Sneaky, Sneaky

As summer approached, Josh was pretty bummed about not being able to go back to CA for our annual trip. He is taking Master's classes, and not allowed to miss any, so we decided to stick around here for the summer.

The long face and puppy dog eyes got to me after a while. I hatched a plan to fly Josh's best friend in to surprise him. I admittedly have a hard time keeping "fun" secrets. Any type of really great gift is always given to the intended recipient long before the birthday commences. My mom had to force me not to give her Christmas present the day it arrived. Anyway, the ticket was booked late May, I had seven weeks to not blow the surprise.

The first six went by so quickly that I only almost messed up once. We were in the grocery store looking at a giant rack of ribs and I almost said "We can get that when Hartog is here". I caught myself in time and he did not catch on. The closer the date came, though, the harder it became. It is natural to plan the next week, and time and again I caught myself before the words came out. Getting him to the airport was also complicated. I ran down the list of people we knew that would make visits to MI, and his aunt and uncle were about the only solution.


Monday, we loaded up the car to head on out to the airport. Just as the plane arrived, little Bryce decided to have a major blow out. I told Josh to quickly run to the car for the diaper bag. He got back just in time, and I finished changing the diaper just as Hartog came through the revolving glass door.

It took Josh a minute to connect that his friend was here. He muttered "Dude" reminiscent of the Bud commercials and popped onto his feet. He thought that Hartog was just flying through and we happened to be at the airport. After the confusion settled, he finally started to see just how many people it took to keep it a surprise... I think for a long time he still expected his aunt and uncle to show up.

Special thanks to my parents for letting us use the van, Uncle Norm and Aunt Char for allowing us to use you as our visitors, Josh's parents for playing along and getting us to the airport, and friends that knew for not spilling the beans.


He actually leaves tomorrow, but what a fun week we have had. Lots of reminiscing, laughing, and relaxing. The decision was made that the reunion next year needs to be at Huntington Beach hotel. I guess we better start saving!

Slide Show

I am having too much fun taking pictures of two kids. If I could ever figure out how to get the camera to focus on two subjects it would be great. I need to read the instruction manual.


Anyway, here are a few from today. Sometimes I think Bryce looks like a cabbage patch doll.

Awesome Comb Over

Move over, Trump. There's a new comb over in town.

Confusion

We headed to the mall today. Central to this particular mall is a large elevator. Capacity would be comfortably around 15-20 people, and it has a large glass wall to view the journey and shoppers milling about. Every time we go Kayden needs to ride the elevator, so before we left we hopped on to ride up and down one time.

If you would ever like to see mass confusion, decide to stay on an elevator. No one knew quite what to do.

As the other elevator riders starting filing out, the people outside graciously stood back to let us exit. The door closed. They pushed the button and gave us a confused look. The door opened then closed faster than my explanation could prevail. I watched the door open and close three times.

A few pictures:

Facebook

I have been bugged to sign up. I signed up. Now what? I am not sure I get how this all works. Anyone care to explain?

What is the difference between this and myspace?

From Girls Night Out....

Click to make larger. Take a look at Chelle's blog for full details.

Foam party, anyone?

So You Think You Can Dance was on this evening, and it just got me thinking. I was watching a spandex clad male do ballet. Wait, let me back up.

This morning, I had a older male helping me in the swimsuit department. I dread the task anyway; I have no desire to have a male ask me what size I am. Call me sexist, but it just made me think that some things are better when left to the ladies:

Ice Skating

Pageants

Ballet

Cheerleading, thank you GW.


and finally, having babies. That is just wierd.

Slideshow without the Slide

I really need to figure out how to do a slideshow. A few new pics of the kiddos:

Blue Cotton Candy icecream remenant thanks to Maggie Moos.

Bubble Shattered

As Josh and I were taking a walk to get ice cream, we stopped to chat with a few neighbors we have not met before. I must preface this by sharing that most of the occupants on our street are much older, and almost never just outside as we often are. I see them in passing-usually as their garage door is shutting behind them. I grew up in a neighborhood where "everybody knew everybody". Summer days were spent sharing the street with bicycles, baseball bats, and clusters of parents idly chewing over the latest news, so this has been an odd transition.

Just as I was feeling confident in our new connection, they informed me at that the neighborhood watch had taken place a few nights prior. Lt. Adams had come to let all of us know we have a prostitution ring two streets over.

Bubble Shattered.

Then Josh went to get the oil changed this weekend, and came home with this:

It says KENTHOOD. A slip, perhaps, but not entirely untrue.

Grand Valley State University, circa 1997. I walked past two girls from my Biology class, and overheard them say,
"There is that girl from class. You know, the one who always wears black pants."

My mom and I were laughing tonight remembering that I wore black pants literally every day for about four years. The cut and style were different. Every last pair the same color. Joan, I know you are out there and remember this vividly. Not denim, nare a navy, not even a touch of pink...just black. Most days I topped it with a matching black shirt.

Why, you ask? My desire to be invisible and unnoticable. I thought by wearing black pants I would not appear to have the large backside I was so self-conscious about. Enter: Josh. His parents do not own anything in the color black. They would not buy him black clothing growing up. I perused his closet one day and found, wait for it, an extra tall polyester dark purple suit with matching purple tie and plum purple shirt. Can you just see it?

In a self-reflective moment not all that common here, I thank God for bringing me my opposite. Someone to bring out my colors. Make up for what I lack.

And just for the record, the purple suit was retired shortly after we were married.