Vancouver Day 1

Our trip to Vancouver was great. We went with my parents and everyone really had a good time. We picked them up from the airport at around 930pm (a little later than intended, but oh well). Then we drove straight to Vancouver, about a 2.5 hour drive. The boys didn't fall asleep till around 10pm because they were so excited.

There is a reason I have no pillows on my couch. Both boys seem to think they must be used for making a nest, a fort, etc all the time.

The first day we went to Granville Island which has a little farmer's market. We picked up a few things to go with the spaghetti we were planning to make. The boys got to run around and play, but it wasn't too much effort for any of the adults.

Angry

I hate my brother sometimes! He has always been self absorbed...really. He has been in and out of jail for the last decade. He will pretend to clean up for a bit and then be right back where he left off. Most of his problems stem from drugs or alcohol. I am sure I should feel sorry for him, but I am out of that emotion. I would happily help him, if he recognized that anything in his life was his own doing. Instead, it is my parents fault for not giving him money (a lie), or mine for always getting what I want (nevermind that I worked for it), or God's for not showing him the way (too drunk to see it clearly), or his friends, or the conspiracy of the world against him, or the Jews, or the Muslims, or the Blacks, or the Hispanics, or, or, or...

Now he is in jail, and will likely be convicted of a felony for passing fake prescriptions or something along those lines. I don't think he even realizes that this is a serious offense. And of course, it isn't his fault. My dad sent a lawyer to talk with him...and my brother decided he would rather take his chances with the public defender than take this from my dad. His comment to my dad was, "don't waste your money on a lawyer, just bail me out."

The thing that ticks me off the most is that he uses this behavior as a way to punish my parents. He knows that it is hard on my mom so he will continue to be destructive to himself just to hurt her.

I still hope that one day he will see how he has hurt those who love him and make the choice to change...but i am no longer waiting for it to happen. I plan that I will have to explain to my children one day about the choices he has made and the consequences he is now facing. He has made his choices...and they will provide a harsh reality that no one should have to face.

Finals

So I am in the midst of my Statistics final. Yikes. I have not a clue what I am doing. It is a very self-taught, self-paced course...not my strong suit. However my biggest problem is me. I want to make things harder than they need to be. Those who knew me in college should not be surprised.

My dad used to say sometimes finding out what you don't want to do in life is just as useful as finding what you do want to do. I now know I don't want to do statistics.

Visit from Grandma Harriette

Rob's mom came in town for a long weekend. They boys couldn't have been happier. We made cards, and hearts, and flowers for her bed. They played, went to the park, went to Pike's Place Market, went to the top of the space needle, had special breakfast (brunch buffet...mmm my favorite).

Here's a few pictures

Anthony is totally into taking pictures right now...he is so cute and so serious with his camera.

A Great Show

Today the kids had a dental appointment. And I am the luckiest mom on earth. They love the dentist. Anthony opens his mouth just like he should. Gabe follows Anthony's example. They were perfect. Gabe let them clean all of his teeth with the tooth polisher. He didn't bite the dentist.

Everyone talked about how cute and sweet they were. That they were great patients. I love when my kids perform so well in public.

Off to do homework. I have a stats test due by the 15th of May plus a lot of homework.

It made me smile

This is part two of Anthony pictures. Every picture he has of a person, they are missing at least part of their head. It is really funny. But even better it reminded me of my Grandma Irene (my dad's mom). She never took a picture where everyone had a head. She would always dip the camera as she pushed the shutter. So here are Anthony's headless shots...

What's Important to You

When you take a picture, it is about what is important to you...what you want to remember. I am always taking pictures of the kids. I don't want to forget all the little moments. So giving Anthony the opportunity to take pictures on his own is a great way to see what he thinks is important. He takes a lot of pictures. 90% are really bad. 10% are recognizable. Not bad at the age of 3.

Here is a sampling of what he likes to take pictures of

I'll try to get better at this

I am back dating posts for our time in TX and other.

Tulip Festival

I was hoping to make to the Skagit Valley for their Tulip Festival, but couldn't. It is 2.5 hours each way to get there. Hard to justify that kinda driving for some flowers. So I found one down south that was only 1.5 hours each way. Definitely more manageable. The boys had a lot of fun. They had a bounce house and some live music. There was also a lady doing face painting (a big highlight for Anthony). She painted a snake on his arm.

In the end, we had a great day. Here are my unedited photos. I am hoping to start editing them later today.

Watering the Flowers

The boys worship Grandpa Keith. So the day we were set to leave, my dad stayed home to play with them. Grandpa Keith had the brilliant idea to let them help water flowers. After several buckets of water...mostly on the boys...they decided to take a break.

Gabe is at the helper stage in life right now. So while Grandma Kerry was sweeping, he thought he would join in.

Arboretum in Dallas

I love being in Dallas in the spring. It is warm but not too warm. All the flowers are blooming...and best of all, it isn't raining :-) My kids wore shorts and even played in the water, something we won't get to do in WA for another month.

On Monday we met my college friend Becky and her 2 daughters at the Dallas Arboretum. The Arboretum has a bunch of giant storybook houses set up for the kids to run around in. It was a perfect day and the kids had a great time.

Gabe still loves anything with a steering wheel.

And there is nothing cuter than two little boys staring at the water and having fun.

Budding Photographer

Anthony found Rob's little digital camera and spent the morning taking pictures. I think it is sweet what he chooses to take pictures of. Even funnier is listening to him direct everyone in the photos...wonder where he learned that from? Gabe is by far his favorite subject followed by his stuffed animals. He also tried to take a picture of a spider web and was disappointed when it didn't turn out.

Here are a few. He had the best time.

And the best part

Nara will be in New Jersey when Rob and I are there visiting his family! Yeah!!!!

Small thing...

Big impact! My friend Nara called today. Nara and I were friends in Alaska and now she lives in Germany. We never get to talk and hardly ever get emails to each other. But when ever we do talk it is like no time has passed. I miss her terribly. Today had been a rotten day, the kids were on my last nerve. Now it is all better!

Easter Day

We got up early and let the kids hunt for about 2 eggs and the 3 baskets each they got (next year I will remind grandparents that Easter shouldn't be a bigger candy haul than Halloween). Then we headed to church. They didn't have Sunday school, so the kids were with me for the whole service...a bit trying during the sermon but other than that OK.

Oh, and I made Eggs Benedict for Breakfast...with Hollandaise sauce from scratch.

The Steam Train

Last summer I really wanted to take the kids to ride the steam train just south of us in Chehalis. But, the whole are flooded and ruined the likelihood of that happening. With the move, it is unlikely we could fit it in since they don't run regularly till Jun. Then I found out they do an Easter Train. So today after much difficulty we all loaded in the car and drove the 35 miles to Chehalis.

The boys loved the train and had fun hunting eggs too. Anthony now understands the egg hunt concept and is very focused. Gabe just follows Anthony. At the end, the boys actually got to climb in the engine...oh how cool!

I was a bit disappointed in the 25 min ride, but my kids are easily entertained and for that I am grateful.

Hands On

We have a membership to our local Hands on Children's Museum. I would have killed for something like this in Fairbanks. The boys get to run around playing with toys we will never have at our house. We try to go once a month, but this time I just needed to get us out of the house. There was a special touch tank with animals from the local waters on display for spring break.

We began at the food section. They have a delivery truck, and orchard and garden to 'pick' fruits and veggies, a little store, a small kitchen for cooking. It is fun to explain how our food starts in the garden and progresses to our house for dinner.

Next we moved to the building section. Gabe serenaded us with his rendition of the "Bob the Builder" theme song. This is the first time Anthony focused on building with the boards. I like that he is starting to puzzle solve.

Finally they found the touch tank...and Anthony remained there for most of the afternoon. He camped next to the high schooler acting as the guide, Evelyn. He told her all about the sea creatures...the great whites that eat the seals (Discovery channel), the barracuda that eats the eggs (Nemo), the whale shark, the penguins. She just smiled and nodded for him.

Lately, Gabe is into art...especially drawing and gluing. They have a huge art station which he liked hanging at.

We ended with the dress up station. Anthony wouldn't let me take his picture as a leopard. Gabe tried on the horse and the lady bug before settling on the alligator.

When we got home, the kids took a 3 hour nap :-)

A little brag

So I could complain endlessly about all the things Rob doesn't do, but today he has been great. Actually, all week.

He has put the kids to bed every night since he returned from Alaska. Tonight he came home early so I could go to a Step class at the gym without the kids. He took care of dinner. And now he is over playing with the neighbor's dog so I could finish my quiz in Human Resource Management (yes I finished before moving to my blog).

I am starting to back date posts of the kids with my mom visiting so watch out.

97

That is my score on my test for business data analysis. Since I still have no idea what we are doing in that class, I am quite pleased with the score.