Gas Prices Six Years Ago

Most of you who know us are also aware that we moved to the east coast 6 years ago. The time has absolutely flown, especially the last four years with our little ones.

Yesterday, I was cleaning out a binder to reuse and found an interesting scrap of paper. It was an envelope on which we had written our gas expenses from our move out here. We noted the town where we filled up, how many miles we had traveled, the number of gallons put in and the total price of the purchase. I'll list some of the gas prices per gallon below.

Green River, WY $1.239
North Platte, NE $1.699
Omaha, NE $1.369
Peoria, IL $1.349
London, OH $1.319
Annandale, VA $1.359

That trip cost us $305.75 in all. At not quite 3 times the gas prices now, that same trip in a moving truck, towing a car at 10 mpg, we would spend about $825.55. Oh, the good old days!

Holy Hanna

Okay, so I couldn't resist the cheesy title. Truth be told, we faired quite well with what was then just a tropical storm system. We got about 5 inches of rain in 6 hours, so it was very wet. Luckily, we prepared by checking the gutters and walkout to make sure that the drainage paths were clear.

We did not lose power during the actual storm, so our sump pump was able to mostly keep up with the water. We were also fortunate enough not to lose any trees this time. Ethan had fun watching the rivers of water in the streets, but did not like having to stay in doors. (For those who don't know, that muddy brown section is our ditch topping over. Sorry about the screen in the way, but I was not about to go outside just to get a clearer picture.)

We'll have to see what the rest of the hurricane season has for us this year. Hopefully we won't receive any direct blows. The last time we did was 5 years ago with Hurricane Isabel. She left us without power for nearly 5 days.

Helping Out

Maya has come to the point where she wants to be involved in everything. So she climbs up on the stove drawer handle to try and help us cook. Maya likes to help unload the dishwasher, whether or not the dishes are clean. Maya can never let Ethan be the only one in our laps, or being read to. She wants to help put away the laundry, in other words, she's really good at unfolding clothes and dragging them on the floor.

But there is one duty in which she has been able to start actually helping us. Diaper duty. Maya has now started to take her own diapers to the trash. She still needs assistance to open the pail, but throws the diaper in and joins with us in saying "Hurray Maya".

Let's Go!!

Each morning, Maya has a little routine to say good bye to Daddy. He has to pick her up, nothing else will do. Then she turns to me and waves good bye. She'll even give me kisses to let me know she'll be going with Daddy.

This morning she went through the regular routine. When I took her back, she leaned to Daddy again until he held her. She then said something that sounded remarkably like, "Let's go. Go, go."

Olympic Enthusiasm

Gymnastics has been an interest in Todd's family for years. Two of his sisters were very active in the sport, one of the two also a collegiate competitor. I was always curious if Maya would show any ability or interest as she grew.

Last night, we watched the US women's gymnastic team compete in Beijing. Maya was enthralled. She turned around the floor as she watched and occasionally tried to flourish her hand up above her. It was all quite adorable.

When the coverage switched to swimming, she was not pleased. She started to make the ASL sign for "more" and then re-imitated the hand flourish above her. She repeated this several times before she realized that she was stuck with swimming.

Perhaps we'll have to enroll her in some classes in a few years.

Face Meets Door

Poor little Maya. Now that she's gotten the walking down, she decided to start running as well. Her body also decided to have a growth spurt which has made her a little clumsy.

The other day, she was running and didn't realize how close the door was getting. Thus the red mark on her right cheek.

The poor kids also face planted 3 times that day and tripped at least 4 other times. It was a rough day in all.

Observations of a 4 year old.

Todd and I were lucky enough to go to dinner with some friends. We had picked Ethan and Maya up, loaded the tired, crying children in the car and started making our way home. Ethan, being his usual observant self, started making some comments to us, after the motions of the car calmed the two little ones.

E-Mom, there's another seat here.
K-Yeah, there is. What is it for?
E-For another baby.
T-What baby?
E-The baby that comes after the last Disney World.
K-Oh really?
E-Mmm, hmm.
K-Whose baby is it?
E-Our baby.
T-You want another baby?
E-Yeah (giggling)
T-What kind of baby?
E-A boy.
K-What would we name him?
E-Ethan.
T-Another Ethan. We can't do that, mom might call for Ethan and you wouldn't know if it was you. How about another name?
E-How about Robert.
T-Probably not Robert. (No offense intended to Robert or Roberta)
E-How about Uncle Paul
Laughter by all.

That little boy cracks me up.

Disclaimer-This story is not announcing any impending conditions or plans, known or not known, about the current size of our family. It is simply the musings of our son. Sorry Grandma.