Jimmy

So, Warren found a baby squirrel a few weeks ago.



My reaction? I said, "If you leave town, I'm not taking care of that thing."

At first, he kept Jimmy (as named by the kids) in a big bucket and fed him with a dropper. Then he transitioned him into a cat carrier.



During the day, he either hung out in the hood of Warren's hoodie or played on the punching bag that now hangs from the dining room ceiling.




Warren's desk is nearby, so when Jimmy started jumping from Warren to his nest and back again, he decided it might be time to let him outside.



So, he set Jimmy free and gave him the option of coming back to the carrier and coming in for the night.



After a few days, he didn't come back one night. The boys were all worried, but the next morning he showed up.

He needed a little more hoodie time.



And that's the story of how Warren became the crazy old squirrel guy.

October!

I just went an entire month without a single post. I guess that means I've been busy! Here's a recap, for the record.

Jiro got to spend a week at the beach for Fall Break thanks to the incredibly generous and amazing Edwards family.



He went last year too. How lucky is he? Last year he got pretty homesick and I got a ton of late night "I can't sleep" texts. This year, I barely heard a peep. He had a great time.



We had to celebrate Warren's 49th (!!) birthday without him. Satchel and I took Warren to the Beauty Shop for a fancy brunch that included cake.



If you are thinking that Satchel looks huge in the picture, it's because he is. He's officially taller than both Warren and I (though only one of us will admit it) and his feet are definitely bigger. It's an amazing thing to watch your baby grow taller than you!



Wait, I thought I just said Satchel is taller?



Someone just got busted on his tippy toes!

Let's see, what else? I am still amazing the children with my culinary skills. I made potato soup for the first time and Satchel said it was better than Warren's. (Shhh!)



Satchel saved up enough money to buy a Swegway. It's pretty awesome.



It's actually making him want to leave the house, which is great.

Jiro has been learning to play bass now that he's in the band.



He's VERY shy about it.

On Halloween we had our very last Rock-n-Romp ever. Ever! It rained so hard that we almost cancelled, which would have been a first, but the awesome owners of Memphis Made let us move it inside. Good thing, since original DC founder, Debbie Lee, came all the way to Memphis for the show!



It ended up being really awesome, and it was great hanging out with Debbie! Mean ol' Satchel refused to attend.

After RnR, Warren and Jiro dressed up for Halloween and went to a party.



That's Jiro in the monkey mask. He's a Black Ops 2 character called Lui Calibre.



Guess who Warren was?



Alex from a Clockwork Orange!



I don't play Black Ops 2 and I haven't seen A Clockwork Orange, so I'm a little out of the loop on how awesome or not awesome these costumes are.

And that was October! At least what I can remember of it!

Oster Family Reunion

Warren, the boys, and Satsuki had the world's fastest trip to South Dakota and back for the tri-annual Oster family Reunion. Since I was not there, I am piecing this together from the photos Warren sent.



They camped out their first night--somewhere in Kansas. There were rabbits near the campsite so Satsuki went crazy.



The next night they stayed in Wall, South Dakota in a motel. Wifi!




I received no family photos, but apparently they had a "photo booth."



The kids said they had to eat mostly fast food because of Satsuki. That was not a complaint.



They did a drive by of Mt. Rushmore before hightailing it back home.



They said it was a fun trip and they enjoyed seeing their cousins and Oji. Too bad there are no photos!

O35 Men's League

I guess it was inevitable...with all the kids and moms playing soccer at Greenfield, the dudes needed to get in on the action. The husbands and brothers and friends of the O35 ladies, including our very own Warren, kicked off their season last Friday night at Greenfield.

Warren plays for the Widowmakers Futball Club, but hasn't gotten an official jersey yet. He made his own at home with duct tape!



His teammates include a few other Highball significant others, which is nice.



He was pretty excited, but not nearly as excited as me and the other O35 women! It was so much fun to watch for a change! We may have gotten a little carried away.

On the Road (Still!)

So we left off with the boys heading towards Seattle. Their first stop--Bruce Lee's grave!



Warren has a thing about visiting famous graves. Glad he got to see this one!

Next, the boys hit the Pike Street Market, where Satchel insisted on purchasing a dungeness crab.



And of course they visited Bubble Gum Alley. Yes, that is chewed gum stuck to the walls.




I actually think it's awesome. It would never work in Memphis because of the heat! (They went back later with their own chewed bits to add.)

They finished off their big day in the city with some Vietnamese food. That's always Warren's go to comfort food.



They slept in a hotel for only the second time in two weeks then hit the road to Portland. I insisted that Warren take the boys to Voodoo Doughnuts and tell me all about it. As an added bonus, they also had lunch at a food truck pod. I was terribly jealous, but they sent me lots and lots of updates so I felt like I was there with them.

After lunch and doughnuts they drove down the Oregon coast. When they stoped for the night, Satchel tackled his crab.





Obviously that last one is staged, but I think the fact that the sun has set gives you a good idea of how long it took him to eat it! Warren said he helped and there was still a whole leg left. I love that Satchel loves crabs. When I was little, my uncle used to have giant crates of blue crabs shipped in from New Orleans. We'd spend hours around the table eating them. I loved it.

Anyways, that night they camped on the beach at Oregon Dunes Park. See the tent?

Jiro confirmed that Voodoo doughnuts taste almost as good the next day. Based on this photo, I can only assume Satchel was eating pickles for breakfast.



They continued down the coast checking out tide pools and what not. Looks beautiful.



Dad of the year.



I LOVE this picture of Satchel. Look at my baby!!



They made it to California and camped in the Redwoods. Warren didn't send any pictures of the campground or redwoods, but he sent these fun ones from the road.




They made it to Warren's brother's house in Folsom that night, where they had a couple of days of RNR.

Plenty more to come...

Love on the High Ropes

For Valentine's Day, I thought it would be fun for us to go to the "Extreme Date Night" at Bridges. We've climbed the wall many times, but never had a chance to do the high ropes course. It sounded super fun to both of us, so off we went.

When we arrived, I wasn't even sure they were open because there were only 3 other couples there. What? Rather than high-tailing it home, we decided to go on in and enjoy the no waiting.

The first order of business was getting harnessed up.



The photo above was taken after our first challenge, the bars of death. (They had another name for it, but I forget.) It only took about 2 seconds for me to realize I was in over my head.



The picture above is of people doing much better than we did. By we, I really mean me. I really didn't think I could even get on the first tier. With Warren's help, I eventually made it up to the second one, but that was all I could muster. I sat and watched as he shimmied up several more levels.

It was crazy!

Next we did the wall. Warren easily went to the top and rang the bell. I hovered about ten feet off the ground for a few minutes and then came down. (I have made it to the top once before.)

I'd like to blame it on being sick and/or surrounded by sickies all week, but I just wasn't feeling it. The bars of death had me spooked.

We did have about a twenty minute wait before going to the high ropes course. Watching the others do it calmed me down a lot, because, well, they made it look easy. Warren and I entertained ourselves with the "get to know you" questions provided by the staff.



When it was our turn to go up the ladder, I decided to go first. I figured that was the only way I would go. Immediately I knew that getting up the ladder was going to be HARD. Hello, total wake up call to my lack of upper body strength.

Here is a really sucky photo of the ladder leading up to the course.



It felt like it took me an hour to get up, and once there, I held on to the center pole for dear life. About 2 seconds later, Warren came bounding up as though it was the easiest thing he'd done all day. (Considering he is a teacher, maybe it was!)

For our first challenge (everyone got two) we decided to do the balance beam, which you can sort of see in this horrible photo.



I told Warren to go first this time, and seeing him cross easily did not encourage me like I had hoped. I simply couldn't make myself take the first step. Luckily, Marci, who runs the program, gave me a pep talk and then basically escorted me across. It was just so much scarier than I ever anticipated! Warren helped me back to the center pole and then I was done.

Warren was not. He did the final challenge--which is the hardest--again making it look super easy.

Here's a crappy picture to prove it.



Look, my hands were shaking and I was sweating bullets--don't expect any good pictures!

I really didn't think I could get down the ladder, and luckily I had the option of just floating down. I have never been so happy to be on the ground!

All in all, it was actually a great night. Even though I wasn't thrilled with my personal performance and the discovery of my unknown fear of heights, it was so amazing to see that guy I married. You know, that super confident guy who seemingly knows how to do everything? I've missed him.

Thank you, Bridges!