If not for the courage of the fearless crew, the Minnow would be lost , the Minnow would be lost...

Ok, more excitement at to not-so-OK Corral. I have very limited time to blog today, so this will probably be short. Issues are coming and going like flies to feces today. I'm sure that I will elaborate at a later date, but today I am cramming for vacation. My goal is to have month end closed and inbox cleaned on Monday, spend Tuesday with any A/R, and then off. Issue are revolving around start times for work, which is something that is a huge deal for me since I live so far from hear and have my Lexie at home. We shall see how this pans out. -- In the meantime...Got off the phone with Mom a bit ago. Never gets dark in Alaska this time of year. Sounds absolutely cool. Vacation bells are ringing, can you hear them??

Word(s) of the day: LABYRINTH OF TURMOIL

Lexie log: We had another knock-down-drag-out last night over eating versus play. When she wakes up from her nap, the first thing she wants to do is spend time with Mommy and Daddy, especially since we haven't had much time to play between when I got home and when she fell asleep. But...She really wanted to swing and Daddy had made her up her favorite pasta and peas. She would sit to eat for anything, so we eventually had to turn of tv's and attention until she got bored with complaining and begging. Then she turned back into her little angel self and all was well.

Today I'm grateful for Frank and Lexie, swimming, coffee, that my resume is all ready at any time if I need it, Monster.com, ducks, how easy it is to drive to work at 6:00am, and vacation.

You put the lime in the coconut and drink them both down...

That just sounds gross to me. -- Yesterday afternoon I was halfway down the stairway leaving from work when the administrator caught up with me and said something about compensating me for IT support this week since Seth is gone. He said something about it working out to about an hour or so. I just nodded, mentally registered extra cash, smiled, and said, "Great! Thanks!"

Word(s) of the day: DOLDRUMS

Lexie log: "What's that? What's that? What's that Mama? What's this? Mama, what's that?" This times 90 equals what Daddy and Mommy hear daily now. Not only does she want to know the name for everything, she most times asks what the same thing is multiple times in a row or over the period of a few days. I really think she is looking for consistency in the reply or different answers. Last night it was the door stop and air vent in the bathroom. She really can't pronounce 'v's very well yet. -- We are all relieved that this heat wave is ending. Lexie loves playing in the pool and all, but enough is enough. And we really need a good solution for the slug problem. Getting to and from the pool is like going through a mine field. Not to mention that if we have the pool by the bird area, the slugs try to access it, but under the Ponderosa it gets too much stuff in it. Everyone should have only these as the most serious concerns in their life! -- Lexie has entered a bug phase. When she spots a bug she tries to touch it, sometimes chasing it all about with her index finger. This includes most any flying insect, spiders, and anything else EXCEPT EARWIGS!!! The one bug so far that she freaks over, and I don't blame her one bit. She is also not at all fond of slugs. This was the result of her stepping on one barefoot early on. Her favorite yard creature is the moth. She loves to chase them. She, obviously, has too many cat companions and not enough human. She bounced around the kitchen for a good ten minutes last night trying to get a moth intruder. She kept leaping for the ceiling when he became obsessed with one of the fluorescent lights.

Today I'm grateful for Frank and Lexie, breakfast, pepper, camping, mild weather, neosporin, neopets, water, 70's music, the Bee Gees, kittens, our cats, trees, and happiness.

Grampa Dad panning for gold in the Yukon. 

Mama told me there'd be days like this, there'd be days like this my Momma said

Today didn't start out that spectacular, but it's getting better. Went to bed late, again. The high on the reader board on TV Highway said 98 degrees, I think it was only 93, but either way...The house never cooled down until this morning when I woke up...Late...I opened my eyes and saw light in the room. Tiki was trying to get my attention, thanks Tiki. This time of year it is never a good sign to see daylight when I wake up. I didn't hear the 4:00am wake up call. We got this wonderful box fan from Tracy and left is running in Lexie's window all night. It blew in some really nice cool night air, but drowned out the sound of the phone in the other room. So no swim today, which kind of bummed me out, and no breakfast...Until Carrie saved my butt from starvation by buying me an eggs and bacon breakfast from Urlings'. Thank you Carrie. Ahhh the sweet sound of dot matrix...Just got a call from Ann in medical records, the chart request printer is jammed and I have been beckoned to fix, cutting my break short. To be continued...Wish me luck, I HATE hardware problems! -- Ok, I'm back. That was painless. Last time it was jammed pieces had to be removed to clean it. I ended up calling contracted support because I am terrified of manipulating hardware. I still get weirded out adding cards to my motherboard. Anywho...Since I was in the neighborhood I hit a few keys on the Unix problem child, just for poops and grins, and to prove to myself that I could still remember a few commands. Lets see...I did 'ls', saw some directories, and man, saw some help pages. Still not a clue how to reconfigure PuTTy. Now back to work.

Word(s) of the Day: SPRIZZLE

Lexie log: Yesterday afternoon I went and picked up Lucas and brought him over to our house to play in the pool. They had a great time and barely disagreed about a thing. It was very hard to get them out of the pool. Lexie adores Lucas! She just went crazy happy when we walked in the door. She had a small fit when he went into the bathroom and shut the door to put on his swim trunks.

Today I'm grateful for Frank and Lexie, Tracy's big box fan, Carrie's breakfast, Blockbuster movies by mail, bright colors, ravioli, made up words, and life.

Don't it make my brown eyes blue...

Backup IT for the week as Seth is out. Yesterday went without a hitch, so it just figures today would throw a Diptera in my salve. Only studying two semesters of Red Hat Linux, I have limited knowledge of Linux/Unix operating system. Seth has one medical records box on Windows, the other on Sourcemage. Their 'Putty' (terminal emulator for our Unix software) on the Sourcemage box somehow lost any saved configuration. I went to set it up, and somehow set something wrong and now I can't get back into reconfigure it. So, fine, at least they have one working box, but the Medical Records manager does not like this. As soon as she gets ahold of the administrator, I'm probably going to have to set up his wireless laptop for them. Blahdy blahdy blah blah. I'm all caught up on my batches and will, hopefully, have my inbox cleaned out before next week. -- Print spooler just puked. Clinic heads (Admin, managers) coming with complaints of faulty printers and applications locked up. I love the easy fixes! -- Someone peed on the play-toy in peds reception. -- Breaking news...KGW is reporting that a 24 hour fitness employee at the one we go to has been arrested and charged with sexual abuse of an eight year old girl. I don't recognize him, he's only worked there 3 months and Lexie has only been once during that time, and he certainly wasn't there. Weirdness.


Word(s) of the day: UNCTUOUS AMPOULE

Lexie log: When I got home yesterday, Lexie was at the front door with a huge grin on her face. The second she saw it was me, she fell to the floor and bawled and screamed. I guess she was disappointed I wasn't Grammy. It almost hurt my feelings, but I know better. She must have an internal clock that knows that the first full day I go to work (Monday's) Grammy comes over. This is the second Monday in a row that this has happened, and the second one Grammy has been gone. I just tell her I love her, walk away, put my stuff away, and let her scream and cry. In a couple minutes she comes running up to me, all smiles and hugs and happy.

Today I'm grateful for Frank and Lexie, water, Rudi's generosity with giving me his old swimming goggles, email, pillows, and energy.

Grammy is supposed to be fixing this one so it's lighter. Another one of my favorites from the daycamp. 

You know the nearer your destination, the more you slip sliding away.

Glorious weekend. We house sat up in the thicket (Yamhill). The weather was perfect. Frank and I can't stay indoors in the evenings, especially when the weather is this good, so we planned a picnic movie. Lexie was asleep when we got there, so we put her to bed and set up camp in the 'back yard'. Whatever you call it, it's not a yard, but it is behind the house, so that term will have to do. We brought our little tv stand with our little TV with built in VHS. About 6:00pm we put in 'Cellular' and enjoyed both the glorious outside and watched a movie. Outdoor theater, so to speak. Lexie got to watch whatever Disney show in the background in the house while she played with her toys in the livingroom, and we could see her from the kitchen window. It sure was nice. -- I'm in rare form today. I have a fantabulous array of sound effects, and I just did the loudest obnoxious snort as Dr. Bengtson walked by. Didn't even phase him.

Word(s) of the day: LEBENSRAUM

Lexie log: We found a new water pastime for her. On the way back from Yamhill, we went by the new Hillsboro Civic center and she played in the fountain for about an hour. We had to drag her from there kicking and screaming. We will definitely go back there on warm days. Hillsboro is getting a bit nicer than I remember.

Today I'm grateful for Frank and Lexie, coffee, mini-vacations, Hillsboro fountain, lotion, summer, water, movies, and forests.

Swim little fishy, Swim if you can. And they swam and they swam right over the damn.

Getting pretty backed up here at work as we near month end close and trip to Alaska. I've only been in to work every other day this week. Tuesday was Lexie's appointment and I had scheduled that day off months ago, and yesterday I had to report for jury duty. -- Another scorcher yesterday, in the 90's, and our air conditioner went out the day before. Bummer. We slept out back in a tent Wednesday night. That was fun. Stayed in last night because of the thunderstorms. -- Jury duty was neat. I got there the day they picked for Grand Jury, but missed that lottery. All eleven trials scheduled were either settled or deferred by 11:30 so it was a short day. I met a very nice vegetarian, mother of a four year old girl, OHSU geneticist, Ph.D in Chemistry, named Meenakshi. I spent a few hours reading and eavesdropping as a loud salesman, a horse rancher, and someone from the Civic Stadium maintenance crew had a heated discussion about genetics and religion. The salesman in particular loved to hear the sound of his own voice, and he also had this egotistical way of coming across as an expert in everything. Meenakshi did grumble and groan at him clumsily mucking about in her area of expertise. Went home at 11:30 and watched a movie. Life Aquatic.

Word(s) of the day: RED CAP AND A SPEEDO

Lexie log: She is definitely getting excited about going on an airplane trip. She enjoys watching Shae in the DVD we got her to prepare her for the trip. -- She is becoming buddies with all the cats now. The only issue here is that she is also testing boundaries there. She loves to chase Chikita around the house, and throw balls and roar at Turkey Swoop, and hug Miadda. We are trying to teach her to play gentle with the kitties. -- Wednesday night Lexie helped me set up the tent in the back yard, and we all fell asleep in there that night. I got up at 6:00 and brought Lexie in since the house had cooled down. I think we'll keep the tent up in the yard a while longer, it does make a nice fort and camping in the backyard is really fun.

Today I'm grateful for Frank and Lexie, jury duty, genes, lotion, bandaids, ink, funny movies, payday, and weekends.

Gonna get a set a' better clubs, Gonna find the kind with tiny nubs, Just so my irons aren't always flying off the back-swing...

Finally heard from Mom and Dad Monday night. Turns out Mom caught the flu right before they left and has been feeling cruddy since they departed. She ended up in a Canadian ER Monday night. Heard from her yesterday and she sounds 150% better. They are now at a campground in Dawson Creek called 'Mile 0'. It just dawned on me that in two weeks to the day, we will be on
our way. Yippee! Frank said last night that he will be worrying about the cats while we are gone. I hope he doesn't let it get to the point where it affects our being able to have fun.

Word(s) of the day: LITTLE PINK HOUSES

Lexie log: We had a very pleasant two year (seven months late) well care exam. Dr. Miller said she should be limited to 1-2 hours of TV a day and to encourage her to play on her own, so we unplugged her TV when we got home. New rule to always wear shoes outside, and mandatory teeth brushing before bed. I'll try to schedule her for her first dental exam after we get back from Alaska. She was a sassy little angel in the exam room, showing her true social skills and personality. Dr. Miller seemed impressed and even commented on her being the best child they had seen so far that day. The majority of the exam was conducted by a student doctor, something we run into occasionally. She has a ball of wax in her left ear that they couldn't clean out, so they advised us to rinse and suction with warm water or buy drops specifically for the job. He also mentioned that for her 'lip lickers dermatitis', which he saw her for a couple months back and is much improved, that in addition to the frequent treatments with Vaseline we also might try an over the counter 1% hydrocotisone and apply when she is asleep. She is 29 pounds, three feet tall, blood pressure 93 over 68. She still has her strawberry birthmark on the right middle side of her back. She is in the 50% for height, weight, and big headedness. She really didn't approve of the blood pressure cuff, but she found the rest of the exam enjoyable and rather amusing. She had a Hep A vaccine shot in her upper right thigh. The PA had me lay her down on the exam table and hold her hands to her chest so she wouldn't grab at the needle. Lexie was not thrilled about being restrained. The PA stuck her and Lexie said, "Ouch!". That was that. She put a bandaid on it that Lexie promptly removed. No crying or screaming, just ouch. I'm talking to her right now on the phone about the cereal she is spilling. Many many five to six word sentences now. The PA yesterday remarked about how cute her voice is.

Today I'm grateful for Frank and Lexie, water, Armstrong pickled plain garlic cloves, air conditioning, energy, and light.

What you find-ah, What you feel now, What you know-a, To be real!

Didn't expect this, but I've become worried/uptight not hearing from Mom and Dad yet. They left Saturday for the 'big trip' and I haven't heard from them since. Stressin' me out. I expected to get one initial call saying how the first day was etcetera. Now it is occupying my thoughts about once an hour or more. I left a message on their cell phone and changed our voice message greeting to something simple so they didn't have to sit through "Jack" to leave a message, but nothing. -- I have found that the morning people at the gym are much more pleasant than in the afternoon. It's like we're all doing our thing with grins, joking about how our work out is already done before work, and after we can do whatever we want. What a relief. One lady even called it addictive. It's so un-crowded too! I decided to try swimming some laps today, since we can hardly ever get a lane in the afternoon, and the pool was empty. Swam some baby laps, stretched in the jacuzzi, and inhaled the strongest eucalyptus ever in the steam room. I sat in there with another swimmer, Vicki, and we didn't even barely get to the steam before I had to vacate. I think this week will be a swim week. -- Old building crud again. Some pipe burst spilling lots of water onto the roof over the weekend. On one of the hottest days of the year, this has adversely affected our air conditioning. Peds and other areas have none and their areas are sucking any we may have enjoyed away. Oh joy, now all we need is a good hot stinker in the room of rest to add to the hamster cage smell coming from the wall down the hall where some poor rat has obviously perished. Oh, the sights and sounds of the clinic compare not a bit to the smells.


Word(s) of the day: JUXTAPOSITION


Lexie log: Friday afternoon Lexie got to spend a wee bit of time with Grampa Dad while he was over doing emailish things in preparation for la journee. They played to 'ribbit' game and she laughed hysterically. As he got into his truck to drive home, Lexie kept telling him, "Wait a minute, " and "Come back". -- We have watched the"I'm a good little Traveler" at least once a day. It is done so well, and she just enjoys watching it. We keep telling her that we are all going on an airplane trip, and I wonder if she understands. I think she does, she just hasn't got the hang of time yet, so she's never sure when we will be going. Funny how as children we work so hard to learn the concept of future and past and then as adults work hard at living in the now. -- Saturday Lexie played the role of terrible two as I shopped at Fashion Bug and Daddy had charge of her. She didn't want to be without either of us, so if she was outside with Daddy, she wanted Momma, and visa versa. The attitude continued as we were turning in pop cans. She didn't just want to stand around, kept urging me to, "Come on, Momma!" All the while heading for the parking lot pavement. I told her, sternly, to stay on the sidewalk and come back. She overstepped her bounds, and the curb. She got a swat on the tail, and suddenly became interested in what I was doing and how the can crunching machine worked. I never was much on spanking, but this butt swat thing over the last week has made such a tremendous difference in her respect for authority and knowing where the boundaries are. I'm quite sure that it doesn't even remotely hurt, physically, how can it with the diaper padding? I always thought she would hate me and be so hurt by it, but that's obviously a delusion I had. She respects that I mean business, and we go on. -- Sunday, I spent the whole morning cleaning the pool, raking and cleaning up the yard around the pool, and running out three gallon buckets of hot tap water to warm up the cold hose water. I think I had to have carted out close to 20 gallons of hot water. Then we covered the pool and went to Gramma Keller's for a visit. Wow, does she not ever, ever want to wear any form of shoes! She actually has to have her feet touch the blacktop and sense how uncomfortable it is before we can put back on the shoes she's just removed while sitting in her car seat. I never wanted to wear shoes growing up, my feet were tough as nails, I could walk across California blacktop in summertime. Daddy isn't very thrilled about her footloose and fancy free shoe attitude. She walked all over Freddie's barefoot and had black feet that we cleaned with those handy dandy sanitary wipes most store provide for wiping down the shopping cart handles. Back at Gramma's we inherited Aunt Patty's bean bag. We played for a little while at Gramma's then went home and spent a glorious hour splashing and staying cool in our pool. It was wonderful! She slid down the slide and I splashed her, we played and played. It was tough to get her to come out. She hadn't napped all day. She finally started nodding off during her dinner, but hit a rebound and stayed up until bedtime.

Today I'm grateful for Frank and Lexie, weekends, water, morning workouts, beanbags, air conditioning, blue blue skies, music, and swimming.

Picture from the fourth. 

Miadda tongue. 

Midda tongue closer. 

The playground jungle gym at Detroit Lake. 

Concentrating on important playground matters. 

The clock struck three and he did flee, Hickory Dickory Dock

Back to work... More squabbles between chickens pecking at scratch. What a hen house. I don't envy Tracy, however, at least this can be almost amusing.


Word(s) of the day: HUBBUB

Lexie log: We got the "I'm a good little traveler", package in the mail, and last night, Lexie and I started to watch it. We'll probably finish it this weekend, and many more times before we leave. It's pretty cool. -- Looking forward to having Tracy bring Lucas over to play our pool this weekend. -- I have been wanting to blog about how amazed I am at Lexie's conversations now, but I just can't seem to describe it. She is so much more able to convey what she wants and how she feels. She still reverts back to the whining cry much of the time as a blanket response to not getting her way or non-approval though. I wish I had a super wonderful way to curb that habit. No matter what books, magazines, or websites I consult I can't find a solution that's worked. That just makes me hope that it will go away with time. She has her well care exam next Tuesday, and I think I'll asked Dr. Jeffrey his opinion on this. -- Last night she had a blast chasing Chikita around the back yard. Chikita would just trot along ahead of her, meowing once in a while as Lex followed her around. Also, for some reason, she just loves to give Miadda big hugs.

Today I'm grateful for Frank and Lexie, hats, Gum products, hair clips, and water.

Lexie and I with a sparkler on the Fourth of July. 

Lexie and lucas at the table, before going swiming. 

We wish you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year...

Ok, whatever, so that's the only song stuck in my head on the warmest, blue day of July. I'm typing from home. Stomach issue requiring frequent skips to my lu prevent me from risking an attempt to drive the 25 miles to work and then chance the availability of the facilities once there. The darndest thing since I don't really feel that terrible. Odd how I can make it at work just fine feeling twice as bad, as long as it's not a stomach thing. So...Now I sit here at the 'puter typing away with Charlie FM streaming from their website. The weirdest thing is now happening because Frank, in the living room, heard the music so he turned on the stereo in there to Charlie also. Of course, streaming causes quite a delay, so it's really quite queasy. That's the only way I can think of to describe it.

Word(s) of the day: FLAGELLATE COMPUNCTION

Lexie log: Well, she got up after I was already in here on the computer around 10:00am. She got a hold of a pen, Daddy said I should take it away from her, and I said that she's got to learn to use one sooner or later. He (jokingly, I hope) says, "She can use one when she's 13", I ask what she is supposed to write with until then. He says a pencil, I say, "That's even more dangerous", he says, "A dull pencil..." Anyway, I let her keep hold of the pencil and the next time I look over, she's used her bare stomach/chest as her tablet. So, a quick encounter with rubbing alcohol and some gauze teaches her that she should not write there. I gave her some blank printer paper and she went to work drawing. When she was done with each picture, she handed it to me and I asked her what it was a picture of. When she told me, I labeled the pictures so now I have her first gallery. I'll try to get them scanned on Grammy's computer so I can post them here. The names of the pictures are; "Lion King", "Circle", "Flower", "Flower (II)", "Just a Picture", "Face", "Fish", and "Cow". And...Yes as her mother, I can truly see these subjects in her depiction. Of course you may notice that many of these subjects in real life have a general roundness to them. This concept seems to appear in many, if not all, of her work. I did not help her with any of the titles, accept maybe "Face". When I asked her what that one was, she said she didn't know, I told her it looked a little like a face, and she shook her head once with obvious approbation and declared, "Face!"

Today I'm grateful for Frank and Lexie, British Breakfast tea, Splenda, Milk, Spinach, the kitties, sleeping in, pictures, bananas, and warm light.

Sierra, Lexie, and Lucas on a log in the campsite. 

Lexie runs through camp. Every one seemed to get a little nervous as she whizzed by the hot fire pit. Also in picture are Michelle, Tracy holding Isabelle, Sierra, and Mike. 

In flight. Daddy took this picture. 

If you like Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain, and the feel of the ocean, and the taste of champagne...

Don't want to be here today. Posting payments is making my eyes drowsy, I'd rather be playing at the zoo. Changing routines is always interesting. I got to the gym five minutes later and it had started getting more crowded by the time I was done with my walking. Mind you, this is so much not a problem, it didn't affect anything, I just thought it was interesting. If I get into the steam room before 5:00am, it's like a graveyard in the main gym. Seems most people start showing up at 5:00. Odd thing is, I took my time, just like yesterday, but even though I started off five minutes later, I got to work ten minutes earlier. Took a little nap in the car for about 20 minutes with my Nemo blanket that I stole from Lexie. So far, the mornings things looks like a keeper.

Word(s) of the day: PERPETUAL CARP

Lexie log: She loves to run around in the yard with me. Last night as the sun went down she dragged me back and forth looking at the moon, the stars, the clouds, and the sky. At one point, we were rounding the corner to the side and we saw Turkey on the other side of the fence. I told her we should go get something for him to play with and Lexie says, "Wait a minute, stay there, I'll be right back," waves her hand back at me and takes off. I sorely missed Grammy and Grampa Dad's hammock that we gave back to them because I didn't think I'd ever use it. I need to find some way of relaxing out in the actual yard, not the deck, so we can 'hang out' out there. The white plastic chairs just don't cut it. Maybe I'll look into something reclining, like an oversized bean bag. That would be fun.

Today I'm grateful for Frank and Lexie, bean bags, ranch dressing, dreams, couch time with Lex, our yard, socks, glasses, and laughter.

Sierra just put Lexie and Lucas in our boat. 

Michelle and Lexie. 

Lucas and Lexie in the play area. I love this picture! 

Baby's gone, Where is she? Peek-a-boo, Now I see! Gone again, where'd she go? Peek-a-boo, I found her toe!

I just looked up the lyrics to "On Top of Old Smokey..." Very depressing lyrics. No wonder they changed it to spaghetti and cheese for the kids song. We took preventative measures against a potential nasal assault this morning. TT noticed the door to the room of rest was shut for an extended period and one of our top offenders MIA with her office door closed. We started up the fans, opened the windows and sprayed (at least I did) bath and bodyworks' 'violet bouquet'. Worked great. Thanks to KC and Carrie for purchasing and transporting the wonderful Toffee Hazel Nut Latte. Went to the gym at 4:15 so I could not have to go after work. It was awesome, and I really hope I can make my self continue with that schedule. It's so much nicer.

Word(s) of the day: SEWAGE SURFER

Lexie log: Grammy came over and played with Lexie yesterday. She got to play on her swing, and mostly in her room. Lexie would take Grammy in her room and close (slam) the door, and then I would just hear laughter and play. Every time Grammy comes over before I get home, Lexie has a fit when I show up. I think she's being possessive and wants Grammy all to herself. It kind of cute in a 'I know your not really rejecting me, just loving your Grammy' kind of way.

Today I'm grateful for Frank and Lexie, the '24' in 24 Hour Fitness, puzzles, water, music, and happy people.

Lucas and Lexie 'sharing' a sow bug. 

Lucas places the bug in Lexie's hand 

Camping bug. 

Fathers be good to your daughters Daughters will love like you do. Girls become lovers who turn into mothers so Mothers be good to your daughters too

Man I wish Aetna would stop moving our charges around on their payment EOBs. They are the only insurance company I post for that never can keep the charges in the same order we bill them out on. This is my pet peeve for the day. Drug reps catered a coffee cart today, so I'm one almond roca mocha (double shot) more awake than usual. Unfortunately, it doesn't last.

Word(s) of the day: VENERABLE QUINTESSENCE

Lexie log: Saturday was a blast. After we all showered and dressed, we left the house, had McDonald's breakfast (Lexie ate an Egg McMuffin), and headed out down I-5 towards Detroit lake at about 10:00am. Lexie fell asleep for a nap towards the end of the drive. We arrived about 11:55am. Tracy, Dana, Sierra, Lucas, Michelle and Mike had all just gotten up from a very soggy night of tent camping and had breakfast. Lucas and Lex hit it off right away. He was showing her his platoon of army men as well as his selection of water guns, and they started chasing each other all over the campsite. After introductions we all hung out and chatted for a while. Dana, Mike and Sierra went into town (both Detroit and Mill City) for additional supplies. The rest of us hung out and talked, enjoying the beautiful trees, air, chipmunks, birds. Ahhh camping has got to be one of life's greatest pleasures. We got the best end of the deal, I think though, because we missed the wet night before. There is definitely something to be said for RV camping. After a while Lucas went into one of those attitudes I am just oh so used to Lexie getting. Luckily she had napped on the way, cuz if they both did it at the same time... Lucas was really tired, but too excited to nap. He was enjoying squirting Lex with his water gun, but had real issues when she got him back. She was super interested in his bike, but he wouldn't let her touch it, and he stopped wanting to share his army men saying that she would loose them. Poor guy, he so wanted to have fun, but he was just tired. Michelle and Lexie and I went down to the gift store at the park entrance and Michelle (bless her kind heart) bought a bunch more toys that would go back into camp as Lexie's to share with Lucas. He was a little better after we got back and he and Tracy had relaxed/played in their tent while we were gone. When Dana, Mike and Sierra got back, we had the quintessential camping lunch; barbecue hot dogs, potato salad, macaroni salad, etc. After lunch, we headed off to the play area/boat dock/fishing dock. Lucas decided that he would ride his bike, more so after Lexies recent interest in it, so Michelle gave Lexie a ride on her shoulders there. Mike held camp with puppy Isabelle, Dana went down to the fishing dock, Frank and Sierra watched Lex and Lucas in the playground, Michelle, Tracy, and I sat with Rosie (Tracy's boxer) by the volleyball court and shot the breeze/people watched. Dana had carted over chairs, volley balls, and a croquet set in the van before we showed up, but all we made use of was the chairs. Sierra took custody of our digital camera and took bunches of pictures. We looked at them last night, and I'll get them posted slowly but surely. Eventually the water became too enticing for our little water baby. Michelle was easily coerced by our little charmer down to the boat dock. Before we knew it, she had Daddy getting her shoes off so she could dip her toesies in the water. When we realized that a swim would be a great idea, we also realized we needed to head back to camp to change, and that it would be a better idea to go to the swim area, rather than the boat docks where it has oil/fuel and a no swimming sign. Unfortunately, Lexie doesn't yet have a good enough grasp of language to get the concept that we were only leaving the water to be able to go back and go swimming. So...She had a fit when I pulled her out, and yelled and squirmed half way back to camp. I finally convinced her that we were going swimming and she lightened her mood. Lots of children cruise around the 'loops' on scooters (Sierra included), and on the way back, three girls scooted up behind us. Lexie was intrigued and kept asking them what they were doing and telling them to be careful. We got back to camp and Lexie changed into her swimwear. After we all got back to camp we hung out for a while, slowly changing to swim suits and just taking our time. Lucas found a sow bug and after Lexie go over he initial uncertainty, he put it on her hand and they played with it for a while. I think that was one of the best parts of the trip, watching the two of them play like that. Of course I took many photos. We all headed down to the swimming area and put the boat (our inflatable XR66GTX Super caravell 3 person boat) in the water and Lexie and Lucas in the boat. Eventually Sierra, Michelle and I made it out until our shoulders were under water, but Tracy's shoe broke and we had to wait for Dana to get another pair back at camp. Very rocky bottom. The water was awesome. I'm sure we stayed out there for over an hour. Eventually Lexie was comfortable enough out of the boat and let me swim her around. The worst thing that happened was a pitbull who was visiting Daddy (with Rosie) and Mike (with Isabelle) did some weird hyper flip and plowed into Daddy's left knee sending him stumbling a few steps before he was able to recover balance. He barely missed dislocating his knee, and it is still hurting him today. After swimming, we headed back to camp. The girls (minus Lexie) showered in wonderful hot water (Thank-you Detroit Lake). Then Michelle and Tracy made fried potatoes and Mike cooked up pork chops. The dinner was awesome, it was great to have Lex and Lucas spend good time together, and I forgot how much I missed Tracy's company. After dinner and Lexie wandering around camp, we all sat around the camp until 9:30pm, Lexie finally falling asleep in my arms. We drove back home and went to bed about 12:30pm. We already have plans for all of us to do it again in September, but this time we will camp also. It was wonderously super terrific fun!

Today I'm grateful for Frank and Lexie, Tracy, camping, Detroit Lake, friends, fun, summer, boats, water, recreation, laughter, campfires, and happiness.

The Blur. Lexie gets really good at playing with the cats. 

Hey Andy did you hear about this one? Tell me, are you locked in the punch? Hey, Andy are you goofing on Elvis? Hey, baby. Are you having fun?

My performance review is almost a month over due. A couple days ago, boss lady said she was writing it. I turned it in on June 15th. Today is payday, in fact if I end up getting a raise, this would be the second check since my anniversary date. -- I was in a groovy mood this morning, but I'm a little soured by the last phone conversation. I was pretty excited about weekend plans, but when I shared my ideas, my usually coveted decisions, I detected a note of disdain in the reply. No, I don't have everything planned out, just some ideas. Ah, well I guess you can't win 'em all... -- Poop diddlee ooop. **Big sigh** Note: Carrie is self described demon spawn. I also just volunteered myself to help out on the Hood to Coast run at the end of August. I love to volunteer for things like this, but I may have jumped the gun, boss lady says no small children or pets. There must be some way to work this out. -- Oh yeah, I almost forgot...I seem to have lost my most recent jury duty summons. I must now go and see how to resolve this before I get into any trouble. I keep having it pushed back because of letters HR sends it, but eventually I will have to get it over with, better sooner than later.


Word(s) of the day: TICKLEY ITCH

Lexie log: I really can't believe how fast she is learning new words, and how much she is talking. Every day it amazes me. This morning I talked with her on the phone a little. She had just woken up and was telling me that she was sleepy. -- We plan on going out to Detroit Lake tomorrow. I hope the weather is nice and that we get a decent start out there.

Today I'm grateful for Frank and Lexie, weekends, coffee, music, movies, reclining couches, and rubberbands.

Tree climber in black and white. 

Daddy's shoes. 

Future tree climber. This is her favorite tree in our yard that she is frequently trying to stick the branches back on. 

Chug-a chug-a motion like a railway train now. C'mon baby do the loco-motion.

Just bumped my front tooth on my coffee mug. Haven't done that in ages. Seems there was a time when I was constantly knocking my teeth on some cup or another. What an odd memory. It's ten o'clock break, and no one's answering the phone at the homestead. I really dislike the old Nicholson message, but I'm too stuborn to change it. I just spent the morning pulling EOBs. It sure would be nice if this place would go paperless and scan this stuff. Of course, besides ease, efficiency and accuracy, it would mean I could be even lazier. It's really not that bad, I just don't like the ones that are jammed in so tight you get papercuts trying to free them (let alone stuffing them back in) and the ones in the bottom drawers that if they are hard to find, or jammed in, I end up with major vertigo. Three years ago in late summer I was really pregnant and they didn't have the airconditioning working in the building. Upstairs could be sweltering, even unbarable if a rat were to die and start decompossing in the wall. Back then, the thought of rummaging around for files in the bottom drawers was awful. I think I almost passed out once. -- When I got in this morning there was a CNN breaking news email (the first of three) that London has undergone some terrorist bombing with their mass transit system. The next email talked about the casulties and the last warns that the US terrorist alert has been raised to 'orange' for our transit systems. -- Thanks Carrie for the snack run. I OD'd on Junior Mints as a child, probably beacause my Mom loves them so. Her mom was a Snicker's maniac. To this day I think of Muttie when I see a miniature Snickers bar. I love them too. It took me years to be able to eat popcorn after working at Westgate theatre. I can still remember the process to warm up the popcorn machine, the clear tubes clogged solid with cooled oil that had to be warmed manually with a hot paper towel just to get the stuff to flow through. Always reminded me of someone's arteries. Once, our theatre ran out of popcorn and I had to drive over to the Washington Square theatre and bring back huge clear plastic bags in the back seat of my 72' Javelin. -- Ok, so any 'loyal' readers will probably recall that my office has bathroom issues. We were just discussing the current 'racing stripe' the toilet bowel is sporting courtesy of one of our not so courteous bestowers, and I found this........ HAHA!

OK, OK Heffe! We get the idea! Central is not answering the phone. Why is it that repetative ringing noises in the office bother me so? Off to work.

Word(s) of the day: WARM COMPRESS

Lexie log: Lex really love her new Whinnie the Pooh dishes. -- I am really anticipating Lexie's first big trip. We spent a week away from home last year on or camping trip, and she was great for that, except for the long trip in the car on one day. I am interested in seeing how she handles the plane flight. For the last two days I have been starting lists and researching traveling with children. I found a great website, and I'm going to try to get the DVD for it, but I have to talk with Grammy first-- I just got off the phone with Daddy, her and Lexie had gotten up around 7:00, then a little while ago she told him she was tired and she went back to bed. So cute. She acutally says that now, "So cute". Especially to the cats, "Oooh! So cute!"

Today I'm grateful for Frank and Lexie, summer smells, water, color, steam room, dental floss, coupons, direct deposit, carbonation, wings, and friendliness.

Result of todays odd, random Google search...

Which then led to this website...

And I'm free. Free fallin'. Yeah I'm free. Free fallin'.

This morning I'm singing loud and off key. It's fun to make the girls at work cringe and howl. At 7:20 in the morning, I'm singing, "Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy..." in my stage voice and as slightly off key as I can get without sounding like a Scooby Doo impression. Jan, TT, and KC are howling, which only makes me continue. If we didn't have people on and off the phones every once in a while, I'd sing all day. Wait, I usually do anyway. Funny... I'm singing, "It's like raaaiiiain on your weddin day....." when Gina comes up and start talking shop with Carrie. TT says, "SSSHHH! Can't you see Rachel's trying to sing!"

Word(s) of the day: PITTER PATTER

Lexie log: Eight hours without a nap is about her limit at this point. Grammy and Grampa Dad came over yesterday afternoon to pick up the kyak and some chairs for the Alaska trip, and they took us to PF Changs for dinner. Lexie is always excited around her grandparents, and on top of that, she's having chocolate milk, and she went to the gym play area for an hour which always amps her up. Every time I've ever gone to pick her up, she is always playing by herself. Yesterday she moved herself to the infant section, blocked off by a padded wall, and was playing with toys over there. Next time I'm going to spy on her before and after workout so I can see if she ever interacts with any kids. I know she talks to the staff. Anywho, by the time dinner showed up at the restaurant, she wanted out of her booster seat. She kept explaining that the chair was 'stuck'. Grammy walked her around a bit, but she ended up never wanting to come back to the table. When she got too out of hand, I took her to the foyer. Daddy came and relieved me, I went back in to our table to find Grampa Dad covered in rice. While Daddy and I were doing the changing of the guards, a waitress dumped someone else's' tray on our table, floor, and cramp's lap. After getting cleaned up, Grampa went and relieved Daddy. When Lex is tired, the only way to eat out is to know you will eat in shifts. She absolutely adores the larger than life horse statues out front. She kicked and screamed when we had to leave them (same as last time) and kept chanting, "Bye bye horsey." She was asleep before we even got a mile and a half away. We put her down for a nap and an hour or so later, when Daddy walked by her room, she was sitting up in bed and she said, "Where's horsey?" and immediately fell back asleep. She slept for a good four hours. I was on my way to bed and she had just got up and was standing in the hall. I scooped her up turned the lights and cuddled her into our bed. That actually worked. Then later in the night, for some reason there was much commotion and Lexie woke up. I took her out to the living room and we napped on the couch together until she was sound asleep again. I must have been too zonked to think straight, since I put her in my spot on the bed, then slept walked back to the couch.

Today I'm grateful for Frank and Lexie, cell phones, Mom and Dad, sound effects, laughter, humor, smiles, and stuff.

Wee. 

Yes, she really is in this picture. She's in the deep end of the dual pool.  

Cutie face.