My girl is growing up!

Back when Girl Terror first asked about getting her ears pierced, we said "not now" and "when you are older" and her father said "when you are 20 years old".  She wasn't really bothered, since her best friend told her it HURT!  and she CRIED!! 
I'm not sure what changed, but a few weeks ago, she declared herself ready for pierced ears.  Off we went, to let strangers stab holes in my baby girl.  She was very brave.  The technicians were smart, and did both ears at the same time.  Aren't those cute little sparkly daisies?!
I think this feels like a bigger deal to me due to my own childhood.  We weren't allowed to wear jewelry.  My older sister pierced her ears in high school, and when my father saw, he made her take the studs out immediately so her ears grew over.  She was grounded for the rest of the summer.
My parents have never seen me wearing jewelry.  I have two earrings in each ear.  I actually used to make jewelry.  I wear nail polish, makeup, and sparkles.  I will look gooood when I get to hell.

Warning, warning

For those of you who know me in real life....

I'm changing the dose of my meds.  Prepare for twitchy/cranky/quiet/bitchy time for a few weeks.  Sorry in advance.  Send my husband care packages, won't you?  He has to live with me.

Best Birth Control/ Diet Incentive

If you don't follow Cake Wrecks, you are seriously missing out.  However, today's post is one of the most disturbing set of pictures I've ever seen.  Are you considering having more babies?  Don't go look.  Are you too skinny already?  I hate you, and don't look at the cakes.  But if you are needing some way to convince yourself to NOT give birth, or to stop eating cake, hey!  I've got the blog post for you!!!  Go!  Come back, and we'll discuss the need for laws regarding cake!!

MOST DISTURBING SHOWER CAKES EVER!!!

Sleep. I like it.

It is summer vacation, and I would like to be sleeping.  Seems reasonable, right?!
While we were gone on vacation, Lucy the Dog made life very miserable for our friend/housesitter.  She slept the first night, to lull him into thinking everything would be juuuust fine.  That was the end of sleep for him.  She whined and cried and drove him batty for the next two weeks.  Poor guy slept on the couch to avoid her.  So when we got home, I was prepared to suffer through retraining Lucy to sleep in her kennel quietly.  But she fooled us!  She goes to bed happily every night, and doesn't make a sound until she hears the kids get up around 7!  Woo hoo!  Sleep, here I come!!

Not so fast....Scipio the Cat, who has always been the most docile, peaceful, quiet kitty, is killing the sleep.  He goes outside at night, which is fine, but instead of coming home in the morning, when he sees Lucy out for a morning walk, he is coming home at 4:30.  Or 5:00, if he's having fun out there.  He stands under our window, and howls at the backdoor.  Howls and wails like only an anguished cat on a mission can do.  The first night, the kids got up and let him in.  Last night, I got up and opened the door to a wet, loud kitty.  It would be fine if he just came in and went to curl up on his kitty house.  But no.  He wants to come snuggle in bed with me, and show off to Lucy that "Ha!  Look at me, all up on the bed!  With the people!  While you, poor loser, are in your kennel!"  Naturally, Lucy has things to say about this state.  Things like "Nobody loooooves me!!!  Poooooor meeee!" etc.
This morning, I thought it might be all okay.  Scipio was in, and curled up on the bed.  Lucy had muttered about the unfairness, but had tucked her nose back into her bed, convinced that I really wasn't getting up.  Sigh.  Maybe, just maybe, sleep would return.
No.  No sleep.  At that moment, Hubby decided to sing.  Yes, sing.  Other people talk in their sleep.  My husband sings.  Well, sometimes he giggles, but this morning it was music time.  Happy, happy tune.
Know what makes a dog think it's time to wake up?  Hmmmm???  SINGING.
All this to say, I miss sleep.

We are back!!  The trip was great.  Not as great as it should have been, but still a success.  We had to change our plans slightly due to washed out roads, and eight days is possibly most probably definitely too long to spend with my mother-in-law.  The weather was not always cooperative, but we managed to get outside every day to hike or explore the beaches.  If you haven't been to Haida Gwaii, I can't recommend it enough!  It is absolutely gorgeous!  Here, I took some pictures:

You should know that in order to get that second shot, I had to haul my ass up a mountain.  Well, a really big hill.  With a fantastic boardwalk pathway.  But still!!  It was tough!  The Terrors wanted to do it "again, again!" and asked every day if we could hike Tow Hill again, but I said no.  I didn't want them to get too tired.

 

The ferry ride was fine on the way over, even though we didn't see any whales or dolphins.  The trip back, however, was the stuff of nightmares.  I wasn't too bothered, since I get seasick every time I step on a boat, but the rest of my family was not prepared to turn themselves inside out for seven hours.  Oh, except Boy Terror.  He was bored.  NOT sick.  Bored.  Hubby, Girl Terror and I were in no shape to entertain him.  The crew was very clear....sit down, and hold on.  He ended up watching two movies, and trying to ignore the puking around him.

My mother-in-law was very happy to see us.  She's alone now, and I think she's very lonely.  We played games in the evenings, we hung around in the mornings, and in the afternoons we went exploring and she waited patiently for us to come home.  Still, though, if you know her..... Eight days is a loooong time.  Probably too long for ANY mother-in-law visit, never mind the insane ones.
Lucy the Dog was thrilled to have us home.  She had a very nice friend of the family staying here with her and Scipio the Cat, but she wasn't very welcoming.  She apparently whined and howled all through the night.  EVERY NIGHT.  The good news is, we still have a friend.  Bad news, we need to find another willing housesitter.
How's your summer going?  Any great plans?  Or are you going to be like me, and attempt to be One With the Beach for the next month?