Minnesota is Heaven, But Virginia is Home

We've been talking in my online course about moral dilemmas. Yesterday on the playground I witnessed something that has been bothering me a lot. I'm still wondering if I should have stepped in or not. To set the scene: It's me and my three, Will in the stroller, Josiah in the sandbox, Annika in the climby igloo (what is the technical name of those things?). I am talking to my friend Mary while her two little girls play with Josiah and Annika. One of Josiah's friends Zachary is outside on the igloo and there's another little boy, Teagan, playing there too. Teagan's mother is sitting on a bench a little ways away and is reading a book. Normal day on the playground. Until... I look up just in time to see Zachary throwing a sand toy (specifically, our plastic toy tractor/digger) at Teagan. He missed. Teagan starts screaming like he's been branded. (Let me insert here that I don't condone throwing things at other children and that yes, my children, e...

http://www.sweet-juniper.com/2010/06/more-feral-houses.html I love it when Sweet Juniper does posts on the feral houses of Detroit. Or the abandoned schools, stores and train stations. What I don't understand is why the City of Detroit doesn't get rid of some of these houses that are beyond hope...hold firefighting training for the entire state of Michigan and burn them down? It's sad and it's sobering to realize that nature will be right behind humans, to obscure what we made and thought of as permanent.

You know how Josiah gets into things? Really, REALLY into things? Well, his latest thing is the United States of America. He talks about the states all. Day. Long. It started out with him doing the map--you know, I showed you all the picture of that. That was a few weekends ago. He cut out each individual state and glued it on two enormous pieces of black construction paper. A few days later, he decided that he was interested in capitals, so he looked up all the capitals and put them on the map. Then, he started making lists of the states. Within a day, he could recite the states in alphabetical order. Forwards AND backwards, thank you very much. Repeat ad nauseum to anyone who would listen. Next, he insisted on a trip to the library, where he picked out several books on the states and began copying entire sections of them verbatim. He would sit down at the table with a book and a notebook and start writing away...and eventually, would present us with a "report" on Arkansas (...

Me and the crew at the top My boys At the top of the observation tower (good views on a clear day, I'm guessing) After they came down, Hans informed me that the wooden steps seemed kind of "unstable"...I guess sometimes the less you know, the better. Well of course , the band marched UP the obeservation tower and back down, playing all the while (some good German hymns in there, too)...they're hardcore! I wonder how many beers they had had before doing that! We were definitely an anomaly, but a nice family only gave us a curious GLoD and then let us sit with them at their table. For ONCE Josiah and/or Annika didn't tip over the beer table bench! Truly a miracle. I should have put a quarter in this picture as a size reference--these snails were monstrous! I kind of like this picture though... Speaking of monstrous--that's a slug in the middle of the picture, that black thing. They were easily 3-4" long. Annika caught sight of one and spent the rest ...

"Mommy, don't get into the video..." What do you think Carrie, should we throw some credits on it and send it to Sundance?! ; )

Oh, one other thing about my day yesterday: William figured out how to remove his diaper. He is the first of my children to do so. When I went in to pick him up after his first morning nap, the lovely smell of poo just about knocked me over... And there was William, sitting up in a giant whoorl of his own poo, poo on his hands, poo on his face, poo on his pajama top, poo on his pacifier, poo all over his stuffed animals and the crib rails. Did I mention that he was sucking on his fingers? All together now: guuuuuuuulllllhhhhpp (that's the collective sound of all of us gagging). Oh, and was he happy? You know what they say about pigs and .... well, that was William, just sitting there, eating poo and giggling and having a conversation, possibly with the poo-covered stuffed animals. And no, I didn't scream. I calmly reached over, grabbed the camera and took a picture. Otherwise, I reasoned, his father would never believe exactly how messy it was. And no, I'm not pos...

Or maybe I should say, she'll "steel" his heart away, ha! I spent some time yesterday gathering as much information as possible about Hans' new ship, USS GRAVELY (DDG-107). I may as well get to know the beauty who will steal him from me for long periods of time, right?! I cannot express how excited I was yesterday morning to wake up and find an e-mail in Hans' inbox letting him know that the slate had been posted. There was just one problem: Hans is in Normandy and I couldn't access his account to find out any information! I'm telling you, all sorts of crazy ways of trying to get it flashed through my mind, but in the end, our great friend Jen Mills (sponsor and friend extraodinaire/Navy officer) logged in and got the info off the slate. I'm telling you, I am absolutely thrilled. Given the situation, I don't think Hans could have done any better. GRAVELY is a brand, brand new ship with all the latest technology. It's the difference between driv...

I know it's been awhile since I sat down and did a good post. I have my excuses, some of them real, some of them pretty lame. Shall we get caught up? Hans, numero uno. No orders as of yet. The flooding in Tennessee has caused a delay. The assignments have been assigned, but it's getting approved or something. By the slowest body of approve-rs ever. Hans says that it's hard living in limbo and I agree, but considering that we've been living in limbo for almost a year thanks to the Navy, it's become the norm. Of course, we'll put the word out as soon as we get it. Thanks for your patience. In other Hans news, he is headed to Normandy this week. How cool is that? Getting to spend D-Day on Omaha or Utah Beach? When he approached me with news of this trip, I was completely enthusiastic...he was probably a little shocked at how excited I was for him. I totally wish that we could go along. Next, me. Hmmm. I don't really have anything to note, except ...