Singing in the bathtub

When I was a kid, I remember listening to this Manhattan Transfer CD on car trips.  You know this song, I think it's called the Java Jive?

Emerald and Scarlett

Scarlett was trying to drink the bath water last night.  I told her not to (for the zillionth time.)  She said:

"I'm NOT drinking water." (pauses to continue drinking water) "I'm rinsing my mouth."

So, you can't really argue with that.

Another beach weekend

For the past six years, I have spent this late August weekend alternately running and vanning to the beach, over the course of 30 hours.  This year, without the Hood to Coast to boss us around, we decided to go to the beach like sane people, in a car.

I did a volunteer shift for a friend's HtC team on Friday night.  And even though we ran a mad awesome relay only a few weeks ago, I was jealous once I saw all the runners out there.  I felt like, this is MY party, and I should be running too.  But volunteering was a good way to feel involved, and at 10pm I went home to take a shower and sleep in my bed, and then I started to feel glad that I skipped the whole running-not-sleeping thing after all.

So on Saturday, we took our own beach trip, for Amber's birthday.  Instead of smushed bananas, warm pb&j, and water, we had delicious treats in the form of fresh sandwiches and fruit and fancy cheese.  Most of these were covered in sand by the time we started eating them.  Sandy watermelon tastes better than you might expect. 

En route to the sand, Scar and Lucy looked for bear caves.  Lucy is an expert at this.  Scarlett was unsure at first, but she saw how excited Lucy was and joined in.  Two little girls searching for bears- and later, Scarlett looked for gnomes and their homes- is really cute.

Oscar hung out with Charlie, and with his grandpa, while the girls ran around and Scarlett hid in a big sand hole that Charlie dug.  Shaggy and a friend were paddle boarding.  Lucy's cousin and some other little friends came along, then there was more running around on the sand and splashing and some peeing in the ocean.

We went to look in the tide pools, and for more bear caves.  Then Scarlett and I played a chasing game of our own on the beach.  So in the end, I did some beach running after all.  Happy birthday Amber!  Enjoy your prime!

Peace

Scarlett trying really, really hard to do the peace sign.  Dexterity is tough at age 2.5.

Weekending: Eugene

Kelly and I took a trip to Eugene, and left the husbands at home to do house projects and smoke cigars.  We stayed at a super swank hotel (Lauren's house).  I went for a shopping spree in a super swank boutique (Lauren's closet) and found a few dresses to wear to upcoming weddings.

Mom and Olive:

Ella and Scar holding hands in the car:

But, to be very clear, Arnie is her best friend:

Oliver's like...I'm coming for you...

When I asked Scarlett what her favorite part of the trip was, she said 'Tavish'.  We took him for a walk all the way around the block and she held his leash, alone, the whole time.

Popsicles!

Treehuggers! (It was Eugene, after all.)

Ella loving on her little brother.

We also took them to this cool outdoor pool with a slide and a sandbox.  We took them to Dairy Queen. So, I present you, Ella's first ice cream cone:

It Ain't Easy Being Green

Dan the frog had a rough trip to the park.

We went for Jon's birthday (happy birthday Jon!) and there was a table of food, and picnic baskets, and blankets and chairs.  Dan is Scarlett's second-in-command, trumped only by Arnie.  I try not to let her take Arnie out in public, in case something bad happens.  Something bad does!  Dan and his frog BFF were lounging around on the blankets when the following events occurred. 

• Two dogs are running around in the grass.
• One of them swoops onto our blanket, grabs Dan, runs off.
• I start chasing the dog, Charlie comforts Scarlett, who started crying.
• The dog starts fighting with the other dog over Dan and I'm trying to stop them, but also I'm kindof afraid of dogs.
• Their owner watches, mostly seeming bored and unhelpful.
• Finally she grabs one dog.  I pretend to be friends with the other dog, who then drops Dan and runs to me.
• Poor Dan had to have his broken leg mended.  He is all fixed, but as you can tell by the single-serving wine box in the upper left corner of this picture, he's been having a hard time post-surgery.

Scarlett, version 2.5

Today is Scarlett's half birthday.  She is getting a trip to the amusement park, despite the stifling, terrible heat we've had lately. 

• Last night we found her asleep with her knees on the floor and the rest of her body on the bed.
• We have been taking her to go potty before we go to bed, around 10:30ish.  Most often, she barely even wakes up during the transaction and it takes only a minute.  But last night, she needed more time, so at 11pm she sat there reading books on the potty. 
• Her favorite bedtime activity is to talk about her day.  If she's not very sleepy, then she wants to talk about my day and daddy's day and Arnie's day, then her day again.  We list all the things she's done.  For me, she'll say 'you went to work' or 'you did not go to work'

Hello my pretty little half-birthday girl!