The Battle of [the] Midway

The fair at night is always a battle; especially when you're young.  We fought our way through the hoard of secondary school students, only to be attacked by cotton candy and snow cones.  Fortunately we had fast bikes and a natural resistance to spun sugar and green colored ice.  As for the hoard, we had no defense.

The onslaught of the midway left us ready for a good night's sleep in preparation for our pilgrimage to the holy tarmac to witness not 1 but three super planes.  If you look closely, you can see the two sailors inside their careening Hornet, and no I didn't flip the image, they were inverted over the strip.  The amazing ones saw fit to make their newest creation all the more silent then their previous birds of prey.  Both Hornets and Raptors are capable of 50 mph power stalls the length of a runway.

F-18 Super Hornet

P-38 Lightning & F-22 Raptor

Molly's Vision and a cute new hair do...

As far as a vision update...  All I know is that Molly can get around just like any other kid.  She seems to see everything.  I know she can see as small as a piece of rice.  She likes to point at things, big or small.  She walks pretty steady.  She does not run into things.  And she very much likes to wrestle her brother.
We will go back to Philly in November for a check up. She just had an MRI in August, and the tumors all looked dead and there were no new tumors.  We will visit the ped. Ophthalmologist here in Omaha in a couple weeks.  I am sure he will address her slightly crossed eyes.  Surgery to correct this is still up in the air.  We are still trying to figure out if that is how she sees the best.  She seems to use each eye about 50% of the time.
She has decided to start communicating with us. 
uhm....a sound of agreement, was probably her first "word".  Now she sounds like she says thank you.  I feel like one day she is gonna wake up and tell me everything that has been on her mind!

Hair Do.....
I picked Molly up from school and new that her teacher Jill was there today!  Molly had cute little pigtails in.  Her teacher Kristi said it took both of them to hold her still long enough to get them in.  Which is why I never do it!!!

Jill used to get Marcus's hair like that!Except his were all over his head.

Molly also likes to sport the "something about mary" do.

This is the result of the bow being pulled out.  At least she always brings it to me.

Marcus's First Fish!

My dad sent me this picture that he took with his malfunctioning camera.  The shutters didn't quite open, but you can see that marcus caught his first little fish over Memorial weekend.  My dad is holding it, and taking a picture of Marcus, so there is a little magnified.  I am equally proud!!

Once upon a time

So way back when, apparently there was a major throw down involving the "I'm squishing your head!" and the hand dragon.  I don't remember who won.  Probably the hand dragon.

Maybe the random strangers did...


I wonder if there's a psychological condition for the need to take pictures of random people in airports with out them knowing.

Spitting and Kicking and Yelling and Screaming

So why is it we're programmed spit and kick and yell and scream?

Maybe it was some sort of original sin or evolutionary necessity, either way passed down by our ancestors.

Maybe we do it just because we can.

Either way, grandma still loves us.

I know that I can ask God

"I know that I can ask God to help me be kind."  It wasn't and admonishment, or a parental warning.  All the kids got one, it was part of the Sunday School materials.

Marcus asked for two Ruckus and Rowdy stories yesterday.  He slept really well last night, then crawled in bed with us around five.  People say he's my clone.  I say he's an improvement on the original.

Popsicles are the thing this year.  Why not?!  We all love them.  The Hy-Vees in town are carrying a brand of freezer pops (the kind that come in long little bags you freeze yourself) that have have like 10 distinct flavors.  They aren't just purple and red flavored.  Lime, Blueberry, Cherry, Orange, Grape, Peach, Pineapple, Banana... OK that's eight, so either I can't count or there's a couple more flavors.  Anyway they're awesome.  I'm still not sure if like the peach or pineapple.  To each his own.

Marcus and I went out in between rain clouds and practiced our bikes, "because we have too!"  First rain in a couple weeks and it was welcome.  But the grass is really long, and for some reasons dieing in strange spots across the backyard. I've got to mow and figure out the premature grass termination.  Maybe I'll figure out that Sheryl Crow's song "You're an Original" really does apply to me.  Until then I'll remain originally unoriginally yours.

Girl in a Pesant Dress

I pack it up and walk through the steam bath to my car.  The AC's out, or maybe it just can't handle 95% @ 104.  It's hotter in the car, maybe even wetter.  The stereo works, maybe a CD today or Marketplace, Kai Rissdal seems like a nice guy.

I pull in to the garage. Is it possible to be hotter?  Slam the door.  Did Kalee get the mail?  I go check.  It is hotter in the garage.  Better leave the door up a couple of inches maybe a breeze will catch and exchange some air.  I open the door to the house and go in side.

From around the corner I hear a crazy staccato drum beat on the hardwood floor.  Then she turns the corner.  She's all smiles.  "Heh he!" she squeals and sighs at the same time.  I pick her up, somehow her smile is even bigger (could it be possible?).  I give her a smooch, and wind up with a big slobbery ear.  She pushes on my chest.  She's done and wants to go back to what ever it was, that is still occupying her attention.

I'm rejuvenated, the hair on the back of my scalp is standing straight.  I sigh and think, I'm lucky.

Long Distance Lessons

An evening and three days and nights, 1800 miles, two tire patches, 3.75 gallons in a 3.5 gallon tank, and a set of speeding tickets: these were the components of a Labor Day weekend ride across the upper Missouri Valley.

Jaybird Grasshopper and Bates left after work on a Friday night; average speed 90; average speed limit 60. They made it to the Brewster.  Brewster doesn't have a gas station.  They don't have a bar.   They did have a dude ranch, with a gracious proprietor, who let them a room for the night, filled JG's flat tire with air, and gave Bates about 6 ounces of gas; that got the two of them to Valentine.  Bates put 3.75 gallons in his 3.5 gallon tank; JG let a "mechanic" pull and plug two holes in his rear tire, one glass and one metal.

After the visit to the mechanic and a Subway sub, the road took them to the Rosebud Indian Reservation.  A 40 year old land yacht lead them part of the way, and eventually they would meet again, just before crossing the badlands.  Who knew that German college students thought a cool thing to do was to buy an old American icon, and drive it from Boston to Seattle.  I didn't, but come to think of it, I'dve done it too.

Something else I didn't know: getting hit by a wasp, butt end first, in the temple, going 35 MPH is probably the most painful thing in the world.  Probably more painful than the shutting your fingers in the slats of a garage door (ask about that one another time).  Well yesterday afternoon, I got pegged in the chest by a bumblebee, but I didn't get the stinger, so it's all about the situation.

After the wasp-face incident in Rapid City, it was a short rip up US16 to Keystone, for Mt. Rushmore lighting ceremony, and much needed rest in an air conditioned room.  Bates left behind his Adidas goalie shirt.  Both were confused by how closed things were in a tourist trap on Sunday mornings.  A run down Needles Highway, lunch in Custer, and it was time to hit Devils Tower.  Only DT was closed.  Apparently some wussies thought it was too dangerous because some sort of prairie fire was coming up from the south and was gonna burn the volcanic monolith down to the ground, apparently.  Bates thought it was a scheme by the man to get off work early on a Sunday afternoon.

Third lesson came that afternoon.  Besides it being a bit of a jaunt from DT to Chadron, if you ever see more than one car at a time, it's because those two are being followed by a Trooper.  Turns out going 90 in a 65 is frowned upon in Wyoming.  But since the guys were willing to look for their license, insurance and registration, and were wearing helmets, they got off with just a hand slap 75 in a 65 (Funny, insurance never found aout about that one, Wyoming is a great State).  Oh ya, fourth lesson: the high plains are cold after sundown.

Lesson 5: If you ever ride from Chadron to Eastern Nebraska on Hwy 2, remember that each gas station is about 60 miles apart.  If you can only get 120 miles per tank, then you better fill at ever station, or you may just be walkin' a bit.  Lesson 6: God does hate you, if the one day you travel East, He decides to have that be one of the three days a year the wind comes from that direction.

Sum it up: 1800 miles -- sweet; out of gas and a flat -- suck; Badlands, Back Hills, Devils Tower + 120 MPH -- sweet; two cars in a row in Wyo -- suck.  Lessons learned: more than six I'm sure.

Tell me about Ruckus and Rowdy

"Tell me about Ruckus and Rowdy daddy, " Marcus asked the other night.  I think it had been at least a month since I made up one of those bed time stories, and this time the two protagonists where Ruckus and his sister Rowdy.  Some time I'll have to ask Marcus if he thinks their names sound like his and his sisters.

===

"Ruckus and Rowdy, were brother and sister, and they were naughty.  When dinner time came, they would jump out of their seats, and run around shouting with outside voices.  Rowdy wouldn't eat her vegetables and Ruckus would throw his empty plate on the floor.  When Ruckus and Rowdy went to school, they wouldn't share, and they would take the toys that other boys and girls were playing with.  Ruckus and Rowdy were sad because no one wanted to play with them."

"Rowdy," Ruckus said, "how come nobody wants to play with us."

"I donno, " Rowdy responded.  "Do you think it's because we don't listen to our teachers and to mommy?"

"Maybe, " said Ruckus, "we should be nice and helpful."

So the next day Ruckus and Rowdy were very helpful, and shared their toys.  They both ate their whole supper, and their mom was so happy, that they both got to have a popsicle.  When the arrived at school, everyone was happy to see them, and they all played together and had a wonderful time.

===

Marcus slept really good that night.

The talented Mr. Marcus and the Zoo again!!

Marcus is very interested in drawing, paniting, stickers, scissors,  and pencils on walls, whatever he can get his hands on.  He is also very able to reach, just about, every surface in my house.  So pens, pencils and markers are often available to him.  He need this label:
*WARNING ALL TIME WITH MARKERS MUST BE SUPERVISED*

It is kind of hard to see, but Marcus drew up and down both legs. Fortunately this time it was a dry erase marker!

Here is Marcus with stickers on every finger!  He had some help...

...and so did I!  If ya can't beat em, join em!  I look crazy in this picture.

I bought this silly boat at a garage sale when Marcus was little, now Molly loves it.  It doesn't do anything.  The switches and horn don't work.  Never did.   But for some reason they both have loved this silly little boat. 

Maggie and Molly at the zoo, patiently waiting while Maria took Charlie and Marcus to ride the...

...carousel of course!  We also rode the train today.  That was fun, and a first for me!