We are out and about in the big scary world. We drove up half the length of California in the heat with no AC, two toddlers and a trailer full over motorcycles. It is a melancholy trip, slightly dampened by the goings on with Funsize and MacD.
We left home at the unseemly hour of 3:46am. The next 11.5 hours (yes, what should have been 7 hours 47 mins took us 11.5 hours) were spent mostly doing stuff like this:
It was long and it was hot and we had to stop a million and one times. (Note to self: buy a motorhome with a toilet in it).
We got to my dad’s and just laid around trying to get over the trauma.
Yesterday, we went down to visit the lovely, wonderful, sweet and extremely loveable Julia. The kids saw the horses, the chickens and played on the toys. And I got to meet a wonderful friend in the flesh. I also met the infamous rooster, Mr. D; but he didn’t attack me, so I was a bit disappointed.
Today the some of the kids are heading up to the city by the bay to visit the Wharf and Alcatraz. One of the parentals of my grandchildren (Lloyd) is spending some quality time in the dentist’s chair (it wouldn’t be my family vacation if someone didn’t need some kind of emergency care, right?). Mr. Vixen and I are going to spend the day with Ladybug and Butterball right here in/around this:
My dad has the sweetest pool, hot tub and waterfall combo in the world. So life is good today.
Tomorrow we’ll all head on up to Great Grama’s cabin. She has internet, so I may update you all some!
Hope you are enjoying your holiday weekend. Many, many thanks to those of you who purchased aprons. This trip would not have been possible without your support. God bless you.
when it occurred to me. My baby is 18 today. I am no longer legally responsible for any children. Some might consider me a free woman, I am unsure how I feel.
ce a day for the last six months about how she was going to graduate this year and then 16 days later turn 18. But when I heard her all I could think about was planning a graduation and birthday party that was special on such a limited budget. About how I really needed a job. About the million other life things that distracted me the last six months. So I was shocked this morning when it all hit me. I don’t have an empty nest yet, but I could. How surreal it all seems.
rience of morning sickness was I once threw up after breakfast. No warning, no nausea and afterward I was fine. With both my first two pregnancies I glowed, felt healthier than ever and I adored being pregnant. From the moment Bear was conceived I was nauseated. Not just in the morning, but 24/7. I couldn’t eat. I gagged at the smell of food. And my stomach burned like the surface of the sun constantly. I lost weight. I was exhausted
all the time. This lasted the entire pregnancy. At around 30 weeks I went into preterm labor and was put on bed rest. I loved my baby-to-be, but I despised that pregnancy.
veryone. She is simply captivating. I have heard it said that it impossible not to like Bear. When she enters a room, everyone lights up. Always full of energy, she crossed every room with a series of cartwheels and round offs. She traveled on her hands nearly as much as her feet. People were drawn to her. Watching her at a Brownie or school event was like watching a seasoned politician. She knew everyone’s name, greeted them all and never played favorites. She could work a room (at 6 or 7 years old!!), shaking hands, reminding me of parents names and introducing me to “Mr. This or Mrs. That” when I didn’t know them. She was popular, but would go a grab a kid that didn’t appear to fit into whatever click she was standing with at that moment and draw them into it. And it worked.
Everyone calls her a “princess” and she is. Our princess. She didn’t talk much until she was nearly 2 or 3. She had a series of noises and points that even I couldn’t decipher, but which Nanny and MacD knew immediately what she meant. She probably could have talked, but why bother? I, however, have always referred to her as my little pixie. It seems to me she has magic dust that surrounds her. In spite of nearly drying from a misdiagnosed appendix rupture at 3, being badly mauled by a dog at 18 months , being run over by a car, and being sick with undiagnosed reflux for 5 years; she doesn’t remember those events as traumatic. While some kids can list a litany of things their parents did to wrong 
them in their life; Bear only remembers all the good times and the wonderful things her parents and siblings did for her. And talk about forgiving? Whenever I see a malamute I have flashbacks of seeing her head in one’s mouth while it shook her like a rag doll, I could never own one. But Bear? It’s her life long dream to own a malamute (after she moves out, so I don’t die of PTSD).
I was blessed with
a third child, my pixie, and my children were blessed with their very own real life princess that they got to keep. And it just doesn’t get any better than that. No matter what age she is.
Barked Back