Fun with the Watsons

A Science Experiment

2013-08-12T23:32:00.000-07:00

So where have I been for the past 2+ years? Well, certainly not blogging. But, during those 2 years I have had the nagging feeling that I really, REALLY should be writing. Frankly, for awhile I was just a bit unhappy with where my life was (nothing to do with you, family) after making the move here to Utah from my beloved MD/DC area. Despite spending a few years living in Logan, Utah near or with Andy while we were engaged and newly married (that was like, over a DECADE ago... crazy), I didn't know much about this middle part of Utah. I was getting my bearings and just taking a break. I missed my family back east and my life there, and all that the area there had to offer.

But, Utah has so much to love too.

And the scenery!

And all of the things here that I love to do.

I'm back in the groove now, ready to write so that I (and you too kids) will remember some of the adventures that we have had.

Tonight is finally the night that updating the blog climbs to the top of the practically insurmountable to-do list.

There are so many things that I should write about, but I'm gonna start simple:

This summer, we had a cross country trekking road trip camping adventure. I will be writing all about it in chunks. But one day, not too long ago we were at my Mom's house and Matt comes up to me looking like this:

Have you ever played the game "I am a fuzzy bunny" where you stuff as many marshmallows into your mouth as possible and repeat "I am a fuzzy bunny" until you can't talk anymore? Well, Matt was using that voice and came up to me and said

"I ave a science expermint mom..."

He found these high powered magnets on my mom's fridge and wondered if they worked through his skin, so two went in the mouth, and two went on his cheeks. The cool thing was it totally worked! I agreed that it was a cool experiment, but didn't think that magnets in the mouth was a habit that we should mess around with more than once.

So the moral of the story is... Matt is my inspiration for completing his science experiment. Now my experiment (however un-scientific) is to see if I can actually follow through on regularly updating this thing by mixing what we are up to recently, with some of my favorite stuff from the past 2 years. Let's see if this experiment works as well as his!

Thoughts of Grandma

2011-09-07T00:05:00.000-07:00

Thoughts of Grandma, 2:55 am September 2, 2011

She never did get the chance to come up to my new house in Utah, but as I look around, I see signs of her everywhere. The painting that she made in college many years ago of Mt. Timpanogas hangs above my computer where I type this. I see the book of family history that she compiled and wrote, the culmination of many years of investigation and work. A postcard that she sent from Death Valley in February is on my refrigerator. Even though her handwriting is a little shakier than it used to be, it is still neat and beautiful cursive that says “A strange, beautiful, and interesting area to visit. I love you all. Gram”. Maybe most telling of all is the envelope that is in my inbox with a birthday card, and a check for $35 dollars in it…a birthday gift that she sent 2 months early, just in case, knowing that her body was wearing out finally.

I received the call from my mom about 45 minutes ago, when I was deep in sleep… Grandma passed away. Although I knew this call would come, all I feel at first is disbelief. A world without my Grandma in it just doesn’t seem possible. I lay in bed for awhile trying to process it, and my head is swimming with things that I want to remember. So I am here, typing away and letting the tears flow as I write and think of her.

I have been told that we are alike in many ways. I think that she is much classier, of course but I do think that my love and admiration for the beauty that is everywhere comes from her. I like to think that I am like her.

Many years ago, when I was a (young) teenager, my grandma was distributing most of her treasured things among her grandkids. She had the china cabinet full of sparkling crystal and china sets, and the table had various pieces of silver and jewelry, and a few other things passed down from her mother, and her painting. One by one, and in age order the grandkids picked an item. I immediately loved the painting… an impressionistic landscape of rural Utah, with the mountain glowing violet at the peak of the deep blue mountain. There are trees scattered about on the landscape in the foreground, and fields of pale green and gold, with a dirt road winding off into the distance. Utah in the spring, at sunset. I know the scene especially well now because I live here, and ski on the back side of that same mountain in the winter. When my turn to select something came, I felt really lucky to pick the painting. It was fitting, I thought, not just because it was beautiful, but because she was the one who taught me as a kid how to paint mountains, and how as the mountains recede behind one another they fade from vivid colors to purple. The painting has brought me much more happiness than any china ever could, because love of art was one of her gifts to me.

Some things will forever remind me of her, like the taste of a fresh sugar snap pea, picked from the garden in the summer. I loved helping her in her garden as a kid, and she would let us kids pick and eat as many peas as we wanted. It was funny, because as any of my family could tell you, I loathed peas. But hers were totally different from the sad, shriveled peas in a can. I never knew that peas could taste good. It is still really the only way that I eat peas. She liked to tell the story of how I hated peas so much that I wouldn’t swallow them, and one morning my mother came to wake me up, I had a mouthful of green mush that had been my peas from the night before. So she let me eat her snap peas.

The reminders go on as I walk around my house. There is the book that is on my nightstand, which when I went on a visit to her house in St. George about a year ago she had the exact book lying with bookmark in place on her nightstand. What are the chances that we would both be reading the very same edition of “Great American Short Stories” before bed at night at the same time?

In my garden, the Siberian Irises are doing well. I was surprised that they bloomed earlier in the summer after being dug out of my garden in Maryland in the fall, put in a trash bag and making a 4 day journey in a moving truck across the country. They sat for a few more days then Andy was able to plant them in the garden, until I arrived at our new home a few weeks later and moved them yet again to a place where they were less likely to be stepped on. The plant began its life decades earlier, probably around the time that my father and uncle were born. My grandma planted it in what she later told me was a rental house in Riverdale, or across from University Park and then she moved a cutting to her College Park house where it lived happily for many years. I always admired the Irises, so when I had my own yard to take care of next door in College Park, I took a chunk which really thrived. I wanted to keep it going in Utah, and I am so glad that it can remind me of Grandma every early summer when the beautiful blue flowers are in bloom. She always had a beautiful garden, and still does in St. George.

Other memories:

Cowboy cookies

Vanilla/ orange sherbet mix

No tv, because she always had other more fun or educational choices

Making gingerbread cookies every Christmas time

Her homemade pickles on thanksgiving

Road trips

Amish country with shoo fly pie, apple fritters and picnicking at the old church with the hand pump out back.

Sandy Spring

Flash cards

My image of her in her older years is standing on a red rock overlooking the beautiful Snow Canyon.

Her sleeping under the stars on camping trips

It feels good to write this. As long as her stories are alive, so is she. I feel like I have so much to learn from her still, and of course I have regrets of questions that I never got to ask, and letters that I never sent. Hopefully though, she knows that I will always remember her and will pass her stories on to another generation who will feel blessed to be her ancestors. I know I am.

(photo: reading a story to Karen and my kids, Sydney shown. December 2010)

Drew's First Pinewood Derby

2011-02-25T12:13:00.000-08:00

Drew recently had his first Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. He was excited to be able to build this project, since he has always liked that kind of thing. The same night that he got his box of parts, he sat down and sketched out a few different options of how he might want the car to look. He settled on a dragster looking design, and that was the car that he ended up building.

Andy helped him get the shape cut out and gave guidance as to how the process works. This was another instance when I was glad that we all live together again, since these two had a good time working on this together.

On the night before the race, Drew finished getting it painted and we took it to get weighed at his leaders' house. It was too light, so we had to come up with a plan to make it exactly 5 ounces. I got out my painters tape, which fortunately is the same color blue that he painted his car, and Drew ended up taping on 10 quarters to get it up to exactly 5 ounces.

On the day of the derby, there were a lot of cars.

And a lot of cub scouts... 3 packs racing together.

Drew's car took the lead in his first race. Of the three times that his car ran, he came in first, second, and first.

Drew jumps for joy at the finish line. The photos are blurry, but you get the idea, right?

A Dad even had the results and stats posted on the screen... pretty fancy compared to other pinewood derbies that I have been to.

In the end, out of all of those scouts, Drew came in third place and got this really cool plaque made by the lady holding the microphone in our ward. It's funny, because before the derby I was giving him all of these pep-talks about how he did such a great job on his car and not to be disappointed if his doesn't win. Hopefully this doesn't set the bar too high in years to come, but we were happy for the results and proud of him, not just for the 3rd place but because he was a really good sport with his friends and because he worked hard on it.

Here's a better photo of the plaque. Now I need to find a nice place to display it in his room, since it's the first "real" trophy that he has earned (as opposed to the participation ones that he got for being on sports teams).

Sydney's 6th Birthday

2011-02-23T07:04:00.000-08:00

Sydney loves to sleep in... especially on school days. So as usual Drew, Matt and I were all awake before she was on Friday. We wanted to wake her up by singing "Happy Birthday" to her, and by showing her the especially nice surprise... that Yarrow (our cat who she adores) who had gone out several nights before and hadn't come back had finally made it home late the night before while I was finishing the flower pinata for her party. I had decorated the house with streamers, balloons, and a birthday banner the night before (which has become a tradition for birthdays since Drew turned 2). Like every morning that Sydney has school, she was buried deep in her blankets with crazy hair and hesitant to wake up. But we sang the birthday song and she perked right up, and went right to hugging and playing with Yarrow.

For breakfast, I made her some pancakes with buttermilk sauce, drizzled with maple syrup and sprinkles. The buttermilk sauce tastes like caramel, and it's awesome on scones, pancakes, french toast, or probably just about anything. Anyway, I'm getting hungry, so I'd better get back on the birthday topic.

After Sydney was finished with school (am kindergarten), she and I headed up to Sundance ski resort to catch a few hours on the mountain while Andy's mom was nice enough to keep an eye on the boys. Sydney is the best snowboard partner... but I'll save that for another post. Suffice it to say, we had a blast.

Of all of the things that I can cook, for her birthday dinner Sydney chose canned chicken noodle soup. Maybe that speaks volumes of my abilities in the kitchen, or hopefully it's just that she's really liked that canned soup lately. I defrosted some homemade chicken soup for the rest of us that I made with leftover rotisserie chicken a week or so earlier. She helped me decorate the birthday cake (she loves to do that) and she wrote her name on the cake. Because really, how many times do you get to write your own name on a flower cake with sparkle y pink frosting. According to spell check, the y is not attached to sparkle in order to be correct... so I learned something new today.

We sang the song and she blew out her candles. Matt was very sad that he couldn't blow them out, so I tried to reassure him that he would have a turn soon (in less than 2 weeks).

Then it was present time. She got a dress and book from her Watson grandparents and some toy hamsters (Zu-Zu pets) from the Kelley grandparents that she has wanted for awhile. From us she got a unicorn pillow pet and some rollerblades. She is still in her skiing under layer here, complete with $17 socks that I had to buy at Sundance because she forgot hers. She did need some real ski socks anyway, so I guess those were a birthday present too. It was a happy birthday.

On Neglect

2011-02-21T07:32:00.000-08:00

I am guilty of neglecting my blog lately. Over a year ago, I reluctantly jumped into the blogging world feeling as if I really didn't need another obligation taking up more space in my life. Still, I have enjoyed it much more than I thought I would... both looking back and reading about certain events or feelings that I had, and keeping up with friends who blog. Since I made the decision to keep a blog, I should lovingly care for it like a garden. Sadly, when I garden I get all excited about it in the winter and work hard all spring but once the lazy days of summer set in and the weeds go crazy, and there are adventures to be had and pools to swim in, things get let go more than they should. I am re-focusing my efforts to give the attention to blogging that it deserves... and gardening.

So I have a lot to catch up on.

The question is always the same.... Do I do posts of all of the things that I thought I should write about, or just start from now? We'll see I guess.

The photo above is the indoor garden of lettuces, spinach, and green onion and it's doing quite well on my kitchen window ledge.... and the photo below is of Matt because I think that he's cute.

Sydney's Roller Coaster

2010-12-20T19:56:00.001-08:00

This is one of the many ways that Sydney is spending her extra time now that she only has half day Kindergarten.

Another Reason to Love Legos

2010-11-16T12:53:00.000-08:00

Drew first fell in love with Legos in Kindergarten. Since then, he has asked for Legos for probably 95% of his birthday or Christmas presents. When he earns money for good grades he saves up for the Lego set that his little heart most desires, and in his spare time there is not much that he loves to do more than.... you guessed it, build cool things out of Legos. Sometimes, I get tired of the tiny pieces scattered in places where I don't think that they belong. But mostly, I think they are one of the very best toy type things out there. In September he even took a class with his 2 cousins David and Greg about Lego robotics at the Lego store in MD... and had a great time of course (his cousins being his other favorite thing).

So, the other day when I got ready to put together a bench for my mud area that I got at Ikea, I had an idea. It came with a booklet that pretty much looked like lego instructions, with step by step instructions and pictures of which parts are needed. I handed the project right over to Drew, and his assistant Sydney, then I went in the kitchen to chop veggies for some corn chowder (which was fabulous and I should post the recipe) and I stayed out of his hair.

So I was thrilled when after an hour or so, and a break to play with one of the new neighbor kids, the project was pretty much done with zero help from me. I did pound together some of the pieces with a rubber mallet and tighten the screws that were more difficult at the end, but that was it. Drew was proud of himself, and I was glad not to do it myself. A win win... all thanks to hours and hours of putting together Legos.

Halloween

2010-11-10T13:54:00.001-08:00

In Utah, if Halloween lands on a Sunday it is celebrated on Saturday, so really it was Halloween-eve. For the last few years in MD I have had my family over for Halloween and eaten spider pizza, treats and gone trick or treating and watched semi-scary cartoons while eating candy until we are on the border of the legendary candy-induced stomachache (I have yet to reach that feat). Wow, that was a run-on sentence. So this year, we had Jessica's family over for pizza and a cauldron of spooky root beer.

There was a powerful storm that came through right about the time that we were going to start trick or treating, so we had to wait it out for a little bit. The wind even snapped a large branch off of one of the trees in our front yard right on the sidewalk, so we were glad that no trick or treaters were standing there at that moment. There was even a pretty good accumulation of hail on the ground. When it passed, we were rewarded with this lovely double-rainbow. It was a whole one, and framed the mountains beautifully... I just couldn't fit it all in one photo.

Finally it passed, and we donned our costumes and headed out. I had spent the morning putting together Drew's ninja costume. I cut the dragon and the Chinese characters out of sticky felt and put them on this black fabric, and paired it with black clothes that he already had. Sydney was sweet enough to be a green fairy again this year, although I wish that I had made the time to put together one of her more creative suggestions, like her favorite idea: a mattress. Hopefully next October won't be so crazy. She did put on those fabulous Halloween tights though, and it was so wet out that we all put on our waterproof snow boots to trick or treat in. Matt was the scarecrow that I made for Drew when he was little, and he seemed pleased with it. Sadly, my camera batteries died and so I only have a few sub-par photos to mark the occasion. At least it's something.

Trick or treating was pretty good, and it was a perfect chance to meet some of our new neighbors. I love Halloween.

A White Birthday

2010-11-10T13:17:00.000-08:00

So the day after we arrived in Utah, it happened to be my birthday. There also happened to be a dusting of snow, which was a first for me as far as I can remember (I'm getting old, and unable to remember things. I can't rule out a white birthday when I lived in the arctic tundra of Rexburg, Idaho for a few years). Anyway, the kids were happy and of course since we were still on Eastern time Matt and I were wide awake at 5 am, so by the time the sun came up we were all ready to go play in the snow and explore the new backyard. He loves this play house, and excitedly likes to grab me by the hand and say "come and play in mine house!!"

The sun came out and the snow melted a few hours later, but it was fun to have a little preview of winter for a few hours.

After spending the whole day unpacking and what not, my in-laws brought over some good dinner and Jessica, Andy's sister made these awesome spider birthday cupcakes. This is also one of those rare moments when I am the person being photographed.

Surrounded by kids and unpacking clutter. I was a lucky girl this year because I got to have 2 birthdays, as my Mom and family had a little cake gathering for Wendy and I a few days earlier at her house.

Moving Day

2010-11-06T14:00:00.000-07:00

Really, it felt like moving day for a solid 2 months.... at least. I felt like I never, ever sat down to read for a minute, or just enjoy being with my kids. I had parenting alone, packing and cleaning, and it was soccer season. Thankfully, I had a very helpful support group, mainly my mom and dad next door. I think I mentioned it in a previous post (I've been so sporadic the last several months, I don't know what I actually wrote about or just thought that I should write about) but Andy got a job back here in late April and has been in Utah staying with family ever since, until moving in here. I came back on a house hunting trip in August, and this one ended up being the house that we bought.

(*photo above is the backyard. We are on a corner lot, so I took this from part of our very long sidewalk. If you look closely, you can see Drew and a neighbor kid sitting on the fence by the playground. )

Here we are in early October, on the day that Andy picked up the moving truck from Penske. Of course the kids had to check it out, and also spent a bit of time climbing in the back. Andy and his Dad rolled out for the cross country trip a few days later, with the vast majority of our things. The kids and I had about 3 weeks of time in MD finishing up the school quarter and because there were cheaper tickets for our favorite Southwest nonstop flight to SLC at the end of the month.

For those 3 weeks we camped out on air mattresses, and lived very minimally. I kept 4 bowls, forks and cups and my favorite knife. I also had a set of camping pans. It was remarkably liberating in a lot of ways to have so much less stuff, and I vowed to myself to live with less when I made it to the new place. I had a big yard sale and sold things on Craiglist that didn't make the cut. Some women from Cameroon came to the yard sale, and I gave them a great deal on bags of clothes after they told me that they are sending it home to their village. So someone in Cameroon might be wearing one of my old shirts soon.

When the time finally came for us to leave, I was sad as mentioned in my last post. But, I was excited to be reuniting with Andy again. My wonderful Mom gave us a ride to the airport, and due to a variety of reasons and a few unexpected laps around the airport, she had to drop us off at the curb in a rush before she could park. So Drew and I took 2 carts full into the airport with our stuff, and then I ran back outside to get Sydney and Matt while Drew was left with the luggage. Did I mention how much stuff we had that for one reason or another didn't make it onto the moving truck with Andy 2 weeks before? We had 8 large checked pieces, 7 carry-ons, Matt's car seat and a stroller. While I was trying to push a giant cart of luggage, pull a couple of carry-ons, and give orders to Drew (who had the other cart) and Sydney (she was pushing Matt in our lousy umbrella stroller) I had one of those moments were I knew that I really looked pathetic... like a tired looking woman who has bit off way more than she could chew. But, thanks to that a lady opened up the retractable rope and I went straight over to what I think was the handicapped luggage check in area, bypassing the snaking line. The very nice woman at the desk (Jodi) was very friendly and even overlooked the fact that some of my bags were overweight. We headed to security for all of the shoe removal etc, and my mom caught up with us just then after getting a gate pass from my buddy Jodi. Fortunately, it was time for us to line up and board just minutes after getting to our gate. It didn't give me or my mom enough time to be too sad since we were so busy getting to our flight.

Once on the plane, things went as well as they could have. Matt had a few mild moments, but I got several comments from the people around me how good my kids were so he must not have been too loud. So after 5 hours of giving out the lunches that I packed and the surprise toys that I had wrapped for those who were helpful getting on the plane (they all earned one), and various tactics to keep everyone quiet and happy, we landed in Utah. Andy got a gate pass on the other end, and we were all thrilled to see him when we walked up the tunnel into the terminal. An hour and a half later, we made it to our new house. Uncharacteristically, I didn't take many pictures of this whole process, since I had too many other things going on. I explored the new place right along with the kids, since I had only seen it twice for a few minutes each time. They liked it right away. My mom in-law, dad in-law and sis in-law were also sweet enough to do much of the unpacking before I even arrived. Here are pictures of the outside:

I liked the eastern look of this place... it has mature trees, shutters, and the garage is not so prominent since it is on the side. But it also has our favorite Utah features of a good mountain view, loads of kids, and air that smells like pine trees when the wind blows out of the canyon at night.

And a basketball court in the driveway.

I'll end this super long post for now. I'm hoping to do a better job of blogging now that I am not so rushed to get moved. I hope you will all forgive a little bit of back tracking mixed in with actual updates.

Goodbye Old Friend

2010-10-25T20:55:00.000-07:00

If it is possible to love a structure like it is a good friend, I feel that way about my house. Tomorrow, this house won't be ours anymore since we are boarding a plane and moving to Springville Utah. So tonight as I look around, it is empty of all of the books, pottery, art, toys, and things that made the move already with Andy on the moving truck two weeks ago. But the feeling is still here.

As I write this, I am sitting in the spot where I would be trimming the Christmas tree in a few more weeks. I look at the fireplace where we gather sometimes for a night without distractions, other than enjoying each other and a warm fire and maybe some quiet music. The wood floor reminds me of all of the impromptu dance parties that we have had, or the silly games, or the tickle fights.

We have come a long way together in the past 5 years, this house and I. It was a hoarder house when we moved in, as extreme as anything that I have ever seen on TV. There were dump truck loads of stuff to remove, gallons upon gallons of primer and paint used, and squirrels and raccoons to move out. Now, hundreds or thousands of hours later it looks pretty good... and it is wildlife free.

We moved in when Sydney was 14 days old, after ripping up the mustard yellow carpeting and cleaning the wood floors beneath. Since then, she has grown into a scooter riding and confident Kindergartener. Drew has gone from a toddler to a big third grader. Two pregnancies were lost while living here, but one wasn't and we got Matt. Home improvement projects remained constant. Outside, the plants that I lovingly put in over the years have more than doubled in size, while others were a total failure. It has been a learning experience. I see the same birds and squirrels for months on end, like Blackie the squirrel who has been living in our yard for years (we promote multi-ethnicity in our yard).

With all of it's quirks, I love this place and will miss it dearly. Each area of this home holds such warm memories, and if I pause for a moment from the chaos of packing, I can hear the echo of my kids' laughter from good times gone by.

*P.S.-- I am too emotional right now to even start when it comes to my Maryland friends and family. Also, the photo is a recent one of Matt and one of his best friends, Siedra sitting on the front steps. Hopefully after this move, I can post some catch-up stuff and some before and after photos... as almost all of my photos are on my computer there.

Field of Dreams

2010-08-26T09:58:00.000-07:00

I never did a post earlier in the summer about baseball. Maybe I'll play catch up one of these days, but for now I must talk about how cool this was for Drew. The Nationals (D.C.'s major league team) put on a free baseball clinic for the local boys and girls clubs in P.G. county. Drew had soccer practice at the same time, but I gave him the choice to make. He picked this, because he figured it would be more special.

After the coaching staff told us what the day would offer, they took the kids out onto the field to do stretches and sprints. They were then split into smaller groups which rotated to different baseball skills. The photo above shows Drew catching a fly ball during outfield practice. As a side note, the Nationals were having a game a few hours after this, and I was amazed at how much work these groundskeepers did on the dirt. They would rake it until it looked perfect, then hose it down, then go over it with the tractor, then rake it some more, etc. I don't know if it's job security, or if it is totally necessary, but that sure is some well loved dirt.

Drew's group went to the dugout first, where the pitchers warm up before they hit the mound. One of the coaches gave them some instruction, and then they each got to throw 2 pitches. I took a video clip of Drew throwing, but I haven't figured out how to post videos yet.

Then they had a water break and Q&A session with another coach on the players bench.

Drew is the over on the right. Next was what may have been the best part, they went down beneath the bleachers into the Nationals underground batting cages. I didn't see it.... no parents allowed, which was for the best as Matt would have been too loud and wiggly.

He also did some fielding skills in the outfield. These photos are a little out of order, but I took some photos out on the field at the end.

Sydney and Matt were good sports about coming along. I brought a bag of little animals for Sydney to play with, and tons of snacks for Matt. I took them up for a bathroom break and gave Matt a few minutes to do one of his very favorite things to do....

Play drinking fountain! Anything with water is so much fun for him. After the baseball stuff was done, the Nationals gave all of the kids a hot dog lunch, a really nice baseball bag, and 2 free tickets to the next day's game where the new hot pitcher Strausburg was starting. He also had one of the pitchers (Atliano) who stopped by autograph his baseball. Drew and my Mom went down for the game on the following night, where they bought a hot dog and a hat, which was good since I was practically feeling guilty about how much stuff they gave us for nothing (it was also free notebook night). They had a great time at the game, since the Nats won and they got to see police chase some crazies around on the field. This was so much better than soccer practice.

Family Photos at the Lighthouse

2010-08-08T20:09:00.000-07:00

We shot a family photo while most of us were together at the beach.... after we had a pizza dinner at the lighthouse (the priority is hot food over photos of pizza stained kids in our family).

Mmmmm..... pizza.

My mom took this for us. I thought that the piece of driftwood shaped like a bench was too good to pass up.

Matt is a budding photographer. He was taking it very seriously with the tripod.

He also likes showing Aunt Karen and Grandma where the moon is. But my favorite family photo of the evening was.......

this photo... shot while I was setting up and Matt wasn't interested in standing where he was supposed to be. He has been into walking around with his hands in his pockets lately.

Beach Trip 1: Solo Road Tripping

2010-07-23T07:22:00.000-07:00

As the time for our family vacation to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina approached, I wondered how it would go being without Andy this year. Usually, he does the driving and I do the kid duty. This year, I got to do both. I loaded up on books on cd from the library, had our favorite music ready and loads of snacks. We broke the trip down into 2 again this year, and stayed in a hotel a few hours away from the beach. The trip home is just one really long day, but for the way down, it is preferable to give ourselves more time at the beach on Saturday by arriving early. We don't stay in hotels much, and the kids made themselves right at home jumping from bed to bed. We had a nice swim in the pool before heading to bed.

On the way in, we stopped at Oregon Island Inlet to eat our Taco Bell picnic and get some wiggles out. This is a great place for the little ones especially, as you can walk out at least the length of a football field and still be in shallow, calm water.

I didn't necessarily intend for everyone to get wet and sandy just yet, but felt like I wanted them to explore it to their hearts content. So, we made the last leg of our trip with wet clothes.

Sydney liked running through the water.

I wanted to take a lovely shot of the 3 of them walking back up the path to the car, but this was the best that I could do. They are fast walkers. The road tripping went pretty well. The tantrums were fairly minimal (mostly mine probably). The only near death experience was when I had to swerve off the road for a tour bus that came over 2 lanes to get on the exit ramp right where I was. For a real adventure, I should have taken a shot of what the back seat of my car looked like... just visualize toys, food wrappers, squished raisins and goldfish crumbs galore.

Kitty Love

2010-07-21T19:10:00.000-07:00

Andy and I got our cat Yarrow a few months before we got Drew. So, Sydney has known him for her entire 5 years. She has always loved him, and Yarrow was one of her first words (WaWoah), as it has been for each of the 3 kids. But lately, those two have grown even closer, as Sydney has discovered that he is a living creature who will consent to being showered with her affection and even dressed up without scratching her. Oddly enough, he puts up with it. Is it because I don't pet him enough, or because he's getting older and doesn't feel like running away, or does he love it as much as she does? One thing is certain... he does look handsome in a tie and ribbons.

One day recently, Sydney declared "today is Yarrow's birthday!" and made big plans for his celebration. I wanted to be accommodating, because Sydney was so excited about it, and because in all of his years in our family, Yarrow has never had a birthday. I couldn't pull off all of Sydney's elaborate plans, but when we went shopping, I did splurge on the fancier wet cat food for him so that she could make his special "cake". It was wet cat food surrounded by crunchy. I hope that Yarrow appreciated the lovely textural difference. Sydney stuck a candle in it and called in the family to sing happy birthday to him and watch him eat his cat cake. You can see that she is thrilled that Yarrow is enjoying it. Matt likes any excuse to sing the birthday song, and Drew went along with it too.

She likes to put out her arms like a forklift and carry him around like this for minutes at a time. One day she covered him in Tinkerbell stickers, and when she was done he went under my bed and got them off. I often expect him to run away or get irritated, but he usually sticks around for more. I guess he must like it too.

Drew's Big 8th Birthday

2010-07-20T15:17:00.000-07:00

It has been 2 months since this event, but I would feel like a bad mother if I did not mention Drew's 8th birthday in May. Drew's baptism had to be moved to Memorial Day weekend, when Andy could fly home to be here. He had to work on the weekend of Drew's actual birthday on May 16th, but his parents came for that since they already had plane tickets. It was fun to have them around for a week, and the kids especially enjoyed their time with Grandma and Grandpa Watson. (My apologies, it looks like I put the photos a little out of order).

After the baptism, we had a barbecue at the park.

It seemed appropriate to have a family photo outside of the church. I didn't really want to put this on here, since I look like a giantess ( I am uphill from the family and wearing heels), but again, it seems like the thing to do.

The big event of the day was the baptism. As a family, we had been preparing for this day for a long time. Drew picked out the speakers for the program, so he chose my Dad to speak about baptism. I think that Drew especially enjoyed his analogies about karate, and how he worked hard to earn belts and how he had taken the right steps for baptism. I was fortunate to speak on the Holy Ghost. Andy and Drew did the most important parts. Having a tight knit ward and family, we had a lot of people there in support.

Drew blew out the 8 candles on his birthday cupcake at the bbq. Almost everyone from the baptism came over, and some of Drew's friends from the neighborhood joined us as well.

Andy and some other men-folk manned the grill. We had the usual burgers and hot dogs, and some teriyaki chicken and veggie skewers with pineapple, to mix things up a bit. There were tasty side dishes made by our friends and family too.

Cousins Melissa and Rayzel.

The kids busted up a pinata, and here is the aftermath. I didn't get very good photos as I was holding the pinata string, and chucking extra treats on the ground. And trying to avoid being hit by a plastic bat.

I had to include a pinata picture to remember it by. Sydney (and I) made it in a community art class about a year ago. It had been hanging around the house for awhile and she sweetly consented to letting us use it for this occasion. I told her that we will make another one together for her birthday in February.

I am so proud of the person that Drew has become. The little boy in him is quickly disappearing, and I will miss those years. But it is being replaced by a truly caring, unique and talented young man, and he is hanging on to many of my favorite traits that he has had his whole life. I know that he is a force for good in this world, and I am truly blessed to be his mom.

Summer Adventure List

2010-06-24T19:30:00.000-07:00

When Drew got home from school one week ago for the summer, I sat down with him and Sydney and we made a list of things that we would like to do over the coming weeks. I want to fill our summer with as much fun and adventure as we can, and oddly enough we still usually get done with all of the things that we have to do (less boredom and hours at home = a house that doesn't get messed up as much). So here it is:

Swimming (as much as possible)
Natural History museum-- Drew wants to show us the upstairs part with the insects.
Splash park (Sydney's suggestion)
backyard camp out
dough nut picnic for breakfast
sleepover at Tammy's
Nationals baseball game
Calvert Cliffs State Park
bike rides on the trails and at the elementary school
tour the UTZ potato chip factory in Pennsylvania
NYC to visit friends the Drapers
creek hiking
catch fireflies
free movie Wednesdays at our local theater
concert on the steps of the Capitol
Lincoln, Jefferson, Vietnam Memorial, top of the Washington Monument
National Arboretum
crabbing in the Chesapeake
play Frisbee golf
play tennis

I'm sure that I will end up adding more to this, but it's a starting point. If any of you want to join us for any of these, you are invited! (Flashback: The photo is of Drew on his last day of Kindergarten 2 years ago. He jumped for joy after the little graduation, but after a celebratory lunch at Burger King he went home and cried because he was going to miss his teacher so much).

Sydney, Finishing Up

2010-06-23T16:57:00.001-07:00

Sydney is preparing for Kindergarten at the end of the summer (crazy!), so she did a few things out of her comfort zone that she turned out really loving by the end. The first was her little dance class. Sydney was afraid to start it because she said that she was shy and didn't want to perform in front of other people. That changed after about 5 minutes into her first class... she loved it. The instructor was great, she had a lot of fun with the girls but didn't put up with any misbehaving. On the last day of class, they did a little beach themed recital. Here is a blurry photo of Sydney taking a leap, and I am even it this one thanks to all of the mirrors... can you find me?

The group photo at the end. Sydney really learned a lot in dance, and it is definitely something that we will keep going with. Oh-- her favorite part of every class was the solo dance with the long ribbon on a stick (which probably has a fancier name than that). One of my favorite parts about dance class was that parents weren't allowed in on regular nights, and the library was next door. I got a lot more reading in over those months because of it.

She also attended a preschool program at a local high school. The price was extremely affordable, which was nice for me because I didn't feel a sense of wasted money when we would skip a class. At the begining, Sydney didn't like preschool so much. By the end, she really enjoyed herself. I'm not sure if she learned a ton beyond what she learned at home, but they did lots of cute art projects that she had fun with.

Sydney's favorite part of every preschool day was playing with friends in the kitchen and zooming around on tricycles.

Finally, she had a graduation ceremony in the High School auditorium. Sydney seemed to be popular with the high school students, as several of them were wishing her well and taking pictures of her with their cell phones. My little girl is really growing up.

Decision Time

2010-06-23T14:41:00.000-07:00

So, as usual I am running behind on my blog posts. I want to catch up, but a lot of it may not make sense without disclosing our latest situation. Two months ago Andy got a sudden job opportunity in Utah, and we felt like he should go for it since it is better pay, benefits, etc. .. On the flip side, it doesn't seem like it will be good for the long haul. It is working on a project that will be ending in 2 years or so. So, he left for Utah in the beginning of May and is living with family for now. We wanted Drew to finish up school and our various activities before heading west. But uncertainty strikes us sometimes, and we are having a hard time giving 100% commitment to moving all of us out there just yet for a variety of reasons. I wasn't going to mention Andy's move on the internet for safety reasons, but it has been almost 2 months and I haven't seen any shifty eyed strangers hanging around my house. So, it's time for the Watson family to make some decisions, and if there is a noticeable lack of Andy in the posts, you will know why.

Strawberries....Finally

2010-06-02T06:32:00.000-07:00

It was 3 years ago that I first planted strawberries in my backyard, but before this spring I never got to eat one. They would grow, and I would get all excited as they started to turn big and red. I would race outside with anticipation the next morning, and the strawberries would be gone. More specifically, eaten by one of the many critters who reside in our yard. Andy and I made a big cage out of chicken wire to keep birds and squirrels out, but it was so big with too many ways to sneak in that I ended up catching more birds than I kept out.

So this year instead of having one big plot, I moved the berries to 3 smaller locations (one of them is shown above). I put the netting that belongs to my pack and play (that I had never used) over the plants, and finally we are eating loads of strawberries. I am glad that I am finally more clever than the birds..... for now at least.

Parade Day, and why you should be wary of turkey fryers...

2010-05-21T08:12:00.001-07:00

Recently, our town had it's annual day filled with fun runs, music, booths, and our favorite... the parade. Drew has marched in it for a few years with the boys and girls club, but this year was special because Sydney was in it for the first time, and Drew got to march with our town karate club. She also got lots of candy, which is always exciting. This is the first time that I remember seeing one of my children eat two lollipops at the same time.

Sydney went and stood near the banner at the end of the parade route so I could take her photo, but for the most of the march she looked like this....

Skipping down the streets with her little friend from her team, she was very happy to be in the parade.

The bagpipers were the group behind us, which made it more festive to march to the music. Matt is also a big fan of Celtic music, and we pulled over at the end of the route to watch the rest of the groups go by.

Finally after fire trucks, groups of dogs, and too many politicians, Drew's group was almost last. He had the honor of carrying the banner for the last half, and as they crossed the grandstand. He spent the first half kicking and punching his way down the route on this 90 degree day.

When it came time to announce the citizen of the year, we were happy that it was awarded to the Sensei (teacher) of the karate club who was actually out of town for more karate training. He has done a lot for the community by sharing his time and talent and we were happy that he won the award for helping so many people.

But the most exciting part of the day was watching a turkey fryer burst into flames. There were booths selling food, and carnival type games and inflatables. The kids and I rounded a corner by a food booth and suddenly this fryer about 10 feet away from us became consumed with fire. Part of me wanted to stay and take photos of it, but my protective mothering side told me to get away from it before it exploded, so that's what we did. Someone put it out with what looked like a sack of flour, and put the lid back on it. Drew described the aftermath well when he said "it smells like barf", as the stink of the burnt powder filled the area.

Matt's Question

2010-05-09T08:14:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, we went to my brother Steve's ward (church) for his baby's blessing. The portions of the service that I was able to listen to were very good. Matt however, was not on board with the being good in church plan. It was a different ward, with a lot of family around. He is possibly the wiggliest kid I have met anyway, but this Sunday it was like wrestling a little alligator complete with the rolling and the thrashing. He also has a great move where he goes totally limp and slithers out of my arms, to the floor, and under the next pew in a millisecond. So, we were in and out a few times. He wasn't fussy... just wiggly.

When we came back in right at the end, he sat on my lap facing me. He looked at me happily, and in his cute little 2 year old voice asked "Who wants to go home?" and answered his own question with two hands raised enthusiastically in the air "Meeeeee!".

Compost

2010-05-08T18:40:00.001-07:00

It has been a little over a year since I started making my own compost, and finally the first big batch is ready. For the past several weeks my landscaping helpers and I have been adding it to the gardens and starting to see the results of our labors, mainly in the vegetable gardens. I know that it is geeky to get all excited about soil, but at least the green movement is making gardening a little bit more cool (maybe?). There is just something very satisfying to me about producing my own food, and that last years leaves, grass clippings, egg shells, watermelon rinds, mango peels and a hundred other ingredients are now feeding this years plants. I know, geeky.

But the potatoes are loving it.

Point Lookout

2010-04-17T08:23:00.001-07:00

Maryland was blessed with beautiful weather for the second half of our Spring Break, with daytime temperatures near 80 degrees. I have wanted to explore the Chesapeake Bay area more, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to go camping at Point Lookout State Park. It is down in Southern MD where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Potomac River.

Upon arrival, we learned from the ranger that it was the day before the campground was open for tents. However, with some pleases and thank yous and having 3 road weary kids in the back seat the nice ranger let us stay. We felt special being the first tent campers of the year. Andy, Sydney and Drew set up the tent while I cooked a gourmet dinner of chili dogs on the camp stove.

We had this great wooden fishing dock right near our campsite. We spent a lot of time out there watching birds, the sunset, and the stars. I want to come back in the summer when the water is more swim able and do a running jump off the edge, like I'm in a lemonade TV commercial.

Sunset looking towards our campsite. Before it got dark, we spent some time at a nice playground near our site. Then we hauled in driftwood and branches and built a campfire. It just wouldn't be camping without eating smores, in my stubborn opinion. Our biggest glitch of the trip was getting Matt to fall asleep-- he was pretty angry about it. He does a good job at home, but when he is somewhere new it takes him soooo long. Once everyone fell asleep, and despite cool temperatures everyone did well, and even slept in until 7:00, which might be our camping sleep in record.

In the morning, I took some more pictures. I have been into bonsai trees lately, and I saw this tree and I think I will try to shape a mini version of it.

The moon and ospreys nesting over the salt marsh.

There were only 3 other (human) families there that we saw, so it was tranquil.

I brought some small shovels, which Drew and Sydney used to dig for clams and oysters on the shore. If we were really adventurous we could have cooked and eaten them, but I think they are gross. Maybe we will come back in the summer and go crabbing though.

Enough birds already!

Point Lookout is also supposed to be haunted by the ghosts of Civil War prisoners. This point had the largest prison camp of the civil war, and this lighthouse was named as one of the top ten haunted lighthouses along the east coast according to their website. We escaped any paranormal experiences, thankfully.

Matt is a bit under represented in photos on this trip, because he pretty much happily spent it pretending to drive our little SUV. He also put an extra cd in the disk changer, which Andy was able to retrieve with some tweezers and persistence. Matt was a delight to have around though, and he enjoyed being out and about. Drew liked exploring on these rocks along the waterfront. We had a great time, and I hope to make it back there again soon.

That's What I Get for...

2010-04-14T12:45:00.000-07:00

This is what I get for leaving my lovingly frosted birthday cake for Andy unattended for 2 minutes. Matt went from playing quietly in his room, to sitting on the kitchen table raking his fingers through the newly baked and frosted cake in a matter of seconds while I went to tell Sydney something in the other room. Sigh.

We still took it in to Andy at work and enjoyed it, but Matt got to eat the piece with the fingerprints. Not that he really needed more cake.