And We're Off!!!

I have to admit something here to everyone that reads this blog. When I leave, I cry. It doesn't matter where I leave, how long I've been there, or where I'm going... I always cry. It's one of those things that you try to call endearing to make yourself feel better, but secretly it's a negative attribute that clouds ones personality. When Maddie was born, I promised myself that I would try really, really hard not to pass that personality trait on to her. Life is about enjoying the moment and looking forward to the wonderful possibilities that come your way.

Obviously, she is older now and more aware of the whole leaving aspect. She's aware of what "missing you" feels like... it hurts sometimes and I don't blame her one little bit for trying to avoid it at all costs. The way Maddie is growing up though, she is always going to be missing somebody, but I want her to learn that she gets to go on life adventures and then come back to share all that she has learned, hopefully enriching her life and the lives of everyone she touches.

The adventures this summer have been most excellent. Thanks to Grandma Barbara and Grandpa Earl for getting us set up in our new home. Thanks to Connor and Sam for spending such quality time with us and building memories. Thanks to Susan and Doug for striving to bring the family together for special occasions (you prove that it CAN be done)! Thanks to Larry and Kim for helping with move and sharing your wonderful AND GROWING family with us. Thanks to Grandma Dotty for showing us the Wild West and all the wonderful things it has to offer. There are so many thanks for so many things... this was just the tip of the iceberg.

So... we'll be missing you (the ones we saw and the ones we didn't... and we'll be looking forward to the next time we meet face to face where we'll enrich each others lives and enjoy the moment.

And.... WE'RE OFF!

Maddie turned Grandma's Hair Purple....

On our last day in Tucson, Maddie and Grandma Dotty had some serious bonding moments. Andy and I packed and just let them be all day long. If Maddie asked for something, Grandma Dotty gave it to her... it worked well in Madeline's eyes! They started off the day finger painting and I noticed that Maddie was showing her controlling side by making Grandma observe rather than participate! I can't tell if she thinks that she's a teacher or if it's the need for a sense of order in her life. They were both having fun though as Maddie narrated a story for every single one of her pictures with the reoccurring theme of rainbows!

Now, what I'm about to tell you in slightly hilarious, but you must know that I asked permission to tell the story and post the pictures. The bottom line is that Maddie turned Grandma Dotty's hair purple. About a year ago, mom decided to let her go grey... actually hit had been grey but she was exposing it to the world! We went to the store and bought this beautiful dark blond color.... Maddie wanted to buy pink, but we talked her out of it. Maddie wore gloves and we worked together in squeezing the color on Grandma's hair and mixing it in well. We followed the directions to a "T" - I promise! After 25 minutes of waiting, then rinsing, Grandma Dotty came downstairs to show off her color (note: she's waiting for her new glasses to come in and can't really see what color it is herself). Let's just say that Maddie could not have been more pleased with herself! She had gotten her way after all!!!!!!! Shades of purple and pink will rule the world if she has her way!!

It provided all of us with a good chuckle and we had to live mom in Tucson for her to fix her own hair. Bless mom's heart though, she proudly took us to the airport with her purple hair and strutted her stuff so as not to hurt Maddie's feelings. Now that's brave! :)

Thanks for a great Tucson Trip mom - Grandma Dotty! Baking cakes, eating icing, going for walks in the wash, swimming, and having a girl's night were the most fun of all.

Hope you can fix your hair....

Happy Fireworks Day in the States... and China?

The 4th has always been special. I think it became even more special on a personal level when we moved overseas. America with all of it's positive and negative attributes is still the best country in the world. We've discovered that many of the people that live here don't really know how lucky they have it day in and day out. Maybe it's because it's so familiar, but I think it's easiest country in the world to live in. Your worries are different when you live overseas and it's a pleasure to "head home" for the summers to let those worries be at bay for a short time. I love America and I want Maddie to grow up loving it too inspite of her TCK (Third Culture Kid) status.



The 4th is about fireworks and BBQs. Even in the heat of Tucson, we had it all. Andy decided to give Maddie a "lesson" of sorts. Even though she looked at him like he had two heads it was quite funny! Maddie has seen fireworks in Arizona, Illinois, and Oregon I have to admit that as far as SPECTACULAR goes, nothing will beat the fireworks over Chinese New Year in Shanghai. Below is a video clip from the outskirts of "town" on the last day of the new year... it was a panoramic view from one end of the sky to the other... at midnight!

Maddie and the Moosehound

Jacob Terwilliger is his name when he's in trouble. He's a moosehound (aka: a chocolate lab) that I bought the week I moved home from Hokkaido, Japan. Jake is officially 11 years old. To be honest, he wasn't supposed to live this long. He had parvo when he was a pup and the vet said it would shorten his life (he's 11) and that he would be smaller (he weighs 110lbs). He's a well traveled moosehound - he has lived in the States and in Saudi Arabia.

Jake is the most gentle giant and even in his old age, lets Maddie torment him just a bit! I think he secretly loves it when Maddie arrives mostly because she has been feeding him either intentionally or unintentionally since she was born. This time she noticed that he's a drooler though and she would hold a piece of her hot dog up in the air and swing it in circles just so that she could see the drool fly off his face. She's a very clever girl!

Top Six Things to Do With a Moosehound:

1. Take Jake and Grandma down to the wash for a walk which works pretty well with the moosehound being the age he is... besides, Grandmas, three year olds and older moosehounds all move at about the same pace.

2. Feed him your table scraps but make him beg for as long as possible.

3. Throw the ball for him and demand that he sit before hand no matter how much he protests.

4. Put small things on his back and watch him run around the house with it on until it falls off.

5. Lounge around with him and use him as a pillow when watching television.

6. All in all - just love him because that's all he really wants out of this life!

Thanks Jake for being such a great moosehound to us for all these years - you're a trooper!!!

Maddie's Carpet

When we lived in Saudi Arabia we had access to some of the best carpets in the world. It's funny because we didn't even like carpets... until me moved to Saudi. It's kind of like how I didn't like pottery... until I moved to China. (See the April 16th blog entry!) Since we moved into our new place in Oregon and have bamboo floors, it only makes sense to buy a carpet!

In the middle of May, we contacted our favorite carpet man in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He was absolutely wonderful when we lived in Saudi and Maddie loved going to his store because he would let her crawl all over the carpets. He's actually from Afghanistan and always had "the story" behind the carpet. See the article written in Arab News back in January of 2003 where they wrote a great article called "From Andkhoy to Jeddah" about him and his shop.

Sadly, we have discovered that because of recent times, the US had made it VERY difficult to wire funds overseas and it just didn't seem to pan out. So...... we started looking for carpets in the States. When in Tucson, look for Persian carpets! (That just sounds so weird.) Today Maddie got a taste of carpet shopping again and it felt great! Hope you all like Maddie's choice!

My Little Nest

Sometime around February of each year, Andy and I start craving quality Mexican food. In our honest opinion, the only place in the entire world to get this food is at Mi Nidito in Tucson. I couldn't enjoy the margaritas this year, but the food was enough to knock my socks off. As Maddie gets older, she too is learning to appreciate the finer things in life! Andy always orders the President's Plate which was named after Bill Clinton's order when he dined at the restaurant during his presidency. Dad shows off his ability to match President Clinton!


Item 1: Beef Taco... you must eat this first to maintain the crispy outer shell

Item 2: Chile Relleno... you have to eat it when the cheese is still hot or it gets congealed

Item 3: Beef Tamale... who cares if you're already getting full? If Bill can do it, so can you!

Item 4: Chicken Enchilada... you feel your arteries closing, but you must persevere

Item 5: Bean Tostada... you must eat this last so that it soaks up all the "juice" from the other items.

Swimming in the Sun

Sixteen years ago, I worked at the Desert Garden Restaurant as a hostess and I watched all of the guests playing in the awesome pool at the Westin La Paloma. Everytime I go back now as a guest, there is a bit of satisfaction just knowing I'm on that guest side of the fence!

Maddie joined us for some serious swimming and giggled her way through the heat by staying cool in the pool. She's getting braver and braver in the pool which makes me want to sign her up for swim lessons. I think we'll have to do this next summer for sure!!!

Happy Swimming Madeline! Stay Cool!

Embracing the Southwest

Maddie's first words off the airplane...."Mommy, it's really hot."

Our trip down to the Southwest in the middle of summer has given Maddie the "opportunity" to appreciate the finer things in life - like air conditioning for example! Just in the nick of time, a new air conditioner was installed a few hours before we arrived and her Grandma Dotty's house was plenty cool when we finally made it home. Before heading home from the airport, we headed to Texas Roadhouse for some excellent steaks. My mom sat there most of the time in complete awe of Maddie as she was having REAL conversations about REAL things - her vocabulary has simply sky rocketed over the past few months.

Our first full day in Tucson was spent running from air conditioned place to air conditioned place. We started off at Leo's Mexican Restaurant which was an absolute hole in the wall that had GREAT food and drinks. Maddie made her version of a Mexican Shawarma which consisted of a corn tortilla, french fries, beans, ketchup and shredded chicken. Only Grandma Dotty could convince her to try it! Andy and I ate shawarmas in Saudi all of the time (probably more than we should have) so we're glad that Maddie, too, knows the finer things in life!

Once we left this air conditioned restaurant, we headed over the Honda dealership to "price" cars. Wouldn't ya know that we would walk out three hours later with a brand new car. Dobbs Honda is smart. They have a kids section complete with toys, TV and DVD player. Maddie was able to sit back with a few sodas, some popcorn and watch several movies as we did our thing with car. She of course, had to "test" all of the horns in the showroom which I'm sure the salesmen appreciated, but she was being cute so I'm pretty sure that she was forgiven quickly.

More to come on the rest of our Southwestern Tales!!!!!

Annie the Musical or Annie the Horse?

When we woke up this morning, we called Grandma Dotty in Tucson and chatted with her a bit. Of course, every time Maddie talks to Grandma Dotty she asks about her horse, Annie. Maddie loves horses as most children do. She always acts like a horse, galloping and neighing about, and her favorite movie is Spirit (aka: The Horsey Movie). She even enters her classroom every morning in a full gallop and gives our a big neigh to her teacher!

When we got off the phone with Grandma, we told Maddie that we were going to see the SAS Middle School musical at school that night. You should've seen the excitement in her eyes when we told her it was "Annie". As soon as I said Annie, I knew what she was thinking. We tried to explain all day long that we were getting on a plane to go to Tucson to see Grandma and Annie the horsey, but she thought we were just being silly. Even after we arrived at school and started watching the musical, she turned to me and said, "can we go to the airport now?" It was quite funny and quite sad all at the same time. It just goes to show the lasting impressions that family makes on our young ones throughout their lives!

All in all, she made it through the show, but and the end of it she declared that she "did not like this Annie." It was a good show though as I had a lot of my students in it. I was impressed at least! So, at least we know which Annie Maddie prefers!!