Apple on ground close to tree...

Isaac is definately my son. He read Harry Potter 2 today. All of it. The neat part was I let him stay up to finish it, and he leaned over the rail at 9:30 and called down to us in the living room that he was done. He pumped his fist in the air and had a huge grin. I'm looking for the next book that will do that for me. Any suggestions? Nathan keeps trying to tell him that Harry dies in the next book, but Isaac is onto us.

Is everybody ready for New Moon? Nathan and I are gathering with all my church friends for our second annual Twilight Saga movie viewing tomorrow night. Are other churches besides Mormons having (unofficial) vampire parties? Last year, I had not read even the first book and had to get the young women to fill me in before we left. One of whom had read Twilight THIRTEEN times. Could be twice that by now.

Today while driving to school, I passed a mom walking to pick up her kids in a 'Team Cullen' shirt. I've seen one-fish-two-fish shirts and our library is currently selling "Where the Wild Things Are" shirts, but I don't remember that happening for any other NYT Bestsellers. Thinking. Still thinking. Nope. I can't think of any. Although Harry Potter was very well represented on Halloween around here, but I didn't see any Twilight vampires.

I just want to say that Nathan read all four books. He hasn't read The Lord of the Rings, but he's read Twilight. And my little sister, Cleo ISABELLA (age 12) has a poster of Edward on her ceiling and is sure she's going to marry him. And she wants us to call her Bella, 'cause that's her middle name. Isaac saw an add for New Moon and was like "ooh, Mom, there's that book." Pervasive, isn't it?
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Smicker Reunion in Luke Butler, FL

We loaded up the car and headed down to FL, my beloved country.

Jonas, Eli, and cousin's son Aiden trapped in a hamburger.

Jonas, Emma, Aiden, and Eli looking for minnows. My cousin Pat and I were so proud of them for not falling in. They (mostly) stayed on the seam that that ran down the middle of the walkway.

Some adults got tricked into participating in this game too, but I will allow them their shreds of dignity by not posting the hip-gyrating pictures here.

Egg toss. Lots of cheatin' going on. Emma and I were partners, and I missed her first toss (it was overhand, and hard. Sigh. She should have asked Daddy) And my dad got four eggs tossed at him on the first throw, but none got splattered on him. 

My dad and Nathan thought they were the dream team...

But Eli and Michelle Wright won with some weird bowling/throwing hybrid move.

It made Eli's YEAR.

Just some folks wanderin' around. I didn't take as many pictures of individuals as I meant to, so this'll have to do. We had about 60 people there.

Isaac, Eli and Emma show Aunt Sharran a snake's skin they found in a tree.

We camped out in O'leno State Park Fri and Saturday with my Dad, Uncle Jerry and Aunt Sharran, Shannon and Jim and Aiden and Annemarie, Pat, Austin and gf Lauren. My favorite memory by far was the ghost stories. Nathan told the classic "Falling Rock" (Falling Rock goes on a hunt for the biggest bear and never returns. His father posts signs "Watch for Falling Rock" and you can still see them today. Shannon told the Green Ribbon- a husband finally removes the green ribbon that his wife has always worn after she dies, and her head falls off. The kids all had a go at a head-falling-off-story after that. Then I told a story about the beautiful Indian Semolina who waits for her Spanish lover, but he never returns. She hears his ghost in the whispers of the fire, and you can still hear it today. And the Robitussin-stops-that-coffin one. Who says oral storytelling is dead? Okay, we do, cause it was pretty awful.

Rule of picture taking in nature #1-if there is a rock in the river, you must take a group picture on it.

It's in our genetic code.

These pics are over the Santa Fe River, and we walked the River trail- down to the end of the river where a sinkhole swallows it. The river reappears about three miles away.

Corollary-Bridges count, too.

This is Shannon, Jim and their two: Aiden and baby Annemarie.

The cemetary. I had some fun playing with this one.

My dad and Pat and my clan drove out to Traxler FL to visit

the old church that Dad's grandma and husband and her parents are buried at.

My clan: Kelly and Nathan Bryson, Isaac, Emma, Eli and Jonas.

Interior of Traxler Methodist Church

A banana spider, about three inches across.

I'd like to write a book just to use this as a cover.

The end of the river. It's kind of anti-climatic unless you're there after heavy rains- the river just seems to dead-end. My dad said that he's been there when the water was high, and logs swirl on the surface above the sink. Dad and Isaac saw a really big gator.

My great-great grandparents (my dad's mom's mom's parents)

My great-grandparents' gravestone. The End!

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Knock Knock!

Star Wars Halloween!

Emma loved her "Princess Amidala Battle Costume", and I was right proud of the cape. Pretty close, eh? I think I understand now why people go to conventions.

I had to wrestle Jonas into his Jedi Padawan costume, and he got stuck with the light sabre without a blade, but it seemed safer that way. He's holding Emma's Nerf gun here. I spraypainted it chrome, but she didn't like that it was still tacky, so she didn't carry it.

Eli wore his Luke costume all week after school.

Isaac got really sweaty in the Darth Vader helmet and ended up carrying it in his bag most of the night.

I was Princess Leia and Nathan was Obiwan Kenobi, which is forbidden love if ever there was. I felt dirty every time I kissed him. LOL. Emma liked that, as Padme, she was my mom.

We went to a neighbor's party- which I'd assumed was a costume party, but the only other adults in costume were the host and hostess. Dang. We sucked it up, and tried not to look self-conscious. Nathan might not have been-but it took me a few minutes before I forgot I was in a long white dress with a shawl and a silver belt around my neck. At six-thirty, it was time to get some candy.

We made it to about twenty-five houses before Nathan and I were carrying Jonas and Eli was asking to be carried, too. It was about 80 degrees, and we were all sweating, but I'd take it over trick-or-treating in a 40 degree drizzle like we got in Evans City, PA the last two years we were up there.

The sad thing about Halloween is that the Snickers are gone too soon. I believe I just started planning Christmas stockings:)

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Hickory Knob Triathlon

A few months ago, Nathan was talking to a guy that used to coach triathletes, and Nathan mentioned that he'd like to try one. The next day, the guy showed up with a bike to borrow. Nathan was a little nervous, since it's been about five years since he's even done a road race, but decided to go for it. I don't remember how I decided to train with him- maybe because he wanted my help in the pool.

I'd been saying that I wanted a canoe for a long time- like 8 months- and he said if I did the race, I could have a canoe. That tipped me. So we started training 4-5 times a week. I could really blow his doors off in the water, but would rather not talk about the rest.

Our biggest fans-

Left-right- Eli, my sister Cleo hugging Emma, Kelly, Nathan, Jonas, Isaac.

My mom in the purple, Nathan step-mom Anna is pointing for Jojo, and Nathan's dad, Ray

Nathan on the dock. It was about 50' outside. The water was 70', which was fine when we got in...

A few weeks before the race, Nathan switched to a knee-length speedo. (There's a very important distinction, there, folks.) This cut about ten seconds off his time, and I had to push to keep up with him. After months of schooling him in the water, he was ready to graduate.

We're very grateful to the help Anna gave us- watching the kids many nights after bedtime so we could go train.

What was race day like, you ask. I slept okay- Nathan didn't. That morning I was overwhelmed by this feeling of being a phony. Like- what am I doing here? I am a WRITER. This is not comfortable to even think about! But I'd already registered (mistakenly I registered for the international distance, 1500 yd swim, 20 mile bike and 10k run, but they switched me on race day. Whew!) so I went through with it.

Nathan and the blue caps are off!

The swim was bewildering. It is really hard to swim in a straight line without the line on the bottom of the pool, but we had practiced in Lake Murray. I'm sure I wasn't weaving (haha) but other people kept bumping into me. I elbowed one lady in the face really hard, but I promise I didn't know she was there until I'd clocked her. We were going into the first turn by the buoy, and everybody switched to breaststroke, so I know she was okay.

The bike was a bit cold at first, and there were a few really big hills, but it wasn't too bad. My hardest moment came when I tried to put my water bottle back. I wove around a bit, but finally got it in. A biker passing me told me "good job"--he was relieved that I hadn't taken him out, probably. And somehow my bike developed a squeak, so all these international distance people were zipping by me on the carbon-fiber frames, and I'm going "Squeak, squeak. Squeak, squeak." Slightly embarrassing, but I lived. I'd oiled everything, and it was fine before the race.

The hard part about the run was drinking out of that paper cup and finishing by the time I passed the trash bag. We'll have to practice that next time.

Nathan's finish

500 yd swim, ten mile bike, 5K run.

How can it be a ten MILE and five KILOMETER event?

Place  Bib NAME                 Ag CITY/STATE Rank SWIM   T1  Rank    BIKE    T2   Rank RUN TIME

5.  342 NATHAN BRYSON 31 IRMO SC       6   12:59   1:57     6         33:48    0:51  5 23:31    1:13:05

2. 555 KELLY BRYSON 31 IRMO SC            1   13:49   2:31     3         46:07    0:59  2 33:02    1:36:26

My finish!

I was a little (huge understatement) disappointed that training so hard didn't make me magically thin, but apparently you have to exercise AND eat healthy, so I'm working on that. Nathan is already planning his training for next year, and I'm thinking about it. I have decided, incidentally, that I'd rather attend a writer's conference (after my manuscript is polished) and rent a canoe wherever we want to go canoeing.

The best part was this feeling of appreciation that I had when it was over- feeling that my body is capable of great things and that I can do whatever I want to do. I highly recommend it.

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Updates

First of all, the Tooth Fairy visited last night. Emma's trap for fairy dust did not work, but the Tooth Fairy inadvertently (so we guess) walked across the dollar she left, leaving a very clear trail of high heel prints in gold glitter, about a size .03. Kapow! Take that, neighbors' and friends' parents! Our Tooth Fairy ROCKS!

Second, I have decided to split my writing and personal life into two separate blogs. Because "Ink Well" has been used, I am keeping my url "kaykaybe.blogspot.com" for my personal life and have created a new writing blog "Book Readress". Get it? You are all welcome at either one. I just want to be free to talk about potty training without coming across as unprofessional:) I would also like to encourage you to click the button that says "Follow" because I'm not linking on Facebook every time I blog.

Third, I have a new publishing plan called "Live to be a Hundred". I was looking over Slate's list of powerful octogenarians, "80 over 80", and noticed that 18 of them were listed as writers. This is not counting the # 1 pick, President of the Mormon Church, Thomas S. Monson. He's written several books, so it should be 19/80. So roughly one out of four of the powerful octogenarians have written a book. Many of them are memoirs, but still. I tend to procrastinate, so I gave myself an extra twenty years.

Fourth, your comments make me smile.

I'm surprised we didn't get one of these letters from the Tooth Fairy.

Dear _________________ :

Thank you for leaving one [1] tooth under your pillow last night.

While we make every attempt to leave a monetary reward in the case
of lost or stolen children’s teeth, we were unable to process your
request for the following reason(s) indicated below:

( ) the tooth could not be found

( ) it was not a human tooth

( ) we do not think that pieces of chicken bone are very funny

( ) we were unable to approach the tooth due to excessive odor

( ) the tooth has previously been redeemed for cash

( ) the tooth did not originally belong to you

( ) the tooth fairy does not process fingernails

( ) your request has been forwarded to the Nerve Ending Fairy for
appropriate action

( ) you were overheard to state that you do not believe in the tooth
fairy

( ) you are age 12 or older at the time your request was received

( ) the tooth is still in your mouth

( ) the tooth was guarded by a vicious fairy-eating dog at the time
of our visit

( ) no night light was on at the time of our visit

( ) the snacks provided for the tooth fairy were not satisfactory,
or were missing

( ) we discovered evidence of unsafe tooth extraction as follows:
[ ] string
[ ] pliers
[ ] gunpowder
[ ] hammer marks
[ ] chisel
[ ] part of skull attached to tooth
[ ] no dental care
( ) other:

Thank you for your request, and we look forward to serving you in
the future.

Sincerely, The Tooth Fairy

From Funny Jokes blog.
Can't get enough?

Lower the Bar, People

Imagination has officially been replaced with proof.

1. Emma's friend put the tooth she lost into a cup and set it in a dish filled with water to catch the Tooth Fairy Dust. Emma lost a tooth yesterday and is ready to try it tonight (She took the tooth over to a cousin's house and left it there, so we got it back today).
   
2. There's also this really cute book called "Elf on a Shelf" that comes with a stuffed elf that comes alive at night, but only in December. Sometimes the elves do nice things, like load the dishwasher or fold a load of laundry, but most are mischievous—pulling books of the shelf, hiding TV remotes (but we get that in other months, too, and in broad daylight), unlacing shoes.
   
3. And there's reindeer feed. Oatmeal with glitter that you sprinkle on your front yard for the reindeer.

The kids love it, but I guess I'm old-school. We set out milk and cookies, Santa fills our stockings and we've heard his sleigh bells, the Tooth Fairy leaves a dollar (not always on the first night, but she makes it.), and the Easter Bunny gets better at hiding those eggs every year.

But I'm wary of glitter. I feel burdened. When I was a kid (it wasn't that long ago, really) all we needed was a present to know Santa was real. He signed the tag, for goodness' sake. How can an imaginary being sign a tag?

So, to the parents of my kids' friends, please tell Santa and the tooth fairy take it easy. Especially you, Tooth Fairy- no more ten-dollar exchanges for a worn-out baby tooth. You may use them to build your castle in the clouds, but they're not worth all that. I'm begging.

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Bubble boys and girls

A short narration on why my mom is cool, then directions on how to make your own bubble-house (or biosphere, if you want to sound like a smarty-pants.)

I'm a preschool home-schooler. Our little friends had a blast. Not sure where Jonas was.

My mom was one of 'those moms'. She threw giant birthday parties where everyone got their own (non mentholated) can of shaving cream, and we all put on our bathing suits and got shaving cream all over the trampoline. My sister got the gene, as evidenced by the four days she spent making a cardboard pirate ship for her daughter's birthday. My apologies for the grainy picture off Facebook, but you get the point.

Mom had a stand-up rabbit cake pan, and she made that cake into everything. Need a baby cake? Cut the ears off. Need a Carebear cake? Cut the ears off? Need a car? I don't know. It never happened, because we were all girls, but I bet she would have cut the ears off and sliced them to make wheels. (This is why, when I was 'garage sale'-ing and saw a stand-up Carebear cake, I got so excited.)

I've used it at least four times. Once as Yoda.

This pic is another FB steal from my niece's party, but that's an awesome cake.

I think there's a rabbit in there.

During my high school years, she was always fine with a bonfire, an unlimited number of guests, and no curfew on her end. And if she didn't know about the occasional explosive device, well, we just didn't bring it up. (A friend was 'interning' at a fireworks company. I got to roll the chemicals into clay like balls and make my own four inch mortar- a red ring. There. I used to be cool.)

There's a lot to live up to. But even the cool stuff I do with my kids now is at least partly inspired by her, if not an out-right gift. Like the giant bubble we made last summer.

It's like sewing for giants. You buy plastic sheeting (I think we got our a thickness of 4 mil., a 20'x30' piece, or thereabouts) and a big roll of duct tape (we recommend red) from a home improvement store.

Cut a five foot piece off of the end. This is going to be a tube that inflates it, so measure the circumference of your box fan and then cut it an inch longer. Then make it a tube- line up the seams, don't overlap- and tape them together.

Then turn it inside out and tape it on the other side. So you'll have a five foot long tube, just big enough to slip over the front of your box fan.

Now for the bubble. Fold it in half, so that it is 20' x 12.5' (remember we cut off five feet). Tape the seams together from the outside. It helps to have a friend or two to keep the tape straight.

I like an 'I' shaped door. So in one end, I cut a four foot vertical line, then made a 2 and a 1/2 foot cut across the top and the bottom. Regardless of the shape, make flaps so it can be closed and stay inflated. Then tape the raw edges, folding the tape around the edge like 'seam binding'.

Then turn it inside out, and tape the large seam around the bubble again. This makes it stronger, and prevents people from getting their hair stuck in the duct tape (you can never line up the edges PERFECTLY. At least I can'tJ)

At the other end, cut a hole the exact circumference of your tube (slightly below the midline of the fold so that when the bubble is inflated, the tube can rest on the floor), stick the tube in the opening. You can tape it, but you don't have to.

Now, attach your fan to the end of the tube and make sure your tube doesn't block the air intake. And if you don't have a box fan, you can group together a few oscillating fans (don't let them oscillate, though.) That's what I did. Don't tape all the way around the fan, just a piece or two will hold it in place.

There is a constant stream of fresh air, so don't worry about the kids suffocating. Of course, if the fans get turned off or the tube gets pulled free, the bubble will deflate. So supervise kids in the bubble.

We like to put some blankets in to walk on, because it's slippery. And move or pad hard things on the outside, because four mil of plastic doesn't make the tv stand soft.

Have fun!

My happy Jojo. His alternate state is not nearly this cute.

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