Yikes

We had heard that, due to Ike, there could be gas shortages in the South. I didn't really think about it again until last Friday, when Costco was out. On Saturday, we noticed that several gas stations had bags over the pumps. By Monday, I got nervous, and even though I had a half tank, I filled up. Good thing--ever since then, you can tell which gas stations actually have gas by the ridiculously long line of cars stretching out in the streets. There's a gas station just around the corner that has gas, so it took me about 10 minutes longer to get back home this morning. And that explains all the honking and sirens I've heard since yesterday; cars are blocking traffic, police are trying to move it along, and despite hiring security guards to control traffic and line jumping, fights have broken out.

I think I'll be staying home for a while. The craziness should hopefully end tomorrow.

The beach!

So it's been a while since my last post; I didn't have anything to say last week and just haven't felt blog-y. But the best way to get over writer's (blogger's?) block is to just write, right?

Last weekend, Mabes got to enjoy her first beach trip of the summer, and her first ever trip to the Atlantic. Some good friends of ours rented a beach house for the week and invited us to stay with them, but due to Dave's work/travel schedule, we could only make it for the weekend. It was still a nice mini-break and we crammed a lot into a short weekend. We headed out Friday evening and spent the night at a convenient half-way point--Jackie's house. Mabes was very excited to see Grandma, even if the stay was short. We left there late Saturday morning and arrived in Kitty Hawk a couple of hours before we could get the keys to the house, so we went to the Wright Brothers Memorial.
Mabes is fascinated by planes and absolutely loved it, but unfortunately wouldn't stand still long enough for us to read everything about all the exhibits. From what we were able to read, it was really interesting.

Then we went outside in the heat and humidity and hiked up to the memorial. The view was amazing.
Mabes thoroughly enjoyed the memorial, but that was probably because she thought it was a lighthouse. She refused to believe us when we told her otherwise.

(she's being a plane)

Then we went to the house, got some dinner, then went out to the beach. The sky was pink and it would have been a perfect evening to watch the sunset--except we're on the east coast, so watching the sun set into the ocean isn't really an option. The warmer water and lack of seaweed make up for that, though. We even got to see some dolphins swimming fairly close to shore!
The next morning, we went to church (well, the first hour, at least) and then went to see a real lighthouse.

Mabes was very impressed. It was windy so she kept trying to get a mouthful of air.

Family pic in the lighthouse

After that, we went to the aquarium where Mabes went crazy. She pretty much just ran from tank to tank pointing to the fish, turtles, and snakes--she was so excited.

Dave tried to get her to pet the stingrays, and though she kept reaching in, I don't think she ever touched one. She'd chicken out at the last second, but Dave and I both got to touch one.

Her favorite was the giant tank with the huge fish and sharks.

After that, we went to Fort Raleigh and learned about the Lost Colony. Dave was amazed that I had never learned about it in elementary school history, but then I reminded him that we learned all about missions and the discovery of gold--lots of California history, and then the just the main points of American Independence, Civil War, etc. It was very interesting, though.

We went back to the beach, but Mabes decided that she didn't want to splash in the water, so she played in the sand while everyone else enjoyed the water.

I managed to coax her down to the water in an attempt to get a good picture of her splashing, but as soon as a wave came up, she bolted. So I just managed to get a picture of her running from the water.

We had an excellent weekend with great friends and perfect weather, and it was so nice to get away for a little bit. Thank you again, Ken and Sherry!

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo...

How about you, you, you?

On Labor Day, we went to the Lazy 5 Ranch. It's basically a drive through zoo, but we opted for the horse-drawn wagon ride, as we didn't want yak slobber in our car. There were no odd Mabes-introductions this time, she was focused on seeing the animals.

An overhead shot of Mabes and me, feeding a goat.

Mabes and Dave feed a water buffalo.


Mabes feeding an antelope. Big surprise, she wasn't afraid at.all. I'm glad she was able to enjoy it, but fear is sometimes a good thing.


Grabbing a yak by the horns. Again, not afraid of the huge animal sniffing at her feet. This is fine when the animals are used to humans and aren't aggressive, but what happens if Mabes encounters an undomesticated yak? I doubt he'd let her pet him.


The yak again. I've named him Louie, as this picture shows they must be related somehow. Before Louie, I didn't know dogs had facial expression. Before Louie II, I didn't know yaks had facial expressions. Apparently, they do, especially when they're sticking their noses somewhere trying to get food.

Mabes and Dave with the giraffe.

Mabes and Dave feeding sheep and goats. She sang "Baa Baa Black Sheep" to them while she fed them. I think they really appreciated it.


Me and Mabes with the ring tailed lemurs. She was much more impressed with the giant fish.


Mabes and Dave with the tortoises.

We ended our trip with burgers and milkshakes at Cook Out, a fast food place we had heard had great shakes. They were fabulous, and Mabes now thinks that all Monday holidays (and by all I mean Memorial Day and Labor Day) must include ice cream, which I think is just proof that we're raising her right.

Oh, and we're on Hanna watch. From what I've read, it shouldn't affect us enough to have to evacuate or anything serious since we're so far inland. We'll probably just get a lot of rain, which could be good, as my chocolate chip cookie stash is getting low. But given the floods from last week's storm, I think I'll make sure I know where my batteries and flashlights are in case we lose power.

Oh the humidity...the humidity!

Last summer was hot. This summer, it hasn't been as hot, but the humidity is crazy. At this point, it's more funny than anything. As I walked from Chick-fil-A to Target, I felt like I was on a cruise. You walk out of the air conditioned restaurant and are hit with a hot, sticky wave of moist (ewww) heat and bolt to the next air conditioned space. The cruise thought made me instantly happier, and made the humidity almost bearable, until I realized I wasn't going to be disembarking at a beautiful Mexican beach nor would I be enjoying a midnight buffet. Breyers at 10 pm will have to suffice. The humidity is all the more amusing because when Becca was here in June, she would sit on the couch marvelling at the how humid it was, eyes bugged out, waving her arms in the air saying "It's like I can FEEL the moisture!" If you know Becca, you know what I'm talking about. And it wasn't humid here in June. It was normal. Like California. Utah is just exceptionally dry.

We had a lot of rain last week, I guess remnants of Fay. I kind of feel like a moron for how excited/amazed I get by the downpours, but seriously, fist-sized raindrops are going to catch a girl off guard. I really do love it, even if I'm annoyed when it decides to come down in sheets as I'm running to the car and getting Mabes in, then lets up once we're both inside. So other than getting drenched and a few large puddles, we didn't have any issues with the rain. If we lived a few miles north, we would have:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/galleries/gallery/154331.html

And apparently Mabes has already learned to introduce herself with thoughtful details. For example, tonight at the the Chick-Fil-A playground, she walked up to a kid and said, "Hi, I'm Emaline. I like toilet paper." You know that kid's going to remember her.

Take me out to the ballgame...

We had been talking for months about taking Mabes to her first baseball game. Thanks to a father who enjoys sports (to put it mildly), she's been watching baseball her whole life but other than Uncle Dave's little league games, had never been to one. So when our friends called to invite us to a minor league game that evening, I was pretty bummed because Mabes had again opted for quiet time over a nap, despite being cranky. The previous evenings, she had crashed around 7:30, so paying $25 to take a crabby toddler to a game with a 7:15 start didn't exactly sound appealing.

Much to my shock, she fell asleep on her own right before "quiet time" ended. Suh-weet! I let her sleep until 5, we ate a quick dinner, then headed to the ballpark. When we got there, there had been some sort of promotion and people were handing out free tickets--it was like we were meant to go. Mabes was so excited to be there. She didn't pay much attention to the game, but was thoroughly amused by the fouls that kept popping up, and the dragon mascots running around.


We took a break to get some funnel cake, only to find that the children's play area was right next to the funnel cake stand, so Mabes got to ride on the merry-go-round. We got our funnel cake and were back in our seats just in time for the seventh inning stretch--unfortunately, Mabes was too upset that we didn't also get cotton candy to notice everyone singing the song that at one time had been her bedtime lullabye. (Yeah, Dave used to sing her that and the Cougar Fight Song before putting her to bed.) She calmed down and really enjoyed the funnel cake, declaring it the "best ever dinner." On the drive home, a very tired Mabes kept saying "I had so much fun at the baseball game! Fank you for the baseball game!"


This morning we finally broke out Mabes' new Big Wheel! She loves her "motorcycle" and is starting to get the hang of peddling. She's still figuring out the whole steering-and-peddling-simultaneously thing, but loves that she has her own toy to ride.


Oh, and Laura: your friend Wolsey (the cardinal she named while visiting here) is either having vision problems or is trying to attack us. He just flew straight into our sliding glass door twice--and it's not that clean. If you don't hear from me soon, avenge our deaths. Ugh, I never should have seen The Birds.

Birthday fun

It's been a busy week, and with all the delicious leftovers, I haven't had time to blog. I'm sure my sisters understand.

Her birthday was great--she was so excited all day and loved the phone calls and random birthday wishes from people at the grocery store (she told everyone). When Ainsleigh and Dono called to sing happy birthday, she just smiled and listened, and when they finished, she said, "Oh, good job, guys!" While I'm sure they did a spectacular job, Dono felt it wasn't good enough so they called back to sing again that night, which Mabes appreciated.


We decided to go low-key for her birthday, and perhaps save the Super Sweet Sixteen-style party for next year. We just had a few friends over (Hen(g)ry of course, and we're all very sad to learn she's dropping the nonexistent "g" from his name), ate pizza and cupcakes, and opened presents. Mabes thought it was the greatest party ever.


After putting her to bed, I thought I heard her asking for water. I went in to see what she needed, and she wistfully said "No, I don't need anything--I'm just talking about my birthday." The next morning, the first thing she said was "I had so much fun at my party last night!" I love that she's easily impressed.


Friday afternoon, we headed east to spend the weekend with Grandma Jackie and celebrate her birthday on Saturday. She was so excited to not only see Grandma Jackie, but to celebrate yet another birthday, that she fought falling asleep for most of the ride, despite being very tired. We had waffles Saturday morning, Mabes got to open more presents (including a cradle made by Jackie's cousin's husband, only Mabes insists that it's not a cradle, it's a rocking bed), and enjoyed fried chicken, barbeque, hush puppies, and dirt cake. The eight hour roundtrip drive is worth it for Eastern Carolina-style barbeque alone, and we had a great time visiting with Dave's family.


And finally, we decided that after 3 years, Mabes was ready for a haircut. Her hair had gotten a little crazy. But when you have a little girl who was bald for so long, it's hard to cut the hair, even for a trim. It had gotten long enough that I figured evening it out would still leave plenty of hair, so after cutting Dave's hair, we put Mabes in the barber seat. (And by barber seat, I mean the folding chair we use.)













It turned out really cute, though it's a little hard to tell from these pictures. She can wear her hair down without it looking strange--the sides were maybe 2 inches longer than the back. She now looks even more like a little girl, which is both funny and sad.

At this time, ___ years ago...

Perhaps the highlight of my birthday is the call from my dad. Pleasantries are exchanged, he says happy birthday, and then he launches into "29 years ago right now, we were..." and recounts my entire birth story, always ending with "and I still consider it to be one of the greatest days of my life."

Now, as a kid, I'm sure I rolled my eyes at this. Sarah has teased him about it. But there was always something kind of cool about 1) hearing how you were born, 2) realizing that your parents remember that day, even though it was years ago, and 3) hearing it from your dad. We expect that kind of sentimentality from my mom--we purposely buy her "crying presents" for Christmas. (And while some of those gifts have been cry-worthy, one year, she cried when she got a clock, the next year was a sewing maching. Happy tears both times, but we still don't get it.) So when Dad gets sentimental, it's something to remember. My dad has had an impressive career, played some amazing golf courses, and traveled the world. But to know that the births of each of his six children stand out as the greatest days of his life--that really makes an impression on a kid that doesn't understand parental love.

So I blame my parents for the sentimentality of this. Three years ago this morning, after a fast labor and 2 hours of pushing (who knew that pushing would take longer than the labor part?), Emaline came screaming into the world. Throughout our hospital stay, all the nurses commented on how alert she was, how they'd never seen a newborn so awake, etc. Being the proud, naive new mom I thought, "Oh, that means she's smart!" Maybe, but the alertness has nothing to do with that. Alert just means she'll never sleep. Despite her alertness and ridiculous energy, we wouldn't trade her. She's hilarious and loving and her hugs are probably the greatest invention ever. And you know how much I value the relatively short time she's asleep? As I checked on her before bed last night, I was watching her sleep and just thinking about how she's not my little baby anymore, it's like I turned into Laura or Becca and thought "Let's wake her up!" I just wanted to pick her up and hug her. Bebe.

The past three years have been a huge learning experience for us. Lots of laughter, lots (and lots) of tears, and lots of hugs. So yeah, I'm going to be an emotional sap today, because three years ago today was one of the greatest days of my life.