Senioritis cured

Congratulations to our nephew Corey on his graduation from high school! May this be the threshold to a bigger and brighter world.

Greetings from the East Coast

Ken and I have been here on the East Coast since last Thursday visiting his friends and family. We've been on the move between Washington DC, Baltimore MD, Silver Springs MD, Frederick MD, Fredricksburg VA, Salisbury MD and now Onancock VA where his parents live. I'm so sick of being in the car.

But if you are going to be traveling this summer and it involves driving, here's something that does make the driving more enjoyable: a new gadget I call the "Marriage Saver" also known as the Garmin Street Pilot. You just type in your destination and a nice lady tells you (14+ languages, optional) when to turn and how far you have left to go. It's all based on GPS information that it gathers live via satellite. Last year we tried to navigate DC with a map & our wits and almost came to blows. But this year I insisted we opt for an GPS navigator in the rental car. Ken did one better and decided that we should just buy one instead. I love the Garmin.

(Cool Tugboat in the Inner Harbor of Baltimore, MD)

The weather for the most part has been um, all over the place: 92 degrees with god-awful humidity to 85 with a nice cool breeze. I hear Seattle is perfect right now. I'm so glad we're missing it. Of all the cardinal rules of living in Seattle, the biggest one is "never leave during the 4 months of weather you tolerate the other 8 dreary ones for."

(Check this out: The boat across for this one is the USS Constellation in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. It just shot off a cannon and the gunpowder blast creates a smoke ring. How neato is that?) ******

On Monday, we drove through Trappe MD and visited Dave & Carla, high school friends of Ken. We spent a delightful (but sweltering) afternoon at their farm. Ken got to ride a "blind" horse and be a horse to Katelynn, their daughter.

(Ken and Dove, the masked equus)

( Katelynn and her horsey)

(As artful as a horse's ass can be on a hot day.)

Coming up....Tomorrow is Corey's (our nephew) high school graduation, Friday we see the Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and Saturday is a Richardson (Ken's Mom's side) family reunion including a blue crab feast. It's going to be a packed weekend.

I really hope the weather stays non-humid---and that I stop getting migranes. I've had 2 in 2 days now. It could be heat, hormones, having icecream a record 3 times in one trip or the alignment of Jupiter & Mars, but for whatever is causing them, I'm putting them on notice-- no more this trip, okay?

Double the Fun

Last Thursday, I had the delight of spending the morning with Tracy and her kids, Stella & Owen.

The twins just turned 2-years-old and are they a riot. Not only are their personalities more developed since I last saw them but their comprehension of language is greatly improved. At this point, anything you say will be parroted back and that is enough reason to have a child for the endless entertainment value. "Raise the Roof" & "Hot Pockets" take on entirely new meanings when uttered by a 2-year-old. So does THIS.

Tracy is amazing to watch with the children as she balances letting the "kids be kids" with measured authoritative intervention. I can see how I might be over protective. When we were on the playground, my instinct was to follow right behind the twin I was watching and be right there. But that's not how a child learns the way of the world. So gradually I'd put a more steps between us so I didn't crowd. But it was hard.

Watching the politics of the playground is heavy-heartedly fascinating. It's just a microcosm of adult life: the haves, the have nots and authority figures. Groups of older kids ran around in packs from one piece of playground equipment to another but even as other children (including Stella & Owen) approached them or eagerly watched from the fringes, the older kids made no effort to include them. Tracy told me that sometimes kids be downright brutal about not wanting to play with others by yelling or worse.

Despite the playground politics, the twins seemed to have great fun going down the big slide initially on our laps but eventually by themselves. Stella showed agile skill at climbing the jungle gym. (I wish I had pictures of that but I was too busy climbing up behind her to make sure she didn't fall.) Poor Tracy took one for the team when she slid and fell on some wet grass when running after Owen who took off like he was making a run for the border. She caught him but had to endure wearing and sitting in wet jeans until we got back to the house--Aye!

It was a great day with Tracy and children but I seriously needed a little down time after all that activity. My hat goes off to all you moms of young kids out there.

Karaoke dokey

Last night we hosted about a dozen friends for our first annual karaoke extravaganza. We finally got around to having the party we promised to throw for over a year--and it did not disappoint.

Karaoke is a funny thing: at first it's scary to get up and sing in front of people but after the first song, you can't help but want to keep going up there. A little tequila helps too. For the occasion, we provided some awesome Goodwill finds: shirts, hats (including a fez) & accessories while many guests brought items to share as well, like the bounty of hats & wigs from Sarah & Mika. This karaoke machine was a wedding gift and not to lessen the significance of any other wedding gift we received, this one gets ALOT of use. "BKM" (Before Karaoke Machine), I was not a confident singer --at all--. But it's funny how holding a microphone, watching scrolling words and listening to the muzak-like rendition of a favorite song can change your life forever. Because everyone secretly wants to be a rock star. How could you not?

This is Scott singing Hit Me Baby One More Time by Britney Spears. It's important to note that he did not need to look at the monitor for the words (since he knew them by heart). Thanks to all the brave souls/fabulous entertainers who made the journey to Ballard. We can't wait to have you sing with us again soon. For all the pictures from this event, click HERE.

*****

And while Austin was a little shy on party night, this afternoon we continued the karaoke rampage...