"you want to go - where?"

Husband and I celebrate our 9th anniversay this weekend.

Last weekend, in anticipation of the event, he asked me the big Q:

"What do you want to do this year?"

*

I've had a weird craving for water.

I was raised east coast, with the waves and dunes on the beaches.

Since leaving the coast, I've lived on the gulf, and after that landlocked to places like colorado and tennessee. Don't get me wrong, I love colorado, and easily became a mountain gal. If we were to move again, thats where we'd go.

But there's a part of me that is needing the ocean waters.

*

My suggestion to Husband was that we drive to North carolina for the weekend.

Find a cozy little place to stay on the beach, and watch the waves till we get seasick.

He thought that sounded crazy.

"You want to go WHERE? you DO realize theres a level 4 hurricane out there right?"

In my mind that makes it even better.

and besides, That ol hurricane is OFF the coast, not expected to make landfall near NC, but wow what waves we'll get !

Husband actually agreed, telling me to set it up.

:)

Not too many people will head INTO a hurricane for a honeymoon vacation.

call me crazy. yes it's true.

But being an East coast gal, I've weathered more than my share of ocean storms.

and loved every one.

There's also something of an adreneline junkie hiding inside this 'domesticated' mommy of 2.

every so often we have to let her out or she does something REALLY reckless.

*

So I got online, and found a cozy little cottage to rent for the night, complete with ocean view, jacuzzi, a view of the cape hatteras lighthouse.

Called a few relatives to see about a babysitter for the kids.

One said she'd keep the kids saturday afternoon to sunday afternoon.

well. considering that NC outer banks is about a 10 hour drive-

there went the coast plan.

by the time we got there, we'd be able to take a few dark pictures, listen to the waves crash, take about a 3 hour nap, and head back.

Bummer.

*

So, plan B is to look around locally, see what kind of day trip we can pull off,and have a nice lunch somewhere. We are already planning the NC trip for next year, on our 10th, and we'll be taking at least two nights, and will plan a sitter that will be able to cover this time for us ,worry free.

*

Husband is disapointed, (as am I of course) He allows me to choose our events like this so he knows I'll be happy,no matter what kind of crazy I decide to throw us into. What he doesn't seem to realize is I'm happy anyway. I married the man I love, and in the past 9 years we have really had some tough times,in finance,location, parenting, and our own relationship as well. We've overcome them all, and come out the other side a stronger team for it.

I think he's almost more disappointed by the fall of our plans, because he knew I was, and its hard to come up with a last minute great plan.

*

We had hoped for time away by ourselves, a mini vacation just for us. no phones or doorbells ringing, no internet to distract me (guilty as charged).

The children will still be going to the sitter for the night.

we WILL have our time, and while he does some work helping friends move,

I'll be setting up our home vacation.

A ride on the motorcycle,nice dinner, a mellow bonfire, cuddle time in the hammock,

perhaps a walk in the woods.

After all, those are the things that brought us together to start with.

in retrospect, going into a hurricane for a mini-honeymoon could be somewhat symbolic of the storms we've already managed- but it could also be symbolic of more to come .

why invite it?

*

Happy 9th babe. Love you as much as the first day, and would marry you every day after.

Finally!

We have FINALLY succeeded in bringing home a LIVE 'suckerfish'!!

I know, you folks are probably burnt out on this fish topic.

Unless the thing changes colors or does weird tricks, this should be the end of it.

you never know around here!

*

Son and I made a leap by going to a different pet store , and getting a different type of algae eater. It may outgrow the tank, but if it does,we have some friends who may just be asked to adopt it to their huge tank.

*

So far its adjusted well, its got plenty of "scum to suck", and the other fish aren't harrassing it too badly.

though it does seem to enjoy the frog's hiding areas.

We'll see how it does here in the nut house, if it adapts any weird habits, i'll be sure to share!

the suckerfish saga continues !

I'm just not sure why we can't seem to get this right.

I took the dead fish back to the petstore, told the woman what happened.

she said

"well the fish suck the bag, get out of the water n die.water moves, fish stay stuck on bag."

oh no.... we hadn't thought of THAT. and of course they hadn't told us that.

*

so today we tried again. she gave us another fish, and son was SO very careful all the way home to make sure that when the fish moved, it was still in the water.

*

we got it home with no troubles, but as soon as we got into the house and ready to put it in the tank- it went belly up.

I didn't even get the bag OPEN this time!

*

aargh!!

so we wracked our brains.

only theory we came up with was that the fish was sucking the bag all the way home-

THAT can't be good for it.

*

tomorrow's adventure:

we take a prepared JAR with us to take the fish home in.

it will stay in the water, and it will not be sucking plastic.

we even placed a rock in the jar- pre-algaed, to be sure it won't starve.

I have never had this much trouble getting a fish home!

Calvin? Is that you?

My lil guy LOVES to roam in his "unders".

Every chance he gets, he is running around with no pants.

*

My sister in law also shops for my kids, due to the fact the spend alot of time with her,

and she's something of a yard sale addict- if she finds a deal in the kids sizes, she snags it .

(i swear my kids are set for clothes until they each turn 10 or more)

She'll also pick up good deals in the stores regularly.

*

So, when my kids spend a night with her, I get surprised upon their return with what they are wearing home. Its usually one of her incredible deals. (dunno HOW she does it)

*

My Son dresses himself each morning.

I had to take Daughter to a class last night, and he had cleaned up and changed his 'unders' for bedtime.

This morning when he got up he was wearing only a pair of CalvinKlien underwear.

Bright red- with ol Calvin's name stitched largly into the band.

*

I couldn't resist.

"good morning Calvin"

"Who's Calvin mama?"

"well YOU must be Calvin, you're wearing his unders, says his name all over them."

*

Son jumps up and looks ta the letters around his hips, and says

"NO mama I'm still ME."

:) " well, then why are you wearing Calvins unders?!"

"these are MY unders mama!!"

"but they have Calvins name on them- they can't be yours. Did you steal Calvins unders?"

*

This is when the lightbulb goes on.

he starts grinning at me and says "oh, yea I did. they didn't fit him anymore"

so i ask him who Calvin may be. a friend at school? maybe church?

"no mama...... um I don't know. who is he? why did he put his name on my unders?"

*

Here's the who- why's today.

I spend the next ten minutes explaining to my inquisitive child that Calvin Klien is the man who designed the unders. he also makes jeans and shirts. Its the name of his company, so they put his name on all of it.

*

So our little joke today is that his name is calvin.

he won't answer to his given name.

today, he is calvin.

I have a funny feeling EVERY time he wears these, I'll be convinced he's ignoring me until I figure out what unders he has on.

suckerfish tragedy !

Son and I went to the pet store today to finally buy the 'suckerfish'.

When the woman caught it in the store, it was pretty lively.

It only took us 20 minutes to get home.

When we got home, we opened the top of the bag, and let the bag float in the tank,

just like you should with any new fish, so they can adjust to the water temps.

When the timer went off, we slooowly turned the bag, and let just a little water in at a time, again, so not to shock it.

it went straight for the side of the tank, and we could see it doing its thing,

sucking the algae.

next time we looked into the tank, it was eating off the filter case.

cool.

about ten minutes later, Son comes to me and says "mama, i think its sick"

wha?

so we go to check on the fish, and its belly up on the bottom of the tank.

oh nooooo!

oh yes. the fish died.

because I had no time to take it back today, I put it in a small baggie of water for tomorrow.

asked Son if he was ok, being that he'd waited so long to get a 'suckerfish'.

"oh yeah mom I'm fine, I'm not the one dead. I feel sorry for that little fish"

me too pal. I also feel sorry for the woman at the pet store who is going to replace the fish tomorrow! (this particular shop is not known for generosity when it comes to returns, but i've managed them quite well so far.)

bummer. but we'll try it again.

because everyone knows we need more odd animals in the nut house , right?

The dog has separation anxiety !

He's truly driving me crazy.

Why ME?

Because I happen to be the one in the house the most.

Apparently while we were on vacation, he had some serious bonding time with Husband.

Husband took him out to our freinds house- which is actually two homes on connecting lots. Our friends, in both homes, each have two dogs. they are all females. ours is male. they LOVE to run and play together- there's enough room they can get away if they have to, so no one gets crowded and cranky. there's about a total of 8 acres, plus creek and alot of mud.

myself and the children were gone almost 3 weeks. Husband took the dog out to our frinds' at least twice during that time. along with a ride to dump the trash, over to visit with a co-worker, and Who knows where else.

keep in mind, our 5 acres is not fenced, and goofy dog likes to chase cars. we have to keep him tied when he's outside. he has a nice long run-line, but he doesn't get the freedom of running silly-nilly all over the place at full speed (the speed of light ,I tell you- he's fast!)

We also don't usually take him in the car with us- he tends to hop the seats and scrape the kids in the process, so Husband has a work truck he takes the dog in.

When we were gone, Husband said the dog was a little mopey, looking for the kids.

It seems he got over it as the time passed, as Husband took him everywhere to play.

since we've been home, the dog has shown signs of separation anxiety.

I kid you not people.

When Husband leaves for work (or anywhere else) the dog sits and whines until he comes back.

When the children leave for church or playdates- the dog paces , and whines until they get back.

If I leave, and no one else is home, when I drive back up to the house I can hear him howling.

Even when we put him outside on his run-line, if he's out for more than ten minutes he howls.

when he comes back in, he acts as though he'd been out for a month with no people.

its pitiful, really, but also heartwarming to know he's missed us so much.

on the other hand- he's driving me CRAZY with the whining and howling.

"is it REALLY real?"

while we were on vacation this summer in florida,

my son grew a new question for his growing collection.

He's gone through the "why, how, when, where" to the point we've been hoping for a new one.

while visiting my parents, there was a space shuttle launch.

Like any 5 year old, this fascinated my boy.

for 3 days, we watched the NASA channel- and for 3 days the shuttle launch was delayed for weather conditions.

my parents made a comment about being able to see the shuttle from the back porch of their home. Its not a close view, but you can see the smoke and the path line as the shuttle rises far far in the distance.

we turn on the tv to watch the beginning of the launch- the 'cool' part.

my son doesn't realize that to see it from the porch we have to wait a few minutes, so it can get high enough to be seen such a distance away.

3.... 2....1....

and the flames shoot out and it lifts up....

my son is a frantic maniac now, he's running from the tv, to the porch,

"where, where, where?! "

we tell him it'll take a minute, go ahead and watch it on tv, we'll call you when we see it.

he gives me a weird look. "is this really real mama?"

of course it is son, they're sending astronauts to the space station.

"really?"

finally we can see the smoke line, and call him outside-

its so far we could barely make it out.

he takes a look, "oh yea i see it- thats the spaceship on tv?"

yep- thats it.

"really?"

YES thats it.

"oh" and he runs back to the tv.

(because he can see it better there!)

it struck me this is the first time he really associated things on tv being broadcast live.

in real life, not animation or pretend- "really real."

it was neat that he could see it on tv, and in real life at the same time.

This "is it really real?" questioning has gone on and on.

we watched 'pirates of the caribean' (again) and he asked if it was really real.

no son, thats just a movie about pirates, thats a pretend story.

we watch 'funniest home videos'

"is that true life?"

haha, yes son, thats real, people send their funny movies in, like mama makes of you.

just about everything we see on animal planet, discovery, or TLC:

"is it real"

through out the rest of our visit, we watched ALOT of NASA.

the launch and actions of the crew were broadcast live, and my son couldn't get enough of it.

he loved watching them float around, all the views of earth from the shuttle..

and of course, he always asked if it was real- because it was on tv.