Behold that carnage that is a 4 year old birthday party. And by “birthday party” I mean, we let Jack invite two friends over. I took this picture when Jack said, “Mama, I left my lego guy downstairs, can you please get it?” And guess what, I found it! Take that needle in a haystack.
In other news, sweet Lucy turned 2 today. The posse of kids baked her a cake, and that was a big hit. My milestone was that I finally accepted that Lucy is crazy, and that probably isn’t going to change. So what?
Dave and I had an odd conversation today.
Dave: Did you feed Lucy? Her bowl is empty.
Me: Yeah I fed her and I left the food outside. That’s probably why she wanted to go out as soon as we got home.
Dave: She was out with the food the whole time we were gone…
Me: I know, but she came in, got all excited when she saw us and then went straight back out, probably to eat her food.
Dave: Remember how Bean used to do that?
Me: No. He never did that.
Dave: Yeah, we’d feed him and he’d wait till we got home to eat, just in case. Like, “Oh they came back! I don’t need to save this food anymore!”
Me: Nope, that’s what Lucy does. That is what I was just describing.
Dave: Really?
Me: Yes, Bean ate all his food within two minutes of being served.
Dave: Oh yeah.
So if I had been blogging during all of Bean’s life, I could link to the time he ate an entire chicken, the time he ate a bag of chocolate chips, the many dog food buffets, the time he got really fat, and the cookie story. OK, I can link to the cookie story, and in reading it, I was reminded of the time Bean and Killian stole 20 pieces of fried chicken off the stove, ate what they could and stashed the rest behind the refrigerator. That must have been what Dave was thinking of.
The imagination fireworks were tolerable on July 4th because we has already seen a great fireworks show on the 2nd. We were driving around Silverthorne and we passed a sign that said, “Never Forget.” Sort of vague, huh? We wondered what we weren’t supposed to forget. The Declaration of Independence? The Revolutionary Way? 9/11? Pearl Harbor, The Alamo? I read an article later in the day that said the fireworks display was a tribute to The Troops, about whom we should never forget. That’s an especially good reminder for me, because I ran into one soldier in particular this past weekend who said, “I’m still waiting for those cookies.” Oops! (Disclaimer: I support the troops.)
First we were going to try to see the fireworks from our campsite, then we briefly considered going with friends to their friend’s house, but then we remembered we had the dog, and the bikes, and maybe no locks, so we went back to plan A. But the kids thought they were going to miss the show and everyone was stressed out and crying when we just decided to drive right down into the middle of the Support the Troops celebration, and park ourselves and our crazy dog on a blanket by Lake Dillon. Actually we sat on half the blanket, with Luke on Dave’s lap and Jack on mine, and the blanket folded over us. Because it was dark, and freezing, and windy. And Lucy is crazy, so we found a spot way off to the side, not even facing the direction where all the rest of the people were. There was even a stand of trees in between us and the 4th of July Never Forget Celebration, so we figured the fireworks would be on the other side of the trees. So we snuggled, and we watched the boats and we waited for the fireworks to start. We didn’t know how Lucy would react since last year the fireworks were rained out, but BOOM, all of a sudden the show started, and we had the prime viewing spot. And then it was SWARM, SWARM! We were suddenly surrounded on all sides by people rushing to the prime spot to get the best view. Turns out, Lucy does not like fireworks, and she started shaking, so we squished her body between Dave and I, and her head between Luke and Dave. No time to act ferocious to random dogs, too busy trembling.
At this point, the wind stopped, and I realized we’d get through the fireworks without Lucy causing a scene,and we had a good view, and everything was right in the world. Except, I was sort of sitting on a stick, and the way Jack was leaning on me was sort of uncomfortable, and I couldn’t straighten my back at all. But we were all close and snuggly, and this was the sort of fireworks show that stands out. Because the best way to enjoy fireworks, is to be constantly berated about how much you should be enjoying them. It was really dark, and I could barely move my neck, so I didn’t get to see who was talking, but I was guessing it was a drunken lady, with a deep and commanding voice. It went like this.
DRUNKEN LADY:YOU SHOULD THANK YOUR TROOPS FOR THESE FIREWORKS!
Crowd: Awkward silence.
DRUNKEN LADY: THE TROOPS KEEP YOU FREE!
DRUNKEN LADY: YOU OWE THE TROOPS YOUR FREEDOM!
Crowd: Murmuring
DRUNKEN LADY: ONLY IN AMERICA
Me: giggle
DRUNKEN LADY: YOU BETTER ENJOY THESE FIREWORKS
Random person in crowd: We’re trying!
DRUNKEN LADY: YOU ARE AMERICANS!
Me: Not me, I’m from Canada.
DRUNKEN LADY: YOU OWE THE TROOPS! THE TROOPS KEEP YOU FREE!
Dave: Is this going to be one of those stories we tell forever?
DRUNKEN LADY: YOU BETTER ENJOY THIS FOR THE TROOPS! YOU CAN ONLY SEE FIREWORKS IN AMERICA!
Luke: And China, where fireworks were invented.
And, scene.
Yes, the July 2nd fireworks show was one we will never forget.
>When I was little, I once told my parents that I knew what my grandparent’s dog was thinking. It wasn’t earth shattering, I just told them the dog wanted to go out. They asked how I knew that and I said, “He said, ruff ruff, I want to go out.”
They laughed and they laughed. And laughed. Still a funny story, 36 years later.
Yesterday I was wondering what I was thinking when I said that. Was I incredibly bored at my grandparents house and looking for something interesting to do? Could I actually read the dog’s mind? Was I very precocious and adorable? A big fat liar?
And why was I contemplating this? Oh, just a little something Jack said,
“Mommy. Lucy says she wants to watch the Empire Stripes* Back. Right Lucy? Yeah, she says she does.”
* Not a typo.
>Running out of ideas here for blogging into the future, so I am going to go with an old standby. Awww, Bean and Jack!
Aww, Lucy and Jack!
Aww, Luke and Bean!
>
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| From 2010 |
This weekend is birthday-tastic! Today is Lucy’s birthday, and she got some indoor dog toys for the special occasion!
Tomorrow, I am going snowboarding with Laura for her birthday, yea!!!
And Sunday I will be using my new mixer (YEA!) to prepare for Jack’s birthday.
>
Know how to solve that riddle? Well you would need to if you were checking into a hotel with Jack and Lucy in the rain, parked in a mud puddle, with a car full of food. I’ll spare you the details until later, when it’s hilarious. For now, the picture will have to do.
>Everyone has been asking what I plan to do with my free time with the boys gone. I wasn’t really sure, but as soon as I was along in the house, I went to the bathroom without anyone coming in to talk to me, or asking if they could sit on my lap. After that all my dreams for my alone time were fulfilled and I wasn’t sure what to do next.
So I figured… pedis! I dropped Lucy off at Laund R Mutt for a bath and a nail trim and I went to Poshe for a pedicure of my own. Then Lucy and I unpacked all the camping gear and cleaned out the van. As a reward for my hard work, I went to get a massage. Ahhh. Girls’s weekend.
Today, the two of us are having a great time cleaning out a bunch of toys from the boys rooms. Won’t they be so excited to come home and have so much more space? I decided it was time to call it quits when I found myself putting more than 2 seconds of thought into, “How many bouncy balls should I keep and how many should I give to charity?” (But really, how many?)
Actually, the real reason I just flew up the stairs in a frenzy, and then needed to decompress by writing a blog post was this: Skunk. I was in the basement, and I started to smell a bad smell, that was sort of like cigarette smoke. Then it got a little stronger and it smelled faintly skunky. By the time I started to notice Lucy whining, and I wondered if I had closed the back door, the smell had grown to a presence. I could see it, and feel it and I was scared. I booked up the stairs and headed for the door, which was open. Lucy was just standing in the middle of the room looking worried. I shut the door and decided I needed to face that smell. I walked right up to her and stuck my nose in her freshly bathed fur and breathed in. Sweet, sweet dog shampoo smell. Sweet relief. I think the problem was that I had the fan sucking in air from the backyard, and a skunk definitely sprayed something nearby. But thank GOD it wasn’t Lucy. And I certainly don’t keep a score in my head about who is a better dog in certain categories, (because that would be crazy) but if I did, I would have to give the point to Lucy over Bean in Avoiding Being Sprayed By A Skunk.
Now that I have had my spa day, and my getting rid of massive amounts of toys day, what could possibly be next for tomorrow? Not even I know.
>There were some great suggestions that I just sew the zebra blanket onto the new bed, and I have to say that’s a great idea! (Thanks Molly and FoW!) Of course, we had already implemented a MetaMegan style version of that idea.
Busted chewing on a shoe! It’s come to the point that we wander the yard aimlessly searching for lost items before we bother looking in the house. Then we finally ask Jack where stuff is and he tells us.
In other news, today is the start of the big bike ride!!!! Once we finish working, packing, cleaning out the car, packing the car and whatever else, we are going to drop Dave off at the start of the Colorado trail. Good luck Dave!
>I haven’t quit gotten around to making a dog bed, since all my energy for 2 days was focused on making a sleeping bag. Here is Lucy on the fabric and pillow that I purchased in January:
Long story short, she mostly ate that bed because I had never sewn it up. Or because she’s a puppy. Thus began my long quest to find a cute dog bed. The thing is… most of the beds I had seen at Petco, Petsmart, Target, Costco, and the vast internet were, well, ugly. And even if I could convince myself to spend a lot of money on an expensive, but fabulous and modern dog bed, yeah, I’m not gonna do that. And those weren’t exactly the cutest things ever. THEN I read that Martha Stewart is designing dog accessories for Petsmart. The cupcake was hard to resist. The robe, even harder. But the beds… Ugh. I mean, it was a beautiful color, and it looked delux. But I don’t want to spend $45 on something that is going to get covered in dog hair. Don’t get me wrong, if it came in Martha’s minty green color, it would have been a different story.
Then I found an adorable bed for $14.99. Lucy loves it. See?
MetaMegan 