Smacos Anyone?

Every heard of Smacos? Or Smurritos? We hadn't until today when we went to The Outdoor Campus for their Family Try It Day. For free, families were offered the chance to try their hand at kayaking, canoeing, outdoor cooking, archery, fishing, and other outdoorsy activities.

The boys made their own Smacos - Smores meet Tacos - a tortilla spread with some combination of peanut butter, marshmallows, and chocolate, then wrapped in foil and thrown on the fire. Yum Yum.

Then they fished. Mainly Michael just poked his fishing pole at the seaweed-filled water at his feet, but we called it fishing.

Then, the kayaking/canoeing. Michael was too little to particpate in the boating, but David, though nervous at first, had a great time out on the water with his grandparents.

We might make these city boys into outdoorsmen yet!

Post-nap and after the USA lost to Ghana in the World Cup :( we had the time of our lives swimming in our apartment complex's pool with Mamo and Papo. David used swimmies for the first time and was overjoyed about being able to float on his own.

Right at the boys' bedtime, we got a crazy thunderstorm. Fortunately, the thunder wasn't too loud, but the sky was black and foreboding, the lightning was awesome, the rain was heavy, and the winds were insane. There seems to be lots of storms around here...

After the boys went to bed, I blew my chance to beat Mamo and Papo at Settlers of the Catan by being both ignorant of the rules and unwise. And worst of all, Brian won! Boooooooo!

Hit the Ground Running

Welcome to our crazy life in South Dakota, Mamo and Papo!

On our first day with Mamo and Papo in town, we went to a Wacky Chicken show in which a middle-aged man and a middle-aged woman did all kinds of magic tricks/variety show acts while dressed as a chicken and while making noises other than chicken noises. Wacky was an understatement, but it was fun and we all enjoyed ourselves.

After Michael's nap, we played with water toys in the backyard, showed Mamo and Papo our library, and gave them the tour of Kidtopia, our favorite local toy store.

On Friday night, we went to Poet's Family Picnic. Despite the fact that there were all kinds of fun things for the kids to do including inflatables and air tattoos, my kids had the time of their lives playing with the ice cubes in the drink coolers ;) Highlights included when a long freight train went by on the tracks right next to the park (I thought Michael had died and gone to heaven) and when four ethanol-fueled planes flew by in formation. It's so easy to please boys: planes, trains, and automobiles ;)

After the picnic, Brian and I left Mamo and Papo with the kids and headed to a nearby town in MN to see Toy Story 3 at the drive-in theater. I felt like a character out of Grease at the drive-in. It felt so classicly romantic ;) In true Maria fashion, I fell asleep partway through the movie. But fortunately, I woke up right near the end to catch Brian bawling his eyes out, and to hear enough of the end to bawl my eyes out too. And in the end, that is why we all love going to the movies, right? Not to SEE it, but rather to FEEL it. So I got my money's worth anyway ;)

Mam'o and Pap'o Have Arrived!

Those Su-ummer Da-ays (Tell Me More...)

Man, have we been wearing ourselves out. Park hopping, pool hopping, having too much fun in the sun ;) We spend most of the day outdoors and let me tell you, by the time 7:30pm rolls around, Mommy is jealous of the little boys who get to hit the hay...

These are a few photos of the boys at McKennan Park, Kuehn Pool, and Sertoma Park.

We are all getting excited about our visit from Mam'o and Pap'o. David sums up our "schedule" for the next day or so until they arrive: "Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, MAMO AND PAPO!!!!" Fair warning Mam'o and Pap'o: Bring your walking shoes and your sun block. We plan to wear you out too ;)

Happy Dada's Day

That's what he's known as around here. Sometimes Dad. Sometimes Daddy. But mostly Dada. And we sure do love him to pieces.

Me and the boys started out the day at 5:30 am when both boys awoke, a special treat since its usually just me and Michael up at that hour. We made Dada a hot breakfast, gave him his gifts, and headed off to church. The priest gave a nice homily (supposedly - I decided to go to the back of the church with my chatty Michael after getting some dirty looks from the elderly man in front of us). The Priest's name is David and after hearing somebody address him as Father David, Michael started yelling Father Day-Day, Father Day-Day. (Day-Day is his pet name for his brother David, although we know that he can say David. Sort of like how David called Uncle Pete "Beuh" long after he could say "Pete."

After nap time/quiet time/work time/down time, we headed to downtown Sioux Falls and strolled around the main commercial area. They have this really cool SculptureWalk. Basically different companies in the city sponsor artists from across the world to make a sculpture that the city publicly displays for a full year. Locals and tourists are invited to view the sculptures and vote on their favorites. The winners are purchased by the city and kept on display permanently. There was some really beautiful art to be seen.

We picked up a Take N Bake Pizza for dinner, made a bunch of phone calls, and got the kids ready for bed.

To close off the night, I got Dairy Queen for Brian and me, and we watched Invictus.

Happy Father's Day, Brian - we love you so much!!!

Flags Waving High

On Saturday morning, we headed to Falls Park for the Festival of Cultures. The boys enjoyed the opening parade, which pretty much consisted only of police escort motorcycles (which were a thrill in and of themselves for Michael) and random people carrying flags from around the world. There was one pick-up truck with a few young men in the back, drumming and singing Native American chants. For the boys, the highlight of the festival itself was the kids' tent, which included games from around the world including Mancala, Checkers, and Chess. Sioux Falls is certainly not the most multicultural place in the world, but they do have some diversity. One of our friends recently told us that 18% of the population here are people of color. Not sure if I believe that, but I have seen people of all sorts here: Latinos, Asians, Indians, Native Americans, and Africans. In fact, there is a significant refugee population here from the Sudan as well as from Ethiopia. I'm wondering if there might be some interesting opportunities to do play therapy with some of the refugee children...

On Saturday evening, we headed to Scheels, a huge sporting goods store, and bought the boys a new baseball bat and balls, and a soccer ball each. Time to start doing some drills ;)

Big Milestone

Man, were we spoiled in Chicago, with all of the babysitting options that we had: Mamma and Pappa, Uncle Pete, Mamo and Papo, Liz and Chris, The Ninnis. I never paid for a babysitter there, and I never left my kids with anybody that they hadn't spent hours with before. On Friday night, we took a big parenting step and left our little boys with our first non-family babysitter. I am pleased to announce that all went perfectly smoothly, and that Brian and I had a great time seeing what Sioux Falls looks like after dark ;)

We went to our real estate agent Melissa's house for dinner. Her and her hubby had just returned from Maine, and had arranged for a box of live Maine lobster to be sent to them on Friday morning. On Friday night, she invited over a fun group of friends for a backyard dinner. She boiled the lobster in one pot, and some corn, potatoes, kielbasa, shrimp, and sugar snap peas in another. When all the food was done, she drained it and literally dumped it on the table in front of us. She gave us each 3 cups - one of sour cream, one of butter, and one of cocktail sauce. And with no trace of silverware or plates, she told us to dig in ;) It was a truly delicious and unique meal, and we had such a nice time visiting with Melissa, Brad, and their friends.

Timber!!!!

After dropping Daddy off at work, we headed right downtown to check out the Old Couthouse Museum. They had some neat things there, most of which we didn't even get to...We did explore the "Corn" display, a history of American corn farming (with farm toys and a combine for the boys to play in/on) and a hot air balloon exhibit. By the end of our visit, David was complaining that he was "chilly" and so tired. So I said, "Let's go home, then." That's when I realized that I had lost sight of Michael. I glanced around and noticed him two rooms away playing with a necklace that was hanging from a big metal Christmas-tree-like structure full of necklaces. I sped over to him and said, "Michael, those are for looking not touching." Up until that point, he had been touching the necklaces very gently, but when he saw that I meant to ruin his fun, he freaked out and pulled as hard as he could on the necklace and literally took down the whole tree! Fortunately, I was able to catch the tree and set it right before any damage was done to Michael, me, or the necklaces. The staff person was so friendly. "Kids will be kids," he said. My Michael.

As it turns out, David had a fever and the chills and spent most of the afternoon "resting" in his bed, voluntarily. Poor little man...

Creepy Crawly Things

First of all, the Internet has been spotty over the last few days and it is RUINING MY LIFE!! I can't arrange the social plans I want, or make the "business" phone calls that I want to make, or make the dinners that I want to make. I am missing important news on email, I am unable to Skype, and I am generaly getting more and more pissed off ;)

After hanging out at Sherman Park in the morning where the boys blew bubbles, played basketball, soccer, and football, and did water paintings, we headed off to the zoo for about an hour (it's right next to Sherman Park!). That's the nice thing about being a zoo member in Sioux Falls. You can stop by for an hour and its no big thing. Unlike being a zoo member in Chicago, where it takes 20 minutes to get there, $14 to park, and 5 more minutes to walk from your car to the zoo.

At the zoo, the boys got to touch a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach, some sort of snake, and a millipede. I was surprised at how adamantly Michael did not want to touch the animals. I thought he was my brave boy ;) They also fed the ducks, geese, and swans which was thrilling for both the boys and the birds.

Hopefully, the Internet will stay up and running for the rest of my life ;)

Paper Bag Ladybugs

Paper bag ladybugs, muscle cars, guacamole by the spoonful, a field full of fire, and the fastest engine on the island of Sodor. Just a few of our highlights from the weekend...

All of our Saturday plans were altered due to the rain :( We missed out on Zoo Day, but maybe it was for the best. We were able to head to Barnes & Noble where the preschool I am most excited about for David was hosting an event. Storytime, crafts, a chance for both kids and parents to meet the teachers. David and Michael both had a great time. While Brian and I chatted with new friends and chased Michael around, David was able to interact with the teachers and to enjoy the activities mostly independent of his folks. He seemed to really like Ms. Heather, the teacher, as did we...

After naptime, the sun peeked out long enough for us to head to the Fairgrounds for Automania. Rows full of old refurbished cars (Brian's favorite was a Grease-like shiny black and red '57 Pontiac) and muscle cars. David had a GREAT time. He must have asked for his picture to be taken in front of about 30 cars. For each one, he had a different, but equally "hammy" pose.

Then off to dinner at one of Sioux Falls' few "Mexican" joints. I add the quotes because the place doesn't even have carne asada on the menu, exclamation point, excalmation point! Brian asked about it, and they said that they tried it out a few years back and the response wasn't great, so they took it off the menu. Who doesn't like carne asada??? Crazy South Dakotans ;)

After dinner, we headed off to what would have been a 30 balloon hot air balloon race had not the low cloud cover messed everything up. For a lame consolation prize to all of us who had showed up anyway, the pilots sent up the flames that would have filled their balloons with hot air had Mother Nature cooperated. Maybe next year...

Finally, David completed one of his sticker charts for violin practice and as a reward, chose to head to Kidtopia, the toys store, and buy Spencer the Train (from Thomas & Friends) for the two boys to share. They were in heaven.

Second-Rate Meterology

Ok, so I am about to facebook my cousin, Jim Cantore, well-known meteorologist of The Weather Channel fame. I need to know if there is something about Sioux Falls SD that makes it very hard to predict the weather here. I feel like it's always much warmer or cooler than they say it's gonna be, it doesn't rain when they say it will, and it rains when they say it won't. This sort of B Grade Meteorology is terribly inconvenient for a stay-at-home mom. Today they were calling for more than 50% chance of rain all morning. Ya, not a drop. We stayed home, partly because of the weather report and partly because David threw such a temper tantrum on the drive to the park that I literally needed to turn the car around and just go home. (BTW, the tantrum continued for 15 minutes after we got home, during which time he would periodically yell from his room, "Mom, can we PLEASE go to the park? What are you thinking Mom? What in the heck are you???) Then for the afternoon, I considered going out but then there were all these flash flood warnings and I got all freaked out so we stayed in again. Again, not a drop. What the heck, you crazy weather guys? What were you thinking? What in the heck are you????

We did get out of the house for a little while to grab pretty darn authentic Neopolitan pizza (who would have guessed that Sioux Falls would offer such a thing!) with Daddy-o (as the kids call him)

Don't let this rare homebound day fool you. We have a packed weekend planned and I PROMISE to take more pictures!

I started shopping around for David's future preschool today. Interesting choices...More on that to follow, I am sure.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Rainy morning in Sioux Falls. Fortunately, we had social plans and headed off to our first SD playgroup. Another beautiful Sioux Falls home, with a basement that was essentially toy heaven. Heck, they even had one of those inflatable jump houses down there! There had to have been 20 kids there from about 6 months to 9 years (one woman brought 5 kids all by herself!) The boys seemed to have fun. I felt torn because I wanted to socialize with the moms upstairs, but I am just not comfortable leaving my boys alone downstairs. Part of it is that the boys don't know any of those other kids yet. Part of it is that in Chicago, Michael didn't have much experience with stairs and I worry about him navigating them on his own. Part of it is that in Chicago, most people had small enough spaces that there was nowhere for the moms to go but the same place that the kids were, so I am not just not used to not being in the same room as them. And part of it is that I am a nut job ;)

We spent the afternoon shopping for Father's Day. Our last stop was a toy store called Kidtopia. The kids were in heaven there. It was alot like Timeless Toys, the place right across the street from us in Lincoln Square, and I think it felt like a piece of home to the boys.

You know your kids are watching too much Thomas the Train, when as they are playing with the display trains in the toy store you over hear your 3 year old say, "'Bust my buffers', gasped Emily, 'I'm almost out of fuel.'"

Duck Duck Goose

If we have anything planned in the morning time, it is hard for me to muster the energy to go back home after dropping Brian off at work, only to have to pack the kids up again and get them out the door again an hour after we get home. So, that explains why we have shown up at some parks recently at 8:15 am. Beat all the other kids there by a good half hour ;)

After spending a beautiful morning running around Sertoma Park and its many playgrounds, we headed to the library for a puppet show based on Peter Rabbit. David was laughing throughout the performance and he seemed to enjoy it so I was surprised when he said he didn't think it was that funny. I said, "Really? Because I kept seeing you laugh and laugh." He said, "Ya, I didn't think it was funny, I was just laughing because the other kids were laughing." And, David, if the other kids jumped off a cliff, would you too? ;)

Post-nap, we headed to Arrowhead Park. No playground action, but rather hiking trails and waterfowl. We had some close encounters with ducks, geese (and goslings) along the way, and many close enocounters with said birds' "doo doo" as David called it. We played for an hour in this clearing that David called "a secret place," and we all thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful June day.

Beginner's Luck

It's so hard to be dumb. Having to learn the same lessons over and over again. I know my kid is noise-sensitive. I know that he collects ear plugs and has to carry them with him everywhere he goes. I know that he goes ballistic if the music, or the TV, or the applause, or Michael gets too loud. Then, why oh why, when I took him to the Children's Theater production of Rumpelstiltskin down in McKennan Park did I sit us right next to one of the two speakers? Because I'm dumb, that's why. During their "Testing 1-2" shenanigans when the speakers make that god-awful screeching noise, guess who was right there to catch the worst of it? Us. And guess who grabbed for his ears and started screaming at the top of his lungs that he wanted to go home? David. And Michael right behind him. I managed to convince them to stay, but we had to go stand in the background around 25 yards away from where the rest of the audience sat. And David held his hands hovering over his ears most of the show. Despite all the trauma, David did say, after all was said and done, "What a great show!"

We hosted our first playdate today. A "park" friend named Emily and her two boys, Preston and Connor. Her boys are within weeks of the exact same age as mine, and we all had a very nice time together. Slowly but surely, making friends.

And now, on to Bunco. This is the game night that I was invited to play tonight where I knew neither anybody there nor anything about the game. First, the company. Everybody there was very nice and social with me, and I was grateful for their hospitality. Who knows, maybe one or two of them will be my good friend in a few months...Now, about the game. 12 women. Each puts in $10 to play. 4 at a table. The person seated across from you is your teammate. 3 dice per table. 1st round, roll for 1s. 2nd round roll for 2s, and so on and so forth. One point for each time you roll the target number. If you roll 3 of the target numbers at once, that is called a Bunco. If you roll 3 of any "off" number that is a Mini Bunco. Buncos are worth 25 points, and usually mean that your team will win the round. In rounds 1, 2, 3, and 4, I rolled 3 Buncos!!! I won each of my first five games. Over the course of the night, I rolled 2 more Buncos, and a slew of Mini Buncos too. For you mathematicians out there, there is only a 1/216 chance of rolling a Bunco. And I got 5 of them in just 12 rounds! At the end of the night, the pot is divided as follows: $60 to the person with the most Buncos. $40 to the person with the most wins. $20 to the person with the most losses. I had the most Buncos, AND the most wins (with 9 of 12), but you can only win in one category, so I walked away with a net gain of $50. Bunco rules ;)

Last but not least, I found David a new Suzuki violin teacher today. She is in the Philharmonic Orchestra here. (On a related note, we were looking at David's Time and Money game the other day, and I showed him the picture on the five dollar bill, and said, "Who is this?" "Abe Lincoln" he said. I showed him the picture on the one dollar bill and said "Who's this?" "Mozart," he confidently replied. ;) A true musician at heart, that David.

Rib Therapy

So, first off: Church with Michael Patrick is a nightmare. Squriming, and crying for snacks, and yelling for his paci, and physically harrassing the people around us, and singing at the most solemn parts - neither Brian nor I get anything out of Mass these days...maybe David is listening to the homilies?? ;)

Brian was in a bad mood yesterday during naptime (as opposed to me, who was in a grouchy mood pretty much all day ;). So much information for him to learn for the new job, and so little "free time" in which to do it. Well, I tell ya folks, ain't nuthin better to cheer up a grouchy man than a good Ribfest, and a good Ribfest is just what we got round these parts. We sampled ribs from 3 different vendors, and got roasted corn on the cob and to-die-for cornbread to boot. By the time we left, Brian spirits were high. Happy tummy, happy man.

Incidental Lesson Learned from Ribfest: Huge inflatables for kids to climb on and jump on kind of suck. At least for kids who are more timid. Even Michael, my bold child, got trampled by some vicious 2 year olds and got cold feet at the top of one of the steeper inflatable slides and needed to be rescued.

Michael's Latest Tricks: He can count to ten all by himself. He can do a somersault, all by himself. He can do a cannonball pool jump. Not all by himself. (FWIW, David has mastered the cannonball as well, complete with obligatory bellowing of the word, "CANNONBALL!")

Has anybody heard of a game called Bunco??? Well, Brian's boss's wife, Trish, is in a Bunco group. A dozen women get together to play every month or so. Trish says its the easiest game to learn ever, and that it's not really about the game, its about the socialization. If one woman can't attend Bunco night, it is her responsibility to find a sub. Well, Trish can't go tomorrow night, so because I am so "personable" and looking to make friends in my new city, she asked me to be her sub. And despite the fact that without Trish there I will know nobody and despite the fact that I don't know a darn thing about how to play Bunco, I said yes. To be continued...

Draw Thy Sword

The morning began with great drama. Allow me to summarize: A huge rainstorm all night. Which disguised a malfunctioning external sprinkler right above our apartment. All of which served to cause a whole row of leaks from the top of our sliding glass doors onto our carpet. The sprinkler set off the building's fire alarm at about 9:30 am. All is fixed and well and we have some industrial looking fan drying out our carpet, and a maintenance guy coming to repair the leaks on Monday.

After the drama, we decided to head out to the Siouxland Renaissance Faire. I gave it a 3 out of 10. Bad part is, it wasn't just disappointing. It kind of made me feel dirty. In general, I feel like Renaissance Faires are heavy (no pun intended) with overweight busty nerdy people. I have actually really enjoyed most of the others that I have been to (Sterling and Bristol), but the straw that broke the camel's back today was when I was sitting on a bench with my family, trying to eat a pulled pork sandwich that was drenched in barbecue sauce and full of nasty fatty pieces while watching 6 women, all between the ages of 35 and 55, all somewhat overweight (and one with lots of stretch marks) doing a bellydance routine on a stage where about an hour earlier I had seen somebody milk a goat. I mean, need I even say it...YUCK. Ahh, you live, you learn...

We tried out the pool in our apartment building today for the first time. The boys LOVED it. And then just in time for dinner, my childhood neighbor, Andrew, and his 2 girlfriends from college arrived. They are driving cross country and will stay with us tonight before heading on to Denver tomorrow. Our first visitors! (Sorry Mamo and Papo - you came with us, so you dont count!)

Zoo Camp!

David and Michael went to Zoo Camp on Friday morning at the Great Plains Zoo right here in Sioux Falls. The theme was Crocodile Rock. They read a book, made a snapping crocodile craft, got to touch a gecko and learned about the similarities between a gecko and a crocodile. They toured the zoo and saw crocodiles, among other things, and they got a snack (Michael's favorite part because it was fruit snacks, his absolute fave ;) Overall, I wasn't THAT impressed with the program. I think its because everything is free in Sioux Falls and this is not, so that made me think it was going to be incredible. And probably because I've heard that some zoos have really excellent zoo classes for kids. Like the zoo in Portland OR. I hear that the instructors there are super well-informed and excellent in every way. ;)

Making New Friends

On Thursday night, Brian's boss, David, and his wife, Trish invited us over to their home for a Legal Team Summer Kick-off party. While we adults bonded and enjoyed some yummy food, the kids played with David and Trish's kids (ages 6, 4, and 15 months) and Trish's sister and aunt. We all had such a nice time. David and Michael seemed like they had the time of their lives. When I went downstairs in the basement to check up on them, David was in a helmet with some sort of weapon chasing the other kids around, and suggesting that they turn off the lights to "make it scary." I guess somebody is coming out of their shell a bit in Sioux Falls.... ;)

Silly Noises

First of all, it had been brought to my attention that just reading our blog can be exhausting to some people and that perhaps we are overdoing it a bit here with activities galore. It has also been pointed out that if we don't slow down, we will run out of things to do in Sioux Falls ;) (Thanks Andrea and Liz!)

Allow me to explain myself. First of all, I believe that part of my drive to get out and do things is to keep at bay any sadness that might be trying to creep in. As exciting as it is to be here and to be making new friends and seeing new things, I miss my old friends, we miss our old playgroup, we miss our family, we miss Lincoln Square. So the plan is just to keep as busy as possible until, lo and behold, one day Sioux Falls becomes "home.' And once we have a home, we'll just sit here and do nothing. But until then, we'll keep uber-busy. Deal?

Second, there is literally no end to the activities that they have planned for kids in Sioux Falls over the summer. We won't run out of stuff to do. I just packed up my calendar for the rest of the summer last night. There were several occasions on which I had scheduled conflicts and had to do some re-working. The Zoo Class interfered with the Children's Theater performance etc ;)

My big fear is that the reason why summer is so packed full of fun is because the winter is going to be interminable and AWFUL. I guess we'll just have to wait and see about that.

Finally, I seem to enjoy these kids activities as much if not more than the kiddies do. Today we went to a Library Event called Sound Waves. "The Noise Guy" came and put on a show for the kids that had us all cracking up. I thought it was fabulous. The dude can imitate any sound and has actually written a book called Flush about all the different kinds of toilet flushes - he can do them all of course: the turbo flushers at the mall, the weird sound of the airplane potty. Silly, I know, but so amusing. (As many of you already know, David is terrified of flushes, so I may get the book for him, as desensitization ;) If you ever need entertainment for a kids event, I say check this guy out. He had about 75 kids enraptured for 45 minutes. As he said himself, he is living proof that you can make a living out of doing almost anything ;)
www.soundsafaritheater.com

The Big Cheese

Every so often, in this ever-changing world, we encounter something so timeless, so classic, so familiar, that it allows us to transcend the years and the miles that we have travelled and to feel right at home, no matter where we are. Chuck E Cheese is one such place. (The dramatics are not for real - I feel like I need to make that disclaimer since I have been known to be overly dramatic before ;)

The water got shut off in our building this morning, so I wanted to be out and about. The movers actually packed up all of the boys' coats by accident and it was only in the low 50s this morning, so instead of going to the park, like I originally wanted to, we ended up at Chuck E Cheese. At 9 am. Yep. The only ones there (except for some video game inspection guys) for a good 45 minutes or so. And by the way, if you ever are looking for a job in retirement, consider the video game inspection gig. These two middle aged guys, just played every video game in the joint and shot the you-know-what about trucks and steaks and stuff. And apparently, they get paid to do this. Anyway, David was thrilled and in disbelief that Sioux Falls actually had the same Chuck E Cheese as in Chicago. "How many Chuck E Cheese's are there?" he asked incredulously when I told him where were headed. Not enough, young David, not enough ;)

Thanks Mom and Dad

So, we attended our first Parks & Recreation event/class in Sioux Falls this morning. (Like almost everything else that P&R does here, it was $FREE.99!!! Yahoo for Lower Cost of Living!) I saw a woman who had been introduced to me at some other park on Friday when I was with Brian's boss's wife and kids. I had only spoke to her for about 2 minutes on Friday. But of course, I went right up to her and reintroduced myself today. We starting chatting and before long she had introduced me to another woman who has two boys, nearly exactly the same ages as David & Michael. We are now all friends on facebook and will likely be setting up playdates soon. I am starting to get the idea that making friends is not going to be so hard here...As my dear friend Liz pointed out, it is a blessing for me that I have not a shy bone in my body. And for that blessing, I thank you, Mom and Dad, two of the most gregarious borderline-obnoxious (I kid!) friendly people I know. Love you guys.