Memorial City Mall (aka "Candyland)

We needed to just get out of the house today so that the boys could cut loose and have some fun. For anyone who hasn't been to the Memorial City Mall's playground yet, I highly recommend it. It's so nice and even has a security guard to deter kids who are too old or too big (huge pet peeve of mine.) I especially recommend going early in the day (before 11) or there tends to be a pretty good sized crowd. However, it's one of those places that has enough space that even if there are a lot of kids, it doesn't feel super crowded.

Logan, so excited.

Dallin, also excited.

Does Obama speak for you?

I took this test and found it interesting - especially on the heels of a conversation had at Enrichment tonight. (I know, not a political blog, not a polictical forum, etc.) At any rate, you can see how much Obama represents you and your values. So, here you go.

http://barackobamatest.com/

As a sidenote, my result was that I disagree with Obama 92% of the time. Yikes.

Life at summer camp (post by Tom)

The only problem with this summer camp.....too much summer!**

So just a quick story about my shower this morning (blogs are supposed to be personal, right?) Anyway, I got up at 4:30 a.m. to take a shower. That sounds early, but apparently about 4,000 other guys had the same idea - so the water pressure left something to be desired. I would categorize it as maybe a drizzle (if you're from Oregon, you definitely know a drizzle when you see one. If not, just imagine an only semi-continuous, very light stream of water.)

So as I'm doing my best to get wet, wash, and (most challenging) rinse, guy #4,001 turned on his shower, which took things down to a trickle. I don't think guy #4,002 or #4,003 got the memo that the shower was already doing it's best impression of a sharply kinked hose, because once they began their liquid thievery, my shower quickly went from drip...............to zip. Yes, that's right, my poor soapy self is standing under a completely vacant shower head, wondering how long it will take guys #4,001-4,003 to quit hogging my water (and that's assuming guy #4,004 stays out of the blasted shower.) After about 2 minutes, (long enough for my anger to soften into amusement about my predicament,) like liquid manna from heaven, I started to get a drip again, which progressed almost to a drizzle by the time I was done. Now, I can't be entirely sure whether I actually rinsed, or if the soap had just dried during intermission, but I'll take what I can get, so I decided to turn off the shower, and allow others to share in the bounteous blessings that are summer camp showers.

And that, my friends, is how interesting things are in Asab. I'm a stone's throw from the cradle of civilization (okay, maybe an 8-year camel ride) and yet my first blog entry in months is about my weak-sauce shower. Yikes. Sounds like it's time to go home.


**Other side-effects may include dehydration, loneliness, hair loss, indigestion, apathy, sunburn, boredom, weight gain, drowsiness, carpel tunnel, and a poor sense of humor.

Home to Houston

After watching the boys get more and more restless in College Station, I decided to come home today. I'd been planning to stay until Friday or so, but it felt like the right thing to do. Both boys were so excited to come back. Logan spent most of the way either singing the Little Einstein's theme song or listing everything he wasn't going to pee on. (Don't ask me what prompted this.)

"And I'm not going to pee on Dallin's rug!"
"That sounds like a good plan, buddy."
"And I'm not going to pee on Mama's bed!"
"Please don't."
"And I'm not going to pee on my train table!"
"Right, because that'd be gross."
"Yeah, super gross!"

That's my boy. At any rate, it's good to be home. We'll see what the grocery store situation is tomorrow, but for now, we're all happy to be in our own un-peed on beds.

yIKEs.

Well, everyone, we made it. After deciding to ride out the storm in Houston because we'd been instructed by local authorities to stay put, and based on the predictions for what we'd face in our area, I felt ok about being there. We ended up going over to some friends' house to spend the night so that I wouldn't be by myself if something went wrong. I've got pretty much a whole wall of large windows and a parking lot that gets standing water in a normal rainstorm so hurricane force winds plus a whole lot of water and me by myself with two babies didn't seem like such a good plan. However, sheltering at our friends' house solved both problems for the most part and didn't require me to drive to College Station, which is an hour and a half drive when the road isn't full of people fleeing imminent catastrophe. At any rate, it was one of the most stressful nights of my life. It sounded like it would if you layed your head next to a freight train as it thundered past. Go figure, though. We took down the boards in the morning and noticed that the air conditioning unit that was just outside the window of the room we were sleeping in had been moved about 2 feet over and knocked on it's side. So, all in all, an intense night. I have a new, healthy respect for nature and will forever more do as much as it takes to make sure we're never in that position again. My parents came up and got us so we could drive back to College Station together, so we're here until the power comes back on at home. They said it could be up to two weeks but there are places fairily close to ours that are starting to come back online, so we'll see. Tonight I'm grateful to be safe, to have a warm bed in a cool house, and that my kids are ok. I seriously feel like all heck has broken loose since Tom left. I hope that we're through the worst of it. I'm exhausted, although that may have more to do with a very intense last couple of days sandwiching one of the most frightening nights of my life. If you ever find yourself in the direct path of a hurricane, get out. You'll be glad you did.

My life soundtrack

This looked fun so I thought I'd give it a shot.

Instructions:
Open your MP3 player
Put it on shuffle
Press play
For every section list whichever song comes up
Repeat to get the full soundtrack

Here’s my soundtrack:
Opening Credits: Michael Buble - Call me Irresponsible
Waking up: Dido - No Angel
Falling in love: Jack Johnson - Bubble Toes
Fight song: Will Smith - Switch
Break up song: Phil Vassar - Didn't You Know She's Gone
Making Up: Erasure - Oh l'Amour
Life’s Okay: James Taylor - Only a Dream in Rio
Mental Breakdown: Kanye West - Stronger (Edited)
Driving: U2 - One
Flashbacks: Rascal Flatts - It's Not Just Me
Happy Dance: Ciara feat. Chamillionaire - Get Up
Regret: Jon Schmidt - Walk in the Woods
Final Battle: Toad the Wet Sprocket - Hold Her Down
Death Scene: Eagles - Hotel California
Final Credits: Harry Connick Jr. - Jill

Anyone out there with an mp3 player - consider yourself tagged :)

Swimming Lessons

Most people put their kids in swimming lessons during the summer. I always thought it would be the logical thing to do, but with the encouragement of a friend - Logan's starting to learn how to swim this fall. The local YMCA has lessons year round and now that I've had a chance to think about it, it seems like a great idea. Spend the fall and winter learning how to swim so that when summer hits, the kid's a pro. At any rate, Logan had his first lesson today and he loved learning how to 'swim like a fish.' I was suprised at how well he did, but I also tried to stay out of sight. He tends to be braver when I'm not around. I think he would've done fine either way, but I spent the time like a goalie tending the net trying to keep Dallin away from the pool. The bleachers we were supposed to sit on were right next to the ten foot area of the pool, just for that added element of danger. Both boys did pretty well, though, and it was a huge success for Logan.

The kids got kind of a cold dose of reality before getting in the pool. However, it was all okay once they realized that it meant the pool came next.

Let's go swim!

Logan was all smiles and really such a good listener throughout the whole hour.

Kick your legs!

Mischief.

Dallin felt a little left out and wanted to go splash like big brother. Maybe next summer (or fall.)