Some time ago I read in the paper that the United States Navy was planning on commissioning a new guided missile destroyer here in Seal Beach, the first commissioning at Seal Beach ever. I clicked the link for more info and sent in my name. I thought it would be really neat to take my Dad to see this piece of history, then I sort of forgot about it. Well, some time in January or early February, I got the official invitation and up to 6 RSVPs. Well, you know me, I sent in for all 6 tickets, called my family, and we made plans to go!

Fast forward to the week before the commissioning. John has been working like a dog lately and really wanted a day off - totally understandable. My sister thought her friend Dianna might enjoy it, so I invited her in John's place. Our party would consist of Gramma and Papa, Auntie, Dianna, Mom and Melody. Gramma and Papa were staying with us that week and we made our plans in eager anticipation. Then the weather forecast predicted rain. Lots of rain. If it rained, not only would it be uncomfortable and unfortunate, my parents felt they could not go and sit in the rain. I can't say as I blamed them. We watched the weather almost hourly and on Friday night they said if it wasn't raining in the morning, they would go.

We all went and were prepared for a downpour with 5 umbrellas for the six of us and two of those umbrellas were large sized ones. There was a bit of rain, nothing heavier than a shower, which lasted on and off for about an hour. The Dewey was beautiful in her bunting and flags. The Navy band serenaded us when it wasn't raining, and the crowd was robust in spite of the weather. Melody was fascinated with everything, from the flags they handed out to the big ship in front of us! 

Right before the speeches started, at about 10:58, the sky cleared and there was no more rain for the rest of the day. We could not have asked for more! The various speakers were not long winded and in fact gave interesting and inspirational speeches. Most impressive was the moment the ship sponsor called the crew to "bring her to life" and take all operations on line. Seeming from out of no where, sharply dressed sailors in their black uniforms, white hats and gloves, ran past the audience and onto the ship. They lined the rails, outlined against the blue-gray sky, like sentinels guarding the castle. When they were called to attention, every man and woman snapped sharply to salute as one person. It was a display of military precision I had never before had the honor to witness, and I was proud to be present for it.

Of course, it occurred to me that any one of those sailors could one day be a recipient of one of my care packages. The most recent recipient was from DDG 93, and most people don't know that many of the early forces in Afghanistan and Iraq were Navy men and women. The moment of commissioning was for me, a validation of all we are fighting for and all I do to let our troops know we wish them a safe and speedy return home.

There are photos in the gallery, courtesy of Auntie Kat, and here's another little clip of Melody being cute.

While browsing the news today, I discovered there is a big controversy that has reached a boiling point in New York City. People either want to include or exclude children from bars.

Wait, what?

How is this even a question? Last time I checked, the law limited the age of individuals who could enter bars to 21 and older, and I don't think "under 21 night" is intended for 21 months and under. That's the first thing that came to mind. As I read further into the article, I began to wonder if these are bar & grill type places, and then I regained my senses. Why are parents aggressively fighting for their right to drink with their children? Aren't parents, by definition, supposed to be putting their children's needs first? The arguement is that parents need to socialize with other adults and some parents want to bring along their children to the places they socialize, e.g. bars. And, by children, the article was specific, it's the under 5 crowd.

Now, I'm all for being able to go out to dinner with your family and have a glass of wine or a beer with your dinner if that is your desire. A drink, or even two, with dinner is reasonable. Bellying up to the bar while Junior watches, a captive audience, in his stroller just smacks of irresponsible parenting. Am I wrong here?

Granted, there isn't anything wrong with drinking responsibly while your children are present, and frankly there are plenty of parents who drink irresponsibly no matter who is present. I just keep getting stuck on the "fighting for their rights" aspect of this issue. Is it truly a matter of their rights or just that Mom or Dad doesn't want to drop $50 on a babysitter/beg their parents to watch the wee ones. Or is it that they are among those parents who's identity revolves around their child and they are unable to do anything without their kids?

On the "say no to kids in a bar" side, I just cannot imagine some of the nights I spent out with my friends, kicking up our heels and knocking back our shots, with a little kid sitting there staring at us. Going out to a bar for many, is their release, their time to let down their hair and get crazy, their escape from the pressures of work, family, kids.

I will remember, if I ever find myself in New York with a small child, that if I want to get smashed in a bar and said bar is prohibiting my child's presence, I'll just cry foul that my civil rights, nay, my inalienable right to intoxication, is being impinged!

If you have ever seen any of my home repairs, you are laughing at the idea that I will start a handyman business. I'm capable of very minor repairs, but installing baby gates resulted in major damage to two walls and the newell post of our stairs. You could say I know just enough to be dangerous.

Unfortunately, the yahoo who built the additions on our house only knew a little bit more than me, it seems. My dad and I built shelves in Melody's bedroom, but the recess is SO out of square we practically have trapezoid shaped shelves. I had a new bifold door installed on our linen closet with a similar reaction from the installer - it's very out of square. While that is normal everything seems a bit more out of square in our house than any other house I've lived in.  How hard is it to use a plumb bob and a level in construction? Everything seems to be a little more wonky that it ought to be. As another example, all the outlets were installed upside down and in different colors - black, beige and white. It was just lazy construction work I think.

Our upstairs bathroom was decked out in hideous simply gorgeous pink tile and oak accents, including the toilet. Very 80s. We have long thought that we would like to change out the wooden toilet seat, but it recently became a requirement as the toilet seat broke. Keep your snarky comments to yourself, people. Now I'm all for recreating the past, but splinters in my patoot just isn't something I want to experience! My friend suggested these toilet seats that have a child seat that folds down onto the regular seat, so I went and got one. It eliminates the padded seat thingy for Melody. I've changed out the toilet seat on other toilets. I'm a capable woman. Piece of cake, right?

Please refer to paragraph two here. Oh, and just for those of you who don't know, a toilet seat is attached to your toilet with a couple plastic or nylon nuts that screw up against the underside of the base of the bowl. Not too difficult.

These little buggers were screwed on so tightly the plastic had actually conformed to the shape of the bowl underside AND was sealed ad infenitum in perpetuity world without end with a dab of silicon caulk. I was afraid, very afraid, that I would have to run for the downstairs every morning if I could not get that seat off there. I even called my dad because of course the screws themselves were rusted to the fixture. What a mess.

Well, it took me two days of dogged determination, motivated by a desire not to sit down on the seatless bowl in the middle of the night, but I got that yucky old wooden toilet seat removed. I actually had to take a safety cutter, cut away the sides of the plastic nut, all while turned upside down with my head wedged between the bowl and the wall, and then using sheer will and brute force pull the screw/nut combo up through the hole.

My new toilet seat is lovely.

It sounds so cliche, but I simply cannot believe that in a blink of an eye, Melody has turned three years old. Seems like just a while ago, she was this tiny little baby who was completely dependent on us for everything. Now she is very INdependent and probably wishes we'd leave her alone at times. Well, maybe not leave her alone, but tonight she did tell me "Mommy, I want you to be nice to me when I poop my pants." Guess, I've been a bit stern about this whole "using the potty" concept.

To celebrate this milestone (seems as though TWO was a huge milestone and ONE was a huge milestone, do they every diminish in their importance??), last week I took Melody and some of her daycare buddies and Rhonda to the Santa Ana Zoo. It was really such a fun and relaxing day! How could I relax at the zoo with four under 4, you ask? It was so easy! Two were in strollers and Mark and Melody walked everywhere. Their enthusiasm for the emu, llamas, bald eagle, golden lion capuchin, and of course the blue tongued skink, all just carried me through on a wave of enjoyment. The little ones were so good, too. Little Kiana is only 19 months and her cute little "look at that!" at everything was so funny, I just had to laugh. The Santa Ana Zoo is perfect for this crowd because it's over quickly but they feel like they have seen every kind of animal there is.

Saturday of course was Melody's birthday and we had a party for her here at the house. We had a bounce house again, but surprisingly, Melody was not interested in it until Delaney got here and went into it. From that point until cake, we couldn't really get her out of it. Caelen came over and bounced, and the three were fast friends. Once Danika and Geneva, Mark and Kadie joined in, the bounce house was full of laughing, tumbling, happy kids. Kudos go out to Diane B who created a sort of game of "throwing" the kids from the side of the bounce house into the middle. It's hard to explain, but let me tell you, every one of them wanted Diane to grab their butts and throw them. Delaney is particularly aerodynamic and flew the farthest! My friend Melissa and her mom made the gorgeous Tinkerbell cake and it was delicious too. Amazing work, ladies!

Valentine's Day we just puttered around the house as we were all three exhausted. Of course, that was after Melody and I spent about three hours over at Fort Knott's for their Civil War encampment. In the past we tried to participate in this event, but since it will always fall on the weekend of Melody's birthday and Valentine's Day, I figured it was time to hang up my hoop skirts over President's Day Weekend and instead be with my family. Didn't stop me from visiting incognito, but we were able to leave, heh. I did find a beautiful toddler dress that someone had made and altered very poorly. I can only imagine they didn't know what the heck they were doing since the armscye was only big enough for a doll's arm to get through. Fortunately I happen to know what I'm doing and I can alter it much better and Melody will have a new dress with a corded petticoat that is simply adorable. It coincidentally perfectly matches the shawl Gramma Alice knitted for Melody's birthday present.

Today Melody and I were home together and we did a few "fun" chores. We took the front off her crib and turned it into a big girl bed, gulp! She was very excited about it and fascinated with the Tinkerbell sheet set we put on the bed. Very clever, the top sheet has elastic on one end - like a bottom sheet - to keep it tucked in. Dad and I are a teeny tiny bit nervous about her getting out of bed in the middle of the night, but it's got to happen eventually. Her third birthday is as good a time as any. She also happened to wear big girl panties all day today and didn't have one accident.

Yes, my baby is growing up and turning into a little girl! Check out new albums in the photo gallery for more pictures.

...I wanted to share it none the less. I don't think my pictures are good enough yet for SkyWatch Friday, which is a global link-up every Friday featuring the skies of the world. If you like pretty skylines, check them out here.

Thursday last week, a storm was rolling in to bring us some more rain. As I drove home, the first clouds were making their way across Orange County, and the sun was obscured, yet still shining brightly. I took a couple photos with my phone - we were in the "stop" phase of stop-and-go traffic, don't worry - and here is the best shot.