Scientist Will

Will won a grant a few months ago and UNC's School of Public Health made a video about the work he is going to do. You can catch Will being all scientific:

http://www.sph.unc.edu/accelerate/meet_the_innovators_video_7988_6068.html

You may notice (and if you don't, I'm pointing it out now) that Miles Davis gets more prominent play in Will's office than either Guillermo or I. Don't even ask about Maya's presence, but we know he loves us.

UPDATE: Apparently the earlier link wouldn't work on some computers so I added the address. Please let me know if that doesn't get you there and I'll figure out something else.

Vacation Pictures

At long last, here are pictures form our vacation to Peoria. I would have posted pictures sooner but we lost the charger for our camera. My parents sent these to me late last week.

Goofing off

Water fun

Worn out

Maya and me

Sucka

Will was in a rare mood today, eager to talk about his day. Normally I ask "What happened at work today?" and get a short "It was busy" response. It's like he's preparing me for the response I'm going to get in a few years from my kids. Oh wait. Half the time, when I ask Guillermo he did at school he grumbles "I can't remember."

Anyway, Will was telling me about a meeting he had and I, half listening as we put dinner on the table, said "Next time you should just stand up and say "Ya'll are a bunch of suckas" and walk out." I, the unemployed one in the family, cracked up. Will was a little confused. "Which side would I say that to?" he asked. "It doesn't matter. All of them."

Just for good measure, I said "Y'all are a bunch of suckas" a few more times throughout the evening to my own laughter, and no one else's. Except it seems Maya was listening. 

Later, I heard her say "I suck." "I suck, papa."

I know I should feel bad, but I can't stop laughing.

Slippa, Slippa baby

Maya and Guillermo at Will's office on Friday.

A few years ago, as Guillermo and I were walking into Target, Guillermo came up with a new song. "Slippa, slippa baby. Slippa, slippa baby." Catchy, I know. Later we added this: "Slip, slip baby." The full song now goes like this: "Slippa, slippa baby. Slippa, slippa, baby. Slip, slip baby, slippa, slippa baby."  

Last night, Guillermo came up with a new song and I think the lyrics fit perfectly with "Slippa, slippa baby." 

His new verse: Pop, pop canoodlie (as in can-noodle-e). 

Put it all together now: "Slippa, slippa baby. Slippa, slippa baby. Slip, slip baby. Pop pop canoodlie, pop pop canoodlie. Slippa, slippa baby." 

If I could sing well, I'd add audio but believe me, you don't want to hear me song. Nobody wants to hear me sing, except my 12-year-old neighbor, and that's just because she wants to make fun of me. She heard me sing once (because even though I sound horrible, I sing all the time) and said I wasn't that bad. To that, Guillermo declared: "Yes, she is." Both my kids ask me (or shout at me) to stop singing but that usually just makes me sing louder. 

Anyway, I'll try to record Guillermo singing "Slippa, slippa baby" tomorrow and add it so you can sing along. I know you want to.

I love Peoria

Many of you spend your summer vacations at the beach. Some of you go to Disney World. I have a friend who went canoeing and mountain biking for a week with her family. Those summer vacations sound fun, really fun, but I made Will promise this week that we could spend our summer vacation each year in Peoria, Ill. 

Laugh if you must, but have you felt how soft Kentucky Bluegrass is on your bare feet? Then, imagine a lush backyard of green surrounded by yellow, pink, purple and blue flowers. Add two kids happily chasing their father as you watch from the patio. It's pure bliss. My parents' house, just outside Peoria, is about the best place on Earth for me. I didn't even grow up there. My parents moved there when I was 21. It doesn't matter. I love going there. 

We spent a little over a week at my parent's, arriving at 3 a.m. a few Saturdays ago. Maya wouldn't go back to bed so we spent the next day exhausted but being exhausted there is even easier. Of course, there are two extra adults around who can help us. And believe me, they help us. Will is amazed at how often my parents do laundry. A load of laundry can stay in my dryer for days without me remembering that it's there. That doesn't happen at the Gott house, and I love my parents even more for that. 

We went shopping, took the kids swimming and floating on the lazy river at a water park and took them to Safetytown, a bicycle course filled with traffic signs for kids to follow. I took Maya and Guillermo to visit several of my friends, including one who moved her husband and kids into the house I did grow up in, and we played at several parks. My parents watched the kids for one weekend while Will and I spent a lazy weekend in Chicago with friends. (Now I'm trying to lobby Will to move to Chicago, partly because we had so much fun and partly because it's close to my family. It's never going to happen, I know, and in reality, it's probably for the best). 

My parents took Guillermo and Maya to see a Peoria Chiefs baseball game and let them stay to see the fireworks after the game. I had tried to take Guillermo to see fireworks on July 4th but the show was cancelled because of storms. My parents said the kids were in awe. Guillermo later told me it was beautiful and he was sad for me because I missed it. He then kissed me on the cheek. Maya, apparently, repeated this the entire 40 minutes home from the ball game: "Fireworks, again, yes, Show Mama. Fireworks, yes, again. Mama see."

Maya woke up every day at 6 a.m. or earlier, except our last day, when she slept until 6:30 a.m., which meant we missed my father who had already left for work. Rats. But other than that, we had a wonderful visit and I can't wait to go back.