"It's not that you are fat, it's that you are not that skinny"

You guys are doing great on the quiz! I am amazed at the level of retention (and even more amazed that one of you figured out the second extra credit question, which I was certain no one would get...)

I guess maybe I will give another day on the first four questions, and then give you the answers and re-pose the next four...it seems to be easier for folks to tackle a few at a time. I also published some humorous answers from the weekend, too. No, The Warbling Norsemen are not my favorite band;-)

Weekend was awesome! We had a whole lot of fun, and I think Munchkin was really glad to see some of her friends that she hadn't seen in a while. I am fully anticipating a request that they all live together at the beach house next summer;-) That sounds a little too much like an MTV reality show to me, but we can worry about that later on.

Actually had sort of an interesting incident on Friday, one that falls definitively into the "Easier to be a sister" category. Her friends got there around noon, and I picked them up at the ferry and brought them back to the house. They wanted to hit the beach straight away (and some of Munchkin's summer friends were coming over later in the afternoon.) So they all went and put their bathing suits on.

Now, as I have written before, and as I am sure any of you who were ever teenage girls is aware, there are some clothing issues that arise as they learn how to dress their rapidly developing new bodies. One of Munchkin's friends came down in a bathing suit that was WAY too small. It doesn't take girls long to realize that wearing clothes a little small is a good way to attract attention from boys. What they don't know, is that there is a limit to that phenomenon...

Munchkin's friend is not a super skinny girl. She is really cute, and I would never call her even remotely fat, or even "heavy", but she definitely has a thicker frame than some other girls. So, the bathing suit (that I am guessing was from last year when she was smaller, and I am also guessing she knew was too small but thought was on the cute side of too small) was just terribly unflattering. To be totally honest, there were boobs and ass hanging all out of it;-)

This would be awfully difficult for a Mom...teenage girls do not react well to their mothers telling them or their friends what to wear. And it would be totally and completely unmanageable for a Dad (you can not tell a 14 year old that is not your daughter that her boobs are hanging out without worrying about facing some kind of charges). But, as the super cool older sister, it is actually not that tough;-). Especially with some of my friends around to help.

There is the minor concern of making sure that the message she gets is not "You are too fat for that," because I think the girl actually has a super healthy body image, and I would never want her to lose that. But, a little fashion consulting from the older girls is totally acceptable, and we managed to find her a more modest suit that looked way better, and still allowed her to attract the desired attention from the boys:-) (Here is where I should tell you that she had packed like five bathing suits for a three day trip...but that is another issue with teenagers for another day:-)).

With that issue solved, the rest of the weekend was really nice! I didn't see a whole lot of Munchkin, as she and her friends were busy flapping their social butterfly wings the whole time, but that is OK. Unfortunately, my little working vacation is over, Papa Bear has taken over the satellite office and it's requisite babysitting responsibilities...and I am back in the office today. At least for two more weeks until my non-working vacation starts!

In super exciting news, Tinkerbelle is coming to visit in about a week and a half:-D