I just wanted to post this since I thought it was really sweet. I read it in our local Mukilteo School District newsletter (which I subscribe to with my tax dollars, haha):
Year Ends with a Special Olympics Moment
The two were friends, but also competitors on rival teams at the state championships. Michael Bock is a Special Olympics athlete for the Mariner Marauders who counts the 100-meter dash as his strongest event. Cash Keppel, on the other hand, competes for the Mukilteo Magic and also had his sights set on the 100-meter crown. He even had new shoes for the event and talked all day about earning his first gold medal.
The Special Olympics state track meet was going great. Held in early June at Ft. Lewis, the competitors were having a wonderful time; lots of medals and ribbons were being earned. Then, it came time for the showdown between Bock and Keppel.
Bock immediately showed his strength in the event, getting off to a fast start and taking a comfortable lead. But, only 20 feet from the finish, he stumbled and went down hard, sliding a few feet on the rough track surface. Behind him in second place was Keppel, his gold medal dream suddenly there for the taking only a few more strides away.
That's when the Special Olympics moment happened. Instead of continuing across the finish line, Keppel stopped to help his friend struggle back to his feet and then walked with him across the finish line, after six other runners had already finished ahead of them. The crowd of over a thousand spectators rose to their feet and gave the two Mukilteo athletes a standing ovation.
When it was all over, the coach for the Mariner team told Keppel how proud everybody was for what he had done. He responded with a bewildered look. "He's my friend," he told her. "Why wouldn't I help him?"
---
What a cool story! I'm also happy to support the Special Olympics, and my boss is jumping off a building (the one we work in!) in a couple weeks to benefit that program. Here's more about it and here's her Web site. What a great cause!! This story brought a tear to my eye, so I am happy to support these awesome athletes, who make me want to be a better person.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
and i was so excited
Sigh.... yesterday I got my first pedicure.
On Tuesday this dialogue occurred in our home:
Me: "Shane, guess what I'm doing tomorrow!?!?"
Shane: "Getting a pedicure."
Me: "Oh, I already told you?"
Shane: "About 15 days ago you told me. Then 14 days ago, you told me again. Then 13 days ago, you told me again..." and on and on.
I was pretty excited.
The whole concept of a pedicure is pretty funny, because 1) I'm a ticklish person, 2) the thought of someone messing with my feet seems kinda funky, and 3) as a woman I tend to be self-conscious about oh, every square inch of my body, with feet being no exception. Plenty of reasons not to go.
But when I really thought about it, I realized I like it when my husband gives me feet massages! I like my feet! I don't think they are hideous! These pedicurists probably deal with feet a lot more icky than mine! I bet they'd be relieved I have decent feet! So what the heck.
My feet and calves were massaged, my heels were buffed, my cuticles were made perfect, my nails we clipped, my toes were painted. I even got a little flower on each of my big toes with a teeny rhinestone in the middle. It was kinda fun and I felt dang special.
BUT the moral of this story is that I'm not sure it was worth it, because not one, but two toddlers stepped on my perfectly beautiful right toe and ruined my pedicure design. The first toddler, who shall remain unnamed, just messed up the flower, but I was able to scoot the rhinestone back into place and it looked OK, but the second toddler, named Wesley, completely took the rhinestone off. Sigh. I mean, c'mon! I didn't even consider that I needed to protect myself. I want to show off my toes in flip flops! But I've realized active toddlers don't really care what your feet look like and if they want to walk there, they are going to, whether your feet are in the way or not.
So was it worth it, to achieve absolute feet gorgeousness for less than 24 hours? Not sure. I had fun and will probably do it again. But dang those kids, I am sad. Trying to be cool about it, but sad.
That's all for today. I wish for you all to have cute summer feet and no toddler-toe-stepping experiences.
On Tuesday this dialogue occurred in our home:
Me: "Shane, guess what I'm doing tomorrow!?!?"
Shane: "Getting a pedicure."
Me: "Oh, I already told you?"
Shane: "About 15 days ago you told me. Then 14 days ago, you told me again. Then 13 days ago, you told me again..." and on and on.
I was pretty excited.
The whole concept of a pedicure is pretty funny, because 1) I'm a ticklish person, 2) the thought of someone messing with my feet seems kinda funky, and 3) as a woman I tend to be self-conscious about oh, every square inch of my body, with feet being no exception. Plenty of reasons not to go.
But when I really thought about it, I realized I like it when my husband gives me feet massages! I like my feet! I don't think they are hideous! These pedicurists probably deal with feet a lot more icky than mine! I bet they'd be relieved I have decent feet! So what the heck.
My feet and calves were massaged, my heels were buffed, my cuticles were made perfect, my nails we clipped, my toes were painted. I even got a little flower on each of my big toes with a teeny rhinestone in the middle. It was kinda fun and I felt dang special.
BUT the moral of this story is that I'm not sure it was worth it, because not one, but two toddlers stepped on my perfectly beautiful right toe and ruined my pedicure design. The first toddler, who shall remain unnamed, just messed up the flower, but I was able to scoot the rhinestone back into place and it looked OK, but the second toddler, named Wesley, completely took the rhinestone off. Sigh. I mean, c'mon! I didn't even consider that I needed to protect myself. I want to show off my toes in flip flops! But I've realized active toddlers don't really care what your feet look like and if they want to walk there, they are going to, whether your feet are in the way or not.
So was it worth it, to achieve absolute feet gorgeousness for less than 24 hours? Not sure. I had fun and will probably do it again. But dang those kids, I am sad. Trying to be cool about it, but sad.
That's all for today. I wish for you all to have cute summer feet and no toddler-toe-stepping experiences.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
vacation recap: july
And finally, the last vacation! We have had a crazy summer so far.
For the week before July 4th we went to Shane's parents' cabin in the Palisades in Idaho. Palisades is an hour east of Idaho Falls (all the way on the east of the state), and about 40 minutes from Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Basically, my brain was fried so I was in the mood to do absolutely nothing but relax. It was awesome. We did a lot of that.
Getting there was fun; we broke the drive up into two days, stopping in the TriCities to sleep. That means we had a 4-hour drive the first day, then a 10+-hour drive the second day. I think we figured out we did it in 13 hours on the way out and 11 hours on the way back. We stopped a lot. We needed to make sure Wesley had clean diapers, opportunities to run around, sufficient food, etc. I sat in the back for most of the trip, entertaining him with books and sticker books and electronic toys and crayons and food and 100 other things. I made a list of ideas and by the time we got to Blackfoot, Idaho, baby I was out of ideas. It was a fun trip. Long, but fun, and even funner when it was over. The coolest thing we saw on our long road trip? Wind farms. Wow am I fascinated with wind farms. And once, we saw an ARM of a windmill on a flatbed being transported. Those suckers are huge!
So, yes, we made it, then had a great time relaxing. Wesley was a good sleeper so we got to sleep in several times, plus he napped well. I did projects for Young Women's (my calling at Church), worked on the ward newsletter (my other calling at Church), caught up on blogs, went on nice hilly walks with my father-in-law (breaking a sweat every time!), watched hummingbirds, enjoyed the sunshine, made Shane sandwiches after he helped his dad with stuff around the house (no vacation for him, it seemed!), did dishes by hand, beat everyone at Boggle, stuff like that.
Some pictures:
View from their deck. Wow. They're literally at the top of the hill. I think this is Palisades Reservoir.
One of two hummingbird feeders; hummingbirds are fascinating. They are loud and they suck that sugar water down like nobody's business! My mother-in-law refilled that thing once a day.
Every morning we'd take Wesley outside in his PJs so anyone who wanted to keep sleeping could get used to the idea that Wesley said it was time to wake up. We found lots of fun on the veranda.
Our only real outings included a trip to Yellowstone and the fireworks in Idaho Falls on July 3. For most of trip it was just our family and Shane's folks, but before the 4th, Shane's sister Bonnie, her husband Manny, his daughter Rianna, and their son Evan, all came up. They came to Yellowstone with us and the fireworks.
Yellowstone was cool! I didn't know what to expect; I've never been before. I seriously thought it would be like, um, Arches National Park in Utah (which I also haven't been to), in that it would just be a bunch of rocks. You know, yellow stones. Or something.
We did just southernmost loop, which included stops at Old Faithful, the paint pots, and the Grand Canyon, plus many unscheduled wildlife stops. Some highlights:
Old Faithful was cool. We got there about 20 minutes before she blew, which was opportune. We had time to get a good seat and chill before the action. She faked everyone out a couple times, with small spews of water, then bam! Thar she blows!
(waiting for her to blow: Bonnie, Rianna, Manny, Shane and Wesley)
(Whoa, Dad, what is that thing??)
There were some teenier geysers over to our left, and a lot of people were watching them at various times. Luckily we got to see a lot of geyser action. I actually thought the eruption went on for quite awhile. I'd say she was going for at least a minute and a half? Then we had lunch... I seem to recall I was completely starving while waiting for Old Faithful to perform. :-)
Then, we hit the paint pots and mud pots.
Paint pots are basically pools of boiling hot water that are colored by minerals or something in the soil. Very cool. Gorgeous turquoise, for the most part. It smelled like rotten eggs -- very sulfuric. Mud pots are pockets of boiling sand. The entire ground is considered a hazard, so there's a boardwalk system for everyone to walk on. I guess any given spot the soil is very thin and can break, and you'd like slide into boiling water underneath. Or something. Yikes.
(Sorry you can't see the boiling mud all that well!)
(Our cute fam)
The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone had some amazing waterfalls. There was an Upper Falls, which we got kinda close to, and a Lower Falls, which was way bigger but we were farther from.
(Upper Falls)
(Lower Falls)
(Look, ma! Yellow stone!)
Then, there were the wildlife stops. We saw, in real life:
It was funny because out in this ginormous meadow there was this imaginary line where everyone stopped. We learned that there was a Yellowstone ranger or something at that very spot who was basically like, "no one goes a step further." They have to keep the distance, you know? These are wild bears!
More pics:
(Random elk. Where was his family? He has like 17 points on his antlers; very cool.)
(Our family buffalo photo)
(Me trying to be funny... I have a friend who did this with the Eiffel Tower but evidently she can hold her camera more steady than I can)
So, as my gift to you, would you like some Yellowstone trivia?
Q. What is the difference between buffalo and bison?
A. Basically, the buffalo we see are in fact bison. The only true buffalo are water buffalo, and there are none of those at Yellowstone.
Q. What is the difference between a wolf and a coyote?
A. Most of the "canine like wild animals" you see at Yellowstone are coyotes. Wolves don't like people so they tend to hide. You can tell the difference side by side by looking at their ears. Coyote ears are pointy; wolf ears are more jagged or rounded. They have a tendency to gnaw on each others' ears, scruffing them up a bit.
I learned all sorts of stuff at Yellowstone!!
More funny photos:
Wesley's at this stage where he is fascinated by stars and flowers. Every time he sees a star or a flower he has to stop and touch it. Including on random people's clothes. So yes, every flower in the meadow he had to touch.
Huge piles of buffalo poo. My goal was to take a picture of the biggest one out there. Wow. I'm glad these piles weren't steaming. The buffalo were long gone by the time we got there.
YES that is an elk in front of our car!!!!! It just walked out right in front of us!
What an adventure!! We were SO TIRED by the time we got back to the cabin. It took all day. And some people only like to drive 45 on the windy rustic roads of Wyoming, so I was annoyed and tired and hungry and frustrated. But we lived to tell the exciting tale.
The fireworks in Idaho Falls were a great show, as well. We had such a nice time with everyone. I'm also glad Wesley at an age where we took him to everything and he behaved well and we made great memories. Yay!
Thanks Gottulas!! We loved visiting! We'll do it again soon.
P.S. We all made it without sunburning. Seattle weather wimps: 1, Brutal Sun: 0!
For the week before July 4th we went to Shane's parents' cabin in the Palisades in Idaho. Palisades is an hour east of Idaho Falls (all the way on the east of the state), and about 40 minutes from Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Basically, my brain was fried so I was in the mood to do absolutely nothing but relax. It was awesome. We did a lot of that.
Getting there was fun; we broke the drive up into two days, stopping in the TriCities to sleep. That means we had a 4-hour drive the first day, then a 10+-hour drive the second day. I think we figured out we did it in 13 hours on the way out and 11 hours on the way back. We stopped a lot. We needed to make sure Wesley had clean diapers, opportunities to run around, sufficient food, etc. I sat in the back for most of the trip, entertaining him with books and sticker books and electronic toys and crayons and food and 100 other things. I made a list of ideas and by the time we got to Blackfoot, Idaho, baby I was out of ideas. It was a fun trip. Long, but fun, and even funner when it was over. The coolest thing we saw on our long road trip? Wind farms. Wow am I fascinated with wind farms. And once, we saw an ARM of a windmill on a flatbed being transported. Those suckers are huge!
So, yes, we made it, then had a great time relaxing. Wesley was a good sleeper so we got to sleep in several times, plus he napped well. I did projects for Young Women's (my calling at Church), worked on the ward newsletter (my other calling at Church), caught up on blogs, went on nice hilly walks with my father-in-law (breaking a sweat every time!), watched hummingbirds, enjoyed the sunshine, made Shane sandwiches after he helped his dad with stuff around the house (no vacation for him, it seemed!), did dishes by hand, beat everyone at Boggle, stuff like that.
Some pictures:
View from their deck. Wow. They're literally at the top of the hill. I think this is Palisades Reservoir.
One of two hummingbird feeders; hummingbirds are fascinating. They are loud and they suck that sugar water down like nobody's business! My mother-in-law refilled that thing once a day.
Every morning we'd take Wesley outside in his PJs so anyone who wanted to keep sleeping could get used to the idea that Wesley said it was time to wake up. We found lots of fun on the veranda.
Our only real outings included a trip to Yellowstone and the fireworks in Idaho Falls on July 3. For most of trip it was just our family and Shane's folks, but before the 4th, Shane's sister Bonnie, her husband Manny, his daughter Rianna, and their son Evan, all came up. They came to Yellowstone with us and the fireworks.
Yellowstone was cool! I didn't know what to expect; I've never been before. I seriously thought it would be like, um, Arches National Park in Utah (which I also haven't been to), in that it would just be a bunch of rocks. You know, yellow stones. Or something.
We did just southernmost loop, which included stops at Old Faithful, the paint pots, and the Grand Canyon, plus many unscheduled wildlife stops. Some highlights:
Old Faithful was cool. We got there about 20 minutes before she blew, which was opportune. We had time to get a good seat and chill before the action. She faked everyone out a couple times, with small spews of water, then bam! Thar she blows!
(waiting for her to blow: Bonnie, Rianna, Manny, Shane and Wesley)
(Whoa, Dad, what is that thing??)There were some teenier geysers over to our left, and a lot of people were watching them at various times. Luckily we got to see a lot of geyser action. I actually thought the eruption went on for quite awhile. I'd say she was going for at least a minute and a half? Then we had lunch... I seem to recall I was completely starving while waiting for Old Faithful to perform. :-)
Then, we hit the paint pots and mud pots.
Paint pots are basically pools of boiling hot water that are colored by minerals or something in the soil. Very cool. Gorgeous turquoise, for the most part. It smelled like rotten eggs -- very sulfuric. Mud pots are pockets of boiling sand. The entire ground is considered a hazard, so there's a boardwalk system for everyone to walk on. I guess any given spot the soil is very thin and can break, and you'd like slide into boiling water underneath. Or something. Yikes.
(Sorry you can't see the boiling mud all that well!)
(Our cute fam)The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone had some amazing waterfalls. There was an Upper Falls, which we got kinda close to, and a Lower Falls, which was way bigger but we were farther from.
(Upper Falls)
(Lower Falls)
(Look, ma! Yellow stone!)Then, there were the wildlife stops. We saw, in real life:
- Buffalo/bison
- Elk
- Coyotes napping
- Funky birds that made funky noises
- Grizzly bear!
It was funny because out in this ginormous meadow there was this imaginary line where everyone stopped. We learned that there was a Yellowstone ranger or something at that very spot who was basically like, "no one goes a step further." They have to keep the distance, you know? These are wild bears!
More pics:
(Random elk. Where was his family? He has like 17 points on his antlers; very cool.)
(Our family buffalo photo)
(Me trying to be funny... I have a friend who did this with the Eiffel Tower but evidently she can hold her camera more steady than I can)So, as my gift to you, would you like some Yellowstone trivia?
Q. What is the difference between buffalo and bison?
A. Basically, the buffalo we see are in fact bison. The only true buffalo are water buffalo, and there are none of those at Yellowstone.
Q. What is the difference between a wolf and a coyote?
A. Most of the "canine like wild animals" you see at Yellowstone are coyotes. Wolves don't like people so they tend to hide. You can tell the difference side by side by looking at their ears. Coyote ears are pointy; wolf ears are more jagged or rounded. They have a tendency to gnaw on each others' ears, scruffing them up a bit.
I learned all sorts of stuff at Yellowstone!!
More funny photos:
Wesley's at this stage where he is fascinated by stars and flowers. Every time he sees a star or a flower he has to stop and touch it. Including on random people's clothes. So yes, every flower in the meadow he had to touch.
Huge piles of buffalo poo. My goal was to take a picture of the biggest one out there. Wow. I'm glad these piles weren't steaming. The buffalo were long gone by the time we got there.
YES that is an elk in front of our car!!!!! It just walked out right in front of us!
What an adventure!! We were SO TIRED by the time we got back to the cabin. It took all day. And some people only like to drive 45 on the windy rustic roads of Wyoming, so I was annoyed and tired and hungry and frustrated. But we lived to tell the exciting tale.
The fireworks in Idaho Falls were a great show, as well. We had such a nice time with everyone. I'm also glad Wesley at an age where we took him to everything and he behaved well and we made great memories. Yay!
Thanks Gottulas!! We loved visiting! We'll do it again soon.
P.S. We all made it without sunburning. Seattle weather wimps: 1, Brutal Sun: 0!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
vacation recap: june
In June, we went for a weekend to my in-laws' house in the TriCities where the main plan was to sew. I was excited. I got go sew curtains for our rooms!! The best part was that Eileen (my mother in law) had blackout fabric to go on the reverse of the curtains so everyone can sleep in the summer. She had some fabric from like, decades ago, and basically she said I was doing her a favor using it so she could get it out of her house. Haha! When we got home, it took Shane about a week to get the curtain rods up, but now we have curtains!!
I bought the fabric and curtain rods at JoAnn's during a Memorial Day weekend sale, which was a killer deal. I got the rods and rings for like 40% off, and the fabric was something like 50% off, and then I had coupons for more stuff like craft glue and thread.
That was basically it the first weekend in June. Projects! We cut and measured and pinned and sewed. I finished the curtains (four panels, two for our room and two for Wesley's), and I had another secret project which I finished, too (yay!). I'm not an expert seamstress or experienced seamstress or even novice seamstress, but I am interested in it. It just seems like such a good idea to make it yourself when you can. I guess I need the room for a sewing machine (and the corresponding fabric collection) and the patience to learn more.
Anyway, when we finished our projects, we enjoyed the lovely weather. On Sunday, we threw a second birthday party for Wesley (complete with a racecar cake!) for our family, and then we drove home. It was a wonderful whirlwind weekend.
Here are some pics....
Welsey likes to push his own stroller... and when we're on grass like this, it doesn't push straight. So he will go and adjust the wheels so they are straight and then try to push some more. It's so funny! His little brain is just hard at work.
Swinging with dad...
The newest background image on my phone. Coincidentally patriotic, yes?
Wesley opening his cute Scout dog, a birthday gift from Aunt Krista.
And... drumroll....the racecar cake!! Paving the road in mini chocolate chips was my *very good* idea, thank you very much.
We had so much fun!! Thanks Gottulas for hosting us!!
I bought the fabric and curtain rods at JoAnn's during a Memorial Day weekend sale, which was a killer deal. I got the rods and rings for like 40% off, and the fabric was something like 50% off, and then I had coupons for more stuff like craft glue and thread.
That was basically it the first weekend in June. Projects! We cut and measured and pinned and sewed. I finished the curtains (four panels, two for our room and two for Wesley's), and I had another secret project which I finished, too (yay!). I'm not an expert seamstress or experienced seamstress or even novice seamstress, but I am interested in it. It just seems like such a good idea to make it yourself when you can. I guess I need the room for a sewing machine (and the corresponding fabric collection) and the patience to learn more.
Anyway, when we finished our projects, we enjoyed the lovely weather. On Sunday, we threw a second birthday party for Wesley (complete with a racecar cake!) for our family, and then we drove home. It was a wonderful whirlwind weekend.
Here are some pics....
Welsey likes to push his own stroller... and when we're on grass like this, it doesn't push straight. So he will go and adjust the wheels so they are straight and then try to push some more. It's so funny! His little brain is just hard at work.
Swinging with dad...
The newest background image on my phone. Coincidentally patriotic, yes?
Wesley opening his cute Scout dog, a birthday gift from Aunt Krista.
And... drumroll....the racecar cake!! Paving the road in mini chocolate chips was my *very good* idea, thank you very much.
We had so much fun!! Thanks Gottulas for hosting us!!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
barefoot bandit brouhaha
Let's take a break from our regularly scheduled programming of vacation updates to comment on the capture of the Barefoot Bandit.
We've been reading about this kid for years. For my non-local friends, Colton Harris-Moore is from an island north of Seattle in the Puget Sound area. For years he has been robbing hardware stores, knocking off grocery stores, etc., etc., and has managed to always evade the authorities. They said he stole planes! Cars! And stuff! Then he was in Idaho! Then he left an animal shelter some charity money! Then he was in the Bahamas! Literally, I've seen his mug in the paper for years.
And then Sunday: they finally catch him! This crazy story of bedlam comes to a close.
But truly, the more I think about it, I personally don't care. It's not like we're talking about the D.C. sniper here. He was just a kid who stole a lot of stuff and made people mad. It's annoying yes, and it's illegal, yes, but people get away with stuff like this all the time. Why all the fuss? He didn't threaten people with guns, he didn't punch people unconscious, there are plenty of other fish to fry, in my opinion. The people in Camano Island have this main complaint: "he made us lock our doors at night," and I just want to say: Big Whoop! We've all been doing that for years! Jump on the bandwagon already! I think the kid did you a favor, forcing you to look out for yourself and protecting you from who knows what else awful is out there, that you naively thought would never come to your doorstep.
I won't name names, but someone I know, when this person found out he was caught, said, "they caught him! I hope he gets the death penalty!"
Are you kidding me? The death penalty?
I definitely think people are way too worked up about this.
In my opinion, the real criminal here is the kid's mother. Pam Kohler has taken no responsibility for her son, nor has she encouraged him to take any. It so sad. The best article I've read on this so far cited some University of Washington researchers who say they see rogue behavior like this in children that don't get the attention they need at home. First, if children can't trust their parents to provide for their needs (or at least attempt to, with love), they steal to take care of things themselves, or second, if parents don't pay attention to their children, children seek attention elsewhere. Um, sounds like this whole scenario right? Kid runs away from home, evades the law, enamours the media? Finally, someone cares about him, right? I can see his point of view.
The article goes on to say Kohler did interviews in exchange for cigarettes and booze. I've also read she has hired a lawyer that represented Jimi Hendrix in his troubled years and a book is in the works about her son's life. Thankfully we have a Son of Sam law in Washington and she can't make a dime off her irresponsibility. At least, I hope not. But the point is, this lady is lame!
And, ha!, it gets better, then Kohler had the audacity to tell her son, through the press, to get himself to a country that doesn't extradite. What kind of message are you sending? It's OK to do all this stuff as long as you don't get caught? I am floored.
My heart did skip a beat when I read he put a gun to his head when he was caught, and the Bahamian authorities talked him out of shooting himself and arrested him. I am so glad he didn't kill himself. I mean, c'mon! Over what? You're a kid and you stole some stuff! Just take responsibility for it and move on. You won't be in jail forever. And I don't think he should be.
In the end, it's over, and no one died, and as the Seattle Times columnist put it, it was just a "little Billy the Kid, a little 'Catch Me If You Can.' Nobody got hurt, and whatever was stolen, well, the insurance folks can sort that out."
So come home, kid. Pay your dues, ask forgiveness, and move on. At least the folks on Camano realize they should lock their doors now. And I suppose in a couple years we'll all go see the movie.
We've been reading about this kid for years. For my non-local friends, Colton Harris-Moore is from an island north of Seattle in the Puget Sound area. For years he has been robbing hardware stores, knocking off grocery stores, etc., etc., and has managed to always evade the authorities. They said he stole planes! Cars! And stuff! Then he was in Idaho! Then he left an animal shelter some charity money! Then he was in the Bahamas! Literally, I've seen his mug in the paper for years.
And then Sunday: they finally catch him! This crazy story of bedlam comes to a close.
But truly, the more I think about it, I personally don't care. It's not like we're talking about the D.C. sniper here. He was just a kid who stole a lot of stuff and made people mad. It's annoying yes, and it's illegal, yes, but people get away with stuff like this all the time. Why all the fuss? He didn't threaten people with guns, he didn't punch people unconscious, there are plenty of other fish to fry, in my opinion. The people in Camano Island have this main complaint: "he made us lock our doors at night," and I just want to say: Big Whoop! We've all been doing that for years! Jump on the bandwagon already! I think the kid did you a favor, forcing you to look out for yourself and protecting you from who knows what else awful is out there, that you naively thought would never come to your doorstep.
I won't name names, but someone I know, when this person found out he was caught, said, "they caught him! I hope he gets the death penalty!"
Are you kidding me? The death penalty?
I definitely think people are way too worked up about this.
In my opinion, the real criminal here is the kid's mother. Pam Kohler has taken no responsibility for her son, nor has she encouraged him to take any. It so sad. The best article I've read on this so far cited some University of Washington researchers who say they see rogue behavior like this in children that don't get the attention they need at home. First, if children can't trust their parents to provide for their needs (or at least attempt to, with love), they steal to take care of things themselves, or second, if parents don't pay attention to their children, children seek attention elsewhere. Um, sounds like this whole scenario right? Kid runs away from home, evades the law, enamours the media? Finally, someone cares about him, right? I can see his point of view.
The article goes on to say Kohler did interviews in exchange for cigarettes and booze. I've also read she has hired a lawyer that represented Jimi Hendrix in his troubled years and a book is in the works about her son's life. Thankfully we have a Son of Sam law in Washington and she can't make a dime off her irresponsibility. At least, I hope not. But the point is, this lady is lame!
And, ha!, it gets better, then Kohler had the audacity to tell her son, through the press, to get himself to a country that doesn't extradite. What kind of message are you sending? It's OK to do all this stuff as long as you don't get caught? I am floored.
My heart did skip a beat when I read he put a gun to his head when he was caught, and the Bahamian authorities talked him out of shooting himself and arrested him. I am so glad he didn't kill himself. I mean, c'mon! Over what? You're a kid and you stole some stuff! Just take responsibility for it and move on. You won't be in jail forever. And I don't think he should be.
In the end, it's over, and no one died, and as the Seattle Times columnist put it, it was just a "little Billy the Kid, a little 'Catch Me If You Can.' Nobody got hurt, and whatever was stolen, well, the insurance folks can sort that out."
So come home, kid. Pay your dues, ask forgiveness, and move on. At least the folks on Camano realize they should lock their doors now. And I suppose in a couple years we'll all go see the movie.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
vacation recap: may
In May I ventured to see my folks in Maryland with my 23 month old, the point being to go on one big last "hurrah" trip before he turned 2 and I had to pay for him to board an airplane. We flew standby, which is ridiculously stressful, but we made all the flights we wanted and got there and back in one piece. We spent a wonderful week with Grandma and Grandpa. Some highlights:
(This is actually my new desktop image at work ;-)
(with Aunt Janet)
I'm so glad I got to visit. Mom and Dad, I love you guys! Thanks for hosting us!!
- Dad gave me an informative lecture on the difference between incandescent, halogen, compact fluorescent, and LED light bulbs, and I even got to bring home a few party favors. One is in our bedroom right now!
- Mom and I watched the Twilight movies, and she is such a refreshing movie companion because she totally laughed at the cheesiness several times during the movies; oh mom, you keep it real! I love it! Those movies are SO cheesy!
- I really got excited about family history and have been doing a lot of work on familysearch.org, most notably combining duplicate submissions and correcting other people's mistakes (feels good!).
- We took Wesley on a walk around the block once and met some neighbors with real live strawberry plants in their front yard (so jealous).
- Mom made chimichangas! I don't think I've ever made chimichangas...
- We went to OCEAN CITY!!! and got M.R. Ducks shirts (not Mr., M.R.). And played in the sand. And Wesley still hates the waves. But looks really cute in his Hawaiian outfit. Our sand toys were kitchen utensils and random stuff we found in the attic. Awesome.
(This is actually my new desktop image at work ;-)
- We went to the Salisbury Zoo where we were basically assaulted by a goose. Just kidding. But we were impressed with how close he got. And I've officially decided my new favorite animal is a flamingo.
- We had a four-generation lunch with my mom's two sisters and her mom, my Grandma Caudell. It was awesome to see everyone! Aunt Wanda gave Wesley a really cute Dr. Seuss-themed birthday gift (One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, plus a stuffed Fat Fish from the book, and a backpack! His first backpack!) and we had some good food. Outside the restaurant there were rocking chairs and checker boards and all sorts of stuff to keep us occupied and chasing after a toddler. It was a great time.
(with Aunt Janet)- We played at a monstrous and totally awesome playground in Salisbury. Wow, it was just as cool as parks around here. It had swings and slides and suspension bridges and bells to ring and sand to play in, and the best part, lots of places to run run run. Wesley was in heaven.
- But mostly, we just relaxed and had fun and visited. The time zone whacked Wesley out, so he'd wake up at noon and go to bed at midnight, and not nap. I don't think he took a single nap while we were there.
I'm so glad I got to visit. Mom and Dad, I love you guys! Thanks for hosting us!!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
is there anything cuter?
I reckon no. It's even cuter to see in real life. The camera does not capture the essence of cuteness that well.
Lots on our vacation to Idaho coming up.
Lots on our vacation to Idaho coming up.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
i feel like i should blog
But I'm not sure what to say.
- I'm nervous about being forgetful so my mind is on vacation (and my body as well) this week.
- I'm worried about being a "healthy me" so I've been exercising and trying really hard not to eat late at night but did I jeopardize everything by having a 160-calorie bag of Cheetos today?
- I'm concerned I have so many friends and people I love but as much as I try, I can't keep up with them all. Blogs and Facebook and mommy groups and more and more. At what point is it too much? At what point can I let myself be out-of-touch?
- I'm feeling busy with callings and jobs and organizing my life and being a momma.
- I'm ridiculously proud of Wesley, whose vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. Maybe he doesn't exactly know what a "bubble" is or "baa" means, but he is willing to say it. The imitation is a huge step and we're so excited.
- I'm thinking my eyes are tired from staring at a computer screen for all of his three-hour nap today. Why anyone would give up real books for Kindles (if they do this to your eyes), I cannot explain.
- I think there are so many cool things to do in Seattle and I'm bugged I don't do enough of them. There are museums and parks and petting zoos and spraygrounds and the zoo and the waterfront and I really should get out more. But that requires planning and again, I'm trying to take it easy right??
- I've realized I need to slow down a bit. Not demand so much of myself. Allow myself to not do it all and still feel OK. But I've always set the bar high and it's hard to just chill out already.
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