Whew! What a three weeks it's been!

Well, first off, I'm not sure how I survived three weeks so far without constant internet. That means no email, no blog roll, no forum checking. The withdrawal symptoms (shaking, fingers clicking at a mouse that wasn't there, scrolling through invisible screens, hitting a non-existent refresh button) were severe at first, and now I'm back off the wagon. So, I'm back though intermittently. Hopefully I can schedule two to three times a week trips into downtown and Breaking New Grounds (my favorite coffee shop since it opened in '93). I don't think I'll make the next five weeks without my blog fixes -- and my email inbox definitely won't survive the influx.

It has been a busy three weeks. Our entire house was packed up and shipped out. For those of you who have had the "pleasure" of a military move, I must admit that it wasn't all that bad this time. Of course, the proof will be in the pudding when our goods are delivered in Cali in three months. There were a couple of interesting moments, like when the movers chided me for not providing their dinner when we got tired of waiting for them to finish and ordered out, or when the head mover had me sign the paperwork at quarter to eight with a squiggling, screaming daughter who was on my hip melting down because it was past her bedtime and supposedly all my furniture was dented, rusted, chipped, stained, etc. Missed that one before I signed, and like I said above, the proof of how good a move it was will be evidenced at delivery in October.

The drive north took three days. The first day we got off to a late-ish start and were further slowed by a cat pee stop, a cat poop stop, and two escaped cats, free in the car stops all on top of stops just for the kiddos. As my friend, Cynthia, noted in her blog about her move west, Magna Doodles and the dvd player saved the day. I also have to give a HUGE shout-out of thanks to my dear friend Kim's husband, Justin, for saving my hide in the hotel parking lot in DC. Let's just say that an SUV and trailer really don't fit in a front-end only parking garage that doesn't have roof parking. Justin, you are my DC parking garage knight-in-shining-armor. Chris is aware of the situation, laughs, and agrees. Good thing your son and my daughter are so enamoured of each other -- I really need them to marry so that I have a legitimate excuse to call you to my rescue.

Once we finally arrived here we had an interesting adjustment for two weeks. Mom, the kids, and I finally made it into Portsmouth at lunchtime and decided to stop for a nice lunch at our favorite spot, The Egg. My children proceeded to eat as if they had never been feed before, Garrett picked the blueberries out from the pancakes to eat, and all in all we had a nice lunch. Then it was time to leave and Elena had exploded. The poor hostess lady thought that she was picking up oatmeal from the highchair, floor, and Elena's leg. All she had to do was ask the twenty-something who was gagging at the bar and she would have realized that it wasn't oatmeal. I don't think I left enough tip that day.

Sleep was the biggest adjustment. Garrett decided that he had to be glued to my side at all times, including during sleep, and so he slept in my bed for many nights and many naps. Once Garrett was situated, Elena decided that since her brother had gotten so much attention from being ugly, she would give it a whirl. Fun on so many levels. Now they are both sleeping in their pack-n-plays, in the same room. Of course, that means at naptime and bedtime we have some serious romping before we fall asleep, and there have been times when I have seriously wondered if they were going to come through the ceiling (Garrett just can't understand why his new bed doesn't bounce like his crib and Elena is learning to jump in bed, too), but once they are asleep life is a blessed occasion.

There have been a couple of other major developments since we have settled up here. First, Elena has finally decided that walking is the better means of transportation and only crawls when she really wants to get somewhere in a hurry. Her new game is hide-n-seek, meaning she runs away into the kitchen, dining room, or around the corner in the toy store and waits for us to come and find her. Stopped my heart on a few occasions. Garrett has started gymnastics at the gym started by my old coaches and is loving, loving, loving it. He jumps on the trampoline, jumps into the foam pit and climbs out, swings on the bars, walks on the beam, does forward rolls on the cheese mat, and generally romps about. The coaches were concerned at first about me bringing him three days a week (on monthly fee and I can bring him to a class a day if I want -- class is only three days a week), but after two classes last week where he was the only student and therefore went non-stop for the full 45 minutes, and then ran outside to splash in the puddles, I think they are beginning to understand. Of course, Elena has decided that what ever Garrett does she has to do faster, sooner, and better, and so I thing that she'll be joining us in the gym in Cali.

I could be wrong though. Elena demonstrated this morning that not only is my daughter part puppy, she is part fish. We went to my mom's friend, Jan's, pool and Elena just laid back in the water, kicked, and splashed like she was finally home. We do need to work on blowing bubbles as she likes to drink the water more than blow in it, but I expect that will come in fairly short order. She was so happy in the big pool. Garrett on the other hand wasn't so sure about it. Of course, after seeing Sissy so competent in the water, he had to do it himself and he settled down a bit. I think that his favorite thing to do was to jump into my arms like he does at gymnastics. Can't imagine what they'll be like at the end of the summer if this is what they are doing now.

Okay, now what you really visit my blog for -- updated photos of the kiddos. Enjoy!

4th of JULY
We went to the Yacht Club for breakfast. Yum. Unfortunately, these were the only photos I got of my beautiful children all dressed up. Garret was enraptured with all the boats on the river. And since Monkey see, Monkey do, Elena had to check them out also.

Bubbles

YaYa, my kid's name for my mom, is great with the kids toys. She has all kinds of bubble stuff from when she was teaching. They have become our favorite way to play after our nap and before dinner, especially since with the bubble guns the kids can make their own bubbles without Mom's help. Garrett also thinks the whirligig in the yard is pretty cool and loves to make it spin (Yeay! he yells everytime the wind or he spins it).

Oh, the first night after playing with the bubbles Elena woke me up screaming at 3:30 in the morning. I went in to calm her, and keep her quiet so she wouldn't wake Garrett. Once she calmed down she patted me on the arm and said sweetly, "Momma, bubble. Bubble. Bubble, Momma. Ball, bubble, Momma. Bubble. Bubble, Momma. Momma, bubble." For 45 minutes she told me all about the bubbles, balls, and whatnot. Yeah, kid, you're a nut.

Tractor

Garrett loves tractors, and Papa has one (okay, a riding lawn mower he calls a tractor) to mow the lawn. The little man thought it was great fun to sit on the tractor and drive. Once Papa gets the tractor working I'll upload photos of them together.

Puppy

I've posted before about my little puppy-daughter. Well, she has been at it again at my folk's place. Not only does she like to carry things around in her mouth, particularly balls, but she has discovered the joy that is a dog leash. I tried to switch her to my scarf, but nothing says fun like a dog leash. Look at her pose when the camera is on her. Cheeessseee!

Visiting with Maddy, Josh, and Monica

We were finally able to catch up with my dear friends Josh and Monica for dinner this past Sunday. She is such a little cutie! I am so sad that we are going to miss the big part of each other's kids growing up while Chris is still in the military, and yet so glad that they will be together as they go through middle and high school. Garrett and Elena thought that she was great fun too.

(Okay, Elena thought she was a dolly, and Garrett thought her toys were fun, but still).

Finally, witness the joy and entertainment a sippy cup can provide at the end of dinner. Heehee.

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