Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was the day that my daddy was born. It is a very special day to me. Today Joseph and I spent some time making the Valentine's Day bags for his classmates. It started off with a lot of promise. His interest gradually waned and before I knew it, he was playing with his airport tower (wooden blocks). Ah, what can you do?

Official Resident

Today I did it! Mary and I had been throwing around the idea of becoming Washington residents since last year and since her husband did it before heading off to Afghanistan, she was even more motivated. Ever the steadfast sidekick, I accompanied her. Yesterday, we ventured off (during our lunch hour, of course) to Bremerton Department of Licensing. As we pulled our numbers from the electronic dispenser, we noticed that they were serving 174, 175, and 176 and Mary and I were 245 and 246, respectively. Knowing we only had an hour to spare, we resolved to do it later.

Today we went to the DOL in Poulsbo and there was not a soul in line. It was almost eerie. It seemed to be too good to be true and as it turned out, it was. We presented the agent what we believed to be acceptable documents of residence and were essentially laughed out of line. Washington is downright paranoid about residency fraud! Everything was, "No! Have they verified it? You could be lying! No photocopies! Read the top! No, read the bottom! That is the exception!" Then he said, "Unless you bought your house, I can't help you!" Well! Now we were in business! He found me on the property listing and voila! Suddenly he was being very sweet to me. Unfortunately for Mary, she walked out license-less but with heated, steaming motivation to find a supporting document to show Mr. Agent next time! He took my Hawaii license (McLovin, anyone?) and punched a "W" on it. I almost fainted! I guess it didn't occur to me that he'd have to invalidate the other license. I was a bit sad but skipped out of the door knowing that as a Washington resident, I won't have to pay income taxes. Yippee!

Tomorrow, I'm teaching Joseph's class how to make Fried Rice and Gyoza. Yes, I know. Chinese and Japanese food. I wanted to make won ton from scratch but they have all of these crazy regulations about how food is prepared for the kids and, long story short, it couldn't happen. I had many ideas but they were all shut down. Poor Joseph was crushed when I told him I wasn't going to be making Spam musubi for the class. He doesn't even really care for Fried Rice. He can eat the fortune cookies that I'm bringing, I suppose. I've been thinking about this for a while so I'm excited that it'll finally be happening. I'm going to talk about how Joseph's great grandpa had a Chinese Restaurant in New York City (Broadway to be exact) during the first half of the 20th century. Joseph's Grandpa was an amazing cook! If only I could make his Shoyu chicken! Sniff, sniff. I'm bringing in hashi for them to practice with, too. I was going to buy mochi ice cream but thankfully, Mary restrained me.

I watched Julie and Julia tonight. I enjoyed it but was quite disappointed in the ending. :( It just seemed to suddenly fall of a cliff. I'm not sure if I enjoyed it enough to read her second book, Cleave.

No Peeking, Daddy!

Concentrating REALLY hard

Submarine in water

Monarch Butterfly

Pikake

Mmmm! Sweet water

This post is a bit of a mish mash of pictures. This morning we spent some time making cards for Dad's halfway night box. Joseph doesn't enjoy drawing as much as I wish he did. His teachers told me that it's totally a boy thing. He'd rather be running around or playing with his toys than sitting down writing and drawing. In any case, he actually sat down and drew a cool picture of his dad's submarine. He dictated while I wrote in the card. I could hardly keep up! He had a lot to say.

There are also a few pictures of what we saw at the Children's Science Center in Seattle. There is a butterfly house with all kinds of butterflies flitting about. One landed on my hair and I totally freaked out. I thought that I'd feel like Cinderella or Snow White but it just felt like some creepy bug in my hair. I kind of over-reacted, if you can imagine that. I know it's so out of character for me. :)

Eternal Father

Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who biddest the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!

O Christ! Whose voice the waters heard
And hushed their raging at Thy Word,
Who walked on the foaming deep,
And calm amidst its rage didst sleep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!

Most Holy Spirit! Who didst brood
Upon the chaos dark and rude,
And bid its angry tumult cease,
And give, for wild confusion, peace;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!

O Trinity of love and power!
Our family shield in danger’s hour;
From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
Protect us wheresoever we go;
Thus evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.

Our Wind Ensemble played a version of this hymn and the melody is simply haunting. When we went to the Undersea Submarine Museum this weekend, I saw it for sale (in a pretty frame and all) and it reminded me how much I like it.

Craft Projects

It's Monday evening and I am not in fear of a looming paper. Why? I decided to take this school term off! I couldn't have been more relieved when I made the call to my academic advisor. I actually giggled when I got off of the phone with him! I will start another term in March. Until then I am going to take every day to focus on the other things that are going on in my life.

Joe will be going on patrol soon. So many things have changed since we've been on sea duty. Trident subs are also a lot different than fast attack subs. Instead of going "underway" they go on "patrol." They only go for 3 months (or less) at a time and when they're "in port" they are completely "in!" Joe hasn't even had to stand duty yet and we've been attached to the Maine for almost 3 months! How beautiful! Now days, submarines don't do "family grams" anymore. That's an interesting change. I don't believe that Joe ever got any one of my family grams anyway. Half-way night will happen at about 6 weeks instead of 3 months!

While I am celebrating the realities of Trident life, however, my dear friend, Mary is bidding farewell to her husband. He has been chosen to serve in Kandahar, Afghanistan for an entire year. I've tried to express to her my profound grief over the situation. I've offered my ears and shoulders. I hope she knows how much I love her and that she can count on me for anything.

Tonight we went over to a friend's house for a barbeque. I made my mom's potato salad and it was a hit. I also made brownies and I'm glad that I did because no one else brought sweets! Joseph had such a great time playing with all of the other kids. They are all younger than he is but there are a couple of girls that he had fun with. Grace and I have a lot in common. She enjoys photography and sewing. So do I! She has two beautiful girls. She just took the GRE (I took it a while ago but she's much younger than I am) and is waiting to hear back from the University of Washington for graduate school. I admire her for wanting to pursue it even with everything else going on in her life.

Going to her house motivates me to get started on a few craft projects of my own. Joseph's class is studying Asia and I purchased a pattern for a cute Chinese outfit. I also purchased some fabric to create sushi for the Dramatic Play center. I have organized cooking activities for the class, too. I wanted to teach them how to make Spam Musubi and Fried Rice but they were rejected because some of the ingredients were questionable. I disagree but what can you do? Since I work with the Child and Youth Program it's not like I can complain because I would be complaining to my co-workers and I'd just be another annoying parent. Now I'm not sure what I will demonstrate... fried noodles? Gyoza? Spring rolls?

Lastly, my mother-in-law, Lory, has given me the Cricut machine for Christmas and I feel pressure mounting daily to use it. It's a formidable contraption. I've dreamed about it for years and I've watched the infomercials for hours at a time but I can't seem to motivate myself to start a project. I paid $20 to take a class at Joanns but they canceled it on me!

Hopefully I will get my act together and download some pictures for my next entry. You'd think that I'd have a plethora of time since I am not in school. Doing nothing feels so good sometimes!

Mt. Rainier Sledding Adventure

Getting ready to launch.

Kids below seem like bowling pins.

Growing impatient with mom and dad, Joseph takes matters into his own hands and prepares himself for a run!

Look at those rosy cheeks!

Hot chocolate at the end of the day hits the spot!

The drive back home.

Snow-loaded trees!

Joe and Joseph really wanted to have a white Christmas. Unfortunately for them (not so much for me) it was a BEAUTIFUL holiday season with only sporadic showers and no sign of the white stuff. Today, to compensate for its absence, Joe took Joseph and I to Mt. Rainier to go sledding. I was skeptical at first. Why pursue snow? My head was inundated with tragic headlines on KITV 4 and KOMO News Station: "Family Lost in National Park" or "GPS Steers Another Family Off a Cliff." Joe called his mom just to let her know where we'd be in case the park rangers needed to narrow the search before dark. We got there and immediately felt silly since everyone in the Tacoma area seemed to be there.

Joseph had such a blast! It's nice to have the luxury of snow a couple hours away and to be able to access it any time! I guess this is another reason Washington is awesome!