Proof that God is indeed male: baby poo that looks (and smells!) more like vomit than it has any right to.

Were God female, She would have made baby poo (and baby farts, no less) smell like roses. Or lavender. Or some equally unoffensive odor.

But God is definitely male, and is probably as amused by poo smells as His male human counterparts.

Yuck.

I had talked to Kurt on Wednesday night about going to the ship's open house, and the more I thought about it, the more I didn't really want to go. But I think it was due more to my exhaustion and general bad mood than anything else. When I woke up Thursday morning (fairly early for me, no less!), the sun was shining and I was in a very good mood.

So I waited for Kurt to call me, and then as time passed, I decided to call him.

Calling my husband at work isn't an easy thing. His cell phone doesn't work when he's inside the ship, and even if it did, he's not allowed to carry it on him while he's in uniform. I called the quarterdeck, but since he's now in a new job, he wasn't where he used to be all the time, so they had to call for him over the 1MC (the ship's intercom). The funny thing about that is yesterday Kurt wasn't the only Chief W on board; there was another who was there to discuss an upcoming inspection, so he came up to the quarterdeck as well.

Once I had him on the line, I asked him if he wanted to come get me and show me around the ship and/or show Grace and me off. He sort of sighed and said, "Do you really want to come up here?" I said sure. Then he told me that of 180 people that were supposed to show up for the dependents' cruise, only about 20 people had come for the open house. He told me it wasn't any different from the zillions of times I've been on the ship, that they weren't doing anything special for the dependents. To make matters worse, there was discussion on whether the mess would be open to feed the family members. The Supply Officer didn't want to feed us; he said he couldn't afford it!

But Kurt told me that he'd be able to get off early. He had to go find a new guy that was supposed to check on board to the ship, but who hadn't called or contacted the ship in any way. Kurt had to go out to his apartment and make sure he was still alive. Apparently the new guy hadn't heard that they weren't actually getting underway on Wednesday, so he didn't call the ship to check in. He's not considered to be UA (unauthorized absence, or AWOL to you Army people) until today, so I'm hoping he contacted the ship this morning. It got Kurt out of work really early, so I can't complain.

I decided to haul my happy butt onto the 11:25am ferry and got Gracie ready to go. On weekdays the ferry parking is somewhat full, although there are always spots for us latecomers. At the last moment I decided against bringing the stroller, although it meant about a quarter mile walk for Gracie. She abhors the stroller, and I just didn't want to deal with a toddler meltdown on such a lovely day. So Grace trotted along on her little legs all the way to the ferry terminal, up the long commuter walkway, and onto the ferry. I thought she'd want to sit at least for a few moments after all that walking, but instead she ran around the ferry, pushing the seats down on the individual chairs and climbing up on the bench seats for a better view.

Once we got to the other side, we still had to wait a few moments for Kurt to show up. While waiting, a couple passed us on the way to the ferry and exclaimed over how much Gracie looks like me. I'm always surprised by that -- I always think she looks more like Kurt.

As we were walking from the parking lot to the Indian restaurant to have lunch, a freight train came by! Grace thought it was great fun. She cracked up laughing as the cars thundered past us, although she felt more secure once Kurt picked her up.

Even after lunch, Grace's little legs were still rarin' to go. We walked all over Edmonds, going into the little boutique shops and buying a few small things. For the most part, she was good, although she wanted to take her sweater off every time we entered a store. The problem with that is she can't get her sweater back on by herself, and sometimes she would take off her sweater and fling it on the floor. If we weren't paying attention, we could leave her sweater behind once we left.

Kurt and I were so worn out by our long walk and the fresh air that we passed out on the ferry ride back home. We were asleep so hardcore that the people behind us had to honk their car horn to wake us up so we could get off the ferry!! I hate that when it happens. It's so embarrassing.

And then it was off to the used book store, where I had a huge store credit. I got probably ten books for about $11, and used up half my store credit. I needed more books like I need a hole in my head!! Hey, everyone has an addiction! Mine just happens to take up a lot of room in my house.