Bowles Blog

Tuning up

Rehearsals for the Bowles Family Jug (or is it Jam??) Band are underway.

Watch out Thanksgiving guests, they're gonna rock yer socks off!

Or something like that.

Bobby Law's Dream

Bobby Law had a dream.

Not a Dr. King equality-in-America type dream, but a dream nonetheless.

He dreamed of visiting the original Starbucks in Seattle.

I guess it's a pretty common dream for a certain type of Starbucks devotee.  The type that visits his local shop at least once a day (for an hour or more if possible). The type who doesn't have to order because the baristas know him so well.  The type that uses his iPhone to reload one of his many Starbucks gift cards while standing at the register.  The type that has an original Starbucks Gold loyalty card.

You get the idea.

Of course Bobby Law was able to make his dream come true because he's also the type who is married to a very understanding woman.  And he's the type who has been traveling quite frequently thus earning a free flight and free hotel room nights.

Sometimes the stars just align for you...

So last Monday he left before dawn to board a nonstop flight from Logan to Starbucks hometown.

Last Tuesday night, after a 2 hour delay spent working on his laptop at the Seattle airport, he arrived home.

Hey, it doesn't take long to drink a cup of coffee.

Now, I didn't go on the trip (I was invited, but it didn't work out), so I can't blog about the experience firsthand.  Instead, I'll relate the trip as it unfolded to me--through text messages and photos.

Enjoy your visit...

Me: Heading to the hotel first or Starbucks?

BL:  Hotel

Me: Good flight?

BL:  Yes, but I'm sick and head hurts

I requested some pictures from his ride on the metro.  This is the first one I received:  Quite a first impression for me. 

The next message, also from the train:

Goes right past Safeco (baseball) and Quest (football) stadiums.

After getting lost walking from the train to the hotel, I got this picture of the view from Bobby Law's hotel room.

Apparently he rallied from his sickness and ventured out from his hotel room in search of the highlights of Seattle.

He sent this text & picture:

Got crabs?

Ha ha.  Cool picture though. He was at the...

Finally, at 2:45pm local time:

I'm here

Me:  Is it all you imagined??

He responded with a photo.

 

 He told me later he didn't stay too long.  There isn't anywhere to sit in the original Starbucks store.  He took a few more pictures and some video and then moved on.

The next thing I heard from him was

Riding the monorail

The monorail in Seattle really only goes to one place...

Going up

Me:  Where--the Needle?

Yep

Windy out up here

My brilliant reply:

That's high

Bobby Law did get some pretty brilliant pics though.           

I like the perspective on this one.  Probably because I'm more comfortable on the ground looking up than 520 feet up, looking down.

Next he went off to do my bidding some souvenir shopping at Daiso, the Japanese junk dollar store. See the Leaders of the Fun post for more info on that...

He ate dinner at the hotel and we traded texts about the Randy Moss trade during the Vikings Monday Night Football game. You know, important issues of the day...

The next morning Bobby Law had about 4-5 more hours to enjoy Seattle before heading to the airport.

The first text of the day I received was rather unexpected.

Big tub o cheese

Me: Ewwwww

Me: On the other hand, seems like your kind of place

The place was Pike's Place market in the early morning.

About 15 minutes later...

Big piggy bank

To which I replied

Have you ventured into the Lard District for breakfast? 

I found out later that the pig is in front of the Market.  Piggy.  Market.  I just thought of that...

Along with the trip to Daiso, I made one other suggestion to  Bobby Law about where he could visit while in Seattle.

I found out he took my suggestion when I got this text

Walking far in search of cupcakes

Me:  You should have 1 or 2 yourself

I'm so thoughtful from 3000 miles away.

I knew he hit paydirt when he texted the picture of the sign☺.

They didn't have any of this kind:

But they did have this kind:

Before I knew it, this message

Leaving town with 2 bags and 4 cupcakes

And about 45 minutes later, this one

In line for security

Me & my cupcakes

Me:  Keep me posted

Me: Guard those!

A mere 8 hours later, his plane landed in  Boston, his adventure concluded.  For now.

Bobby Law.

Dream fulfilled.

 

Weekend Whirl

Our weekend started out on a rather boring note.

Playing assistant while your sick husband cleans the Maisy polluted carpets (hello, vomit on one rug, giant pee puddles on another...) is not exactly my idea of an exciting evening.

Saturday morning I was still mopey as we'd had to reschedule our plans to visit the Slyers in upstate NY.  The Slyers, friends so good they're cousins, that we hadn't seen since September 2009. Craziness--especially since we're only a 3 hour drive away from each other.

But then, at 8:15am, a text from this girl:

What would you think of me jumping in my car and driving out for the night?...

Obviously I would think, Heck yeah, do it!

And at 1pm, she was here. 

As you can see, it's always a party when Kathy comes to visit.  We started the festivities with {belated} birthday presents.

Next up, dinner for 5:  Bob, Kathy, me, Cuyler & Will (Ebby was at a birthday party).  Yep, we totally had the Sister Wives vibe going ;-).

After dinner, dancing in the dairy aisle.

Dancing in the Dairy aisle from jen bowles on Vimeo.

 

Can't wait for our next adventure in less than 2 weeks--when the girls will actually get to see each other!

 

 

Twins

   Yes, the boys are twins. You all know that.  Identical, or more techincally,  monozygotic diamnionic, twins.  They've always looked alike, especially in photographs.

Until now.

These are from their school pictures this year (which I don't buy seeing as I take plenty on my own).  Even when you don't buy anything they send you home a Smile Safe card with your child's photo.  The idea is that if your child goes missing, you'll have a recent photo handy in your wallet.  When I looked at these last night I was shocked at how different the boys look.  I mean they always look different to us, but in these pics I think they look pretty different from each other to everyone.

So, the big question is, can you identify which boy is which??  Leave a comment with your guess☺.

Even if you haven't a clue, you've got a 50-50 chance.  It's not like we've got sextuplets or something.

Leaders of the Fun

So, earlier this week Bobby Law went on a pilgrimage jaunt to Seattle to visit the original Starbucks shop.

Because, you know, he could.

More on his actual trip in another post, for now let's concentrate on the {awesome} trinkets he brought back for Cuyler and Will:

{click to enlarge and read the whole package}

That's right, each boy got his very own Leader of the Fun headband.  You're jealous, you know it.  Where did he find them? Well, you see, Bubbe has been to Seattle a time or two herself.  So when I asked her where I should send the hubs to pick up a souvenir or two she responded with a resounding, "The Japanese dollar store!".  So off to Daiso he went.

When I saw the headbands I wasn't sure if the boys would be into them.  Those dudes can be a bit fickle.  But sure enough, last night Cuyler busted his headband out of the package and onto his head.

He immediately assumed ninja-like poses while waiting to ambush Will when he came out of the bathroom.

It's a powerful headband. Great for digestion (?).

And look, it doesn't just fit on your head...             

Soon enough, Will wanted to be Leader of his own Fun.

I'll have you know that two boys running around the house just before bedtime sporting Leader of the Fun headbands is not actually fun for their mumma.  Ironic.

Not that they care.  They were too busy having fun.

 

Introducing Charlie...

the chinchilla?!

Yes, another pet has taken up residence at Bowlesville on the Hill.

Growing up I never considered myself a Dr. Doolittle type.  We had a cat, maybe two.  Except for the time we had ten, seven of which were kittens.

I am still not a person who is comfortable surrounded by animals.  Most days I wish I'd develop some sort of allergy to fur.

I'm sure the family would give me a hug before kicking me out.  I think they would anyway...

But here we are, 5 people, 5 pets (it should actually be 6, R.I.P. Spot the red eared slider turtle).

At first I was afraid of our newest addition.  As in I would jump out of my skin if I turned and Bobby Law or Ebby was holding him (unannounced) near me.  I'm getting a bit better now.  I may be coming around to the view that Charlie is cute.  I've even patted him once or twice.  He is soft, that's for sure.

Of course everyone else, loves him.  Especially Ebby.  Charlie is her roommate and her responsibility after all.

Once thing I do enjoy with the gaggle of creatures around here is the naming.  I'm pretty good at helping to name pets.  For example, chinchillas have long teeth that grow continually, thus they bite a lot to help keep them from growing too long.  They have toys and and wood blocks in their cages to gnaw on, but sometimes they can nibble on people.

Thus the inspiration for Charlie's  name, my favorite YouTube video of all time: 

Charlie Bit Me  

Fall Decorating Gone Bad

Is it just me or are the seasonal decorations at the Derby Shops a wee bit over the top?

Sure, it starts out fine. 

A few mums,  different varieties of pumpkins and some interesting looking gourds, all resting on hay bales bedecked with faux sunflowers.  Must be fall in New England, right?

But what have we here?  Did the mall management company send a few interns to the farm stand with instructions to buy every single fall crop they had??  And then throw them in a pile on all the parking islands?  It's like a pumpkin themed Jenga game gone bad.

Seriously, Indian corn, mini pepper plants, kale,  corn stalks & purple mini pumpkins?

En masse.

It's the en massing, the sheer volume of organic matter,  that make it so insane.

Look, they even took the time to 'artistically' arrange the mini ghost white pumpkins in a circle on the top of a bizarre two tone pumpkin...

For this last shot, I have two words:

pumpkin vomit.

Let this be a warning to all of us who aim to 'fall-ify' our outdoor decor ~ less is more.

Pumpkin Patch

So this is the post I was going to write, way back in mid September before Cuyler spent 4 days at the hospital, I spent a week being sick with some sort of sympathy illness and I caught a case of the bloggity blahs.

These pictures were actually taken the afternoon before Cuyler got so sick.  1pm: picking pumpkins, 3am emergency room. 

As I was saying, it was a beautiful sunny day so I thought we'd take a trip to the pumpkin patch.  I told the kids about my great idea and was greeted with boundless enthusiasm deep sighs and eye rolling.  Then I told them the 'pumpkin patch' was in our backyard.  A much easier sell.

We embarked on our not so treacherous journey to the garden.  Thanks to the miracle of compost, the bin of rotted food, leaves and grass clippings I'd tossed on the garden last fall went ahead and sprouted a pumpkin vine.  I did nothing for it all summer, except watch it take over the garden.  By the time we headed out to harvest our {free} bounty, we had 4 pumpkins and a withering vine.  It was time.

Ebby went first.  She picked out her pumpkin and I used the garden edger to cut the thick, prickly vine.  No easy task it turns out.  But we got it.

Next, Will's turn.  He wanted to help with the vine chopping, which he did. He's a worker, that one.  Much more so than his brother and sister anyway.

Cuyler went last.  He said he wanted the littlest pumpkin because he is the littlest kid.  Awww.  So he picked it and I chopped it off the vine for him.

I severed pumpkin #4 and that was pretty much it.  The kids headed back to the house and I posed the pumpkins for photo ops.

They were very cooperative subjects.     

See, it started out as a good day...