What a Difference A Week Makes

Last week at this time I was sitting on the patio with Dakota and our good friends, Lynn and Diana, watching the kids play while we talked about anything and everything. The weather was perfect - not a cloud in the sky.

It's still perfect, weather-wise, but our friends are back in their home thousands of miles from here. It was so much fun to have them visit - I wish it could have lasted more than a few days.

They arrived last Saturday (well, to be fair, they arrived Friday evening but after not reaching us by phone (it was the 4th and we were out in the yard and never heard the phone) they decided to just wait, get some sleep and call us in the morning. They had driven their RV all the way from the Midwest and were, understandably, tired.

When they finally arrived on our door step it was as if no time had passed since we last saw them three years ago. Hello hugs all around and then tons of easy conversations. Nice!!

The kids did what kids do and tried to impress them and capture every bit of attention they could. Finally they settled in and were happy enough to let us talk. Both kid took to a different person; Kaylen fell for "the driver" (Diana) and Kelton took a shine for "the teacher" (Lynn). It was all rather cute. :)

We did the things that friends do - talked, talked, talked, went out to eat, talked, talked, talked. It was great. Better than great!

Lynn worked with Kelton on school things for a couple hours and observed Kaylen just being Kaylen. She then turned to me and said "What's the gifted program like in your school district? You need to have them tested and put into it." Yikes. It's official. We have a couple of smarty pants for kids. Now we always knew they were "above average" but to have someone, a teacher of many, many years, confirm it was something else. We're in trouble. :) Lynn agrees with us that Kaylen is what we call "scary smart". So, so, so much trouble. (And umm...if you're keeping score then you might want to remember that the kids have different donors so I'm thinking the scary smart part comes from my side. Hee hee!!! And no fair saying "Yeah - but things like that skip people in a family. *sticking out my tongue and raspberrying you*)

On Monday, Diana and Lynn met the kids and I at the mall. We hit the arcade (Diana is a big, big kid when it comes to arcades. We learned that at the beach three years ago.) where all three kids (!) did well. Then we moved on to the carousel and little train. On the way from one end of the mall to the other we discovered that the much anticipated Build-A-Bear Workshop was open!! After explaining to the kids that it was a special event to go and we would not be going every time we went to the mall, we went in and the kids made new friends.











We ended the morning in the play area where Kaylen decided she would thrill us all with her stop breathing trick. After that, we hit the food court (Dakota met us there after working the morning)and then came back home to spend the final hours with our friends.

Around 9:00PM we finally had to say our goodbyes and watch them drive away. None of us were ready to say goodbye. The next day the kids kept wandering around saying they missed their friends and I just kept agreeing with them. I did too.

I really hope they come back soon.

Zoo Day

Today two friends of mine and all our kids met out at the zoo for a few fun filled hours. The whole adventure started out a bit dicey when I missed the exit to the final of five freeways to get from our house to the zoo (which makes it seem like the zoo is about 5 hours from our house but no..it's only 30 minutes. That's Portland for you. The freeway system over there makes me want to slam my head into a wall over and over and over. *sigh*). I've been to the zoo before. Many times. I have never missed the exit before. It's the same exit to the same freeway that takes us to the beach every time we go. I'm no stranger to the exit. I just wasn't paying close enough attention to driving and instead was trying to get the kids to settle down so, ironically enough, I could get us there safely. It was a noble attempt, I'll give me that.

I ended up somewhere in downtown Portland. I went through China Town and, at one point, I could even see the hospital on the campus where Dakota works. I just couldn't find my way through all the one way streets, heavy traffic (for 10AM!) and construction. I placed a call to Dakota in the hopes that she would know the area far better than me. She did not but she did have access to maps and mapquest. With much frustration on all sides (and it sure wasn't helpful that we would lose the connection through the hills and dense trees) we finally managed to get the kids and I to our destination. Thirty minutes late. *sigh* If you know nothing else about me - know this much; I can't stand being late. It's just not in my DNA. I had even left home 15 minutes prior to the time I should have had to leave to get there on time. So if you factor that in, I was 45 minutes off my projected arrival time.

But - arrive we finally did and my friends and their kids were good sports about the whole thing - more worried about us then about all of them standing around waiting and shivering. Thank you, you guys. Really and seriously. Thank you. For everything.

After getting through the gates we got down to the serious business of getting from point A to point B and all points beyond. Not easy in a packed zoo when you are traveling with four strollers and two walkers (and two were stroller jumpers - jumping in and out without notice) but we manged not to lose anyone and I think we all had a pretty good time. Stressful at moments, but a good time none-the-less.

The kids - ready to rock and roll.

Kaylen petting a goat. One of her goals for the visit. The other was seeing the elephants and, as I learned on the way home, she had added giraffes and penguins to her wish list. I wasn't aware. Sorry, baby girl!

Kelton petting a goat.

Experiencing the Dino-Walk! That was really cool and fun!

One happy, happy boy! As it turns out, it was his favorite part of the trip.

The spitting dino. A huge hit with my two wild children. :)

Cool, eh? And it is only one-third of the original size. WOW!

The super fast slide in the dino area. All the kids loved it and went many, many, many times.

The dino dig.

Kelton and Little Ms. Robinson (Lost on the reference? See post below this one.)

Watching the turtles.

Another photo of Mr. Happy Boy

My monkeys playing on the monkey swings.

Watching the geyser.

The Three Amigas!
My friends Melanie and Jeri (and me, of course)

Great, Amazing and Exciting News!

I have been sitting on some seriously good news for almost a week now but since it wasn't my news to break to people I pledged my silence until the time was right.

The time is now!


My best buddy Brenda is moving home!!!!

If you have been a long time reader of my blog then you know that Brenda moved away to California last September because of a job opportunity for her husband. It was sad, sad, sad but we stayed true to our friendship and talked on the phone practically every single day. As luck would have it, her husband was offered an even more amazing job opportunity back here so....in the next 4-6 weeks Brenda will be back. I am so excited I can barely stand it. WAHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

And as I promised, Brenda, I'll be standing on the porch of your (as of yet to be bought) new house with a Chai Tea Latte in my hands to welcome you home!!

I am so, so, so happy. :) :) :)