Yuma

Katya and I had a safe trip to Yuma. It was actually very nice to get away with just one child. It was so very quiet. We listened to the Chronicles of Narnia on the way there and back--which did indeed make the drive go by faster. We stayed in a hotel, well, a motel really. I think that's what you call the run down, two-story, pool-in-the-parking-lot-in-front joint we stayed in. It backed up to a gas station so there was quite a bit of noise coming through the 300 year old bathroom window. We just kept the door closed to muffle it.

I got to catch up with a few old friends that I hadn't seen in years. That was fun. I surprised one friend at her office (she had no idea I was in town) and we had a very fun time catching up. Her daughter used to babysit Emily and her daughter is now a beautiful 27 year old woman. Yikes.

We also got to see the world's most idiotic, ridiculous movie. Katya really wanted to go see a movie, and try as I might to tempt her with cable TV at the Happy Travel Motel, she was hoping to milk this "being by myself with mom thing." I fell for it and we went to the only movie that was playing that was age appropriate: "Mr. Bean's Holiday." After the movie, Katya walked out and said, "That was strange." If she thought it was strange--and let me tell you that her standard for a good movie is pretty low--then you can understand why I sat through it with my mouth gaping open in shock and awe at the utter stupidity. Noah called me in the middle and I willingly went out to the hall to chat with him. Thankfully Katya filled me in on the scenes I missed. She didn't understand that I didn't want to know what happened.

After the movie we went shopping at Yuma's new mall. Ooooooooo. When we lived in Yuma (during Sam's 6 year Marine Corps career) it was the equivalent of Retail and Restaurant Hell. Seriously. Unless they had it at Kmart or Sears you couldn't get it. And let me tell you that it was a very old Kmart. Very old and very icky. And I remember vividly the day that Red Lobster opened in town--there was a line around the building waiting for them to open the doors. Very sad, I know. I watched it happen with a mixture of pity and horror. So, the fact that they have an actual mall with actual restaurants and a theater with more than 4 screens is pretty impressive. I actually forgot I was in Yuma while we were there. And Katya successfully spent some of her birthday money on some clothes and jewelry. She is a jewelry addict at this point. The good news is that we found a store with a bunch of jewelry on clearance.

On Wednesday when Katya was done with her testing we even took some time and went to the Yuma Territorial Prison. Always a good idea when it is 110 or so to visit something that is predominantly outdoors. Thankfully there is a museum with a/c so we spent time in there cooling off. It was actually very interesting to read about some of the convicts and very educational for Katya since she was missing school. Am I a great mom or what???

Katya's testing went well. We won't find out the results until the tester compiles the results into a report which takes her about 20-30 hours to write. Yikes. The more I learn about dyslexia the more fascinating it becomes. It's not at all about people reading backwards but it is a language processing disorder. If she is dyslexic it would explain a lot of the problems she has in acquiring new vocabulary and finding the right words in a conversation. I'll be sure to let you know if she is or not. Regardless I saved myself a bundle by driving to Yuma for the testing. If she isn't I won't feel as bad as if I had spent the over $1000 to have her tested. That's like when I take the kids to the doctor when they are sick--I find myself seriously hoping they have an infection or something to justify my co-pay. I hate paying $25 to hear that they have a cold. So spending over $1000 to find out that she doesn't have dyslexia would probably send me over the edge.

We ate at several restaurants while we were in the Big City o' Yuma and I made some assumptions about what food had gluten in it and in some cases I clearly guessed wrong because whatever we ate on Wed. caused Katya to be sick on Thursday and to have to come home from school. I think it helped her see more clearly why she is on the special diet though. So in the end it probably ended up being worth it for a slight attitude adjustment regarding the "I can't eat anything and I'm not happy about it" diet.

And Tommy's teacher says he is doing much better, which I can only attribute to his new diet. He has not brought her to the point of wanting to run out of the classroom screaming for at least two weeks so there is a great deal of improvement. Way to go Tommy!

Well, I'm off to watch a movie. We are babysitting my favorite baby in the whole world, Jackson(who to be honest is actually almost 2, but in my eyes still a baby), and I need to wait up for his mom and dad to come pick him up. And then in the morning we have week #2 of two soccer games a couple of hours apart. Rachel's is at 11:40 this week so it should be nice and cool. Sure, maybe I'll bring a jacket.