GTKY 5/23 Edi.

2MamazInSeattle

Join in some Friday fun!

1. Tell us about a favorite childhood summertime memory.
2. If a nearby nuclear plant had a meltdown and rendered your home and about 200 miles around it uninhabitable, where would you move to? (Assume local family/friends would have to move too, etc.).
3. If you won a new car today, anything of your choice, what would you choose?
4. What shoes are you wearing today?
5. Tell us about the weekend! It's a long one for us in the U.S.! YAY!

BONUS: We love PIPs!

KH826

1. Tell us about a favorite childhood summertime memory.

My Grammie (paternal grandmother) had an above-ground pool that she would set up for my cousins and I every summer. She also loved to record home movies and had this gigantic camcorder that she would use to record us playing around in the pool. One of my cousins and I were pretty big hams growing up, and whenever the camcorder was rolling, we felt the need to put on a show. We used to play “Sea World” in the pool, and we would take turns with one of us pretending to be a whale or a dolphin and the other one pretending to be the trainer. Grammie would film us for hours and then we would go inside and have egg salad sandwiches and popsicles and watch our videos. We got a big kick out of ourselves. On rainy days, she would film us inside and we would play “news desk” and one of us would be the news anchor and the other would be the weather girl. I used to make these elaborate weather maps on poster board, and we would dress up and put on Grammie’s suit jackets (which were huge on us) and her pearls. A few years ago I had a bunch of the old VHS tapes of these shenanigans turned into DVDs. The only thing that makes me sad is that my Grammie isn’t in any of the videos (she was always behind the camera), but you can hear her talking to us a lot and giving us little directions. She passed away when I was 11, so it is nice to still be able to hear her voice on the videos.

2. If a nearby nuclear plant had a meltdown and rendered your home and about 200 miles around it uninhabitable, where would you move to? (Assume local family/friends would have to move too, etc.).

Hmmm… this is a hard one. Well, as long as my wife’s family moved with us, I guess I would say that I would want us to move back up to New England somewhere. Probably the Boston area. That is where I grew up, but I have lived in PA for 12 years now and consider this more to be home than anywhere else. We are also very close to my in-laws, and I couldn’t imagine us living anywhere far from them, especially now that we are starting to have kids.

3. If you won a new car today, anything of your choice, what would you choose?

An Infiniti SUV. Dark grey or silver with a black leather interior. Lots of bells and whistles, and an easily accessible third row of seats for future kiddos.

4. What shoes are you wearing today?

Grey canvas ballet flats. Some of the only shoes I currently own that don’t make my feet swell instantly. See PIP below.

5. Tell us about the weekend! It's a long one for us in the U.S.! YAY!

Well, I am working a half-day in the office today and then working from home this afternoon. We actually don’t have any plans this weekend other than puttering around the house and watching some movies and potentially waiting for baby to come. We are treating this like possibly our last weekend before baby, so the plan is to stay close to home, relax and spend time together. I told my wife I want a cheeseburger (something I have been craving for months but haven’t given in and had yet) and froyo from one of those frozen yogurt places with all the flavors and toppings HAHA. Those are my only two demands for this weekend. I am 38w3d today, and when I was at the Dr two days ago I wasn’t dilated yet, but baby had dropped and was engaged in my pelvis (she’s not breech anymore – and now we think she is head-down to stay since she has dropped!) and I was almost completely effaced. I had a little spotting on Tuesday, and I have had some erratic contractions off and on throughout the week, but nothing predictable or timeable. Also, lots of cramping pretty much all the time. Sooo…. Really it could be any time now or it could be weeks. My body apparently just wants to be good and ready so it is taking its time to gear up. We shall see! I am planning to work from home on Tuesday too, and that is when my next OB appointment is if baby doesn’t come this weekend. So, that’s what the next couple of days have in store for us – relaxing, maybe a little nesting, hopefully some sleep, a few yummy treats, and waiting for baby!

LaireAndLia

1. My parents used to live on a farm. They didn't own it, but we lived in the old farmhouse, and the daughter of the owner of the farm was my nanny. I remember being about five, and running through the rapeseed field with one of my brother's who was practically dying from hay fever, trying to find my other brothers. We ended up running in circles for hours because we couldn't tell where we were going, and my eldest brother had to carry me home on his shoulders because I was so tired.

2. 200 miles away from my house either takes you well into the Atlantic Ocean, half way into the North Sea or well into England, none of which are really viable to live in. So I think we'd move to Italy. I've always loved it their, and Laire and I have actually been talking about moving there once we have kids and are married.
3. A purple Mercedes-Benz A-Class with all the bells and whistles. Or a purple Jaguar F-Type, though it's only a two seater. Basically I just like purple.

4. Right now, none. I'm going to wear my black sequin 5 inch court shoes later. Laire's taking me out for dinner.  :x

5. I'm not up to much. I picked up an extra shift at the hospital for Saturday and I promised a patient that I'd try and nip in to see her on Monday, since all the community midwives are off and she's worried about her LO, but doesn't think it's worth seeing the doctor, since we are trying to save up for kiddy stuff/more IVF. Or at least I am, Laire seems to be buying whatever she likes. On Sunday I've got to take my car in for an MOT, but my mum is taking me and L out for high tea.

2brides

1. Tell us about a favorite childhood summertime memory.  I spent every summer (or parts thereof) in Maine at my grandparents camp/cottage. It is where I learned to skip rocks, drive a boat, and waterski. I would play with the local kids, float in an inflatable boat in the middle of the lake and read, and listen to the loons as I would fall asleep. I would love to recreate that for my kids.
 
2. If a nearby nuclear plant had a meltdown and rendered your home and about 200 miles around it uninhabitable, where would you move to? (Assume local family/friends would have to move too, etc.). Hmm. I really don't know. This is actually a big question in our house. We don't love the area we are in (too much traffic, too congested, pace of life too hectic, etc.) But we love the diversity, the acceptance of GLBT families, and our jobs. I am hesitant to move any further south, I don't like winters, and I think I am solidly an east coast kind of girl. That being said, we've looked at Hartford, CT that seems like a good sized city, less traffic, and not as bad winters as some places.

3. If you won a new car today, anything of your choice, what would you choose? Sadly, a 2014 fully loaded Honda Odyssey minivan. In navy blue. I love my minivan. I drove my wife's Civic today and I felt like I needed to Fred Flintstone my feet to get it going!

4. What shoes are you wearing today? Black ballet flats.

5. Tell us about the weekend! It's a long one for us in the U.S.! YAY! ILs are coming to town. Going to dinner tonight, kids have a soccer game tomorrow, going to an outdoor concert tomorrow night, no clue about Sunday, and going downtown on Monday.

AandStilltrying

1. I lived next door to my best friend. We were 1 month 1 day apart. They had an in-ground pool and we went swimming EVERY DAY. We also played spotlight every night. All of the neighborhood kids. I was usually the only girl that wanted to play.

2. Punta Cana!!!! LOVED the pace of life there. Maybe St. Thomas though too....hmmmm options. And we DO live close to a nuclear power plan actually. About 15-20 miles max.

3. SUV....ford explorer fully loaded...black

4. White dressy flip flops.

5. Tonight- dinner out hopefully. Saturday morning- baby making! Last IUi before IVF. Sunday- in laws FINALLY leaving. Monday- sleeping in and then teaching lessons during afternoon/early evening.

Pip- my hottie wife

shelly2314

1. Tell us about a favorite childhood summertime memory.One summer my parents went to Hawaii for vacation (I was upset at first we couldn't go) and we stayed with two sets of our uncles/aunts. we went to museums, water parks, spent a lot of time poolside or in the backyard. We had a great time and got to get to know one of my aunts VERY well the summer before she passed away from cancer so it meant a lot. We also got to know our extended family much better
2. If a nearby nuclear plant had a meltdown and rendered your home and about 200 miles around it uninhabitable, where would you move to? (Assume local family/friends would have to move too, etc.). Hmm...this one is hard. My wife says she would like to move to California, I say the Florida Keys LOL
3. If you won a new car today, anything of your choice, what would you choose?My wife desperately misses her white Honda Accord so probably that for her. Although a tricked out mini van that doesn't feel like a grocery-getter would be great for family
4. What shoes are you wearing today? Absolutely none (see sick post)
5. Tell us about the weekend! It's a long one for us in the U.S.! YAY! Thank GOD and our soldiers! I have a massage scheduled for tonight.  Then, if I feel well enough, we will be heading to see my sister's new house in Orlando area and to Epcot on Saturday. Then Sunday maybe hang out with my dad. Monday I will take one of my best friends to shop for her registry. She is due the day before me and her husband cannot be with her right now (he is out of the state

ball.and.chain

1. We went to Maine every year as a kid, and had friends (college friends of my parents and their kids) who lived locally year-round. Some of their local friends played volleyball at the town beach one night a week, and they would take us as well. This was not bikini-body beach volleyball, this was 30-something parents in L.L. Bean gear on a Maine lake. But I loved swimming and playing on the beach at dusk while the parents' game went on. When it got too dark, we'd all go for soft-serve ice cream and then drive home through the woods with the car windows down.

2. I love New England, but a 200-mile radius from Boston obliterates all but a tiny corner of northern Vermont and the upper half of Maine, which is way too remote for me. So I'll go with the Philadelphia area. I went to college there and have a lot of friends in the area. I need to be near a city, and I do like Philly a lot -- good restaurants, good museums, cute neighborhoods. It would also be relatively close to my ILs, who live in NJ. And I could hang out with @KH826!

3. I'm really not a car person. If you'd asked me this a year ago, I would have said a Subaru Impreza hatchback, but I bought one about 6 months ago so I'm all set. Not that it's anything fancy but it just fits me and I really enjoy driving it. It would be nice not to have a car loan though!

4. Oh so boring. Running shoes. I bought new ones about a month or two ago, so they actually fit me, as opposed to the rest of my shoes which are too snug. The only other shoes that fit comfortably are flip flops, but they aren't supportive enough and make my hips hurt if I walk around too much. I did order some more supportive flip flops (Chaco Tananas) that are en route to my house as we speak, so hopefully that will be a comfortable, open shoe option for summer.

5. Well, this is a good one for me. We are getting dismissed two hours early from work because of the holiday weekend...so I have a prenatal massage at the spa across the street from my office at 3:45. And it's free because I had a gift card from my boss. SO EXCITED. My wife's working tonight but we have leftover pizza and salad at home, so I don't have to cook anything. PJs and vegging. My favorite.

Tomorrow is my birthday! So I get to sleep in and my wife will wait on me all day. A farm near our house is having a seedling sale, so my sister's birthday present to me is to buy my veggie seedlings this year. We're going to go pick them out (probably just tomatoes, trying to keep it simple this year) and then bring them back and plant them. There will certainly be a nap. Tomorrow night my wife and I are going out for a nice dinner. My dad and step-mother gave us a "last night out before baby" restaurant gift certificate, so we're using that.

Sunday -- yoga, then a walk around a pond with my friend and her dog. Another friend is having a BBQ in the evening, and I volunteered to bake something banana-based as I have maybe 7-8 bananas in the freezer.

Monday -- relaxing. Wife is working, so it's just me and the cat and the kicky baby in my belly.

2momsinCA

Happy Birthday @ball.and.chain‌ <:-P

Jazibel

1. Tell us about a favorite childhood summertime memory.
We used to go to Germany to visit family during the summers.  My brother and I used to play with a few other neighborhood kids. There was a great wooden park up the hill from our grandparents flat, complete with cherry trees.  We used play there for hours and climb the trees to eat cherries and spit the pits at each other. My brother who is 3 years younger couldn't climb up at first so I used to bring cherry's down for him.

2. If a nearby nuclear plant had a meltdown and rendered your home and about 200 miles around it uninhabitable, where would you move to? (Assume local family/friends would have to move too, etc.).
Honestly probably Southern California, maybe LA area or San Diego. My wife is also interested in living in New Zealand, but I'm not sure about what living there as an LGBT family would be like, and would need to do more research.  Hawaii would also be nice.

3. If you won a new car today, anything of your choice, what would you choose?
A Tesla for my wife, she loves them

4. What shoes are you wearing today? Just socks (new white Puma socks)

5. Tell us about the weekend! It's a long one for us in the U.S.! YAY! 
EV's working from home today and our midwife and friend Rebecca is coming over for our 3 week check up. I can't believe Owen is 3 weeks old already!!  This afternoon we're heading to a new (and awesome park) and then out to an Indian buffet for dinner.
Tomorrow afternoon we're going to a friends birthday. It'll be mostly adults so we'll see how it goes with kiddos.  Also its about 1 hour away - Owen's longest car ride yet, so fingers crossed he sleeps :-)
Sunday and Monday we don't have plans yet. I'd love to go swimming, but no baths, pools or hot tubs for another 3 weeks yet...   Maybe we'll go out the breakfast, or take Kaden to the indoor kids play place. We'll see.

2MamazInSeattle

1. Tell us about a favorite childhood summertime memory.
We had an older lady who worked the door for my dad's funeral home. She had a cottage on Lake Erie she let us use 2 weeks a summer and it was the best. There was the lake/beach, a creek, and woods. What else does a kid need?  We were outside morning to night and never bored!

2. If a nearby nuclear plant had a meltdown and rendered your home and about 200 miles around it uninhabitable, where would you move to? (Assume local family/friends would have to move too, etc.).

Well dummy me said 200 miles which puts Portland out of livability at 180 miles away... so likely northern California as I love the west coast; or, we'd  take a totally different route and move to Arkansas where J is from, Fayetteville area. Or, perhaps PA or OH where I am from.

3. If you won a new car today, anything of your choice, what would you choose?
Well J would get that no-gas Tesla that seems to be showing up everywhere in Seattle. I think I'd get the hybrid SUV Lexus RX. I have the little entry-level Lexus hybrid hatchback now and it's a nice little car, but I'd love to sit up higher. J has the steroid version of @ball.and.chain's ride, the Subaru Crosstrek, and I'm kinda in love with it too. But we'd be uber dorks with matching lesba-ru's.

4. What shoes are you wearing today?
Mostly none. I"m working at home. But I did put on flip flops to run to the chiro this morning.

5. Tell us about the weekend! It's a long one for us in the U.S.! YAY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY @ball.and.chain!!!

Not much going on for the long weekend. It really snuck up on me! J has Monday off and I think it's been since Hawaii that we had  day off together. So, we figured we ought to do something . Meanwhile, I'm still a wee bit recovering from my kidney stone ordeal. I'll likely spend some time in the basement sorting through a lot of baby stuff we've been given and then working on some more pre-painting nursery preparations. Otherwise, I've been a craigslisting fiend lately and am continuing to check of some of the items we are absolutely fine getting used and then removing them from our registry. Yesterday I scored a carseat that was never used for 1/2 price, and it was the exact model and color even we wanted!! Score!

Have a great weekend everyone!

StacyLH24

1. I don't have anything particular that sticks out in my mind about childhood summers. I suppose the best would be the year that we went on a Northeast vacation. We went to Plymouth, MA and then on up to Bar Harbor, ME. I loved every minute of it.

2. At this point, we would probably go to just outside of Dade City, FL. We have friends there and loved it when we went on vacation.

3. I would love a new black Chevy Silverado. Specifically the Southern Comfort Black Widow edition. I would want black leather interior and all the bells and whistles. I will have one some day.

4. I wore my sea greenish Pumas today. Have them on now. These are the most expensive sneakers I have ever bought. The color is so hard to keep clean and they are almost all mesh, which means wet feet unless I am super careful. I probably wouldn't ever buy them again.

5. Well, I'm hoping CD 1 comes this weekend. Other than that, C is working a few hours and the rest of the weekend will be spent at our usual spot. A horse club that has a trail ride every Memorial and Labor Day weekend. We help out both days. Monday we are meeting a friend in Buffalo to go shopping. I am planning to get some comfy, work appropriate clothes for our IVF journey.

Happy birthday @ball.and.chain!!!