A Little Boy Lives Here

As I was cleaning the floors this morning, I came across this guy in the hallway.

It is one of Aaron's Army guys. I don't mind dust in the house or dirty floors, but I don't like clutter. Things need to be put away, so my first instinct was to throw the Army dude up the stairs so Aaron could put it away. However, something inside of me whispered, "A little boy lives in this house." So I left the Army dude standing on the ledge in the little hallway outside the living room.

I continued cleaning the floors and my thoughts went to a time when the little boy in this house will pack up and go away to college or join the Navy "to defend this country" so he claims is one of his dreams. He is such a compassionate little guy. He is also a passionate little guy. He throws everything he has into the dream or interest of the moment.

When I came to the dining room, I found a Nerf bullet on the floor.

I did pick it up because I was cleaning the floor, but I smiled because I was still thinking that a little boy lives here. But before I picked it up I went and got my camera and took a picture of the bullet on the floor and the Army dude on the ledge because I knew I needed to write a blog post to look back on years from now and remember what it was like when a little boy lived here.

Reunion = Awkward

A week before P.K.'s 20th high school reunion, he found out he would indeed have liberty that weekend and decided he would like to attend. The kids and I were on the last leg of our trip home from visiting P.K. when he called to ask if I would like to meet him in St. Louis the following weekend. I was tired of traveling and just wanted to get home, but I also jumped at the excuse to see P.K. again.

It is about a nine hour drive from my house to my sister-in-law's house outside of St. Louis. The kids started school on the Thursday before the reunion and Rachel doesn't get out of school until 4:15. That would have put us arriving at our destination around 1:15 in the morning if we didn't make any stops or hit any traffic. I turn into a pumpkin by 8:30, so I knew there was no way I would make it until 1:00 in the morning. I decided to pull the kids out early.

We arrived at our destination in about 10 hours. We hit major traffic about an hour out. An oil tanker had overturned on the interstate and had it shut down most of the day. Up until this point I had felt a bit guilty for spending the money to splurge on a GPS. Our little Jenny (that is what the family has named our GPS) redirected me through cornfields which were probably never seen by an outsider before. On one of these one lane, gravel, country roads I saw a ninety year old woman drive a four wheeler out to check her mailbox.

We hung out at my sister-in-law's house watching the kids play in the pool most of the day Saturday. I should mention it is also my brother-in-law's house. Which leads me to a totally different discussion. Is my sister-in-law's husband my brother-in-law or just my sister-in-law's husband. I decided that as long as a person likes his or her in-law's spouse he or she can be claimed with the title in-law. If you don't like the person then you might want to refer to him or her as my sister-in-law's husband or brother-in-law's wife. I totally digress.

Ragini (my sister-in-law) and Dan (my brother-in-law...I like him so we will go with that title) were nice enough to babysit for us. Come on. Who wouldn't like someone who offers free babysitting and loves your kids?

I wasn't sure what to wear to the reunion and finally decided that other than the couple we were going with, I probably won't see any of these people again unless we attend the 30th reunion.

I picked up dress at Target of all places. Here P.K. and I are posing on Ragini's deck. She insisted on taking pictures and in hindsight I am glad she did.

Here we are with Jennifer and Tim. Jennifer and P.K. attended school together and the family has other connections. Jennifer's brother, Greg, is married to P.K.'s older sister, Sunita. Jennifer attended the same college as P.K. and I did for one year. P.K. was at the Coast Guard Academy during that year. I was friends with Sunita before P.K. came. Jennifer and Ragini were roommates at some point in their adult life before either of them was married. Needless to say, we were happy to get to spend some time with them.

I do not keep in touch with one single solitary person with whom I attended high school. I went from kindergarten through eighth grade with the same kids. When high school came around they all went to one high school and I had to go to a different one. I never really clicked with any of the pre-formed clicks, so I had no desire to attend my 20th high school reunion.

I learned that the term "High School Reunion" is really synonymous with the word "Awkward." Where do I begin to explain this? Neither Tim or I are the most outgoing people in social situations. I think both of us were happy sitting at a table watching the former classmates catch up. Most of the conversation went something like this:

Former classmate: Hey, P.K.

P.K.: Hey, "insert name of former classmate" (or if he didn't know the name and couldn't see the name tag he just said, "Hey.")

Then there was an awkward moment of silence as they grinned and nodded at each other hoping the other would have something to say.

A lot of people said, "So how is life?" or "What have you been up to?" I had to try really hard to keep myself from laughing. It had been 20 years since some of these people had seen each other. I could give you an earful of what has happened in life after 20 days. After the question was asked there was another awkward moment of silence while the person being asked the question tried to figure out a good way to sum up the last 20 years in about 20 seconds. The only thing that brought a longer period of silence was when P.K. introduced me to one of his former classmates. We didn't even have the memory of high school to try to start a conversation.

Someone in the planning stages thought it would be a good idea to have a DJ playing songs from the high school era. This was the graduating class of 1990. They fled the 80s and some things in the 80s should have been left in the past. It was really hard to hear over the music. I think music in the background would have been nice, but the blaring sound was not conducive to pleasant conversation. What if you were one of those people who had already hit the open bar several times and weren't shy about sharing the worst of the past 20 years. You now it slipped out in an obnoxiously loud voice between songs.

Some things never change. There was one lady (I so use the term loosely) who had to ****family blog written by Christian author****...had a difficult time finding a place to put her name tag. She was very entertaining as the night went on. Tim and I were taking bets as to how long it would take for her to take her dance moves to the top of the bar.

One of the men who still lives locally was in a conversation with P.K., another classmate who lives near Chicago and me. He mentioned he got a room at the hotel across the street for the night. The classmate from Chicago asked him where he lived and he named a local community. The out-of-towners were all staying with relatives in the area.

It was fun to watch P.K. interact with these people and I can say I have been to a 20 year reunion. Now college is a different story. I have friends I keep in touch with and I hope someone is planning it!

Middle School

Rachel reached another milestone today. She started Middle School. I felt like she was starting kindergarten all over again. She didn't want me to help her anymore today than she did back then. It was all I could do to keep myself from jumping out of the car and walking her to her class to make sure she found her room with no problem. I did offer, but I got that tween eye roll and a "Mom, I've got this." She had a great day. She is in all advanced classes. No surprise there. She is P.K.'s kid.

Back to School

Hannah started first grade and Aaron started fourth grade today. They were both excited to get back to school and see their friends. Aaron came home and announced, "I figured I out I actually like school. I just don't like paperwork."

Here's a picture of all three of them. Rachel hadn't fixed her hair yet. She is getting her own special post today.

Six Flags 2010

We had a family day at Six Flags while we were visiting P.K. This was our third trip to Six Flags with the kids. We went last summer and about three years ago. This was the best trip by far. Hannah was tall enough to ride almost everything she wanted to ride and Aaron wasn't afraid to ride anything. Those two facts made for happy kids and thus happy parents.

Rachel has loved "high and fast" rides since her first trip to Disneyland at age 4. That child will ride just about anything. I, on the other hand, am generally happy to hold stuff and people watch. Anything that combines fast and spinny makes me sick to my stomach and I am terrified of heights. So to keep Mommy happy and to make me feel apart of the fun everyone agreed to that we should ride the carousel first.

P.K. and me enjoying the carousel. Yes. This was a no make-up day.

This is me posing with the kids before the ride started.

This was my favorite ride. It was called the Buccaneer something-or-other. It was a leisurely ride on pirate boats that had four water cannons mounted on each side. As you floated past people watching from the sidewalk you could squirt them with the cannons, but they could also squirt you.

Hannah was so excited to finally be tall enough to ride the swings.

This was one of P.K.'s favorite spots. He talked about it for days before we went just like the kids do.

This was one of the coolest activities ever! We had to pay separately from the regular admission price, but it was well worth it. We being P.K. and the kids...note the aforementioned fear of heights...spent over an hour climbing around.

It took Aaron a while to decide it was safe, but once he felt secure he had a blast.

The girl in the light blue shirt in these two shots is Rachel. She went all over all by herself. No fear.

All the kids, big and little, got harnessed up.

Hannah wouldn't get too far from P.K. or the man working, but she wasn't about to quit.

I rode the equivalent of the Teacups at Disney with the girls. You sit in a car that spins independently while the ride spins. You can turn a wheel in the middle to make your individual car spin faster. I am not afraid to ride this particular ride, but I remembered afterward that those kind of rides make me feel sick.

The kids love to watch Scooby Doo so they were thrilled to have their picture taken with Shaggy. I know our days of having Rachel pose with characters willingly are very numbered. I was surprised she jumped in this one without any pleas or threats from the parental units.

Rachel wanted to stop for a picture with these Tasmanian Devil statues on the way out. Oh! Wait a minute. The one in pink is just Hannah. Sometimes it is hard to tell.

One of the joys of having a digital camera is you can waste shots. P.K. took this one on the way in so we could easily remember where we parked. What a smart man!

We had such a great time that P.K. said we should get season passes next year. We have a Six Flags not too far from where we live.

Hair Today...Gone Tomorrow

While we were on our road trip the girls got haircuts. Rachel's is at her shoulders and has layers. It is how she had it cut before so really no new changes there. However, Hannah wanted a drastic change.

I did call P.K. before I let her go through with it. Then I texted him pictures as we progressed. I didn't take an immediate after picture with my camera, but I did text P.K. His response, "I changed my mind."

My cousin set next to me saying, "Don't do it" over and over again.

Hannah did come out of it with straight hair. All those curls are gone. I knew she didn't have as much curl as Rachel, but I thought once some of the weight was off they would bounce back.

Stay tuned for back to school pictures to see the finished product.

Road Trip I Spy

I spied with my little eye (and maybe my heart)...

...a follower of Changing Seasons, former backyard neighbor and the lady who is responsible for my coffee addiction, Jen. It was so good to catch up with you. I love ya to pieces!

...Jen's daughter and one of Rachel's best friends, Anna. Rachel is friends with a few of my friends' daughters. I always wonder if those relationships are because Rachel and the other girl really click or just because the moms have engineered the friendship. Rachel and Anna picked up where they left off. The next day Rachel told me out of nowhere, "I really miss Anna." That is a friendship of choice.

...another former neighbor and her husband who is still stationed at Naval Station Great Lakes.

...the former neighbor's seven children and Jen's three.

...a very surpised girl who opened her front door to find a long lost friend. Her mom may be just as responsible for my coffee addiction and the one who started this blogging craze. That visit was way too fast. Here's to next year.

...my dear friend Theresa. She and her hubby were gracious enough to meet us after lunch at Red Robin. Red Robin was one of our favorite restaurants in Indiana. Theresa is a very loyal blog follower and she will NOT be happy to see herself on here. Theresa...I'm so glad we got to visit for a while! I miss you!

...cousins

...more cousins and a couple friends

...this ol' house...so full of memories. It looks so much smaller than I remember.

...my friend Becizzle, her husband Matt and their baby. We saw their daughter Allison, too. However I don't have any pictures of her. It was a quick visit. They made me a delicious pizza using olive oil, ricotta cheese and mozzarella. Yummy!

I also spied my friend Candace and her two sweet kids. I just didn't spy them with my camera.

I love playing I Spy!