Zach: Six

Zach turned six on September 26. We started the day at the soccer fields, and spent the next 3 1/2 hours watching two games, and organizing little boys for team pictures. The photographer asked the boys to line up tallest to shortest, and I overheard Adam say, "I'll just stand at the end of the line, because I'm always the shortest one."

Adam and Grammy.

Here are a few pictures I took at the game. Zach's team is called the Dawgs.

Zach is #2.

 Zach discussing strategy with the Coach.

Adam's team would have tied the game, but the referee did not call an illegal throw in, which then the other team made a goal. I think that is what happened...if you need the full story, you can ask Scott. Adam's team is The Rockets, and all the boys played really well. The Rockets are yellow and blue.

Adam is #3.

Zach wanted a birthday lunch of McDonald's, so Scott and Grammy took the boys through the drive thru, while I picked up Grandma Agnes. Those who did not want McDonald's food ate turkey sandwiches. Kind of sounds like a repeat of this birthday, doesn't it?

Zach had a chocolate cake with chocolate icing and a choice of vanilla ice cream or rainbow sherbet (again, ring any bells?). Adam did not finish his cake because "remember, I don't like chocolate."

Presents included money, the Lego camper kit, Connect Four game, subscription to Your Big Backyard, Bendaroos, and a remote control monster truck. After all the presents were opened (including mine!) the boys set to work creating the camper.

On Saturday night, Grammy and the boys watched Trains, Planes and School Buses (Zach's choice) while Scott took me out for my birthday. We "attempted" to eat dinner at Uptown Bistro in Old Town, but a gas leak caused all the restaurants in the area to shut down their kitchens. It turned out fine because we weren't really that hungry after all the cake and ice cream, so we dined on hummus, salad and a celebratory bottle of wine. After dinner we saw The Proposal. Scott was not interested in seeing this "chick flick" but laughed many times during the movie, and even said "it wasn't bad."

Fun at the Kansas State Fair

Adam and Zach's new favorite place to go is the Kansas State Fair. We went with a neighbor and two of her boys, so that made the trip even more fun. We saw day old lambs and watched them being fed by a bottle. We oohed and aahed over the "champion" rabbits, saw a typewriter from the late 1800s and little robots made from spare car parts. We walked through the turkey and chicken cages, but Adam "didn't like it in there" so we quickly found a side exit (I believe there is another Dyer who would agree with Adam). We put our hands in different buckets of grain like corn, wheat and sunflower seeds. We took pictures with our heads stuck through sunflowers, and saw the popular butter sculpture.

The first highlight of the day was the slushy machine where you could choose from about 15 different flavors. All the boys filled their cups with at least five different flavors. This is Luke and Caleb, our friends, filling up their cups.

The boys also had a blast playing in the John Deere tractors. This is Caleb and Zach.

The four boys "saving the earth from the grass." Adam and Luke are in the front, Zach and Caleb are in back.

And Zach.

We watched the scary skeleton at the "Ye Old Mill" ride. For those of you who have been to the Kansas State Fair, that ride has been a staple at the Fair since 1915. We also laughed and shook hands with "Oscar," the State Fair robot. We rode the train and the skyride (which, according to Zach was "totally awesome"), and watched the equistrian acrobatics perform tricks while standing, kneeling and even doing a headstand, on the back of a horse. The boys climbed in and around a fire engine and got to try on the fireman's gear.

As a reference, here's how much food, admission and rides cost in 2009:

Admission : $14 (Kids age five and under were free, so we didn't have to pay for Zach)

2 slushy drinks: $8

3 train rides: $7.50

3 sky rides: $9

Lunch: $26 (2 cheeseburgers, fries, nachos, a lemonade and a water)

3 ice creams: $9

Here are the four boys.

The two moms spent the day saying things like "walk, don't run," "if you ask me again about the ice cream, you won't get any," "don't touch," "watch where you are walking" and "I said no."

Adam and Zach "Pump it Up"

The highly anticipated Pump It Up party was today. Despite the fact that there were 14 boys ages 5-9 there, everything went smoothly. I think only a few boys got hurt, and the Pump It Up worker did have to enforce the rules a couple of times. I'm glad I don't have THAT job!

I took 10 group pictures...here's the best one:

The two birthday boys.

 

I did have to pull out my "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit" card with the cake. I think the majority wanted green, but there wasn't enough for EVERYONE to have green. 

And last but not least...the LEGO cake. 

This was billed as "easy" LEGO cake, and I want to know...easy for who? the first cake ended up a FAIL, so I had to go back to the store and get more cake mix and frosting. The "tops" were marshmallows cut in half and in case you were wondering, frosting a sticky little marshmallow is harder than you'd think. Oh, and the orange cake turned out a little peach. Just can't seem to make that orange dark enough. The boys didn't seem to mind, although Adam informed us on the way home, that he really didn't like cake much. What? First donuts, then "chocolate things," now cake? Whose kid is this?

Remembering 9/11: Eight years later

It didn’t occur to me that today marked the eighth anniversary of 9/11 until I logged onto Twitter and Facebook this morning, both of which were active with friends and followers remembering the day. MSNBC was running live footage, and for the first time, I watched the twin towers fall.

Our family has changed a lot since that day. Scott and I have lived in two more cities since then, Washington, DC and Wichita. We freed ourselves from two crazy cats but added two crazy boys to our family. I left the full time working world to stay home for four years, then went back to work part time for three years, and am now back to stay at home mom, looking for part time work again. Scott separated from the Air Force, worked at the Department of Justice in DC, and now works for the Department of Defense. A silver minivan has replaced our sporty red convertible Miata. A few things haven't changed: Scott still grills the best steaks ever, and I still hate to clean.

But the memories of that day still remain. Some are fading but some are still vivid. I was working as Communications Director for the Dayton Art Institute in Dayton OH, home to one of the largest Air Force bases in the US. We all gathered around the television in the head of security’s office. We also decided to keep the museum open, despite a lot of organizations and businesses in Dayton closing their doors.

I can hear the phone recording “all circuits are busy…” when I tried to get a hold of Scott at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. No one could call out or in to the base. Cell phone lines were jammed as well, with everyone in America trying to get a hold of loved ones and figure out what was going on. We finally connected hours later, and he was put on 48 hours notice for deployment. I think I left work a little early that day, and Scott was already at home.

Later that afternoon, there was a loud boom in the area. We didn’t know what was happening. Someone reported the Veteran’s Hospital in Dayton had exploded. Everyone in our neighborhood went outside, and we saw smoke in the distance. A few minutes later, Dad called me from Wichita, saying they were getting reports at the station that something had happened in Dayton. He had on his “news” voice, and was asking me questions in such a way that I thought I was live on the air (I wasn’t). It turned out that a fighter jet headed to protect Air Force One was flying over Dayton, and broke the sound barrier. What we heard was a sonic boom. And the smoke? Just a coincidence.

I think Scott stayed home for a couple of days after (Wright Patterson was “essential personnel only”), but soon they had to man their office 24/7 He also updated his will, and went over all the financials and important stuff I needed to know in case he got deployed and something happened to him. Morbid, yes, but it needed to be done.

September 11 is a day that has forever changed our world. It is now included in history books along with such important events as WWI, WWII, John F. Kennedy's assassination and Pearl Harbor. The difference is, I can remember it.