Look Mom, I Found Sand

This summer we went on a mini-vacation to Port Aransas. This was our first trip as a family and pretty much the first real trip we have taken since having kids. Thankfully, my parents live in between the metroplex and the coast, so we got to make a pit stop there. They were also able to come with us along with my sister. It was great having all of the extra helps and it brought back tons of great memories for me, since that is where we vacationed every summer of my childhood.

The kids LOVED the beach. Linus had no problems crawling around on the sand or in the water. SD was in heaven. BG took her out in the waves and she giggled the entire time.

One afternoon, as we were sitting on the beach, she was playing with our family friend in the shallow water. She came running back to me with a handful of sand and said, "Look mom, I found Sand." It was so funny because she said it with such enthusiasm and like she had discovered something new, never mind that she was walking on that very discovery!

Kids are funny!

Battle of Flowers

In April I was in SA for Fiesta week. We took the whole family and got to participate in lots of the festivities. One of these festivities that struck me as odd is the Battle of Flowers Parade. You see, this parade is celebrating the battle of San Jacinto I believe and when Texas got their independence from Mexico. Yet, there are a LOT of people that look like they are descendants of people from Mexico at the parade. It just seems weird to me that they would be so eager to celebrate the defeat of their ancestors.

Pilot Personalities

Thankfully my commute to work is pretty much a non-event. I am blessed to live on one side of the airport and work on the other. The best part is that I don't have to get on a highway or even really deal with traffic when I go to work, because I am able to flip through the airport. In doing this every day now for 2+ years, I have made some observations. I get to see lots of planes take off and land, and it never loses its amazement. One thing that I have noticed is that there are two groups of pilots. One that halls it into the airport almost screeching to a dead stop when they land on the runway. The other slows down before they even start their descent and is more like the tortoise. I have a theory that the slower pilots are those that are older and more cautious. The younger, still have something to prove pilots are the ones that try and beat their previous time. But this is just a theory since I can't actually see the pilot from the road. It would be interesting to study though!

Marriage Talk

I read an article today that talked about sex in your marriage. I think this is something that is so true. While I don't agree with everything that they wrote in there, as I was telling my sister the other day, I think sex is very important in a marriage. I think when it changes, one way or the other, it is usually a sign of something else. But, those are just my personal thoughts, that I am posting for all to see on the internet! Nice!

Being a Mom

I was reading the blogs that I subscribe to and came across this, kind of hit me in the gut! I have an important job as a mom, I know that, but this totally changes my perspective!

Here's a great quote:"I know that some jobs don't really count, don't make much of a difference, don't actually matter that much, don't have much lasting significance. Not so with mothering. I know that in some jobs the worker is only handling cleaning equipment, or car parts, or computer keyboards, or insurance policies, or court cases, or political legislation, or stockholders' funds. Not so with mothering. A mother is handling things of a far greater magnitude. She's handling never-dying souls. She's daily conducting heart surgery on eternal spirits whose forever destinies are influenced most profoundly by the hands that rock their cradles, wipe their noses, spank their fannies, open their Bibles, prepare their after-school snacks, and turn off their bedroom lights. Those motherly hands are molding characters which will become men and women who will turn the world upside down either for good or for evil. Now that's a job that counts. " Womanly Dominion, page 108-109

What do you think? If you are a mother, do you feel like it counts this much?

Facebook Friends

I like Facebook, other than the fact that it is a total time waste and somewhat voyeuristic. But what are the rules regarding friends? I have a couple hundred friends I think, most of which I personally know or knew for an extended period of time. Others are more like acquaintances. Two such incidents are former significant others of my siblings. So, what do I do about that? Leave them as friends? I didn't break up with them after all, and I actually really liked both of them and would have no problems carrying on a conversation now with either one of them. Part of me just thinks it is weird! Any thoughts?

Ben-Gay

BG does a lot of work around the house on the weekends. It typically involves getting on the roof or in the attic for some reason. Last weekend, he ran some extra telephone lines (a new skill he can add to his home improvement resume) which meant a lot of crawling around in tight attic spaces. These tasks always seem to make him sore, he is getting old you know. So at the end of the day, he has quite the ritual....shower, advil, and using ben-gay or icy-hot.

The smell of this stuff brings back such memories for me. The only time I used that stuff was in High School when I was on the dance team. Every summer we would go to dance camp, where we would dance and stretch and perform 10 hours a day, it seemed like, for a week straight. After the first day, we were always so sore, because we had been able to relax for a good part of the summer and our muscles were just not used to that much work! The smell of Ben-Gay would fill the halls as we all tried to help our fatigued muscles recover.

Isn't' it funny how smells bring back memories? What are some smells that evoke memories for you?