My Weblog

Meet the Murph

We interrupt our irregularly scheduled programming to make the following important announcement:  Our home has been taken over by an alien being. 

We aren't sure its intentions yet, but we have discovered a few things about it in the week it has taken up residence here. 

(1) it is a being that operates at an alarmingly extreme level of energy and activity. We are fairly sure a geiger counter would be off the charts around this thing.  Does anyone have a geiger counter we could use? 

(2)  it appears to have a voracious appetite and can apparently digest any random substance it finds from organic matter to rocks.  It takes occasional tentative tastes of the children;

(3) it likes to lure us into complacency by hiding under an armchair in the family room, then later sneaking out to wreak havoc; 

(4) it wreaks havoc with fair regularity;

(5) it is nocturnal and gets very upset if any human in its vicinity tries to sleep at night;

(6) it might be related to an Ewok.  Or perhaps it is just an ingenious disguise;

(7)  it has some indefinable power against which we are powerless.  Despite it's destructive nature, we have become strangely attached to it.

Perhaps if I post a photo some kind reader might be able to identify it and give some tips on how to control this thing.  In the meantime, we have taken to calling him Murphy.

Don't stare into its eyes or you will become its slave. . .

I warned you . . .

 

 

It's All Relative

When Gary and I moved to Arizona -- far, far away from any of our family members -- we were DINKs (dual income, no kids).  We were carefree.  We were independent.  We had disposable income.  You know the expression "it takes a village"?  Well, we didn't need a village.  Just a few friends, frequent dinner reservations, and a phone to keep in touch with our families.

What we failed to appreciate at the time was how the arrival of children in our lives would so dramatically change things. Turns out, those pesky little punks need to be supervised and cared for at all times.  Who knew?  When Julie had various colds and coughs and couldn't go to pre-school for a day or a week, when Daniel had colic for approximately 2 years, when Gary and I both had business trips scheduled at the same time, we found ourselves wondering how in the world we found ourselves so far away from the most important villagers of all, our families.  Because it also turns out that grandma can't babysit by phone.

More importantly, though, I often regret that we moved so far from our families because the kids (and us parents) do not get to see our relatives frequently.  So, we do try to at least visit as frequently as we can, as we did on Fall Break last week when we visited Vancouver.

Our kids always love such visits because they have some pretty terrific relatives.  Take, for instance, Grandma Elsie.  Grandma Elsie was a school teacher and she has that gift that some teachers have of sneakily teaching the kids something while they're having fun.  For instance, while we were on Vancouver Island, Grandma Elsie brought along the game Vancouver Islandopoly to the hotel where we were staying.
  In addition to learning about Vancouver Island, we learned about money and banking. This young gentleman was our banker.  I have to say that he was a really, really good banker who tried to slip a little extra money to his mom when she was short on cash:

We learned about buying property, mortgaging property and wheeling and dealing.  Auntie Kim was a particularly good wheeler/dealer:

We learned about risk vs. reward.  This young lady was very risk averse and enjoyed stock-piling cash:

We learned about each others' hidden aptitudes and talents, like Grandma Elsie's wicked Ninja moves. 

In the end, though, we mainly learned that even though our "village" is spread over a wide territory, it's still there supporting us and helping to care for our children.  That's what family is all about.

Vancouver

We went on a trip to Vancouver last weekend for Fall Break.  While I like living in the Phoenix area, one reason I enjoy visiting Vancouver is that it is, essentially, the polar opposite of Phoenix.

In Phoenix, it is a hot, dry desert.  In Vancouver, it rains. A lot.

In Phoenix, it is hot, dry desert.  In Vancouver, there is an ocean.  A big one.

If we left our Phoenix-area home and wanted to stroll around town, we'd have to go 2 miles before hitting a shop.  And it would be a chain grocery store and gas station.  In Vancouver, there is vibrant, diverse street life everywhere you turn.

In Phoenix, there is no White Spot.  In Vancouver, there are several.  This is very important.

In Phoenix, we have no relatives to hang out with (sniff).  In Vancouver, we do. 

 

In Vancouver in the winter, the city is full of Canadians.  In Phoenix in winter, the city is, um, full of Canadians.  Okay, so maybe the cities do have some similarities this time of year.