Living in Munchkinland

Michael and I took the boys down to the Hyatt Wild Oak Ranch this weekend. We wanted to hear the time share presentation again to see if this would something that help us with all of our travel and to earn the 10,000 points I negotiated for attending. We also wanted a cheap vacation with a lazy river to celebrate Michael's birthday! The Liffords met us down there on Saturday morning and we all had a splendid time! We drank lots of cocktails and slid down the fabulous water slides and got glitter tattoos and rode round and round the lazy river. We made tacos for dinner, Violet and Samuel made guacamole, we all ate cupcakes and then we went to bed ridiculously early. In the morning we managed to repeat the Saturday itinerary at the adjoining Hyatt resort for several more hours. I like the Wild Oak Ranch. The water park is fabulous and it's not too crowded. The one bedroom condo has a full kitchen, huge bath and even a washer and dryer. Their pitch for a timeshare is act...

The boys did a two week theater camp that culminated in a performance of Aladdin on Friday night. The grandparents and parents dutifully (and Joyfully) attended. Davis sang perfectly on pitch as Aladdin numbers 3 and 4, but the surprise was Samuel who busted out of his shy shell and rocked the evil Omar character with acting and volume. I was busting my buttons over both of them.

Note to self: Leave town in August. We had a lovely June and a relatively cool July. And then there was August. Strings of days of over 100 degree heat. No rain. Crunchy grass. Ants. Cracks in the dirt. Steering wheel too hot to touch. I spoke to a travel agent about getting out of the heat next summer and asked her opinion on North Carolina. She warned me it could get "quite hot" there in the summer, most days getting into the mid eighties. I just sighed and told her I understood. Thank goodness for pools and rivers and slip'n'slides and air conditioning! I love Texas Oct-May, but August in Texas- I don't like you one bit.

We decided to throw do an Outdoor Family Movie Night for Michael's birthday last night. We invited many of our friends and provided booze, popcorn and cupcakes. It was super hot, but lots of fun and we had a great night, seeing so many of our friends and hosting in our back yard. Michael leaned over to me while the movie, "Muppets Most Wanted", played. He said this was the dream he had when we first bought the outdoor movie theater. He wanted to be surrounded by friends on a dark, starry night, watching a movie. I am so pleased to have provided that for him for his birthday.

Sometimes things aren't all roses and fireworks. Sometimes I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. Sometimes my life is totally beyond my control and I just have to be okay with that. It's hard. My dad is still living every day with Alzheimer's. He's had this disease for so long and for the longest time it progressed very slowly. And now it's not. I was really used to that "slowly progressing" thing. This new steep decline makes me want to grit my teeth and dig in my heels and hold on really tightly. But that wouldn't really help anything. I love him so much and I miss him so much and I am so f'n blessed that I am part of his every day life. I am every day inspired by my beautiful mother who is gracious and kind and generous of spirit. I am so grateful to have her by my side as my companion through all of this. I love her more than words can say. My job will be changing this fall as I step back in my daily role and let a profe...

I had to write a reflection on enlightenment this week since I was lay leading at our Unitarian Universalist church. Here is what I wrote: For me, enlightenment is a path, not a destination.   I don't know about the concept of suddenly becoming "enlightened".  I feel like enlightenment slowly comes upon you as you make your way through the world. To me, Enlightenment are those moments when you are going along in real life and all of a sudden you realize your connectedness to the world around you and are one with all.  Enlightenment is that moment when you have a heart of unconditional compassion and love.  I think that this feeling is a moment of enlightenment.  Some people are further along that path, when they have more moments like these. When you know, truly, who you are, have deep unconditional love for self and others, and when you are aware of the interconnectedness of the whole world, you are enlightened.  I think this takes a while.  More for some of us than ...

Cheers to my Gramp, Rufus Alexander who had his 91st birthday on Tuesday. My mom threw a wonderful "ranch happy hour" at my Grandparent's house with lots of cake and ice cream. I love living so close to my grandparents and being part of their daily lives. I am so lucky that my grandma married my grump when I was 13, so that I could grow up with him as my grandfather in my life. I love you, Gramp!

Marcie and Ann and their family came down to Texas to visit in-between my weeks in Portland and Tacoma. I had a terrible cold, but managed to soldier through in order to spend time with them. We cancelled our long planned trip to Port Aransas, but made up for it with lots of time at the pool and river. We ate at Casa Maria, had an outdoor family movie night in their honor, had several pool parties with family and friends and went tubing. I loved having them next door in the hippie house. The kids wandered back and forth between our houses and we took turns caring for them. I so wish I lived closer to Marcie and her family, but I treasure the times that we have together. I'll see them next at Thanksgiving in Taos!

Every year, my children participate in our local library reading program. They love it. This year they did several of the library hosted activities and managed to fill out six each of the reading logs and get to put tickets into the buckets of prizes they hoped to win. Every year they attempt to win a prize, but have never done so. This year we got the call that Samuel had won! I kept it a secret and Martha and I took the kids to the end of summer library party, but told the kids not to get their hopes up. When they called Samuel up, he could not have been more delighted. He won a marble game and both he Davis were absolutely thrilled. I love my local library so much for so many reasons, but this was a wonderful cherry on top of an already fabulous program.

I flew back up the pacific northwest last weekend all by myself in order to throw my friend Katie a baby shower. It was so fun to see Katie and where she lives and pamper her. I held the baby shower at a tea house and it was lovely. The food was delicious, as was the tea, and everyone seemed to have a good time. Cheris was able to come to the shower and it was so fun for the three of us to be reunited. I had some nice Katie-Amber time and the weather there was absolutely beautiful, though the local folks called it a "heat wave". I got to explore Point Defiance park and Katie and I walked around the rose garden smelling and admiring them. We had a delicious lunch on the water at Anthony's and Katie took me on a driving tour of Tacoma. I got to help Katie fix up her house and prepare for the baby. I can't wait to meet her! I am so lucky to have such a wonderful soul sister of a friend. I am also so grateful to have a generous mother-in-law and husband wh...

We ended our Pacific Northwest Vacation with an Alaskan Cruise on the Disney wonder. In Juneau we did an excursion to the Mendenhall Glacier. It was flooding there and rainy, but we still had a wonderful time doing a scavenger hunt and exploring the visitors center. In Skagway, we did an excursion to the Davidson Glacier. We took a boat out to the glacier. The kids loved the ride. They got to help drive the boat and we saw tons of sea lions and several closeup glimpses of a humpback whale! We also saw lots and lots of bald eagles. Once we got off the boat, we had a brief lunch, meeting up with Steven and Melissa and their boys as we crossed paths. Then we hiked a short distance through the forest to a canoe. We paddled through a glacier lake all the way up to the Glacier where we got out and walked through the freezing cold weather to the face of glacier. It was amazing. In Ketchikan we shopped briefly and got to see a seal chasing a salmon and catching it in the creek! Th...