Our Next White Elephant Gift

In trying to be supportive of Madelyn's Chinese learning, Matt stopped off at the Chinese Supermarket a couple of weeks ago to pick up a treat. He bought some creme wafer cookies in coconut and "DURIEN FRUIT" flavor. The coconut was great. Durien fruit.....NOT! We opened the package and, I'm not exaggerating here, it smelled like a natural gas leak. Matt immediately rushed it out to the garage but had to still eat some to say he did. Didn't love it. He described it as a mixture of onion/garlic/smelly socks/cream cheese. So we tried throwing it in our garbage can that's in our garage. Went out five minutes later and our garage REEKED of it. So Matt moved the garbage can out to the side of our house. We went outdoors a few minutes later and I worried that our neighbors might call the natural gas company about a leak. So we removed the offending cookies, put them in a ziploc, and dropped them back in the garbage can.

Come to find out later that Durien fruit is BANNED on all public transportation and in hotels in Asia. A friend of Matt's who was in China once had some Durien fruit and took half of it back to his hotel room to save for later. Minutes after he put it in his fridge, the front desk called saying that neighboring hotel-stayers were complaining of the smell.

This brings up a few questions for me...
1) If the cookies (processed and frosted and pumped with sugar) tasted/smelled that bad, what does the real fruit smell/taste like?
2) Why didn't the cashiers at the Chinese Supermarket warn Matt (they were probably too busy laughing at him to do it)?
3) Should I kiss Matt yet? Has the smell/flavor worn off?
4) Any of YOU ever tried it?

Big Changes

Matt was recently put into our ward Bishopric. He is the 2nd counselor. What a big change this has been for our family, not just in time spent away for him, but in blessings we are receiving. I'm so happy for him because I think he's going to have a service experience comparable for him to his mission and he LOVED that! So, between that and me helping my kids with piano, tumbling, Chinese (Madelyn), homework, gifted and talented projects (Hannah), volunteering at the school, Music Makers, and at home preschool (Miles) you might not hear much from me on the blog -- but I'll try! I never believed that moms with school-aged children could be very busy -- I mean, the kids are at school all day! But, wowie, you'll never find me in a robe with bon bons in front of the TV (until 9pm, maybe)

Thanks Grandpa and Dad!

Matt and my dad have been working this summer on a fun playhouse for our kids. This is one of Matt's first major construction projects (aside from a fence in Washington) and he is great at being precise and accurate. It looks great! It now has swings off the opposite side of the slide but I'm too lazy to go take a picture right now. It's a hit with the kids! The second it was completed they started fighting over who got to swing on which swing -- it's a great indicator of a beloved item in our house!

Keeping Our Fingers Crossed

Of course, because I just purchased new diapers, swim diapers, and wipes -- Miles is potty training this week! He has done fantastically well -- I guess he's been ready for a while, I just wasn't ready. I waited until both the girls were in school and I had an open schedule. I was expecting to be cleaning up accidents and be quaratined to the house for a few days, but he has done great! He even wakes up dry in the morning.

Of course, I type this outloud and guess what happens tomorrow.

We just saw...

Ramona and Beezus.
I thought this movie was so cute and age appropriate for my girls that I had to recommend it. I cried a couple of times and laughed many times. Great story about a strong family who makes it through their struggles together.

Cowabunga Bay Reviewed

I got a 50% off coupon from Screamin' Coupons last week and so we decided to make Monday our Cowabunga Bay day. I had always wondered how my kids (8, 6, 3) would do there. Here are the pros and cons as I saw it:

Pros:
--No pools at the bottom of the slides for kiddos to sink into, just runways.
--VERY warm water in the lazy river/shallow beach pool
--Awesome theme, cute surfer stuff everywhere
--Very fun being splashed by the huge buckets of water
--Little kids (Madelyn's size) can ride almost anything, if they will.
--Little kids (Madelyn's size) can ride in the lap of a parent if unwilling to go alone.
--Fun splashpad/playground equipment-type activities (shooting water guns at people, turning on and off sprinklers, etc)
--Tubes for the lazy river and lifejackets are included in the admission fee.

Cons:
--Unadventurous children (Like my two youngest) will want to spend all their time in the lazy river/shallow pool. Frustrating b/c we can do that at just about any rec center for a fraction of the cost. They will especially want to stay there if temps are in the 80s and there is a breeze, like the day we went(warm water in the lazy river becomes a con in this instance).
--Expensive concessions -- but you expected that.
--Having complete strangers dump water on you repeatedly in the slide play structure
(Seriously, I watched a bunch of teenage boys hang out by the bucket dump toys and wait to let loose on anyone going down the slides or walking underneath them, whether they knew them or not. I lost a pair of sunglasses to their enthusiasm).

OVERALL: I would go again in the future, especially when I can be sure that 100% or more of our family will go on slides. I would recommend paying for the shortest time period possible (I think they sell two hour passes) to see how your family does, then upgrade if you are really enjoying yourselves. And I would let loose a few more buckets of water on unsuspecting teenage boys I don't know to get the need for revenge out of my system. :)

Amazing Sparklers

I didn't think that the settings on my cheap little camera really mattered, but now, I'll be experimenting with them much more!