My dog has fleas…

I can remember my high school choir director making us sing warm ups. One of them was, “my dog has fleas” up and down the scale. So when I took my dog to the vet this weekend and she announced that sure enough, my dog had fleas… I couldn’t stop singing the warm up. It is truly a bummer and the poor guy couldn’t stop itching himself why we were gone on vacation. By the time we returned home, his entire rear end was flamed up and most of his hair was gone from one spot. The vet gave him two meds which have helped tremendously, however… my dog still has fleas. I gave him another dose of Advantage, but those pesky bugs won’t die.

Speaking of pesky bugs… I think our yard is must be the only one in the neighborhood with mosquitoes. For some reason they flock to our yard and bite my kids. Today I bought more bug spray and actually saw a new Off product for yards that I’m going to try. My good friend told me about a Citronella plant that you can buy, so I’m setting out to locate one tomorrow.

In other news, this week is VBS (vacation Bible school) for Pig Will. The program that I picked is only for rising Kindergarten and above, so Pig Me Too cannot go. However, I am staying for the opening music and getting there early for the end so that PMT can enjoy a bit of it. She even learned the theme song and another song today so that she can sing with her big sis when they are home. Too cute. The leaders are so enthusiastic and are great at getting the kids involved. PW was pleasantly surprised to see a few friends from school and begged to go back each day. Today she asked me, “Mom, how will I go to 1st grade and Bible school at the same time? Won’t I only have time to go all day to one of them?” (She actually seemed quite concerned about it!) I had to explain twice that VBS was only one week long… she would not miss school. Funny girl.

With VBS and other activities, this is turning out to be a busy week. Today we went grocery shopping and I literally felt my heart drop to my stomach when the total bill was revealed. I am really good about saving and clipping coupons. In fact, I used $58 dollars in coupons today… but that didn’t seem to help with the price of food and domestic supplies these days. Ugh..

 

Mountains and Majesty

So we had internet access in Colorado, but I didn’t want to post without pictures. Every time I thought about something to write, it needed the view to go with it. Without further ado, I bring you, “Mountains and Majesty”!

We arrived on July 3rd and just took in the view and the town, Breckenridge.

The next day we celebrated the 4th by watching a parade during the day and then fireworks that night. Firework pictures never turn out.

On the 5th, we went to feed the chipmunks.  There are thousands of them and they will come right up and eat from your hand. Their favorite meal that day was apple or bird seed. The girls had a blast and it was fun to watch them. (Kind of gross though, right? Rodents??)

Then we went to feed the fish and ducks in the pond at Keystone. We rode the paddle boats and my husband steered us right under the water fountain. We all got soaked! My cell phone has not been the same since… it kept turning itself on and off, even when it was off to begin with! Pig Will decided to dry off by jumping on the bungee trampoline. She did amazing and had a huge smile on her face the entire time.

The morning of the 6th, husband and I woke up and started our hike at 5 am. Breckenridge sits at around 9,300 feet and we climbed Peak 10, which is about 12,000 feet. It took us almost 3 hours to get up there, so we skipped the last bit, which was probably another 2 hours because of incline. We took the path some of the way and we went straight up on other parts. Hiking alone makes you tired, but thinning air will make you light headed! After soaking in the breathtaking views at the top of the summit, we started our decent. Only, we had been playing in snow and turned the wrong way down. Walking slow and at a side-step, we made it a few feet down before realizing that we were sort of stuck in a bad place. Going back up the rocky side would take half an hour and be very dangerous… but going down would mean lots of snow and a river at the bottom. The river was flowing fast under the snow and who knew how deep the snow was. Finally we decided that husband would go first, while I held a cell phone to call if he fell through. He crouched down and skied down the slope. He went flying and just missed the river end where there was no snow. Now it was my turn. I moved over a bit on the hill as to miss the river and started my decent. It was an amazing feeling to be sliding down this mountain side with no one else around. After realizing that we did not film either one of us sliding, I made husband climb back up the side to do it again. Then we had to start our long trek up the other side of the mountain towards a ski lift, where we knew the walk down would be safer. I was not about to walk along the river and chance sliding! We made it over and ran down most of the way. We arrived back at the condo at 9 am. Here are some pictures of our adventure.

First, me before we left… I had no idea what I was in for!

Later that day, on the 6th, we took the girls ice skating. It was their first time and they both did great. Pig Will was a bit more adventurous and used the skating bar by herself. She would run and then slide. Pig Me Too stayed with me on the adult bar when she came out. Yes, those were the only pictures that we got… I did take a video of Pig Will on the ice… but since I was moving, it is hard to watch.

On the 7th, we explored Vail. We mostly went into stores and let the kids play at the play ground. It was raining, so we didn’t drive down to the gondolas. The girls met Einstein and Shakespeare along the way… we also ran into a few Golden’s, some real, some not so real…

On the 8th, we took a tour of a huge River house. It is a 10th ownership deal that husbands parents are looking into. It has awesome mountain views from one side of the house and from every window, you can hear the rushing river. Beautifully designed and well worth the investment. Then we took the girls to a park for a picnic. It was fun to watch them play and take in the gorgeous site. The play ground was on the lake with the mountains in the distant.

After lunch, my in-laws left for their drive back home. We took the girls up Peak 10 to see where we had hiked. They got to play in the snow and experience some of what husband and I did a few days before. Snow in July! While on our hike a few days before, I had used a marker pole that I found as a walking stick. When we finally found the path and started running down, I laid the pole against a tree. When we took the girls up the mountain side, we let them hike a bit up for the experience. As they were playing in snow, I hiked up a bit farther to the path to see where we were… and right there, laying against a tree was my pole! I grabbed it for the girls to use and then we later hid it for them to find in a few years. (ha!) The day ended with the drive back down and seeing a fox resting on the side of someone’s yard. (Husband and I also saw a Coyote on our hike!)

On the 9th, we just relaxed. We took the girls on a bike ride and then started our drive towards the airport since our flight on the 10th was early.

It was an amazing time, filled with beautiful sites, fun adventures and surrounded by family.

 

Going on an adventure…

Well, we are off again. Tomorrow we will get on an airplane to visit Colorado. The girls were there with us in the fall of 2004, but only Pig Will remembers some of it. Pig Me Too was just 8 months old then!

Today was supposed to be spent getting packed and ready. Finishing up yard work and picking up the house. My husband even brought home his laptop from work so that he could get some things done without having to go into the office. He usually brings his laptop in, but last night he forgot. This morning when he went out to retrieve his laptop from the car, he saw THIS:

and his laptop was missing. Nice, huh?

So, he spent the day at work, sorting through paper work, on the phone with the police and getting his car to the dealership to have it fixed while we are gone.

Anyway, we are leaving tomorrow as scheduled and it should be a great time.

 

Ramblings from a Navy Wife…

As I was glancing at my blog, I noticed that I will need a new tag line soon. I picked the blog title, “Half My Heart” when I started the blog because my husband deployed to Afghanistan and took the other half of my heart with him. I needed an outlet… and this is what worked. My husband will be leaving his Navy duties as of November 1st. He will start working with a Government Contractor. So, my tag line says, “Ramblings from a Navy Wife” and I will no longer be a Navy Wife, but a Civilian wife. What should I change my tag line to? Ramblings from a …???

Yesterday was a beautiful day. We took the girls to the zoo and they had a blast. They even got to ride on a camel! The lady behind us in line had coupons for $1 entrance… so we saved a bundle and used some of the “extra” money to let them ride the camel.

We also saw a polar bear swim… and I truly believe that is how humans learned the back stroke! I have it on film, but my blog will not let me upload it! Here is a picture instead:

In other happenin’ news… my sister gave birth today to little Cooper George! He was 8 lbs 3 oz and 20 inches long. He has a full head of hair and is very well tempered. I just held him and talked and sang to him…. but no, I do not want another baby for myself! This will do just fine, thanks! Congrats sis and bro-in-law!!!

 

A quick trip

I left Monday afternoon to go on a business trip with my husband. Only he was on Air Tran and I was on Southwest. Usually he flies SW, so he had a free ticket and I jumped at the opportunity to not only spend time away with him, but to have free time on the beach.

On the flight I started reading “The Shack” by William P. Young. I put in some Christian tunes on my iPod so that I’d have comforting words in my ears as I read. I knew from family and from reading the back cover that the story starts out sad. Not to say that the rest of the story isn’t “sad”, but there is redemption and you cry along with the father. The book, for me, was very eye-opening to how we judge people and how we hold on to regret from the past. What was even more profound for me was learning a deeper thinking into forgiveness. I mean, you can say that you forgive someone. You can tell them that you forgive them. You can even pronounce out loud that you forgive them… but not truly let go of that hurt. You don’t need to forget to forgive. Some will argue that the book seemed “new-agey”, I disagree. You need to look beyond how the author describes things and see the meaning behind it. In the book, the man sees God as a woman. This is his perception of the Father for the time being. I see nothing wrong with it. God shows himself to man in a comforting and loving way that the man can handle. I also loved the description of colors that describes humans, angels and animals in heaven. It was breathtaking for me.

My flight landed about 2 hours before my husbands, so I walked down to the attached Marriot and continued to read the book. We checked into the hotel, had dinner and then walked on the beach. The next morning, he had to leave pretty early… so I went for a two hour stroll on the beach. I wanted to explore more of the area and thought it would be quickest for me to run. So, I jogged for about a mile before it hit me that this was truly a beach town and that was it. I retreated to the pool to swim and continued reading my book. After, I showered and ate lunch (warm almond crusted brie with apples and pear sauce! yum!), I went for another stroll on the beach. This time I ventured up the long pier to enjoy the breeze. I was already a bit sunburned, so the breeze felt nice. Suddenly a boy looked at me and proclaimed, “did you see it? Dolphins!” I thought, what an imagination… there is no way that dolphins would swim this close to shore… and with all those people swimming right there. Sure enough, I glanced down to see a dolphin leap up. Wow, was that just for me Lord? After about 30 minutes of watching him surface every 30 seconds to a minute, two more dolphins joined him. One was a baby swimming in perfect motion with his mother. It was the most amazing sight. I mean, I’ve seen dolphins at the aquarium, but this was a real world show just for me! Okay, not just for me… but you know what I mean.

Finally my husband returned just in time for us to get a table at a beach side restaurant to watch the sun set. There was a band playing on the deck and we had front row seats to watch the most wonderful motion picture ever made. Then we strolled along the beach again and watched the lightening in the clouds.

Although I didn’t get to spend much time with my husband, it was a relaxing retreat for me. Reading the book made me miss my children that much more and I was glad to arrive back safely last night. My husband had to catch a flight to another city for another meeting… but he should be home sometime tonight.

 

Car Conversations

My girls are the typical little girls. Pig Will (PW) is a bit more on the “tomboy” side. She loves to climb trees, dig in the dirt and explore anything new. Pig Me Too (PMT) is a bit more reserved and dainty. She absolutely has to wear a dress or skirt on most days (sometimes I MAKE her wear pants!).

So, I was not surprised when the wedding topic came up again yesterday. This time, however, it was not questions about the actual wedding, but more about how you decide to get married.

First, from PW, “Mom, how did you meet dad? and how did you know that he was your husband?” Next, from PW, “So then, how did you know he was not already married?” (laughing to self!) Then, PMT, “Did you wear a dress for your wedding? a wedding dress? and is that when daddy gave you your rings? Is the diamond one your wedding ring? Did you give daddy a ring too?” Then, again from PW, “How do you know when it is time to grow up and get married?” She was very worried about having to move out. This has come up several times in her short 6 years. I, of course, put her mind at ease and explained that she doesn’t ever have to get married if she doesn’t want to… but most likely she will meet a boy, fall in love and WANT to get married.

In other news, PMT is still afraid of having her hair washed. We had worked through some issues and finally started having a calm hair wash session a few months ago. Then, one of us (probably husband!), got water in her eyes and we’ve been back at the battle of her crying the entire time we are washing her hair. What do we do? I am sooooooooo tired of it.

Speaking of tired… what is up with mosquitoes? I don’t remember constantly battling with them until about 3 years ago. Anyone have any good solutions to not get bit? I cannot stand bug spray.

 

Touch a truck, twist an ankle…

On Saturday our family went to an event at a local church called “Touch a Truck” where the children got a chance to touch and sit on different kinds of trucks. There were semi’s, fire trucks, RV’s… you name it. Before we left we let the kids get in the moon bounce. Both are really good at it and have done it several times. On her way out, Pig Will sprained her ankle. She could not even stand up because the pain was so intense. We took her home, elevated it and put ice on it. On Sunday morning things looked a bit better but she still did not want to put pressure on it. I have been carrying her to the bathroom and every where else we go. On Monday morning things were still not better, so I took her to get an x-ray. Everything checked out and sure enough it was just a bad sprain. They gave her crutches and a walking boot. She is not very good at the crutches, but they work while we are at home so that she can take herself to the bathroom. She is too slow on them to have her use them out and about.

Speaking of which, today we went to a follow-up appointment at the base medical facility. Everything went fine and the good doctor confirmed the sprain and told me what I already knew. Since we were already on base, I decided that I would get new DOD tags for my car since they expire at the end of this month. I also need to update my Military ID. So I pull into the parking spot and decided to let PW use her crutches. Only problem is we have to walk 200 feet and it is 98 degrees today. After 20 steps and only 5 feet from the car, I picked her up, crutches and all with Pig Me Too walking beside us. I walked up to the counter, laid down my information for new tags and the lady replied with, “you need a new ID first, we can’t give you tags that go beyond your expiration date on your ID.” Great. Can you do my ID here? Of course not, that is up at the medical building where we just were. I was not about to load the car back up, drive up the hill and then have to come back down for the tags. So, I took the girls for food and we ate among the Officers and workers.

The bathroom was being painted, but I think the painter saw desperation in my eyes and snuck me in. Then I got the girls ice cream and we headed home.

Here is a picture of PW’s foot… and then one of her on her crutches. Enjoy!

In other news… two little bunnies have made their home for the summer in our yard. The girls are fascinated by them. They hop really high and love to play tag.

 

Summer fun has begun…

Yesterday Pig Me Too’s preschool went on a field trip to the beach. It was a small private beach in the neighborhood where the preschool director lives. Since Pig Will only has half days this week, I was able to pick her up and bring her along on the trip. Both girls love to dig in the sand but aren’t much for water. They both splashed around in the water by themselves to my amazement and built sand blobs on the shore.

Then last night it happened. Tantrum central. I had given them baths early because of the sand and sunscreen, so we were cuddled up on the couch watching a movie after dinner. Since we own a Golden Retriever, I thought they’d enjoy “Air Bud”, a story about a little boy who finds a Golden, takes him in and he becomes the basketball mascot for the boys team. Well, around the middle of the story the boy tries to send the dog away (too long to explain, you’d have to watch it) and both girls are crying. Pig Me Too is sobbing, turn it off, turn it off… and Pig Will is countering with, keep it on, keep it on! Since PMT is clearly upset about the movie and it is starting to get late, I turn the TV off. PW becomes irate and starts screaming to the point of losing her voice. She needs to know that the dog is okay and will not reason with the fact that we can rent, buy or record the movie. Finally we just let her scream it out until she was worn out. Then we both took turns talking to her about what happened. Not only had we had a fun long day, but it was bed time and we could always see the movie another time. I think what finally got her to calm down was the fact that I mentioned if she didn’t stop hyperventilating that her asthma would act up and she’d need to go to the hospital. Most likely, that would’ve not happened… but I was desperate to calm her down.

Needless-to-say, the evening finally calmed down and both girls slept soundly through the night. It is strange to see the girls grow up and become super sensitive to things. I didn’t think that started happening until puberty! Oy Vey the teens are gonna be hard!

Speaking of Golden’s! Ours turned 7 years old yesterday! Happy Belated b-day Rusty!

 

The Magic First Grader…

Yesterday I attended the Kindergarten Celebration where my first child was magically turned into a first grader. The teacher took her magic wand, tapped the child’s head and spun her around… then, volia, instant first grader. It was so cute. Only problem is, most of the class thinks that this last week of school is 1st grade! Too funny. Here is a cute picture of the event.

Next we went into the cafeteria and watched a picture slideshow of the year. At the end was the statement, “We will miss you this summer class of 2020.” My friend and I both shook our heads in disbelief. Neither of us had done the math before… really? My kid is the High School graduating class of 2020! That will make me… OLD! Oy vey.

 

Field Day and picture catch-up

I’m thinking that I never posted the end results of our basement playroom renovations. I am so far behind on downloading pictures. Here are the most recent pictures that I took of the basement… a few more things have been done… but obviously the hand rails need to be painted and pictures need to be hung.

Okay, so I need to take new pictures… the hand rail is finished with the spindles all the way up. Stay tuned.

Yesterday was field day at Pig Will’s school. She did really well, being the shortest in the class. She is very athletic and actually threw farther, ran faster and kept up with most of the kids in her class. They did 15 rotations and activities included hopping with a ball between their legs , dragging wet clothes to hang on the line ,

lacrosse throw , rock wall climbing
and karate exercises…

Also, here is a picture of my mini lamb burgers that I made… I never posted it in my cooking diaries…