Ritzy Night Out

(yes, I cut and pasted us together)

You might say this has been an epic weekend for Fred. He had the privilege of escorting one of the guests invited to participate in the 48th annual National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF), David Hartman (original host of Good Morning America) . Click on the first link to read all about the NAHF, but basically the event chooses several people each year to be enshrined, also inviting many other past enshrinees (like Niel Armstrong and many other astronauts from all the Apollo missions and more), along with other important guests.

There were 3 days packed with events for the guests and those involved (like Fred). I won't post about all of those things now, but highlights included Fred getting a free flight at a BBQ, Gregory eating breakfast with an astronaut at the Air Force Museum, Fred getting the privilege of listening to many of the astronauts recount their experiences and answer questions, and many other little things along the way.

Since it's difficult for me to leave Kai for too long (avid little nurser), I only went on the last day to the formal, Saturday evening. We had wonderful friends who watched the kids and Kai managed with his first-ever bottle of expressed milk, much to my relief!

To say it was fantastically amazing would be an understatement. It was a black-tie event, with the military people in their mess dress (the fancy uniform). Since Fred was escorting a guest, there was no charge for us. Good thing, because it was $150 a plate!

(the arrow is meant to point out just how big the stage was in comparison to the speaker)

They had this amazing set-up on stage, made to look like the view the pilots/astronauts would have in the cock pit. There was also audio mimicking what it would sound like. The simulation played on the "windshield" for the entire evening, first for lift-off, arriving at the moon, and then orbiting the moon for the remainder of the evening, with headlines and photographs occasionally appearing as the program called for. The video captures it pretty well.

(lift-off)


(Arriving at the moon)


The food and service was excellent and we had lots of laughs with Fred's Captain, Scott Smith, who had also escorted one of the guests. One of the other officers at our table happened to be one of the nurses I had when I delivered Kai. Small world.

(at our table with Captain Smith)

During dinner, people could freely walk around and meet the guests.. if you could elbow your way to them! Niel Armstrong had the Dayton Chief of Police near him at all times! Fred tried to find his escortee in the sea of other esteemed guests, but we had to find our seats before he was able to spot Dave.

As we meandered around the tables, I had this surreal feeling of awe, taking in the scene. I felt a little guilty for not being able to recognize anyone, so I tried to put on my best appreciative smile whenever I met someone's gaze. One elderly gentleman grabbed Fred and gave him a firm handshake, also shaking my hand. He was excited to see Fred's rank (we call them butter bars, because it's a single gold bar- lowest officer rank) and he enthusiastically wished us luck. I wish I could've known who he was.

Unfortunately, we had to leave before it was over, since our kids were at our friends' house and the program ended after 10pm. They do this every year, so Fred definitely has plans on participating again next year! We felt so privileged to be a part of such an awesome experience!

This Morning...

I just thought I'd post some highlights from this morning.

Breakfast on the table. Kai got a close-up look at breakfast. It was so cute! When my sister Inga (now 16) was a baby, we would lay her in the middle of the table while we ate or hung out there. Maybe we'll carry on that tradition with our #4...

I got a good laugh when Charla sauntered into the kitchen, her blanket tied like a cape around her neck, glittery fairy wings on, chatting away on her "cell phone"- actually a little digital alarm clock that closes in on itself.

The most terrifying thing this morning (we have a quota to fill... just kidding) was my battle with the monstrous spider in the living room. I considered taking a picture of it before making my attempt to kill it, but was afraid of scaring it away.

The thing was huge! It would have spanned the diameter of my open palm IF I ever had the nerve to hold one. I wanted to make sure I could take it out in one swat, so I moved the furniture away from the wall so I could pull over a chair to stand on to reach it (near the ceiling, on the wall). I firmly grabbed my sneaker and gauged the blow. With all my might I hit at it...

...it didn't have much effect. So I hit again A piece of it stuck to the wall and the rest plummeted to the carpet... where it promptly popped up and scurried under the couch. AAAAGH!!

I ordered the kids onto the other couch and scooped Kai up off the floor and put him in the swing. I probably looked pretty comical, perched on the easy chair, a toy sword in hand vacuum hose in the other, poking around at the clutter by the couch.

Long story short, I called maintenance who sent over the exterminator. We never found the elusive arachnid, but we're now scheduled to get the house sprayed on Wednesday. I'm clinging to the theory that spiders only bite when provoked, so hopefully it's not a vengeful spider, and will just go on his merry way- outside.

(these 2 fell asleep while we hunted the spider)

Right after the exterminator left, Charla suddenly shrieked, "A SPIDER!" and she pointed a shaking finger across the room. I tensed, and then laughed when I saw she was pointing at the computer screen. I had found a picture of a spider that looked just like the one on my wall (a wolf spider). Brave Gregory cautiously approached the computer screen to verify that it wasn't the real thing.


Now it's afternoon. I hope lunch will be uneventful.

Getting Blonder

I have been blond from birth- and yes, such an admission exposes me to all kinds of wonderful jokes and observations. But, I've always enjoyed my hair color. In high school I thought it could be fun to bleach in some platinum highlights, but just never did.

My sister Inga has dyed her (beautiful) hair every color of the rainbow- literally. After 5 weeks of the same color she was getting bored with it, so I took her to the store to grab some hair dye.

As we stood there in the hair color aisle I browsed the myriad of colors and without too much thought, plopped a box for light blond highlights in my cart and informed Inga she could "have her way" with my hair. Yes, I am brave.

It was so fun and I loved the results- very subtle but nicely frosted. Hopefully it'll make seeing my roots less likely.

My mom consented to allowing Dora to do her bangs.

Inga dyed her hair jet black with tufts of burgundy and blond under-bangs. I don't think I could ever pull it off nearly as well as she does, even if I ever was that brave.

Her hands looked frostbitten for several days :P

4th of July

We are #1!!

4th of July this year was really nice- nothing spectacular, but still fun :) We started the day attending the Ward Independence Day breakfast.

The forecast called for intermittent rain showers. Around noon there was a light drizzle. Over the next 6 hours it steadily increased to actual rain. We were invited to a friend's house for a BBQ (she made scrumptious ribs!). Luckily the men set up a canopy over the tables so we could still eat outside. By 7 it had reduced to a drizzle again.

Their kids are my kids' ages, so they all had fun, while the adults ate too much- it was so yummy!

We had planned on driving somewhere to find fireworks, but the cloud cover looked so low and the kids were content playing with each other, so we just hung around after eating until bedtime.

(all she needs is a feathered hat)

(ALL muddy)

(this picture cracks me up... see the hand sticking out of Inga's side? You can only tell it's my sister Anja because of the blond ponytail sticking out of Inga's head)

(ok, so the dress is from Mexico... she insisted on wearing it)

Here are just some more pictures taken throughout the day... I can't help myself.

First Family Outing

Last Friday we took all 4 kids with us on our first family outing since Kai was born. Dayton is famous for having TONS of festivals all summer and through the fall. This weekend was the Cityfolk Festival, celebrating the different cultures here. It was held t the downtown metro park, Riverscape.

We assumed there would be various displays and booths for each country represented, but it was more like carnival food, with an occasional stand of international cuisine.

The main attraction was the huge stage in the middle where bands and music groups from different countries took turns preforming. The Celtic band was my favorite.

ok, this is American.. the baseball stadium was right there

I love my kids when they cooperate and share! It's a rarity.

Kai's Blessing Day

You'd think with all the extra hands in this house I would be updating my blog more often! I just really enjoy hanging out with them, so blogging gets bumped down my list of priorities.

Sunday morning Fred blessed our sweet lil' Kai. We felt SO loved! My dad's youngest sister and her family drove up from Cincinnati, Fred's Aunt Sally and her husband Ralph drove here from upstate New York, and Fred's dad flew here from Tucson! Of course there were also my mom and 3 sisters. It was a great crowd!

The blessing was beautiful. It was fun having my cute lil' cousins with me in Primary- they are great singers! Even aunt Sally hung out with us for the first 1/2 of Primary and got all into the songs with the rest of the kids. I love being corny with the little ones :)

(best family pic we could squeeze out of our 4)

(attempting to reason with them)

Everyone!

After church we caravaned back to our place and everyone pitched in to help make a great lunch. Altogether we had 26 people in our house! It was awesome! Kai got passed around and adored- he really handled it pretty well!

(Chow time! fresh fruit and veggies and supreme nachos!)

(My adorable cousin Madeleine- she will be one of the best babysitters ever someday!)

(My aunt April with 2 of her kids, Ethan and Madeline- I LOVE having them just an hour away!)

(Charla zonked out under the serving table- it was an exhausting day!)

(sleepy men)

(one of Kai's favorite spots- on Uncle Ralph)

(Uncle Ralph and Aunt Sally)

It was such a wonderful day! I felt so blessed to be surrounded by loving friends and family celebrating tiny Kai and his special day. My mom was a saint and sewed his blessing outfit (I cut it out and did the buttons). Fabric for the vest was left over from my baptism gown that she had sewn me, 18 years ago. The same fabric is in the gown we blessed the girls in, along with the last of the fabric from my mom's wedding gown. I know it's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it was super special to me. I must say, he was one good lookin' little charmer!