Sunday, August 20, 2006

Having Fun
To sum up Valdez weather for the past month would be as follows:
Drizzly, foggy, cloudy, and non-stop puddle making kind of days, yet still beautiful.
Of course it depends on who you ask (e.g. most adults vs. my children), this weather could be seen as nothing but end of the summer, gloomy days in Valdez or it could be seen as fun puddle-jumping days to end a wonderful wet summer. I try to choose the latter of the two so that I do not sound pessimistic and turn my children's views to mirror my own, in such a situation. With that in mind, I decided to partake in this splashing fun with a long-time girlfriend of mine. As we ended our cold and wet, but fantastic, fishing adventure during the Women's 2006 Fishing Derby, we found the biggest puddle possible in the parking lot of the boat docks. By the count of three, we had jumped so hard into it that even my hair was splashed upon. I then remembered as if a child to why my babes find so much enthusiasm and excitement with Valdez weather. However, as a responsible parent in trying to keep my children from catching a cold in such weather, we have spent most of these wet days indoors while finding other creative ways for entertainment. For example, last night, Patrick came home with a bag full of balloons and although I just saw them as cluttered array of colors all over my floor calling at our dog, Kyanna, begging to be popped; Draven and Elora spent many hours using a mind-full of imagination to what the balloons could be (e.g. playing catch with the dog and one another, arrows to be shot at mommy and daddy, colorful balls of fire, etc.). In addition, due to the rain today, we were able to explore the idea of activities in the kitchen with mommy. Although, baking cookies can be completed less messy and quicker when done alone; I wanted quality time with my babes, in addition to keeping them from getting irritated with one another while having been indoors and so closely joined most of the weekend. Since we were already in the kitchen, we decided to adventure onto creating Blue Raspberry Jell-O Jigglers, for the first time. It took a moment for them to grasp the contradiction that although mommy and daddy enforce no playing with food, they are allowed, in this case, to actually not only use their hands but in fact, also, play with it as it heads toward their mouth. I can already see a future statement arising as Elora tests the boundaries of food handling during dinner, "...but me play with Jell-O!?"In the end, our kitchen escapade ended with sticky fingers, messy Jell-O and cookie dough faces, blue tongues, and a chaotic countertop; yet very blissful children. Therefore, I attempt to stay relaxed and positive during this drizzly time at home, in Valdez. Because God created it, I know there is beauty in it, even if it is harder to find...