Some of what I do have.

The view from our balcony

There were iguanas running around everywhere



Even in the pool. They just hopped in and would swim from end to end.

El Yunqua Rainforest Waterfall. (i'm now thinking i spelled that wrong)

My favorite pic of all. This was a beautiful ocean.

New computer - I can post again!

Man. I've been trying for the past month to post but I've had a psycho computer that would not let me on my blog.

Grrrrr.

So I'm WAY behind and I wanted so much to post while I was in Puerto Rico but was on another foreign laptop (not to mention it was being monopolized by my spouse) and finally gave up.

And THEN my beautiful camera found some water in my backpack (surprise surprise since it was pouring rain in Old San Juan AND my water bottle sprung a leak - lovely) and my picture taking came to a screeching halt. So I had to depend on my phone camera. Ugh.

I also have Halloween pics (as per usual, we had the best costumes EV-AH) that I wanted to post but alas, the stubborn computer who wouldn't let me post won again.

That computer has been hacked and tossed and now I'm on another one. My biggest concern was all the THOUSANDS of pics I had on the hard drive. A long time ago, I lost all my pics and I didn't want it to happen again.

SO .... I have to sit and compose again ... which I will ... but I'm *yawn* still on Puerto Rican time and it's 1 am there so I'm going to hit the sack and try again later.

Suffice to say, we all had a great time. The plane ride back was hell, absolute hell. 10 hours in the same bloody position makes for blood clots. Gads. And the poor babies and their moms; I felt worse for them. Those babies were done the last three hours of the trip home.

Sadly, two of us had bad news during the trip.

Jen found out when she arrived home that her kitty, Elliott, died the day after she left. So I'm going to find a spot in my Pet Cemetery for her in the next couple of days (yes, I have yet another cat on ice - hey, what other choice is there?) and lay her to rest. Poor thing. I seriously believe she was poisoned; there is no reason a 10 yr old cat drops dead after being perfectly healthy the day before.

And I have the other sad news: I found out last Friday that my wonderful teddy bear Uncle Paul Van Alfen died in a horrible car crash outside of Wendover. Absolutely devastating. My Aunt Shirlene (who was with him) suffered multiple injuries including a broken leg and several ribs. Their son, Cam, broke his ankle. Cam's fiance', Char, flew into Uncle Paul's seat, and died from severe head injuries. They were to marry in May. Uncle Paul is my mom's youngest brother and is the youngest child of the Van Alfen Clan. So now I all I have left is Aunt Virginia and Uncle John (and their spouses, Ray and Joyce). My mom's family is disappearing.

The funeral is Tuesday.

Sigh. So sad. Such a funny nice guy. That's him in the grey shirt and and beard.

On that note, I'm off.

Goodbye Uncle Paul. See you in the next life.

I'm 48

Crikey. Really?? Un - freaking - believable.

I am the same age right now, as Brooke was when we got married in October of 1988. I had just turned 28. Time flies.

So I had my birthday. No big deal actually. It fell on a Sunday and I spent the morning of it loading wood and roofing to finish the chicken run so that they would stay dry this winter.

Then Thomas and I dropped the kids off at Angies for the afternoon and he and I went to Salties on Alki, which is this little funky restaurant on Alki Beach in West Seattle. Yummy breakfast brunch.

That night, the kids made me a birthday cake. The first time ever. It was half chocolate frosting and half vanilla and SWIMMING in candle wax because they were trying to llight 48 bloody candles on the dang thing. They didn't have enough *snicker* so they were using the number candles instead and doing some pretty fancy math on my cake. It was still yummy once I scraped off the wax.

The night before, we had a combo birthday dinner at a Mexican restaurant for Greg and I since our birthdays are four days between. Got to wear a really cool sombrero too. Robee wanted to be able to keep it.

So that was it. Pretty uneventful yet full. Spent with the kids and that was nice.

We're going to Puerto Rico in 18 days for a law conference/family vacation. I told the family travel agents not schedule every single day with activities cuz I need some serious beach time. Greg promised give me a minute. Huh. Gracious of him.

Robee's Birthday Party (a bit late)

Due to the problem (see previous post) of NOT having Robee in August, I instead had him on September 2nd, 1999. This lends itself to two problems: his birthday collides with both Labor Day and the first day of school. Every year. It's a pain.

So we decided to have his great homemade birthday cake on his birthday but postpone his party until school began and Labor Day weekend ended. Robee wanted a Sonic cake but homemade. This was a blast to make actually and we had a great time eating the leftover frosting! I didn't get the nickname "Lardbutt" at WSU for nothing you know! I'm a frosting QUEEN!

The date? September 18.

The place? Woodenville Fishing Ponds.

The response? "Awwwww ..... that sounds lame. Everybody wants to go roller skating. Or bowling."

The other response? "Trust me and Dad. This will be the coolest party ever."

The outcome? You guessed it. The coolest party ever.

Boys.

So we planned on driving two cars since my new car doesn't handle more than five people (which is a blessing really) and there were nine boys planning to go. However, Jack and Sam (the twins), Reilly, Jake and Robee were the only boys actually going. So I shoved four boys in the back and one in front with me (Thomas, the skunk, took Felix in his car because he said "you're so much better at this than me") and off we went on a 50 minute drive to the fishing ponds.



Have you EVER rode in a car with five boys? Five boys (two of whom are twins) who are farting, burping, punching, talking about AND punching penises, butts, boogers, and whatever else comes to their minds? Have you??

Excedrin really helps.



And there are those women out there who are going to say "Oh how you will MISS those days when they're gone (those women who's kids are all grown) so enjoy the farts!!" but I say to that, "Whatever." Right now? During the drive? It's total gross chaos. Afterwards (like now) it's funny to remember. But honestly, I'm not really sure I will miss the smell of five boys farting in my car. Pretty sure about that one. Honest.

I brought a Polaroid with me and each boy got a picture of their catch. From left to right: Sam, Reilly, Jack, Robee, Jake. As a side note: all parents should have a polaroid for parties. These kids LOVE watching pics come right out of the camera. Some of them have never even seen a polaroid before. Funny.

They did have a good time and Robee was the hit of the day.

And in the end, that's all I wanted for Robee's birthday: a memorable day for him so he will smile when HE'S all grown up.

A tearful goodbye to August

I love the month of August.
I can truly say that August (right next to July) is one of my most favorite months of the year.
I tried to have Robee in August so he could have an August birthday.
I would love to have my birthday in August.
I love August so much, I go into depression because I hate September so much more.

31 things I love about August:

1. Hot sunny days at the river.
2. No major holidays.
3. Owen's birthday on August 5th.
4. Jetty Island.
5. Blackberries in full, juicy goodness.
6. Painting my toenails in summery, coral colors.
7. Swimming every day of the week.
8. It's usually five weeks long.
9. Hot nights with a full moon.
10. Warm mornings with fog over the Stilly River.
11. Big puffy clouds in a blue sky.
12. Cooking outside.
13. Fairs going on in almost every town.
14. My Sweet Millions are ready to pick and eat.
15. Watching the goats eat the green grass in the field.
16. Feeding the trout in the pond.
17. Listening to the bullfrogs sing at night.
18. Stopping to watch the doe and her twins cross our road in the morning.
19. Porter's Birthday on August 3rd.
20. My mom and dad's Anniversary on August 30th.
21. The smell of grass being mowed.
22. Seeing a summer tan on my legs (always with spf 30).
23. Watching my Blue Girl and Sterling Silver lavender roses bloom.
24. Hanging washing out to dry.
25. Washing the car on the lawn.
26. Eating a cuke while I'm sitting in my garden.
27. Listening to the copper windmills blowing with the evening breeze.
28. Taking pictures of honey bees on my Shasta Daisies.
29. Sitting on the porch in the morning drinking my green tea.
30. My kids out of school for the month and going to movies in the middle of the day.
31. The Evergreen Fair and hanging out a whole week with my baby girl, Felix.

Goodbye August until next year. I will miss you so much.