It's not often that I can use the labels memories in the making and Leslie without adding any of the kids or soccer or or or ....
This was a memory with me and my friends.  It was Starbucks, Train, Soul Sister, wine glasses, dancing with Ipods, tears and laughter, listening and talking, photos and well more photos.  It was us being us, not being moms or wives, daughters, sisters, just us.  We learned a lot about each other and I think a little about ourselves.  We are still pretty enough to have our photo taken in the elevator from some young punk and his cell phone.  We are intimidating to others in a restaurant where the average clientel has 150 lbs on us because we are all that.  We needed some sun and fun.  Lyrics have been running through my brain and whenever I see these photos they will continue.  "Your lipstick stains on the front lobe of my left side brain...Hey soul sister I don't want to miss a single thing you do"  will forever be ingrained as this weekend's theme song.

J'etais allees avec mes amies pour le week-end.  C'est un temps de rire, de pleurer, de parler.  Nous buvons du cafe et du vin.  Nous allons au restaurant pour dinner.  Nous sommes la sans enfant, sans maris, juste nous.  C'est un weekend parfait.

Somehow March has slipped away from me.  I don't quite know how it happened but it did.  It's soccer season again and I might blink and have April and May slip past too.  Who am I kidding?  It's always soccer season and we are always busy.  There was this one afternoon that I had totally free.  It was just Job and I so we grabbed the dog, called one of Job's buddies and headed to Hovander Park.  We spent a couple of hours throwing the "bird" for Skagit and then headed home.




C'est incroyable que mars est passe et c'est presque le milleu d'avril.  Je ne sais pas comment ca passe, mais c'est vrai.  Mais c'est comme ca tous les temps.  Nous jouons le footballe presque tout l'annee est le footballe dehors a deja commence.  Une jour en mars, j'avais l'apres-midi libre et Job etait le seul enfant chez nous.  Alors j'ai telephone un ami de Job et nous avons alles au parque.Nous avons passes l'apres-midi vers un riviere avec notre chien.

Il y a club pour des enfants qui aiment des robotiques.  Ils ont utiliser des Robotiques de Legos.  Il y a un groupe des garcons de dix ans qui attendre.  C'est juste pour Job parce qu'il aime des robotiques, des Legos et des programmations informatiques.  Dans son temp libre, il joue avec des legos ou fait des programmation sur l'ordinateur.  Il est vraiment comme son pere.  Il n'avait pas un choix, il faut qu'il devien un ingenieur.

One of the things we have to do four times a year is go to Woodinville for Isaac's doctor appointment.  Why?  Well his peditatric endocrinologist is in Woodinville.  It is a bit of a drive (1hour 45 minutes) but really not bad.  Since we are down in that area I always try to plan something to do and spend the day.  I try to schedule the appointment in the morning so we have the rest of the day.  Sometimes we hang out at the river park in Woodinville.  Sometimes we go to the tulip fields.  We've taken in Mariner games, went to Pike's Place Market, just tons of stuff.  This time we decided to take in the Museum of Flight.  Going to a museum with my kids is not for the faint of heart.  Prepare to view everything, experience everything, read, watch, touch all that is allowed.  In order to reach the museum we had two choices, take 405 to 90 or 405 to the floating bridge, which sounds cooler?  The floating bridge.  It was a bridge but not to the kids.  There was lots of discussion about tsunamis, flooding, boats, and of course we saw house boats which brought on a whole different discussion.  I'll let the kids tell you what we did there.  First is Lona's written account.



"Lona's trip to the Museum of Flight.  The Museum of Flight is huge. It took us 5 hours.  But we did not look at all of it.  We were able to go in some fabulous planes.  It is a four story.  It was the most fun museum.  It was fun because it told a lot of stuff.  And it showed the bombers.  It answered a lot of questians. They had the first motor plane ever. The Red Barn was pretty cool.  It is a work shop where they built planes.  Every man who built a plane, built more then 100 pounds. We went in some planes and it was pretty cool.  I had to go outside when we went in the concorde it was so hot. The Enola Gay plane dropped the first atomic bomb.  A crew of five people built a win.  A wing is huge and heavy.  I think only two people built half an engine."
Job's description,





"My field trip to the museum of flight.  The museum of flight was fun, big (4 stories), and a little bit outdoors.  Let's start with space, the final frontier.  In the space place it had: model spaceships that you can walk through with glass floors with a TV screen under the glass with a video of mexico at a space ship camera's point of view and switches on the walls and ceiling and a padded room for sleeping, pictures and videos and recordings of satellites and rockets and astronauts and their equipment.  Now let's go to WWI planes.  In the WWI place it had/ speakers with dog fight sounds, model crashed planes, books, movies, videos, video games, models, and pictures of planes.  The WWII place had the same stuff as the WWI place so let's move to the Air Park.  The Air Park was outdoor but we went in the concorde and a plane that lots of presidents rode in (Boeing 707 (original aire force 1)), and saw a Boeing 747 and a shelter where they are going to keep the space shuttle."

Le semaine passe nous sommes alles au musee de vole. L'impression plus forte de Job et Lona est le musee est tres grande. Il faut que nous lisons tous les placards, voyons tous les films, esayons tous les activites.  Apres cinq heures, je dit que c'est temps d'aller.  "Mais nous ne voyons pas tous.  Il y a plus de voir." disent les enfants.  J'etais fatigue et c'est plus que deux heures avant entre la maison.  Mais j'aime que les enfants sont interessant aux choses.  Ils aiment d'apprendre et dans un musee ils pouvent apprendres plus que dans un livre. 

Je suis pret pour le printemps.  J'aime les jours avec le soliel pendent nous jouons le football, plus heures de lumiere, des fleurs et des choses vert au jardin.  J'aime le printemps.

Every once in a while John's Dad and Pat come for a visit.  We try to schedule those visits around soccer games.  The schedule is typically arrive sometime Friday afternoon, go to a game, spend the night, have breakfast, and around noon drive back home.  The last few times, Jim brought his computer with him and John has worked on it, formating, trying things out, getting drivers installed.  Isaac followed suit and tried to get email set up on Jim's new cel phone.  Then he tried to help Pat with her phone too.  It is inevitable that my grandkids (if I have them) will be programing things for me.  I probably will not be able to keep up with technology.  I find it amazing of how much things have changed in my little life time.  I remember going to college and AOL had just started.  Email was done only within internet providers, which was new.  Computers used dial-up.  Is that even an option now?  Cel phones were supper expensive.  By the time I graduated from college, there were bulletin boards that you could get to and play games and they didn't have the graphics we see now.  Texting, not even a concept.  How did we do research?  Remember buying encyclopedias?  Just today I had the kids research the Nile River.  The first thing they did was Google it.  Really?  How much more has it changed for my parents, my grandparents? 
Le pere de John et son amie vient pour une visite.  Ils ont arrive a l'apres-midi vendredi et ont departe samdi vers midi.  La derniere fois il a pris son ordinateure.  John a mis des chose sur l'ordinateur.  Isaac est juste comme John.  Il a essaie d'enseigner Jim d'utilizer email par son portable.  Je realise que des chose a change beaucoup dans ma vie.  Quand je commence a l'universite, je n'a pas l'internet ou emial.  A le fin, j'ai internet mais pas comme maintenant. Je n'ai pas un portable.  Si ca change vite pour moi, ca change plus vite pour mes parents et grandparents en ses vies.  C'est incroyable.

Yes, in the last two weeks we have had sun.  Here is proof.
Oui, c'est vrai nous avons vu le soliel.

Apparently the thing in middle school is to drown your BO with cologne. I guess that when Isaac has been getting ready, he goes in and uses John's cologne.  Thankfully he doesn't drown himself in it.  I have noticed just a hint of it when he leaves for school in the morning, but it doesn't linger in the air.  John has let me know that he needs more cologne so off to the store I went to get my husband some cologne and a bottle for Isaac as well.  Although there is no way I'm spending the same amount on Isaac - He can have the cheaper stuff, so it is classic old spice for Isaac.

Au lycee, les garcons sont apportent l'eau de cologne. Je pense c'est parce qu'ils n'aime pas de prendre un toilet.  Alors tous les garcons utilizent des cologne.  Je l'achete pour lui meme parce qu'il utilize le cologne de John et c'est un peu cher pour un garcon qui est douze ans.

So I have finally wrapped my little brain around a metering technique with my camera - the elusive grey card.  I don't know how many times I've read this same thing but really didn't understand it.  I would read the article and then try it out but things would go wrong and I would do something else.  I didn't ever get the concept.  Then for some unexplained reason, (possibly the same reason I was locked out of John's pickup until he arrived on the scene and asked me to open it and it opened) I understood.  So I grabbed the most willing and available subject and headed to the local condemmed elementary school for a photoshoot.  A bribe of hot chocolate's at Greene's Corner was the price for the help.  We spent a little over an hour and I love how the photos turned out.  Now for the next problem area that I have.  Live, learn, learn some more.

I wish I hadn't cut off the frame. I love what her dress is doing

Dimanche apres le service d'eglise, Lona et moi, nous allons a l'ecole pour prendre des photos.  Elle est vraiment jolie n'est pas?  Il est frois alors il faut que j'achete un chocolat chaud pour Lona et un cafe pour moi.  Je veux practique un technique des photos alors je demande a Lona si elle veut m'aide.  Les garcons sont occupe d'un programme de l'ordinateur.  Ils ont faire un programme avec un langage d'ordinateur.

I love this girl. J'aime cette fille.