday. (Thanks for the links to look at and steal from Mom) She was really excited to be the person we sang to and to blow out the candles. It was cute. Looking back, the memory that is still strongest about that day (the actual day she was born that is) is my friends Megan and Jill saving me. Thank you again both of you. I am grateful to have such wonderful friends. Here are a few pictures of the day.

The cake

Blowing out the candles. I still can't figure out why she insisted on being so far from the cake. She is usually right in the middle of everything!

Virginia Beach

This is Trent's last week of leave before reporting to CLAMO. We took advantage and drove down to Virginia Beach on Monday. We stayed at the Navy Lodge and then went to the beach Tuesday morning before coming home.

The drive down was great. After we checked in, Monday afternoon and evening turned into a potential lampoons movie. The lady at the front desk of the Navy Lodge told us about a water park on base that sounded like a lot of fun. We got the kids suited up and sunscreened and went to check it out. Turns out it is closed on Mondays. There is also a beach that is accessible from the base when it isn't being used. Wouldn't you know it, the gates were closed, because they were using the beach for an amphibious training exercise. We drove into town to check out the parking situation for the next day and then started looking for someplace to have dinner. Other than Arby's and Subway, most places were closed either because they sold only breakfast and lunch or because they were just closed. Mugging the Pizza Hut truck started looking like a possibility. We found a little Mexican place that looked decent. Turns out it was a step up from Taco Bell. Sigh. We still had a good time.

Tuesday morning, we got up early and got everyone suited up. We ate a quick breakfast and headed for the beach. In case you missed the news earlier this week, the east coast has had a nasty heat wave. The high for Tuesday was supposed to be around 102. With the humidity, it makes it unsafe especially for the kids. Therefore, we arrived at the beach around 8:30. The water was cool and felt great. The kids couldn't wait to get in and play around. By 10:30, there were shade structures (umbrellas etc.) up all over the beach. I took a break shortly after that, and I realized how hot it was already getting. When we were playing in the water, it wasn't that noticeable. It only took a minute or two out of it to start sweating standing still. Wow! Luckily for us, Trent had purchased a shade structure at the Exchange the evening before. It worked out great for stowing our stuff and for giving us a place to go sit down and get some water periodically. Good thinking Trent!

We left around 11:30. It is a testament to the heat that none of the kids argued with us when it was time to leave. Dad bought some replenishing slurpees and we were off for home. It was a short trip, but we sure did have a great time.

Cool Jon sporting his new sunglasses

Our shade structure (I took a picture of all of the umbrellas and blue caves along the beach, but it ended up being an unintentional picture of the lifeguard in her bikini, so I will leave it out.) The Monster House sand castle Trent built with Jon


There is a great statue of Neptune at the beach. I took some pictures as we left. I am so used to California (west coast) where the sun sets over the ocean. Here, it rises over the ocean (east coast duh). As a result, the sun was in our eyes out over the ocean and makes it hard to see the great detail in the statue.

Seriously?

It appears that the International Astronomical Union has decided to rename Pluto following its reclassification as a dwarf planet.

Pluto will now be called Plutoid. Plutoid? Really? I for one am stubborn on this. As far as I am concerned there are still 9 planets. The smallest is called Pluto. Afterall, in the term dwarf planet, the word dwarf serves as an adjective describing the noun planet. Don't these people have anything better to do?

Photos

Early last fall, the primary presidency at church took each child outside and had the secretary, Mandy Carroll, take a picture of them. It is common. I didn't think anything of it. I know Mandy is a professional photographer, but these were quick shots. No big deal. At the quarterly activity in December, the kids made gifts to give others in their family. They made picture frames for Mom and Dad and little wooden treasure boxes, journals, and toy snakes for whomever they chose. Samantha was too young to participate in the activity. When we opened our gifts from Ashley and Jon, I was beyond pleased at the pictures included in the frame. They were the ones Mandy had taken. The picture of Jon is hands down one of my top 5 favorite pictures of him. I like the one of Ashley as well, though I keep her school picture in her frame right now. As a result, I couldn't find it to scan in for this post. When I locate it, I will try and remember to post it. My only disappointment? There was no picture of Sami though I know they took one. I was there when it happened.

A few weeks ago, I dropped the kids off in the nursery while I donated blood for an Eagle Scout project. They had finally put up the pictures of the nursery kids. I LOVED the picture of Samantha and have been plotting how and when to get it off of the bulletin board. Imagine how pleased I was when one of the ladies that helps in the nursery simply handed it to me at the end of church today.

Though they were taken quickly, I just love the pictures. Mandy has so much talent. I would love to have her take professional pictures of the kids. She works outdoors in natural light and specializes in working with kids. You can look at samples of her work at her blog or her official site. I would love it, but she is expensive. I am sure it is worth it, but I can't justify it. Still, I just had to share these pictures. They are great don't you think?

Baltimore Aquarium

Trent is still on leave, so we decided to plan a mini trip up to Baltimore to go to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. We left early Tuesday afternoon, stopped off in Quantico and then headed up to Baltimore where we stayed the night before spending Wednesday morning at the aquarium. The aquarium is fantastic, and we all had a great time. This was one of those trips where the trip itself was often as much fun as the destination. (or at least funny)

When we arrived at Quantico and headed into the exchange to get our discount tickets for the aquarium, I noticed Sami had spilled half her bottle of water into her seat, and her bottom was soaking wet. That would explain her complaining for the previous 30 minutes or so. While Trent picked up the tickets, I went over to children's clothing and bought a new outfit for Sami, which turned into a new outfit for all of the kids. I know, I am a pushover. While we finished getting clothes, changing and looking around in general, Trent decided to get a haircut. At the barbershop at Quantico, they have a device hooked to the clippers that vacuums away the hair as it is cut. Trent, who hadn't seen said device previously, asked what it was. The lady cutting his hair then remarked that Trent hadn't been there before. She followed that up with the question, "you FBI?" Trent explained that he was Coast Guard. She remarked that the Coast Guard liked their hair longer. Trent told the lady that he was technically working for the Army for the next year. She then told Trent he needed to fit in. Trent has a very good priced shorter than usual haircut. I know, shorter than Trent's usual seems improbable. We thought the whole thing was funny.

Of course, our pit stop put us on the Washington/Baltimore expressway, otherwise known as the Beltway, at around 5:00 in road construction. Wow! Traffic was bad. While sitting in traffic, Trent and I started composing a modern day version of Dante's Inferno. We decided that one of the inner circles of hell has to be Beltway traffic at 5:00 in road construction. We are still coming up with ideas for the rest of the story. If you have any, please share. If they are good, know that we will likely steal them. Now might be a good time to mention we did this trip in Trent's car. That means that we put ourselves and our three children in a Toyota Yaris HATCHBACK!! No more evil laser guided stares at the fact that I have three children please.

We did eventually get off the Beltway and into smooth traffic up to Baltimore. (Our children cheered loudly at this point). When we got near the airport (where our hotel was located), we started to attempt finding the right exit. (Did I mention we left our directions at home?) Also, did you know that taking a wrong exit in that area of the world won't just take you down some road you don't want to be on that you can turn around on and head back in the opposite direction? No, a wrong turn or exit will most likely put you on another interstate heading somewhere entirely wrong (New York in our case). It was at this time that Sami decided to inform us all that she needed to "pee pee." She has been extremely stubborn about the potty training thing, so we reminded her that she had a diaper on. She started crying and insisted on going in the potty. So, we found a gas station, took Sami to the bathroom and bought her some M & Ms for her effort. (see bribing and chocolate in post below) Of all the times to pick about being adamant about using the potty, Samantha picks a road trip in which we only mostly know where we are going. This request manifested itself several times on the return journey. That time, however, we knew where we were.

We checked in, found out the pool was not open, waited for Ashley to finish mourning that the pool was not open, had dinner and then watched Spiderwick in our room. Ashley is reading the books and loved it. Jon, the future Tim Burton, loved it as well. Sami got so scared at the end that she cried. As a result, Jon got to sleep with Daddy, and I got the pull out bed in the living room area of our room with Sami.

Trent and kids in front of USCGC Taney, which was on the way into the Aquarium. Of course we stopped and took a picture!

Next morning, we got to the aquarium with only one wrong turn. It was so great. I wish I had more pictures, but every time I tried to photograph the sharks or rays etc., I got dark images or flash reflected off of water or glass. I have never seen rays that big before, and I loved the sea turtle. It was also huge. There were so many great exhibits. Jon was distraught at first, because the giant pacific octopus exhibit was closed. The octopus has grown too big for his habitat, and they are building him a new one. Jon got over it by the time we went to see the dolphin show though.

Trent and kids in front of bubble columns.

Trent bought the kids chomper head toys. Jon got a hammerhead shark and the girls got dolphins. For those of you wondering if I confiscated them by the time we were in D.C., the answer is no. Surprisingly, not only did I not take them and hit Trent with them by D.C., I didn't at all. I also found it hilarious, when our kids had their chompers clacking and singing along to Volcano by Jimmy Buffett.

kids with their chompers

On the way home, we stopped and had lunch. One of the ladies sitting at the table next to ours stopped on her way out and made a point of noting how well behaved our children were. I am shocked too! She said she does day care. Trent and I wondered all the way back to the interstate what kind of head cases she is watching if she thinks our kids are well behaved enough to say so. O.k., I am mostly kidding. They were actually quite good.

While at the restaurant, a huge thunderstorm hit. It was raining sideways when it first started up. It was still pretty bad when we left and for awhile after that. I know I should have been worried about the potential for flooding (we were in the Yaris after all) and about tornado warnings though the wind wasn't bad at the time. I couldn't make myself stop enjoying it though. I LOVE the rain and particularly a summer thunderstorm. I love the lightening and thunder. I love the sound and the smell.

Great trip. Hard to believe it was not even two days.