Uhhh...again

 Uhhh...why are you always hanging out in weird places?

Uhhhh...

 Uhhh...who's going to clean that up?

Father's Day

This year for Father's Day Kitty and I wanted to something fun for the old boy in our house.  So on Saturday we went to the arcade and bowling alley.  I had a good time wincing at the abundance of blaring sounds and Mykey had a good time trying to throw a bowling ball with an injured arm.

Maybe the arcade wasn't the best choice for 2 old fogeys.  But we did actually have a good time and Kitty won a cool fiber optic light with her arcade tickets.  Exciting!

On Sunday, Kitty and I carefully laid out our hand-drawn cards.  Notice I even tried to speak his nerd language on mine.  That's true love right there.  Kitty made him a mirror at her clay art camp and I made him steak and flourless chocolate cake for dinner.  He had already purchased his gift weeks earlier.  It was an orbital sander.  Very romantic.  

Kitty also programmed him a digital card all about Star Wars.  She spent quite a few hours meticulously working on the code.  It was sweet for me to watch and I'm grateful for their bond.

I don't know about Mykey, but I sure had a wonderful day.

Happy Father's Day!

   

Parent Time

My parents drove home with us from DC and stayed for 10 days in our humble condo.  It was a far cry from the guest amenities they used to enjoy in our Oregon home, but it all worked out.  Hey, I'm just doing my part to make sure they don't become too uppity.  

You're welcome.

Our first item of business was stopping to explore the Luray Caverns on our journey home.  My goodness!  What an amazing natural wonder.  It was my first experience with caverns and I highly recommend it.  I also did a ropes course with Kitty in the blazing sun.  I recommend that with less enthusiasm.  It was sweaty.  Nevertheless, Kitty and I had a good time and bonded over wobbling around on teeny ropes high up in the sky.  But seriously, go see some caverns!

In the weeks leading up to my parents' visit, I spent quite a bit of brain power contemplating fun things to do with my folks in our new land.  I wanted them to love TN as much I as do, so I carefully curated a list of activities that would tickle them.  

And that's why I immediately put my mother to work fixing my bathroom floor.  Hey, I'm just doing my part to make sure they don't become too uppity.  

My sweet Mommy worked her little fanny off repairing our floors in various places.  I felt pangs of guilt for asking her to work but was incredibly grateful that she did it for us.  She's amazing. 

Before you go feeling bad for the old folks, we also did some extremely fun things.  It wasn't all sweat-shoppy.

We went to Pigeon Forge and had a load of adventures like going to a pirate dinner show, where Kitty exclaimed, "This is EPIC!".  Indeed it was.

We enjoyed the fishies at Ripley's Aquarium and rode in a glass-bottom boat.  Thanks, Dad!

We even had the chance to shop in the world's biggest knife store and found the sword in the stone.  It was GINORMOUS!

I also had a ginormous belly laugh watching my poor husband trying to mount a child-sized tube in the pool at the hotel. That may have been the best thing I saw in Pigeon Forge.  

Back home we went looking for old veteran grave sites and found some from the Revolutionary and Civil wars.

We also had a tour of the Bristol Motor Speedway and were able to drive along the track and visit the owner's box.  That turned out to be more fun than I anticipated.  

And we can't forget the birthplace of country music museum.  That was a neat place...and I don't even particularly like country music!

We also did all of the important things like eating life-changing donuts at Auntie Ruth's, devouring Project BBQ and feeling what heaven must be like, and watching movies in the basement with Mykey's famous popcorn.  It was a good 10 days.

Kitty slightly disagreed.   

After about a week, Kitty was tired of running around with us to historical sites and boring adult things.  At the Tipton-Haynes historical site, my mom was reading a plaque in the parking lot.  I asked her what it said and Kitty shouted, "It says that this is the most boring place in the whole world and no one should ever come here!"

She's such a pleasant child. 

Don't listen to Kitty...you should indeed go there.  Please come see me and I'll take you.  It'll be fun.

Just ask my parents.

Old Woman

Something strange is happening to me.  My body is changing.  I'm pretty sure it ain't puberty.  It's much worse...I think I'm getting old.

As in, I'm actually an old woman.  It's very strange.  

I don't really want to admit that I'm morphing into a fogey, but perhaps I am. The more I ponder my behavior, the more I wonder.  Let's see...

• I carry a cardigan with me at all times. It's chilly in the grocery store, sonny!
• I have an abundance of chin whiskers.
• I'm ready for dinner at 4pm.  
• I have to squint when driving at night, and therefore don't want to be in the car after twilight. 
• I regularly employ the phrase, "Kids these days!"
• Sometimes I pee in my pants a little.
• Sometimes I pee in my pants a lot.
• I have distinct wrinkles around my eyes.
• Most of my pants have an elastic waistband.

Could it be possible?  Am I truly an oldster?

I took a selfie today just to verify if I'm ancient or not.

Well, I guess the camera doesn't lie.  I'd better fill up my purse with hard candies and used Kleenex.

Now you kids get off my lawn!

DC

And I don't mean the comic books.  I mean the capital of the U.S. herself, good 'ol Washington DC.  I've long wanted to visit our nation's capital, but have never found the right moment.  Moving to Tennessee and being within driving distance turned out to be the right moment.

My sissy drove down from Rhode Island, my parents flew in from Idaho, and we all congregated at the Holiday Inn Express for a delightful Memorial Day weekend together.  

Well...delightful for some of us.  Here's the thing about DC: it's definitely all about the history, no fluff.  You must set aside the fantasies of thrills and embrace the gentle hum of history.  I embraced the hum.  Kitty did not.  Even Michael was historied out by our final day.  Some guys just can't hang.

It was hot, it was crowded, we walked and walked and walked and walked.  I understand why Kitty struggled a bit.  But I'm truly glad we went.  It was fun to see all of the landmarks and reflect on the greatness of our country.  We saw a lot! We went to the top of the Washington Monument, visited the Lincoln Monument, the American History museum, (where I saw my favorite Muppet, the incomparable Count von Count), we stopped in at the Korean and Vietnam War memorials, watched a motorcycle parade that seemed to have no end, and enjoyed Arlington National Cemetery.  Whew!

We even had the chance to attend the Washington DC temple open house while we were there.  It was a special experience to be with my Kitty in the temple and to be able to talk about the covenants we make there and the importance of the temple.  It was my favorite part.

That, and being with my sissy and parents.  

But before you think it was all history and no thrills, we did have an incredibly exciting adventure.  The smoke alarms in our hotel went off late at night and we all had to leave our beds and evacuate.  If there had been a real fire, I would've been in trouble since I didn't even grab my purse on the way out!  I clearly need more fire drills in my life for practice. 

The weekend went far too quickly but we filled our minutes to the brim.  It was a memory-making trip for sure.

God bless the USA!

3rd Grade DONE!

Kitty finished the 3rd grade!  On her last day of school she was able to bring home the desk-pet that she had earned and was lovingly caring for at school.  I was happy to finally meet Neptune the dolphin.

I'm so proud of Kitty, especially at the end of her 3rd grade year.  It was hard for her to move across the country and start at a new school.  She was scared and sad.  There were times when Kitty would sob about missing her friends and her school in Oregon.  My heart would break for her and I prayed every day that she would find peace.  

Even though it was overwhelming and scary, she did it!  She adapted and coped and closed out the school year with grace.  Kitty has been an example to me of acceptance and perseverance.  I have no doubt that she can do anything. She really is a great kid. 

Now...let's get the summertime shenanigans underway!

Surprise!

I love it when Kitty surprises me.  Like when I pick her up from school and she's holding a trophy and has a medal around her neck.

What?!  

Yup.  In only 3 months at her new school, Kitty managed to earn all the AR points and get all the prizes.  You earn points by reading books and then taking quizzes about them.  Books are assigned point values based on their length, difficulty, etc.  The goal for each student was to earn 25 AR points during a 9 week period.

Kitty earned 374.

Just a couple extra points there.  Naturally, we celebrated her achievement with a blizzard.

Kitty astounds me with her drive and knowledge retention.  She loves to read and is positively brilliant - if you want my opinion.

And I know you do.

Congratulations to my bookworm! 

United Unicorns

Kitty loves playing soccer and wanted to join a new team as soon as we arrived in TN.  Good thing her mother is omniscient and had already done the research to find a team through the city's parks and rec department.  

Kitty was assigned to the United Unicorns.  They had the cutest shirts in the league so it was a bonus.  Most of the girls on the team had been playing together for a couple of years and they welcomed us right in.

It really was a wonderful experience. The coaches were great, the parents were kind, and it felt very much like a group of united unicorns.

Kitty played hard and improved quite a bit.  I loved watching from the sidelines and cheering for the team like a rabid unicorn.

We'll be starting up another season in the fall and I'm looking forward to it.

Go United Unicorns!