Sunday, February 28, 2010
Aren't you a little short for a Stormtrooper?
Auntie Jen had brought me a bunch of geeky Star Wars themed clothing from Ecko Clothing. I've just now gotten to the stage in my life where I am established enough to wear this kind of cool clothing on an ordinary day and:
A) not be at ComiCon
B) not get chased down the hallway and get locked in a locker by the football team
The truth is, though, that even though I'm sort of in this sweet spot, I've also spawned in the meantime and then you have toddlers around, your possessions are not truly your own...
A) not be at ComiCon
B) not get chased down the hallway and get locked in a locker by the football team
The truth is, though, that even though I'm sort of in this sweet spot, I've also spawned in the meantime and then you have toddlers around, your possessions are not truly your own...
"Aren't you a little short for a Stormtrooper?"
"Let me see your identification..."
"Open the blast doors!!"
"Do you know what's going on?"
"Maybe it's another drill..."
Saturday, February 13, 2010
I hope my daughter hasn't inherited my maternal aunt's gift of prescience...
0400 Saturday AM: Fionna creeps into my room and snuggles into my bed, all upset
F: Daddy? I had a bad dream.
J: Mmmpfhhh? Hunh? What? Oh...c'mere.... [snug]
[a minute passes...]
J: What was the dream about, hun?
F: The sun froze and got cold and went out, and all the buildings were falling down, and we had to had to leave and drive far away.
[another minute passess...]
J: Were we ok? Did anyone get hurt?
F: No...we were ok.
J: Yeah, hun. I've had that bad dream before. It's just a bad dream. Go on back to bed.
[Fionna goes back to bed, gets tucked in with Bo and manages to sleep through to morning. As does her dad, sort-of]
Yikes.
F: Daddy? I had a bad dream.
J: Mmmpfhhh? Hunh? What? Oh...c'mere
[a minute passes...]
J: What was the dream about, hun?
F: The sun froze and got cold and went out, and all the buildings were falling down, and we had to had to leave and drive far away.
[another minute passess...]
J: Were we ok? Did anyone get hurt?
F: No...we were ok.
J: Yeah, hun. I've had that bad dream before. It's just a bad dream. Go on back to bed.
Yikes.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Abby Birthday to you!
I surrender. I'm surrounded by double-X chromosomes and the other night, I spent an hour helping to ice a Pink Princess Castle Cake.
And here's a video of Abby with one of her favorite presents. Who knew she liked stick puppets?
We have the castle cake "kit" available for loan if anyone likes what they see and also wants an all-pink birthday party...
I'm pretty sure Abigail was impressed...
...and she was very skilled at holding Court...
Chloe and Ming-Ming provide entertainment.
Yup. That's a pretty pink, girly birthday.
I think a bunch of the moms left the party still wearing their tiaras. Some had errands to do...
We have the castle cake "kit" available for loan if anyone likes what they see and also wants an all-pink birthday party...
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Vaycay in Dominican Republic
We had booked our vacation in the DR several months before the whole Haiti earthquake disaster happened. What a mess, that. Anyways, despite nagging concerns about aftershocks (and more pressing concerns of social irresponsibility, ie wallowing in white sand while horribleness was happening across the border), we went anyways. It was Abby's first time flying.
We had a blast, as you'll see below.
We didn't do much overall; most mornings were spent on the beach and swimming in the ocean.
Happily, we were able to introduce the girls to the idea of siestas in the afternoon to avoid some of the worst of the heat. Mom and dad would relax and read while they recovered from the morning runarouond. Ironically, two of the books I brought for reading material, one by Diamond and one by Dixon, had significant chapters devoted to the historical differences (and likely future differences) between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It was helpful to put the current disaster (or rather, the ongoing extension of the existing disaster in Haiti) into better perspective. We did happen upon some of the medical teams coming back across the border; they would stay at the resort (which is right beside the airport) for a night prior to flying out. They had some interesting perspectives to share. Mostly, what the country needs at this point is construction workers and people to attempt to rebuild infrastructure. The docs and medical students essentially came and went. Hospitals typically had 3000+ casualties day 1, 300 casualties day 2 and then basically no work after that; no room to do more operations, most people who were going to die had died already etc. Staying any longer was turning the medical "relief workers" into liabilities in terms of them needing water, shelter, food, security even as much or more than the actual diaster victims. So there was a standing policy from both the CMA and AMA that, unless you were going with a predetermined role, medical doctors were NOT recommended to go...they were considered redundant. Even the medications the teams brought along were turned away by the locals; there was nowhere to store them and no need in any case, as most "patients" had done what were refer to as "self-triaging" themselves by having survived the worst of it all. In other words, they hadn't died, and therefore didn't need any further meds. Yep...it was that bad.
In any case, we had a great time, North American guilt and nagging feelings aside. The resort was pretty good (although business looks a bit slow for them these days). Facilities were great. Dinners were a bit slow and draggy (island time, basically) so the kids enjoyed the buffet breakfast more than anything else, but at least it was quiet. For those who are interested, the resort we stayed at was the Puntacana Hotel, which distinguishes itself by having built all their little 2-bedroom "casitas" along the beach without having disturbed the native flora. Therefore, instead of manicured lawns, walkways and fountains, we had a palm tree growing right in the middle of our courtyard and through the roof, and lizards hanging out in our bathroom.
Fun! The girls like lizards.
We had a blast, as you'll see below.
We didn't do much overall; most mornings were spent on the beach and swimming in the ocean.
Happily, we were able to introduce the girls to the idea of siestas in the afternoon to avoid some of the worst of the heat. Mom and dad would relax and read while they recovered from the morning runarouond. Ironically, two of the books I brought for reading material, one by Diamond and one by Dixon, had significant chapters devoted to the historical differences (and likely future differences) between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It was helpful to put the current disaster (or rather, the ongoing extension of the existing disaster in Haiti) into better perspective. We did happen upon some of the medical teams coming back across the border; they would stay at the resort (which is right beside the airport) for a night prior to flying out. They had some interesting perspectives to share. Mostly, what the country needs at this point is construction workers and people to attempt to rebuild infrastructure. The docs and medical students essentially came and went. Hospitals typically had 3000+ casualties day 1, 300 casualties day 2 and then basically no work after that; no room to do more operations, most people who were going to die had died already etc. Staying any longer was turning the medical "relief workers" into liabilities in terms of them needing water, shelter, food, security even as much or more than the actual diaster victims. So there was a standing policy from both the CMA and AMA that, unless you were going with a predetermined role, medical doctors were NOT recommended to go...they were considered redundant. Even the medications the teams brought along were turned away by the locals; there was nowhere to store them and no need in any case, as most "patients" had done what were refer to as "self-triaging" themselves by having survived the worst of it all. In other words, they hadn't died, and therefore didn't need any further meds. Yep...it was that bad.
In any case, we had a great time, North American guilt and nagging feelings aside. The resort was pretty good (although business looks a bit slow for them these days). Facilities were great. Dinners were a bit slow and draggy (island time, basically) so the kids enjoyed the buffet breakfast more than anything else, but at least it was quiet. For those who are interested, the resort we stayed at was the Puntacana Hotel, which distinguishes itself by having built all their little 2-bedroom "casitas" along the beach without having disturbed the native flora. Therefore, instead of manicured lawns, walkways and fountains, we had a palm tree growing right in the middle of our courtyard and through the roof, and lizards hanging out in our bathroom.
Fun! The girls like lizards.
