Hummm...Maybe Daytripping Would Be A Good Idea

Padon and I camped our first SCA event this season alone and it didn't quite end up the weekend I hoped it would be. I think I thought it would be a special weekend because Padon and I don't get whole days together very often and the romantic notion that he would really enjoy hanging out with me for roughly 48 hours totally over ruled my knowledge that he is steadily and confidently moving into a stage where he talks back, enjoys playing the games of reverse child psychology, and whines a lot.
He had me up at 5:50am on Saturday and at 7:20am on Sunday. After the "Oh, ma gawd! Really?!" wake up on Saturday I piled every blanket and sleeping bag we had (except for the thick tapestry blanket which I horded for myself) on top and underneath of Padon, in his pack'n'play, Saturday night; which I greatly attribute to the extra hour of sleep I got on Sunday. Through this fatigue for both of us (Padon's a guy who likes to sleep in til 9 or 10) the play ground was barely interesting and playing with his new ball, eating all meals, and being in our tent was accompanied with mind altering whining. His only interests were going in other people's tents including the back sides of vendor's tents, and doing the opposite of everything I said until, and finally, Saturday afternoon he was introduced to Boffers.

In the SCA Boffers are weapons created out of PVC pipe and foam. Mock battles are created for kids ages 6 to 17(?) who also have to wear protective armor and have to follow rules. I believe it was our group that introduced the Boffer Wars to our surrounding Baronies and so someone in our group always has a ready supply at hand. There was a large field behind where we were camped and just about all day kids were playing with the boffers. Hunter, 16, was acting as mediator for the kids playing and he totally took Padon under his wing with help from Aiden, 5. It was so awesome that with a little introduction to being the smacker and being smacked Padon was soon growling, charging, laughing hysterically, and smacking away with what was supposed to be a dagger, but because of Padon's size looked like sword.

Thanks to Hunter and Aiden I was given a lovely reprieve from toddler chasing for a while.

But after a weekend of toddler chasing, being self conscious of the noise we were making in a sea of sleeping tents, and having little sleep I'm not sure that camping at SCA events this season, even with Walter, maybe such a good idea. Walter, I think, wants to give it another try, but I see a lot of day tripping in our future.

Good Time With Friends

We got the awesome opportunity to go back to Leavenworth with Erin, Evan, Eliott, and Ivor over the weekend. We had such a great time and felt so tickled to be able to go since we often talk about places we would like to go with Erin and Evan but don't often get the chance.

Eliott was excited to be able to help Padon with his harness and make sure he didn't wander too far away from us and surprisingly Padon loved it! Loved it so much he couldn't stop laughing, as if it was the greatest game ever. I wish he felt that way when I have hold of him.

They moved in and out of the crowd in such a way that made me realize they had yet to see the world from my height and totally took for granted the solid view of hips and waistbands. They were oblivious to the people coming in the crowd and moved as if there was a force around their bodies that would propel people around them. Instead people were scrambling last second trying not to trip over them and Padon and Eliot just kept on moving. They were so cute.
We made a second trip to see the horse in town and this time Padon didn't have a problem petting her. The first time he looked at her he was overwelmed by her size and didn't care to talk about her eyes, nose, ears, and feet.

The weather was so awesome and Walter and I were so excited to be able to share good beer, brautwurst, and memories with our very good friends.

2nd Annual Warren Holiday

For our second Annual Warren Holiday (April 4th) Walter and I thought it might be nice to go to Anacortes, WA thinking how nice it would be to go to a sea side town not too far away, have a nice seafood lunch, walk through the quaint shops and then mozzy home for a fab steak dinner with a baguette and brie and a bottle of wine.

We made our hour excursion to Anacortes and found that it was quaintly boring. It wasn't on the water, well the shops weren't, and the shops that were to be found weren't very interesting. The restaurants were slightly over priced and because we had Padon with us we couldn't go into the two pub-ish restaurants that peaked our interests because they didn't have family seating. After walking up and down the street 4 times and finally deciding on a place to have lunch we opted to go home. The place was a bust and we were disappointed.

Until Walter said in our pity us conversation on the way home "It's too bad we didn't go somewhere like Leavenworth..." We both looked at each other and instantly agreed, well why not?! Let's go tomorrow!

Sunday we packed Padon and Roadie in the car and made our way to Leavenworth, a smallish trip of just 2 hours and what a great idea!
Aside from being limited again to where we could go because we had the dog with us the weather was gorgeous and we had a really great time. It was practically a mirror image of Rotenberg, a small town we stayed in in Northern Germany on our honey moon, and it brought back such nice and homely feelings.
We ended up having lunch at a pub that had outside seating and mulled over their scarce selection of sausages but good selection of beer.

Padon picked out rocks from behind where we were sitting examining them with Walter. Each of the rocks had writing on them (notes from visiting people) and there were hundreds of rocks to choose from.

After lunch we walked all over Leavenworth, window shopping, wishing we had thought to go here in advance because we would have totally stayed the night. It was a lot of fun, Padon really liked the new sights, and Roadie was so well behaved.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter All!

This year I contrived to give Padon a traditional Easter, as he will probably grow up with and become used to Easter and Easter Egg Hunts, and I think I did a pretty good job. More than once I felt a similar feeling to the panic attack I usually get around Halloween when attending costume parties and handing out candy, but I marched on, got the two pictures I really wanted, and let everything else take its course as can only happen when following an almost two year old around.

I bought Greg and Billy the most adorable little lambs for Easter and from the larger of the two made a pattern from the seam measurements. I then made Padon a little Easter rabbit from the fabric I already had and really felt excited about it. To me it looked like it was made of Easter basket grass and little green eggs, not to mention the tail of the bunny was made out of ribbon and so formed one of Padon's most favorite things, a tag. I did tell my self, as any smart Mother should, that there was a chance that this bunny would not inflict squeals of happiness and excitement and to be happy with the thought of making and giving this Easter bunny to Padon.

Thank goodness for this foresight because the site of the box of jelly beans sitting in the basket, between the bunny's legs, was far too wonderful to note the bunny behind it and a week later Padon still takes no notice of the rabbit. It's sitting on my dresser now where I like looking at it and will later try giving it to Padon again when it is completely forgotten. I was really just as pleased to see him so excited about the jelly beans and he horked them by the fistful.
When Jane and Jason arrived Jane started working on the most adorable cupcakes ever. Little chicks with black licorice eyes, Good & Plenty crest and toes, almond beak, and icing covered with coconut feathers. It was really wonderful, and when Padon finally got to eat his at home he really liked it. It seemed to bother him at first that it had a face, like he didn't understand why I gave him a toy in a bowl. But when I showed him that he could dig into it with his spoon and pick at the crest and toes he really went at it and ate everything in the bowl.

It was wonderful to see Billy again since I hadn't seen him since a few weeks after he was born and he had already grown a lot and developed more of his face. Very adorable it was hard to hold back while others held him, impatient to get in Auntie time. Padon had trouble with me holding Billy so we spent about 10 minutes, both of us holding him, until Padon got bored. He was so good about holding Billy although needed to be held back a little as he checked out his eyes and ears; there was a lot of head petting.
We had our (and I mean our) first Easter Egg hunt. My Mom had put together two baskets, each with 6 eggs, and Sarah and I went out in the rain (heck we live in Seattle, when is ever going to stop raining) and dropped the eggs into the green grass where Greg and Padon would be able to see them but still have to twirl around to see them all. I think Padon and Greg were mostly interested in the egg until we started opening some and Greg found a sweet little truck inside. Padon still loved the slippery egg and this distraction was perfect for Walter who kept plucking the found eggs out of the Padon's basket and laying them (yes laying, as he was walking around like a chicken, clucking) again somewhere else in the grass. This made the egg finding last three times longer which was awesome because Padon and Greg were having a good time being outside.

~Thank you to Jane for taking pictures during the hunt.~

One of Sarah's co-workers had given her a dozen real Easter Eggs filled with confetti. I had pictured the act of smashing them above each other's heads, like you were supposed to, would be a group thing, kind of like when we did the poppers at Christmas or celebrated midnight on New Years Eve but after Walter did one down my shirt and my Mom did one to my Dad at the table the game was on! I believe I got one down Walter's shirt too.
The Easter dinner and dessert was really good, the boys had a really great time, and it was nice to see family again.

In case you were thinking, Chloe, what the heck kind of pants-suit is it that Padon is wearing?! Jane gave Padon the outfit last year for his 1st birthday, the jacket size 12 mns and the pants 18mns. The jacket he had worn quite a few times and now that they fit the pants seemed perfect for Easter. Just on the spur I tried the jacket and what do-ya-know the jacket still fit too! So what if he looks like a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman!

"I don't want to look like a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman!!!!"

So That's Where Poop Comes From!

I was searching around the house last night for what I thought was a lost bag of fabric and asking Padon to help me find it and we went into the guest room to see if it was hiding there. I had forgotten we had put his rocking horse (much like the one above) in there and at seeing it he got really excited and wanted to play with it so I mockingly road it into the living room. I put it down and he promptly went over to it, lifted its tail and looked underneith to see its bottom and then just dropped the tail, like, "yep its got one". I laughed and said, yes, that's where the pony poops and lifted the tail again and pointed where, funny enough, the seams of the fabric came together in the shape like an anus. He then got really animated, started talking in his Padon talk (full of gibberish but very meaningful), and went over to the pony's head, lifted up hard on its snout, bending over to look into it's mouth and pointing (still talking), dropped its head so it rocked back, walked around to the back end (still talking and gesturing), lifted the tail and pointed to it's bottom looking at me,again, dropped the tail (still talking), and slapped his hands down on his thighs and finished his explaination with a verbal flurish like "And that is how this pony eats and goes poop!" He was very pleased with himself and I was blown away that he had made the correlation between eatting and later having to poop. What a fun little guy!

Oh Man I Was So Proud!

I have found in my life that I am regularly looking for my place in the world and where I think, like a peg, I would fit most snuggly, comfortably and sound. So when Patrick came to his family to announce that he was joining the Navy and wanted it so badly he could taste it I was super excited for him even though my heart dropped into my stomach. My heart dropped because I didn't want him to go to war and possibly die for a war I didn't believe in, but at the same time that was just a part of the wonderful future in store for him.

So after 3 months, serious personal determination and devotion, studying, physical exercise, stress, and proof to his recruiters that choosing Patrick with nothing but a GED was a good decision, Patrick graduated 2nd in his class of 12 divisions; 1400 Seaman Recruits. I couldn't miss Patrick's celebratory day. I felt very strongly in my heart that this wasn't just a graduation of his Naval Boot Camp but a day to celebrate Patrick and to be excited with him for this positive life choice. He had attended our high School graduations, my Mother's and my college graduation, and this was his day to shine.

It couldn't hold me back that his graduation was in Waukegan, IL and I was ready to do anything I had to, to get to his graduation, if not to attend the ceremony but just to see him afterwards. Luckily for me, even though I was not on the list of family attending, I was waived ahead into the graduation hall. Having arrived at the crack of dawn ready to wait in a first-come, first-served line because I made up the 4th of 4 family members allowed, I was able to save some sweet seats for my Mom, Dad, and Patrick's girlfriend Catharine, right in front of where Pat's division was due to stand.
As I expected there was a lot of pomp and circumstance with the graduation ceremony including but not limited to short movies on the screens hanging on the walls showing the day to day life as a Seaman Recurit, speeches from important people heading the division, band playing, flag marching, and choir singing.

It seemed like an eternity as hundreds and hundreds of family members waited anxiously for the graduates to arrive. They kept the hall empty for half of the ceremony until they announced that the graduates were on their way across base and should arrive in 15 minutes. In what felt like 25 minutes they announced the graduates had arrived and opened up the large garage door in front of where we were sitting and began announcing the division numbers as the graduates marched into the hall in perfect formation, marching towards us and then to our right, down the hall and back around.

It was amazing and awe inspiring and I still choke up in my throat at the memory of their silouetes in the light of the garage door and seeing Patrick's division come marching in second. I did everything I could to take good pictures and video tape the best moments on a camera that could only capture 30 minutes of a 2 hour (?) period. Patrick was the tallest in his division and was easy to pic out again and again. Note the really tall guy, standing to the left of the flag below.


When Patrick's division came back to stand in front of us they handed over their long winter coats, stood at ease, (which to me still seemed like at attention) and then proceeded to stand there in that position for at least an hour, with more speeches and ankowledgement of specific graduates for their major accomplishments during their time in bootcamp.

Finally the graduation was finished and the announcer said the families could come down into the hall to greet their graduates. Catharine was down on the floor in a snap and in Pat's arms, followed by my parents, and because I was snapping pictures down the stairs, finally followed by me.

He looked wonderful, handsome, confident, and relieved to be done. He felt he had graduated when he received his cap that no longer said "Recurit" but "Navy" and he was glad we had come. He was surpised and glad to see me because he didn't think I would be able to come and especially since he had not put me down on the list of family invited. I gave him a huge hug trying not to cry (my throat hurt by the end of the day from my adam apple bobbing up and down, stopping the tears from welling up in my eyes).
He showed us how he had received an extra ribbon for achieving sharp shooter (not Sniper :D)and told us about what it was like to go through the battle stations senarios, how some of the other Seaman Recurits acted during bootcamp, and how he thought the whole processes was too easy and and how the Navy should have made it harder.

After lunch and a quick visit Patrick was supposed to head off to the airport to fly to Groton, CT to begin his "A School" at he submarine base there. He was irritated that he didn't get leave like many of the other graduates but as his family we weren't to be held back and got passes through airport security, allowing us to follow Patrick and his friends, after his arrival at the airport, to the USO office.

They let us sit in their resting room and we just chatted until it was dinner time.

After dinner we went with Pat to his gate and waited again to say goodbye. The camera thworted my efforts to get a picture of Pat going through gate, argh! We waited until his plane flew away and made our way back to our hotel where Catharine and I had a couple drinks from the bar and watched cable in our room reminising over the day.

-

It was a fast trip and I was sorry we had to go home so soon, but it was so special for me that I got be there for Patrick on his special day.

Rant From A Pretty Proud and Pissed Mom

Because of the email below Rob Bogart, the director of Detleft Schremp Foundation and the St. Patrick's Day Dash, is sending Padon a $100 gift card to Toys R Us for all the trouble I had and has sent my email to every coordinator and lead he was working with that day in an attempt to find out what was wrong because he said he had never heard of such a horrible experience in the 7 years he had directed the Dash. Wow!
Sent to the organizers of the Henry Weinhard's 25th St. Patrick's Day Dash:
This past December I entered my son in the Jingle Bell Dash but due to the snow we ended up in Seattle, traveling from Stanwood, an hour late of the race and missed it. I was really disappointed so you can imagine my excitement when my Mom asked me if I wanted to sign my son up for the St. Patrick’s Day Dash, there being a Leprechaun Dash this year that would be perfect for him; he will be 2 in June. I signed him up online, per the link she sent me January 13th. I was pretty excited until I started getting the emails, a month later, about registering (again?!) at stores near me where not only could I register my son but pick up his shirt and his number. When I called about picking up his shirt and his number I was informed I couldn’t because I hadn’t registered in the store and that since I had registered online I needed to drive the 48 miles from my house to Seattle the day before the race to pick up his shirt and number (what?!). So we did. I packed him up early thinking I would give my husband the Saturday off and we came down to the Seattle Center to pick up his shirt. There I had to tell three different people three times that we were there to pick up the Leprechaun run number and shirt. At the shirt table they were totally confused at what shirt to give him when I asked for the smallest size available. Luckily a gal walked up in front of us and informed the volunteers that there was a box of Leprechaun Dash t-shirts and to not give them to those adults that were to get a size small St. Patrick’s Day Dash shirt. After she finished and walked away the volunteer still tried to give us a small St. Patrick’s Day Dash shirt and I had to point to the box she had just pointed at and say, “Can’t we have the Leprechaun Dash shirt?, It’s for him” (feeling exasperated now) and I pointed to my son. He said “oh, yeah” and handed me the shirt.
The next morning we left our home really early to be sure to get into the City on time and due to traffic on Mercer and the snow we missed the Dash by 20 minutes. I was crushed, but I still had hope for the costume contest for I had put a lot of effort in making my almost two year old look like a Leprechaun for the Leprechaun run and the wonderful photo ops it was going to make. I went to Mercer and 3rd and while there was a ton of runners there wasn’t a volunteer to be found. I looked under all the empty tents with blank tables, looked for the person that was being broadcast over the speakers, and asked anyone who looked like a volunteer if they were a volunteer and if they knew where anyone having to do with the race and registration might be located. No one knew anything. I went back to the Olympic room to find Quadrant Homes located there and no sign referencing where to find the volunteers for the St. Patrick’s Day Dash. When I asked them for guidance I was told that they only knew information for those that had registered with them and they recommended going back down to 3rd and Mercer. So I did only to find, again, no one who knew anything about the race other than the color that they were wearing. All the while I could hear the person announcing over the speakers the after party for the racers at Pioneer Square. At this point I was beyond frustrated and fighting back the tears because not only did I miss the race, the prizes for my son in the kid’s dash, and the photo op, but was I missing the costume contest too?!
I called my sister to ask where she was located and she directed me to the south side of the fountain where surprisingly was located the stage where the person was broadcasting and a number of vendors handing out free goodies. Why did no one know about this?! The minute I saw my Mother and Sister and all the vendors and stage I started to cry with the amount of frustration I was feeling with the coordination of the St. Patrick’s Day Dash. My Mom, one of the volunteers, at not knowing when the costume contest was, went and asked someone at the stage and at her asking he announced that it would be at 10:15 in front of the stage. Relieved I took my son in the Center House where it was warmer and where he could stretch his legs after being confined for so long and I watched the clock sure to not miss the time and my last chance to get something out of the event. At 10:00 we were in front of the stage and just in time for the announcer to say that the costume contest was being moved indoors to the beer garden in the Flag Pavilion. I rolled us over to the beer garden to be turned away because minors were not allowed inside (what?!). I told the security checker that we had been told to come to the beer garden and after some prodding he said he would ask. He asked someone over his shoulder and proceeded to tell people who came up in costume that if they didn’t have id they couldn’t come in. I went back to the stage to ask the announcer again about the costume contest and he told me again it had been moved to the beer garden. I told him they were turning people away and he said he would find out what was going on. I was done keeping my son pent up and from there I let him out of the stroller and to play around the grass and in front of the fountain. We were in the rain for the next 40 minutes waiting as the volunteers and vendors were told to close up early, and another announcement was never made.
I know the race was to raise money for the foundation but what the foundation took from me, by not letting me enter my baby in the costume contest after I did all that work on his costume, traveling so far twice, and working so hard to find out where I needed to go, is something that they can't ever give back. I was astonished at the lack of communication all around between the volunteers and the groups assigned to various tasks of the event. How hard would it have been to give everyone the same packet of information? And why could there not have been volunteers posted to be Information Points along the main race point. If the fear was that they might be cold, don’t you think we all were, and my son was while I was trying to find a check point?

I hope this email helps guide you in ideas as you plan a better event next year.

My 1st X-rays

Ok, well I think I got my FIRST x-rays when I was about 9 or so and really sprained my ankle but I never saw them and I definitely don't remember the process. So this I am dubbing as my 1st x-rays. Update on X-Rays below:

I had to get them because my back has been bothering me more and more and I thought since I have the health insurance why don't I take advantage of the never ending ability to see the chiropractor. He wanted me to get x-rays, however, so he could be sure to adjust in the proper places and thus I had to go to the Bellevue Image Center today.

The doctor that took the X-rays was ok but I found it interesting that he seemed frustrated with me for not standing up straighter and for leaning. I was really trying to listen to what he was saying all the while thinking I'm in here because my back is bugging me, Maybe there is a reaon why I am having difficulty standing up straighter than I am already and no matter how much you pull on my head my neck isn't going to get longer.

I'm interested in what the chiropractor will say about them. So in my hip shot on the left hand side my hips are tilted so that my left hip is tilted away from my right hip making it look as though my left hip is narrower than my right. My back has mild scoliosis of which I need to do some core strenghening to help support the back bone and keep it from getting more crooked. And supposedly the orthodics I have been fitted for will help in both areas.



And my neck has a "leaning Tower of Pisa"look to it and has just about lost all of the "C" shapped curve. I missed posting the side picture of my neck which is too bad because you can see it gradually curving in the opposite direction of the way it is supposed to curve. I'm supposed to sleep with a towel rolled up and under my neck to help put the curve back in my neck as well as working on my posture. Very interesting. Most interesting, however, is if you really look at the vertebra right above my upper most ribs you can see the faint outline of two triangular shapped bones sticking out on either side. Those two bumps are the beginnings of a whole other set of circular ribs that started to form and then stopped. The chiropractor said it was interesting and probably a good thing that they didn't develop fully because there is no room there for another set of ribs and it would probably have been painful. Walter says he's proud to be married to a mutant. Nice!

Fun at Auntie Jane and Uncle Jason's House

Walter and I took an evening away to attend United Way's Spirit of Caring Award Ceremony where I had been nominated Campaign Coordinator of the Year and we left Padon with Jason and Jane for the evening. It was apparent when we came back that he had had an incredibily fantastic time.Dress up!
Time with the bunnies! Rock On!

Faux Hawks!

And danc'n, until they ran out of battery power, with the automated Nutcrackers. I totally need to get that on video sometime! Too funny.

Jane, Jason and Tooley were so wonderful to watch Padon and I am so pleased he had such a wonderful time. Padon was so excited to show us their apartment; it had been so full of so many special things.

~Thanks to Jane for the pictures!!!!!!!!~