Children's Summer Read - Unidentified Surburban Object by Mike Jung

The 411 by Maria:

Great read about middle schooler Chloe Cho who embraces her Korean heritage unlike her parents who refuse to talk with her about their past, family, or anything having to do with Korea.  Chloe is growing up in an white town in suburbia and where there is no one like her.

Mike writes the angst of a teen girl perfectly. She is full of vigor, moody, abrasive and so done with everyone who annoys her when they compare her to Abigail Yang because of their shared heritage. Everything changes when new teacher Ms. Lee comes to school. Finally someone Chloe wants to relate to.

The plot twist comes out of nowhere. I had no idea what her parents deal was but found it exciting.

Not to give anything away. This is great read for the summer.  A little young adult, a little science fiction, a little humor.

Oh So Random

This weekend my daughter's classmate invited the entire grade to his house for an End Of School Year Splash. They live right on a lake and were told to bring sunblock, towels, a swimsuit, water shoes if they had them and a life vest if they had one. When we got there one of her besties was arriving at the same time which now that I have seen it should always happen. When friends arrive to a party together they don't feel uncomfortable when they first get there because they have each other. Mental note to set this up for my daughter for the next party.

My girl is in the middle, blue suit dragging her friend on a float

Goddess has matured so much over the past few years. It kills me sometimes.

She was having a blast

The kids had a blast. Even though it was a drop off, I hung out. I am not a drop of kind of parent unless I know you and really trust you. I can name three people like that right now where my kids would be dropped off without a second thought. Three is better than none.

The parents also set up a slip and slide. Which I hear was very cold.

She acted like she was about to go down but changed her mind last minute

Her friends are fearless

running through was apparently fine

Then before I knew it there was talk of  a boat ride.

Goddess without her glasses can see nothing. The squinting is not just from the sun

before I even had time to discuss, she was on the boat

And it was being lowered into the water

 

 

I watched them drive away and I thought...wait who is this guy? I don't really know him.

While the girls were gone I busied myself with watching the boys who were jumping from a 25 foot deck into the lake. UGH...

  

It was a great day and while I was worried about my daughter who drove away in a boat with a bunch of other 5th grade girls and a stranger she informed me on her return she was having the best time.

Still going to hover but learning that my little girl is totally growing up and doesn't need me as much.

SOB!

My Lake Shadows

Thursday was the kids last day at school before summer break. Knowing my morning will be a little busier in the next few weeks I decided to head to the lake for some quiet and relaxation before getting them from school. It was glorious and there was one other person there. I just walked around and looked at the beautiful lake while taking some deep cleansing breaths.

Let Summer Fun begin now!

Top Tips For Traveling With Kids This Summer

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Chasing Grace A Movie About Forgiveness

Chasing Grace SYNOPSIS

The 411:

A movie about family, loss, forgiveness and redemption. Chasing Grace forces us to turn toward our faith as a family struggles to find a new "normal" as they go move on after losing their daughter.

Pastor Jonathan Matheson and his family have lost their little Grace due to the negligence of a family member.  With the family falling apart the Pastor is hit with a wave of anger and vengeance.

What seemed like a model community family is really quite dysfunctional behind the scenes which I think is something everyone can relate to.

The movie touches on alcoholism, violence, guns, and even shady cops but in the end the message is important.  My favorite character was "Professor" the middle child. He was the only one who seemed to have it together. The voice of reason.

This is not your typical preachy movie about forgiveness. I think some will be surprised at some of the directions the movie takes you however the final message is about forgiveness of others and forgiveness of ourselves.

All in all the actors did a decent job over all.

Learning CPR is More Than Just a Little Important

 

Babies are fragile to begin with. Now imagine the scene either close to home or when you’re out in a public, whereby a baby suddenly goes into cardiac arrest. Would you know what to do other than call 9-1-1?

For millions of people, the answer unfortunately is no.

That said it doesn’t have to be the case. In fact, millions of individuals could become CPR-certified right out of their homes.

If you’re someone who doesn’t know CPR, think about changing that moving forward. When you do, you could end up saving one or more people’s lives.

Gaining Important Knowledge

Double Pool Party = Twice The Fun!

Goddess says she looks like she is trying to poop! LOL

My daughter and her bestie have birthdays only one week to the day apart. This year they mentioned doing a double party and while I hadn't considered doing a party when my friend (the girl's mom) asked what I thought, I figured, why not!

We had a great time yesterday although I must admit in the first two hours I was nervous about all the kids in the pool thinking I need to watch them like a hawk what if someone can't swim well or if they dive into each other but eventually I saw that all was fine and I could chill out and actually speak to others who were at the party.

My daughter had a great time and can't wait to go back to her friend's grandparents house (they were nice enough to allow us to us their amazing yard and pool).

Goddess in the center splashing classmate

Goddess getting ready to put on her googles. Massive black and blue on her forehead today from them

Goddess trying not to drown on the left by the ladder

Trying to get everyone in for a photo

Selfie Stick shot

Goddess and her beasties

It was so much fun. I am sad that she is now 11 and miss my baby but so happy she has great friends.

Gifts For Dad

The watch comes in it's own lovely wood box with the Jord logo.  My husband was really impressed with the presentation of the watch.

It also sits on it's own very special pillow. I really did love the presentation of the watch!  The watch itself is made of Dark Sandalwood and Quartz Crystal. A very eye catching watch.

It also looks seamless from the outside of the watch. Each hole was obviously drilled as the watch is handcrafted there will be variations with each one.

We love that  you can see the grain of the wood. It is truly a remarkable piece.

Even the winder is nice looking.

We think it looks masculine and my husband has even taken to putting it back around the pillow and closed the box when he takes it off. That in itself is amazing.

Don't you just love the colors!?

Jord makes amazing time pieces and even men who don't normally wear watches like my husband will fall in love with these lightweight works of art.

For more styles and colors head over to Jord! Oh and they are not only for men....I have a Jord of my own in natural wood.

Noble The Story of Humanitarian Christine Noble

They broke everything but her spirit. They took everything but her dream. NOBLE, the award-winning feature film, is the incredible true story of a fearless Irish heroine driven by her daring vision to escape the slums of Ireland and risk everything on the streets of Vietnam.

I have never been a fan of synopsis. They don't tell enough about the movie and this one doesn't make me want to watch Noble. It is so much more than this.

Noble tells the true life story of Christine Noble an Irish woman who takes on the streets of Vietnam by getting a working Visa and protecting the innocence of abandoned children. It is so much more than that little bit too. We see three different Christina's all played well by amazing actresses. The movie shows us the story of Christina's life and why she is where is she in flashbacks toggling between the present, 17 year old Christina and young Christina played by a young actress by the name of Gloria Cramer Curtis who was amazing!   17 year old Christina is played by Sarah Greene who had me riveted to the screen. Life for young Christina was very hard but 17 year old Christina OMG...her faith is the reason she survived! The heartache and break had me weeping. Deidre O'Lane our current day Christine is Christine! I loved her calm, cool and collected delivery. Wonderful actress, I had to remind myself this was not a documentary but an actress playing a role. 

There is so much going on in this movie and in order to move it along while getting the gist of how Christine got to where she is, I felt some things were rushed or needed to be assumed. What I do know is that Christine had a rough life, alcoholic father, mother died, father gave her and her siblings away. Christine could have gone the way of her father but her faith keeps her balanced and even with all her loss she comes out a hero to so many children who needed someone just like her. Someone who understood and saw them for what they are, children in need NOT vagrants or slaves.

Our Blue Jay Situation

We have loved having active nests around the house. It made us so happy to know that baby birds were growing in the nests and while there was one we couldn't see because it was close to the roof (above our slider door, inside the old mount for the antenna back in the day) knowing it had baby Blue Jays was thrilling until....this past week....dun dun dun....

We know Blue Jays have a reputation of being nasty but we hadn't experienced it. Up until last Thursday we lived as one big happy family. Over the week I had watched the babies start sticking their heads over the side of the next. We loved looking up to see them with their mouths open waiting for mom to feed them.

We didn't realize that as the babies got bigger their parents would get nastier. We were living in a bubble.

Thursday I went out to water the plants and ended up going back inside with my ears ringing. The wonderful adult Blue Jays started doing very close drive-bys. Out of nowhere they would come whipping by either side of my head the whole time I was out there. It must have happened 8 times in 3 minutes. I went to the house with my head tucked very low.
 
By Saturday they didn't want us on the deck at all. We didn't know at the time but this means that the babies are getting ready to fly and the parents are making sure they have the chance.

My  husband went out to the deck to sweep and basically enjoy his long weekend when he was hit in the head by an adult Blue Jay that angrily squawked and slammed into him.  Every time we went to the deck Saturday they just yelled and did these ridiculous fly bys. basically warning us.

Sunday we knew the deal, go outside without causing any trouble. Go right to the BBQ an back. We were not allowed to enjoy the deck and if we considered staying they would just squawk and fly around us.  My  husband was hit in the back two times. They fully rushed at him when he went to BBQ...so this brings us to yesterday, Monday.

He decided he would not be kept from BBQ'ing but he had to protect his head and eyes.  He did this by grabbing the Go-Kart helmet and googles. They were  not happy to see him but at least he was protected.

I went to the screened in gazebo and heard a baby fall to the deck. It stayed in the corner and finally started hoping. I had my phone with me so quietly sat and grabbed some photos. Mom and Dad were very close but I thought...just stay put....that was fine until the baby started running toward me.

Adorable yes....but I knew if that baby came into the gazebo mom would come too and that meant a new screen before the Summer even got started. I almost crawled to the house.

It eventually fell off the deck trying to fly and made its way to the creek where it sat for a long time before making it's way to the our neighbors yard. They have dog so I prayed it would be fine but the parents was now very agitated because they had birds in the nest and now this one wandering around.

We were ready for the nest to come out and honestly were ready for that to happen because we will never allow the Jay's to put up another nest on our house and wanted this nest down! Here is the Hub watching from the safety of the screened Gazebo.

Baby #2 fell from the nest about 3 hours later while I was checking email. I heard it land and walked over to the door. It walked over to me and was adorable.

Mama was there too saw me and flew toward the door. I know she is behind glass but she made me nervous so I moved away from the door.

This baby was a better flier than the first one.

We watched it fall off the deck as well.

My husband went out 30 minutes later to see if he could see it where it had fallen and was hit in the back by the parents.

2 hours later the babies are gone except for one. There has been no noise so I decided to see if I could see if the baby had safely made it to the ground. I lean over the deck and shock of all shocks I am slammed fully in the back of the head with the entire body of the bird. It hurt! I screamed "OUCH". Honestly I was completely taken off guard. There was no indication it just came from nowhere, no squawk, no flapping or fly-bys just clubbed in the back of the head with an immediate headache. I thought...great...concussion by Blue Jay.

I went to take a shower because I felt like I  had bird germs in my hair and decided to stay in for the rest of the day.

The third baby came out of the nest about 7:30 and made it to the ground in front of my house. Hopefully all babies survived last night. I wish them nothing but the best but this will be their last time on my deck! No more Blue Jay nests attached to my house. BESIDES they were super lazy and moved into a nest that was abandoned over five years ago. They didn't build it, they didn't pay rent and I would much rather look at the beauty of the Blue Jay from afar.

The Heart of the Ocean Is Crystal Clear

This Heart of the Ocean" Pendant Necklace is made with a large, heart shaped SWAROVSKI Crystal, and tiny crystals that pick up beautiful rainbow reflections surrounded by Alloy metal and and hanging on an 18" inch chain with a 2" extension. 

It is gorgeous. We also have it in blue and think this one is just as gorgeous. 

It looks amazing in person.  Very eye catching. Not sure that I would wear it everyday but I love it. 

The crystal is so clear. I love using my macro when to take photos of jewelry because sometimes it sees flaws that the naked eye cannot. This looks even better under my macro

It comes in a plastic bag inside a gift box

 

Final Word:

I don't think it is for everyone. I find it beautiful though. The clear heart with the crystals wrapped around is a favorite.

I Finally Have My Own Mermaid Tail

For Goddess' 11th birthday we got her a mermaid tail blanket. She loved it and so did I! When she would go to sleep for the night I grabbed it and took it to the couch so I could use it. I now have one of my own from HugHapy and I like it even better than the one I got for her and I think so does she as I keep finding her in it!

It looks like my berber carpet in blue shades

The blanket is 100% knitting polyester. Polyester as you know is wrinkle and mold resistant and easily washed. When you buy a blanket that is exactly what you need. Something I can toss in the wash when necessary. Not a dry clean only thing!

The blanket comes wrapped in a ribbon and love the colors in it. So soothing and beautiful. It also comes with a cute mermaid necklace too.

My absolute favorite part is the tail. It spreads out so wide and has an opening so if you want to stick your toes out you can.

My daughter thinks it is like a sleeping bag. I love that unlike a sleeping bag there is a large opening in the bag that makes it easy to get in and out of and NO ZIPPER.

It is soft and comfy and we love it. We will be sitting at the drive in with our mermaid tails this summer on the cooler evenings watching the movies on the big screen.

I can't wait.
5 STARS