Monday, August 18, 2008

The calm before the storm

There is a storm heading in our direction. (Is it too late to head back to Kodiak?) Since the kids are used to getting up at around 6:30am for school, they were up really early on Sunday morning. They were loaded in the minivan and at Publix for some last minute supplies by about 7:45am. We purchased our normal groceries and a few extra supplies (bottled water, batteries, and some non-perishible foods). At 9am we left the store and entered into an overflowing parkinglot. It seems like everyone is out preparing for the storm.

Keith will likely be over at the air station during the storm, but the kids and I are very prepared. Most likely we'll just have some Kodiak-style winds and collect a few inches of rain. I want to put Megan's rain gauge outside, but I'm afraid the wind will take it away. Just in case we loose power, we've got oil lamps and fun kid lights. I've even taken it upon myself to finish the last of the ice cream, you know, just in case the freezer isn't working - I'd hate to waste some fantastic mint chocolate chip.

After lunch, the kids and I walked down to the park. The temperature had climbed up into the 90's in the sun, but it was beautiful and breezy in the shade.
Daniel loves to collect acorns. We've agreed that he can put them in a cup, not in his pockets.
He took his acorns on a ride down the slide. Notice his mouth wide open, "weeee".
Megan was getting distressed when she noticed someone intruding on our personal belongings.
It was this little fella. He was going after the unattended trail mix. Apparently the selection of acorns had gotten a little boring. He made off with a cashew that had fallen off the bench.
Daniel being a scary dinosaur.

I have no pictures of Joshua because he saw a friend of his at the park, and I didn't want to embarass him by following him around like the paparazzi. I wasn't too crazy about this friend. Purely for the fact that he kept talking about shows from the Cartoon Network (something about a pancake superhero? anyone familiar with this?). We usually limit the influence of TV to PBS and very, very rarely Noggin. However, we've been letting the kids watch the Olympics (although I cringe at half the commercials that are on during the games for NBC's new line-up of lame primetime shows). Lucky for us, when people start talking about mainstream media things, we just shrug and blame it on, "oh, we've been in Alaska for the past 5 years" and then change the subject to igloos and polar bears. :) I'm sure sometime soon I'll have to come up with a way to nicely change the subject away from kids and TV without sounding like a snob. Any suggestions?

4 comments:

Rachel Holloway said...

I know what you mean about media. While we aren't as out of the loop as I wish we were, we definitely don't watch a lot of junk out there.

Jenna was at our neighbor's the other day and they were watching Spongebob. I HATE that show. HATE IT. She knows this. She made a comment to them about how I didn't like this show. I felt SO dumb standing there with their TV on, and my child telling them they shouldn't watch it because I don't like it.

Hard to say how to deal with it. All I could say then is that we choose not to watch it in our home, but we each make decisions for what fits our family best and they were free to make their own decisions. (in a laughing way...not all serious). It was weird though...

If you come up with any great ideas, let me know! :)

Melissa said...

I just wanted to let you know I have been keeping up with your little family on your blog. It sounds and looks like you guys are doing awesome! I am also terribly jelous of your sidewalks! And the ability to use them to actually walk to a park. We have entered the soupy road season here and there won't be much more walking. Anyway, just wanted to say Hi.
Melissa

Anonymous said...

That's a tough one about the TV..I have no idea. But stay safe during Fay!

Wild Banks' said...

You are the funniest! Heaven forbid, the Mint Chocolate Chip get lost in the storm.
I too know what you emant about the TV shows on nowadays. SpongeBob, Rugrats, Barney, there's so much that we don't allow that we don't bother with TV at all. Teh few times the issue has come up I explain that there are shows we as mom and dad don't think are ok for us to watch. You're a pro at the mom stuff anyway so it's no big deal- right!? ;) C'est la Vie! Take care!