Lately

We are enjoying our first (non)winter in the great (not) white north. We've had so little snow that I can see grass in our yard and, while it's making me love Alaska a little bit more, it's apparently ruining good winter fun. My kids wouldn't know; they're too busy learning to be little skiers on the man-made stuff. They joined the on-base downhill team as never-evers the week after Christmas and last week they participated in their first race. I'm humbled every week by their enthusiasm and bravery to just get out there and get after it. With snow on the horizon and two more Alaskan winters to come, I'm pretty excited to see their skills by the time we move back to the lower 48!

My little racers:

Second Grade Science

I loved second grade. I had a fantastic teacher (shout out to Scot Buxton) who made it a great year for me when he went above and beyond to foster my love of science, specifically roly poly's. He did that by making a special appointment for me to visit his buddy who was an entomology professor at KU and helping me learn so much more about the bugs. What? I didn't say I was cool in second grade, just that I loved that aspect of it.

I suspect Wyatt's feelings will be similar about his second grade year here since this is the year that the students study the life cycle of salmon. The hands-on portion began today with a field trip the Alaksa Fish and Game Fish Hatchery and I was 'lucky' enough to 'get' to ride the bus as a chaperone. The day started off with a bang, or sway, as the area felt a 6.2 magnitude earthquake. The kids were unbothered by it but the adults were a little concerned we'd be herding fifty kids out the emergency exits in case of aftershocks. As it turned out, we didn't feel any and the tour went on as planned. It was a really cool facility where they raise salmon, Arctic Char, Arctic Grayling and Rainbow Trout to stock area lakes and rivers.

two classes of second graders, lined up and listening

one of the rooms of tanks - each one of those had approximately
30,000 Rainbow Trout.

One of the trucks they use to haul fish to local waterways

reviewing the life cycle of the salmon from egg to spawning adult

the donor fish for this group's eggs

donor male - skinnier belly and hooked nose

donor female - fatter belly and a great example of how beat up
these fish are as by the time they spawn. Their noses are torn because they
try to swim straight upriver and just ram into anything in their way.

harvesting the eggs from the female, these two "lucky" kids were chosen to help.
They sliced her open and the eggs came flying out. The ADF&G guy pulled out the
remaining skeins of eggs and as he did, a girl in the crowd asked if he could also pull
out the fish's heart. She's ready for dissection day!

Collecting the milt from the male. Again, two "fortunate" helpers.

Learned that fertilization can't happen without water, so they added that and stirred.
And that's the recipe for baby salmon.

This is a super-zoom of the eggs about ten minutes after they were mixed
and already a few of them are visibly fertilized (the ones with the white spots toward the bottom).
In 45 minutes, the eggs go from being soft and gelatinous to having a harder, protective exterior.

Wyatt reports that all the eggs were safely transferred into the class tank and are well on their way to becoming fry. Hopefully some will actually make it and the kids will be able to return them to ADF&G during their spring field trip to release fry into the river. Between now and then, they'll be dissecting a salmon in class, too. I hope they do that on a day I'm in the classroom helping!

So Here We Are

Does anyone have any idea what happened to summer? I mean, I would have sworn Wyatt just finished school a few weeks ago. As I looked forward from May in this new place with no outdoor pools, summer seemed to stretch endlessly before us, but instead we had a whirlwind, amazing summer. We have had such a fun few months - lots of blogging to catch up on - but first, this: how are my kids both in school all day?! I have been looking forward to this day for a while, but now that it's here I'm sad. Glad for them and all that lies ahead, but... I mean, I've had a fairly constant companion for eight years and now I'm supposed to get through thirty-five hours a week by myself. Millie isn't even great company anymore.

I have some projects in mind, mostly those things that never get fully executed with a move (organizing closets, anyone?) and that are hard to accomplish with kids here (purging toys, anyone?) but it seems like maybe those will be finished soon. Certainly I hope to find stuff for my own mental health (baking, building, volunteering, regular blogging - could it be?) but I have a feeling things will seem out of balance for a while. I'm already committed to some time at their school, which I love because I get that behind-the-scenes view, but I still find myself thinking, "now what?" and creating mental lists of things that might never happen.

On the bright side, the two products of my last eight years' work are good kids, bringing home good behavior reports and seemingly well-adjusted. In other good news, Wyatt really is the big brother I suspected he is when we're not looking. He's been incredibly encouraging to Natalie about 'real school' and has even been known to wait for her on the playground and to sit with her on the bus. There are still the standard bickerfests, but we can't expect magic, now can we? Natalie is still adjusting to the pace of all day, every day school but I think she'll find her balance soon and she seems excited that homework started for her this week.

Better late than never, my kids on their first days of school:

Incidentally, proof that Fall arrives in one fell swoop here is in the above pictures taken exactly one week apart in our yard. Wyatt started school at the end of summer when it was still warm enough for shorts and Natalie began a week later at the start of Fall. This place is pretty amazing!

The Fair is a Smorgasbord!

Does anyone else remember that song from Charlotte's Web? Or at least I think that's where I learned it…that's a prime example of why I can't remember to take chicken out of the freezer for dinner, by the way. My brain is full of useless lyrics and random information that has no bearing on real life. But I digress.

So. The fair. While it is, indeed, a smorgasbord, we didn't partake of the food this year. Much to my dismay, we didn't time our visit well so I wasn't hungry for any deep fried goodness or even the homemade salt and vinegar french fries. We did, however, make multiple appearances at our county fair and started with opening night. As we whizzed around on the ferris wheel, I wondered if maybe we should've let a few more people ride first to make sure the kinks were out.

The kids' expressions might tell you a little about the speed.

the view from the top - it's a humble little fair but packed with fun!

I was smart enough to pre-purchase our all-you-can-ride passes this year so we wouldn't be shell-shocked at the gate. The kids got our money's worth out of their handstamps, maybe on the giant slide alone which Natalie did at least five times in a row.

Both kids remembered this roller coaster from last year.

Natalie was really excited to ride the bumblebees but Wyatt declined.
I think he'd had enough of the 'going around in circles up and down' by this point.

Ah, the beloved frog hopper that takes them up, up, up and then 'drops'
them from varying heights.

Horribly blurry, but I love that Wyatt's just a flying, wide-armed, green-shirted blob in this.
Nat's right behind him.

They had so much fun! Natalie also took a turn on the bumper cars with me as her driver and Wyatt and Jeff took a couple turns on the hang glider. We rounded out the evening with a stroll through the swine and equine barns. Piglets are cute! I was humbled when a percheron (whose owner was there, tending her horses and telling us about them) stuck her head out over the rail for me to pet her. We had a great night and thought that was a pretty great way to do the fair, but then….

Wyatt came home from school on Wednesday afternoon saying he had art at the fair. And I had already remembered a note coming home saying something about art, the fair, etc., yadi yada, with his name on it. I kind of thought every kid got a note home about art at the fair, quite honestly. I had already done a little research of my own on Wednesday morning questioning other first grade moms if they'd received such a note, so let's just say it was no surprise when Wyatt said his name was called on the announcements and that we'd missed his art debut. As any guilt-ridden mom with a husband working ridiculously late would do, I decided to take the kids back to see Wyatt's art. And no, for those wondering, it was not well-received that I didn't pony up for rides a second time.

W's art is the top left. 

We missed the poultry house the first time, so it was fun to go through
and look at all the chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, quail, guinea hens and pigeons (weird, right?).
The kids were delighted when offered a chance to pet a baby chick.

Last but not least, Wyatt went a third time with his friend Xavier yesterday afternoon. Lucky kid! Natalie was crushed, of course, that her brother was getting to go ride everything without her so I did what any self-respecting mom would do and bribed her. Between that and some back-to-back episodes of My Little Pony, she was good to go in no time. Xavier's mom reported that both kids had a great time; Wyatt convinced Xavier to go on the hang glider (no surprise), they apparently rode some things we missed on our visit and Wyatt was still laughing about the pig races today (his favorite part: pig #1 was named Kevin Bacon). My personal victory is that despite all these trips to the fair, we managed to leave without a fish! Both kids have already asked about the fair situation in Alaska, so I think it's safe to say we'll be looking forward to the state fair next year. I can't wait to see what animals are on display there!

So Young, and Yet...

Wyatt has a friend over this afternoon and, after having been outside for a bit, they came in to play. It got awfully quiet, so I decided to double-check what they're up to. Sure enough, the door was closed. When I tried to open it, I could tell something or some things were in the way. I reminded them of our doors-stay-open policy and the barricade was promptly removed. Wyatt began to protest by telling me that the door wasn't locked. I restated the policy of no closed doors and added "no barricades" to the list. His reply? "But Mom, we're trying to build a man cave!"

Ai yi yi. Good luck, boys.

Whirlwind

Whew. Wyatt's on day three of school and I feel like I'm just starting to come up for air. Last year, I was overwhelmed at the beginning of the year because we were on month seven of Jeff being gone more than he was home and elementary school seemed to come with so many more pieces of paper, rules, and logistics. I'm happy to say that this year I'm overwhelmed by none of those things. Instead, I'm digging out of the hole we created this summer by having too much fun. We packed our break with friends, swimming, beaches and travel. It was perfect (maybe I'll even get around to writing about it so we can look back and remember how great it was).

Even with all that fun, it would be inaccurate to say that Wyatt wasn't chomping at the bit to return to school! I'd like to think he loves learning, but I suspect he loves the structure, activities and friends more. Here's my guy on the first day with our obligatory picture.

That's the Wyatt the teacher probably thinks she has.

This is the Wyatt she'll discover soon enough...

And lest you think I'm sitting around eating bonbons, that will have to wait another couple of weeks until Natalie starts school. Until then, I'm a cruise director for an active four-year old whose copious words have had more than one target for the last couple of months. My ears are tired, yet constantly amused.

Mr. To The Point

This has been awaiting documentation for a few weeks now, so today's as good a time as any. The first weekend of May, we trekked to Atlanta and met up with a friend from Jeff's pilot training days. Wyatt's front tooth was hanging on by a thread and Jeff was good enough to remember to pack his special tooth fairy pouch. Somewhere between Augusta and Atlanta, Wyatt parted with the tooth and asked me to hold onto it so he could put it under his pillow at the hotel. We told him we weren't sure the tooth fairy could find him in a hotel room, a few hundred miles from home, but that we were hopeful.

Fast forward twelve hours and our hopefulness just turned into a room full of sleeping people. Sadly, the tooth fairy was, apparently, unable to find our Wyatt. The Embassy Suites must have been too confusing, what with all those rooms and having to sneak past a front desk that's manned all night long. Wyatt took it in stride, reporting his finding (tooth still there, no money) first thing Sunday morning. We assured him that she'd find him as soon as he put the tooth under his own pillow. We were proud (relieved, actually) that he went with that so easily.

Until we found this:

In typical Wyatt fashion, he was up quite a while before the rest of us and had entertained himself quite nicely in the front room. Apparently he also used that time to vent his frustration, because here's the back of the same note:

Umm, perhaps he was a little more irritated than we realized. I never knew I could be so amused by his writing, feel so guilty for its content and take such pride in his use of the universal 'circle-with-a-line-through-it' all at the same time. That's Wyatt - he keeps us on our toes!

This Explains the Water Bill

I guess it's pretty important to get all that steam generated. Can you guess which small person was in this shower?

All airplanes, all the time. That's my Wyatt!

Current Events

*As I type, my kids are playing in their "spy fort" under the dining room table. We know this because

1. Jeff told them he could see them in there, to which Wyatt responded, "okay, but don't tell Mom where we are."
2. Natalie asked if they could spy on me some more (only she says, "fy", darn those tricky sounds) and when I said yes, she excitedly ran to tell Wyatt, "Mommy said we can FY on her!"
3. We can hear every bit of their conversation which has included snippets like, "Natalie, we are not cats, dogs or animals so we don't hibernate, we just sleep."

*My new favorite phrase of Natalie's is delivered when she sees trash on the ground then tells me that someone has "glittered." Ah, yes, glittering is so rude.

*Wyatt has read three books out loud to his class this past week. So proud of him!

*In the past few weeks, Natalie has mastered pumping her legs on the swing, therefore rendering me unnecessary at the park, and just last night she mastered the monkey bars. My baby girl is strong and fearless.

*Wyatt watched a little bit of Top Gun last week - his first time ever. Now I'm hearing new phrases when he has dogfights with his airplanes and seeing new drawings of tactical flying in his art. Two nights ago he demonstrated a flat spin with his Tomcat and told me that's what happened in the movie. If it involves airplanes, he's a sponge.

*Both kids are playing church league basketball through the Y and it's highly entertaining. Natalie is very interested in the water breaks and the wearing of her team shirt, but mostly stays out of the fray of the game (and there is much fray with a few boys who believe tackling is part of basketball). Wyatt is improving weekly, aided in large part by the amount of time he spends on the back patio with his new basketball goal, and manages to ignore the ceaseless flirting from one of his cute little girl teammates.

*We have one fish (swordtail) who has survived for a month. It's a record and, now that I've typed this, he'll probably float belly up too soon. For now, we're all feeling good about reducing our fish-killer reputation.

*Wyatt received the board game Othello for Christmas. It's not a well-known game but I grew up playing it and loved it. My parents realized he was probably ready for it and they were right - it's played almost daily, most often with Natalie who's okay with losing since her brother is playing with her. It's a pretty great arrangement since Wyatt enjoys playing more when he wins.

*Thursday marked our one year anniversary here in little ol' Sumter. To say that it has been better than we expected is a vast understatement. We are blessed with a great network of friends, a church that feels like home, two kids who love their schools and a sense of being connected to the community that we haven't always had. 

*Natalie is ramping up her birthday talk. To refresh your memory, she began talking about her 4th birthday only two days after her 3rd birthday and the topic has come up every few days for the past ten months. This week, her planning has begun in earnest. She's whittling her guest list, planning the cake and games and deciding where we'll have it. All of this despite me telling her she might not be having a party.

*The kids saw me looking at beach houses online last night and Wyatt wanted to know if South Carolina had beaches. I reminded him about our weekend in Myrtle Beach two months ago and he was only kind of convinced. Looks like it's time to get serious with a map since I refuse to have geographically illiterate kids.

*I have good intentions of blogging more. I'm told my audience of one will appreciate it (here's to you, Mom).

Attack of the Garments

Needless to say, there is much to update but I'll share an awesome Wyatt moment instead.

I asked him to get dressed, but he returned without a shirt and I wasn't too happy. When I asked why wasn't dressed, he got kind of defensive and said, "Mom! I tried, but there was a really strange shirt in my drawer! I put my arm in a sleeve and the other arm in the other sleeve, but when I pulled it over my head, there was a sleeve around my neck! What was that?!"

I paused, processed and replied, "Wyatt, that's called a turtleneck." Then I completely cracked up. I guess he's not a fan.

Lately

We've been living the life here lately, engaging in a wide range of activities. Natalie is really into her babies, so they got to go the park one day.

babies were carried

babies did the slide

babies had to see how big their hands are

babies used the swings

babies had to sit in time out for a little bit

on another day, babies were fed in the kitchen

and babies are always given lots of love.

Then there's Wyatt, and his ever-loving engineeringish brain. I was called to his room one day in a voice that suggested something might be wrong ("Mom! You have to come see this!") but this is all I saw when I arrived on the scene:

I was perplexed. When I asked exactly what I was looking at, he explained it to me. There were moving parts, etc. and I'm still not sure what it was BUT I do know that in his brain, it was something. So there's that. Besides, it's inherently cool because it involves a light saber and a tape measure.

A couple of weekends ago, we made a family outing to the Congaree National Park. It was pretty cool; a great diversion from our normal routine and a great chance to be in nature. That said, I'm not sure you could pay me enough to go there on a hot, humid day. It's definitely a fall/winter/spring kind of place!

Then there was our annual round of croup; this one took Wyatt out of school for four days - the first two days it was kind of nice to have him around, days three and four were less enjoyable for all of us. In the midst of it, we realized the seal bark was not going down without a fight, so we paid a visit to our doctor for a breathing treatment. Even in this get-up, he was smiling. In that moment, I was reminded that he's  a pretty great kid. He was also given a dose of prednisone in the office and when I asked him if it tasted like grapes he cracked up and said, "No! It tasted like rotten cherries!"

Last weekend, I had the great pleasure of taking a day trip with a couple of friends. It involved lots of shopping (really more looking than shopping, but it's the thrill of the hunt), some good food that we can't get around here and lots of laughing. The kids were thrilled to have an entire day with "just daddy!" They squeezed a lot into their day, including the purchase and assembly of some new rockets. Jeff then had to work on Sunday, but rockets were on Wyatt's mind. He spent a fair amount of time making his own, including a launch system. Again with that brain that's so different than mine. I love it.

rockets all lined up, ready for launch

this is his "launch system" but then post-countdown, he hopped up and tossed
the rocket toward the ceiling.

And lastly, we experienced local culture at its finest by attending the Sumter County fair yesterday. Whoo, boy, that was some people-watching. More importantly, though, it was a Saturday afternoon together.

ferris wheel - much speedier than the ones in Japan!

little drivers

they would've done this on eternal repeat if we'd let them

she couldn't wait to get in the purple car - before the ride started, another little girl
joined her and they spent the whole ride grinning at each other as they 'drove'

this ride was awesome - it flung them around the ovals of the track
and my little thrill-seekers loved it!

Of course no fair is complete without games, so both kids played the 'ping pong toss for fish' game. In all truth, Natalie and I were on a ride when Jeff agreed to let Wyatt try. He says he didn't think Wyatt would win, but as I was spinning around on a bumblebee, I looked down to see that indeed, Wyatt's ping pong ball was in a container. Of course Natalie needed to try, too. She wasn't as lucky skilled, so we cut our losses after one round and told her we'd take her to Petco to buy a fish. Well, you know one thing leads to another so now we're proud owners of a two-gallon tank complete with fake plant, tiki mask and two goldfish. Their names are Orange Flipper (Wyatt's - and he doesn't look as though he's long for this world, as most fair fish aren't) and Natalie's Fish (it's had multiple names so far: Kangaroo, Fish, Natalie and Sarah. I'm not sure what its name was at bedtime).

And now you're kind of caught up - that's life around here!