Cold Spaghetti

Today is Bastille Day and, as one might expect for a French summer camp, there were school-related activities.  Sometime last week, Kate’s teacher sent home notes asking the students to wear costumes for Bastille Day for their party and parade.  Accordingly, I planned on not thinking about it until 8am this morning, roughly 30 minutes before leaving for school.

Thanks to a tu-tu stuck in the back of her closet, Kate was a cloud:

She is holding a Christmas ornament with a picture of herself in it at age 7 months.  I have no idea from where she took said ornament or why she insisted on posing with it this morning.

The white bracelet?  She made it at school last week.  I thought it gave her outfit just the right touch.

Remember this guy?

And the whole loose tooth thing?

Uh-oh. What’s this?

What happened at school today?

Uh-ho. I thought I’d have one more day!?

Roughly twelve hours until he wakes up tomorrow morning… anyone got advice? What does/did the tooth fairy do in YOUR house??

The most amazing part, to me, is that it happened without the influence of blunt force trauma.  That darn tooth just came loose.  The natural procession of things. One tooth moving out, making room for that adult tooth coming in behind it.

Which tooth?

The one on the left.

Remember that kid?  Yeah, well, he has a loose tooth.

And while I don’t necessarily feel old over the fact that my baby has his first loose tooth, I do suspect that in the same moment that little tooth started to wiggle, a dozen gray hairs sprouted on my head and my boobs sagged another inch.  The natural procession of things.

Surprise! Three part-time jobs, two kids, and one dissertation make the world a very busy place. Not that I am doing much on that last one. Thankfully, my one marriage is pulling through for me. Paul is agreeing that I should GO AWAY to write. The jobs are too demanding, the work continues to pile up, and the distractions are too plentiful. If I ever want to finish, I am going to have to fall off the edge of the earth.

Since it’s the New Orleans equivalent to dead of winter around here (in that it’s so stinkin’ hot tourists are frying on the sidewalk), local hotels have some great deals. Doesn’t it sound all romantic and artist-y to escape to the Quarter to write? (The mind boggles with wonder at how I will ruin what otherwise would be a perfect working escape.)

But wait! More surprises! Did you know that Monsters like to eat Poop? Yes, they do, according to Kate, who is the Household Authority on the habits of Monsters. As for me, all I can really say about Monsters is that when not terrorizing children’s dreams, they moonlight as Imaginary Friends. Watch out, because you might find that your chair at the dinner table is now THE MONSTER’S chair. That same Monster may forget to share when playing. He may also make horrible messes in bedrooms after tuck-in. But the biggest issue is that whole poop thing. Due to Monsters, an otherwise potty-trained little girl might just develop a toilet phobia surrounding her pooping.

And this means A LOT of surprises.

(Anyone out there in the interwebs tackled the Monster??)

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AND… it’s time for JUST POSTS! Check ’em out and send in your fabulous writing and reading!

Will’s life as a big brother goes something like this:

1. Kids are independently playing in public space.
2. Kate is run over by big kid.
3. Will is tasked with watching over his little sister.
4. Kids proceed to play extra cute.
5. Kate falls.
6. Will helps her up.
… and …

Poor kid. Every darn time.

Offered on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays: it’s JAZZERCISE with KATE!

Leg warmers optional.

Aerobics not your style?  Try some yoga with our own in-house Yogi…

… this is what we were doing.

Bugs or no, I am a beach girl.  I love the water, the sea shells, the sounds, the smells, the sand, and the sun.  At the beach, I can wake up and walk in the morning.  My hair naturally lightens.  My skin clears.  I loosen up.

Pools help, too.  Actually, in our scheme of beach days, pools are an absolute necessity.  Our perfect schedule: Beach first thing in the morning.  Move to pool late morning for snacks.  I go up to make sandwiches around noon.  Eat lunch around the pool and drip dry, then head upstairs for naps.  Late afternoon swim, movies after an early dinner, and everyone to bed at a reasonable hour.

We built different sand castles each day.  Here is the octopus.

Will and I snorkeled, used a net, or just reached down and grabbed up sand dollars and shells to decorate whatever creation Paul and Kate supervised on the beach.  (The big guy above has round shells on the ends of his long arms and sand dollar eyes.)

We took days off, too, to give us all a little break from the sun.  One morning we drove to Destin.  After missing out on a fishing boat trip (it filled up before we arrived), we went to play in the water fountains in Destin Commons, took our first-ever build-a-bear experience (Will’s dog has stars on him, has a surfboard and is named “Fred”, Kate’s dog has a t-shirt and is named “Boy.”)  Then we walked over to the movie theatre and saw “Up.”  The kids hugged their dogs, wore the 3D glasses, and took in all the movie without incident.

(This particular trip wasn’t without sacrifice… after we missed the boat, we had a little parking lot fender-bender.  Guy flying into the lot didn’t stop at the stop sign and Paul backed into him.  No damage to our car; his passenger door bent in.  We exchanged insurance information and Paul reported the incident immediately… we’ll see what happens next.)

Will and Kate were great play partners, particularly in public.

I had no idea there was a National Flip Flop Day.

I found at least 30 hermit crabs.  They were all over the sandbar, in every single shell I picked up, no matter how large or how small.  I took a few to shore for the kids to look at.

And also because this shell was the COOLEST SHELL EVER.  Paul called it Goth Crab, which was very appropriate.  The shell was actually darker (the umbrella is red and casts a red reflection on everything) — actually a black color — with spikes along the edge.  Seriously cool.  I secretly hoped this guy would hop in another shell or Paul would let us take him home.  (Both were equally unlikely.)

Isn’t that shell cool?

We let them run around in here for about 20 minutes before setting them free.

Here is the big fish.  Originally the idea was the have a HUGE mouth and put Kate inside.  Instead, Will and I found pointed sand dollar pieces to use as teeth on the bottom of the mouth (hard to see due to their color, but they are there!)  The boogie board became the fin, gills defined the sides.  He reminded us of the piranha fish in the Amazon.

Another off-beach day was at the Pensacola Air Museum.  Initially we were meeting my Mom here to bring her back to the beach with us.  She didn’t show, but we enjoyed the museum so much we returned on the way back to New Orleans on Sunday (with me limping along).  During our first visit we watched the 3D Grand Canyon IMAX movie, River at Risk, which we heartily recommend.  Both kids were awesome.

And they loved the overwhelming museum and the amazing exhibits.

The ocean was calm for the majority of our trip — so calm that we found it impossible to sneak out to go sailing (something we’ve been trying to do now for over a decade).  Well, technically we were thinking of going on our last afternoon after having an early dinner.  But we made the mistake of splitting a frozen adult beverage and were a little too fuzzy to sail afterward.

It was so clear that seeing all sorts of fish was incredibly easy. Just beautiful.

Will was determined to catch a fish.  I caught a jellyfish for him that he took to the beach and studied with several beach-friends, but managed to only catch fish when Will wasn’t around and I wasn’t trying.

The fish nibbled our feet.  It tickled.

We made drip castles, with steep walls in the front so that the water had to slowly work under and around the fort before taking it out.

I found another full sand dollar and a huge side of a shell.  Neither were found with the snorkel, though… my new friend is the net for shelling! (This makes me want to spend more time snorkeling there in the future — maybe out farther once Will is a little bigger and a bit stronger swimmer!)

Paul brought a shovel and dug wide holes in the shade for the kids to play.

They built castles and put chairs in their holes.

We didn’t sail, we didn’t kayak, we didn’t walk the Pier… but we swam, snorkeled, shelled, walked, flew kites, crabbed, watched movies, and had a wonderful time!

Weekend trip, Friday afternoon to Sunday evening.

2 Dads.  3 Moms.

7 kids. Ages 12, 7, 6, 5, 3, 3, and 2.

Out of tequila the first night.

Will rocks the beach.  He’s all about the accessories.

The beach was incredible.  I learned that winds from the north make the best beach days.  Absolutely no surf, perfect.

Our empirical findings were that ear plugs remain in the ear for 2.2 minutes longer with the head gear.

Plenty of time in the sea kayak.

Even for Bait.  I mean, Kate.

Kate loved the boat.  Plenty of opportunity to order Paul around.

Paul and I took a few trips out in the kayak together; once with the camera.

See the fish jumping?  They do that when there is a predator in the water.  We didn’t see anything.  Of course, I didn’t see the shark on the sandbar I happily swam out to, either, so my observational qualities may be lacking.

View from the 16th floor.  Bay on the left, gulf on the right.

See the sandbar?  It’s close.

We didn’t get out to the pier this visit.

We saw plenty of sailboats, particularly on the bay.  Maybe we’ll try and go sailing again next time we’re at the beach?

Kate asked to be a mermaid.

She LOVED being a mermaid.

I brought Plaster of Paris and the kids made hand prints (foot for Kate) in the sand.  They stuck shells from the beach in the plaster casts as they dried.  We did this last year so I guess it’s our new beach tradition?

That’s Kate’s foot and Will’s hand.

Paul brought the stunt kite, so when the wind picked up from the south on Saturday afternoon, he flew the kite a bit… with an audience.

Next week is the week between the end of school (tomorrow is Will’s last day) and the start of summer camp (on the 22nd).  We’re considering going back…?