Home again

Whew. We made a mad dash down to the Valley for my reunion this last weekend. Friday and Sunday were spent driving. Bear is such a good traveller. In spite of being able to just go and go he sits so well in the car. The only time he fusses is when there is an actual problem such as wet pants, empty stomach, or lack of sleep. He sure is fun to travel with. We just had to make sure to stop often enough to get the wiggles out.

The reunion was kinda strange. I can tell most of us either see each other fairly often or don't care to see each other at all. It was just rather odd. I don't think I'll be attending the 15 year reunion.

I'll post photos from the trip here soon. I haven't put the photos on my computer yet. We got some great weather and had some fun with an early birthday party. I'll write more as I post photos as well. I'm not doing well writing here while watching the Antique Roadshow. It is just too darned interesting.

Day to day

Boy, I think I hit all the highlights of stuff going on with Bear and then I realize that I miss some... Last weekend I took the Subaru to the mechanic. No big deal yet but it needed cv joints. Typical for a Subaru so we took it in before it got worse. Nice part is the mechanic is 2 blocks from the house so when I drop the car off I just walk home. Also, he seems to be cheaper than just about anywhere else I check. Talk about convienent. Anyway... Not the point. So Bear and I were walking home from the mechanic shop and saw a yard sale setting up about a block down from the house. We (I guess this really means me at this point in his life) decided that after breakfast we would walk over and check it out to see what treasures there might be. We found treasure too! We found a great little rocking horse that makes galloping and whinny noises. It was only $5 so we took it home. The horse needs a small mend on his neck, but heck for $5 dollars the batteries in it are worth almost that much. Besides we tried it out at the yard sale and got a good smile. I think Bear has been on it at least once a day since then.

Bear had chinese food for the first time tonight. Tom made General Tso's chicken and we decided we'd let Bear try. Yep, he liked it. He seemed to like sucking all the flavor off the chicken and then spitting it out. He didn't go for the rice too much though. Bread is more his thing for a starch. He never really has liked rice. He'll eat it, but would rather have something else.

Bear is sooooo close to taking first steps. He is getting better and better at walking with an adult. He was moving at a pretty good clip this evening as we went around the house. He was full of it tonight. The bad part of that is that he kept trying to get Buddy. Wouldn't be too big of a deal normally but Buddy had a vet trip today where they drugged him so they could clip nails. He's still a bit groggy. Poor dog has allergies too. He's lost a bit of hair around his eyes. It is what we took him in for. That will just take some cortizone cream. They were saying something about how long his nails were and Tom asked if they could cut them sometime when they could drug him. (Buddy hates his feet being held onto) They didn't believe him that drugs would be needed and decided they could do it right then and there. They held him down for one foot and decided maybe drugs would be the way to go. Tom told them. Yet another good thing about our small town is that the vet sits right behind the post office so when drugs were necessary it was no big deal for Tom to leave Buddy there for an hour while he went to the grocery store and then came back when Buddy could walk home.

Gotta love our small town where we are about a block to 2 blocks from almost anything we need. Grocery store, hardware store, post office, vet, 2nd hand store, parts store, mechanic, two real estate offices, two banks, restaurants, yoga studio, chiropractor, massage therapist, dr. clinic, dentist, and gas stations. Like I say pretty much anything you could need. Makes it hard to ever figure out why people live in a city. I know there are all sorts of ammenities but it is nice to be a two minute walk to where I need to go. I just don't see that happening in most cities.

Photos from yesterday.

Market

Today Bear and I went to the Farmer's Market in Missoula for lunch. They have Argentine style empanadas there that are delicious. We sat and watched a couple guys juggle while we ate lunch. Almost 90 degrees F here today... It was a beautiful day. We had fun hangin out doing our errands in town and stopping by to see Tom at work. Just a nice mellow Sat.

Just babble...

We've been busy this last week or so trying to keep up with everything between work schedules changing (for Tom), the weeds trying to take over the garden, the kid growing like the weeds, and trying to squeeze in time with our friend Trina and her girls. The funny part is that it is mellow right now. We have our weekends wonderfully booked from now until mid-July. Fun things like Tracy and Adam coming to visit, my high school reunion, the rest of Tom's family coming to visit, and then my best friends baby shower. I have a couple of weddings that I won't be making it to. Kinda too bad, but not the end of the world.

Bear's first birthday is coming up too. How lucky is he to get fireworks the weekend of his birthday? I wish I would have had that. Perfect weekend to do BBQ too. As of this last week Bear now weighs about 25 lbs. Uff-da! He gets awfully heavy to pack around. He should be walking here soon. He is scooting along the coffee table a few steps at a time now. Also, if Tom helps him, he'll walk across the back yard. It is pretty amazing how quickly things happen with kids. One minute they aren't doing something and the next you realize you are used to them doing that thing.

Hmmm...I wonder if Tom got everything squared away with the city for our fence. If he did then I can start digging post holes. Maybe by the end of the summer we'll finally have our fence up. At the very least we need to get some insulation for the attic. We've picked up some here and there, but we are not done. So much to do when you own a house. It is pretty cool. I actually really like always having projects around the house. That is part of the reason I've wanted to own a house for quite sometime. That and it is nice to be able to put a hole in the wall if I want to. Or paint, or dig a hole in the ground, or anything else for that matter.

Bear will be up soon so I'd better sign off and see about getting some dishes done so we can have lunch.

Rainy day

It is finally raining here. It has threatened on and off for close to two weeks, but has never actually produced any precipitation. It finally is... Maybe we can avoid some fires this summer. Fires might make me money, but they aren't fun to have in your own back yard.

Bear is supposed to be sleeping, but I can hear him in his room growling.:) Poor kid has a cold that he gave to his dad. I've gotten it a tiny bit, but not like the boys. It isn't bad other than the runny nose. He still hasn't figured out how to blow his nose yet either (Bear, not Tom). Bear sure doesn't like his nose wiped. Not that I can really blame him. I get tired of it too. It is just a bummer to have a cold during the summer. Other than that though he's doing well. He's figuring out that it is fun to rough house. He thinks it is fun to get snagged from his path. What wonderful giggles.

As I mentioned in the last entry I have my 10 yr. reunion at the end of the month. I am excited to see my best friend who is finally pregnant after two years of trying. She'll be about 7 months along at that point. I can't wait for that part of the reunion. The rest of it is ho-hum. There are lots of reasons I don't really visit my home town. I go back once in awhile to visit my folks but that's it. Not being part of the dominant religion meant that I wasn't part of the "popular" crowd. Not that it matters at this point in my life. What it does mean though is that there really isn't a reason to go back other than to visit my folks. It isn't even not being part of the "popular" crowd. It is more the narrow minded views of a small town. I don't know how many awful comments I have heard from all sorts of people there. It isn't all that different from where I live now other than I didn't grow up here. :) It will be nice to go back and only have one kid instead of 3-5 like most of my class. I can't even imagine having that many already.

Okay, I seem to be rambling... At the point where it doesn't necessarily make sense anymore. Bear is still squaking. Kate, he'd love it if his partner in crime was around.:) You guys have way too much fun together.

I'd better see if I can get a shower and some picking up done...

Summer

Full blown summer seems to be here. I wasn't sure it was ever going to get around to it. Bear loves playing outside. Dandelions are great fun. He seems to enjoy just sitting in the grass watching me in the garden or crawling over the top of me if I'm right there with him. Sunglasses are great fun to pull off and then try to put back on. Usually he just ends up mushing my face or trying to poke an eye out. Amazing what kids find interesting and entertaining.

I miss the days of a simple house cleaning... It looks like a hurricane hit St. Iggy. Well, just in my house. It was named Bear. Problem with this hurricane is that it just keeps returning. Of course I've never been considered Susie Homemaker either.:)

So at the end of this month I have my ten year high school reunion. I still haven't decided if I'm excited or if I'm dreading it. At the very least it will be interesting. I really haven't seen anyone in the last ten years. Well, I've seen one recently. My best friend from kindergarten and I still see each other fairly often.

My brain is only about half here so I'd better see if I can tackle the hurricane aftermath... I leave you with a photo of Bear right after his mid-morning nap.