pumpkin guts

Sybrowsky Quote of the Week: "Mom, my guts hurt really bad! I think my heart squirted a bone right into my guts!" ~James

After this self-diagnosis, I am almost 100% sure this kid will either be a surgeon or a horror film producer. There is so much talk about guts and blood at our house that I was shocked when James was completely grossed out by the pumpkin guts tonight.


I should've known he was more interested in cutting with the "sharp things." I guess the correct answer is surgeon. At least they get to scrub in and out.

I let James pick the pumpkin designs this year from a book of templates that came with our carving tools. Here are the before and after shots.

canada: america's hat

That's not offensive, is it? Christian told me about a t-shirt that some of the outgoing residents had given their Canadian attendings with that on it, and I busted up. It just sounds so funny! So with that, here's part two of our Canadian vacation. . .


This is the view from our hotel balcony. Not bad, eh?




Our activity today was the IMAX movie Dinosaurs - Giants of Patagonia in 3D! If you know James, you know this was a dream come true for him. So imagine our surprise when Mr. Scary turned into Mr. Scaredy Pants! He kept taking off his 3D glasses when the dinosaurs were on screen. He was so nervous! We kept explaining it was just a trick--that they couldn't really get him. He reached out a few times to try and "touch" them, but he was still scared. Addy, however, wore his the whole time and was utterly engrossed. That is until he fell asleep half way through. But hey, Christian and I enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. It was so cool!
The weather cooperated a little better this afternoon, so we had a chance to explore Stanley Park a little further. What a gorgeous place. I love when cities have enough foresight to designate areas like this for everyone to enjoy.

Some things for me to remember our trip:

*Giving in to two trips to McDonald's
*Fitting the limo in that tiny elevator
*Dark chocolate with mint
*Starbucks' caramel apple cider
*Banana cream pie (for breakfast)
*James leaving the restaurant to wait for us at the car
*Grilled cheese sandwich--now you see it, now you still see it, it's still there, can we get a box for this? Wait--where'd it go? Did he really eat the whole thing that fast?

When it was time to head back to the good ol' U.S. of A., we were a little nervous about getting back across the border. To our surprise, it was even easier than getting into Canada! Christian handed him our passports and told the border agent they were expired so he was including our drivers licenses. He said that wouldn't be necessary, the passports were fine. Phew! My passport even has my maiden name on it! Not that we were doing anything wrong, but we were still shocked not to at least be questioned a little. Anyway, it was such a fun trip and we're so glad we could do it.
The boys crashed on the way home, and I was able to finish Twilight (this is the first time since we had kids that I was actually able to start and finish a whole book during a vacation!). What a great trip. I am so grateful to have had such a pleasant weekend with my boys!

visiting vancouver

". . .Vacations are meant to be times when the Emersonian virtue of Whim takes over and well-laid plans get left in the dust. . .Vacations are too short for schedules." -Tyee Bridge

One day last week Christian called me and said he was taking a week off, and what did I want to do? Okay, 1. we have no money, and 2. we have no money. So I told him we should just hang out at home. Besides, James is in school two days a week and we both teach on Sundays, so it's not like we could go anywhere for very long. To that he replied, "Maybe I'll just go somewhere by myself, then." Okay, wait. We never see you, and then you finally take a vacation and you ditch us? No. You are not going away without us (even though we do it to you several times a year). I quickly reconsidered. What's another couple hundred bucks on the AMEX going to hurt? Added to our mountain of student loans, it's only a drop in the bucket. In 6 years when we finally pay it off the memories will be worth it, right?

With two expired passports and me without a birth certificate, we headed to Canada on Saturday for an adventure in Vancouver. The first adventure was seeing if we could get into Canada. What a relief--an expired passport was enough proof of citizenship for the Canucks. (We'll see what the guards at the US border have to say on that subject--I could be extending my vacation by a few days).

Vancouver is a gorgeous city, lain between the mountains and the water, and built of glass. Driving over the bridge into the city, we agreed that Canada really is a different country. I expected things to feel the same as on the Washington side, but I was surprised to see that just over the border things changed almost instantly. Most obvious was the architecture. From the homes to the high rises, they struck me as wholly unique, even foreign. Christian said it felt just like Japan, and I had a surge of memories from Vienna and Geneva. The weather, however, was unfortunately no different from the dreary days of winter in Seattle, although perhaps a few degrees cooler.

We found a great hotel downtown within our "budget." It is a suite with a separate bedroom (amazing, I know--traveling in the off season isn't all bad). We thought this would be really cool when we booked it online, but we had no idea how essential it would be to our enjoyment. What did we think we would do when we put the kids to bed at 9:00? It was so great to be able to put them to sleep on the sofa bed and then retreat to our own bedroom for a movie.

Next we needed to decide what to do. Christian would not let me plan anything out, which made me a little nervous. He was taking a page out of my dad's book, "Driving to Nowhere." But it turned out we enjoyed wandering and acting on most of our whims. Here's what we found to fill our time.

1. Shopping/People-Watching

Our hotel was just a couple of blocks away from the downtown shopping district. On a Saturday evening, all of Vancouver's young and hip were out. It was like being in New York or Paris--the style was amazing! Lind, you would have loved it. I have never seen so many cool, funky, hip people in one place. And the shoes! There were so many great shoes walking past us! I was surprised to see so many girls wearing short shorts with tall boots on such a cold night. But all in the name of fashion, I suppose. It was a perfect people-watching opportunity, which I took full advantage of. We didn't buy one thing, but we sure had fun!

2. Swimming
We made sure we got a hotel with a pool so we could take the boys swimming. Who doesn't have great childhood memories of grimy hotel pools? Seriously, it was kind of gross, but the kids didn't care one bit. We even got James to set aside his fear of water momentarily to jump off the side "for Grandma."

3. Sushi
Several people told Christian the shushi in Vancouver was outstanding, so we had to check it our for ourselves. Of course we had to find a little dive to be able to afford sushi at all, but it did not disappoint. The boys had pizza.



4. Sightseeing
We checked out Vancouver's Stanley Park (too bad it was raining so hard--it would have been a great place for a stroll along the water). The kids loved the totem poles, a reminder of the region's Salish heritage. James must have learned something, because later in the evening he made this Halloween totem pole out of his finger puppets. P.S. Layne, the "mermaid" in a wet suit is for you.


5. Sea-seeing (the Vancouver Aquarium)
We liked this aquarium better than the Seattle Aquarium! They had sharks, Beluga whales, dolphins, jelly fish, and a Coelacanth! (That shot's for you, Dr. Clark.)

6. Scooby Doo
If you ask the boys, I'm sure they'll say their favorite part of the trip was watching Scooby Doo while snacking on popcorn and Fresca. Doesn't take much to make these guys happy.

As we near the end of our fun weekend in Vancouver, BC, I can say with confidence that this trip was a success by this quote from James tonight:

"Let's pack all our toys in our suitcase and come live at this hotel!" -James

the great [big] pumpkin

"Here we are, Snoopy, sitting in a pumpkin patch waiting for the Great Pumpkin. Every Halloween the Great Pumpkin flies through the air with his bag of toys, and just think.....if you and I sit here all night, we may get to see him!" ~Linus in "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!"

I can see James doing this--keeping a midnight vigil in hopes of spying The Great Pumpkin. He is one of the biggest Halloween fans in America. And it's not really even about the candy. He's more obsessed with the spookiness it embodies. We've watched Scooby Doo's Spookiest Tales or Creepiest Capers every day this week, and he has a scary Frankenstein mask hanging from his bed post (which we won't let him wear anymore because we found out on the news it contains high levels of toxins that are dangerous to children--thanks, China). And every trip to Target or Walmart is not complete without an extensive tour of the Halloween aisle. Let's face it--he's a "scary" junkie.


We had a beautiful, warm fall day this week, and Christian was post-call, so in the Halloween spirit we went to check out a pumpkin patch up the road. We already have our carving pumpkins (courtesy of the other biggest Halloween fan in America and James' Halloween mentor, Grandpa Layne), but I thought it would be a fun family outing. Look at these scary fellows!


I guess all scary guys have a sweet side, too.

Awww! I love my boys.

I guess I'm kind of mean for making him try this, knowing full-well he couldn't do it. But it was fun to see him try!


We let him pick out a mini ghost pumpkin instead, and I was surprised to see that he chose the smallest one he could find! That is so un-James-like (he's in the super-competitive-I-can-do-it-faster-bigger-better-than-you-stage).
Almost everyone we visited in Utah commented on how tall and lean James is looking.


Is it just me, or does Addy's look like a mug shot? Let's hope this is not a foreshadowing. . .


Every year I get a little sad at the end of August when I notice the sunlight changing to an autumn slant. I LOVE summer, and I am not a fan of the cold, so I start complaining and griping while Christian is cheering for sweater weather. But once fall is in full swing, I always remember that I actually am quite fond of this season--the cozy cups of cocoa, the dancing leaves, warm fall colors, easy soup dinners. How thankful I am for change, and the occasion for gratitude it offers. Happy fall!

a bug vacuum--oh yeah, great idea

James has been asking for a bug vacuum since the beginning of spring when all the spiders started showing up around our house. The arachnids in this area are incredible, and they're everywhere. Luckily they mostly stay outside, which provided hours upon hours of entertainment for the boys this summer, scouring the yard for spiders to point out to Mom and Dad. I've actually developed quite a healthy respect for the things and their amazing webs, as long as they keep their distance. The boys have, unfortunately, picked up on my screeching and yelping, running around saying, "Ooh! Ooh!" whenever they see a spider (sorry Cree).

James has this crazy spidey sense, and he can spot them half a mile away. Christian caught a couple of them in a jar for them this summer, but they didn't do so well in there with little food and air. Which is why I gave in and suggested the bug vacuum to Grandma for his birthday this year. Grandma Jode did not let us down. Not only did he get the super-mega bug vacuum, but he got an amazing bug habitat to go with it.

Vacuum up bug, insert in house, watch bug try madly to escape. Again, hours upon hours of fun. And I love the fact that I don't have to squish any more spiders that we find inside. I just call James and his trusty vacuum to do the job.



That is until Addy learned his new trick. I was laying in bed, still half asleep while the boys watched cartoons one morning, when I was suddenly jerked awake by a loud commotion. Was I hearing what I thought I was hearing?

"Mom, Addy opened the bug house! There's a spider in your bed!"

That's right. The big black spider James had caught for me the night before was now scurrying around on my soft, white sheets, looking for an escape route. In seconds we were all out of the bed, screaming and scrambling for the bug vacuum which was nowhere to be found. This little fella was fast! I had to do something, so I grabbed a tissue and squished him, much to the chagrin of James. Sorry, man, I am not sharing my bed with that thing. Now I've got to find a way to lock the bug house so that my house doesn't become the new bug house. Thanks, Ads.