Insomnia

I have it.

She does not.

Need a Ride?

Last night Richard casually said "A Blackhawk is picking me up for work tomorrow.  At the park." 

I stopped fiddling with the laundry and stared at him. "What are you talking about? Tomorrow? Our park?Huh?"

"Yeah, tomorrow.  It's for a mock disaster exercise.  It'll be here around 9:30."

I stared some more.  "What are you talking about?  Our park? What?"

He tried not to laugh at me as he explained that, in case of a state-wide disaster, major roads would be closed and the key military leaders would need to be able to get to work to take care of disaster-solving stuff.  So, if he couldn't drive to work, the National Guard would come to him, via a Blackhawk helicopter landing at the park not two blocks from our house.

I questioned him a bit more and then said, "you're just NOW telling me this?"

Turns out he didn't really want us to know any time in advance 'cause he knew we (the kids and I) would get so excited.  I said we needed to let all the neighborhood children know because that would be oh-so-cool to watch through their little eyes.  He told me "no."  I wasn't to tell anyone because, and I quote, "I am NOT a spectacle."

Well, I convinced him that at least a few neighborhood children would need to know, so I told a couple of OUR children, and they helped to . . . ahem . . . spread the word, if you will.

Also, as a side note, he was leaving for Washington D.C. today, from wherever the mock-disaster-headquarters would be and so he would need to take his suitcase to the park and it would ride along with him.  As we left the house this morning I assumed we would walk the 10-house distance to our park, but he loaded the bag and the kids into the car.  I insisted we walk because it was a beautiful morning.  He used the "spectacle" word again.  I told him Coop could pull the rolling suitcase a few paces ahead of us on the walking trail and no one would be the wiser.

It was still a no-go.  The kids happily rode their bikes to the park, and we followed "inconspicuously" in our very-large, seats-eight vehicle.

We hadn't been there but a couple of minutes when it came flying in.  Loud and windy and awesome. Friends that I had leaked the news to stood around.  People from the surrounding houses flowed out wearing their pajamas and jutted their chins toward the sky.  Children pointed.  The air churned. Adults cheered.  The blades thundered above. We all waved.

It was quite a spectacle.

THREE Peas in a Pod?

Although Cooper likes playing Army, he's not consumed by it.  However, when his brother is around then Cooper's more "into" Army stuff than usual.  And big brother got it from daddy of course.

And no, his mother does not approve of the weapon. 

Here Comes the Bride

My mom and I took a quick trip to Oregon this past weekend to celebrate Jordan and Alex's wedding. Austin was there as well, although he didn't travel with us.  Jordan is my nephew, and is just six days younger than Austin.  His brother Brandon had flown all the way from Germany, and his father from North Carolina.  His sister Amber lives in Oregon, so no traveling for her.  I must admit that seeing her darling little children was as much fun as the wedding festivities.  Oh my, they're cuter-than-cute and are welcome to live with Aunt Rhonda any time.

Jordan (way on the quiet side) and Alexandria (not at all on the quiet side) looked extremely happy and had lots of friends and family show up to celebrate their union.  Mom and I and Jordan's other grandma helped out in the kitchen before-hand, then sat and watched the show the rest of the night.

Austin was Jordan's best man, and he quickly made friends with Jessie, one of Alex's cousins who was her bridesmaid.  They decided to pair themselves up for the bridal party entry.  Turns out Jessie lives not far from us and so she and Austin have kept the friendship going.

All of Amber and Seth's children are exactly two years apart, and so while we were there they were all within a week or two of celebrating their birthdays.  Kase 5, Grant 3, and Molly 1.  Kase looks like his dad, and Grant looks like his grandpa.  Molly looks like an angel (she actually looks a lot like her mommy did when she was little.)  Both boys are obsessed with tractors and heavy equipment like their daddy.  Grant's voice is deep and raspy and he doesn't know the color green as "green."  Instead he identifies it as "John Deere."

Cute Kase

Goofy Grant

Munchkin Molly

Molly warmed up to me quickly because I shared my food with her.  At the wedding reception she was happy sitting on all her out-of-town relatives' laps as long as they were keeping her mouth full.  Later she decided to chase (in a crawling sort of way) the sparkly dance-ball reflections on the floor.  The two boys finally gave in to Austin's urging and joined him on the floor to dance.

Magic

A few months ago, when it was still very cold, Cooper and I went for a drive.  I circled through a neighborhood where I had, years before, seen a lovely home and fallen in love with Highland.

Just a few blocks away, we followed a road to its dead end and admired the beautiful deer among the brush that watched us with their big soft eyes. 

And we read a sign that announced a park behind all the trees and shrubbery and grass.

The gates were closed and we determined immediately to return when the sun brought warmer weather.

So, a few days ago we went back.  We parked in the little dead-end parking area and walked down the narrow path and around the bend, and there before us was a huge - by many acres - park with pavilions, benches, play sets, trails, stretches of lawn, and a whole pond with docks that stretched over its surface.  And the pond was stocked with fish.  It was no secret garden to be sure, as groups of children cast their bait and mommies took pictures of their darlings toddling around.  Teenagers threw frisbees and men

 lounged beside the water.  It was magical.

Until Maia came screaming that she had lost her shoe between the boards of a dock and now her bejeweled flip flop was floating in the depths. I immediately thought she'd just have to be careful of broken glass and thorns while she finished our jaunt with just one shoe.  But there was no need for the worry, because Cooper was on the job in an instant.  He reached beneath, and prodded between, and stepped among, and finally brought the flip flop up from the water, dangling from a large stick.

We ended the evening just playing on the old metal set of slides and monkey bars.

It was magical.

Photography by Ivy

while shopping with mom and dad for peony plants