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spotted while out shopping for combat boots at thrift stores all over O’ahu. We have a dozen women (the DIRTY DOZEN!) doing the Swamp Romp (6 miles through waist-deep mud) at the Marine Corps base near us. I have been scouring (calling, pleading, etc.) the thrift stores for combat boots in our size. Boots are apparently only made in men’s sizes, so you have to subtract 2 from your women’s size to figure out your men’s size. As you might imagine, there aren’t many combat boots in an average women’s size (8). Fortunately about half of our teammates are tall and can fit in a men’s 7, so I was able to find boots for a few of us. It’s funny how excited one can be about paying waaaayyy too much for ratty, old, torn up, combat boots. I found myself wondering about the people who had filled them as I sifted through a big bin of stinky leather jungle boots.
Thank you to Nate, Laurie and Cate for hosting another fantastic dinner of tempura shrimp and veggies, grilled chicken, big salad and lots of desserts, including sticky rice pudding. We are tired, full and headed for bed! We are so lucky to have great friends here on the island – Brendan, Leo, Bridget and Greta were there, too, as were mom and Pete 🙂
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Video: Flossing at the doctor’s office.
Sammy had a great time playing in the rain today! He kept getting his hands wet in a downpour off the roof and rubbing Gramma’s legs like he was giving her a massage! This was our second time this week to get caught in a downpour while out running. Fortunately this time I had the stroller cover and all the rain jackets handy. Sam just loved getting soaked as we ate lunch afterwards. The video is way too big to post but I may mail a CD to some of his most loyal fans with a collection of videos. The above picture is from lunch at the tide pools the other day. There were lots of little fish to watch since the tide was waning (they got caught in the water left behind). The movie is Sam flossing his teeth while awaiting his second HepA shot (no, it wasn’t Merck’s VAQTA unfortunately). He also really enjoyed putting lipstick on Gramma – you can imagine how she looked afterwards!
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Mom has been such a help this week, accompanying me to the commissary and exchange, and a picnic lunch at the tide pools yesterday. It’s been a really busy week for me with work – which is fun and great and stimulating – but also makes me incredibly tense because my business model is predicated on consistent naptimes 🙂 I have to get Sam home, tired, and fed and hope he sleeps for 2 hrs. Mom often fills in the gap if somebody wakes up early or I need a few more minutes. The picture above is Sam enjoying an ice cream sandwich that Gramma bought him from a machine at the commissary. This made him very happy, but also very sleepy on the way home, which made mom (me) really tense because sleeping on the way home would not be good for business.
Sam enjoys “maul Gramma time” – he really tussles with her like she’s a boy! Yesterday, however, on a day I really needed mom because I also had a homeowner’s association board meeting to prepare for, poor mom locked her keys in her car at Wal-Mart. This particular Wal-Mart expedition was ill-fated from the start, though, so we weren’t too surprised. We tried to swing by Wal-Mart on our commissary outing but she forgot her item to return so we had to pass it up. Turns out we were pressed for time that day anyway, and I blanked on how to get back on the H1 from the parking lot. I took a few wrong turns but found my way to the airport, from which point I could get home pretty easily (I know the airport run wherever we live, so just drop me off there and I’m ok! ha ha!). We took a break from the frenzy yesterday to have PB&Js at the tide pools. It was fun to look around in the little pools of water on the lava rock for small fish, tadpoles, and baby hermit crabs. We made a little home (ecosystem!) for them with coral, water, algae and sand. Mom carried them gingerly over to friend Laurie’s last night so her daughter Cate could take them in to preschool for “share day.” We hope they survive a trip over the Pali!
Dave has been busy with homefront defense projects as well. He trapped THREE mice yesterday. I haven’t written about this yet because I feared our list of guests planning trips this year would suddenly vanish – but now that the infestation seems to be under control it’s safe to report. We think that a house being demolished nearby was bombed and the rodents scurried to look for new homes. I guess they liked ours best (?) because our neighbors haven’t reported any problems. Dave had to take the three still-living mice stuck to the trap out to the trash yesterday. Luckily it was trash day, but I couldn’t help imagining their squirmy bodies writhing on the trap. Poor things. Last night as I was winding down for sleep (Dave hates this time of night – I usually wonder strange things or feel a sudden need to tell him stories of no particular importance) why the first mouse to get caught didn’t warn his buddies. Or why the buddies didn’t notice how he (or she?) was strangely still on a little piece of cardboard. I think it would give me pause. Or maybe I’d be so focused on food that I wouldn’t notice. So – note to my friends – if I’m about to scurry across a trap on my way to a nice meal please try to warn me. I promise to listen.
Alden – don’t even begin to think my dishwashing method (discussed previously) has anything to do with rodent infestations! Strangely I’ve not noticed as many cockroaches running around since the mice arrived. Any thoughts on that? Do mice eat cockroaches? Have I tampered with the ecosystem here to my peril? I did in San Diego – I battled a couple rats living in my stove (SUPER BIG UGH!!!) only to bring on a snail infestation. Who knew that rats loved to chomp on snails ? ? ? It’s so gross that I can tell which unwelcome guests are living at my house by the droppings on the counter. Gecko, mouse…and the other day mom left a satchel of dog poop on the counter because she was so rattled by me getting annoyed that Sam had inadvertently touched fossilized dog poop in the run thinking it was a rock. Sam knows not to touch poop (he hovers over it pointing “ooohhh! OOOHHH!” and we know his little warning well), but this time he was fooled by the rock-like look of the hardened, desiccated poop.
But I digress…and I apologize for this horrific post. It has done me much good, though. That’s what this is all about – a catharsis for me 🙂 Sam is up and I’ve already put in 2 hrs of work. I’ve been up since 0530. The life of a stay-at-home mom – all bon bons and fun. 🙂
The full moon from our deck, with Saturn visible above it. (Dave – thanks for looking that up!)
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for the 21st century housewife on the go. His remark was in response to one of my household tactics – putting plates and glasses away without drying them off. I figure they can air dry just as well on the shelf as the would on a rack, especially since we took the doors off our cabinets. Agree? Please comment if you do so I can point to the grassroots support for my housekeeping. (Dave actually subscribes to an RSS feed of this blog so he can keep up with my shenanigans…)
In other news, I drove the worst shopping cart on the planet yesterday. Longs drugs in Kaneohe is where you can test drive it if you like. I had to lift up the back end about 3 inches, and point it on a 45-degree angle while pushing (with 35 lb Sam in the seat) in order to keep it from rattling and squeaking at 100 decibels. The sad commentary on how busy I feel (I’ve had a lot of work projects to squeeze in this week) is that it would take too much time to swap carts, so I actually preferred to drive this horrific wreck of a cart around (all the while asking everyone where I can find diapers and hand sanitizer, the only things I needed in there, because these common items aren’t listed on ANY of the aisle markers and the staff didn’t know where to point me…).
Lastly, in my list of items I feel compelled to air tonight…here is a link to a SNL skit about the TSA. Mom sent it to me shortly after we returned from the Big Island because on our way back I had a bit of a run-in with the security people. I was well aware of the 3 oz cap on liquids, and duly packed my almost-empty 3 oz sunscreen in my carry-on without concern, knowing it was well under the limit. I even declared it just to be sure. BUT I did not account for the 5 oz of egg nog milkshake Sam was clutching as we showed our IDs and boarding passes. Oh no. That would just not do. We were told we would have to finish it or chuck it. I was aghast. Saddled with heavy car seat, backpack child carrier, carry-ons for Sam and me (his library, my diaper bag/backpack) and duffel bag, the last thing in the world I wanted to do was turn around and retreat. I am all about the forward progress. Not to mention my lunch was still in a bag unopened and I was eager to park my butt at the gate and chomp. Faced with the prospect of telling Sam he had to ditch his nog, I decided to turn around (it was the lesser evil). However, I parked myself and Sam in his car seat (he has a nice, portable recliner chair) right on the other side of the little cattle chute to security. I plunked down like a homeless person and ate every ounce of salad dressing while Sam finished up his nog. Poor mom was probably embarrassed at my protest and sat on an actual bench about 20 yards away. I apologized to the security person for my huffy attitude, but chuckled to myself that Sam still had contraband tucked away in his diaper. Would they find the 6 oz of liquid and/or gel he had in there? Or would we get all the way to the gate with it undetected??? Enjoy the video. It’s 4 min long, but well worth it. I am not up late enough for SNL so it was pretty funny…
http://www.wxpnews.com/HAVVW4/070130-TSA-Training-Spoof
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Above is a picture of bread I made today – rosemary focaccia. It turned out really well! I ate more than I should have tonight, but I always do when it’s fresh out of the oven. There is nothing like it. You can even see the sea salt on the crust. Mom, Dave and Sam all enjoyed it, too. This was made with my natural starter which I keep in the fridge and just use for baking about once a week. It was grown from wild airborne yeast and works really well. I don’t use any commercial leavening agents, and haven’t for about 2 yrs now. It’s fun to keep my hand in bread-baking (literally and figuratively), and Sammy is enjoying kneading the dough with me. He gets to form a little Sammy-loaf that we bake alongside mommy’s loaf. Today he also watered ALL the plants in the backyard. He is such a good helper.
After talking with several friends whose husbands have very distinct ideas about how to wash dishes, clean the house, do laundry, etc. it seemed worthwhile to provide a forum for these men to share their wisdom. For instance, is it permissible to wash colors together with whites as long as the clothes have been washed before and the washer is on cold? (Alli’s answer, why YES, of course – I even wash them on warm – wooo hooo, BIIIIG risk-taker I am 🙂 !) Is it ok to let the dishes soak for several hours in hot, soapy water before washing them? Furthermore, if you wash the sink with bleach first, is it ok to allow the dishes to contact the sink surface while rinsing them? My friends really appreciate that we are married to men with such high standards. After all, we could be commiserating that they don’t do anything around the house, are lazy, whatever. I was also thinking maybe Dave could tag his belongings with a GPS chip to figure out if they’ve moved while he was gone, and tie this into a webcam so he could monitor any seismic anomalies from work with Google maps (remember the query about the entry way table moving an inch the other morning?). This might also prove helpful if certain items go missing…sunglasses, iPod, etc. We love you, husbands!!!
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Other than feasting your eyes on all our Jan adventures (in the Album above), it’s been a bit of a dry week on the newsworthiness scale, compared to last week. (Thankfully! We were all worn out after our trips to the Big Island and camping!) The wind is still gusting up to 50mph. I am amazed our tiny house hasn’t sailed off over the bay. Also – you can see my mom’s kayak tie-off skills in action in the picture above. She had seen someone tie their kayak down by sending the strap through the car (vs just to the roof rack) – I guess that person suspected that their roof rack itself wasn’t secure? Who knows. Anyway, she tied off the front end that way while I tied off in a somewhat more conventional way in the rear and followed her home to help unload and stow. Of course I had to snap this picture of her trying to get out – she’d unwittingly tied her door closed. 🙂 Thanks for playing along and smiling so nicely, mom! ha ha!
In other news, life with an NR rep (Naval Reactors) proves to be challenging. Dave frequently asks questions as he comes and goes – it seems it’s always at the door he’s got a query for me, usually early in the morning before I’ve had coffee, or as he’s coming home and I’m trying to make dinner. The other day at 6am he asked if the little side table by our door had moved a bit. Puzzled, I said I guess it must have moved while I was trying to pick up something the wind had blown down. Upon later reflection, I developed a new strategy for handling these surprise queries. I think I’ll just make stuff up. Like perhaps I should have said, “You know, I saw a parrot over there flipping through our guest book. I guess he must have bumped it when he landed up there since the winds were so strong.” I don’t get any relief from these queries because he’s home every night. No deployments any more, so I don’t have lengthy periods when I’m solely in charge. Alas, it’s wonderful to have him home and see him play with Sam.
Oh – Sam surprised us all the other day by finishing just about every sentence in his Thomas the Tank Engine book! It’s a high level book – not a board book – that Dave, Mom and I have been reading for about a year. We never guessed he’d pick up on all those long words and sentences, but I guess he had been listening after all! He did the same thing with his Noah’s Ark book yesterday, one we hadn’t read in several weeks. We were astounded. Nice going, Sam! Last night he said “too hot” about his food. He’s really starting to talk to us! WOW!
Check the ALBUM link above 🙂
We are having high winds here – gusts up to 50mph. Part of our fence has already blown down and our bougainvillea was uprooted. I expect to lose power at any time, but am busily uploading pictures hoping to beat the outage 🙂 We are all fine, and there is only periodic rain (coming down almost sideways). Hoping to get out to see the kite surfers soon!
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We had such a great time camping with our friends and my mom last night! After playing on the beach, Sam enjoyed a nice long nap in his little tent and then celebrated with volcano cake (chocolate cake mom made from a family recipe – yum!) decorated with a mountain of chocolate frosting and red icing coming out like lava 🙂 We put sparkler candles on for extra fire! Sam loved it, and got some help blowing out the candles :0 Our friends Leo and Brendan came with their two girls and his parents (thanks for coming, Bridget, Greta, Jim and Mary!!!), and Nate, Laurie and Catie (our intrepid adventure buddies) camped out with us that night. Dave made a fantastic pasta dinner with grilled sausage and red peppers, bread, olive oil with garlic, wine…yum! Thank you Dave for treating us so well! (He had a good time testing out some new camping gear.) Laurie did a great job making s’mores by our fire (we were supplied with pallets by neighbor Marines) until the Game Warden came by and said no fires. We went to bed around 10:30pm (Sam had somehow managed to get to sleep about an hour earlier despite the 30 Marines next door enjoying their bonfire and Metallica). The adults, however, were just beginning their eventful night. The Marines stayed up late, despite two warnings by Alli to keep a lid on things. (They appreciated I was so polite and understanding of their need to have a good time. However, I reminded them that they’d had two strikes, watch out if they make this “old lady” come out for #3!). Around 3:30am some prowlers came through our site and rifled through a tent. Dave saw them and chased them off with a lantern. (Gramma and Alli were really wondering what was going on as Dave circled the tent with lights ablaze!) Poor Dave didn’t anticipate having a “duty” night last night but was a trooper about it all and I think will enjoy retelling this story at many future KampKrug outings, although it may take several years for it to be funny! 🙂 (Editorial comment: Dave rightfully does not think it’s as funny as I do because he was concerned for our safety, not knowing if it was just a drunk Marine or some other indigent with mental impairment. He is not especially fond of the part about me coming flying out of the tent to chase off the drunk Marines with the same tactics I use for dogs who charge Sam and me while out running, i.e. volume and surprise! (Strike 3!)
Last night as mom joined us around the dinner table, we laughed recounting camping stories old and new, including how my mom’s dad (Bill) slept with an axe one night because a guy had escaped from a juvenile detention center nearby and mom’s mom was sitting up all night like a sentry. She spotted a bright light and thought it was the guy – she rousted Bill and he went out with the axe only to find it was the moon glinting off the car door handle!) I demo-ed my kung-foo kicks and tricky hand moves – Doug, you know what I’m talking about here from our younger days! Sam laughed and laughed at mommy! He got down from the table and did his own kung-foo moves, including sound effects, down the hall as we split a gut laughing at him! Sam really had a great time and we capped it all off with a paddle around the bay. I uploaded all the pictures from Jan, including some video, so check out the Album for updates.
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This picture was taken by my dear friend Angel on a recent hike up the Pillbox trail with the other Dirty Dozen team members, Sherry, Leo, and Diane. Thanks, Angel!
Mom, Sam and I are off on our Big Island adventure tomorrow! We fly into Hilo then go to the Kilauea Military Camp where we have a little cottage with jacuzzi, fireplace and kitchenette awaiting us 🙂 We have no idea what adventures we’ll get into while there – checking out the lava tubes, driving to Kona, going on hikes…We decided against driving up an unpaved road to the summit of Mauna Kea because it could easily be snowed in, and the air is quite thin. The rangers recommend no one under 16 go up to the summit (just under 14K ft) – not sure why, but that altitude apparently reduces blood oxygen levels roughly 40%. Since Sam has had a cough for over a week, we thought it wise not to head up. Another time when Dave can come and check out the observatories with us. Supposedly Mauna Kea offers the best star gazing in the world. So I won’t have my laptop for a week…I’m unplugging for a bit! Yeah! I’ll post pictures when we get back. Actually – it may take a few days. We’re going camping for Sam’s birthday as soon as we return – s’mores, cake, campfire – what could be better? We’ll be right on the water in Kaneohe Bay, camping with friends and their little girl. Poor Dave hasn’t had a day off in 3 weeks and I’m dragging him out camping. I promised to do all the grunt work…
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One down side of warm weather year-round is the bugs thrive here. This morning I stopped just short of stepping on a 4-inch roach, legs up, doing his last twitch, just outside Sam’s room. UGH! The hall was dark because he (Sam) woke up a bit early (I guess the roach did, too). I saw the dark form in a suspicious elongated shape and decided (fortuitously) to turn the lights on. Other bugs thrive, too. Like germs. Poor mom got a big innoculation of germs when Sam coughed into her throat (well, he didn’t mean to – he was trying to give her a kiss). I can’t remember the last time mom was sick, but this time she got really sick. And Sam still isn’t over his cold. I am fine, thankfully, and so is Dave. I had a brief (4-day) bout, but that’s nothing compared to Sam’s two weeks. We’re going to the doc tomorrow so we can take drugs on our trip next week. So today I decided to take mom and Sam on a field trip to Waimanalo to check out “keiki pony rides” – a sign I’d seen on our way back from a hike. Keiki means child. It was a great place – awesome views, sheep to check out, place to grill, and stuff for kids to play on. Perfect place for a kids’ party sometime. Afterwards we went down the road to visit some tide pools we’d frequented while living in Waimanalo. The water was a bit cool, but so calm. Sam could walk out about 20 yards and it only went up to his chest. He really enjoyed jumping around and splashing and threw quite a fit when I tried to leave. We had lunch at Keneke’s again – plate lunch of kalua pig, rice and mac salad. WOW is that good! I chomped. Thanks for lunch, mom! Glad you’re on the mend now 🙂 I’ve had the good fortune of doing some rudimentary web design for a couple start-ups here in town, one of which is an artisan bakery. How cool is that!? I got to meet the baker (who is also an OB/GYN), see their operation, and design their site. I was inspired to make some of my own bread – baguettes made with natural sourdough starter – and they turned out pretty well. I turned one loaf into croutons for a salad dinner (farmer’s market mystery salad – dill, spring onions and other assorted finds all turned into something (hopefully) edible). This experiment turned out surprisingly well 🙂 Whew!
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In our second Swamp Romp training session, my friend Leo led a Pilates session for mom and me. She had a very “hands-on” assistant (Sam). The rest of our time had scheduling conflicts today but I hope to see many of them next week on a hike. Leo – did a great job. Despite all the distractions, she managed to get my abs a good workout. Mom really enjoyed learning what Pilates is all about. We look forward to future sessions!
Sam is still sick, but we are going forward with our trip to the Big Island (Mon-Thurs this coming week). He has no fever and is active, so he’ll enjoy the diversion even if he’s a little uncomfortable. Might as well have fun while you’re sick, right? If he sleeps ok tonight we’ll go on a hike tomorrow morning with the Sierra Club. I’m looking forward to checking out a new trail.
I was so happy to awake to the news that two missing boys were found in Mo. I cried and prayed yesterday morning thinking about how devastated the parents must be. I don’t think I could take it for an instant. When I heard the news this morning, I thanked God for hearing all the prayers over the past week and delivering up not just the most recent child but one who had been kidnapped four years ago. I’m not sure if Sam understands at all, but I did explain that God listens to us when we pray every night before bed. If I keep talking about it I’m sure he’ll catch on eventually.
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Sam got to have snack with Nana and PopPop sitting right on the dining table, watching him! They did some counting, watched Sammy climb all over the furniture, and even his new potty. It was so great to see and hear them, and for them to see Sammy, the house, blue sky… So if you want to see us, just sign into your Yahoo Messenger or Windows Live Messenger, add us to your contact list to see when we’re online (our Yahoo id is kampkrug and for Windows Live Messenger it’s kampkrug@hotmail.com). A good time to look for us is between 3pm-4pm our time weekdays (5 hrs behind EST) and any time on the weekends. See you soon!
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Matt – we’re raising a wee bottle of aromatic herbal spirits to you tonight as you spend your last night at home before heading off to boot camp! I love the slogan on the box – [Underberg] cannot be explained, it must be experienced. (That’s how I’d like to be remembered!) Best wishes on your next adventure!