Alaska Aficionado

We are all-to-quickly back from our trip to Alaska. If I called it incredible or amazing, that would seem so bland. The trip did exactly what it was intended to do: Nick and I got some time to be a couple without the maintenance of our sons' brotherly dynamics, AND we experienced some of the absolute best scenery the world has to offer. The final goal of the trip was to give us a booster, a collection of memories, to get us through the next few years of school, school, tests, housework, school, boys, school, boys, and school. Here are a few photos of the trip. I love Alaska!

A Little Afternoon Drama

On my way home today (an hour ago it has already been?) my dad calls telling me that ADT called HIM about MY house. The master bedroom window had been "breached," which I figured out quickly that meant broken, opened, or SOMETHING not good. Somehow I drove sanely for the few miles remaining. All of the sudden a curtain of SUPERSTRONG rain showers poured onto the van. Hmmm, perhaps it could've been the rain that jolted the window and triggered the alarm. Thankfully, I was right. I beat the sheriff to the house by a few minutes. I could see at least one dog in the front window, but having the boys in the van, I didn't want to approach the house. I guess if the boys had not been in the van, I STILL would not have wanted to approach the house. How our house is situated to where I can see the back facing the retention pond. From what I could tell, no windows along the back were broken or open. Things were looking up. The sheriff arrived and stood guard by the boys in the van (in the rain, bless his heart) while I went and checked the house. I would've sent him in, however, Charlie would've chewed him up and spit him out. No broken windows, open windows, forced open back doors, or even any unlocked windows or doors. I looked at the weather radar once we had the all-clear and sure enough a dark maroon spot of storms formed right over our neighborhood out of nowhere and must have revved its engines just enough to rattle the windows and trip the alarm. For some reason I am still rattled myself. Thank you Mr. Sheriff for helping me keep my home safe.
Now that I think about it, I didn't enter the house with a shovel or something. I just went right in. Ah, the life lessons.

More Summer Photos

Holy-Bubbles-Batman! Michael was again quiet for too long today. Come to find out, he was "making bubbles" in the bathroom sink. He got soap in the sink, pulled up the drain plug, and had the water a-blastin'. He was having the best time, but thankfully I sensed unbalance in the atmosphere. Oh, how glad I was to NOT have Niagara Falls in the bathroom! Michael loves waterfalls almost as much as bubbles!

Circus = Orange Juice

We're trying to keep quiet a super-covert operation around here today. Nathan is going with his dearest friend to the Circus's opening night tonight and we JUST CAN'T GO AROUND ANNOUNCING THAT TO MICHAEL. It's weighing big-time on his mind. He is giddy about going and can't stop blabbering about it. Hmmm. How would a superhero handle this? Code talking! We had to come up with something because everytime Michael heard "circus," he blurted out, "I wanna go circus." Nathan and I came up with a code word for circus: ORANGE JUICE. Now it is absolutely hilarious to see Michael's expression when Nathan says something like, "I can't wait to go to ORANGE JUICE tonight," or "How long until I go to ORANGE JUICE?" I hate to deceive my younger darling, but it's for his own good. I rarely get alone time with Michael when Nathan is away, so I am looking forward to that this evening. As much as I am treasuring my time at home with both of them this summer, I still love the alone-time with each one.

Michael Jackson

We will never truly know if Michael Jackson was a creep or not. People can speculate until they're blue in the face, but I'd like to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. Odd, mysterious--I agree that these are suitable adjectives of him.
An extraordinary entertainer and artist...definitely. I was so sad to hear about his death yesterday. I saw conflicting reports: one of his death, and one reporting his collapse and comatose state. I don't wish comas on anyone, but I was pulling for that report to be more true than that of his death. It was sad ot me that he spent the first part of his life with great fame and fortune. The latter part of his life was clouded with creepy undertones, personal attacks, health problems, and introverted hermit behaviors. He still remained famous, but much had changed.
When I was six, my dad took me to the Thriller concert at the Astrodome. I remember parts of the concert pretty well. He was all the rage, and his theatrical choreography and music just pushed the limits of popular music. I can imagine a little girl with blond pigtails dancing around the house singing Thriller and Beat It.
I'm not really a fan anymore, but when his songs blip onto the radio pretty rarely, I sing along. It's just sad to know he is gone.
It is just really sad.

Some Recent Funnies

1. Nathan is OBSESSED with Magic Tree House books. I didn't quite understand the depth of the OCD until he rattled off 40 out of the 42 book titles, in order, and categorizing them by whether they were his from the book fair, mine from my class library, on loan from this public library or that one. He was very distraught about forgetting two of them, and raced to the computer to google the titles. Weird.

2. While Nathan is rattling off the book titles, Michael wants in on some fun and attention. He sat with us in the kitchen, in his high chair, eating a spice cookie. He keeps shouting, "CHICKEN! CHICKEN!" What? Nathan rambled on, book number yada is yada yada, blah blah blah. CHICKEN! Michael, you're eating a cookie not a chicken. "Mommy, it wooks wike a CHICKEN!" Sure enough my brilliant little toddler was correct. He bit that little cookie into the shape of a chicken. A cookie cutter couldn't have been any more precise. So, I have a Magic Tree House book savant, and a poultry shaped cookie biting master. Oh, the intelligence runs rampant in this house! HA!

3. There's a children's poem by Jack Prelutsky called I'm Being Eaten By a Boa Constrictor. This morning, I swear, I was being eaten, chipped away, by the ENDLESS talking of a six-year-old. There's was a really cute commercial not too long ago where this little girl was juuuust a-talkin'. This, that, saying just about everything about nothing. Nathan is a talker, most definitely, but this morning he was REEEEEALY pushing it. I love to hear the creativity that comes out of his mouth. He beams with ideas, excitement, and wonder, but there must have been some atmospheric pull this morning that had his little mouth gushing out as many words as he could physically form. The house is really quiet right now, though. He found a Magic Tree House book-on-CD at the library and darn near busted a gut with excitement the other day. He's in the other room listening...perfectly still...quiet...aaaaah!

Oh, the really dark photo in the post just before this one is of Nathan reading in bed--yep, a Magic Tree House book--in the dark, by the light of his super cool, flip up LED book light. He loves it. So, so cute, but he IS obsessed!

Sheets + Chairs = SOOO Much Fun!

What can I DOOOOO? There's nothing to DOOOOO!

We have enough toys for a small country worth of children, and somehow we're lacking fun.

Nathan wants to set up Battleship. Great. However, we have Michael whose battle tactic would be WAY more destructive that sinking a few ships. We'd have little red and white game pellets all OVER the house. Battleship is better when Michael is napping--which he is not at the current time.

Zoo Game? Nope. Pieces, cards, shiny little circle things...also better for when Michael is napping.

I've done a nice job changing up routines this summer, making time to spend with each son individually (often while the other is at school) and still having lots of together time. This morning it is "back to basics." I enlisted some kitchen chairs and a few sheets. They're having the grandest time. They've manage to drag in EVERY SINGLE STUFFED ANIMAL that we own, blankets, play costume stuffs, and an occasional dog who will manage to sneak into the new, odd structure in the living room.

Here are a few pictures: one is of the "tent" and some others are of our summer experience so far! (I took a photo of Michael sleeping in his crib...notice the difference compared to his infant picture from 2006!)