Tuesdays With Tux (8.11.15)

When Mom and Dad (and Will and Hallie) are away, the cat will play...

First he shows the toilet paper roll who's boss in the bathroom.

Then he removes the toilet paper roll from the holder in the bathroom, transports the toilet paper roll to another room, and roughs it up a little more.

And finally, he transports the toilet paper roll to yet another room, where he viciously attacks said roll until it has been completely destroyed.

Tux declared victory over the toilet paper rolls in all three of our bathrooms while we were away. (A special thanks to my friend Jenn, who cleaned up the aftermath of one of these epic battles.) Next time our going-out-of-town checklist will include "hide all toilet paper".

Vermin Problems of Its Own

Though Texas' critters have won a convincing victory over Wisconsin's critters in the battle of who scares me the most, one of Wisconsin's "finest" - along with my clever and conniving brother-in-law - gave me quite a fright one evening late last month.

My sister had trekked out to the garage to find something, and when she returned to the house without whatever it was, I jokingly asked if she'd forgotten her original mission. As it turns out, she hadn't forgotten; instead she'd encountered a vermin blocking her way.

I walked back out to the garage with her, and then took a picture of the injured mouse - who truly was blocking the one and only path between the cars to the rear of the garage - from as far back as my phone camera's zoom lens would allow. (I wouldn't have taken a picture at all, but I felt especially compassionate that night thanks the kind and heroic mice characters in the book series Will and I were reading at the time.)

Despite my heightened compassion, I still didn't have it in me to handle - whatever that would have meant in this situation - the mouse. Instead, Sara and I called on my bro-in-law, Jeff, to tend to the mouse and he valiantly stepped up to the plate.

Later that evening, while upstairs helping the little kids with their baths, I heard Jeff ask Will to take my phone to me. I also heard Will agree, and then begin his ascent to the second floor. I assumed Jeff wanted Will to deliver the phone because I'd missed a call or text, so as soon as Will handed over the phone I woke it up…and found this:

Jeff had taken a close-up picture of the mouse using my phone and then set that photo as my phone's wallpaper. 

Seconds after I screamed and dropped the phone, hearty laughter erupted downstairs. I hid my own laughter behind a face of astonishment and anger, and demanded Jeff change my phone's wallpaper back to the adorably innocent picture of Will and Hallie.

Much better.

High Five for Friday (8.7.15)

1. Now that we've returned from our month-long visit to Wisconsin, our primary goals are 1) catching up with friends, 2) fitting in as much summer fun as possible, and 3) preparing for the new school year. We have accomplished - and continue to accomplish - goals #1 and #2, but other than purchasing our school supplies, the kids and I find ourselves miles away from tackling goal #3. At least we still have 17 days left of summer vacation!

2. I feel so lucky to have found "my people" - good friends, who support and love me and my family when we need it (flashback to Will's bout with pneumonia earlier this summer) - here in College Station. I've said it before but I'll say it again…my village is vast and my heart is full.

In addition to being there for all of the deep stuff, my friends make life fun too...sometimes they show up with embroidered, personalized baseball-style caps for all of the grown-ups and cozy, personalized blankets for all of the little girls.

That hat is the first I've ever owned in which I don't look completely ridiculous. I plan to wear it A LOT.

3. After multiple years of fear in and around the water, Hallie has finally become a confident enough swimmer to truly enjoy herself at the pool and in the lake. I still keep a close eye on her of course, but she now swims wherever she wants in the pool, without a lifejacket and without panicking, and keeps up with her friends. It would have been a shame for her to miss out on all this fun! (And Texas is an awfully hot place to sit out of the pool…)

I think Will jumped the gun...

4. We discovered only after all taking and looking up close at all of these pictures that Hallie makes the best faces while she plays baseball. Her visible determination and commitment are kind of adorable…but they have no impact on how well she hits - or doesn't hit - the ball. I don't think baseball is Hallie's sport...

5. Happiness Highlights:

Popsicles with great friends on a HOT August night.

I like this pic because at the exact moment I took it, Will's popsicle
fell off the stick and landed in his lap. He ate it anyway.

As good luck would have it, Will is not (yet) severely allergic to
Texas' vicious red wasps. He was stung by his eye, but thanks to
our friend Isaac's mother's quick response (she removed the stinger
and coated the skin with garlic to lessen the inflammation before
the rest of us grown-ups had even figured out what was going on),
the swelling was considerably less than I would have expected.

His first real training callus. He was THRILLED. 

Tough boys and their lollipops.

Happy Friday, friends!

Linking up with High Five for Friday!

Throwback Thursday: Little Voices

Sometimes I worry about forgetting what Will and Hallie sounded like as toddlers. Whenever this happens I pull up old videos of them, carrying on two-year-old conversations and singing three-year-old versions of songs, to remind me how little their voices once were and how silly they sounded when they mispronounced commonly used words. (Will's last mispronunciation, which he sadly lost around the time he turned six, was "pinono" for piano. Hallie's last two mispronunciations, both of which she still uses, are "constructions" for instructions and "hoe-and-tell" for hotel. Don't anyone ever correct her - I want her to hang on to these for as long as possible…)

I miss those little voices...

Few Words Wednesday: Mr. Ferris and His Wheel

When people ask me how to spell my last name, I always respond with "Ferris, like the wheel". And then I have to actually spell it, because very few people understand what I mean.

As a lifelong lover of amusement parks and carnival rides, I feel pretty lucky to have married into the Ferris - yes, that Ferris - family. (George Washington Gale Ferris Jr., inventor of the Ferris Wheel, never had children, so while the familial line doesn't run directly to Tom, Will, and Hallie, all three are still his blood relatives.) I have Ferris Wheel art, from photos and paintings to metal sculptures and Christmas ornaments, throughout my house, I always choose Ferris Wheel pictures for my Facebook cover photo, and as the kids would say, "we ride a Ferris Wheel every time we see one!"

I also take A LOT of Ferris Wheel pictures. I plan to one day print and frame them, or create something else interesting with them, however I don't yet know when or what. In the meantime, I'll enjoy them here...

Interesting Ferris facts… George Ferris was born on February 14th. February 14th is also the birthday of my sister-in-law, Chandi, who became a member of the Ferris family when she married Tom's brother. George Ferris died on November 22nd. November 22nd is my birthday, and as you probably have figured out by now, I became a member of the Ferris family when I married Tom. Were Chandi and I meant to be Ferrises? I think so! (Tom thinks I'm reaching here, but I think it's an obvious sign.)

Tuesdays With Tux (8.4.15)

And all is once again right with the world.

Our kitty missed his boy something fierce.

Will Walk for Cake

A couple of weeks ago and while in Wisconsin, Will, Hallie, and my dad walked from my parents' house to the zoo and the beach, and then they looped home past one of the neighborhood parks.

A few days later, the kids and I, along with my parents, sister, bro-in-law, and nephew walked from my parents' house to one of our favorite breakfast restaurants. After pancakes, eggs, and chocolate milkshakes (don't knock milkshakes for breakfast until you've tried one from Mickey's Dairy Bar) we walked to Trader Joe's and then on to the Farmers Market. We filled up the stroller with green beans, tomatoes, honey, a bouquet of flowers, and a catnip toy for Tux and then walked home. Later that afternoon we walked to the bike shop, passing by our favorite pizza joint and donut shop on the way, to buy a trail-a-bike to help "the girl who's afraid to brake" become a better biker.

A few days after that we walked from my parents' house to the public library, the ice cream shop, and a different neighborhood park. We also walked from my parents' house to the hospital where my mom works, and on the way home stopped at yet another neighborhood park.

The theme here? Regardless of our destination, we traveled there on foot.

I grew up walking or biking almost everywhere. The on-foot commute to our elementary and high schools (a mile, uphill both ways, in the snow), my mom's hospital, swimming lessons at the beach and pool, soccer practices, friends' houses, restaurants, ice cream shops, the public library, a dozen parks, Trader Joe's, and our neighborhood pharmacy took 20 minutes, spanned a mile at most, and could be done without ever setting foot on a busy street thanks to sidewalks and bike paths. If we wanted to stretch our legs, downtown Madison, the State Capitol, and the UW campus (including the Union) could be reached in 30-40 minutes on foot and considerably less time by bike.

When we moved to Michigan, Tom and I looked for a neighborhood that felt similar - at least in terms of access - to my parents' neighborhood in Wisconsin. We found it, and spent the next six years walking and biking, with our kiddos in tow, to church, the kids' daycare/preschool, parks with playgrounds and disc golf courses, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Panera, Barnes & Noble, and downtown Ann Arbor.

Walking home from daycare.

A (rare) peaceful moment
riding together in the stroller.

I am - either by nature or after 30 years of living the lifestyle - a walker. I can pound the pavement alone, but I welcome company on my walks (including my kids in the stroller, back when they weighed less than our stroller's maximum weight limit). I enjoy going a few miles at a brisk clip for exercise, but I also enjoy slowly meandering through the neighborhood looking at houses and admiring gardens. I like living close to people and amenities…and by close, I mean walking distance, not 10 minutes in the car.  

A walkable neighborhood placed high on my list when shopping for homes in Texas (it was up there with basement and second story, neither of which I got), but we discovered when we arrived in College Station that what I wanted doesn't exist.

Texas has nothing if not space, so life is more spread out. The heat and humidity between mid-spring and mid-fall make walking miserable. And traveling on foot - a way of life in Madison and Ann Arbor - just doesn't seem "the norm", most likely because the many born and bred Texans have dealt with the two previously-mentioned factors all their lives. Walking is so out of the ordinary, in fact, that since we've lived in Texas, multiple drivers have pulled over to ask us if we needed help when we were out walking in less than perfect weather conditions. (So while Texans may not like to walk, they take excellent care of and look out for those who do.)

Our recent trip to Madison reminded me how much I miss living in a community built for walkers. I want to think of walking as the default, not the exception, and I want my kids to think the same way. I want all of us to reap the health benefits and contribute to the positive environmental impact associated with driving less and walking more. We do our best - as I mentioned above, we often walk when others wouldn't even consider it - by always walking to and from school and taking longer weekend walks to a couple of parks, a swimming pool, and the donut shop, but I want more options, better sidewalks and paths, and…let's face it...cooler weather.

College Station has a lot going for it, but when it comes to walking, Madison takes the cake.

And yes, cake is within walking distance from my parents' house.