Budgeting

It’s funny how Facebook cuts into my blogging. I hardly ever post here anymore, because everything gets posted there. I need to download all my status and post the appropriate ones here. But I digress….

Today’s post will be way to long for a Facebook status, which is why I’m writing here. It’s about going to the store with David, to do some Christmas shopping. You see, this morning, I came up with a great idea for him and Leah: first, I’d go to the bank and withdraw $40 in singles. Then I’d take them each to the store (separately, of course), hand them each twenty $1 bills, and allow them to pick out Christmas presents for each of the other four members of our nuclear family. Since Anna was already taking Leah shopping for birthday-party stuff, the opportunity was perfect for David to go first. (Naomi came, too, but she obviously didn’t know what was going on.)

When we first walked into the store, I asked David who he wanted to shop for, first. His response: “Naomi.” I then asked which part of the store he wanted to shop in, for Naomi. His response: “where the baby stuff is.” I figured the toy department would be a better bet, but he was in charge, so off we went. Turns out my son knew better than I.

As we entered the baby section, David’s eyes immediately caught a large baby toy on the top shelf. He was sold: “get that!” I informed him that that toy was $17, that if he bought that for Naomi, he’d only have $3 left for the entire rest of the family. He still wanted it, though, so I placed it in the cart, then counted aloud as I took $17 of his $20, one bill at a time. As he stood there with only $3 in his hand, the reality seemed to sink in a little. “Are you sure,” I asked him again, “that you want to get that big toy for Naomi, or would you like to look for something smaller, so you have more money for everyone else?”

He understood, replying, “something smaller.” I placed the large item back on the shelf, returned his $17, and guided him to some smaller toys. He first chose a $10 item, but when I asked if he was sure, moved down to an $8 item. I repeated the earlier exercise, placing the $8 toy in the cart and counting eight of his dollars aloud, as I took them. I again asked if he was sure and pointed out a $4 toy. He loved the idea, exchanged the $8 toy for the $4 toy, and I returned four of the dollars I’d taken. He was elated and announced that next he wanted to shop for Leah. I asked him where; “the toy department” was his response. Smart kid.

As we walked down the aisles of the toy department, it was obvious that the lesson had sunken in. Each time he saw a toy that interested him for her, he’d ask how much it was. He smartly turned down the first toy, which was $55, but also turned down $25 and even $12 and $10 toys. I was incredibly proud of how well he understood the concept. He’s an amazing four-year-old! We finally settled on a $5 toy that we both thought Leah would like. That left him with $11 for Mom and Dad.

I won’t go into what he got for Anna, since she’ll probably read this entry, but suffice to say he found something quickly: the first thing he picked was within his budget, and I was rather impressed with his selection. I, though, was a bit harder to shop for: his first choice was a two-pack of 9-volt batteries, which I informed him was very nice, but probably not a good Christmas present. He persisted, though, at which  I  informed him that they were $7. So much for that idea! I also suggested that he might want to save his remaining bills and shop for me, with Mommy, some other time. He blatantly refused that idea, though, so I know exactly what I’m getting from him. ;-)

As we approached the register to pay, I realized that I hadn’t taught him about sales tax—nor need to, at this point. Thanks to the government, he actually wound up being 7¢ over budget. Oh, well. (Please don’t tell him; I snuck another dollar bill onto the counter, to cover it.) Regardless, he did a great job, and I just had to share the results. Good night, David, and I love you!

Independence Day 2011

Sleepyheads

This evening, we went to the Barboursville fireworks display. As far as we can tell, it’s obviously world-renowned, as the license plates we saw indicate that people come from such exotic locations as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and even—gasp!—West Virginia, to see them. As we approached what Tom Tom assured us was the location of the fireworks, we paused to ask a nice man who was directing traffic if we were going the right way. He responded that yes, we were: that “back down at the bottom of the hill, you’ll have a good view by the baseball field.” Since baseball fields are famous for their proximity to awesome pyrotechnic displays, we continued on, assured that all was well.

As we continued down the hill, we could see hundreds upon hundreds of cars at the bottom. We expect that, in addition to the aforementioned tourists from around the world (or at least the northeastern quadrant of the United States), all 3,183 citizens of Barboursville were in attendance (including, of course, the Barboursville Fire Department). As we approached the bottom, we discovered that, inexplicably, there was considerable parking available near the amphitheater, where a very nice rock group was covering classic Americana such as God Bless the U.S.A. and Bad, Bad Leroy Brown. We couldn’t hear them very well, from behind the amphitheater, but it sounded like what they lacked in talent, they made up for in enthusiasm. B+ for effort.

As we walked to the lawn with our beach chairs, a couple sitting on lawn chairs in the back of a pickup truck informed us that the fireworks would be in the direction they were facing. We thanked them and set up our chairs facing that direction, only to turn them around just in time to see the show start. So much for that idea. Additionally, Leah had a minor reflux episode after too much junk food at Old Mawmaw’s house, so we spent about half an hour giving her gum, water, and finally animal crackers to help her get rid of the taste. Poor kid.

Finally, 10:00 rolled around. The fireworks began, with many single explosions in a row. (Apparently in Barboursville, they don’t like to set off multiple fireworks at a time.) This went on for a good 30 minutes or so, by which point a good number of adults were loudly mocking the show, a good number of older kids were loudly proclaiming their boredom while chasing each other around the field, a good number of vehicles were making their way back up the hill, and our little Drakelings were fast asleep in their chairs, completely oblivious to the booming explosions in the sky.

To be fair, the grand finale was really cool: they finally decided to do a bunch of fireworks at once, and did so four or five times. I then carried both of our sleeping kids back to the van, one on each shoulder, and made a second trip back for the remaining chairs that Anna wasn’t able to carry. We then made our way through the surprisingly not-too-bad traffic and got back to the hotel, with the results shown in the photo above. :-)

As for our vacation, it finally ends tomorrow. Happy Independence Day, everyone!

A Special Treat

This evening, due to a variety of interesting circumstances, I got to have one-on-one dinner with my daughter. Frankly, it was a real treat. Here are some of the highlights:

• Leah brought a sandwich bag full of coins to the table and used a toy spoon to scoop them into a Cabbage Patch Kid’s shoe. “This is my favorite ice cream,” she explained: “Penny Supreme!” She then offered me some, which I agreed was very good. She then continued: “It’s my favorite, so I looked up the recipe on xibirtz.com¹ and I made it.”

• Imagine a five-year old doing the following, all in the course of about fifteen seconds:
a) announced that she does not like black olives
b) stated that she might possibly try a black olive
c) ate a black olive
d) announced that since now she’s a big girl, she likes black olives

• Several minutes into the meal, Leah started laughing quite hard at something. I still have no idea what, but she just kept going, finally calming down enough to say, “I am not fake laughing, Daddy. Believe me!”

Sadly, I am blanking on some of the other things she said and did, but suffice to say it was a great dinner.

---

1. There is no such thing as xibirtz.com. Perhaps that could be the new name for my company?

Scripture Study

A few weeks ago, we decided to start doing our family scripture study from the actual scriptures instead of the children’s storybooks. Of course, since our children are preschool age, we limit our family reading to one verse per person; and since the children cannot yet read, Anna or I whisper the words into one child’s ear, a few at a time, inviting him or her to repeat them aloud. The children absolutely love feeling like they’re reading, and we love that they’re learning to love the word of God.

This evening, we were reading in the First Book of Nephi, chapter 8. It was David’s turn to “read,” and I was whispering verse 10 in his ear. The following conversation ensued:

Jeff (whispering): “ ‘And it came to pass…’ ”

David: (giggles and whispers something incoherent—a common problem).

Jeff: “Come on, David; say it loudly: ‘And it came to pass…’.”

David: (says something slightly less incoherent).

Anna: “David, please say it nicely.”

David: “And it came to pass!”

Jeff (whispering): “ ‘…that I beheld…’ ”

David: “That I befald.”

Jeff (whispering): “ ‘…a tree…’ ”

David: “A tree.”

Jeff (whispering): “ ‘…whose fruit…’ ”

David: “Fruit.”

Jeff (whispering): “ ‘…whose fruit…’ ”

David: “I dunno.”

Jeff (trying hard not to laugh): “No, David; ‘…whose fruit…’.”

David: “I dunno!!!”

By this point, Anna and I were laughing so hard, we had to pause our reading. ^_^

Calling

For a while now, I’ve received the occasional phone call at the office, where I pick up and find Leah or David on the other end. The calls are usually brief and include a request to bring such-and-such down to them, to play such-and-such game after work, etc.. Over the last week or so, though, the calls have become a lot more frequent. So yesterday, when I came downstairs to fulfill Leah’s request for a Band-Aid^®, I asked Anna, “Are you calling me on her behalf, or does she know how to call me, herself?”

Anna: “She knows how to do it, by herself. They both do.”

Me: “Really?”

David: “Yeah, Daddy. Watch. DAAAAADDDDDDYYYYY!!!!”

Ask a stupid question. ^_^

Eyes Wide Shut

A few minutes ago, I walked into David’s room. As I did, I heard his tiny voice: “Hi, Daddy.”

“Hey, David,” I replied.

“What’s up?” he asked. I couldn’t believe it. So simple. So like me. He’s definitely my son.

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” I told him.

He smiled so big. I leaned down and kissed him, told him to get some good rest, and quietly left the room.

I never saw his eyes open. :-)

Video Girl

Okay, so this is a truly weird post, and about six weeks too late, but I still figured it was worth mentioning. Better late than never, right?

For Leah’s birthday, she received what is perhaps the oddest doll I have ever seen: it’s called “Video Girl Barbie.” Feel free to follow the link at left, but first, read on.

Here’s the gimmick: Barbie has a built-in video camera. If you look at the pictures, you’ll see that she’s wearing a necklace with a rather large charm, for the simple reason that the charm is actually the camera’s lens. That sounds kind of cool—at least they camouflaged it a bit—but here’s where it gets odd: if you open the back of her shirt (of course it Velcros in the back!), her back consists of a preview screen and various controls. It’s a Robot Barbie! (I suppose her friends—who you still have to buy—call her “Robarbie,” but I digress.)

Of course, no video camera would be complete without a way to get the video out, so pulling up the front of her shirt reveals a USB belly button. Just attach the included umbilical cord—I mean, USB cable—and upload Barbie’s optical perceptions into your computer.

Is it just me, or does this toy fill a need that really doesn’t exist?

The Placebo Effect

When Leah was a very small baby, Anna and I decided that we didn’t want to settle for an old-fashioned baby monitor; we wanted video. We purchased a cheap one from (I believe) Geeks.com, and when I say “cheap,” I mean one that the manufacturers didn’t even want to take credit for. Seriously. The thing was made on some obscure Eastern Asian nation and came in a box that said “Baby Monitor” or something like that, with no other identifying information. And yet, it worked well enough that when we moved into our current home, we bought two more: one for David’s room, one for the toy room (not that the last was ever installed).

Of course, the problem with this setup was that we wound up having two identical monitors sitting on my bedside table. What’s more, the monitors slightly interfered with each other, and often received interference from wireless networks and even radio stations around us. (Under certain atmospheric conditions, we could actually listen to the radio not on the monitor, but on the camera! Go figure that one out!) Every night before we went to sleep, I would have to position each of the monitors just so, so the static wouldn’t keep us up all night. It was, suffice to say, quite annoying, so after a while, we started looking for a better solution.

Enter ZOpid. The system was (and is) advertised as “Digital Interference–free,” which was of course a big selling point for us. It was (is) also expandable up to eight cameras on a single monitor, cycling through as many or as few as you like. Awesome. Also, the reviews were fairly positive, which is definitely a big deal.

What I found most compelling, though, was that the manufacturers themselves were right there on the forefront: every time a review included a complaint, it was followed by a comment from the engineers: making suggestions, inviting the customer to send it back, etc.. That’s a company that cares about its users’ experience (or at least continued sales). So, we bought the system and one additional camera. It hasn’t been perfect, but it’s been quite good—and not a drop of interference, ever. Furthermore, the company has been very good about supporting what few issues we’ve had, even promising firmware updates to incorporate some of my feature requests and suggestions. Nice.

So about a month ago, Leah’s camera started having some issues: first of all, it would crash at fairly random intervals, requiring a reset. Second, when I tried to reset it, the reset button would usually get stuck, requiring me to fiddle with it until I could get it to pop back out. Obviously not good. So last week, I finally got around to contacting ZOpid about it. They gave me some suggestions, but none did the trick, so they finally issued me an RMA number so I could send it back. On Thursday night, I did so—without mentioning it to Leah. I held my breath as I turned off her light, but she never even noticed the empty wall mount.

Until tonight.

Those of you who know Leah may realize that she’s a very sensitive child. Her camera is very much a security blanket for her, despite the fact that she usually just gets out of bed and comes into our room, anyway. So tonight, when she noticed it was missing, the realization was met with great concern coupled with crying. I tried my best to calm her down, to explain that the camera was broken and a new one would be here within a few days, but that wasn’t enough. My little girl was scared, and there wasn’t anything I could do about it.

Or was there?

I told Leah I’d be right back and walked to my office. I opened up the cabinet where the third of the previous cameras had spent pretty much its entire life, and where it thankfully still resided. I then returned to Leah’s room with that old camera and a roll of masking tape and used the latter to attach the former to the empty mount. The power cord wouldn’t fit (and probably wouldn’t have worked, anyway), but I was able to make it look convincing enough. The old camera isn’t compatible with our current monitor, and even if it were, it’s neither turned on nor even plugged in! But its presence is enough for Leah to feel safe and loved, and while it’s not a long-term solution, that’s ultimately what matters.

I love the innocence of youth—and I love, even more, being her dad. :-)

Dream World

David came into our room at about 6:20 this morning and lay down in our bed. As I lay there with him, I decided to take the opportunity to have a conversation with him: nothing urgent, just keeping the lines of communication open. I asked him what he did yesterday, and after several false starts (including Wednesday’s preschool activity and last Friday’s family picnic in the park), he finally started down a very… um… interesting story.

“I saw a very friendly monster!”

“Really! What did he look like?”

“He was an orange drop!”

“Oh! Like a gumdrop?”

“Yeah!”

“And where was this monster?”

“He was walking across the cornfield.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

"Was this a dream you had?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. What was the monster’s name?”

“His… his name was David, too.”

“Really! He was David 2?”

“Yeah.”

“So you’re David 1 and he’s David 2?”

“Yeah.”

“Cool.”

“And there was another monster!”

“Really?”

“Yeah. And his name was David, too. And he was a blue drop.”

“Really? He was a blue gumdrop?”

“No, he was a blue rain drop.”

“Really! Could you see through him?”

“No.”

“Oh, okay.”

This conversation continued for quite a while, with David telling me about a few other gumdrop monsters in his dream: a green one named George; a purple one named Olivia; another purple one named Leah; and Leah’s twin sister, a red one named Carly. I asked, “And they were all coming across the cornfield together?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow.”

“And then there was a big farm monster that came and put his foot on all of them!”

“He stepped on them?”

“Yeah!”

“Wow!”

By this time, Anna was back: “What did the farm monster look like?”

David’s reply: “A FARM!!!”

Ask a silly question….

The Power of Prayer

In the last couple of months, David has really come into his own when it comes to prayer. He’s stopped screaming and refusing to do it, and he’s even beginning to use some of his own words instead of just spouting off “vain repetitions”! In other words, I’m really proud of him.

Of course, the fact that David has reached this point does not mean he has magically overcome his little-Daddy temper. And thus begins today’s episode.

Today at lunch, I requested that David ask a blessing on the food. This request, regardless of which child fulfills it, is always met with a prayer that includes many wonderful things—gratitude for Grandma and Pop, prayers that the new meetinghouse and temple each be completed quickly, prayers that our baby will finally get here, etc.. However, while going down their lists, the children quite often neglect one rather important thing: namely, the food.

As David continued to pray, it became apparent to me that our lunch was not going to be one of the many things he would be thankful for. So, as I often do, I interrupted his “In the name…” with a simple reminder, “food.”

David freaked… out. I have never seen him get so mad about this particular reminder. He started off with a typical “NOOO!!!”, which was quickly followed by a “BY MYSELF!!!”

“Okay, David,” I replied. “You can…”

“—BY MYSEEEELLLLF!!!”

“Fine, David. You can do it by yourself.”

David re-bowed his head, was silent for a moment, then looked back up at me and asked, “What was it again?”

“Food.”

“By myself.”

“Sure.”

“And thank thee for the food….”

I love it when he doesn’t need any help. ;-)

Vacation 2010

I finally have a few pictures ready to share from our vacation last month.

On the second evening of our vacation, we went to dinner at IHOP with Aunt Jaci, Uncle Justin, a family friend named Jay, Grandma, and Pop. IHOP features a clown who does face painting, temporary tattoos, and balloon animals on Friday nights. There is also a "special visitor" each Friday. That week it was Diego. David kept alternating between whining that he wasn't close enough to Diego and being terrified of Diego, all the while refusing to get a tattoo or face paint. :-/ In true Leah fashion, she was all for everything. She got a beautiful easter egg tattoo, some butterfly face paint, and a balloon creation. The clown mistakenly assumed Leah would want a butterfly balloon, but Leah set her straight pretty quickly and requested a princess. All of the adults in our party watched in awe as this talented clown twisted the balloons into something that actually looks like a princess!

When we first arrived at the family's little beach house (or bungalow as we sometimes call it), the kids were incredibly excited. They couldn't believe they each had their own tv and alarm clock in their rooms!

Leah made her room her own just a little bit by unpacking her clothes and putting them in the drawers. This is so Leah, and we thought it was totally cute.

David got a bit confused and kept asking why we had moved into a new house. He then proceeded to sweep the floor.

More to come! (And at this rate I'll still be talking about vacation 2010 when vacation 2011 comes around :-P )

She Needs Her Privacy

At ages 4½ and almost 3½, respectively, Leah and David still generally share a bath. Thus, it is particularly humorous that immediately preceding this evening’s bath time (while David was running around naked), still-clothed Leah ran into the bathroom and demanded that he stay out. The reason?

“You can’t be in here when I’m changing into my nothing!”

Three-year-old Logic

A conversation between me and David, about two minutes ago, in its entirety:

Me: “David, please give that back to Leah.”

David: “But she’s not screaming for it.”

How can you keep a straight face to that?

She's growing up!

The next few weeks will bring some changes in our little Leah's life. First of all, some friends of ours have invited her to participate in hula dance lessons, and she will have a performance on September 4th. Leah has always loved dancing and has looked forward to the day when she can take formal dance lessons. We had intended to have her start dance lessons with another good friend from church earlier in the year, but, as happens so easily when you let it, time got away from us. It will be nice to see how she does with these lessons so that we can determine whether it would be good to have her continue. She is so incredibly excited! As soon as she found out when her first practice was going to be, she walked up and told anyone who would listen, "I'm going to learn how to hula dance on Thursday at 4:00!"

When we return from vacation in a few weeks, Leah will also start preschool. I'm having little mommy twinges about letting her go since this was to be my last year with her all to myself, but I know she will absolutely love it. Besides, I'm sure David could also benefit from a few hours a week with mommy all to himself. ;-) It has been quite the ordeal trying to determine which preschool we want to go with. There are quite a few in our area, so at least we had some choice. It got a little overwhelming at times. We have almost certainly decided on one, though, and we will be visiting to make that final decision and hopefully get Leah enrolled sometime in the next week.

I've had a few moments lately when I just haven't been able to figure out where the time has gone. One was over the weekend when I came across some pictures of David from early last year. While I love the stage he's in right now, I found myself longing to relive those earlier days, too. I had a similar moment with Leah this morning right after she woke up. I asked her to come to me. I picked her up and held her like a little baby. My mind brought me back to some of the first times I held her as a brand new infant. My mind couldn't grasp what all has happened in those almost 5 years! Was there ever really a time that I wasn't a mother? A time when I cried in anguish because I didn't know if I'd ever be a mother? Oh, how our lives have been so richly blessed in these 5 years. Nothing compares!

I've never been that great at preserving personal history. Blogs like this one have probably come closest, but I *gasp* really don't have a baby book for either of the children, for example. As such, it is so hard to recreate in my mind those days when my children were younger. I could tell you the more general things like Jeff changed jobs when Leah and David were "x" years old, but I so miss the specific feelings, thoughts, sights, sounds, and smells of an earlier time. I was telling Jeff how I hope we get to re-live (even if just in our minds) our favorite parts from this life after we die. I know that specific moments from my children's young lives will be among those.

Melting My Heart

Sometime last night, Leah made her way into our room with her sleeping bag and spent the rest of the night, sleeping on our floor. When I woke up in the morning (Anna having already gotten out of bed), my little girl climbed into our bed and snuggled in, just holding me as tightly as she could. Talk about the best feeling in the world….

Anyway, given opportunities like this, I always make a specific point to tell my children how much I love them and how wonderful they are. This time, on a whim, I also posed a question: “Leah, why are you such a good girl?’

Her response: “Because you taught me to be.”

Wow. Just… wow.

Not Enough Dora to Go Around

A few days ago, Leah tore a page out of her Dora the Explorer coloring book and starting putting stickers on it. Somewhere along the line, this picture somehow wound up on my bedside table, and a scan (in case you hadn’t guessed) can be seen at right.


This morning, as I walked into my bedroom, I came upon Leah explaining the picture to her little brother. She was pointing out that there were three stickers featuring Dora. “That,” she explained, “is because there are three Doras: one regular Dora, and two robot Doras.”


And isn’t that just what the world needs?

Reflections

Nothing makes me feel better than the squeezy hugs and sloppy kisses my kids give me each day. There is nothing more sacred than the love and trust I see in their eyes. There is nothing more awesome nor more terrifying than being the center of an innocent child's world. I feel so blessed and privileged to be a mother to these special children. They are my world!

Disturbing Dreams

The aliens were attacking, flooding the entire Earth some 30-40 feet deep. Thankfully, the government was able to issue SCUBA-type gear to many of us that survived the initial assault, and our family was among the lucky ones. As Anna, Leah, David, and I swam around in our wetsuits equipped with a tank that extracted oxygen from the water, we thought all would be well—until we learned about the virus.


The aliens were obviously smart: not only smart enough to flood the Earth, but also smart enough to know that many of us would survive. That’s why they concurrently initiated a viral attack, to take out any of us that were able to make do with the flooding.


As the crowd pushed toward the first of the spaceships carrying citizens away from our doomed planet, Anna was separated from me and the kids. Somehow, I knew that was final: we’d never see her again, in this life. Thus, it was my responsibility to get four-year-old Leah and three-year-old David through the waters to our only hope of survival. And then the breathalyzers arrived.


Knowing that there was no cure for the virus, only those who were uninfected were allowed aboard the ship. Since the early stages of the virus had no apparent effects, the special breathalyzers were necessary to determine who was infected (and thus doomed to death), and who was not. I tentatively took the proffered machine and applied it to Leah.


She tested positive.


What’s worse, David and I were tested next, and both came back negative. We would be admitted to the ship and survival; Leah, heart-wrenchingly, would not.


Now, logic dictates that the smart thing would be to say my last farewells to Leah, assuring her that our temple sealing means we’d be together again in the Spirit World, and accompany David onto the ship. Leah was going to die anyway, and David needed someone to care for him. But how could I possibly leave my little girl, my precious, four-year-old daughter, all alone to suffer a long and possibly painful death? David would board the ship; that much was assured. But how could I possibly choose between caring for my son, at the expense of my daughter—especially in her hour of greatest need, when she would indubitably be terrified and alone and crying for me? The decision was impossible to make.


I only thank God that I woke up at that point, and even more so, that my two living children were both healthy and sleeping peacefully. I pray that I will never have to make such an horrific decision; I love them too much for that.

God Bless America!

We had a great time with family over the weekend. We had lots of goodies at Mawmaw and Pawpaw's house, including a birthday cake for my sister, Aubrey (her birthday is the 4th of July). The kids (and some of the adults!) had fun playing frisbee, bubbles, t-ball, and soccer. At dusk we all packed up in our vehicles and headed to a local church for a fireworks display. It was rather impressive, especially for a small operation. David eventually decided he'd rather sleep on Jeff's shoulder, though I'm not sure any sleepage actually ever occurred. Leah "oohed" and "awwed" over the fireworks. She commented on how colorful they were and mentioned that she liked purple the best because it was the most colorful. ;-) We all went home that evening smelling of sunscreen and bugspray! A good time was had by all.

A Day of Firsts

This past Saturday was a day filled with firsts. We started the day with a bus ride. I had heard the day before that the city bus service offers a trolley bus tour of key points of interest for free on Saturday mornings. In true JeffAnna fashion, it started out as an adventure. First, we weren't sure we were going to make it on time. We did, thankfully, arrive with 5 or so minutes to spare, but my Punctuality Senses were definitely tingling. About 10 minutes later I started getting a little nervous that I'd read the pickup time wrong. We were 5 minutes past the appointed time, and there was still no bus. :-/ Thankfully, someone pointed us in the right direction. It turned out the bus was picking up passengers on the next block because of road closures for another event later in the day. So, we all boarded the bus for David and Leah's first bus ride! We didn't get to hear much of what the tour guide was saying because the bus was so loud and he didn't have a microphone, but we all enjoyed the ride nonetheless.

The bus dropped us off for our next "first." This was the first time this season that we went to the Farmer's Market. We had a nice leisurely walk as we perused the vendors' offerings. We couldn't pass up some fresh apple turnovers or cashew brittle! Jeff picked up some homemade summer sausage (one of his favorites) as a sort of Father's Day gift from Anna. It felt nice to be out in the fresh air.

Next, we took the kids to the local university Memorial Union. Along the way, they enjoyed another first—a very echoey walk through the underground tunnels from the parking garage to the Union. By "echoey" I mean that David and Leah took turns saying "echo!" to see just how much echo there was down there. Just as we were entering the Union, Jeff had an idea for another first later in the day. The Union has a bowling alley in it, and the kids had never been bowling before. ;-)

We walked around the Union for a few minutes taking note of what had changed (which was a decent amount!) since the last time Jeff and I had been there. We settled on a little shop we were somewhat familiar with for lunch. As we dined on our hamburgers and chicken fingers, I realized that none of had socks on. Why was this important? Well, we were pretty sure we'd have to have socks to wear those attractive bowling shoes. :-P

We had a big decision to make: Drive all the way home and get our own socks or drive to the local Wal-Mart to buy some new socks. It was a tough decision, but in the end, we decided to drive home for our own socks. We figured that way we could check at home for any coupons and call around to the various bowling alleys around town for the best deal.

We did get a pretty good deal for the bowling in the end, so all was good. On the way in, however, Leah announced that she hated bowling and didn't want to go. This is the way of the four-year-old. Almost daily we hear how she dislikes this or that thing that she's never tried. We gently remind her that she couldn't possibly know if she likes this thing or that thing because she's never tried! Anyway, it turns out she LOVES bowling. We had the place to ourselves, which made me feel a lot better since I S-T-I-N-K at bowling and get easily embarrassed about it. Leah even beat me once. After two games of bowling, the kids were more than ready for a rest and so were mommy and daddy.

We really enjoyed all the firsts. That is one of the fun things about being a parent: getting to see something for the first time again through your child's eyes.