Lake Chelan

Luna and I just spent 4 days in Lake Chelan with my parents, Sarah and baby Cooper.  We had a great time, warm weather and daily swims.  It was fun having the two little ones together and it sure does change the way you vacation.  Here are some photos from the trip.

Luna and I enjoying the pool.

The view of the lake from our room, it was beautiful.

Luna and Grandma enjoying the view from our balcony.

Cooper and Luna hanging out early in the morning.

At the park enjoying some Spanish Blues music, it was a great band.

We had a great time and now we are looking forward to heading out east.  Massachusetts here we come!

Soda or Pop

We have officially picked up the Washington lingo.  Both Brian and I lived in Washington a number of years ago and calling soda "pop" was normal to us.  But when we moved away we quickly changed to soda.  People tend to look at you a little strangely when you ask them if they want a pop, they think you want to slug them.   So when we moved back I thought that I could never call it "pop" again, too weird. 

But when we had a party at our home and Brian put the label on the coolers I thought we have officially become Washingtonians again and it sure did not take long.

Brian turns 30!

Happy Birthday Brian! 

We had a great party with family and friends. 23 adults, 9 children/babies and 3 dogs, it was a full house and a lot of fun!

Cloth Grocery Bags

This morning I decided to go grocery shopping.  To date I own 4 cloth grocery bags but have yet to use them.  They sit at home because I always forget to bring them to the store with me. It kills me when I get to the check out lane and I don't have them.  This has been going on for over 6 months now and it is really frustrating to me.  

So this morning I was feeling so proud of myself, I put the bags in the trunk of my car so I that I could finally use them. As I am heading out of the driveway I run through a quick mental checklist to make sure I have all I need:

Baby (check)

Grocery list (check)

Pacifier (check)

Baby snack (check - in case there is a melt down in the store)

Wallet (check)

Cloth Grocery Bags (Check)

I am feeling good, on top of things.  Grocery shopping takes a little longer then expected and Luna is getting a little cranky, it is getting to be nap time.  So I get to the check out lane and guess what I don't have...the cloth grocery bags, they are in the trunk of my car, right where I left them.

I try to be friendly to the people in line as they are making googoo faces at Luna but internally I am kicking myself.  Once again I don't have the bags.  Then to make matters worse the guy doing the bagging uses 20 plastic bags, and puts one item in each one. It killed me.

Old habits do die hard (we are going on 6+months)

Yes Mexican!

Tonight for the first time we went out to dinner with a 9 month old baby.  We had been at the dog park and decided to go for Mexican on our way home.  We have had yet to try this but felt well prepared.  We had baby food with us and a hungry baby, a perfect match.

Right now, Luna is at a stage where she is testing out her voice.  When we are grocery shopping she is talking at the top of her lungs.  People smile and

 laugh at us.  In the car, Brian and I have trouble talking because she is so loud.  At times it can be a bit embarrassing depending on the location (i.e. restaurant).

We sat down at the table and put Luna in her high chair.  She immediately

 started talking. Luckily it was a family restaurant, so while she was loud it was not to the point we had to leave. We started feeding her and that help with her volume.  

Our waitress came quickly and before we knew it our food was at the table.  In the past I had always been a little annoyed by how quickly Mexican food was served.  I was out for a meal and wanted it to linger, to enjoy the company.  But not tonight, I was thrilled it came so quickly.

Between Brian and I taking bites, we were feeding Luna and trying to entertainer her.  It was hard for us to carry our own conversation.  I found myself eavesdropping on the table next to us to see if they were complaining about all the noise, they weren't.

While out and about with a baby I tend to notice other parents much more than I use to.  I want to see how they are juggling things and managing different situation.  I call it on the spot parenting tips.  So while at the restaurant I saw a Dad with a toddler, probably about 24 months old.  He left the restaurants on 2 different occasions with the little one.  On our way out we saw them outside running up and down the side walk.  I bet that Dad had a relaxing dinner :)

We ate and left, it may have been the fastest meal I have had in ages.  Not the least bit relaxing but a success none the less.  You look at eating out very differently when there are babies present, not nearly the fun it use to be.

Thank you for family friendly Mexican restaurants!

Weberisms

You may be asking: "What is a Weberism?" I will define it as a word (or phase) that is used in place of the correct word. When the incorrect word is used the Broz women continue on in conversation without correcting the word as if the word was not wrong. All along the Broz women know what is meant and the conversation continues uninterrupted.

A great example of a Weberism: While attending a party a women spoke about opening a hot dog stand and calling it "Dogs on the Run." Then a few months later Allison is trying to recall the name of the hot dog stand in a conversation referred to it as "Wieners on the fly." At this all the Broz women know what is meant and the conversation continues without incident.

At times this can drive Brian crazy, but I love the Weberisms. They always make me smile because it reminds me that I am part of a family and we have our own way of communicating. Brian is getting there, it has taken him 7+ years but he is starting to be able to continue on in conversation with out needing to correct me, it is great!

The name Weberism is after my Mom's side of the family because that is where we get it from. It makes me wonder if it is hereditary or a learned speech pattern. How many generations back does it go? I am curious to know if my children will talk this way, like me or not.  Time will tell...

Lifetime Tech Support

I'm a geek. Yes, an unabashed geek. Allison and I often joke that when Allison signed on the dotted line (married me), the deal came with lifetime tech support.

Back in the 'olden days' I could spend hours or days tinkering with some old computer to make it do just what I wanted. It was fun and it was free. I enjoyed the challenge and didn't mind getting deep into the details of how some hardware or software worked in order to make it just right. However, in the past few years, I've noticed a change. I don't have the patience (or the time) to devote to these endeavors anymore. I want things to 'just work'. Don't get me wrong, I could still spend hours setting up a new home theater or configuring a new computer. But I want to get from A to Z with minimal problems. I want things to do what they say they'll do. I find myself getting incredibly frustrated when I have "fix" something that isn't behaving as I would expect.

A perfect example of this is the Vance DVR (Digital Video Recorder). About 8 years ago, "Tivo" wasn't the household word it is today. Most people hadn't heard of this strange device.. but I had. However, I didn't want to spend the $$. So I built my own. I grabbed an old computer, purchased a super cheap TV Capture card, and installed MythTV. This great machine became know as the "Beevo". I shutter to think of the number of hours I have spent working on fixing/updating/improving the Beevo.

Enter the next generation of Television. The Beevo is old and would need a major upgrade in order to play in todays digital world. This meant new hardware, more money, and most importantly more time. The last of which is becoming a scarce commodity. So we took the plunge and just bought a refurbished HD Tivo. It's taken some adjusting. Things don't work quite as well as the Beevo and there are some features we miss. But all-in-all it "just works". Which is the way I like it.

So perhaps that season of life is over. I imagine I'll always continue to enjoy tinkering a bit here and there, but as life moves along, priorities change and time is precious.

Update (9/2/08 @ 12:45pm): Apparently having a DVR for all these years has also helped our marriage! ;) -- http://www.crn.com/retail/210300220

The Debut of the Vance Family Blog

So I have entered the world of blogging. We will see how long this lasts since I am not much of a writer and you will have to excuse my grammar. I am looking forward to a little outlet from the world of Mommy.



This weekend we went over to Port Townsend. We had a wonderful time, just relaxing and hanging out as a family. No TV or internet it was great!

We spent one afternoon walking around downtown Port Townsend, looking into the little shops and doing a little people-watching. Although when you have a baby with you, people people-watch you more than you do them.

One lady looked at Luna and said "Well aren't you well fed." We laughed and then the lady moved on. Brian and I then turned to each other and discussed at what age does it change, that those comments are no longer cute or funny. We could just imagine a lady walking up to Brian on the street, saying "Well aren't you well fed," and then moving on. He would not be impressed, although I think it would give me a big chuckle.

I guess we will see at what age that changes, right now we are enjoying our rolly polly little girl.