Thursday, July 22, 2010

*stifled laughter*

My son just went running through the house in a wig and a skirt, shouting, "WOOOOOO!! I'm a FREE MAN!!!"

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Home again, home again, jiggity jog...

We got back from Rockport on Saturday afternoon, with no sunburns, broken bones, one jellyfish sting, and many shells, none with a passenger, unlike last year, when we realized we had brought home an unintended passenger, and had to make a special trip to Galveston the following weekend to set him free.

It was awfully close, though. As we were packing up to leave, one of the kids found a lone moon shell hiding in a corner of the hotel room, and when I took it and poured warm water into it, out came a wild scrabbling of small jointed limbs. So, we finished packing up, and stopped by the beach so I could set him free. At first, I set him down just in the shallow water, so he could recover a bit, but when I straightened up, I noticed a little girl edging toward me, her eyes on the shell and realized my efforts were doomed to failure if I just left him there. So, with a sigh, I went back, picked him back up, and tossed him into a nice thick patch of sea grass in water that was about knee deep. Well... knee deep for me, that is!

It was a good vacation, and I wish it could have lasted a little longer. We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly, being somewhat more adventurous this time and exploring more of Rockport than we did last time. We had adventures, and did silly stuff, like this...

Slow Dip...

I will refrain from comment...

We shopped, and I have to tell you, it wasn't as hot as it had been last year, when we were suffering through the Triple Digit Summer From Hell, but it was much, much more humid, and that knocked the heat index up into the triple digits. This made walking much steamier than last year. Ugh! Thankfully, the Husbandly One and the Impossible Son volunteered to walk our purchases back to the van, letting the Impertinent One and I stay in the shade (and mugginess) before tramping off to the next shop.

"Dey see us strollin', dey hatin'..."

They were always disgustingly cheerful when they walked back.

We had fun looking at all the shops, bought a few things here and there. I would have liked to have bought some art, maybe some furniture, but how to transport it back? However, I did spot a shop called "Jack and the Bead Stock" that was having a huge sale on beads, etc, so, you know I had to go there and check things out! And walked out with a big bag of charms with plans for earrings and bracelets. But only after the Husbandly One twisted my arm a little and encouraged me to stock up. Still, I was very gleeful when we left, and can't wait to make some stuff!! Unfortunately, I was too engrossed in droolling shopping to take pictures, so...

We had lunch, went back to the hotel, rested, and then got ready to hit the beach. And I have to say something about BullFrog's SPF 50 SuperBlock Lotion Sunblock with Titanium Dioxide. It's probably the best sunblock they've made so far, and we've been using BullFrog since Miss Priss was in diapers! But this one, it works, it really, really works. It makes you look funky, because it's white, and it makes you look like something that's been locked in a dark basement all winter, and you've only just come out into the sun. But... you won't get burned.

I burn. Not as easily as the Blonde Sister. It takes me longer, but I burn. But... not with this stuff! It is awesome!!! Seriously, this year, nobody got sunburn. Period.

Anyhow, I digress. We went to the beach, and the kids decided, after trying to find sea shells to take home, and finding way too many occupied ones, to think outside the box and instead, collect as many hermit crabs as they could!

Collecting...

As you can see, they set to it with great gusto...

Collecting Hermit Crabs...

... and collected quite a lot!!

All taken...

And the majority of the shells were very much occupied!

Mr. Big... relatively...

and not all were happy about being captured, as you can see!

Sea Snail...

A tiny sea snail must have ridden in one of the shells, because we found it trying to get out of the bowl. The Husbandly One obligingly set it in his hand so I could get a shot of it.

The Impossible Son loves our trips to the beach, and it's always a chore to get him to come out of the water when it's time to go...

I can't hear youuuuu...

"No, I don't hear anybody calling me, nope, not me, not at all. No, Mom's not trying to call me, and my sister's not threatening me with death, so... I'll just look for more hermit crabs... yeaaaaah, that's what I'll do!!"

Of course, his sister was making death threats, because she was hot, uncomfortable, and somewhat grumpy, because her moon cycle hit just before we left home, and she wasn't comfortable with the idea of swimming in the ocean while pretty much bleeding. I understand that. I did offer her tampons, but she's not worked up the nerve to try them yet, and I'm not forcing her. In her own time, you know? So, we kicked around in the shallows, made a sand castle, drew in the sand, played soccer, walked up and down the beach, talked to people, and kept ourselves occupied. However, when it was time to go back to the hotel, she wanted to go back and not wait around for a Little Bother who didn't want to get out of the water before he absolutely had to.

All in all, it was a good trip. We played in the water, went shopping, ate great food, and had interesting adventures.

There was a new Chinese restaurant just down the road from our hotel, called the Panda Bay, which turned out to be really, really good. We went for dinner on Friday night, and got a waiter who pretty much leapt to attention if I so much as twitched. And considering that I talk with my hands (everyone who either knows me or has met me in Real Life is laughing heartily right here, because they know), you just know the poor man was run off his legs!!

He seemed really, really taken with the Impossible Son and kept encouraging him to eat without pressuring him. They didn't have a menu aimed at kids, but they would do what they could to accommodate their quirks (food not touching, sauces served separately, so the kids control how much goes on their food, etc). We'd ordered a combo plate for Mr. Impossible with sweet and sour chicken, and sweet and sour pork, sans the sauce (because neither Miss Priss, Mr. Impossible, nor I can have it), and he dug into it with gusto, only pausing long enough to ask for ketchup, which the waiter obligingly provided.

Our tea never got more than two inches below the top of the glass, and I got to where I practically sat on my hands, so the poor man would pay attention to his other customers!! The Husbandly One seemed to be inexplicably entertained by all of this and asked me if I'd packed my red v-neck shirt. I asked why, and he said, "If we come back for lunch tomorrow, you should wear it. Maybe we'll get free appetizers!"

O_o???

Anyhow, we enjoyed ourselves, and have decided that we definitely need to come back, and we also need to try staying in either a beach house, or a condo or something, just for variety's sake. We also want to come during the winter for beach combing and just for something different. And visit the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, something we weren't able to do this time.

And now to bed, and now to bed...

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Picture Spam!!!

Greetings from the wilds of Rockport!!!

And yes, I have photos to post!!

Here we go...

With the wind in her hair...

The Impertinent Daughter, not long after we'd arrived...

Sea-Green...

The Impossible Son has sea-green eyes...

Get That Ball!!!

Miss Impertinent gets in a little time with the soccer ball...

World's Tiniest Hermit Crab

We found the world's tiniest hermit crab...

Father  and Son

The Husbandly One and the Impossible Son share a chuckle...

A sizeable hermit crab

The Impertinent Daughter took this photo of a hermit crab in my hand...

I'm too tired to write much tonight, so I hope you enjoyed the photos!!

Love,

Jo

Friday, July 9, 2010

Salvia no Tsubomi ga...

It's no secret, I guess, that we listen to a lot of Japanese rock music, and pop music at our house. We're as likely to listen to L'Arc-En-Ciel and Home Made Kazoku as we are to Imogen Heap and the Dave Matthews Band.

It all started because of anime. Because we liked watching Japanese anime, like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, and TV series like Naruto and Ouran High School Host Club... and... we liked the music.

I have a writing journal on Livejournal, and the friends I made there introduced me to music outside of anime, sending me music that they thought I'd like, and the next thing I knew, the Impoertinent Daughter was interested, and wanted to listen, and it just sort of... exploded from there!

Still, the impact of this didn't hit me until the other day. The Impossible Son was playing with his DS, and he was singing softly to himself as he played, a song completely different from the music playing in the game, and it took a few minutes for me to realize why I couldn't understand what he was saying. Usually, it's because he doesn't know the words to some of the songs he likes, so he just sort of... makes up nonsense words to take the place of the ones he doesn't know yet. But... suddenly, I stopped and really listened and realized... I couldn't understand him because HE WAS SINGING IN JAPANESE!!!

Now, you have to realize, the Impertinent Daughter sings in Japanese all the time. She has actually gone online to look for lyrics to the songs she likes so she can sing along, and learns how to pronounce the words and what they mean, so... she's in a fair way of learning Japanese.

However, the Impossible Son hasn't done any of this, hasn't even thought of looking up lyrics. He just... hears it, and repeats it. And he doesn't have to hear the song to sing it in Japanese. He just... starts singing.

It's awesome!!

I shouldn't be surprised. He's listening to a song being sung in Japanese. When we watch our favorite anime movies, we tend to turn off the English track and put on the original Japanese track with English subtitles, and personally, I don't always need the subtitles to understand what they're saying any more. So, I shouldn't be surprised that the Impossible Son, without the incentive to want to learn Japanese, the way my daughter wants to learn it, is learning it without thinking about it. It's awesome. It's surprising. And it is just... mind-boggling!

To say that I'm proud would be an understatement!

And now, to explain the title of this post, it's the title of a Home Made Kazoku song.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

When Mom Plays Kingdom Hearts...

Thought y'all would get a kick of my daughter's point of view when I'm playing games on my DSLite. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days in particular.

When Mom Plays Kingdom Hearts...

See, my main character, Roxas, doesn't always do what I want him to do, and... for some reason, he seems to spontaneously burst into flames... even when there is no fire even remotely around. I mean, I've used no fire spells, none of the Heartless he is fighting are using fire spells, he just... bursts into flame.

Personally, I think he's depressed because he has such an inept player controlling him, but I could be wrong.

However, I am getting better, though right now I'm stuck trying to kill the ... er... Leech Grave or Leach Grave, I'm not sure which, but it's a nasty one that... well, it'll probably take me about four or five weeks to figure out how to kill it. *sigh*

However, I am vastly entertained whenever I switch to Mission Mode to have Donald Duck as my character, and watch him waddle/hop through Twilight Town to whack Heartless with his magical staff with a "Waaa-Whoa!!" and then watch him throw a temper tantrum of epic proportions when he gets hit back!!

It's a good thing I play solo in Mission mode, because I spend most of my time snickering and giggling and putting poor Donald in dangerous situations just to watch the mad hopping up and down and the furious Donald Duck cursing he does!!

Hee!!