Me and Bobby James

 

This guy…

..and his mom came to visit us last week.

The girls have met James a few times before but this was the first time they got real one on one time with him. They fell in love with him and promptly changed his name to Bobby. We’re still not totally sure why. One theory is “baby James” evolved into “Bobby James”. In the end, the best explanation Tiff could give me was, “I don’t know. He just seems like a Bobby.”

Everything Bobby did was hilarious. There were arguments about which girl he liked best, who could feed him, who made him smile. They couldn’t get enough of Bobby. The cute part was that Bobby really couldn’t get enough of them either.

 

Bobby ate pounds of rocks and sand at the beach.

He loved to crawl around in the sand. The girls believed his love of the beach was a sign that they should move here.

I LOVE the sandy feet!

Bobby loved the beach so much that he got ticked when it was time to go.

 

We visited a lighthouse..

 

..and explored an old army base with lots of things that resembled the Dharma Initiative.

We found these cute messages in the sand.

It was fun for the girls to show Hannah their turf. They were such great hosts. There were of course so many hilarious stories.

On Sunday Hannah and Natalie ended up in a car alone on the way to church. Our church is behind the temple. As they were driving, Natalie was playing tour guide.

Natalie: There’s Dairy Queen. There is the bowling alley. And there’s the temple. Did you know they light it up really bright at night? It is SO pretty!

Hannah: Yes. They do that to all the temples. Isn’t it just beautiful?

Natalie: Um. Not the temple. The bowling alley.

Everyone had a very hard time when Hannah and Bobby James left. The girls love their Aunt Hannah as much as they love their cousin. It was great for me to spend time with my sissy. We all miss them so much!

Adrift

We have had our ups and downs with our sailboat. Let’s be honest. But we thought we had survived winter with just a few hitches until a few weeks ago when my dad called. His message:

“Sis! Call me! It’s about your boat! She’s adrift in the lake! She’s adrift!”

My dad, who never deviates from the boats-are-always-female rule, received word from the boat’s former owner who had received word from the King County Sheriff that our boat was having some issues that we needed to attend to sooner rather than later.

Immediately unpleasant images of the boat ran through our heads. The boat crashing into a bridge, or Bill Gates’ dock, or Bill Gates’ yacht. The boat upside down in the middle of Lake Washington. The boat splintered and slowly sinking.

It turned out, as if often does, that my dad’s report was a bit of a stretch. The truth was that she came loose from her anchor after a nasty wind storm, the water in the lake went down, and she was beached.

The captain and skipper (Dave and me) tried to push, shove, kick, and coax the boat back into the water. She wouldn’t budge, even after the captain bailed bucket after bucket of rain water, and, okay, maybe a little lake water, out of the cabin. We later learned it would take the strength of four guys hired from the Home Depot parking lot and $150 to move her.

Very long story, very short-the sassy is on land now and will be registered very soon so the Sheriff and Bruce can breathe a little easier. We look forward to a summer of sailing and repairs.

At least the kids always have fun at the beach.

A Birthday and a Confession

I used to judge parents who did what I did. I ranted about proper role models, body image, sending the wrong message to young girls. I’d like to take a moment to apologize to my former unmarried, childless, feminist self. I did what I said I’d never do. I bought my daughter a Barbie. The worst kind. Wedding Barbie.

I welcome stories from those of you who had Wedding Barbie as a child and didn’t drop out of school at 17 to marry a guy who drove an RX7.

But look at the joy on her face! And this isn’t the first time I’ve done something as a parent that I said I’d never do.

Natalie turned six last month. We celebrated at the place of her choice: Red Robin of course.

Natalie had a big year. She started kindergarten, learned to read entire books, lost a few teeth, and got her first note from a boy who appreciates her neat handwriting and the fact that she’s nice.

Happy birthday, Nat Nat!