Charity's Crazy Beautiful Life

Father's Day

So, for Father's Day (which was as beautiful as the day before), we spent the day indoors. Church (INSIDE). Out to lunch (INSIDE) (Well, technically, we were outside on a balcony overlooking the ocean. But it was covered, shady and breezy. So I consider that "INSIDE", at least for the purpose of this blog post. Thanks for playing along.) Movie (INSIDE). Then...we came home and the boys started playing the Wii, INSIDE. Why INSIDE all day (well, ok, mostly INSIDE, if you're going to be a stickler about that whole lunch on the balcony thing) on such a beautiful day like this?

 Why INSIDE instead of playing in the waves?

Why INSIDE instead of hunting for creatures?

Why INSIDE instead of finding enormous hermit crabs? 

(And by enormous, I mean, pretty darn big!)

Why INSIDE instead of strolls on the beach...

and cheesy teenage "looks"...

(followed by hilarious teen-aged laughter).

Why INSIDE when you can spend the day sporting horrendous beach hair that is covered by a "hideous" beach hat. (And... could you please stop calling my beach hat hideous, I happen to like it, thank you very much!)

 

Well - I'll tell you why. Because... a certain someone (ahem, I won't name any names - wink, wink) forgot to put sunscreen on his back, along with the back of a certain little someone who happens to be his Mini-Me. So, these two people (who will remain nameless)...they didn't come home with any of those crabs, nope, they came home looking like lobsters! (Heh heh, I crack myself up!)

So, we needed to spend the day inside -- pampering and applying aloe to two sunburned backs. But all in all, whether we were inside our out, the day was pretty great. Because we got to spend it appreciating a pretty awesome daddy!

We hope you had a great Father's Day too!
Love,
~The Zaleski's

 

The Snail

You asked, you got it...

 

This friends, is a picture that Craig emailed me. Apparently when it rains on the island of Okinawa, Japan -- where I will soon be living along with my husband -- these come out in full force. Now, since I'm not there and have yet to witness one of these lovely creatures first hand, I have no idea how big it is. But in my humble opinion, it looks big enough! 

This friends, is also the picture that had Craig disappointed yesterday. Disappointed that I did not add it to yesterday's post about our house. I don't know -- for the most part -- I try to make things flow and make them relevant here on this blog. And I don't know about you, but randomly adding this picture of the snail didn't make sense to me. But maybe it would have for you, so I'm sorry for making assumptions and for leaving out our little slimy snail friend. I meant no harm, nor did I mean to discriminate in any way, shape, or form. All snails are welcome here!

This friends, is also the picture of the snail that my dear husband has been infatuated with over the last couple of days.  Seriously! He emailed it to me on the same day that I posted this about him.  I asked him if he'd seen all the pictures I'd put of him on my blog "for the whole world to see". He said, "yeah, yeah, that was nice, but did you SEE that picture of the snail I sent you!?! That snail was..." at which point I took a deep breath, tried not to roll my eyes, and came to the same conclusion I come to at least seven times a week -- that he and our six-year-old son are two peas in a pod. Harrumph. Men! (Wink, wink -- I love them both dearly!)  

Disney World or Bust

We’re on the road -  headed to Orlando for our Christmas Disney World vacation. And I mean that literally.  We are sitting in our van and are on the road. Oh do I love technology!

 

The kids aren’t bored…they’re watching a movie.  I’m not bored…I’m blogging.  We used to travel (car travel) a bunch when I was a kid. Back then I would have never thought that when my kids were the age I was then they would get to watch movies while traveling...who woulda thunk!  And I used to be against the whole DVD player in the car idea, but not anymore. Now, we don’t turn it on every time we get in the car. For that matter, we usually don’t turn it on.  But for long trips, it’s nice. Real nice! 

You know what’s not nice? A husband who drinks a lot of coffee.  Especially when said husband has a weak bladder. 

I’m not joking when I say…my husband is worse than a child being potty-trained! He has to stop to pee SO much it’s unbelievable! (Isn’t this a medical condition?)  In our family, it has kind of become a joke. Especially because it “hits him fast” so most of the time he has to pull over on the side of the road.  Like today...

 

No folks, that's not BIG FOOT you see hiding in those trees...

 

Really. Seriously. I am now calling this syndrome the "I Can't Hold It While Traveling Syndrome."  Prime example – it was the summer of ’05 and we were driving from Fairchild AFB, WA to Montgomery, AL because of our military move to Maxwell AFB.  I was driving the van filled with our children. Craig was driving his truck filled with all of the things they refused to pack for us (candles, cleaning supplies – hey, that stuff is expensive to replace), the stuff I refused to let them pack for us (sentimental keepsakey kind of things), and our dog.   I think we were somewhere in South Dakota when Craig got on the radio (yes, I said that correctly – back then he refused to have a cell phone so we used walkie talkies to talk to each other. So Craig got on his radio and told me,

“Charity, I’m gonna have to use the bathroom soon. How are you guys doing?”

I looked in the rearview mirror at my four children and said, “Hey kids, your dad has to stop and use the restroom. How about you? Anyone else need to go to the bathroom?”

They all looked at me, even a recently potty-trained Colby, and said “Nooooo.”  Why that response? Because we had stopped so many times already that day for potty breaks.

"So, I got on my radio to Craig and said, “The kids are ok. But I  guess I could use some gas, so why don’t we stop at a gas station to kill two birds with one stone."

“Ok” he answered back, “I’ll stop at the next one.”

We got lucky – not five minutes down the road we saw signs for a gas station at the next exit.  So Craig goes to take that exit and abruptly pulls over to the shoulder of the road and stops on the off ramp. What was wrong? I thought maybe he was getting a flat or there was something wrong with our dog or – and then I see Craig hopping out of his trucking and running to the passenger side where he proceeded to pee on his tire – yes – just like our dog. (There’s a reason why they’re called man’s best friend.) He hurried and hopped back into his truck and drove to the gas station that was only about 100 yards away. 

When we got out I said, “Whoa, what happened back there? Just a little further and you would have had a bathroom, dear.” 

He replied, “Yeah, I know, but it hit me fast --- I really had to go!”

It’s funny, too, because he’s not usually this way. Only when we’re traveling. I’m not sure why. Surely it’s something psychological. I kind of feel bad for the guy. Luckily, he can just go pick a bush, or a tree, and then we can mosey on along our way.  And yes, I stock up on hand sanitizer when we’re traveling.  

Only a few more hours and we’ll be in Orlando. Hopefully not too many more bathroom stops before then. (Can I call them bathroom stops when the peeing happens on bushes and tires?) I can feel the excitement in the car…Disney World, here we come!

He's Back -- Welcome Home Daddy!!

After doing a few things around the house to make sure it felt warm and welcoming...

 

we headed off this afternoon to the airport.

   

We waited with excited anticipation...

   

these kiddos couldn't wait to see him.

   

We counted down the minutes until we saw that man in uniform.  And when we did, all three of them in unison yelled, "Daddy!!", and went running.

 

They were met with a great big bear hug that was filled with giggles and tears and joy all around. All the bystanders were smiling and had tears in their eyes...including the mamma who had to watch and take it all in -- take a few pictures -- and then head on in for a hug of her own.

 

And they couldn't stop hugging and tugging on him all evening...

     

I love this man -- and I love seeing him love our children. I love seeing our children love him.

 

It has been a long four months, yet they have gone by pretty quick -- if that makes any sense at all.  Either way you want to explain it, we sure are glad to have our "Daddy" back!!

A Countdown Chain...It's A Good Thing!

So, a while back, when I was displaying my daughter's Sweet Bottom, my sister posted a comment asking what that chain is in the background.  And now...the answer.

This is the doorway between our living room and our dining room.  And that chain that is hanging there is our "Countdown Chain".  The kids and I made it the day that Craig left.  And this chain is simply the kind of chain you used to make at Christmas time for decoration.  But this time we made it to count down the days until Craig comes home. 

At first, I decided to do this with the kids that evening as a distraction, a way to keep from being too upset that we had just watched Daddy leave for his deployment.  This Countdown Chain is something I did with the kids when Craig deployed when they were younger...because back then, they didn't have such a firm grasp on the concept of months and days. It was more visual and helped them figure it out better. And back then, it worked like a charm. Although, this time around, I had my doubts. I wasn't sure if this constant reminder of how many days Daddy would be gone would be a good thing or not. Would it help them to see time going by? Or would it be a constant reminder that he is gone, and we have x amount of days until he comes home? I wasn't sure. But I figured, it worked before, I'd give it shot.  Worst case scenario, I'd have to take it down.  Luckily, that didn't have to happen...

So...every night, part of our bedtime routine is to take one more link off of the chain.  When we first put it up (I should have gotten a picture of it then, darn it!) It hung all the way to the floor on both sides of the doorway. And on the left side, it even puddled a bit.  So, over the course of the summer it's been good for the kids to see their chain shrinking. 

They get excited when they've noticed that it's "halfway up the wall" or that it's "halfway gone". And it was fun when we had our summer guests; even Grandma, Kelly, and Amy  got in on the action and were excited every night to see the a link come off the chain.

Just the other night they got to reminiscing about how it used to look, how long it was when it started, how few we have left to take off. And to me, that's a positive.  Much better than dwelling on the fact that we still have a month to go; that Daddy will still be gone for about 30 more days.

So that's it folks.  Our Countdown Chain.  It's three-fourths of the way done.  As hard as it has been to go four months without Craig here, we've tried to make the best of it. And this Countdown Chain has definitely helped!

How did we make it?

I chose to use brightly colored, patterned cardstock from Stampin' Up that had different patterns printed on both sides.  This is the kind of paper I use for scrapbooking.  You don't have to do that. You could use construction paper, or whatever kind of paper you have on hand. I decided to use paper that would be bright, cheery, fun, and would match my decor...well...because that's me.  And I figured that if I was going to look at this chain for four months, that I might as well like looking at this chain for four months! But by all means, if you plan to do this, use what you have on hand.  In the end, you're just going to be throwing it away night by night anyways. 

So, after choosing the paper we liked, we came up with a pattern.  We figured out how man days  Craig would be gone (this is approximate, since we still don't know exactly when Craig will be home -- I have some extra links to add to our chain if that need arises), and how many links we would need.  When the kids realized that it was going to be 120, they got a bit overwhelmed about how many links we were going to have to make.  So, I had them take turns helping me.  First, I cut strips 1/2 inch thick and 6 inches long.  Then, I let the kids help me build the chain.  We just looped them through each other and used a stapler to fasten it.  Simple.  It took a while sheerly because of the length of our chain.  But all in all, it was a fun project.  A good way to distract the kids (and me too, probably) the first night Craig was gone. And a good way to positively keep track of how long he's been gone and when he'll be home.

A Countdown Chain...it's a Good Thing!