Friday, October 31, 2008

Birthdays and Beaches

It's been busy last couple of weeks around here, mostly in the social calendar. We had my grandma's 90th birthday party, which was very well attended and was fun for the whole family to be together.

The next night was Amanda's birthday, and of course we went off to the Noraebang (Korean-style karaoke). Here's a picture I took of the whole group singing Bohemian Rhapsody:

After that hubbub, my parents had my nieces for a week, and toward the end of the week we all went up to Long Beach to see my aunt, uncle, cousins and their families. This worked out great because my cousins have kids who are all young and the second cousins (cousins once removed?) all had a great time playing with each other, especially in the pool. We stayed in a great place, with condos, all right next to each other.
On Saturday we drove up northeast of Seattle to Remlinger Farm. One of the family members has visited Mom and Dad in Mexico on short term trips and invited us to come and visit the farm. It has rides and animals, and even a train and the girls had a great afternoon.
We spent a lot of time in the car, as the next morning we drove to a small town north of Seattle where Mom and Dad gave a short presentation to the church about what they do at Welcome Home. After that we drove back to Portland. Even with all of the excitement, and then the downtime of driving, the girls were excellent. Toward the end of our trip, I crocheted some scarves for Hannah's Kanga and Roo.
During the trip I also had the pleasure of reading one of my favorite kids' books aloud to Hannah, The Tale of Despereaux. She enjoyed it, and it was good for passing time in the car.

I had absolutely zero sub jobs this week, so things are looking grim. I'm trying to find things to entertain myself that are free, which isn't fun or easy. I did have a few nanny jobs this week. And as the 2 1/2 year old girl told me last night "I like your boat", it reminded me of Hannah's insistence that I remember her by the shell she gave me to put on my necklace. As if I could forget her! The boat is a gift from a friend of mine in Korea, who bought it for me "because you go so many places, where God moves you". Hannah thought the shell was fitting for the sea theme. She gave me the shell in early September, and on this trip reminded me to remember her still. Hardly a nanny job that involves a toddler or baby goes by without them commenting on my necklace, or trying to put it in their mouth.

As a last tidbit, I nannied for a sick 10 year old who was home from school, who spent most of his afternoon playing Madden football on his Wii. Fine by me. Except, he get some homework in and found it highly appropriate at that time to try on his halloween costume for me. You might think (as I did) that a fifth grade male would choose a super hero, a scary character, or simply something realistic (such as being a girl or a bum or something). No. He was an apple. I said "you are really being an apple for Halloween?" and he cheerfully replied "Yep!" I had to ask "Why?" and his response gave me hope for all childkind: "because it's the best fruit!"

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