Life's a Beach

We ended our day today like we do many others, at the beach.  Mukilteo Beach is only about 15 minutes from our house, so we can hop in the car & head over there pretty easily.  The sun was out most of the day & I wanted to enjoy the last little bit of the day.

So three random & interesting stories to tell from tonight.  The boys beat me to the playground.  By the time I get there, this 5ish year old boy asks me "Is that yours?" pointing to Gideon.  When I reply "yes", the boy tells another kid, "See, I told you.  (to me:) I told him it was a boy because girls have long hair."  About this time, I notice the boy has a 2 foot (no lie!) rat tail down his back.  So I quip back to him, "But you have long hair."  His answer?  "Well, that's my baby hair.  That's why I have it.  And I was a girl before I was a boy."  I had to try to keep from laughing out loud!  I don't really think his parents made a switch on him, but here in Seattle, I wouldn't be surprised.

By this time, Jonah has, of course, wandered off towards the beach.  I catch up to him to pull him back to the playground.  He whines "But I wanted to see the whale."  Whale?!  I begin looking around & notice that there are tons of people looking out to the water with cameras.  I quickly scan the Sound.  Sniff, sniff.  No whale to be seen.  We must have just missed him.  But still pretty awesome to be able to ALMOST see a whale.

Then, as we're walking along the beach, Jason & I notice a small crowd down a ways at the water.  We finally figure out that they were having a funeral service & had just finished spreading the ashes in the water.  Another new experience to add to the books.  (Is it wrong that I had a strong sense to tell the boys not to get near the water the rest of the night?!)

We ended our time there tonight with one more trip to the playground.  When Jonah reached the top of a certain part of it he said, "Look I can see all of Seattle.  Well, not really.  Because it's so big."  To which Luke answered, "Yeah!  It's as big as three blue whales!"  Now you know how big Seattle really is. :-)

Their shirts read "Yeti or not, here I come."



Too Big

Gideon.  He'll be 18 months old on Friday.  Wow!  Where does the time go?  Last night, Luke said, "Is Gideon a baby?"  "Not really.  He's more like a toddler."  I could tell even he was having a hard time wrapping his head around that.  So, I guess that means we should stop referring to Gideon as "the baby"?!  (Sigh).

His vocabulary has exploded in the past few weeks.  He trys to imitate almost any word we say to him.  A stranger walking by probably can't tell that "gah gah" means "Thank you", but we know what he's trying to say.   He physically trys to keep up with the other two & shows no fear when trying out something new.  His current "Look how big I am" feat is climbing to the top of the boy's bunk bed every chance he gets.  After climbing to the top, he just looks around like "Now what?" before I run to snatch him down.

His bad habit of biting seems to be getting a little better.  My other two boys never bit, but Gideon bites like he's part crocodile!  Biting is just a phase, right?!  I'd like to blame it on teething, but I seriously doubt it.  Currently, he's working on getting the last four of his major teeth in.  Poor thing.  You know it has to hurt.  He constantly has his fingers in his mouth; I guess it makes him feel better.

Gideon is still very clingy to me.  I've realized that the reason my back has been hurting so much lately is because I'm picking this huge boy up way too much.  So I've come to point where I have to stop toating him around all the time.  (Sniff, sniff).  I remember Melinda Chapman told me once that she remembers when she had to stop carrying Reed around.  Next thing you know, they're way too big to even pick up.  Oh my heartstrings!  I guess I'll just have to keep trying to push that "pause button" more often.  Maybe it will eventually work.

Gideon-coloring-his new favorite activity

Yearbook Photos

So does anyone else remember the agony of that yearly high school tradition?  I would lament over what I was going to wear, how to fix my hair, practice my smile, etc., etc.  And then, FLASH, it was all over before you had time to wipe the spittle off your braces.  Wow!  It's a miracle I made it out of there alive.

Today I had the grown up version of the yearbook photo-the driver's license mug shot.  Thankfully, I am much more confident in who I am now then I was at age 15.  And amazingly, my boys left me alone long enough this morning to brush my teeth, pluck a few gray hairs & put in matching earrings.  Awesome!  So after an hour & a half at the DOL, I became an official Washingtonian.

And since you might need a good laugh, I'll tell you my infamous driver's license story.  When I turned 15, I went to get my driver's permit.  I studied the manual, put on my new red & white Espirit outfit (early 90s baby!), and went to take the test.  When I got back home, I ran up to dad & said "Dad!  I got my permit!  And they even picked a background color to match my outfit!"  He looked at me & burst out laughing.  Now of course, you know that DMV didn't care about my outfit.  They simply used the red backdrop to show that this was a permit & not a actual license.  My dad still laughs about that story today.  (Sigh.)  Like I said, it's amazing that I made it out of there alive.

Me-age 16ish-in Seaside, FL.  Jenn & Karen, wasn't that an awesome trip?!

(BTW, here's a link to one of my favorite Superchic(k) songs about high school:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_RWQVYYKRQ)

I'm backkkkk!

It's finally happened.  We have internet at home again.  There are several reasons why, but the important part is WE HAVE IT!  I'm super-excited & it still feels a bit surreal to have easy access to the world wide web again.  But then again, most everything these past 6 months has felt surreal.  So whether I have anything worth blogging about or not, I'll be able to do it again on a regular basis. :-)

Our computer is set up in our "guest bedroom".  This luxurious suite is where you will be staying if you come to visit us!  Although it does contain luxury items like curtains and a sofa sleeper, there's not much else to it at this point.  The closet has three, white sliding doors that hide boxes from floor to ceiling.  The rest of the boxes that filled this room have been hidden in other spots around the house, but most of them went temporarily (I promise, Mike!) to the garage of our friends' Mike & Nicolle.  Those boxes I have to go through later this fall.

Yes, I said fall.  I think summer (all 3 weeks of it) is officially over here in Seattle.  Mom told me tonight that it was 97(!)° in Nashville.  I'm guessing the high here today was 67°.  I'm hoping that Falls here aren't all clouds & rain.  I can't wait to see the landscape in the fall & take pictures galore!

And when I figure out where my camera cord is, I'll be uploading pics of our life here.  Yay!

Paradise

Today is a great day! Jason swaped his days off this week, so all 5 of us took a little trip to paradise. It's hard to explain where we are, but here goes. My mom's first cousin, Susan, has an inherited beach house on Guemes Island.  It's one of the San Juan Islands that's about an hour and a half north of our house.  I grew up always hearing about "Guemes", but never thought I'd actually get to visit here.

Susan & Scott's house is right on the beach, so you can just imagine the view.  They have glass windows across the entire back of the house giving you a panoramic view while sitting on the sofa.  I've stolen a minute on her computer (while Gideon naps, & the big boys watch tv) & the view I have is just amazing.  Susan has described this spot as her "heaven on earth".

Before you're too terribly jealous, enjoy the fact that the water is FREEZING!  I can't imagine that the water ever gets above 70, but today it feels more like 60.  The boys had a blast throwing rocks, screaming over possible crabs & watching our fornlorn bucket float away (Luke still hasn't forgiven me for not swimming after it).

Where is Jason, you ask?  He's still out on an adventure with Scott.  They kayaked out to Scott's little boat (no one has boat docks, they just anchor the boats off shore because of the tide) & took off to speed around the nearby islands.  I'm told you can swim to the closest island (named Jack), but I can't see myself ever wanting to do that.  (Luke on the other hand...we'll see.)  Scott said you can see seals, eagles, and sometimes even whales on the other side of the islands.  I'm hoping they will come back & take us out with them.

Since I can't upload a picture of this paradise for you to see, I'm giving you a couple of links to get an idea of what it looks like.
http://www.whatcomrealestate.com/guemes-island-real-estate.php
http://www.scoraigwind.com/sei2009/index.html (this one's kind of random, but it has a map of the island & a pic with a great view with a rainbow)

Boat's headed this way!  Yipee!

Roller Coaster

In high school, I sang in the youth choir at my church.  One summer our musical was called "The Ride" and one song from it had the line "This roller coaster ride of life, spins you 'round and up and down."  That's how I feel right now.  My emotions are all over the place.  When people REALLY ask how I'm doing, I usually tell them, "Well, today was a good day."  I can't go more than about 4-5 days without having some sort of break-down.

Don't worry, mom, nothing has happened.  No one has made fun of my "y'all's" and the church still likes to hear Jason preach and we haven't been attacked by a bear (which could really happen up here!) and the boys really are adjusting wonderfully.  No, I'm just homesick.  My family and friends, our house, Chick-fil-A, the weather, our dog & cat, the familiar ins and outs of our old life.  Some days I feel like I can't breathe & just want to hop on the next flight out of here.  Today has been one of those days.

I'm not trying to throw myself a pity party (o.k., well maybe I am), but this is my life right now.  This is the time that I've been dreading.  I know I'll be fine (eventually) and I will love living here and have a gaggle of girlfriends to be silly with again. But it's the right now, the weeks-months-years(!), until I get to that point that I hate.

So even though I don't feel happy or thankful or blessed, I know I really am.  And to remind myself how great I really do have it, here's my "thankful for" list tonight:

• the moon.  Because it's cloudy here so much & the days are so long, I really haven't seen it much.
• Starbucks.  I still haven't learned to like coffee yet (sorry Ashley), but since I'm only 5 minutes from one (two actually) and they have FREE WIFI, it gives me a place to be alone & escape to.  We still don't have internet & that's been really hard for me.
• the weather.  We've had 2-3 days in a row without rain, so it's been really nice.  I actually wore shorts today.  And everytime someone back home tells me it's 105, I'm reminded how great this weather really is.
• Jesus.  That seems like a "Sunday School" answer, but it's not meant to be.  I don't "feel" God close to me right now & I don't "love" going to church and I don't "want" to read my Bible, but I KNOW that He hasn't given up on me and that He has a purpose for us here, even though I don't understand it.

Since Starbucks is going to kick me out soon, I guess I better wrap it up.  I could blog for hours & hours. I have so much saved up to tell you about, but I know I'll eventually have time to write it out.  Thank you so much to everyone that has texted me, sent me mail, prayed for us, called & put up with me on this roller coaster ride that I'm currently one.  Just let me know when it finally stops.  I can't wait to get off.

The Next Chapter

Hard to believe, but we've been in Seattle almost 1 month.  I've escaped to the computer in the clubhouse (called the "cabana" in the NW) of our apartment complex to blog for the first time!  I could blog for days, which I probably will as soon as I can.  For now, here is a brief overview:

• We are in our new apartment!  Tonight will be one week since we moved in.  I can text or e-mail you our address if you want it.  Here's a link to the apartments if you want to see our "snazzy" digs (http://www.apartmentsearch.com/apartments/washington/bothell/bordeaux-apartments.html#).
• Jason's doing well at church.  He's preached 4 Sundays already.  If you want to hear his sermons on the web, go here (http://www.marthalake.org/).  Our picture is still on the front page, with the sermon links right beside it.
• The boys are doing good.  Jonah is having trouble sleeping through the night.  Is he scared of where he is or being left?  No.  Most often it's "There are snakes/crocodiles in my bed!"  We currently are trying to bribe him with a trip to the zoo if he sleeps through the night for 7 nights in a row.  My mom pointed out that is the exact place where snakes and crocodiles will be...but oh well!
• I'm doing good.  Some days are better than others.  I usually have one breakdown a week now.  I haven't had one since last Saturday, so I guess I better get ready.  I'm staying busy doing something "fun" with the boys each day & trying to fit a 1700 sq ft (plus full attic!) house into a 1200 sq ft apartment.  Slow going.

I'll keep you posted.  Thanks for all the prayers!