Home from the beach

Well, we made it, and we had a blast! (Wee One and Hubs rested. Mom did not. I think that's pretty much the way it's going to be.) We went down Friday, stayed til Sunday, and made the most of every moment! We stayed at the Hidden Treasure Inn in Kure Beach. Very cute little place, privately owned and made us feel like we were really at the beach. The efficiency that we stayed in had a bedroom w/ a queen bed (occupied by my boy and his father) and a living space with a twin bed that doubled as a couch for watching TV (occupied by yours truly). Our door opened onto a big porch and looked out over a neatly manicured (fenced-in) front yard replete with a hammock, grill, picnic table, and pool (fenced in within the fence). And lots of pretty flowers. (I sound like a travel brochure.) Not bad for an Internet find and $125/night. Oh, and 3 blocks away from the beach.

Some highlights:
1) The beach, of course: My mother and grandmother were sure Wee One would be afraid of the water. Not so. He made sand castles w/ Hubs for about 90 seconds and was off like a flash into the water (with us right behind him of course). Loved getting splashed, loved the big waves, and when a big one would knock him down, he got right back up and signed "more." Did not want to leave.

2) The NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher: For about the first 10 minutes he loved the fish, then it got old. Plus he had a stinky diaper that was discovered early on and so we were trying to get in and get out, as we had forgotten to pack diapers. (I know, how could you possibly forget diapers for a toddler...). Plus he was getting tired. However, he thoroughly enjoyed the steering wheel on the little machine where you put in a penny & it spits out a design of a fish or the aquarium or whatever. So the next time you wonder where your state tax dollars are going, there's your answer.

3) The pool: We spent by far more time in the pool (covered in sunscreen of course) (at least the boys) than anywhere else. My boy thought the little floaty toys were great until we took him out to kick his feet in the water & that was it. No more floaties. He actually did really well and seemed to understand (with parental instruction and handholding of course) how to behave himself around the water.

4) Marina and Lucy: Nancy's (the inn owner) dogs. Marina is a dachschund (?) mix puppy who ran circles around my boy barking the entire time with him in the middle giggling his head off. Lucy is a 15-year-old German shepherd who was not very playful due to her age but still provided my boy with something to bark at for a while.

For parents and prospective parents who plan on taking their children to the beach: I highly recommend Huggies Little Swimmers or the like over swim trunks. One, they are disposable. Two, they contain any pee or poo that a little one would decide to make.

Of all the NC beaches out there that we've been to, Kure is still the favorite. Commercial enough to have a Food Lion within short distance but not so much that the beachfront is spoiled.

Hark the Sound

My child has sat at this computer and listened an audio stream of "Hark the Sound" about 10 times now. Each times it ends he looks up at me & signs "more". He wants to hear it again. I guess there are worse things a child could want to hear. We don't teach him the ending I learned at Carolina. He just says "rah rah rah" at the end. That's safe.

Happy boy

Immigration (good one, I promise)

I found this letter to the editor in this Sunday's edition of the Raleigh paper, written by a Muslim immigrant and thought it worth posting:

"Illegal immigration is a daunting issue that does not go away. As an American by choice and not by birth, I have the privilege of seeing both sides.

The public perception of an immigrant, enhanced by media, is a fellow who is here earning good wages, not paying taxes, and being a burden on our schools and health care.

Let us not forget that hearly 80 percent of all the Nobel laureates in the 20th century were immigrants who chose to come to America and become US citizens. America has greatly benefited by the constant infusion of brilliant, motivated, and idealistic immigrants to its shores.

Many immigrants who come here do not come for a job, a proverbial brick house with two-car garage and beach place. We come to America because this country remains the last haven for the lovers of freedom and seekers of liberty. We come to America because of the attraction of the supremacy of rule of law and not kings, shahs, ayatollahs and dictators.

Since the dawn of neolithic man people have immigrated to improve their lot. Remember America is itself an immigrant nation.

I hope Congress engages in a dispassionate, reflective, and altrustic debate on this critical issue to examine all arguments and produce laws that are fair, just, and generous."

Vacation!!!

World Cup soccer and vacation all at the same time!! I don't know what to do with myself. I'm more than ready after a couple stressful nights at work. In other news....

1. New words: Poobah (football...the real football) in honor of World Cup; Mommy; tucha (motorcycle...you figure that one out); and boy.

2. Washing machine is fixed!! Was it worth the $152 we spent? I don't know. Guess it beats buying a new one.

3. I'm struggling right now with being involved in a ministry at church. I'm not free on weekends due to my work schedule and am tired during the week trying to catch up. And I really want to use that time to be with my family. My pastor wants me (and I would love to do it) to help with our church's summer ministry in the migrant camps, since migrant farmworkers have a special place in my heart and I kind of have the background to do it. But I'm struggling with finding the time and the motivation, even though it's something that sounds like I would like to do. I was doing my devotions the other day (My Utmost for His Highest) and Oswald says that it's not about what makes me comfortable (the path is narrow and rough and few find it). He's right. But my flesh & spirit are at extreme odds with one another. Which makes me all the more want to do it. I know what Paul meant when he said "The thing I want to do, I do not do, but the thing I do not want to do, that I do."

4. USA is behind the Czech Republic 2-0 right now. Things do not look good. That's part of why we're pulling for Mexico!

5. One of my boy's favorite stuffed animals is a creature named Moomi that my Finnish friend Kirsi gave him when he was just a couple months old. He loves that thing and it absolutely has to be in his bed at bedtime or he won't sleep. The other night as Hubs was tucking him into bed (they usually cuddle in the bed for a bit before Wee One gets into his own bed) Daniel saw my teddy bear. (full disclosure: I'm 27 and sleep with a teddy bear my husband gave me when we were first dating.) He pointed to it and said "Moomi Mamá?" Never let it be said that anything slips past him.

I read this story on ABC News' website. The subject is a young man from the Dominican Republic, recently graduated as Princeton's salutatorian, who came to the US on a visa at age 4 with his mother and they overstayed their visas, thus turning him into an "illegal immigrant." (As if any human being is illegal.) He has been invited to study at Oxford but if he leaves the country he will not be able to return for 10 years under current law. His lawyer has petitioned for a waiver but so far nothing. A spokes person for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (largely anti-immigration) says that "you can't make exceptions for people who break the law just because someone is a genius." I both agree and disagree with that. On the one hand, my husband is in my eyes no less deserving of a green card just because he didn't graduate from an Ivy League school and doesn't speak Latin (this other fellow gave his salutatory address in Latin). On the other hand, why would we work so hard to keep this fellow from legalizing?? He has lived here the majority of his life, speaks English, has an education, is assimilated, and is probably going to benefit our country as well as his own. This is one of the things I see wrong with our immigration system. This guy can't become legal because of a decision that he did not make 18 years ago, but people can come to our country legally to fly planes into the WTC?? Not right. Linked above is the story.

World Cup Mania part 2

These are two of our favorite soccer players, Ronaldinho of Brazil and Jared Borgetti of Mexico. They both have great talent, and while there is a lot of hype surrounding Ronaldinho, he is a pretty neat guy, a kind of rags-to-riches story from Brazil's slums. He has also actively campaigned for intervention in Darfur. Jared is a forward for Mexico and also plays in England. Talented but not flashy, and not hotheaded like Cuauhtémoc Blanco (who, fortunately, was not selected to play for Mexico this year, although very talented). Let's say Cuauhtemoc is like a Porsche whereas Jared is like my Toyota Corolla, that still gets me from A to B without being obnoxious. Enough talk. Here are our picks for teams that will advance through the 1st round. A "J" denotes Hubs' picks, a "B" denote's mine. Wee One picks anyone who will score a "Gooooooooool!" (one of his favorite words)

Group A: Germany & Poland (J)
Germany & Costa Rica (B)
Group B: Sweden & Trinidad/Tobago (J)
England & T/T (B) *apologies to our Paraguayan pastor*
Group C: Ivory Coast & Argentina (J & B) *we hate to agree with my former Argentine boss on anything but Argentina's good*
Group D: Portugal & Angola (J)
Portugal & Mexico (B)
Group E: Italy & USA (J)
Italy & Czech Rep. (B)
Group F: Brazil & Japan (J)
Brazil & Croatia (B)
Group G: France & S. Korea (J & B)
Group H: Spain & Saudi Arabia (J)
Spain & Ukraine (B)

New words

Chile (as in the pepper), tomate (tomato), now, up, help, cow. We live life a mile a minute that's for sure.

World Cup countdown: 2 days. Countdown to Mexico's 1st game: 4 days. (Vs. Iran 6/11/06 @ 6pm).

Beach countdown: 9 days!!!

Coach Kommercial

As many of you know, I'm reading my book (finally got it) called "To Hate Like This Is To Be Happy Forever" by Will Blythe, third-generation Carolina graduate/fanatic. While the language is not always um, G-rated, or even PG, any graduate of Carolina or dook will certainly understand and find funny its content. I highly recommend it for a low-stress read. Anyway, I was playing around on the Web, and found the following cartoon on Marshall Benbow's blog, Marshall being a 4-years-ahead-of-me Carolina grad. So thanks to Miles who has a link to Marshall's blog, and thanks to Marshall for posting such a fine piece of cartoon art. Oh, and make sure you have the volume turned on.
http://www.newsobserver.com/content/multimedia/sports/coachkommercial/

The book I ordered got here, and it is really really good. You might not want to spend money on a new one but definitely see if it's at the library.

New words: jugo (juice) and Hugo (his Mexican cousin who calls him 'Pelón', meaning 'baldy'), and ya (already or finished). Please don't, as my mother does, worry that the child isn't going to speak English! I really think it's because Spanish sounds are easier to pronounce. He understands English perfectly and will repeat you when you say stuff. He just chooses to have most of his words in Spanish.

World Cup Mania

We in our town are excited about the World Cup, especially since it's only 8 days away!!! I think it's much more fun than the Olympics simply bc the focus is on soccer only and not 45 other sports.

In case you were wondering, although we hope the USA does well, we really pull harder for Mexico. Not because either of us anti-American but because a World Cup win would mean a lot more for Mexico than it would for the US. Soccer is becoming popular here but people in Mexico are rabid about it.

Ahhhh. We are now in the 21st century. We have high-speed internet now, and it is wonderful. Setting it up was less difficult than figuring out which set of setup instructions to follow!

My boy's latest words: leche (milk), cheese, (comes out "chee", close enough), boy, Ernie (of Sesame St. fame), and bye-bye. He loves me to sing the "Journey to Ernie" song from the show. He signs "more" when he wants me to sing it again. Usually he just wants to hear me do Ernie's laugh. He thinks that's real funny. So I do it. Over. And over. And over.