ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR!!!

Yes, you read that right, 104. That was how hot it got here today! Thank GOODNESS Mark installed AC in the house before he left for sea this last time! Thank You Honey!!! We spent the day in the house, enjoying the cool air, watching movies, playing on the computer and generally keeping it low key.

So WHAT do you do at the end of a long, hot 104 degree day??? Why thats easy to answer!
You play in the sprinkler of course!





Paige trying to pull Ben into the sprinkler!





Success!!!


Ahhhhh...that feels SOOO good!!!




Hope you are all keeping cool and not having a heat wave like we are!!

Hugs
Jaye

Whaling Days Parade

Last year, when Paige was still at Green Mountain Elementary, she was in the uni cycling club before school. Once she was accepted into the gifted program at Emerald Heights that came to an end. And then Mr. Lancaster, the best PE teacher ever, got a hold of me and asked if Paige could be in the parade this year. She was able to join the club at their practices this summer and she did a really good job catching up with her skills and tricks. So last weekend, Paige joined her unicycling club in the parade! Ben and I were button holed to pull the cart with the music in it and so WE were in the parade as well! Woo Hoo! It was a fairly hot day, and we ended up being in the sun for three hours. We were tired by the time we got home, but it sure was fun! Now we can all add 'been in a parade' to our resumes!


Paige and her friend Alycia posing..they've been friends since kindergarden..






Green Mountain Unicycling Club..






Paige in 'rest position' while some of the other kids showcase their skills..





Waiting for the 'Mount Up' command...




Mr. Lancaster has invited both Paige and Ben to join the club in their before school practices. Paige and Bens bus to the gifted program doesn't leave the school until 830 so they will be able to join their friends in October when practice starts up again. It is AWESOME that they will be able to have an extra curricular activity once again!

Hugs to all,

Jaye

Cyclists........grrr...

So I was driving down the road yesterday afternoon on my way to a friends house for a bbq. I turn onto one of the main roads in our area, get my speed up to 50 (the posted limit!) and start cruising. Only to have to come to an almost complete stop and drive at about 10 miles an hour. Why you ask?? Because there was a cyclist in the road. She didn't move over onto the shoulder, and I couldn't go around her to pass as there was a long line of traffic coming the other way. Now don't get me wrong. I like a bike ride as much as the next person. But SERIOUSLY? You are going to drive IN THE ROAD, tying up traffic because you are too self centered to think beyond yourself? I understand that pulling over onto the shoulder may have meant that she would have had to stop for a few minutes, thereby halting her workout or whatever..but come on. She doesn't pay road taxes (part of the gas price you pay is for roads!)..she doesn't have to pay for tabs or a license to ride. So she is riding on roads payed for by motorists for FREE. Granted, I am sure she has a car and pays taxes too, but surely CARS have right of way on a highway??
Anways, I finally got passed her and layed on my horn (yes, road rage! lol) and she FLIPPED ME OFF! I should have just hit her when I had the chance! :)

Hugs to all,
Jaye

What the HELL is going on?!?!

Yesterday, in a town not too far from us, three men tried to kidnap a 14 year old girl in BROAD DAYLIGHT in the middle of the day!! A month ago, another little girl was taken midday and has yet to be found. A few months ago, a child was taken at Pike Place Market here in Seattle RIGHT FROM HIS MOTHER! Fortunately, she had the guts to chase this guy down and take her son back! All over the United States, kids are getting snatched. It used to be you could say 'well, sad for that kid, but REALLY, where were their PARENTS?'. It used to be that it was only kids left alone for long periods of time that were vulnerable..the so called 'latch key' kids, the kids whose parents were raving alcoholics who left their kids in the car while they were inside the bar. No more. Now it's kids whose parents are often RIGHT THERE..or at least right inside the house. They look out the window to see their child then look away to grab their coffee cup and turn back and their child is GONE. I don't know about other states, but in WA state, the laws are NOT stiff enough. Family law in general is a joke in WA state (Mary has been in contempt five times, sixth motion filed next week and she's only been fined, never seen a jail cell!).

So...what do we do? We be vigilant. Even though we don't want to, we teach our kids that this world ISN'T safe...that everyone DOESN'T love them. We educate them in reality. We equip them to deal with not just 'stranger danger' but that seemingly 'nice' people may not be so nice. And we pray. Maybe NOW is the time to start that again if we don't already. Pray like we've never prayed before. Love our kids like we've never loved them before. Appreciate every single MOMENT like we've never done before.

And then we take a deep breath...and we let go. We let our kids be kids as much as we possibly can. It may not be much these days....but we MUST let them be kids as much as we can...because if we don't...we let the bad guys win.

We can be smart AND safe...and our kids CAN have a childhood dammit. I swear MINE are going to!

Hugs to all,
Jaye

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.....

So I was cleaning out the fridge today and found a container of potatoe salad from the 4th of July. It was one I had bought from Albertsons, so it wasn't nasty it was just 'out of date'. Instead of using a spoon (and hence adding one MORE thing for me to wash) I just dug it all out with my hand. The kids were almost GAGGING! lol....'MOM, that is so GROSS'.

Yah well..I am a MOM. I've done worse things. And it all started with the birth of each child. Anyone who's witnessed, or in we ladies cases, experienced child birth, we know it's not all the spiritual moment it's cut out to be. Yes, we DO get to see the beautiful gift God gave us, but that is precluded with blood, sometimes puking and various other body fluids. We then move on to the growth of these precious bundles. There are the malfunctioning diapers when they are little and the poop shoots up their back and down the arms and legs of their sleepers. Theres the projectile puking of breast milk when they've over stuffed their little selves, and sometimes, ok, MOST times, this lovely fluid ends up all over US. In our hair, on our clothes, and if we are open mouthed at the time....well, you get the picture. Then they get older. They ask for a sip of your soda or juice and we deal with the 'backwash'. They get even older and we deal with pets...the hairballs the cat horks up...the hamster poop on the table (I've told them a MILLION times their hamsters don't REALLY want to eat with us!)...the dead frogs/lizards/tadpoles/fish etc we've had to pick up and then ready for burial. There's the middle of the night puking that NEVER starts in the bathroom but usually in their newly made beds, and it soaks EVERY inch of EVERY blanket. There's the sippy cups of milk behind the couch we find a week later...the mouldy glob of whatever it used to be that we find underneath the car seat.....

Not pleasant things..but I make my point. Scooping out potatoe salad with my hand is about the LEAST gross thing I've had to deal with in my lifetime!

Hugs to all,

Jaye