Happy Birthday Baby

Except I think she's officially a tween?

She chose a slumber party this year instead of the chaotic backyard affairs we normally put on. She must love her mother. G-girl planned the menu and the activities (battle rings! hiking) while Mom ran waitress duty. There was a particularly sweet moment, for me at least, when the girls asked me what I was doing.

"Clipping roses. I have made you a rose bouquet for your birthday." They responded with much giggling and twittering, a little too excited about the roses.

"That's what we're doing!" they replied in unison. "Becca decided to give me a birthday bouquet too!" They'd been in the forest gathering wildflowers while I'd been getting the roses.

The girlies had a good time while P-daddy (mostly) kept the boys occupied. After D-meister went to bed, I was grateful that G-girl invited N-man to watch the movies with them. He returned the favor by being quiet as a mouse, grateful to be included. He was so quiet, I was unaware of when he went to bed.

Tired girlies who don't look very tired at all!

The girls had a blast-- staying up until about 2 am (that's when I finally gave up hanging out with them)-- and then being awakened a wee bit too early for anyone's taste at 7 am by a recalcitrant chick that had flown the brooder. They rescued the screeching peep and then were right back at the party business of giggling and chatting. P-daddy said it sounded like we had two flocks of chickens in the house.

Around 11 am, after a huge actual-birthday breakfast of sausage, fruit salad and strawberry shortcake, we took 2/3 of our guest girlies into town for the Maritime Festival, where they got to enjoy a parade and the kiddie section until they met up with their Moms. It sure was nice of the city to throw G-girl a parade and a party for her birthday!

The "Berthday" girl and her friend!

I remember little you......

She didn't do this with her cake this year....

she still gives us this expression when we interrupt her....

Who says I am uptight?

This is how Mr. Man chose to greet his grandparents on their recent visit.

Anyone willing to implicate an older, female sibling would not be exactly wrong.

Lazy Saturday

Well, not lazy for the guys. I am happy Grandaddy gets to help with the treehouse.

Think they missed each other? It had been about a month! N-man was in serious withdrawal!

Tea time. My dh is such a hobbit. We have photo after photo of him imbibing from oversized containers!

Niki has a flower on her head.

It looks charming and innocent.. but these are the two who put those flowers on the ground to begin with. And now there's a stick... and cheering.... hmmmmm

Port Townsend

Ready to Go!

That's Canada back there!

Our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean, as it becomes the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

This turtle had a map of Puget Sound on its back. I told my daughter I'd give her a dollar if she could find our beach. Shouldn't have done that. She made me pay up, too.

The Rents are in Town Redux

And now we have a portable room a/c. LOL!

The Rents are in town

So far things are going well. They're tad jet-lagged but really engaging with the kids and us. It's been nice so far.

Of course it's HAWT, so we have full redneck curtains going; and really, when you have sheets and towels hanging in the windows, how worried about the state of decor can you be?

The nice thing about the horrible heat inside is that when you're dealing with vacationing Charlestonians in August, 83 degrees (even inside) isn't that much of an imposition. If the a/c goes out in Charleston, you're looking at a lot more heat than that on the inside. Trust me- we did it with a newborn in July. Wasn't pretty!

Our family has pretty much acclimated to it, (memories) and it happens every year at least once or twice, but I find it amusing that we're trying to entertain whilst only moving in the morning.

A Girl Named Anna

(this is definitely a click the pix post)

Nineteen years ago, when I matriculated a prestigious woman's college on the East Coast, I met a girl named Anna. We were from different Carolinas, but we must have had something more important in common, because we have been friends ever since. We were in my first study group in college, we had the same major and we had overlapping circles of friends. We both held important positions on the college newspaper. We even liked the same royal blue. We stayed in touch all through school, and then periodically we'd touch base in the years that followed. She attended our wedding, and came to various oyster roasts that P-daddy and I would host. The last time I saw her was at our last big social event on John's Island, when I was pregnant with G. Shortly after that she met her partner and we were both busy, building our families. She moved across country, and that was that.



When we moved to WA, surprising everyone including ourselves, I was relieved to know someone was out here from back home. Anna lives in OR, and I was anticipating seeing her again soon after our arrival. It's not difficult to explain how I (and my P-daddy!) feel about Anna: we adore her. It is, however, unsatisfying to put it so simply, though: it doesn't impart the tapestry of affection and history, love and confidence we have for and in her. She's a good egg.

Anyway, when we arrived in Federal Way, she immediately made plans to come visit us. Alas, on the appointed day, we had a two day old so we asked her to postpone her trip. Then, nursing school started for her. Three years later, we finally got our visit! In she came, like no time had passed.

Yet it had. Eight years. It is always marker on my personal time line when I see Anna, but for my part, that meant three children, four houses, three vehicles one career and a cross-country move later. We discovered we'd both gotten into much healthier, physically fit lifestyles. We are both much greener than we'd ever been before, eating well and trying to tread lightly. We're in similar mental processes, trying to live mindfully and simplify our day to day. She's into yoga, I like pilates. We both have the established "grown up" households we'd try so hard to envision back in the day.

Time marches on for us all, yet with my entire life consumed by child and family, it is actually confusing to me to try and realize her perspective on my life here. My entire childbearing phase has passed her by. She'd never seen me with a child of my own, much less three children. She's never seen me nurse a baby or change a diaper. She asked me "What does homeschooling look like for you guys?" and I couldn't answer her. I-- the woman who will drop everything to talk educational theory--found myself loathe to go into it because I didn't want my time with my friend consumed by it. It shocked me, but the day after she left, it hit me.



I said to Anna repeatedly while she was here that in college, she'd always "seen me." She looked through the craziness and saw who was actually in there. I think I wanted that here, too. Here was someone who knew ME. As a woman who has disappeared into her life and family, I wanted to be seen as who I am. I wanted to be me. And for a few hours, I had the chance to explore who that even is.

We have plans to get together again very soon; I am happy we get to get to know each other all over again.