In an Honest Attempt

to blog more regularly....

We went to the outlet mall to do some school shopping and last minute cruise shopping. Have I mentioned that the whole Naddy crew is going on a cruise in a week?! I haven't? It would make good blog fodder I am sure. Too bad I kind of like my in laws (and would like them to continue liking me) and it would be in bad form to write a tell all after the cruise. darn.

So, back to the outlet mall. Basically, there's not much to tell, other than shopping with the rest of San Bernardino county at an outlet mall on a Saturday, 3 weeks before school starts was a BAD IDEA.

I am not a shopper. Much to my mom's disappointment, I never have been. I had a plan of what I needed, I had even looked up where the stores I needed were. But even with all of that, It took us 4 hours to get through our list. 4 HOURS. I basically needed some shirts for the boys, an outfit or two for Viv, and new school shoes. And it took us 4 hours. This does not include the 1.5 hour drive one way. 

Almost all of our time was spent standing in enormous lines and navigating the walkways with a stroller....

Also, I still have to find water bottles for everyone and buy school supplies. I guess I will do that this week before the cruise.

But none of it sounds too bad when I remember that we will be on a boat in 1 week.
This means no cooking. No dishes. And as many fruity, beach beverages as I can handle.

Unorganized Summer Pictures from Texas

We spent 19 days in Texas spanning the last half of June and the beginning of July. I know I am just getting around to posting about it. I hate that I haven't done a lot of posting on my blog this year. I think the rise of Facebook has made me lazy about posting on my blog. Every now and then, I'll go back and re-read some of my blog posts from Korea and I posted about everything. I didn't feel the need to post only about BIG! EXCITING! THINGS! That's what I need to get back to, posting about every day stuff. If I truly want this to be a way to remember the kids when they are older I should include more than one post a month. Sheesh!

Cory was at some training at Luke AFB in Phoenix right after Memorial Day. We had a few weeks at home before we left. (One of those weeks I drove down to Tucson to see some good friends.) We had soccer camp, then a few days to ourselves and then the kids and I headed to TX. One of the crappy things about being where we are is the distance we are from any airport. It's frustrating enough to have to fly with kids and get them to behave. But when you have to drive 2 hours to just GET to the airport, that was 2 hours of good behavior wasted in the car! Arrrhg! You know, if your kids are like mine and the ticker starts as soon as they're awake.....every minute after that is downhill, right?

Luckily, they did GREAT traveling. We found a decent parking spot in remote parking, rode the shuttle to the terminal and got through security with minimal incident. Even with Clay saying, "BOMB" as we were putting our shoes back on. No, seriously. He said it. He didn't yell it or anything. But was making some matter of fact statement that happen to include the word BOMB in it. I was like, "You have got to be kidding me!" Lucky for us, I don't think anyone heard us (or they realized we weren't a threat) and didn't mention anything to us. They were really good waiting in the terminal and on the plane. I had TWO people come up to me and comment on how well behaved my children were. They were like, "How do you do it? With all three? By yourself?" I wanted to say, "Um...mostly luck?" But I mentioned something about how we do a lot of traveling without Dad and they are used to it, etc. etc.

The kids had a great time in Texas with Grandma and Grandpa. They had CABLE! and GRASS! We did a lot of fun things during the first week when both my mom and dad took off work. We even had my nephew Dylan (who lives in MS) with us! So, as you can imagine, having a 6, 5, 4, and almost 3 year old was super.....fun!

Vivi loves Barkley. Barkley does not share the sentiment.

Carter loved having trees to climb. It is probably his favorite pastime. This is unfortunate considering we live where there are absolutely no trees.

Morning cartoons and Grandma's ipad. 

We went out to Hibachi one night. 

Vivi and Dylan riding horses at the Ft.Worth Stockyards

Waiting for the cattle drive to start. It was HOT that day. 

Longhorns!

Vivi loves Ribs!

They all love to feed the quarters in the "ridey-horses" when we come. 

This is Clay's weird smile he gives when I tell him to smile these days. We're trying to work on it.

We ate some bread at Grandma's House

Carter and Clay riding at the stockyards

Carter loves ribs too!

We visited the petting (aka: goat) zoo

Crying because she dropped the grain in 3...

2....

1.

End of the Year Cub Scout Campout

   At the end of the school year the Cub Scouts do an end of the year camp out. This is the time that the boys all 'graduate' to their new den. Carter crossed over to a Tiger this year. He is pretty excited since this is normally the first actual cub scout level. He was a Lion this year which is a new (and not nation-wide) program. There aren't really any badges to earn. So, Carter was excited to a get a Tiger book and objectives to meet. He also will now get to wear a real cub scout uniform (his favorite part)! Also, Cory took over as Pack Master this year so we will have a very exciting year ahead of us!
   For this camp out Cory and Carter drove up on Friday night and camped out with the pack. Clay, Vivi and I joined them mid morning on Saturday. The boys were all still on a hike (a VERY long hike) and we were able to all eat lunch together and stay for the 'Crossing Over". Immediately afterwards, me and the little ones raced back to Edwards to say goodbye to our WONDERFUL neighbors who were leaving that week. Cory and Carter stayed for the rest of the day and the evening activities and came home very late on Saturday night since Cory had to leave to go to Phoenix the next morning. He's still there and me and the kids are in TX for a visit. Here's a few pictures I captured with my phone while we were up there at the campsite.
 

Kindergarten Program

The Kindergarten classes did an end of the year program on the last day of school. They didn't do any kind of graduation, which is fine by me, and I'm assuming did this performance instead. There were plenty of cute songs and we've been singing "This Land is Your Land" for months now. While I know that in a few weeks I'll be begging for school to start again, I am so GLAD it's over for the summer. Carter and I (and the rest of the kids) were all needing a break from the everyday school happenings. I have some video of this performance as well but can't figure out how to get them to play on blogger.

Carter and his EdBest Austin

Say "Cheese!"

Viv's best friend Emma (Which happens to be Austin's little sister)

Carter's teacher Mrs. Berglund. We will miss her for sure!

In laws for Memorial Day

Cory's parents visited for Memorial Day. We hadn't seen them since Thanksgiving, so it was nice to catch up. We hung out at the house the first day and took a quick trip to town to play some mini golf. Carter, Vivi and I actually all got hole in ones! There was one time, that I still remember, when I was about 5 that I got 4 or 5 hole in ones in one game! I don't have much skill, but every now and then, good luck will seep from my pores. I always seem to be far away from Vegas when this happens. I hope that Carter and Vivi get some of my good luck genes.

The next day. we decided to venture out and hit Santa Monica Pier. Everyone was tall enough to ride most of the rides, so we got the all day pass and everyone had a great time! We tried to put everyone on a "swingy, back and forth boat ride" and Vivi did great....until they put down the seat belt bar. She burst into tears and we had to take her off. Poor kid. This is new territory for me. The boys will always try something and tell me afterwards whether they liked it or not. But Vivi seems to be a bit more scared and reluctant to try a lot of things. I'm not sure how to handle it. With the boys, 'force it until it works' has actually worked out well for us with food, roller coasters, discipline, etc. But leave it to that next kiddo to throw a wrench into things when you think you've got it figured out. If you need more proof of this, have at least 3 children and see also: potty training.
Vivi has all these delicate....emotions. What the heck?

Cory and Viv posing on the pier

Luckily, Vivi was not scarred for life and rode all the kiddie rides just fine

We had a pretty good time at the pier and the kids did really well. They're all getting old enough to handle days out without much tumult. It wasn't too crowded amazingly! It started to get pretty bad at around 2-3pm - when we were leaving.

View from the Ferris Wheel

End of the pier. Just previous to the photo we all had giant margaritas at the restaurant there at the end.

It was chilly at the top!

Chillaxin' on the sand

After we left Santa Monica, we drove down Hollywood Blvd to point out the stars on the ground and the Chinese theatre. I had forgotten about all the sketchy characters that hang out on Hollywood for tips (Scary looking Elmo, Mickey Mouse, etc.)
The boys flipped their lids because there was a Sonic the Hedgehog, A storm trooper, Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker and Batman all hanging around. One of the boys (I don't remember who) started screaming to PULL THE CAR OVER, WE HAVE TO GET OUT! But after the long day, we weren't about to pay $20 to park for 5 minutes and brave the insane Hollywood Blvd crowds. Eek.

Two stinkers

Better Than Me

Have you ever enjoyed something so much that you wanted to share it with someone you love? You know, maybe a movie or a good book. Perhaps a game or a hobby.

I do! I think, "Wow, this is neat. How much neater would it be with someone I like to be around?" 

I've done this throughout my life and the two times that stick with me are the times I regretted it. Like, really brain? Thanks. Because I was lacking in the regret department over here apparently. 

The first time was in high school. I was dating a really nice, smart boy. He was a year older than I was, and didn't have a 7th period. (The last period of the day). He could have normally just gone home around 1:00, but I convinced him to stay at school and take Advanced A&P with me. I needed the class (he didn't) and I needed a ride home (he had a car). Win, win, right?

So, I convinced him to stay and take A&P with me, we got to be lab partners (I mean, really, what's better than getting to be lab partners with your boyfriend in high school?) and everything was going swimmingly. 

Until I realized he was making a slightly better grade than I was. I mean, I was one of the top students in the class (this was my thing after all). but if I made a 97 on a test, he made a 99. Or if I made a 103 (we always had bonus questions on the end of exams) he would make a 104. I was kind of outraged. I mean, this wasn't even a class he really wanted to take. He was just taking it because his girlfriend was taking it. Granted - he was (and still is, I'm assuming) an extremely intelligent guy. But this was MY thing. HIS thing was the Amateur Van Cliburn. MY thing was supposed to be A&P. It was something I was naturally good at, and he was beating me. 

Fast forward 10 years, and I should have known that this was a recurring theme in my life. I've ended up with another extremely smart man, who is better than me at everything. 

In the beginning, we used to play games (we still do occasionally), but after being beaten by 150 points on Scrabble every time, it's lost its thrill. I refuse to play Words with Friends on our phones together. Card games are out of the question. 

So, last week when Cory finally asked what the heck I was doing on my phone every evening, I showed him this addictive little game called candy crush. He thought it looked pretty dumb at first and held off for a day or two. But I'm sure he just couldn't resist the pulling temptation of "I-have-to-beat-my-wife-at-everything" and he downloaded it on the ipad. At first, he asked me to explain what the point was and what certain actions did, etc. So, I was feeling awfully smug since I was about 26 levels ahead when he started playing. I thought to myself, "He won't catch up to me. It took me several days to get here. And I'll be 26 levels further by the time he gets to this level." 

Why? Why did I think that would be the case? Has it ever been the case? No.

SO of course, this story ends with him coming home from work two days later, and already having passed me up. I think to date: he is twice as far. 

I mean, did any of us really think it would end any other way? Of course not. 

In the famous words of Homer Simpson: "Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try."

Stranger

I'm in an awkward social predicament. Everyone has those, and it seems to be that the longer you let it go on, the worse it gets.

There's a lady that I see almost on a daily basis that knows my name. She says hi to me, I wave and say, "Hey! How are you!?" back. She knows my kids' names. And the thing is, I know WHERE I know her from. But I don't KNOW WHO SHE IS. She is the mom of some cub scouts in our cub scout pack. I even know which neighborhood she lives in. I know her dog's name (because she came into the vet on the same day we were there and picked up medication for her dog)! I see HER ALL THE TIME. But I do not know her name. 

I even tried process of elimination. I dug up a cub scout program that had the boys' names listed to match her to her kids. (See, I'm serious about trying to stealthily find out who she is so that I will never have to admit I don't know her name!) But there were a few too many to reliably know which one was her. If you count the total amount of time I've known her, It's been about 7 or 8 months. But at the beginning I didn't realize she knew who I was and wasn't too concerned about needing to know her name. But then, she started chatting me up, saying hi and I was like, "Ooh, I should know her name. Oh, I'll figure it out soon enough." But then, I would forget until the next time I saw her and every avenue of "who is that" I tried to go down lead to a dead end. I don't know how many more options I have left other than just asking her outright what her name is. But it's been 7 or 8 months. She's going to know I haven't known her name for the whole time! 7 or 8 months is a long time!