"The Enemy Known as the Mosquito."

I'm trying not to freak out too much about the giant cloud of volcanic ash hovering all over Europe and closing down the Milan airport, into which Carl and I are scheduled to be flying next week. Which is near impossible. But in line with my futile attempt to forget I may be loosing hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in too-late-to cancel fees, not to mention a much needed vacation, I shall relate my favorite Alex and Ryan stories of the day.



Favorite Ryan story of the day: Ryan was singing "I've Been Working on the Railroad." As all good Texans know, this song is sung to the same tune as the Texas fight song, "The Eyes of Texas are upon you..." Ryan was getting them mixed up, not to mention confusing "railroad" with "rainbow," so it came out as "I've been working on the rainbow, all the Long Horns Day..."

I think its quite catchy, really. He might have a hit tune on his hands. He can go on American Idol in twelve years and make me a millionaire (that's right, me, since he'll be a minor and his money will be mine). Gen. Larry Platt and his "Pants on the Ground" will no longer be the most famous original Idol ditty around.

And my favorite Alex story of the day: a mosquito was flying around the kitchen table tonight while we tried to eat dinner. I was seriously displeased to 1) see a mosquito in my house and 2) see a mosquito at all. I remarked that it was the first mosquito of the season. I was then corrected by my eldest. "This was not the first time this season we have seen the enemy known as the mosquito. I saw one the other day."

I was awestruck. Such a complex sentence, such beautifully strong words put together, all from my six year old. And I fell totally, irrevocably in love with the phrasing of "the enemy known as the mosquito." Now that's a best-selling book title just waiting to happen. I won't even have to wait twelve years for Alex to write his best-seller. He is already a genius with words. He can write it now, and then I will be a multi-millionaire even faster (again, he's a minor and I'm keeping all the money for myself).

And then I won't have to worry about volcanic ash-holes possibly destroying my first trip to Europe in eight years. Because I can afford to lose non-refundable deposits on boutique hotels. Yeah, that's the ticket.