Alrighty!  It's been a while!  Our household has been busy.  We had to get ready for Malane and I going on our trip, etc., and coupled with my finding a whole slew of high school and old Mebane church crew, I had been catching up with them on myspace.  I have a page there now, too under (what else) naracefamily. I do have it set on private, so only other myspace users added as "friends" can view it....there's a lot of crazy people out there you know! :) 

    So, our trip was very interesting and a learning experience.  We as moms can do or deal with pretty much anything that comes our way.  Our solutions may be different, even strangely "inventive," but we definitely roll with the punches!  Malane slept through flight #1 to O'Hare. (yes, I was ending up in Baltimore...there were no direct flights going up there...it was Labor Day weekend) we got there and had a decent layover time of  an hour and a half.  Seeing that I had to hoof it over to a completely different terminal, trying to find elevators the whole way, a wardrobe change for both of us due to an oops by Malane and a diaper change for her, trying to find a pre-wrapped sandwich (uh...yum, I guess) and ending up somehow on the Pilots area of concourse C and being redirected by my own pilots for my next flight, and they changed our gate, which if I had not run into the pilots I would not know, I arrived at my gate just in time to board the plane!  I did manage to grab one of those comical tees for kids..."someone who loves me very much went to Chicago and bought me this shirt." :)  There's always time to shop, in my book! :)  Flight #2 was even more interesting as I was seated to a fighting husband and wife...the husband was upset that he had to be seated in the same row as an "it."  Yes, he was referring to my child!  His wife was reaming him out for speaking that way, but she was very  nice and wanted to play with Malane.  Thankfully, she sat between her husband and I, as  I think I would've turned a little "less christian" by the end of the flight with that man next to me!  She ended up wanting to storm out from next to her husband a little before our descent to BWI and accidentally stepped on my sandwich!  I guess I wasn't going to eat that after all! :)  I had met an extremely nice Asian couple with their 5 month old on the plane and we walked to baggage claim together.  As I struggled with Malane in the stroller, getting the Car Seat bag off the BC then locating my suitcase and getting that off the BC, then trying to find one of those carts that (I'm sorry, I think its and extreme rip off) they charge you $3 to use for 5 mins, a security officer for the airport came over and seriously visually molested me before offering to assist me in a questionable manner.  He didn't outwardly say anything inappropriate, it was just the manner in which he offered that was grotesque.  The Asian husband, came over and pretended to be mine and told the guy basically thanks, but no thanks.  They then walked with me to the rental car shuttle.  Once I got into my rental car, I found out the utter and complete fallacy that is mapquest!  I, in my need to "be prepared," had printed out directions to Aaron's house prior to my leaving on my trip....boy! were they wrong!!!  Aaron had reported to NAS Norfolk and was unavailable to answer his calls, and Christy was at work.  I got out at a gas station and asked this very nice older man, dressed as a golfer (yes, I look for someone who looks nice and knows what they are talking about!) and he told me exactly how to get to my brother's neighborhood.  Although, we laughed about HOW he did it!  (like all women drivers are dumb) "Okay, you're gonna come up to a sign that says in BIG LETTERS....BAY HEAD ROAD.  That's the road you're looking for."  By the way, sir, the STREET SIGN is normal size! 

   So, I made it to my Bubba's house.  Ahhhh.  Relaxation!  It was good to see the little cousins interacting and playing with each other.  Oh, excuse me, only my kid was little, my niece and nephews are not so little anymore!  :)  My poor niece, Lindsay, who's now 14, is following in my footsteps a little as she has a knee injury.  Remember me as a gimp?  Only, she managed to do more damage than I.  She had reconstructive knee surgery on, of all days, Sept 11.  Austin is 12, and so responsible.  He helped me out a great deal with Malane, I'm downloading a pic to prove it! :)  And Alex is my rough and tumble sweetheart who's almost 9.  He is the epitomy of a boy and I love it!  Even down to his not wanting to brush his thick thatch of hair!  My cutie pie!  His favorite saying of the trip?  "If Malane makes a mess, she's gonna have to clean it up herself! It's only fair!" :)  We went all around doing everyday things for their household and sightseeing as well.  Downtown Annapolis is a lot like Old Saint Augustine, and I love it!  There was a Navy football game that Sat, but it wasn't bad on traffic through the base.  Then after church on Sunday, we ate lunch at this great Italian Market and I got to see some of Aaron's friends from college that I probably threw for a loop!  You see, the last time they saw me I think I was 8, now I'm grown with my own kid!  Malane made herself known the entire meal to the entire restaurant as she used two huge spoons to bang the mess out of the table, laughing, b/c with the height of the ceiling, it was that much louder! :)  She also found out the awe of gelato!  Then we changed clothes and Aaron, Austin, Malane and I made our way on the 2 hour drive to see our Grandma Cubbage and family.  We went to our Uncle Tim and Aunt Betsy's home and visited with them and our two cousins, Amanda and Elizabeth (who grew up like my little sisters) and Amanda's boyfriend, Doug.  Malane had a ball, literally, she showed her genetic predisposition to soccer, by grabbing Liz's soccer ball from the mound of stuffed animals she had put out for Laney to play with!  Atta Girl!!! :)  At dinner, while all of us were talking, something happened that was pretty cool.  You have to understand, my grandmother Grace has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and has not been doing too well.  But we turned around to see her and Laney having the biggest discussion ever!  I wanted to cry.  You have to understand, I had a great relationship with all of my grandparents, Malane will not have that with hers, so for her to have this moment with her Great Grandmother was super special for me!  To top it all off, Aunt Betsy got a picture of it!  We had a wonderful time there!  Malane had soo much fun!  Like all good things must come to an end, we had to make our trip back to Aaron's house.  The next day, we hung out and went around town, then went to check out the beach on the Chesapeake Bay.  Aaron called us girls to come on over at the spur of the moment, so we were not dressed for the occasion.  My being soo busy with everything that has been going on this summer, I am supremely white!!! So in my pic with laney, I do glow....:)  Then we had to fly home the Tuesday after Labor Day.  We made it to the airport just "in time."  And they rushed me through security with the Redskins players who were going up for the Giants game!  Don't get too excited, I think I was standing with second string!  I was looking, and didn't recognize anyone, but I really didn't have much time, I had to hoof it to my gate!!  Which was out on the tarmac!!!!!  I had never boarded a plane like that before, not even when I lived in PR.  We deplaned on the tarmac at Jax, too!  Of course, United lost my bags, good thing I had put the other car seat in the car, so we had one to drive Malane home in!  The bags arrived the next day, thank God!  And we were finally home! 

    Okay, now my hands are tired and you probably have to wake up now and go somewhere....else! :)  That's enough for now....here's my myspace page url:

http://www.myspace.com/naracefamily

So, it's Monday, AGAIN, and it's pretty much the normal routine.  Lea and Alex are here until school starts, their Mom and Dad have no leave, as they will need it for house-hunting in Quantico.  Miss Malane is getting 4 molars at the same time....not so fun for all.  Pobrecita, she can't sleep that well, that's gotta hurt!  Last night, after a day with a 10 minute nap, (I won't go into that...too gross) she was eating dinner at the table with us.  Mark was telling joke after joke, loud as usual.  She's adding in her comments, too, while she's attempting to scoop up her green peas that roll around with her big fat baby spoon.  He's in the middle of telling this joke:

JOKE BREAK HERE:

  This boss has the best employee ever.  Never late to work, working days off, etc.  One day he doesn't show, so after about 4 hours, the boss gets worried and decides to call the house and see what's up.  He calls and it rings and this little voice answers the phone whispering.

Boss: Hello? Is someone there?

Little, whispering girl:  tee-hee yes.

Boss: Is your daddy home?

Little, whispering girl: tee-hee yes.

Boss: Can I talk to him?

Little, whispering girl: No, not right now.

Boss: How about your mommy? Is she home? Can I talk to her?

Little, whispering girl: tee-hee she's home, but you can't talk to her now, either.

The boss is puzzled at this point and kinda weirded out and/or too afraid to ask, but he does anyway.

Boss:  Well, why not? What's going on? What's that sound in the background?

Little, whispering girl: tee-hee, that's a helicopter.

Boss: A helicopter?!?! What's a helicopter doing at your house?

Little, whispering girl:  Dropping off the search team.

Boss: SEARCH TEAM!?!?!?!? What on earth for?  Who are they searching for?

Little, whispering girl:  tee-hee-hee for me!

When I look over and see my daughter trying to keep eating while she is falling asleep.  Her head would bob, then she would get that look like, "it's okay. I'm awake, look, I'm eating," and then she would drop asleep again, her head would bob, etc.  For like, 10 minutes this is going on.  I got my cell and took some videos.  I was coughing, clearing my throat, saying her name and each time she would pick up her spoon and try to eat something before nodding off again.  I could not contain myself, it was just too hilarious!  I didn't get the video until the end, though, I'm including a pic from the final "sleep mode."  Notice the spoon still in hand. 

Ciao for now!