Summer at the Playground

Some of you might have noticed that the clamor from the Playground has been somewhat diminished. No, I am not burnt out, just out of circulation for, what might soon be agreed, good reasons.

Good Reasons for Decreased Blog Presence:

1) Some amongst you might remember that in late May my laptop crashed. Completely had to be reformatted and right after that the Fam and I went to the Republic of the Philippines for a long awaited family vacation.

Upon returning, I spent many long hours playing catch-up with work because we left the imps in a Manila suburb. Yes, you read this last sentence correctly. The imps spent the summer 10,000 miles from home. However it is not as bad as it might seem. They were probably better treated over there than they would have been at a baby sitter's over here. In fact I am sure of this because they spent their summer with my imp-laws.We have photos (or will have soon. So I expect that much of my future posts will be pictorials of their vacation).

2) Work, Work, Work: Because of reason #3, I spent most of my time on the road, often not getting home until 11p.m. or later...aaaaaand, I repainted our main bathroom along with installing a new doorframe/door. Then we (me) sponge-painted both imps bedrooms. If you have done any sponge painting you know three essential facts:a) blemishes in the walls are mostly hiddenb) minimum of 2 coats of paintc) sponges are not known for precise painting and therefore EVERYTHING must be taped, even the ceiling.

3) I knew that at the end of July, I would be going back to Manila for a week to bring the imps home.

Yep, while many of you were enjoying Blogher in Chicago, I was in Manila enjoying in-service massages (and these are the type of massage service that you can 'write home to mama' about), nights out on the town, with some of my imps-in-law (if you are ever in Manila go to Chef and Brewers for the live bands), and the newly opened Water Spa with the 20+ massage stations (while this is a first rate facility, the air-bubble butt massage was not amongst my personal favorites).

Notes from the imps vacation:

1) Boy.Imp is potty trained!! He has abosolute bladder control!! We believe that the heat and humity of the Islands had more to do with this change than anything else.

2) Our imps do very well on long plane rides, it is the time inbetween rides that is somewhat concerning:
a) lines at immigration are there for the imps' personal amusement. B.imp even volunteered to go home with a guy standing in line behind me because he claimed he had more 'toys' at home than we apparantly did. Actually since he did not volunteer this info but only answered after b.imp interrogated him, creepy is not the first label I am using as descriptive for this guy. Third or fourth maybe...
b) if you actually go into banks to conduct any business you are often routed through a maze of poles and flat, nylon ropes. The ropes are not of interest for this point. The metal poles, specifically the reflective nature of the bases of these metal poles are the main focus. Because this is what b.imp focused on, after he backed up to one of them and pulled his pants down so he could admire the reflection of his butt...

3) My imps-in-law are wonderful hosts who are the epitome of class. Thank you all for hosting us and our imps this summer!!!