One of the unblogged about activities of the summer has been the free summer movies at the movie theater. Every Tuesday and Wednesday, they show semi old kids' movies for free. So we've hit it up every week. Well, this week they showed Kung Foo Panda. Which is a movie that I fully enjoy. So, we saw it, but then I remembered why these types of shows must be doled out with caution. Because... well. Here:
Don't let your eyes deceive you. Though each of Cody's moves appears to be about the same, subtle differences make each move progressively tougher. You have to be a Kung Foo master to understand.
And lest you doubt the power of these particular kung foo moves, watch this one. (And please note the warning I give at the beginning of the video. Moms are always right.)
This is what happens when Big Brother leaves his ice cream out on the table, expecting to find it there when he comes back...
"I am prepared to flatly deny that I had anything to do with eating Cody's ice cream."
"Alright, it was me, I admit it! And I'm glad I did it! Glad I tell you! Glad!"
Poor Cody. It's a bit like when I make a pan of brownies one night, and then two nights later, Ryan looks around for them and he's like, "Uh, where are the brownies you just made?" I'm like, "Uh, brownies? Those were gone 2 days ago, buddy." You just can't leave your sweets unattended, boys.
Welp, the photo albums are still packed, so you'll just have to take my word for it, when we got married, we were sure cute. :)
Now, we're still kind of cute...
But I'll tell you one thing. We're happier today than we were then. Oh, don't get me wrong, we were happy then. We had a wonderful wedding day, and we loved each other. But today, with our 3 little muffins and our challenges and 8 years of life under our bridge, we look at each other with a feeling of solid contentment that I don't think we had the ability to have 8 years ago. We were happy then. We're just happier now.
So one night, Ryan and I were watching the news, and they had some random little trivia contest--how many inner tubes does Roaring Springs Waterpark have? 250, 285, 350 or 400. Ryan was like, "Hah! That's easy. Of course it's 285." So he logged on and submitted his answer. And won?! He was the first one in with the right answer, so we won 2 passes to Roaring Springs! Booyah! We still had to buy one ticket for Nathan who, thanks to being a behemoth, has to pay full adult price at age 6 (since they do it by height there. Boo. But still, a pretty fantastic deal!)
Is anyone else a little worried that they are so evenly balanced on the teeter totter? (And Nathan's lack of fat reserves will come into play later.)
Cody LOVED this little slide. He spent the bulk of his time climbing up and sliding down. And making sure between each time that I'd still be waiting for him when he got to the bottom. Poor kid is a little freaked out about being left in a busy place.
All kinds of good times. Those water wheels where you control the power of the water are a hit, aren't they? Kids, and maybe especially boys LOVE to feel the power. :)
But Nathan got cold. 95 degrees outside and he's crying because he's so cold. I guess it's hard when you're less than half a percent body fat. Get some fat, boy!
"I am not a crook." "But I might be the cutest little fella in the pool."
Like we'd ever leave such a cute little morsel for someone else to have. Yeah right.
And if we're talking about cute... there can be no argument. Can there? I mean, LOOK AT THAT THING!
So from Thursday morning to Sunday evening, I split for a Girls' Trip. To see these people:
Katie, Erin, Melinda, You Better Know Me, Jenny and Melinda.
Also to see some lavender. Yup, we hit Sequim's Lavender Festival. You know, the usual lavender farm tours, lavender crafts, lavender lotions and potions, craft fairs, lavender lemonade, lavender ice cream, lavender barbeque sauce. You know. Common lavenderish things.
Then we popped on over to Canada.
(Hi Alanna and Ashley!)
We went over to Victoria, BC for the day, where we...
rode the double decker,
and went to Buchart Gardens, which is filled with
crazy beautiful vistas,
and crazy Dr. Seuss flowers... seriously, these are real flowers?
and occasionally, it also has 7 crazy girls.
We ate plenty of ice cream. And when we weren't eating it, we were talking about eating it.
We stayed up waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too late,
and we crafted a lot, even though I don't think we have a picture of that.
Also, we did lots of weird stuff. Hm. I have no idea who that strange girl in the background is or what she is doing. I must have blacked out during that part. That's all I can figure.
I'm not joking, I wake up ALMOST every morning and think, "Oh my word I love my life." Except first thing in the morning, it sounds a little more like, "OhmywordIlooooooooooooovemyliiiiiiiiiiife!!!" I sleep GREAT in our new house. Plus Ryan gets up with our kids 98% of the mornings. WHAAAT? I know. Then by the time I get up (at 8), he has made them pancakes and they're all happily munching. I know. As if that weren't reason enough to love my life, I've got more.
Whenever Cody wakes up, the first words out of his sleepy little head are, "Mama." Serious. Every time we wake him up to go potty, or every time he falls asleep in the car--every single time. His first thought when he wakes up to this world his "Mama." That makes my heart sing. He's my boy.
Also, my kids like to cuddle up on the same chair and sing together.
I love it that these kids love each other so much that even given 2,850 square feet of space, they all choose to be in the same 2 square feet. :)
Since we're still on the topic of the kids, Miss Leah. Little Miss Leah. She might, and I'm just tossing this out there as a possibility, be the cutest darn smidge of a little girl that ever there was. She is soooooo chatty. She repeats anything you say. (In fact, small funny story: when Uncle Trevor was here, he was quizzing Nathan on math. Addition and subtraction, mostly. He said, "Nate, what's 18 minus 9?" And Leah pops out, "Nine!" She may just have been copying the last word Trevor said, or she may be genius level brilliant. You decide.)
She dances like a maniac when she's really feelin' it. Here:
Whenever she asks for something and includes that little "Please??" She's almost certain to get it. And she almost always says "thank you" when I give it to her. I think she has learned the great secret of this life. Please and thank you. The world is your oyster, girl.
Alright, alright, if you're still here with me after all the videos, I'll tell you a few other reasons why I love my life.
Ryan and I play a game every night. Correction: I beat Ryan at a game every night. It's fantastic.
And every where I turn, I am reminded of how much I love my house. I went outside at eventide to mail something and when I turned around and saw my house, I was just like, "Whaaat? This gorgeous creature belongs to me??"
So I took a picture. It was at night, so you can't really get the whole effect, I guess, but it was just so beautiful, so peaceful, so quiet. My neighborhood is a dream. I love this place.
Also related to the house, this:
Um, huh? Yeah, Bethany, I was with you about the good sleep, the nice husband, the adorable kids, the wonderful house, but... some under the sink cabinet??
I just found this cabinet. I've lived here a month and one day I looked down and to my great surprise, discovered a whole new cupboard that I had not previously known existed. Are you telling me that if you magically discovered a whole new cupboard to store whatever you want that you wouldn't be thrilled??? It's amazing.
to guess 85! Alanna, where do you get off, girl? I realized the flaw in my guessing game was that I didn't put a time line on it. No end in sight. Darn. So when Megs guessed 83, I thought, "Shoot, that's as close as I'm gonna get! I better call this thing and send that girl some EARRINGS for being BOLD ENOUGH to guess anywhere in the 80's." But then I got distracted watching Brian Regan before I made my post to announce her winnings and Alanna came in and SCOOPED the thing. She probably did it mathematically. She does stuff like that just for fun. Plus, she has a freaky good memory and for all I know, when we were roommates, I might have mentioned my grandma's birthday and she remembers it 10 years later. She's like that.
My belly dancing grandma is 85.
But you'd be out of your gourd to guess a day out of the 70's, am I right? Unless you were trying to score a free pair of BWeed earrings, which must account for spurring some of you on to such boldness when most of the reasonable 70's numbers got picked.
Alanna, you wild woman, send me your address. I'm sending you a pair of earrings. Thanks for playing along with me. You know how I like games. You guys make things fun for me.
We had a great time with my spicy Mexican grandma. (Want to know a small funny story? The first time she saw a picture Ryan, she immediately dubbed him "James Bond" for his rugged good looks, tallness and blue eyes. The name stuck, though she didn't meet him for another 2 and a half years, by which time we were engaged. The first time she met him, she was deliberating with him about which dress she should wear to our wedding, and in the course of this conversation, said the word "sexy" in reference to one of her dresses about 6 times. After wetting his pants, Ryan nearly fainted dead away.)
In Fourth of July news, I think I might be a Fourth of July scrooge. Oh, don't get me wrong, I love our country. We sang the Star Spangled Banner today at church and I got a little misty. It's the fireworks. I deeply considered NOT stopping at the little fireworks booth and spending $20, but rather taking the boys out to the backyard and just straight lighting up a $20. But I got real fireworks and oh my word, our boys were leaping with small boy joy. They thanked us about 18 times. Maybe they sensed my teeterings about whether or not I should spend our money on fireworks. Their exuberance sealed the deal for me. They got me. I'll buy 'em again next year.
I didn't take pictures of the joyous event. But here are a few other pictures from the day:
Leah's 4th of July outfit.
(She couldn't be kept still for a non blurry shot.)
And Cody's 4th of July outfit:
I let him wear this to the store with me the other day. In the interest of the public good. Because I don't mind if he wears this in public, and it makes lots of people smile. Smiling is good.
And the only picture I took of Natey and Ryan:
By this point, of course, Cody had already fallen asleep.
Also, we did a Fourth of July cooking project today. This was our final product:
Smores on sticks. Click here if you want to see what they were supposed to look like. (Then again, she freely admits that she had absolutely no help from a child. So maybe THIS is what they're really supposed to look like, eh?)
Happy 4th everyone!
Edited at 1 in the morning to add:
Dear Fireworks Guy 3 houses down from us,
1 am is past time to stop.
Yesterday was actually a day too early, but I let it slide, chalking it up to unbridled enthusiasm for a holiday that comes only once a year. But given that it is 1 in the morning, your passion for exploding things has now stretched over 3 days. Time to stop, man. Time to stop. Put the punk down and back away slowly. May I recommend a course of therapy for you? Next year, take out 4 hundred dollar bills, then take your match and light them. Savor the slow (quiet) burn. Then go to bed.
Sincerely,
Your patient-only-to-a-point neighbor in the Papaya Palace 3 houses down from you, who can distinctly hear every pop, boom, whistle, screech, scream and zinger and then resultant whoop from you. If you wake up my kids, so help me...
Ok, let's play a guessing game. I'd like you to guess how old my grandma is. Now, I know that's a tall order. I mean, how could you know whether I'm the oldest grandchild or the youngest grandchild or somewhere in the middle? How old was she when she gave birth to my father? Where did my dad fall in the birth order? How old was he when he had me? Do you even know how old I am? I mean, there are just too many factors for you to be able to make a guess without receiving any clues whatsoever, so I'll give you some.
She plays baseball.
And football.
(Those flowers you can see in the background? A mere smidgeon of her garden! She's got roses as big as your head, no lie.)
She does a lot of swimming.
And she's hip. (Backwards visor = hip hot granny. :)
She blows bubbles.
She's a fantastic cook. (Now that really is true. This particular meal that she and Cody are sharing happens to be a meal composed mostly of pine cones, but in her real kitchen, she's a wizard. Do you know that while we were there, due to the busy schedule you see pictured, she made the momentous decision to buy rolls? Why's that so momentous, you want to know. Well, because it's the second time in her life that she has purchased rolls from the store. She's a from scratch gal. In fact, while we were there, she made her signature Mexican meal that includes homemade re-fried beans, rice, tacos and enchiladas. That's an all day cooking project! No big thing for that woman. And by the way, if you're eating Mexican food that involves olives or corn, you are not eating real Mexican food and don't even bring it up in her household. ;)
She's got a great rock throwing arm.
She'll take you wading in the river without your shoes on.
Kids love her.
She's cute as can be.
And when people are around her, they always just end up having a great time.
Not pictured, but here are a few other things that will give you clues as to her age: every morning at 7, she gets up to walk a few miles with her friend Penny. And these aren't straight, flat roads we're talking about here. They're climbing hills and such. She read a great book about China (called Wild Swans, and I've read it as well. It's great! You should pick it up.) and she was so inspired by the book that she decided to pop over to China. Like that's no big thing. And, at her local YMCA, she routinely takes two classes: Zumba (I've heard of 20-somethings who are scared to take Zumba), and Belly Dancing. Oh no, that's no typo--belly dancing.
So? Seriously. Humor me. What are your guesses? You want to make it fun? I'll send a pair of earrings to whoever is closest. (Emily, I know that I've already told you her age. You can't play. But I still love you and I'll send you a pair of earrings anyway if you want. :) (Mom and Aunt Kim, you can't play either. Sorry. But hi.)
Alright, so guess away!
(And, not that it should influence your decision in any way, but she does read this blog (hi Grandma!), and frankly, she's not the kind of gal I'd want to have mad at me, so think it over when you're making your guess.)
But obviously, they were all very polite people, as they all removed their shoes at the door. :)
I can't think of any creative way to tie all of our pictures together. So, here they are. A multiplicity of pictures, most of them courtesy of Liz and T. Thanks for doing a MUCH better job of taking pictures than I did!
So, a very picture heavy post coming up. Without further ado, we...
had synchronized baby tossing events...
we picnicked...
played Frisbee...
played in the water... (these two played together just great in the way that all approximately 15-month-olds do, by basically ignoring each other in the same vicinity. That's what constitutes playing for a 15 month old.)
stayed properly hydrated...
played football...
played it up for the camera... (that Benny. What a guy.)
snuggled...
got our pictures taken...
played a little Contra (for old times' sake)...
played a little kickball...
tried really hard not to hit our sisters with the ball...
played fun, fun games with grandpa...
he knows the one I mean...
Seriously, it NEVER gets old.
We went to Lucky Peak...
cried because our mommies are so mean to us...
"You're mean to me, mom. You take pictures while I'm crying! At least Daddy is nice to me."
"See? I'm perfectly pleasant and reasonable when Daddy gives me what I want."
Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, we also...
slept...
slept a little more...
slept a little more...
then we slept even a little more...
and then, yuh-huh, you guessed it, slept a little more.
Contrary to what these pictures make it seem, every single one of these people actually had a room and a bed to sleep in. But maybe they wanted to sleep where everyone else was sleeping. Perhaps it seems more reunion-ish?
Not pictured: hiking Table Rock, the Zoo, book discussions, golf, game night, bow making crafternoons, baby blessings, and talent shows. But maybe you're glad those things aren't pictured because this is already the most picture heavy post ever?
Even though people were (apparently) exhausted, we had a great reunion! Love you, Weeds!
