The rest of the Week

My beautiful kids enjoyed their time with my parents. Kenny especially liked my mom since she made him food and gave him such wonderful treats. Felicia enjoyed the fact that her Nana wasn't as "anal" as mommy when it came to tasting new foods.

My parents enjoyed the time as well. Let's face it. My kids have spirit and spunk. It is impossible not to love them! During our little visit there were several times when we found the newspaper opened to the "help wanted" section and conveniently left on the table. There were discussions too. How would we all make the transition if we did move closer? What type of job would Jason want? Where would we want to live? It had been 10 years since I lived less than 5 hours from my parents, if we did move closer there would definitely be a change in everyone's lives.

As I mentioned earlier, we did go to Bandon to watch the fireworks show that the local fire dept launches over the mouth of the river. We found a spot near the lighthouse and set up our little "day camp" spot around 2 p.m. Felicia had a ball!! So much action, so much outside time. She loved it. She was passed around from one relative to another and gleefully accepted any attention she could get. Kenny spent the day running around with his cousins. I chased him around with the camera and never got a good clear shot!! He is a fast little bugger.
We BBQ'd up some food and had a wonderful afternoon. As the sun began to set, we explained to Kenny what was coming. He didn't understand what fireworks were, but we did our best and persuaded him to sit in his new camp chair and watch the sky. As the show began Felicia fell asleep in my arms. Of course. That is what babies do. Kenny, well he was a little scared at first but that only lasted about 20 seconds. He heard us "oohing" and "aahing" and he quickly joined in. After a rather large rocket hit the sky painting everything in blue light, Kenny started kicking and clapping so hard he fell out of his chair! The whole time he was giggling and screaming with delight. It was wonderful. I told myself at that moment that my kids will never miss a 4th of July celebration ever again.
Two days later we celebrated Kenny turning 2! My mom made him a cake and we BBQ'd again. Just to let ya know, BBQ and my family are in the same category as grass and green. Anyway, Kenny relished in the attention of his "day." He ran around hugging everyone! We opened presents out on the grass (in Nev it would be too hot right now to be outside) and my good little boy said "thank you" after every gift!! We sang "Happy Birthday to You" and watched as he spit all over the cake trying to blow out the candles. All the kids loved the cake and ice cream. Felicia got a
little dollop of frosting (aah! sugar!) and "mmm'd" her way through licking it from her fingers. Auntie Coco became really popular after that!

Only one day more and we were to pack up and head home. NO NO NO. I don't wanna!! Half of Nevada was on fire that summer and I knew that going home would suck. Let's not mention that here in Oregon it was a comfortable 80 degrees with a light sea breeze, while in Nevada it was hanging around 98 degrees with no air moving anywhere. I was not looking forward to the long, hot drive home. Weird huh? I love having my own house...my own bed....my own kitchen etc. Still, I simply didn't find it an appealing thought to sit in a closed up house all summer. None of us do well in the heat. My psoriasis screams and my kids are just too fair skinned. Jason, being from Alaska starts to get really pissy when the thermometer hits 75 degrees let alone 90!

Looking back over the week and the joy it was obvious where my little family belonged. We had to be happy. My kids have to be happy. They deserve to play outside!