Maramec Spring State Park

Last weekend we went to the Maramec Spring State Park with our friends the Timms. It took some effort to get there, but was totally worth it - we saw huge Rainbow trout, lots of fireflies and almost felt like we were in the mountains. And, it was a great place to break in Beemer's new camelback!

Father's Day - Finally

This year, unlike past years, I began plotting for Ahenobarbus' Father's Day gift months ahead of time. After requesting the talents of Wildbound and Scout, and the assistance of Desertbound and The Rock in March, I then attempted to wait patiently.

Here is the result:

The picture was taken by Wildbound in March and then rendered AMAZINGLY in charcoal by Scout. The Rock and Desertbound assisted in the framing and shipping.

The gift didn't arrive until the Monday after Father's Day. When I pulled out the picture, it brought tears to my eyes. I wanted to capture a moment, not create a portrait, and both Wildbound and Scout were able to do so much more than I imagined. After Beemer and I unpacked the picture, we hung it on the wall with a card we made to surprise Ahenobarbus. Below is the video of Ahenobarbus' shock when he saw it. When he walked into the room the first thing he saw was the card. It's pretty obvious when he realized what the card was on. The video is pretty good, but the batteries in my camera died before I got his complete reaction (and his pleasure at having an ORIGINAL by Scout).

Here is Ahenobarbus with Beemer and the picture. It took a bit of work to get a picture of the picture without a glare so you can see just how amazing it is.

Thank you, everyone, who helped to get this gift here.
And to Ahenobarbus, thank you for being such an amazing Dad and for inspiring the best in all of your girls!

We love you!!

One of THOSE Days

Friday started off like a normal day... and then something changed. That afternoon when I went down to change the laundry in the washer to the dryer, I found the washer off and indicating that it had finished, but still full of hot, soapy water. After attempting to restart it without success and deliberating what to do for a few flustered minutes, I called my sisters, who suggested asking a neighbor to use their washer just to rinse off my clothes. Why I didn't think of that I don't know, but I am going to blame it on lack of sleep.

So, before knocking on my neighbor's door, I ran in my apartment to check on my girls. I had left Audi asleep in her bed and Beemer watching a movie on the couch. I came back to find the TV off and Beemer in Audi's bed (taking pictures of my now-awake baby). After getting Beemer out of the bedroom and soothing Audi (crossing my fingers she would go back to sleep), I attempted to restart Beemer's movie, but the TV remote wouldn't work. So, I started the movie manually, thinking I would change the batteries in the remote later. Then to take a breath for a minute and because I was waiting for a message from Ahenobarbus, I decided to check my email. I sat down at the computer only to find that the mouse wasn't working either.

At that point I began to think that all things electrical were working against me. I checked the mouse connections on the computer, chewing out Phil the whole time, thinking he had stepped on something, because he was sleeping behind the computer. I restarted the computer too, nothing helped.

Then, I picked up the mouse and found STAMPS! Yes, postage stamps covering the bottom of our optical mouse. When I asked Beemer about it, she said she'd put them on to cover the light. That was when the laughter started. I then checked the remote - both batteries were in, but they were in exactly backwards. Again, thanks to help from my three year old. Once I fixed the batteries, the remote was great.

And then the washer - I went back down to check it one more time before bothering my neighbors, attempted to start it, and it worked! I was able to finish that load and a few more that day. We'll see how much longer it lasts. I can't be too upset for two reasons:

1- We've had the washer and dryer for six or seven years (we can't remember) and they were Ahenobarbus' parents before that. We have all gotten our use out of them!

2- Today, Ahenobarbus went to help our friends move. Their new apartment has a washer and dryer, so they didn't need theirs anymore, and gave them to us. We were able to call our new landlords (more on our move later) and they let us move the new washer and dryer in today!!

So, all's well that ends well, but for a bit yesterday, I was wondering it I had blown a fuse, or if my apartment had!

Yeah, So, I Did This

Okay, so it wasn't exactly my fault. Friday afternoon, I went downstairs to do laundry. While there, I smelled natural gas strong enough to give me a headache. We have a new upstairs neighbor so I thought maybe they had turned on her gas, but I was worried that they had left a leak. So, still in my uber-aware mode from housing days (or years rather), I called it in.

Here's where I made my mistake: I thought they would just send someone to check it out and make sure the hookup was done correctly. Oh, no. Instead, they sent:

3 fire engines

2 marked police cars

4 unmarked police cars

1 ambulance

all with sirens and lights ON.

The firemen checked out the building, the paramedics offered to give me an exam (which I declined), I completed a police report and answered neighbors questions, and everyone went on their merry way. At that point, I thought everything was done and was fully prepared to laugh at the entire situation. Afterall, I would prefer a bit of drama after I called, than to have a fire or explosion.

Then part two happened - the lady from the gas company came with her gas sensor to check for leaks. She spent a LONG time in the basement (where all eight sets of washers and dryers are for the entire builidng, along with eight furnaces and eight water heaters). When she came back up, she said she had found a small leak on our neighbors' furnace lines so she turned the lines off (no big deal - NO ONE is going to use their furnace this time of year in St. Louis).

She then continued on to say that she also found numerous gas leaks in our lines. So many that she had to turn off ALL of our gas until our landlord fixed the lines. By this time it was 4 pm on Friday afternoon. I called the landlord and they called someone to fix the lines, but they couldn't come until this morning (Monday).

While being without gas all weekend, wasn't great it wasn't too bad either. Here's why:

-As I said before no one misses their furnace this time of year in St. Louis.

-Our stove is an electric one.

-We still have water and electricty (thus, central air).

-Because we live in St. Louis and the water heater is in the non-airconditioned basement, the water isn't frigid - showering is like swimming in an outdoor pool. Not pleasant, not painful.

-Because dishes aren't easily done without hot water, we ordered pizza for dinner Friday night so I didn't have to cook!

Now, it's mid-morning Monday, and I still haven't heard from anyone. I am hoping someone is downstairs working. I guess we'll see what the rest of the day brings. I think we are all ready for a warm shower and a good laugh about the whole situation. (I am reserving my heartiest laughter until the gas is back on.)

A Day in the Life of Audi

Reading with Dad (yes that is the Folio catalog)

Dinner - first cereal!

Taking a little nap in her saucer