Field Trip

Today my youngest announced to everyone at Trader Joes -- love that place so much, that we are going on a field trip. All of the yummy snacks are for our field trip :-). Sidenote, have you tried TJ's mango fruit gummies? Love them.

Obviously, my girl has heard lots of talk about field trips. Yesterday we even went on one with my son's class. We went to Cougar Mountain Zoo, which was pretty cool, though slightly disappointing for the price we paid ($12.50). Those tigers were HUGE and amazing to behold. Seriously.

I discovered my kids fight like ring-tailed lemurs (did you know the only place in the entire world lemurs come from is Madagascar?).

I also discovered my youngest is not a screech owl, but a Macaw.

I liked hearing the Orion bird laugh, he reminded me just exactly of my sister Melissa's imitation of, well, a laughing bird I guess.

Anyway, back to field trips :-). I've been thinking about what she said and realizing her wording is more correct than the word "vacation". We'll be going to a place with fields and fields of -- fields. Which is exactly why I want to go there.

I really don't ever see off-road vehicles around my neighborhood, and definitely don't see kids playing in the ditch.

Riding in the back of a truck in suburbia just doesn't happen.

My most favorite mountain range in the world.

We won't get to do this, this summer but my Seattle peops hear stories of "moving pipe" quite often

Fields and Fields

The trip keeps getting delayed because of fun events here, but I promise I'll be visiting a field near you soon :-).

Stash: Part Two

I was looking under my youngest daughter's bed for her shoes or something, when I found multiple containers of wheat thins. I looked up at her and said, "What's this?" Her answer: "That's just my stash".

What have I begun . . .

So, this is Africa

My friend has been compiling needed items for her humanitarian trip to Africa to build a school. She lives a few blocks away from me. For the past two weeks, I have been referring to "those kids in Africa" as I held up a toy or game or book. We came up with a pretty good stash of things to send.

My youngest and I loaded everything on to the front porch of Linda's home. After the first trip, my little girl looked up at me and said, "Is this Africa?"

Do you remember wondering about far-off places when you were a kid?



http://www.vmapas.com/Africa/Africa_Political_Map.jpg/maps-en.html

I don't think Africa was in my comprehension. We watched a show called, "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego" that was pretty cool and I learned about a lot of far-off sounding places. I wondered how the announcer could say all those names.

When I lived in Utah, USA :-), I became friends with a woman and found out she grew up in Africa. She had whiter skin than me, needless to say - my small-town brain was shocked.



Senator Giffords

Way back when I first started this blog, I posted about my hearing of Senator Gabby Giffords being shot in Arizona. Unfortunately, there were others shot - fatally, but Senator Giffords has beaten ALL odds. I have followed her recovery every chance I get because it is so amazing.

This week, when a magazine I read regularly came out with a front page article detailing her recovery I consumed every detail. It is SO interesting to me AND I am very grateful she is doing so well.

Senator Giffords Recovery

This is actually thrilling to me. To think a person could recover from the injuries she sustained. I'm amazed. In case you don't read every word of the article, I will summarize a little of it by candidly describing her recovery as heroic and even unbelievalbe. The main speech therapist talked about how most people don't have the funds (or insurance coverage) to get as much therapy as Senator Giffords has gotten, which is really sad but very true. I just hope her story gets told over and over so insurance limits might change and others' can have a chance.

Supplies

When you go to the store, couldn't you have a category of "supplies" on your list that includes anything from lysol to baby wipes?

Today, I was at the store and saw loads of bakery-fresh cookies, I didn't look at a number anywhere, but I am sure there were about 2 dozen per container. So, I bought two :-)  They were on sale. Seriously good bargain - $5.00 for all of those cookies. And, since we are going to be eating breakfast for the next few days (ha ha), I went ahead and bought the muffins too.

I have never bought so much preservatives in one setting as this. But, I know eventually summer will come to Seattle and I will not want to bake and my kids will need cookies. I might need cookies too. Plus, I have two birthday-kids in July, plus . . .

I was so embarrassed and all through the store, I tried to cover up my impulse with other foods. The cashier asked, "So, do you have a birthday party today?"

Then, when I got home, being the dunce I am, I saved these three condeming containers till the very end to load from my car. And, who should just "show up" -- one of my friends (I really never ever have visitors). She is teeny and monitors everything she eats. However, she is also super non-judgemental and funny as can be. She pulls up and says, "Do you need a cookie?"

I was so embarrassed. I am still embarrassed. I know I shouldn't have done it, but I did anyway.

This brings me to my "Supplies" post -- I have been trying to suppress the memory of about 48 cookies freezing in my freezer right now (not to mention the 1 or 2 or 4 I had already today - I mean they were broken. I couldn't feeze broken cookies). I was remembering stories of "supply-buying" in grocery stores and chuckling all day. You see, when we were teenagers, buying supplies meant dashing down the tampon aisle, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible and then hoping to avoid eye contact at all costs with the cashier. Either that, or bribe someone else into buying your supplies.

Now, as adults, we need different kinds of supplies. If I need to go into this in more detail, just shoot me a personal email. I'd be glad to have "The Talk" with you. A few years ago, a friend shared with me her story of going to the drugstore to buy an econo-size "supply" for adults. And, who should walk in to the drugstore while she was in line for purchase? One of the few "mature" and "dignified" men still left in this world, who was a well-known member of our church. I'm not sure small talk covered up her supply. :-)

Now it is time to either do some situps or eat one of my cookies.