Get Naked and Get Dirty!

Reverse that.  Get dirty & then get naked.  And spend 40 minutes in the shower getting dirt out of areas where dirt should NEVER be.  And then dry off, find more dirt and get back in the shower.

Why?

Because we did The Dirty Dash!  The 2nd Dirty Dash in The Can - with plans to do many more and involve many many more family members and friends!   Starting off with jumping over ginormous bales of hay, through huge mud puddles and man made mud "pools", through the Spokane River, up rope climbing obstacles, down rope climbing obstacles, army crawling through mud and huge metal tubs... crawling through bark/sawdust under rope obstacles, over huge pipes slippery with mud and water, a slip and slide, a beer... we even saw three deer.  Blasted with mud (professional "after" photos to come), laughter, funny people in funny outfits...

So.  Much.  Fun.

We have actually rinsed off before the second photo - so when we get the photos from right after the race - you'll have a better understanding!  But note my shirt...  That should give you a good indication of what my whole body was like prior to rinsing off!

We "ran" the race/event, showered a few times, still felt dirty, but headed out to an end of the school year party at our friends.  We ate, chatted, ate some more, enjoyed the sunshine and then raced off to my niece and soon to be nephew-in-laws graduation party out in Cheney.  Fun times despite it being the 16th of the month.

I still thought about her all day - and as I reflected on the race several times throughout the day, I knew... that she and her friends would LOVED to have done this event.  I can imagine their photos, stories and mud slinging fights.  I can imagine their "memories".  The sun shone through and I know she was smiling at the silly mess that her uncle and I were in and maybe some of her friends.  We have, ironically, 16 family members that swear they are doing it with us next year - so our team name may have to include the girl who would certainly take this event by storm!

We finished our day with The P's and the K's at The Manito TapHouse - where The Dad tried some wussy beer and I actually took a chance and tried something a little less "wussy".  I think it improved my "mowing" game this morning as I went diagonal again out in the yard!  I should have taken my time as I was eager to get inside, clean up, start laundry and get The Dad settled on the couch with the control in his hand while we, uhhh  he hoped to watch Tiger forge back to the lead.  Instead, that's not happening, The Dad is asleep and I have to get my ars off this spot and get the next load of laundry going.

Tiger may not win (won't), but at least we, uhhhh HE, has the basketball game to look forward to!  #ThunderUp

Hey Patty Pat... There You Are.

This is the song I remember my uncle by - every time I hear it, I think of Uncle Doug.  Taken from us all, in a boat wreck on Liberty Lake, coming up on 20 years ago.  Jeez... I remember you had just met Blue Eyes just a few weeks prior - he was 3 months old.  <sigh> (Click to the right... Playlist has ruined my automatic "start")  :(

Some of us have songs we remember certain times, places, people by... or events.  Photos, smells, clothing, weather - so many triggers.  Adam Morrison is a topic by which I will fondly remember my work pal Pat.  I loved Adam and Pat knew it... but I think I loved Adam more and more because of how disgusted Pat was by it.  My office was decorated with Adam from the last two seasons at GU.  I spent special, precious time laminating articles and photos - in part because I knew it would irk him just that much.  

I loved our banter and teasing.  And once I met his rock star wife it was almost a tag-team wife/husband thing going on.  She nagged, teased, laughed at and with him at home... I took over when he got to work.  As it should be for all men... Pat was just super lucky that it worked out this way.  Right Rob?

But as I said on March 9th - he was, is... gone too soon.  But he left his mark on so many as much as he allowed us all to leave our mark on him.  And because of his "tenure" at Sacajawea Middle School (aka - Sacatraz to the kids, come year end) and the ties that bind - an idea was hatched.  Last week it was implemented and tomorrow, on the last day of school - as the annual "Rubber Thunderbird" con is set to begin - it will be dedicated.


Countless numbers of students, siblings, parents, staff and others will see this as time passes and may not know you, or ever hear about you.  Some smart aleck will respond to: "Who is Patr.. F.. Fi... lo?" with "I'll  bet your mom knows." and start laughing.


And you would likely appreciate that...


You made your  mark in us all and now, on a basketball court - so so fitting, is a part of you.


Cheers buddy.  I'm wearing yellow tomorrow with an Adam Morrison jersey underneath, to go with my purple toenails - for the dedication.  I figure since I HAD to go to Cabo and missed the memorial, that I can "bring yellow back" for this one time.  I told Robin I hope it helps me - in the terms of you working out a good deal for me with the heat miser, so that I'm not stuck with all of the Devils Dweebs when I get there.

The Week About Dads

The Dad - still dances like this.

Makes me love him that much more all over again.  Oh... and if the little man in the video is up for adoption, I've got first dibs.  Him and the "winker" from Harvard Boys "Call Me Maybe" viral video!  Watch all the way to the end. 

Awwwwe man!

Okay, so the Harvard baseball team isn't so much about dads, but they have dads.  So, it all works.

A Glimpse of The Future

The Dad woke up early - we both did, in eager anticipation of Zach's first day at work at Hangman Valley Golf Course.  When I say "early" I mean... before the butt crack of dawn.  Zach and Ryan have to BE at work at 5 a.m.  The work on the groundskeepers' crew and this means they have to leave the house by about 4:50 a.m.  This is Blue Eyes 3rd year, but today was Wacks' FIRST DAY.

So while we made sure he was up, dressed (because this came uber early to the youngest one so ya just never know) and out the door (they can now carpool!  Yah!) - what it came back to was a quiet morning.  No doors shutting, no music blaring from the bathroom.  No showers running, or alarms going off.  

Every day is going to be like this beginning in late September.  Every.  Single.  Day.

We got up, went to the club, came home, picked up, started laundry (ahem), made some eggs, showered and off to work we go.  

I was home when the boys arrived home from Z.F.D.O.W. and excitement ensued.  Not because the mom was home, had started more laundry and dinner.  But because the shoes MOTY ordered a few weeks ago arrived for our Christmas weekend the end of the month - that little tournament called "Hoopfest".  

They disappeared downstairs with their treasures (pronounced TReh-zhure, not tray-zhure) and left ole MOTY in the dust.  Quiet again.  Super quiet.  Even Jack, Dan & Boone seem to be more settled.

I know it's my imagination (the dogs).  I've been told one day I'll like this (the quiet).  I'm not wrong a whole lot, so I feel safe saying that the people telling me that are all high.  Or had kids too late in life.  Or had kids when they didn't really want them.  Or forgot how awesome they are.  ORRRR... had daughters.  We're bitches... ain't no two ways about it. I knew I didn't want one of ME running around.  Ugh.

So this is my glimpse.  I'm still not overly excited about this.  Heck, I'm not even looking forward to it.

Planning for Fathers Day

The first thing I'm going to do on Fathers Day is... wake up.

And then I'm going to manipulate The Dad into thinking we should take Jack, Dan and Boone to the dog park for a good walk and play.  (Actually, this won't be that hard because Jack, Dan and Boone apparently know what Sundays are by their internal clocks and they got stiffed this past Sunday due to Zach Attacks graduation schedule so they will really be amped up!).

After the walk we'll head home but with Blue Eyes in Seattle until later than evening we won't be doing a family deal until that afternoon.  So since, technically, the "holiday" won't be able to start family wise until evening, I think it would make sense that we do the weeding, mowing and trimming so that the yard looks nice for Fathers Day Night.

We'll probably need some things at the store, and while I'm scrubbing toilets, I'll ask one of the boys to go and when they don't move off of the couch for 45 minutes, I'll huff and I'll puff and The Dad will ask me what I need and he will go.  

This is where my master plan comes in to play.  While he's gone, I'll finish the toilets, vacuum the stairs and living room, piss and moan about how hot it is in the house and then stop for a minute to watch Tiger Woods inch closer to his next win... all in peace.  

I'll race back to the shower before he gets home, shower up, dry my hair and get dressed just in time for him to walk in and realize he missed the shower.  It's okay though, I have more planned.

After this, with the sun shining and all, I'll tell him it looks like a great day to walk down to Starbucks for a green tea lemonade.  He'll look at me like "Really?  Seriously?  I walked at the dog park and then at the store and it's fathers day."  But he'll go along with it because he'll be anxiously awaiting his Fathers Day "gifts" later on.

We'll get home.  Blue Eyes will pull up.  I'll start making dinner.  Do another load of laundry, getting a little pissy about the next day being Monday, finish making dinner, clean up the dishes (after all, even though he usually does this part, it IS Fathers Day so I will do it) and  then we'll sit to finish watching The Tiger Woods win.  

#7 will head back to Cheney.  Wack will head out to his friends... as will Ryan and that is when I'll give Jeff his gift.  

I intend to surprise him by yawning.  Stretching.  Griping about how it's too hot and walk back to the bedroom.  

When he finally figures it out and heads back there... I will have taken off my clothes, hopped into bed....

.... and fallen sound asleep.  His gift?  The 33 minutes it takes him to realize I'm not in the room.  33 whole minutes to flip channels.  33 whole minutes to snore without my bitching.  33 minutes to tinker on his ipad.  

Man oh man.  He is one lucky fella!

I Will Survive!

The day is nearly over.  We went to work out, we stopped at the store, I cooked up breakfast and make The Dad clean out the car.

Why? you ask.  Well, because my Black Beauty (my Jeep) decided to die yesterday.  She died several miles out at a graduation party.  We jumped her 3 times to get her home and now she's in the garage, nervously awaiting her trip to the car doctor.  Oh no wait... that's us.  Good thing we bought the extended warranty...

But his car had to be cleaned out before I wore MY nice clothes in it to the graduation!  

Zach Attack came up and was a man of few words... retreated to the basement and came up with his keys and out the door.  Blue Eyes left to hit a bucket of balls at the driving range.  #7 laid low on the couch and watched part of a movie.

Then all of the usual stuff... shower, bicker, race around, tidy up, make a face behind his back about a comment... you know.  The usual.

The graduation went off without a hitch.  It was over in less than an hour and a half and Wack made us all proud - even though he was texting during the ceremony.  I won't balk at it, because he was texting his brothers and there's nothing I love more than the banter that goes on between my boys.

Afterwards we had made a family decision to go to dinner at P.F. Changs - a favorite, celebratory occasion eating spot for our family.  

Now - The Dad and I are getting ready to be at Ferris for the Class of 2012 Senior All Nighter.   Now... it's hitting me.  Now, every little thought about that 7 pound, 12 ounce skinny little "Bean" baby is bringing tears to my eyes.  The gobby.  Ohhhh to have the gobby days back.  The days with all of the fun hats they made at preschool with Kurt, the memories of last days of school with Perrianne and the boys at some water park with 6 boys...  The Shaun Alexander wrist band, the Hawks, the Dodgers, the laughter that comes from his room, the TV room or up here when he's watching something funny.  And ohhhh when he laughed WHILE reading a good book.  

This is it.  

Love you Zachy.  Good job.  Thanks for all of your hard work.  If you need someone to do your laundry at the FIJI house at UW... you call.  I'm a quick hour flight away.

Love - MOTY