Guemes with Grandma

As posted before, an easy afternoon activity in these parts is to hop on a ferry ride. We particularly enjoy the Guemes Island Ferry because it's a 5 minute drive from our house, you park the car, walk on and enjoy a 5 minute hop across the Guemes channel. And at the end? You are rewarded with collecting driftwood and stop to enjoy ice cream or beer at the island's general store - pick your pleasure. On this particular day, there was wind coming from all angles, but nothing too cold a hat couldn't fix.

We were so lucky to have Grandma visit us over spring break this year; we had fun tromping through muddy tulip fields, playing at parks, doing Legos and, of course, taking a ferry ride. The boys are founding members of her fan club. And I, too, am a member.

Beach Day

The weather may still call for boots at the beach, but its all good. Plenty of fun to be had with driftwood and shell collecting.

"The birds are singing. The sky is bright. The sun is shining and I'm feeling alright." - Pete the Cat

Eyes

Landon spontaneously brought up the topic of eye color tonight at dinner. He looked at me and declared that I have green eyes. We chatted about they were more like a grey color and his were similar. "I guess like a dark blue. And Anders has light blue. Correct, Mom?" Yeah, buddy. "And Daddy has blue eyes, right?" Yeah, buddy. At least that was my automatic response - my mind knows my husband's eyes are blue. But as I looked at Landon's eyes and Anders' eyes, I panicked for a hot second: what shade are Erik's eyes? It was one of those crazy moments where I was, like, Uuuuh I haven't looked into my husband's eyes since last summer. And then it hit me again: I haven't looked into my husband's eyes SINCE LAST SUMMER. Even during the few times we've Skyped, it's been more about the call/connection breaking up or trying to wrangle the kids to say hi - it wasn't an exercise in looking at each other's proverbial windows to the soul. 

No worries, though. It turns out I do know. I scurried to look at a picture and it was a pleasant feeling to focus and recognize his eyes immediately; a medium blue shade resting between Anders' and Landon's on the color scale. The eyes are still familiar, still special, even in a photo stored on my phone. They're the ones that belong to the boy I met in college. They're the ones that echoed his words "I do" on our wedding day. They're the ones that cried when our sons were born. They'll be the ones that shine with more tears at homecoming. I'll be sure to focus on them a little more in the coming year. So, Honey, be warned that I may come across creepy at times - my heart's in the right place. 

There's more cheese if you, dear reader, can handle it. As that panic moment receded, Landon continued with the questions. What color are Uncle James' eyes? Uncle Bobo's? And then Anders asks about Aunt Jill's. It was kind of fascinating, really. They seemed legitimately interested as they picked random names from their minds' hats. And then Landon asked about Nana Lolly - my mom. I replied that she had the most beautiful bright chocolate brown eyes and Landon says - I shit you not - verbatim: "Well I haven't seen them in my dream before, but maybe tonight when I close my eyes."

Well, folks, that's just when you take an extra long drink from your beer and officially use your kid's leftover gross dinner napkin to catch tears from the corner of your own damn eyes. The grey ones. 

Happy Valentine's Day

And Just Like That. Poof! Five months.

We hit the halfway mark of deployment a couple weeks ago. People like to use it like a psychological tool to make the passage of time seem quicker, but it really is just a singular point in time - a blip on the radar of time separated as a family. The reality is we still have five more months to go. Lest I seem drab about things, I should say that I do, indeed, feel a shift towards excitement in recent days. I've started thinking about homecoming banners and family vacations and eating meals as a family and time spent drinking a relaxing beer with my hubby and... well, you get the idea. There are many things to look forward to. 

But even the most newbiest of Navy spouses know to keep the excitement in check. Because perhaps one of the most horrible parts of deployment is actually the return and the reintegration. But! I am jumping ahead.

In the meantime, please enjoy this video our friends Chris and Laura made of the spouse's evening night out in celebration of the half way mark. We rented out a local B&B and they hosted a murder mystery night for us. So if you see gals acting extra precocious, we were all merely being thespians.

Kind. Happy. Productive.

I was at a mom's group a couple years ago and the speaker floated the suggestion of having a family motto. She had a board posted in her front entryway which was very Pinterest-y in effect and somewhat generic along the lines of "Live, laugh, love" but it got me thinking, nonetheless. I really did like the idea. Instead of house rules and can do's and don't do's, wouldn't it just be simpler to have a family motto and - in a way - it could address all the gray areas of life that don't necessarily fit into rules. 

The first thing that popped in my head was a quote from Conan O'Brien which was something along the lines of "Nobody in life gets everything they want, but if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen." I also really dig the whole strength and simplicity behind the triad of "Kind. Happy. Productive." I was ready to post these things subtly somewhere in my home, but I will wait for my partner in crime to return home and confirm our family motto before I use it as a basis moving forward with the boys. 

I've always felt a pull towards a more simple and kind and generous life, but the tide is definitely pulling me in more than ever before. And it makes me think of my mom. She was smart and she was kind and she wasn't easily influenced by bullshit trends - she was just a great human being. I have an opportunity as a mom to present these ideals - or any others - to my sons on a daily basis: how fucking cool is that? 

1985

Tour de Grumpy Pants

I could post just the first photo and tell you about the glorious moment in which both my boys were able to ride alongside each other on the trail, allowing mom a joyful brisk walk or slight jog to keep up. 

But this is real life. 

About a quarter mile in, Anders decided he didn't want to ride his bike anymore and he wanted me to carry it. And oh yeah, carry my helmet, too, Ma. And despite Mommy acquiescing to his pint-sized demands, he still was a grump the rest of the way, compounded by the stark contrast of a good-mood brother joyfully riding his bike 20 yards and then turning around to check in and then taking off again. Rinse and repeat.

I'm not discouraged, though. We will try again another day. Perhaps the sunshine and the balmy 50 degree winter weather was too delightful.

Quotes

[Scene: I'm looking in the rear view mirror while driving and catch Landon slowly transfer a finger from his nose to mouth.]

Me: "Landon, duuuude, no picking boogies and we especially do not eat boogies. Eww, gross."

L: "Well mom, I was just painting the boogers on like lipstick."

Batman Breakfast

Day three in which Batman must reside over Anders' breakfast plate. Not lunch. Not dinner. Just breakfast, on the left hand side.

Also: I don't recommend teaching your kids the "Nananananananana, Batman!!!" song unless you want a guaranteed headache.

Christmas 2014

Ho ho ho, off to the East Coast we go. Well, we went, rather. We packed our bags for a three week stay and headed on a jet plane to spend time with family for Christmas and New Years. Overall assessment: great success. Even when we were on the plane for 7.5 hours straight (!) for the flight back to Seattle, nothing fell apart spectacularly. It's still not ideal to live so far from family, but boy oh boy travel does get easier each time now that the boys are getting older and me likey. Me likey a lot.

So apologies for the photo dump; I intended to make a short montage but, well, you know how all those "good intentions" work out sometimes.

Let the presents madness begin.

Grandpa Jim :)

Transforming some transformers with Uncle James.

Setting a scene.

Some matching pajamas cousin love.

Staying busy on the flight. [Obviously this photo is out of sequence but I'm too lazy to fix it.]

Landon was such a big help - my little man was perfect at carrying bags and helping mommy!

Super excited that Cookie the Elf got our directions we left on how to fly to Grandma's house.

Exploring some of daddy's old Legos.

Lego and train museum with Papa Dude!

It's tough work darting back and forth from Maryland to Pennsylvania every few days.

Christmas at Aunt Jill's and Uncle Bob's :)

Playing late night Scrabble with Grandpa Jim.

Brothers!

Baking cookies for Santa with Grandma!

Forcing Grandma to watch The Lego Movie for the 27th time.

Night out with close family friends :)

Daddy doll was around for all the action.

Cute snowman toes.

Reading books with Aunt Ingrid and Papa Dude.

Three cheers for Christmas morning!

They turned into present monsters. *Mom sigh*

Anders sneaking some cookie foot.

Erik sure loves his ham!

Lunch dates with Grandma at work

Hooray! A night out with Becca :)

Landon being silly at the Port Discovery Children's Museum in Baltimore.

Uncle James car sandwich.

Playing near the creek at Grandpa's house. Making sure all black walnuts are now in the water.

Selfie break with my littlest cutie :)

Sorting through all of daddy's old toys. Trip down memory lane for mommy, too :)

It snows on the morning of our departure! 

Sitting on the tarmac for an hour and watching them de-ice the wings helped tucker them out. Woohoo!