What is a Friend?

This blog may either run on forever or have several sections throughout the next few days. But first the beginning. What exactly is a friend? The most basic, to the point definition I could find is:

A Friend is a person whom one knows, likes, and trusts.

a person whom one knows; an acquaintance.

This is very broad, but it is a good place to start. I consider myself lucky because I think I have many friends. It is true that quite a few of them have entered my life and then exited just as quickly. However, there has always been a part of them that has touched my heart. For this I am so THANKFUL.

Now, let's see how we can define a True Friend.

A True Friend is someone who sees you through the good times and bad.
someone who makes you happy and is there for you when you are sad.

A True Friend is someone that will laugh and cry with you.

A True Friend will HOLD a piece of you in their Heart.

As I look through my life, I find that my list of friends is much longer than my True Friends list. This is completely ok with me. It would be a wonderful life just knowing I had ONE True Friend. Since I can count more than one True Friend, I find myself TRULY BLESSED. Without placing my list publicly on this blog, I believe those True Friends know who they are without seeing their name on a list.

First Graders

Oh my goodness, I don't know what to think...My one and only Logan has graduated Kindergarten and is now officially a First Grader. I can't believe it. It seems like it was just a few short years ago that Brian and I were holding onto his little hands as he was just a mere 4 pounds at birth. Now he is a 6 year old, getting ready to go to first grade all day long. I am not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, I am a little nervous that he will be in school all day, but on the other hand, I am a little excited to have a few hours with the boys at school again. Ask me again in a few months and we will see which feeling is stronger. These thoughts are coming only a few hours of my little boy leaving his class only to be named a First Grader. We have the whole summer to get through and I am sure by the time September comes around, I will be thrilled at the fact they will both be in school. At least I still have one more year before Brandon enters Kindergarten, we still have another year of preschool with him. But he will have an extra day added to his schedule. Yeah for me. There is another day free, at least for a few hours.

As for now, we have the entire summer to look forward to, the boys are at least happy about the summer, I am just wondering how long my sanity will last before I am ready to ship the boys back to Nana and Papa. So those reading this, please help me and be sure to call me for a break or a play date if you are in this area.

Father's Day

Well, Happy Father's Day to all those fathers that we missed talking to on the actual day. Our day was a very enjoyable day for all. The boys were very excited about making breakfast for daddy in bed. I, however, am not the one who does breakfast foods, so Brian had to settle for coffee in bed. Oops, unfortunate for him, I am also not very good at making coffee either. At least we tried. After Brian was greeted with his cards and presents, he came into the kitchen, to actually make breakfast for the boys. This is not something that I try to get him to do, but according to the boys, I just don't make pancakes like Daddy. I have to agree, they are either way Undercooked (Still batter running out of the center) or they are burnt (can't blame the boys for not wanting to eat those). Although it has been decided that neither of us can make pancakes as good as Nana Kitty. Guess we know what the boys will be having for breakfast when we are visiting. The remainder of the day was doing family things, while we enjoyed the rare nice weather here in Poulsbo.

Lake Water IS Very, Very Cold Water

There is something that is said for those who train for a triathlon when the water temperture is 60 degrees and the air temperature is only 53 degress. I am not sure which is worse, getting in the ice cold water or getting out of it? I think it was all a blur, so I will not make the judgement of which was worse. All I know is that it was absolutely COLD. So why am I in 60 degree water when it is only 53 degrees outside? Well it is back to my triathlon training. Every Tuesday the Tri Team will venture to WildCat Lake and practice getting used to the cold water and also swimming in Lake water. There is definitely a big difference between swimming in a pool vs a lake. A Lake is much COLDER, harder to see, and doesn't taste very good when you actually swallow the water. What I am learning: the faster you move in the water, the faster you are finished with the swim. Although that is probably the whole point of exercising. So just make sure you are wearing a very thick wet suit.

What to do when they turn 6?

It has taken me a day or so to recuperate from all the energy that my 4 and 6 year old have inside of them. Where does it all come from? Really, how can such little people have more energy than their grown mother. I realize I am not that tall, but I am still taller than my little rugrats. But their energy is never ending. For example, this evening it was almost 9:00, yes most children are starting to wind down, but not my two. One is running and jumping off the couches and the other is rolling around on the floor, trying to prove to me that he is wide awake. I realize that it would only take a few minutes for them to actually lay down and fall asleep but they had more energy to fight off sleep than I did to actually put them to bed. I am writing this at 9:30 and there is finally peacefulness coming from their room. I love them to death, but someone needs to figure out how to store their energy in a bottle, because it is not fair for single parents to not be able to keep up with their children all day long. I just thank God that I will only be single for a few more days. At that point, I will be giving my loving husband a big kiss and airdudes on my way out the door, because I need so ME time. Is that so bad to want? Ok, maybe I will wait until the next morning and then run out the door.

What is a BRICK?

You may answer this question as 'a rectangular mass of clay used in building'. Yes that may be true in the literal since, however, in the words of my Tri Team Leader a Brick is "B" for "bike," "R" for "run," and "ick" for how your legs feel when you get off the bike and start running. This is exactly what I did this morning. Mind you it was torture just being up and out of the house before 8:00am, let alone preparing to ride and run in 40 degree temperature. After hitting the snooze on the alarm to snuggle with Brandon just a few more minutes, I crawled out of bed and beginning gathering clothes that would allow me the ease of pedaling and running, but yet keep me warm. After two years, I can't thank Andy enough for purchasing the under armor clothes before our ski trip, they have come in handy so many times. Hence the first layer of my attire this morning. I was pretty warm at the beginning of the ride, but I forgot one important item to keep me warm: gloves for my hands. Cold temperatures + riding fast (not really that fast but it was down a hill) = very cold hands. So what did I learn today, find some gloves. I could ride slower, but that might defeat the purpose of the training.

Shore Duty?

Ok, this is a completely false sense of reality when it comes to our life in the Navy. Brian has recently transferred to shore duty; only to be sent back out to sea. Yes that is right, so much for the longer lunch hours, shortened office hours and actually being home for dinner. These were the things we were looking forward to when Brian left his last submarine duty. These images were being packed away as I watched Brian pack his suitcase for his upcoming trip. So much the being home for dinner, not that the boys are complaining because they have luckily eaten out the last two nights. I, however, am left wondering how I am going to explain to them that daddy is on a submarine even though we didn't watch it go out to sea. So far we are doing very well with the concept, but it has only been the second night. We will see what happens in a few days when the boys start realizing daddy is not home tomorrow.

Welcome to O-4

It is official, Brian is now LCDR Guise. Yeah, for us. Him? He earned it. Me? I get more money to spend. The boys? They get more toys. Brian has transferred to shore duty within the past month and so we are all adjusting to a new routine. Although as we were speaking with the Commodore yesterday, he pointed out that Brian arrived to shore duty and then we shuttle him out to sea. So much for shore duty... It just means there are more welcome home days. More honeymoon nights...Who's complaining about this? Plus the boys and I get to eat McDonalds without getting the nutritional facts thrown at us. But if Brian asks any of you, we ate healthy foods at home the entire time. Ok, he knows me better than that, so we ate home more than we ate out, can we all handle this one?