Is it Thanksgiving?

I know many of my friends and family find it exciting to be up at 5:30 on the day after Thanksgiving to hit all the stores. I must admit, there have been a few years where I have joined them, but it has to be for something really good. (I am not female apparently, since I hate to shop). Today should have been like most of my other days now that my children are getting older, I should have been lazying in my bed until at least 8:30 or 9:00, gotten up and showered, woken the other children by 10:00, and then started the day, but no.... Today was a special day for our family. Today marked the reason we have moved our family to Seattle. It was the official opening of Jac's restaurant and with that, the official opening of the mall expansion.

Jac and his Business Partner


We have been warned that this is a really exciting thing. Now we have gone through several restaurant openings, which are exciting in and of themselves, but to have a whole mall opening? My daughter was thrilled, especially since she is working in one of the stores! So we woke up at the unforgivable hour of 5:30 am and drove ourselves to the mall. What is even crazier is the THOUSANDS of people that were already there, for a mall that didn't open until 10:00 am! What are people thinking?


The experience was .....interesting, we saw some unknown celebrity, I think he was from Trading Spaces, and got a front row seat to hear the Governor of Washington welcome the mall, the biggest in the whole Northwest, to Seattle. Then with a lot of fanfare, and some insanely crazy people doing acrobatics off the building we were finally allowed in to collect all of our SWAG. Ok the truth is, we had heard that there would be a lot of SWAG, and that is the only reason I got my behind out of my warm and comfortable bed. Thank Goodness they don't have these kind of openings all the time! I need my sleep!

WHAT???

For some time now, my children have called me "Little Mommy", usually with a snicker. I have usually laughed it off. Today, with nothing pressing on the agenda, we decided to play around with the camera. It wasn't until I was standing next to my sweet 13 year old, that this point was forcibly brought home. Not only am I 3" shorter than her, on a good day, but I got old!!!! When did this happen? I am now seriously considering a visit to the Plastic Surgeon!! Am I alone in feeling this way? And why does she have to be so happy?

Home Safely

UPDATE-----

Michael made it home safely! The best news is, she didn't get lost on the way to work! The only confusion was how to leave the mall at 3:30 am. Apparently she got turned around and didn't know which street to get home on. I told you directions are not her thing.

On another note, I told all of my children that I wanted to take them to our forest to get an updated picture of them for our blog, seeing that the sun is shining in Washington and our other picture was taken on the snowy banks of Lake Tahoe, wouldn't you know it, for the first time in days, not one of my family members is home with me! Go figure!

With Fear and Trepidation

Today marks a big day in the life of a parent.... I will be handing over my keys to Michael so that she may find her way ALONE to work. Now there are several factors at play here. I don't know if you remember or not, but on the day Michael received her license, she made the oh so wise choice to not only leave school, with the closed campus, but to drive a friend with her to Taco Bell. We all see how those choices play out, with her it happened to be having to replace the bumper on my car, and the license plate bracket on a very kind and understanding man's jeep. So, now we come to this period, 6 weeks later.

Michael has gotten a job, all on her own, without prodding from parents. She is to start her job tonight, and the great debate has been, does Mom drive her there and back? Or do we allow her to drive herself? Michael has a terrible time with directions. She drove herself to Young Womens at our church, which just happens to be 5 minutes away, called us 45 minutes after she left, in tears because she was hopelessly lost. An hour later, she came home, threw the keys down and told us in disgust how mad she was. What is a parent to do?

My wonderful, wise husband told me that I couldn't help her forever that eventually she would have to go out on her own, so yesterday we took a trip. A family trip. We had Michael drive the 20 minutes to her new job, with us in the car, writing down directions for her for every turn there and back. Now, I have had her make this drive several times with me, since it happens to be in the same area where her father works, but she still didn't understand how to get there. So now with directions in hand, she will leave our home at 5:00 pm and return at 4:00 am without her parents, luckily this will be the only time she works these hours, but the question remains, should I get up at 4:00 am and go get her? I will keep you informed on the latest decision......

Our Slice of Heaven

Ok, as promised, I am going to fill you in on our little piece of Seattle. This is the place we now call home, and unless something major comes up, we are hoping on finally once and for all settling here. This is our home, and like most of our other homes, it has already been christened with a party.

No, not a house warming party, that would be way too conventional for us, it was a manager's party for the 4th of July. Also like our other homes, we found that most of the managers that have moved to this area, know absolutely no one, which comes in handy, because you know that they have no plans, and can't think of a good excuse not to come for free food, fireworks and entertainment. Luckily, they didn't see me running across the yard like a crazy woman when I saw the snake earlier in the day!, but I digress, and that definitely is a story for another day. As the days go on, I will take you on a walk through the neighborhood and surrounding forest. Also, the invitation goes out to anyone, feel free to show up, we have plenty of room and food!

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July to all of our friends and relatives! Make it safe and fun!

What a great day!

Today it rained, in typical Seattle fashion. Out of the blue, there was a downpour, and did it stop us? Heck no! All of my kids got up and started getting really excited because of the thunder and lightning! What a great day!