Like Endless Rain Into a Paper Cup

Boomwhacked!

A couple of weeks ago, Max participated in a summer camp at his piano studio.  They offer TONS of amazing camps, but his teacher specifically recommended the "Boomwhacker" camp for Max.  What are Boomwhackers?

These:



Basically, colored tubes that you whack.

Three hours a day for a week and all you do is whack a tube?  Seriously.  And I'll tell you what... Max LOVED it!!!  LOVED IN ALL CAPS WITH THREE EXCLAMATION POINTS.  His teacher was so right to recommend this camp for him.  Told you she's the best.

Here are some picture highlights:






I enjoyed this camp too, but for completely different reasons.  Since Max's studio is up in Springfield and traffic is a rump pain, I had to find something for Clara and I to do for those 3 hours.... which is easy if you have totally cool friends that live nearby and are eager to entertain you!  With these friends, Clara and I cruised the shops of Alexandria, parks, fountain parks in Fairfax, and relaxed in air-conditioned toy-filled comfort at their homes.  We also spent 3 hours in a Barnes and Noble playing in the kids section while I read books.  Seriously, how perfect?!

But back to Max.  Here's a video that I shot of his final day at Boomwhacker camp:

In Case You Didn't Know, Michael Jackson Died.

So it's the big Michael Jackson send-off today at the Staples Center.  And yes, I have the TV on.  The TV was confused for a minute because it was on a daytime station other than Noggin.  And while flipping through the channels, I saw that the TV was REALLY confused, because it was showing Michael tributes on every channel.  Um hello, does Dr. Phil know about this? 

And now for my little tribute to Michael, because there hasn't been enough yet.

There's no doubt that he was a genius.  I loved him from the start, from the very first time I watched a pirated Thriller video from my uncle on our brand new state of the art VCR that had a remote (albeit one attached by a very long cord).  I watched it over and over.  I watched the Making of Thriller, also pirated, over and over.  I was hooked. 

My sister owned the Bad cassette tape and we listened to that together all the time.  I remember singing some mocking little ditty about his hair catching on fire.  How did that go?

In college, my roommate and I used to stay up and play "DJ" with our Michael Jackson CDs.  We'd dance and dance and dance.

After college, another roommate and I would listen to Blood on the Dance Floor every night before we went out.  It was a tradition.  We'd dance, laugh, and dance some more.  That's what his music did.  Made me happy and made me move.

The pinnacle of my love for MJ came in 1997.  Would that be 12 years ago?  Geez, I'm old.  Anyway, at that time I was living in Cape Town, South Africa and we got word that MJ would be kicking of his HIStory tour there at Greenpoint Stadium.  HELLO!  I had to go.  Here's the ticket that I saved (along with some confetti that Michael threw right at me, if memory serves)...

The ticket was 160 Rand, which I think back then was about $35.  The only problem was that it was general admission, meaning that if you wanted a good place in the standing-room-only stadium, you had to wait in line for a loooonnnng time.  Which I did.  And it was one of the greatest concerts ever in the whole world, except for you Paul McCartney, who I'll never betray.

In honor of such an experience, I wrote a very long and rambling email to my friends and family back home.  And guess what?!  I saved that too!  And here it is....

• The day was windy and moist my friends.  The air drifted in from the ocean settling in beads on my slightly sunburned forehead.  It was almost the noon hour and I sat on the hard, dirty cement, waiting for the man, the glove.. the KING.  Some may say that waiting in a que (pardon the spelling, I hadn't lived in Britain yet) for eight hours is extreme, but I felt in my heart that I belonged there.  Something was pulsating inside my chest... alas, it was my heart.  It beat away the minutes until the hour of six arrived.  A quick search and a hasty rip of the ticket and I was in.  In Greenpoint Stadium AT LAST!  Now my friends, you must hear in your minds ear the beating of Chariots of Fire, for that is what I felt as I ran like the wind across the green field and towards the blessed stage.  My soul had been lit on fire with anticipation and nothing was going to keep me away from my Michael.  The fact that I had the closet spot available in the stadium can only be attributed to my faith in God and my sharp pointy elbows.  I was there, a bottle of liquid energy with a cork waiting to plummet into orbit.  Where was my Michael, why was he teasing me like this?  Another three hours drummed by and my spirit still held on strong.  I stood my ground while my fellow Michael lovers poked, pushed, and smashed me into the fence separating me and the stage.  Suddenly a voice came from above.  "Thirty Minutes Until History!"  I started to scream but stopped myself.  I must save my voice so Michael can hear me.  Being in such close proximity, I began to worry that the garlic lingering on my breath from lunch may travel up to the air Michael would breathe.  Oh no, I must block that thought out of my mind.  The thirty minutes passed and the lights dimmed.  I began to tremble.  First my toes, then my legs, and finally on up to my head.  The video started and suddenly a loud firery exlosion revealed a space capsule on the stage.  Silence.  One minute.  Two minutes.  STOP TEASING ME!  It was then that the capsule broke open to reveal the man, who is now no longer a myth, but a reality... a plastic reality.  I screamed and jumped, spilling out the energy that had been building for hours.  For I could see him perfectly, every motion, every move, every crotch grab.  I was in heaven.  The next two and a half hours were filled with sheer pleasure as Michael and I connected in a mystical way.  He sang to me and I sang back.  Billy Jean, Beat It, Heal the World, You are Not Alone, Dangerous, Scream, Earthsong, Stranger in Moscow, Black and White.  Need I go on?  Cute Michael said over and over "I love you... and I love you."  He said nothing else for that was all he need to say.    Michael, I LOVE YOU!

The narrative fails to mention that I was 2 rows away from MJ and also, that while in line for eight hours with my friends playing UNO, I was interviewed by Cape Town Radio.  I was a little full of myself, to say the least.

Apparently, Michael had been out doing publicity before this concert and one of my little after school kids from the Belhar Youth Centre gave me this picture she took of him:

She knew I was a BIG fan and had gone to his concert.  This was in the days before digital and I know for a fact this was her most prized possession and her only copy.  Bless her heart for giving me this.  I have it treasured away in my scrapbooks.

And that's the Michael Jackson in my life.

And.... let us ALL MOVE ON NOW.

Clara - In All Her Glory

Clara, playing with mommy's ancient dolls:

Clara, with her mommy:

Clara, at Mt. Vernon with her Grandma:

Clara, being REALLY cute at Mt. Vernon:

Clara, being a total SHITE at Disney World:

Clara, back to being cute:

Clara, swimming with mommy:

Clara, eating an oreo:

Clara, happily sporting her new umbrella from Epcot:

Clara, playing her favorite nightly game:

 

Clara, waiting for Max at piano:

Clara, in the naughty spot during our vacation:

 

Clara, in another more severe naughty spot during our vacation:

Clara, eating dinner in her favorite outfit:

And lastly....

Clara, The Princess:

Clara's Enchanted Forest

We've recently graduated Clara to a "big girl bed."  Just like Max, the transition was relatively easy and she was very excited to sleep in her new bed. 

The biggest fear when parents switch kids from crib to bed is that they won't stay in it.  What to do with the new found freedom?  Get out of bed, leave your room, and bug your parents.  That's what typical, normal children do.  But not my child.  Oh yes, she was seduced by the freedom and ease of getting in and out of bed, but you'd never know it.  Because by the light of the moon, my child gets up and empties all her drawers, takes everything off her shelf and scatters it like a clumsy thief looking for something important.  And then she thinks... "Hmm... I'm tired now.  I think I'll go back to bed."  Then she tucks herself back into bed.  With nary a peep, nary a cry.  Imagine my surprise when I go in to get her in the morning.  As I trip over every pair of pants she owns and an empty box of diapers that's been wedged up against the door.  The girl is WEIRD!

Back to the decorating.  Just like with Max, I was very involved in getting all the perfect furniture.  Read about Max's new/old room here.

This time around it was a little bit easier, mainly because my parents had lovingly U-Hauled all my "crap" from Salt Lake City to Cow Town a few years ago.  Included in the "crap" was all of my old furniture as a child along with a bottle of petrified brine fish that must have once belonged to my microscope kit.  I was a dork.  But I digress.

The furniture is still girly cute and totally perfect, in my opinion of course, and it was a no-brainer that Clara should inherit it.  But the bed... what to do about a new bed?  Military folk have certain needs when it comes to furniture, the most important being that it must be able to move.  WITHOUT falling apart.  That pretty much eliminates anything made with pressed wood, which is like all furniture in existence that doesn't cost 2 million dollars.  But another option?  Metal!  Oh, how about a metal daybed?!  And it became even more sentimental because I had a white metal daybed growing up.  It was meant to be.  And ye, Ikea provided.

I fretted over the bedding, the wall decor, and doo-daddery.  We debated mattress height and the need for a box spring.  I wiped my tears from all her baby crib bedding as I packed it away. K disassembled the crib and changing table for the bazillionith time it seemed.  And, here are the results:

 

Those owls on the bed are SO cute that I giggle and do a twirl every time I see them.  The bed skirt was my first buy and everything was done around it.

The wall above the bed:

 

The tree, birds, and flowers are vinyl wall stickers that I bought off Etsy.  HERE to be precise.  I love Etsy.  The butterflies are from Target.  I was afraid of butterfly overload, and am still debating and rearranging a bit.  Clara and her little claws have only disassembled one flower so far.  She sometimes can not NOT be naughty.  Serenity.

More:

 

The painting above the chair is described here. 

Shelves:

 

I made the owl and the fairy girl in the red dress.  The doll in the red was mine and is Jo from Little Women.  The Little Miss Trouble book... really, how fitting.

A close up of the shadow box:

 

Her book collection is tucked to the left of her bed and is easily accessible to her at night, because technically she's not getting out of bed and can tell me in the morning that she was a good girl.  Even though there are 200 book strewn over her bed.  Oh well.  She's reading,not getting out of bed and giving her parents some peace.  Really, I have no room to complain, do I?

Her favorite books:

 

And we're done.  And I'm not going to be jealous that her new sheets have a higher thread count than mine.

More From Disney...

Who doesn't love Splash Mountain? 

I've said it before, but I'm a total sucker for these pictures.  Who cares that they cost $20 a pop.  K said he was hamming it up for the camera, but I think that look is genuine. Why, I saw that very look today when I announced that we're going to go and see Paul McCartney in August.  He was SO excited!

Another reason I like these pictures is because I can mock people.  Like in THIS one.  Silly people.

And there are a lot of silly people at Disney World. When you spend half your time waiting in various lines, you get to do a lot of people watching.  Generally, everyone at Disney World is happy.  I love that.  Even in the longest, hottest lines, everyone is chatty and cheerful.  Something else I noticed is that people eat too much.  If Disney is a random sampling of the general American public on any given day, then we are all a bunch of fatty patatty fatskins.  But really, it's disheartening to see it on such an extreme level.  On the upside, if you are big enough to need a motorized Disney scooter majigger, then you get to cut to the front of the line.  As I sit and eat my icecream, this thought comforts me.

When waiting in lines, Max could be found doing one of the following:

• Climbing on the bars, stradling the dividers, or scaling the walls.  Basic monkey behavior.
• Pissing off his sister.
• Examining my legs and counting my varicose veins.  Loudly.

The worst line of our trip was the Toy Story ride at Hollywood Studios.  The wait time sign was a big liar liar pants on fire, and what we expected to be a 30 minute line turned into an hour and 30 minutes.

It started out all fun and cute and stuff:

But after a while it was annoying and no ride could possibly be worth this kind of wait. Seriously.

I had been soured and K thought it would be funny to take a picture of me.  See that Mr. Potato Head?  I was envisioning myself going and ripping off it's appendages and shoving them in his cheery little open mouth.  Now THAT would make the ride fun!

Thankfully we made it on and the kids reported that it was "fun".  As you can see, Nana and Grandad were having a LOT of fun!

The best ride at Hollywood Studios was the Twilight Zone's Tower of Terror.  We went to that ride the minute we got to the park and thankfully it was a short wait.  The entire time we were in line people were remarking that Max was sure a "brave boy to be doing this ride!"  Hmm, what do they mean by that?  He meets the height requirement and loves thrill rides (that don't include carnivorous dinosaurs of course).  We really had no idea what this ride was all about, which was probably a good thing in retrospect.  Max was way jazzed to be going on a big boy ride.

The ride starts with a creepy intro about a haunted hotel that has a faulty elevator and then they do some sort of optical illusion where it feels like you're going into the fifth dimension, the Twilight Zone!  Max was loving that part - but THEN, after you're seated and your elevator goes up, it DROPS.  Then again!  THEN AGAIN!  And AGAIN.  Holy moly, I was screaming my head off.  And Max, who often dwells somewhere in the fifth dimension anyways, was hanging onto reality by a thread.  We exited the ride and he declared that he'll never do that ride again.  His face was green, too.

Just another entry in a therapist's future journal.

Hollywood Studios had a lot of other fun, non life altering rides and sights too.

 

Is it a big city behind us or an elaborate Hollywood set?!

 

Honey, did we shrink the kids?

Tale as old as time, true as it can be...

 

Yes indeed, Hollywood Studios rocks!

Babes and Baseball - Two More Reasons to Love D.C.

We witnessed history! Randy Johnson got his 300 career wins.  Yes, it was at the expense of the Nats, but who cares.  History's history!

And do you know the best part about going to a Nats game (besides watching your son and his "awkward dance" be featured on the big screen)?  They have a 5 Guys there.  YES!

K and I went on a pseudo date to a game... pseudo because it was me, him, and 6 other guys.  I didn't complain.

Now for the babes.  Where else but D.C. could you enjoy a nice, lovely, nutritious Sunday brunch featuring sushi and drag queens?

I believe it's Dianna Ross!  And well hello there Jenny from the Block!  Takes on a whole new meaning to "you used to have a little now you have a lot"?  Doesn't it?

The food was delicious.  Seriously.

And the ladies were hot!

Where I'm Really Smart At Epcot

It's no secret that Epcot is my favorite park.  It is just SO beautiful and open with tons of hands on things for the kids.  Plus, they have some of our favorite rides like:

Soarin!!!  Or, the Flying Seat Ride, as Max calls it.  (Video here.. and there my be something hormonally wrong with me because I just teared up watching that!  What?!)

This is my most favorite ride of all time.  It is SO relaxing, beautiful, and smells good too.  I raved about it so much, that K has promised to take me soaring for REALS this summer.  

Epcot was celebrating it's Flower Festival while we were there. 

Isn't that cool?  They had all the big name Princesses done up in flowers.

They even had Minnie!!

Clara was on a permanent Minnie watch the entire week.  "Minnie!  Minnie over THERE! Minnie right HERE!  Minnieminnieminnieminnie."

Here's a little Fairy Garden that I thought was the cutest thing I'd ever seen.  Clara and I went and explored it while K and Max did boy stuff. 

 

She stops and smells ALL flowers.  In Epcot all the foliage was real, thank goodness.  Because when she stops and smells fake flowers she'll yell, "HEY!  These are dead!"

The food is always good in Epcot.  Especially if you go to the World Showcase.

This would be Clara enjoying some bangers and mash in England.

This would be K with his brats and stuff in Germany.  K eating a meat plate?  SHOCKING!  On a side note, this picture was taken about 15 seconds before K launched my camera into his sauerkraut where it then bounced up and over only to land on the cement ground.  It survived.

The shopping is good in the World Showcase too. 

I found these little ditties and I REALLY wanted one.  I had to do breathing exercises to stop the need.  But in hard times such as these, can I really justify a tea pot in the shape of an owl? 

Now for the BEST part of our Epcot adventure - in my opinion.  In England (World Showcase England) they have a little shop devoted entirely to Beatles stuff.  Oh yes, JUST Beatles stuff.  I drool.  As I was buying my Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Commemorative First Edition Sterling Silver Key Chain, I noticed that there were two Beatle Quizes posted by the cash register.  One was marked "easy" and the other "advanced."  I glanced at the easy one and scoffed.  Ha!  Who doesn't know that Ringo Starr's name is really Ricard Starkey.  DUH.  Then I looked at the advanced quiz.  While the nice young British lad was taking my credit card, I rattled off the correct answer to all 10 ADVANCED questions.  His eyes were wide and his mouth agape.  He was SO in awe, that he gave me this:

Yeah baby.

And I shall now end this post with the worst family picture ever (which is rivaled only by this):

The Dinosaur Ride of Death and Despair

The Animal Kingdom has a lot of VERY cool rides.  Like Expedition Everest (totally watch that video on that link, btw):

Where we learned all about Yeti's.  Real Yeti's!!

Yeti's are WAY freaky, especially when they break up your track and you go flying down the mountain backwards!  Max loved, LOVED, this ride.  We fast passed it all over the place with this one.  Plus we did the rider share thingy... a little known Disney secret where if you have a child too small for the ride, they give the person who stays behind a riders pass good for 3 people all day!  Holy love the Disney. 

So the Yeti was a hit.  THIS ride, however, not so much.  (Again, watch the cool video)

After this little sweetheart of a ride, Max was in a stupor.  So much so, that we assumed he wanted to go again with K and Grandad on the rider share pass.  Little did we know, he was too traumatized to know what was happening.  So he went again.

And you know those pictures they take right at the pinnacle of the ride?  This was ours... the second time around.

  

Here's a close-up:

 

Is it wrong to laugh?  Cause I about rolled off the bench and down Main Street when K showed me this picture.  Max had apparently gone to his happy place.

And he will never. go. on. this. ride. again.  EVER.

And totally off subject, except for the fact that it happened while waiting in the Dinosaur line the first time around... when Max was still young and unscarred, is the little, what I like to call, The Capri Sun Incident of 2009.  As Max and I were waiting in line, he declared to me that he was thirsty.  We were still in the outside part of the line so I hurriedly called K and told him to come bring us a drink.  He rushed over, but by the time he got there, we were snaked in about 5 rows in the queue.  So he launched a juice bag over the heads of many and I barely caught it - mid air.  But, then it slipped out of my hand and hit the ground.  When I picked it up, there was a very small hole in the bottom of the bag.  No problem I thought, I'll just put the straw through the bottom. 

How do you think this went over with Max?  If you guessed NOT WELL, you'd be correct.  The boy freaked, because he could not possible drink a Capri Sun juice bag with the straw coming out the bottom.  And he freaked some more because he was STILL thirsty.  Breathe in, breathe out.  Because it was hot, we'd been waiting in line, and BECAUSE ALL I'M TRYING TO DO IS PLEASE YOU YOU INGRATE, my voice mutated into that of a demon, my pupils turned red, and I growled "You WILL drink this juice, and you'll LIKE it!"

He drank it. 

Then got the shiz scared out of him on the Dinosaur ride. 

Does Disney sponsor any sort of post traumatic stress therapy?

South Carolina and Disney. They Both Rock.

Instead of a day by day play of our latest vacation, I've decided to post some highlights over the next week or so.  I took over 300 pictures.  And nobody, not even me or future posterity that will read my blog with gusto, cares THAT much.

We did have a FABULOUS time.  How can you not love Disney World?  The place absolutely amazes me.  And we created some great memories.

So why did we return to Disney so soon?  Because it ROCKS!  And because Disney is offering a military deal this year that just can't be beat.  I would tell you what it was but you'd be so jealous that you'd probably go to your nearest recruiting office and enlist JUST so you could get the same deal.  It was THAT good. 

When we looked at our calendar, May was the best month to take the plunge.  Max starts kindergarten in Sept., K is traveling this summer, K's parents were going to be in Orlando anyway during May, the heat and the hurricanes wouldn't be a worry, and well... one thing led to another. 

Once again, we drove - making midway stops in South Carolina.  And once again, we stayed at our favorite condo.  So yes, basically, it was the same trip.  Except this time we had a 5 Day Pass.

If you asked Max, this would be how he would explain it - Bible Style.

"On the first day we went to Magic Kingdom, but Space Mountain was closed which made me sad but then I was happy on Thunder Mt and Splash Mt.  It was good.  On the second day we went to Animal Kingdom where I liked Yeti but did NOT like the dinosaurs that tried to eat me.  On the third day was Hollywood Studios where I crashed on an elevator and went to space.  On the fourth day was Epcot which is my favorite one because I can go to Mars there for reals.  And the fifth day we rested.  On the sixth day we went BACK to Epcot cause it's my favorite but I felt like crap that day.  On the seventh day we were all done."

After God created the earth and stuff, we headed up to South Carolina to spend some quality time with some quality friends.  Who we also visited on our last August trip.

It's nice to have friends spread out all over creation, even if some go to Key West instead of staying home while you're driving through their city.  I'm speaking of the Snakeye's, who we at least got to see last August as pictured here:

 

(What happened to that tan? And boy has Brendan grown!)

Back to South Carolina - Columbia, to be precise.  Here are some highlights:

Last visit:

 

This visit:

(and just for fun) A LONG long time ago:

There were some major differences between the two visits. 

1. Last trip, Clara barfed all over their apartment floor.  This trip, Max spiked a fever, got a rash, and had to get a penicillin shot in the butt, all while at their house.
2. Last trip, there was no guitar hero, which meant we sat around and talked, got smarter, shared deep thoughts, etc.  This trip?  Guitar Hero Baby.
3. Last trip, I felt an empty shopping void.  This trip:  Hobby Lobby!
4. Last trip, one fun filled night.  This trip:  THREE!
5. Last trip, a comfy air mattress on the floor.  This trip:  Our very own guest suite!
6. Last trip, I gazed at pretty tree topiaries on the mantle.  This trip? A real life BURL in the woods!
7. Last trip, Mitch wore green.  This trip, Mitch wore green AND blue!
8. Last trip, Matty was spunky and fun.  This trip, we gave Matty our plague, yet he was STILL spunky and fun.
9. Last trip, no naps for me.  This trip, TWO long nice quiet naps for me!
10. Last trip, Mitch and Max built a lego building.  This trip:  Mitch and Max stayed up all night talking about building buildings, dredge lines, and the Big Bang.
11. Last trip, our friends were super duper cool and fun.  This trip: DOUBLE super duper cool and fun. 

Even the boys got into the action.

Here's that crazy burl that was freaking me out:

Do YOUR friends have a burl in their backyard?  Yeah, didn't think so.

Here's the master bbq-er outside the Man Garage. 

We call him Snap.  Or Keanu.  Whatever.  And he may have his own Man Garage, but we have green foam Moose in Virginia!  We win. Just ask Mitch.

But what we don't have is CATS.  And to say Clara liked their cats would be an understatement.  She was obsessed and spent most of the time seeking them out. 

 

Nevermind that she's in our hosts bedroom at all hours yelling "CAT! CAT! I PET YOU NOW!"  We tried to tell her the cat had a name, but that didn't go well at all.  It's CAT.  Just CAT.

 

We went to a FUN museum (with a large scary boy)...

Did some grocery shopping:

 

 

Seriously, this was the cutest kids musuem EVER.  And you won't be shocked to see that Max loaded his cart with pastries and veggies and Clara loaded hers with meat and donuts.  And trying to tell her that the donut was plastic was not one of our greater moments.

We got to go to a brick McDonalds.  A McDonalds made of bricks!

 

We played in sandboxes...

 

in bowls of water...

And ate lots of yummy food:

And certainly one of the best parts was a trip to Hobby Lobby.  My saintly friend endured almost 2 hours there with me.  I tried to stifle my giggles of glee.

 

Oh it was the perfect ending to our trip.  Having a beautiful, clean, relaxing house to hang out in; cute kids for my kids to play with; and fun friends to endure our oddities.

A Quick Look...

...at our epic adventure.

It started with a trip to Hobby Lobby:

(thanks Max for "posing" for me)

...And ended with a trip to Hobby Lobby.

Oh yeah, and Disney World and stuff in between.

For now, I'm sleeping it off.