Sunday, July 18, 2010

Rock~Paper~Scissors



Dear Alex,

We miss you.

We really missed you today when we were moving the movie screen back to the carport! Just kidding. But we do need to come up with a better system. Weren't we supposed to be able to take it apart? I suppose there is a lot of labor involved in doing it that way too. Your dad had the brilliant idea of moving the screen in to the living room for Firefly night, and of course we all reminded him that his idea was not new, but it is brilliant.

We've continued unpacking the garage. Sometimes it is shocking, the things we find... stuff we have not seen since 2003. Would you believe I found more dishes? haha... okay, maybe that is not too surprising. I do believe you will be impressed when you see the progress we've made.


We all ate lunch at the taqueria, where they serve pickle juice, as Maria calls it. We played rock-paper-scissors while we waited for our food.

Proof we were all there: William's arm, Max's scissors, your dad's paper, and Maria still making up her mind! She consistently pauses long enough to make her choice match everyone's, as much as possible.


It was getting so hot here, that last night I chose to sleep downstairs. Max, Maria, and I had blankets and pillows in the family room. On the floor, wedged between Maria and the sofa, and with Chango at my feet, I was comfortable for about eight minutes. And it turned out to be a cold night, and Chango kept me from having the blanket, and I was too much of a dork nice person to give him the boot. My plan for getting a good and cool night's sleep sure did go wrong.

How is the weather back at Grandma and Grandpa's? Cooler than in Corvalis, I am thinking. But the trip to Da Vinci Days had to be totally worthwhile. The fourteen mile race sounds amazing, and we cannot wait to see your pictures, and hear more about everything. Cool that you met another FRC team, that they let people drive their robot. Gee... that would be nice if more teams shared that opportunity, yeah?


This evening all the chicas were in the big yard, and Betty popped in to the kitchen. I grabbed Maria's unfinished nectarine and called Betty back to the shark cage, with the promise of a fruity treat. She followed me, excitedly. She does love fruit. In the shark cage she took one bite of the nectarine, and then she walked out, which really surprised me. She went to where the other chicas were scratching under the shrubs and she called them, talked to them. They walked up to her, listened, and then they marched to the shark cage, and she brought up the rear, and she stood outside the shark cage until Puff and Trudy caught up and went in too. After all the little chicas started feasting on the fruit, Betty joined them. It was so sweet! She was so maternal and caring, and Max decided that their pea sized brains may be as big as grapes.


Scissors! She won.

Tomorrow I am taking the cats to the vet. And I am cleaning out the van. Gosh, you are missing some good stuff! There's other stuff I gotta do. You know, I should be making a list. And I should be getting Maria to bed. Your sister is a night owl. Speaking of "night" and "owls," I better make sure the cats are in.

Hmmm... sounds like not much is new here. I hope you won't think it's too boring, too dull here, and then decide to stay in Oregon forever! I know you are having a good time, enjoying your adventures, and learning cool stuff, which makes us very happy, but we are really looking forward to our airport reunion, and the rest of the summer that we will all enjoy together.

Give the Grandmas and Grandpa Ron a hug from me, and Maria, and Max, and William, and Geoff. We will leave the cats, rats, and chicas out of this. If you cannot bring your paintings home, I hope you will take pictures, and be sure to take some pictures of all of you together too. Maria was right... I should have bought plane tickets for all of us.

Love to you.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

If I were Alex, I would not want to miss taking the cats to the vet or cleaning out the van, either! Love your every day news, Natalie.

judy in ky said...

You have the smartest, warmest, most creative family. I wish you could adopt me.

Tonia said...

I *heart* Betty. What a good surrogate mama!

Susan said...

That's so sweet that Betty took over the role of mama to the chicas.

Loved the letter. Alex is missing a lot.