Lookin’ Good!

Nanny is looking pretty good these days.  We saw her both Saturday and Sunday this week and although her thoughts did get clouded and the not all the words came out right-she had that mischievous glint in her eyes that she gets sometimes. It was so nice to see hints of her old self.  Cedars in taking very good care of her.

No family resemblance here huh?! (Taken Saturday)

Her new digs are ready for her and are pretty nice too…

 

And the table by the window near the kitchenette looks at the entrance of the building. She can watch people come and go. One of her favorite pass times. :)

As we were moving her stuff –we took advantage of this time to visit the old apartment upstairs. 

I have mentioned quite a bit that Alec has been a super kid while we have been taking care of Nanny- very involved- very caring and just very aware. As we were taking care of business moving things we made sure that we were very honest with any questions he had. It took a few questions and some very honest answers for it to sink in that time left in pink house is limited. This picture sums up his feeling about it….

He said to me- “Mom- I think I am going to cry”.

Us too buddy.

Us too.

He asked me if people ever come home from nursing homes and I told him not usually. He asked what the chances were of Nanny coming home. I told him I was 100% sure she would not be coming home. He told me he was 1 million times sure that she would be home.

His faith is strong.

Oh Yes I did!

Yep.

Matching capes.

What’s NR you may be asking yourself?

Why Nature Rescuers of course.

Explains the paw print fabric right?

It was all Alec’s idea.

He picked out the fabrics himself.

No sewing involved. Obviously. It’s me we are talking about. I can’t even thread a needle.

Just some scissors, sticky back Velcro and super sonic craft spray-on adhesive.

He is now working on interior lining which will house all special buttons and gadgets.

 

Use your imagination – we are talking puffy fabric paint and all.

I think she actually likes her cape. It didn’t seem to bother her at all!

There is no limit to my talents…right?

Vacation- Educational Segment Part II

One of our vacation days Erik, Alec and I spent the day in the city. We visited a couple lesser visited spots and a couple very popular spots.

We started off at the Postal Museum. It is in a very beautiful old post office. The interior is gorgeous. It is not a very popular museum which was nice for us as it was not crowded and gave us ample time and space to check things out.

Although there was a lot of reading- there was also a lot of hands-on that made it entertaining for the non-reader.

 

I would give this museum a thumbs up. It was really interesting and it really only takes about an hour to go through.

After leaving the museum we went and had lunch in Union Station. Our next stop was the the White House. Popular! This was the only thing Alec had any interest in seeing. We, because I am not that insightful, did not actually take a tour- you must contact your congress person 6 weeks in advance to do that. Yeah…right.  We don’t plan that far in advance. Ever.

 

We were going to walk down the Lincoln Memorial because I never want to miss a moment to hear Alec call him Abraham Linkerton (who fought in the Silver War) but we had a potty moment so we stopped in the Department of Commerce and went to the lesser known (and over priced) National Aquarium.

Actually, even though it was not part of the Smithsonian and we had to pay too much for such a small aquarium, it had some really neat things that I have never seen at any other aquarium. So that was neat. Of course I didn’t really take pictures of the neat things so you will just have to see for yourself!

After the Aquarium, because we had another potty issue (someone tends to tell us only after he has left buildings) we went into The Museum of Natural History. We checked out the mummy’s and Erik and Alec went into the butterfly habitat.

The were not impressed with it.

We looked at some other exhibits and then hit the train home.

What a long day!

And we barely saw anything.

Good thing we we have an open invitation to visit the Simmons family anytime.

Vacation –the Educational Segment- Part I

One does not come that close to DC without actually visiting parts of it. One day Pam, Hannah, Erik, Alec and I visited the Air & Space museum that is near their house. I guess Alec thought it was neat. I am not sure. We got to see a real space shuttle and I thought that was REALLY neat.

(everyone dreams of having a jet pack –right?)

We even got to go up in the air traffic control tower and watch planes that were landing at Dulles fly by. It had a neat view. We ran out of time before we got to visit the 2nd floor that had all the interactive displays but that’s ok- it saves something for our next visit!

Vacation –Family Time

If you ask Alec what his favorite part of the trip was- he would say….visiting the family. He had the best time just being with Pam, Bruce, Hannah and Nathan. And they graciously put up with his young boyishness.

 

One day he even got to go spend the morning with Aunt Pam at her school while she was teaching and then they went to lunch together. Erik and I got a morning and afternoon free. VACATION!  :)

And of course Alec loves anything to do with swimming so they took us to their community pool. We need a community pool like this one!

 

Even with all the swimming, Alec’s favorite moments were spent in the basement just playing with all their toys. And they have toys! Actually, we all enjoyed hanging out in the basement playing! :) 

Taking Pause (or rather paws)

A pause of our vacation recap while I share with you the almost tragedy (relatively speaking of course) that occurred at our house over the past few days.



Doggie and blanket went MIA.
Gasp!
Yikes!
We noticed Tuesday night that they were not in their usual spots so Alec chose (whilst being brave) another stuffy to snuggle. Off to bed he went.
After he was alseep Erik and I searched.
We searched high- we searched low.
We searched in- we searched out.
We looked everywhere.
We tried to recollect the last time we had seen the dynamic duo.
Was it Sunday?
Was it Monday?
Hmmm...
Tuesday night I dreamt about the pair and where they could be. My heart was heavy. We were up in the morning and searching again but life still goes on- so off to school and work we went. Alec is a trooper about the whole thing and doesn't appear to be overly concerned.

Wednesday Erik called his parent-and left the message-  Did Alec leave them there on Sunday? No one was home so we had to wait for the answer.

After work we searched the cars- we went back to the basement. I searched the garage. We searched the usual spots again. We unmade and remade all the beds in the house. We searched closets and dresser  drawers.

I had a pit in my stomach.

What if they were really gone? 

Alec went to bed hoping he had left them at his grandparents house.

10:00PM the call came from Erik's parents- they had not see the pair.

That blanket- she was always the trouble maker! (You have to know Alec's stories about these two to understand).

Where could they be?

Were doggie and blanket sitting in dump somewhere - somehow inadvertantly thrown in the trash? Were they smuggled out of the house as we went on errands and had fallen out of the car and were sitting in the this slushy, snow storm we were having? Cold and alone on the side of the road?  Maybe even driven over- with tread marks and all?  Did someone find them laying on the side of the road and just toss them in the trash? Had one of his friends hidden it - just enough that it would have been years before we spotted them? Kids are clever like that.
I searched more.

My heart was breaking. I tried to put it in perspective. Alec wasn't breaking down over this - then why was I?  Maybe because my baby is so grown up he doesn't need them any more? Sob. No kidding. I went to bed crying over this. I am sure my eyes were pleading with Erik to make it all better. I was distraught. I had a flashback of Katie last Saurday morning, in her 19 years of pure collegeness, putting her 'slumber bear' into her backpack as she was getting ready to leave our house after spending the night.  I could see my Rowlf of 35 years sitting in our bedroom. Hannha and her poor thread bare Winne the Pooh. Alec still deserved more time with his doggie and blanket.

I deserved more time with Doggie and blanket.

Alec has outragious stories of blanket being the trouble maker. Most often she is a teenager.  And is very wild. We have to babysit her more often than not. Doggie gets into trouble simply because he spends so much time with blanket. Guilty by association. These two have quite the antics in Alec's mind.  I didn't want that to end.

But most importantly- Doggie is my connection to Alec. Doggie and I have great bedtime talks together. If I want information then Doggie and I talk about it and usually Alec will join the conversation. We snuggle and we talk- Doggie, Alec and I.

I loved the way Doggie jingled. This was always our cue that Alec was working his way to our bedroom. Day or night you could always hear the jingle first. I wanted that jingle back.

I woke up at 2AM Thursday morning and my mind started replaying the weekend again. And again. And again.  They have to be here. But where?  Usually they are only really together at bed and when we take them somewhere.  Replay weekend again. I finally decided to go sleep in the spare bedroom.

As I am walking down the hall - I look in the bathroom- my mind says- yep looked in the vanity. Check. BUT WAIT!  Did I look in the step stool that had the lift up lid? I don't remember doing that. But Erik must have. We must have. Couldn't hurt to look again- I have looked everywhere else 2 or 3 times. Might as well try again.

And there they were!

I jingled doggie all the way to our bedroom. Erik heard it and instantly woke up. Is that doggie?  Yep. Found them in the step stool.  Smiles.

 I promptly sleep with them for the rest of the night. 

Alec of course is happy to see them in the morning. He asks where they were and I tell him.  He reponds - with a classic- "Oh right- I forgot I put them in there when I was brushing my teeth!".  

(me rolling eyes)

Possibly I am the only one who really, truely needs doggie and blanket.

Erik and I both tell him how proud of him were while this was going on- that he handled it like a champ.

Erik walks away and Alec says to me "Mom- it made my heart feel like it was broken in half".

Me too buddy. Me too.