To Grandmother's house we go!

So we just got back from our family trip to my in-laws (which I LOVE) and here are some of the highlights!

We embarked on our journey around 5:00 where we left old "Beulah" behind and rented a nice new Taurus. We love Beulah, but she's getting on in her miles. She's already over 200 thousand miles old! Happy Birthday Beulah! Although she has served us faithfully for many years, (Mazda's are great!) we don't want to push her to travel so far across the mountains and on such a long trip. Go, Beulah, Go!

We drove past some wheat fields, some mint fields, even some onion fields. I love the scent of the crops as we pass them wafting into the car. We paused once to feed the baby and then arrived at our destination late at night. The boys slept well.

We went to the Puyallup Fair! Yeay! When we got there I was so happy to be there! My 4-year-old actually tried out a few rides. He rode on a train, in a car, and in a canoe. We sampled an onion burger, some carmel corn, and I found the much-sought-after fudge! The fudge was provided by a company called "Seattle Fudge" and I haven't tried it but I found out that you can order their fudge and have it sent anywhere! Way cool! So dad may be finding a little surprise in the mail very soon. After a few hours of squeezing our way through the crowds to see a few exhibits I became more interested in the people I was passing.

I come from a small community full of what I would consider "conservative-normal" people. Farmers, grocers, college students, parents, you know. Regular, run-of-the-mill people. I passed a woman on my way out of the fair that immediately brought to mind that Muppet favorite, "Lydia the tattooed Lady". She had tattoos everywhere! There were lots of "Goth" girls, and a few people that looked like they had been homeless their whole lives. I often see all of these different people and wonder what they do during the day in their lives. How do they feel about things? Are we all that different? Who knows? It was interesting.

On one of our "off" days when we had very little planned (it was a cold, rainy day) we found some wasp nests full of cold wasps trying to keep themselves safe in their nests. The unfortunate thing for them was that their nests were right above the entrances to the house. So we got to spray the wasps and watch them fall. Our four-year-old thought this was scary but all in all a good thing. Paper wasps are evil! Seriously, what eats those? I need to find out what bird preys on paper wasps and then provide a bird feeder specifically for that bird.

Our four-year-old shared his room with a 4 month old baby who awoke in the night for feedings. He was so sweet. His daddy said, "Does the baby wake you up much?" and our boy's response was, "Yeah, sometimes. But I just check on her to make sure she is okay...like this." And he proceeded to lift his head up the way he did from his bed to check on her in her crib and make sure she was okay. Awwww. Wipe away that tear.

If we weren't playing at the Children's Museum, Fair, or some mall playground I was in the house dragging my 10-month-old away from the plants, outlets, and dried peas on the floor under the table. I swept and vaccuumed the house for my mother-in-law which I was a little hesitant to do. I was afraid of that "What, am I not a good enough housekeeper?" But she actually said, "Oh good! I've been meaning to do that. I'm glad you did." So at least he wouldn't have any tidbits on the ground to eat. I am also so used to doing it daily in my own home (only since he started eating stuff off the floor) that it felt a little like a normal daily thing for me to do.

Honestly, the baby acts like he never gets fed! He will eat ANYTHING. Book pages, crumbs on the ground, peas, carrots, pasta, green beans, dead flies, anything he can grab fast enough to pop in his mouth. (Okay, he hasn't put any flies in his mouth...that I know of...but I know he has tried!) My four-year-old was a little more careful at that age. He is still a picky eater.

Our trip home was fun as I had purchased my very first "John Denver" CD's and have already converted my four-year-old into a John Denver song lover. He particularly likes "Leavin' on a Jet Plane" though I still like the Peter, Paul and Mary version of that song better. John Denver will always make me feel like my father is there singing. But that's a subject for another blog.

When we pulled into the drive my four-year-old said, "Mommy, can Grandma live next-door?" I said, "That would be nice." He proceeded to tell me who actually lived next door and how that wouldn't work. Every time I go to Olympia I look through the classifieds to see if there's a job posting that would work for my husband and we could just move there. I always feel like I'm coming home when I go there, though I've never lived there. The only problem is that my husband's current employer treats him SO WELL that nothing compares! If we found a comparable job in Olympia then we might consider it, but the chances of THAT happening are slim. And we sure like our little "normal" community out here in farm-country U.S.A.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig!