National Lampoons Something or Another

Somewhere on some highway in Virginia around three a.m. last night/morning, Ben suggested it would be necessary for me to fire the blog back up. Mostly because he felt the events of the day merited recording for posterity's sake. I think he's right, and also that I've been extremely lazy/neglectful with the blog and all. So here goes.

This weekend a bunch of unicyclists were getting together for a camping trip/mountain bike trail ride, so Ben, Henry and I packed up our unicycles and camping equipment and headed north. We had a nice uneventful drive, stopping at Bojangles along the way, and arrived around one p.m. at Douthat State Park. It's a really nice park north of Roanoke, Virginia and south of the Shenandoah area. We set up our tent in a shady spot and got everything ready, and since it was crazy hot (close to 100), we killed some time swimming at the lake, came back and watched a movie, and then had a dinner of cheeseburgers in the restaurant by the lake.


Our lovely campsite:

A picture of happy repose:

Back at the camp site, most of the other unicyclists had arrived and a bunch were unicycling all over the place. I've never seen so many guys on unicycles before; it was fun to watch. Then around seven Henry and I made friends with another unicycle family while Ben all the guys went for a ride on the bike trails up the mountain. Just after eight, we were getting ready to make s'mores for the kids when the troop of unicyclists returned from their trip. I let Henry play with the other kids and went to catch up with Ben at the tent. The sky had gotten pretty dark, but I assumed it that because it was just getting on to evening. Then as I was packing some snacks to stash in the car, the wind picked up. It didn't start to pick up, it picked up all at once, like a giant wall of wind pushing through the trees. I ran over to the other site and made sure Henry was okay and then attempted to help Ben get the tent secured so our stuff wouldn't blow away.  A few seconds later the rain started, and it quickly became obvious that something bad was on its way. Then, as Ben likes to say, things got real. Debris flew around; leaves and branches out of the trees, dust flung up from the ground, filling my eyes with grit. I found our friends and Henry and the other kids starting to wait it out in their truck. I suggested it would be more prudent to make for the bath house. Between them getting in the men's room and me telling Ben where were were headed, a tree crashed down, narrowly missing a camping trailer. And yes, I jumped about a foot.

Everyone made it to the bath house okay. A few more trees fell and Henry was really scared so we said a prayer and settled for a long stay in the men's room. Our friends' tent got smashed by a branch, so during a lull in the wind Ben helped their dad get their things packed. Then he checked on our tent and found out the wind had broken the top cover off and all our stuff was soaking wet. He came back to the bath house to let us know and made us wait in there while he got everything packed up. Thankfully our electronic devices and anything important that might have been ruined by the rain was already in the car. Ben made a quick, if not exactly neat job of it and drove around to pick Henry and me up. It was around ten when we began our trek out.

The road was a wreck. We drove out on a carpet of leaves and smashed branches and twigs. Several trees had fallen over, blocking the the roadway, and a bunch of guys with chainsaws worked to clear the way. Ben got out and helped them move the debris out of the way at each fallen tree. At one point we had to move the car off the road to let a fire truck, ambulance and a bunch of emergency vehicles through. Outside the park the roads were a little better, but we still got caught in more traffic jams while trees were removed from the road.

Ben decided we were going home. Henry was afraid and didn't want to come back to the park, all he wanted was to go home, so we drove through the night. At some point we missed the turn off for 220 and ended up on 81 headed for Whytheville. Of course, it was only thirty miles down the road before we noticed and after a few stressful but successful moments navigating through some confusing highway exchanges in Christiansburg we finally got turned around and headed in the right direction.


Just past Roanoke we hit another traffic jam. It was one a.m. and the vehicles parked. Ben pulled off on the side of the road and we tried to sleep. That was pretty much impossible because all the semi trucks left their engines running and some guy was blasting his radio. An hour passed before the road was clear again. Around three a.m. we saw a man standing right next to the road, staring off into space. I thought it was pretty weird, but chalked it up to a drunk guy waiting on a ride, but Ben found it very disturbing: "It's like seeing Pennywise inside a storm grate." That made me laugh. The rest of the drive went okay. Five a.m. we arrived safely home. I sent Henry to bed and Ben and I unpacked the car and draped all the wet stuff out to dry. Then we hit the hay.


I'm not sure we made it home with everything we'd brought, some things were blown away and I believe we lost a couple of towels, but I feel extremely blessed. No one was hurt (at least at our site), our car was spared any damage, and I think I might be able to repair our tent. All in all, the craziest day of my entire life.


I think if we give it a decade or so Ben will be ready for another road trip.

Back to School

Hurrah, school's back in! Henry was so excited to go back to school this morning he tried to leave for the bus stop half an hour early. As it was, the bus came half an hour late, so I'm glad I made him wait a bit. Of course, I forgot to get his picture before we went out to the bus stop, so I made him stand still after school so I could get one. He wasn't too excited about it.

I finally got a decent one while we played hide and seek after dinner.

We met his teacher a couple days ago at the Meet-the-Teacher thingy. She seems pretty cool, and today Henry announced that she was nice, so we've got high hopes this'll be another great year for him. And to make things even more awesome for Henry, his pal from kindergarten is in his class again this year. This is the same kid with which he tricked his bus driver into letting him get off at the wrong stop thereby nearly giving me a heart attack. And they've got a new bus driver this year...

It's going to be good year.

On Getting Old

So recently Ben rediscovered unicycling. Back in college Ben's unicycle was his primary mode of transportation on campus, which seems weird when you think about it, but it worked for him. Anyway, aside from a few random times, his old unicycle sat largely unused and forgotten in our basement for the last eight years. Then sometime this summer while he was out on a run he saw a unicyclist, and his fond memories kicked in and he went home and dusted off the unicycle. Ben's jogging career essentially ended the day he took it out for a ride on the greenway. He bought a new tire and did probably fifty miles on it when he was introduced to an online unicyclist forum and saw a photo of a mountain unicycle, or muni. Shortly thereafter Ben had his very own muni (which incidentally is about as tall as Henry). Then he thought it would be fun for me to learn to ride, producing another old unicycle from the basement, one he'd completely forgotten the existence of.

After we dusted off the cobwebs and I tried it out, we figured out it was about two inches too big for me even with the seat at its lowest setting, so I took it on a visit to my parents and my dad sawed the requisite inches off the frame. I've only had it out twice for practice, but on the second go I actually managed to stay on for a full rotation of the pedals, which I thought was awesome. Practice is slow going and infrequent, mostly because this isn't something I have any intention of trying without adult supervision.

With that being said, Ben and I went out for a bike trip on the American Tobacco Trail last Saturday. Since it was my first serious ride in nearly a decade, Ben decided we better pick an easy trail. This particular trail was created from what used to be a straight, level stretch of railroad tracks, running from New Hill to Durham. I took my old bike (upon which I had not sat in about eight years) and Ben took his muni. Ben's outfitted with helmet, gloves, and hydration backpack. Rules say bikers must wear helmets, but having grown up riding my bike through the woods and leaping off to see how far it'd roll before it crashed, I was tempted to let it slide this time. But Ben figured Henry's helmet would fit me and it did. So yes, I looked a complete dork in a child's helmet on my 24 inch mountain bike getting my butt handed to me on a flat trail trying to keep pace with a unicycle. Seriously, I did look dorky, but we did do over ten miles, and that's pretty good for my sedentary self.

And the next day after church I sat on the couch and iced my left knee.

I'm old.

Summer Update

I've been busy being lazy. That's what summers are for, right? Henry and I have spent a lot less time outside than I'd like, but it's been insanely hot and humid. Henry's progressed really well with his swimming and is now doing cannonballs and swimming with ease under water, floating on his back, diving and swimming in the deep end. We practiced quite a bit, prepping Henry for a trip to the water park in Greensboro. The 4th of July was fun, we went swimming and tried to see the fireworks, but it started raining pretty hard and they had to cancel, so we went home and relaxed.

The next day we got up bright and early for our trip to Wet & Wild. When I was a kid it was called Emerald Point, and the last time I went I got so burnt that my entire back was scabbed over. That was about eighteen years ago, but I will never forget my crispy turtle shell back. I'm not really a fan of the sun, and neither is Ben; this was a trip entirely for Henry's enjoyment. We stopped off for some breakfast at Bojangles in Siler City, taking our time, but we still arrived about a half hour before the park opened. While we stood in line we answered Henry's million of questions and perused the map with him. Then when we presented our tickets, they did a bag search and found a box of graham crackers, so I had to take them back to the car while Ben and Henry rented a locker. We're that nerdy family you see that all wear floppy hats and t-shirts and have eighteen layers of sunblock on. I was not ashamed in the slightest, though. It's fun to realize that any uneasiness about exposing white flabby thighs vanishes the moment you see the vast variety of humanity come to display their various hues and physiques, flattering or unflattering as they may be. So it was without trepidation that we set our white nerdy selves out upon the park. Henry's now tall enough to ride anything he wanted, and he wanted to ride down a slide first, so he ran up and randomly picked the one in the middle, dubbed, I noted belatedly, the Blue Streak. I followed after and knew immediately on that first plunge straight down that my little guy wasn't going to be too happy when I saw him next. It had been a little scary for him, so we decided to skip Dr. Von Dark's Tunnel of Terror and stuck with the gentler attractions. His favorite places were the kiddie pool with the submarine and the big one with the pirate ship. While at the pirate ship they found a large diamond that apparently fell out of someone's ring, but Ben got distracted when Henry jumped off the pirate ship into deep water and lost the diamond at the bottom of the pool. Oh, well. We managed to convince Henry to ride with us on a scary ride, all three of us in a float that went down a winding tube. Henry didn't like the look of things when we had to climb up a bunch of steps onto the platform where the ride started, and while he didn't love it, at the end of the day he went with us one more time. We stayed and sat in the shade to watch Ben ride down a hideously high, vertical drop water slide, but Ben chickened out and instead of going all the way to the top, took a lower, twisty tube slide down. Still, I figured he was pretty brave, since I wouldn't have gotten as high as the second or third landing beneath the first slide before losing my nerve. Henry decided to try the scary slides again, this time going down a gentler one. I followed, and then Ben came last. When Ben shot out of the tunnel, he accidentally dropped his glasses, so they had to stop the ride for about ten minutes while a lifeguard swam around on the bottom to retrieve them. Ben was embarrassed, Henry was bored, and I was ready to give up and buy Ben some new glasses. Luckily the glasses were found, happily putting an end to Ben's water slide adventures for the day. We spent some more time in the wave pool and the kiddie pools and by the end of the day we'd gone through the entire bottle of sunblock and I was completely exhausted. We went by Maggie's house for dinner and a little rest before heading home for the night.

Maybe a couple years from now we'll go back. To the water park, I mean. Maggie's wasn't so bad.

Mr. Big Feet

Henry's growing up so fast. At seven, the top of his head is just shy of my chin and his hands and feet are about an inch shorter than mine. I know that that's not much of a feat, considering my own size, but still. We were going out last week for a quick errand and Henry wanted to wear his flip flops from last year, but his heels hung over the backs. I told him to find another pair of shoes and he searched the shoe basket and unearthed an old pair of my flip flops. And they fit him. I let him wear them because I was in a hurry. The next day I bought him some new flip flops.

We're still waiting on him to lose a tooth. Apparently that can happen anywhere between six and eight. It seems funny because Henry's already hip to the non-existence of the tooth fairy, not to mention Santa Claus. But I told him whenever he finally loses a tooth I'll sneak in his room while he's sleeping and put something under his pillow. I won't lie to Henry when he wants to know the truth about things, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let him miss out on the fun stuff even if he knows it's just pretend.

Becoming More Feminine, Summer Vacation

The other day my sister Maggie and I were out doing something and she noticed that I'd stuffed my wallet, phone, and keys into my jeans pockets. Never one to refrain from speaking her mind, she promptly told me how stupid I looked. I'm perfectly aware that I am fashionably challenged, and that my aversion to purses has its drawbacks. I was content to haul my things in a backpack when Henry was little, but those days are long gone. For a while now, as much as I hate to admit it, I've realized that I need to get more in touch with my feminine side, i.e., get a purse of some kind. So, after a long internet search encompassing many days and eye rolls and sighs of disgust, I finally found something to haul my stuff in. It took me long enough because for some reason the things I like on sight always turn out to be too expensive (I will not spend eighty bucks on a purse, even though it may very well be the only purse I buy in this lifetime), and finding what I would settle for took gobs of patience. It's a small dark gray travel organizer, everything I need fits inside, it's not too man-pursey, it was twenty five dollars and they shipped it for free. If I know Maggie I'm pretty sure she'll think it's ugly as sin, and will certainly tell me so, but it works for me. There. Does that mean I'm more feminine?

As of last Friday afternoon, Henry's free of school for the summer. So far we have big plans for swimming, playing at the park, reading together, a little bit of housework, and lots of laziness. Yesterday Henry and I played at the park with some friends, went shopping, came home and had lunch, played video games, wrestled, had dinner, had Family Home Evening, read some Harry Potter, watched some Three Stooges, and sent Henry to bed. It was a nice day. I think it's going to be a nice summer.

And here's Henry and some important summer stuff:

Interesting Weekend

That's right, we had an interesting weekend.

Saturday was nice and lazy in the early morning. But, as Mom and Dad were set to come over around noon or so, I got off my butt and de-cluttered and dusted and vacuumed the living room. Dad expressed surprise at the lack of disorganization and so I was gratified.

Henry and I packed into the back of their car and rode with them to the seafood place at the farmer's market. Ben, a seafood hater, stayed home. We enjoyed a wonderful meal and then walked around the garden and produce stalls. Mom and Dad gave Henry a few dollars in change, which he spent on a little green and white striped spiky succulent plant. I looked around on the internet and think it's a Haworthia Fasciata Zebra. I think we might be able to keep it alive. Henry was really proud of himself because he was able to count out the change to pay for it. It was a nice afternoon and we looked at all the flowers and plants, sampled strawberries and stuff. Mom bought a few things and then the wind really started picking up. Then Mom got a call from my sister indicating there was a tornado watch in effect, so we decided to head home. Mom and Dad departed for their place and the Tilleys hung out and waited to see how the weather would turn out.

It started raining, dumping tons of water; there was a mini river running across our front lawn and the next door neighbor's yard flooded all the way over the back corner of their fence and rose almost up to the back of their house. When a tornado was reported in Sanford, we went down to the basement. Dori the cat crouched on the top basement step and yowled ominously. There was thunder and from the basement window we could see hail and lots of rain blowing around crazily outside. Henry thought it was neat that it was "green" outside. The light outside really was green, probably from all the leaves and stuff blowing around. We kept the radio on and listened as new and closer locales reported the tornado's swift progress east. Happily for us, the tornado went just south of our neighborhood. We went back upstairs and the rain let up pretty quickly after that, and all the water drained out of the yard. I was afraid the basement would flood again, but we escaped that. The only damage we had was a bunch of leaves, a few dead branches, and those wormy pollen things off the oak trees scattered all over the yard. After dinner the sun was out and the birds were chirping happily, so we went out for a walk around the greenway.

Sunday was nice and uneventful, we went to church and took an afternoon nap. Now Henry has the week off for Easter break.

And the living room is trashed again. Things are definitely back to normal.

Hold the Flies

I once asked Ben incredulously, "You don't like pumpkin pie?"

"No," he replied, annoyed by my incredulity.

"Not even with whipped cream on top?"

Ben, to my best recollection, rolled his eyes. "That's like asking somebody if they like crap*." Then he added with his best sarcasm, "Not even with flies on it?"

Yesterday he asked me what the stuff in the freezer that looked like frozen diarrhea was.

The stuff in the freezer was leftover filling from my attempt at some medieval food. I hosted book club last Friday and since we read "Doomsday Book," I decided to serve up some period food. I looked up medieval recipes online and found one that looked somewhat harmless. Cuskynoles are kind of these ravioli things with fruit and spices inside. Well, I was feeling ambitious despite the fact that I'd have to mash together an apple, pear, and a bunch of dates, almonds, figs, and currants. Not being in possession of a food processor, I had to use the blender. Luckily I was smart enough to do the almonds first. Then I mixed the pear chunks and figs, and when that wasn't going so well I added the apple chunks. After I accidentally chopped off the end of my spatula, I had to dump everything out so I could fish the plastic chunk out of the sticky, slippery goo. Boy, was that fun. Then I had to rinse off the blender because by that time it was completely covered in in glop. In the end I just dumped everything back in the blender and ground it all up into uniform disgustingness (that's not a real word, I know, but it really conveys my feelings at the time). After I rolled out the dough and filled each cuskynole, I boiled them and then grilled them under the broiler. They reminded me a little of pumpkin pie, but not really. I ought to have used about half the cloves called for. So no, I didn't love the heck out of them. Some of them did get eaten at book club, though. Luckily for everyone I had enough time to make some bread to go with the cuskynoles. I wanted to make peasant bread to compare with the rich people food, so I went to the store for some rye and barley flour. They didn't have any, so instead of shopping around I opted for some spelt flour and buckwheat. I added some whole wheat flour and a little all purpose flour so it wouldn't bake into a brick. The bread turned out better than I thought, especially since I wasn't going by any particular recipe.

And though the cuskynoles weren't my favorite, it was such a huge pain to make the filling that I couldn't just throw it out. That may happen at some future date, but I'm sure by then I won't feel guilty anymore.

Saturday was fun. Ben, Henry and I went to Asheboro to see my nieces and nephew get baptized. Afterwards we went out to eat and hung out at Mom and Dad's. Too bad the weather was nasty. This is why spring is not my favorite. Nice eighty degree weather for a week or so and then it slams down back into the forties. Blecch.

Life's good in spite of the weather, though. Just thought you'd like to know.

* Ben's version was slightly less printable (this is a PG blog).

Happy Birthday, Henry!

I'm Dreaming of a White Boxing Day

This was the first Christmas in a long time that I didn't hear any pleas for Legos. In fact there was hardly any nagging at all. This year Henry decided that he wanted a Wii for Christmas. Ben and I were hoping that we could skip a generation of gaming consoles and wait for the next new thing to come out, but Henry has friends who have Wiis, got a taste of the good life and decided he liked it. He wrote a letter to Santa indicating that he'd been good and that he wanted a Wii and a Wii game. Much like the kid in the Christmas Story movie, Henry knew that talking face to face with Santa Claus would seal the deal. He finally got his chance at the church Christmas party. I didn't get to hear the whole conversation, and I know Santa didn't make any promises, but he did assure Henry that he knew Henry had been a good boy. That was all it took. Henry's faith was cemented; he knew he was getting a Wii for Christmas.

Christmas morning Ben and I stayed in bed, listening for Henry's descent into the living room. There was no shouts of joy or exclamations of surprise. Henry came quietly into our room and announced (much in the same way one announces the sun has risen), "I got my Wii." The red one like he wanted, and 2 Wii games.

I have to say I was surprised by his calm demeanor, but it was really awesome to witness Henry realizing that there can be an assurance of hope and faith rewarded. I already knew that, though. I have Ben and Henry.

And it snowed on the 26th. Quite a bit for our neck of the woods, and for once it was the good kind of snow you can actually do stuff with. So we had our walk through a rare winter wonderland to the park and then went home and made a snow man.

Henry samples snow:

And Frosty:

I Can Tell I'm Truly a Mom Because...

When I'm getting ready to apply some chap stick, I notice there are tiny teeth gouges in it.

Some More Shoddy Workmanship

Yesterday I was free, so I went over to Meemaw and Peepaw's and helped Peepaw put a new door on his pool shed. Peepaw was fond of the old door, but finally conceded that once there was sufficient rot on the door such that the hinges irreparably fell off, it was time for a new one. He put one together with a frugality that puts Ben to shame, consisting of the thinest, cheapest plywood available, strengthened by a border of one by twos. When I got there the new door was already constructed painted, but unfortunately, due to the agedness of the shed, which lists slightly to the left, it was slightly too big for the aperture. So, with my trusty skill saw and its not quite sharp blade, I sawed off some of the door. It still wouldn't fit, so Peepaw suggested sawing off part of the siding above the door frame. So I got a chair and worked the saw. Eventually, we made things work. Of course, once the last screws for the hinges were in and the door in a functional state, Peepaw noticed that we'd put it on upside down-- not that he cared in the least. Oh well. It ain't pretty, but it's the same color as the shed and it opens and shuts, so it's all good. Especially since he decided that the old "Welcome to our OOL" sign didn't have to go on the new door.

Halloween

This year we attended the annual Chili and Soup Cookoff/Fall Canival/Trunk-or-Treat at church. Ben and I went as characters from The Prisoner, Number 6 and Number 2, respectively. Two people out of the hundred or so in attendance actually knew who we were. Henry went as Mario. We ate well and had a lot of fun. Sunday evening we went trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. Ben wanted me to exploit my lack of height and "dress up", i.e., conceal the fact that I'm a thirty five year old woman in order to "double the haul," as he put it. Just because I'd done exactly that when I was nineteen or so-- wore a mask, trench coat and gloves and pretended to be a kid and got a bunch of candy. Unfortunately, Ben brought this up an hour or so before nightfall and we didn't have a suitable disguise on hand and I wasn't about to cut up a sheet. I offered to buy Ben a bag of candy, but he wanted the "free" and "variety" that only trick-or-treating can provide. Plus I think he wanted to witness the thrill of deception. Oh, well. Maybe next time, if I'm feeling especially mischievous.

Number 2 (me) and Number 6 (Ben, duh), and Rover. I wanted a white balloon, but yellow was as close as I could get in this size.

And Henry.

A Dearth of Blogging Means I've been Otherwise Occupied

I've probably mentioned before that October is pretty much my busiest month of the year. Anyway, I went and made it busier by getting the house painted. The blue didn't turn out as gray as I though it would, but you know what, the house is painted and I'm done worrying about it. For those who might be interested:

My birthday came and went without too much fanfare. I had a cold and didn't really feel like doing anything, so I told Ben all I wanted for my birthday was to not have to cook. Ben fulfilled my wish by taking Henry out to McDonald's and bringing me some carry out from Boston Market. Ahh, one of my best birthdays ever. I'm married to an awesome man, people.

I managed to stay healthy enough to get the cars inspected amidst a multitude of other errands, and I got to read a whole bunch of books. Then last week, after recovering from another plague, I was feeling well enough to volunteer the Fun Run at Henry's school. I counted laps again this year, which was very difficult since there were two classes running at the same time. I had about ten numbers to keep track of, which gets tricky when the kids run in packs. After that I had an hour to kill before I was scheduled to don the bear suit. Yes, somehow I got roped into volunteering to wear the mascot suit, even though I pointed out that the suit would probably be too big. Probably. Yeah. Did I mention that most of the older kids at the school are as tall or taller than me? The suit's crotch hit me at the knee, and the legs had to be taped against my ankles so they wouldn't drag the ground under the bear bootie things. In order to minimize the spread of germs, everyone who wore the bear suit had to wear a surgical mask under the bear head, so a stifling experience became more so. Plus I was practically blind, as the head only provided vision to the outside world through two tiny eye holes. Luckily there was a pair of middle school kids escorting me around, otherwise I'd have tripped and fallen or become lost. The little kids didn't seem to see anything funny about me, but the older ones were curious to know who the short person in the suit was. It wasn't really all that terrible an experience, but I think I'll opt out next year.

Yesterday was busy with a morning planning meeting for upcoming Primary activities, then book club at one. I had just said bye to the last of the book clubbers when Henry got home and we all headed out to the state fair. This was our first time taking Henry to the fair and it was really fun to see his reaction to the crowds and noise and lights, and the livestock. Henry refused to touch the baby chicks. I couldn't figure out why until I remembered that he was once bitten by a bird. I guess it was good for the chicks though, who I imagine were probably sick and tired of being picked up and stroked by fairgoers. Henry wasn't pleased with the smell of the barn that housed all the cows (it didn't stink that bad) and was happy to get out of there so he could go on some rides. His first ride was a great big slide, but his favorite was one where he got inside a giant hamster ball and rolled around in a pool. I rode with him in a bumper car (he ran and picked out a green one) and he finished up with a trip through a fun house. Then we ate, watched pig and goat races, bought some cotton candy, saw some more exhibits and went home.

Inside the hamster ball:

At the pig races:

Getting Ready to Spruce Things Up

Ben and I bought our house around Thanksgiving of 2002. At the time it was in need of some repairs and updates, etc. We've taken care of some of the more pressing issues, but more or less have ignored the sad state of its exterior. This year, in the very near future, we're finally going to paint the house. I'd gladly take on the task myself, but being a huge chicken, I'm hardly prepared to stand atop a fully extended thirty foot ladder to repair water damaged eaves, let alone paint the things. Ben's not too keen on it, either, so we're going to get a couple of estimates and let the professionals handle this one.

This afternoon I got bored and took a photo of the house, planning to doctor it up to get an idea of a color scheme.

Here's our lovely abode as it appears in it's current aesthetically-challenged state:

(You can't really tell from the front how high it really is in the back. The yard slopes to the rear of the property and there's a full basement at ground level in the back.)

And here's my sad, lame, cartoonishly bad attempt to modify things:

It's not the exact shade I want, but as you can plainly see, I'm somewhat deficient in the photo-shopping department.

I emailed my handiwork to Ben for a little feedback, and he immediately asked me to send him the original photo. In a moment he sent me this, plainly indicating that he didn't like my sloppy paint job:

Then I guess he second-guessed his work and sent me a new photo of how he really wants the house to look:

I suppose we would need the guns to protect the pile of money, which we'd really need to afford the liability insurance for the waterslide. Then again, I'm fairly certain there's a town ordinance forbidding that kind of thing.

Family, Fruit, Heights, and English

This past weekend Ben and I took Henry to visit his great-grandparents over by Pilot Mountain. It was a fun trip, not too hot or humid, we got to take a walk on the trail through the woods and play with a kitten that's taken up residence in the mysterious tarp-covered pile of who-knows-what next to the barn. Grandma would've liked for us to have taken her home with us, but I had some reservations about bringing an ear mite infested, possibly wormy barn kitty into my relatively clean house. Plus I figured barn kitty would much rather stay in the country and live a fun-filled life of killing mice and other vermin, as opposed to vying with Dori over who gets to hog the favorite lazing spots.

Anyway, most of the fruit trees were dropping ripe fruit, so we were able to bring home a bunch of apples and pears and a bag of blueberries. Grandma also threw in some homemade blueberry jam. I've already made a pie with the blueberries. It takes a special kind of weirdo that won't eat pie. I live with two. Oh, well. More for me.

After the family visit we went up to the mountain. Remembering my past acrophobic wuss-out the last time we went up there, I decided to let Ben and Henry hike around the knob while I hung out and enjoyed the view of protective trees and solid footing. Which turned out really good because I wasn't there to see it when Henry slipped a few times, even if nothing came of it because Ben was holding his hand the entire time. Still, it didn't do me any good to see two little guys running recklessly ahead of their parents down the steps at the head of the trail, and then hear somebody else yelling at their little boy to, "stop, Stop, STOP!!!" I don't know if it's being older and more experienced in life, or just being a mother that gets me stressed when little kids run around precipices, but I just wasn't willing to push it this time.

Sunday was one hundred percent stress free. We've been released from the Spanish branch and as much as I love our Hispanic friends, it sure is nice to be hearing English again. It was especially nice to know that Henry was getting something out of sacrament meeting; he still has to sit still and try to be reverent, but at least he understands what's being said.

All in all, I'm happy to report that life is good. Now I'm off to mow the lawn before it gets too hot.

The End of Summer Vacation and Getting Back to a Regular Schedule

This morning Henry was a little tired after breakfast. Maybe this will make for a quiet evening. I can dream, anyway.

Today was the first day of the new school year. Henry's now in first grade. I didn't get weepy or anything when he started kindergarten, nor did I this year. Mostly I was just excited to get him on the bus, especially after a day like yesterday when I was certain he was doing his best to purposefully make me go insane.

It felt kind of awesome making him get up at six a.m. I'm evil, I know.

Before we went out to the bus stop I took his picture.

When I saw it I thought of his kindergarten photo and remembered how little he used to be. In case anyone cares, here's a reminder:

This year Henry's a year older and a little taller, maybe a little wiser, and can read and write, but he's still as sweet and good natured as ever. I felt a little guilty letting him take his schools supplies in himself this year. His book bag was kind of heavy, and since it was too full to fit his lunch box he had to carry that, plus another grocery bag with the kleenex and ziplock bags. I suppose he'll be okay lugging all that stuff to his classroom. We went to the Meet the Teacher open house thing on Monday so he knows where he's supposed to go. He's got the same bus driver as last year, so no need to worry about him getting home. I heard good things about his teacher, one of the neighbor kids had her one year and and said she was great, "as long as you don't get on her dark side." I had to chuckle over that. I'm sure Henry will be fine.

Now I just have to figure out how to organize all the free time I'll be luxuriating in.

It's Official

So after a year of getting our crap together, Ben and I have finally finished up with our application/paperwork/interviews to begin the adoption process. We're now featured on itsaboutlove.org.

I think the hardest part about getting our profile online was coming up with the teaser. It's not spectacular or anything, and really, if it sucks-- well, I told you that was the hardest part.

A friend took our family portrait. He was very generous with his time and patience, especially with Henry, even taking the time to do a few silly shots to get some of the wiggles out.

My favorite shot:

Catching Up

I ought to be more diligent in recording the goings on in my life. This month's been fairly busy with different stuff, and already I've forgotten half of it. I think a lot of it has to do with the summer weather and all the headaches I've gotten transitioning from air conditioning to sweltering heat. Aside from that, Henry and I have been having fun.

We had a fun trip to the lake with Grandma, Papaw, Maggie, and all the cousins. Dad brought his ice cream maker and Maggie and I quickly threw the ice cream ingredients together and everybody headed to the lake. Mom and I went separately to the store to pick up a few things we'd forgotten and when we met up with them at the lake Dad announced that we'd forgotten to put sugar in the ice cream, so we had to turn around a go back for some sugar. So my first joint attempt at ice cream was a little off, but it turned out okay.

We had a church activity the next day, so I borrowed the ice cream maker and had another go at it. I wasn't sure how it would turn out since I used a different recipe and it was my first solo attempt. And I was the only one who brought home made ice cream, so that didn't help my self confidence much. The activity went well. All the kids had fun releasing butterflies and watching the cub scouts launch water rockets. After the water balloon fight (two hours of filling balloons for two minutes of play) we went home. Ben acted a little sad that there was no more ice cream, which is unusual because he doesn't even like ice cream (weirdo), so I made another batch just for him the next week. And who's been eating that ice cream? That's right. Henry and me.

The graphics card in my computer went kaput and so Ben frankensteined (his terminology) it for me until he could get a new computer, which he did last week. Ben's happy about his new computer, although it was a little iffy at first. He builds his own machines now in the name of saving a buck and this time he had a little trouble with the motherboard/memory configuration. He figured it out though, and now I've got his old one.

Ben and I celebrated our eleventh anniversary. Ben purposefully didn't remind me to see if I'd forget. I did. Oh, well. We took Henry out for pizza at Rudino's. Life is good.

Can't think of anything else. Upcoming events: Henry begins first grade next week, the rest to be announced.

Have a good one everybody.

A Trophy for Henry

Henry got his snorkel set Monday night. Tuesday it rained all day. Tuesday Henry whined all day. He demanded to go swimming, cursed the rain, the cool weather, the lightning, and me. We stayed home and built things out of Legos. Henry continued to whine and complain. I only just managed not to go insane. Wednesday was much better. No rain, no thunder or lightning. Blue skies with big fluffy white clouds, not too hot, and the pool water was the right temperature. Henry had a blast. He mastered the snorkel, learned to swim slowly and to float on his face, and he taught himself how to swim backwards. He was so proud of himself that he announced that he needed a trophy.

Nee-nee was prepared and provided the trophy, that very afternoon, in the the form of a Fushigi ball. The ball had just arrived that very day in the mail. Apparently they'd seen an ad on TV and Henry had asked for the floating ball. They were both a little disappointed when they found out the whole floating thing was an illusion. I thought it was kind of funny, though. We sat and watched the video that came with the ball and I helped Henry understand that even though the ball looked like it floated, "The Amazing Kenny" had spent many years practicing in his grandma's basement so that one day he could impress people with his sleight of hand magic and finally get a girlfriend. Of course I later regretted my sarcasm when I found out that Henry thought that everything I'd said was true, and so I had to further explain that I was only teasing and knew absolutely nothing about "The Amazing Kenny" or any alleged basement dwelling.

Henry loves his trophy, though, and any initial disappointment was completely eclipsed when he was able to amaze some of his friends with the ball later that night.

Hurray for the Amazing Henry!