"This is the biggest fruit roll-up I've ever seen. It's bigger than a monkey's head."
-Amanda
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
A Long, Long Time Ago
Thursday night I flew to Indianapolis. My trip was two-fold. First, to visit my college roommate, Renee. Second, to go to a reunion in Bloomington. While I was at IU I did a study abroad trip to Maastricht, in the Netherlands. The professor who accompanied us wanted to get us all together for a 20-year reunion (it was actually 21, but I'd rather not count).
Unfortunately only seven of the 25 people in the program came to the reunion, but at least the other six were really fun people. Two of them even went to my high school. It was pretty unusual that out of a graduating class of around 250 students, about 7 of which went to IU, 3 were in this tiny study abroad program. It was a blast to catch up with everybody, all but one that I hadn't seen in 20 years. They were the same sweet, friendly, hilarious, obnoxious jokesters that I remember and we really did have a great evening. Even Renee seemed to have a great time and she just met them all that night.
Getting older can some times be a little difficult. Having kids that don't think you have a life of your own can be a challenge as well. But seeing old friends makes all of that much easier and truly makes you appreciate everything you have and have done over the years.
Unfortunately only seven of the 25 people in the program came to the reunion, but at least the other six were really fun people. Two of them even went to my high school. It was pretty unusual that out of a graduating class of around 250 students, about 7 of which went to IU, 3 were in this tiny study abroad program. It was a blast to catch up with everybody, all but one that I hadn't seen in 20 years. They were the same sweet, friendly, hilarious, obnoxious jokesters that I remember and we really did have a great evening. Even Renee seemed to have a great time and she just met them all that night.
Getting older can some times be a little difficult. Having kids that don't think you have a life of your own can be a challenge as well. But seeing old friends makes all of that much easier and truly makes you appreciate everything you have and have done over the years.
Sunday, April 6, 2014
The End of Spring Break
Thankfully today was the last day of the kids' spring break. Not that it was a horrible two weeks, just very long. Longer than it needs to be. Especially that extra Friday before the two week break. Who needs that? We got home Wednesday and Thursday and Friday were filled with rescheduled appointments that were missed while we were gone so those two days went fast.
We actually had a pretty good time while we were gone. There was some whining and complaining as you would expect with three young kids (okay, most of the complaining came from the girls, but Andy had a few unnecessary gripes as well). The first day we went to Legoland. They have really strange ride requirements there, for example on one ride you have to be 36 inches tall and 4 years old. You could be a five foot three year old and still not get to ride that ride. Amanda is still bitter from when we went last year and she wasn't allowed on that ride. Luckily she met the requirements this time and was able to go on just about everything because she was old enough and tall enough. The few she couldn't go on she was okay with.
The second day we spent at the pool. The water was warm, but not quite warm enough for me because they were going through a little bit of a cold spell and it was only in the 60s. I hung out in the pool with the family, though, because their biggest complaint is that I never swim with them. They're right, but that doesn't make me want to do it any more. I sucked it up this time to spend some time with my kids. See, I do love them.
Thursday we went back out and went to SeaWorld. They have some great roller coasters there that I could do all of once without getting sick so Andy and Sarah were forced to ride together the second time. They also have some great animal shows, but the Shamu show kinds of sucks now because of all the animal activists and the fact that one of the whales accidentally drowned a trainer a year or two ago. I understand it, but the shows just aren't as good. But the kids loved it and the park was empty all morning so we pretty much got to do everything we wanted to do.
Day four was once again spent at the hotel pool. This time I wasn't as loving and spent the entire day on a beach chair. Luckily the kids also spent some time with me on said chairs because it was chilly so I didn't get razzed about not going in the pool.
The next day was Monday and we got really travel aggressive for this part of the trip. We checked out of our hotel in San Diego super early and drove to Anaheim and took the kids to Disneyland for two days. We kind of decided to do this at the last minute, after Charlie had already planned the San Diego part, so we forgot that two long, tiring days at Disney at the end of a one-week vacation wasn't the smartest thing in the world. So again there were times when there was whining and crying and pleas to go back to the hotel, but it was pretty minimal. The best part about the Disney trip was that we didn't tell the girls about it at all. Basically they figured it out, with our help and prompting, as we pulled into the parking lot. The both declared it the "best surprise ever". Okay, that wasn't really the best part. The best part is that we did it all with no diaper bag, everybody potty trained, everybody tall enough to ride the majority of the rides, and no stroller. Strollers at Disney are a pain because you have to weave in and out of everybody, find a place to park it, remember where you parked it so you can pick it back up, blah blah blah. The only good thing about a stroller is that it can hold all your crap, but we brought a back pack to do that. I don't see not bringing a back pack for a very long time, but that's doable and Charlie and I shared the burden.
Overall it was a fabulous trip but I was so ready to come home. I didn't end up cleaning out the suitcases and doing the laundry from the trip until today, so that's when I really knew the vacation was over. I think I'm vacationed out for now, but can't wait for all the great stuff we have planned this summer.
We actually had a pretty good time while we were gone. There was some whining and complaining as you would expect with three young kids (okay, most of the complaining came from the girls, but Andy had a few unnecessary gripes as well). The first day we went to Legoland. They have really strange ride requirements there, for example on one ride you have to be 36 inches tall and 4 years old. You could be a five foot three year old and still not get to ride that ride. Amanda is still bitter from when we went last year and she wasn't allowed on that ride. Luckily she met the requirements this time and was able to go on just about everything because she was old enough and tall enough. The few she couldn't go on she was okay with.
The second day we spent at the pool. The water was warm, but not quite warm enough for me because they were going through a little bit of a cold spell and it was only in the 60s. I hung out in the pool with the family, though, because their biggest complaint is that I never swim with them. They're right, but that doesn't make me want to do it any more. I sucked it up this time to spend some time with my kids. See, I do love them.
Thursday we went back out and went to SeaWorld. They have some great roller coasters there that I could do all of once without getting sick so Andy and Sarah were forced to ride together the second time. They also have some great animal shows, but the Shamu show kinds of sucks now because of all the animal activists and the fact that one of the whales accidentally drowned a trainer a year or two ago. I understand it, but the shows just aren't as good. But the kids loved it and the park was empty all morning so we pretty much got to do everything we wanted to do.
Day four was once again spent at the hotel pool. This time I wasn't as loving and spent the entire day on a beach chair. Luckily the kids also spent some time with me on said chairs because it was chilly so I didn't get razzed about not going in the pool.
The next day was Monday and we got really travel aggressive for this part of the trip. We checked out of our hotel in San Diego super early and drove to Anaheim and took the kids to Disneyland for two days. We kind of decided to do this at the last minute, after Charlie had already planned the San Diego part, so we forgot that two long, tiring days at Disney at the end of a one-week vacation wasn't the smartest thing in the world. So again there were times when there was whining and crying and pleas to go back to the hotel, but it was pretty minimal. The best part about the Disney trip was that we didn't tell the girls about it at all. Basically they figured it out, with our help and prompting, as we pulled into the parking lot. The both declared it the "best surprise ever". Okay, that wasn't really the best part. The best part is that we did it all with no diaper bag, everybody potty trained, everybody tall enough to ride the majority of the rides, and no stroller. Strollers at Disney are a pain because you have to weave in and out of everybody, find a place to park it, remember where you parked it so you can pick it back up, blah blah blah. The only good thing about a stroller is that it can hold all your crap, but we brought a back pack to do that. I don't see not bringing a back pack for a very long time, but that's doable and Charlie and I shared the burden.
Overall it was a fabulous trip but I was so ready to come home. I didn't end up cleaning out the suitcases and doing the laundry from the trip until today, so that's when I really knew the vacation was over. I think I'm vacationed out for now, but can't wait for all the great stuff we have planned this summer.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Kid Quote of the Day
Amanda: Mommy, will you go to the bathroom with me?
Me: Amanda, I'm so proud of the fact that you can go to the bathroom all by yourself now and you don't need me to go with you.
Amanda: I don't need you, my pee needs you. My pee is saying that it needs you.
Me: I can't hear your pee talking to me.
Amanda: I can, and it really needs you to be there.
Me: Amanda, I'm so proud of the fact that you can go to the bathroom all by yourself now and you don't need me to go with you.
Amanda: I don't need you, my pee needs you. My pee is saying that it needs you.
Me: I can't hear your pee talking to me.
Amanda: I can, and it really needs you to be there.
Procrastination
I'm not sure why I wait until the last minute to pack for every single vacation I go on. Usually Charlie and I start around 10 or 11p the night before we are supposed to leave and are trying to get everything into the suitcases before we go to bed. It's just a bad idea because then the next morning we're tired but the kids are all hyped up because we're about to go on a trip. A very bad mix. Yet I sit here and write instead of packing.
I sort of have most of it done. I still need to get the suitcases out of the crawl space in the basement, but I picked out all of the girls' clothes on Sunday while they were taking a bath (don't worry, I kept checking on them and could hear them the entire time) and did mine the next morning. Andy picked out his own today and probably did a better job than I did because now that I think of it I didn't grab any socks for myself or the girls.
The hard part is Charlie. Usually he packs for himself but he and Andy got home really late on Sunday night and then he had to leave early on Monday for Las Vegas. He barely had time to pack for Vegas and definitely did not have time (or any clean clothes since he took them all on his trip to L.A.) to pack for our Spring Break trip. Oh wait, he picked out his underwear. Good thing because that's always so hard for me (can you sense my sarcasm here?). Anyway, I'm not upset with Charlie at all, I'm just slightly worried that I won't pack well for him. The good thing is that there are stores everywhere so if he hates it all he can buy new things. Honey, if I pack your pig shirt will you wear it?
So, yeah, waiting until the last minute. I'm not sure why I can't motivate myself to move any faster in this endeavor. It's not like I don't want to go, because I do. I just don't want to pack. Maybe I don't want to pack because I don't want to forget anything. Who knows. Now I'm just rambling.
I'm surprised I don't have everything ready and by the door. I took the kids to the movies today and was commiserating with another mom in the bathroom about how much we hate the two week spring break and what are we going to do with our kids the whole time. She mentioned that she had just recovered from Christmas break and now here we were already. I got a little exciting thinking I was totally breaking up the time by going on an awesome trip. Too bad the kids were coming with me, lol, but I know we're going to have an amazing time.
So yeah, off to pack. I probably won't write while we're gone, so think happy, sunny thoughts and I'll tell you about it when we get back.
I sort of have most of it done. I still need to get the suitcases out of the crawl space in the basement, but I picked out all of the girls' clothes on Sunday while they were taking a bath (don't worry, I kept checking on them and could hear them the entire time) and did mine the next morning. Andy picked out his own today and probably did a better job than I did because now that I think of it I didn't grab any socks for myself or the girls.
The hard part is Charlie. Usually he packs for himself but he and Andy got home really late on Sunday night and then he had to leave early on Monday for Las Vegas. He barely had time to pack for Vegas and definitely did not have time (or any clean clothes since he took them all on his trip to L.A.) to pack for our Spring Break trip. Oh wait, he picked out his underwear. Good thing because that's always so hard for me (can you sense my sarcasm here?). Anyway, I'm not upset with Charlie at all, I'm just slightly worried that I won't pack well for him. The good thing is that there are stores everywhere so if he hates it all he can buy new things. Honey, if I pack your pig shirt will you wear it?
So, yeah, waiting until the last minute. I'm not sure why I can't motivate myself to move any faster in this endeavor. It's not like I don't want to go, because I do. I just don't want to pack. Maybe I don't want to pack because I don't want to forget anything. Who knows. Now I'm just rambling.
I'm surprised I don't have everything ready and by the door. I took the kids to the movies today and was commiserating with another mom in the bathroom about how much we hate the two week spring break and what are we going to do with our kids the whole time. She mentioned that she had just recovered from Christmas break and now here we were already. I got a little exciting thinking I was totally breaking up the time by going on an awesome trip. Too bad the kids were coming with me, lol, but I know we're going to have an amazing time.
So yeah, off to pack. I probably won't write while we're gone, so think happy, sunny thoughts and I'll tell you about it when we get back.
Sunday, March 23, 2014
I Need A Vacation
My brother used to say that the main problem with having three kids was that you could never get them to agree to anything. It was actually his selling point as to why you should not have a third child. You can usually get one of the kids to be pretty gung ho about whatever activity you are planning on undertaking, you can convince a second kid that it's going to be fun, but that third kid is no way in hell going to do that. Most of the time that theory is completely correct, but sometimes all it takes is two.
This weekend Charlie took Andy to L.A. for a belated birthday trip, so it was just the girls and me (Mom, I wanted so badly to write "me and the girls" just now, but all I could picture was you shaking your head and wondering where you went wrong in instilling good grammar in me - you're always in my head). This was similar to but nothing like last weekend where both girls were under the weather and all they wanted to do way lie on me all weekend. It's amazing how Charlie is the fun one and they are all about him except when they don't feel well and want to smother me with their hot, feverish bodies and cough into my face. Anyway, I have learned a fantastic lesson from Charlie which is just because one of us goes out of town doesn't mean the rest of us have to suffer. Meaning, whenever I go out of town he does all this fun stuff with the kids so he doesn't have to sit at home and do nothing with them (which is torture in itself) so this weekend I decided to do the same.
Spring break started on Friday (because two weeks isn't enough, they have to add one more day to the beginning) so Sarah was off from school. I dropped her at Amanda's school, which we often do when Sarah has the day off and Amanda doesn't, and got in 9 miles on the treadmill at the gym. Believe me, this was key to wearing me out and giving me more patience for the weekend. After school we went home for lunch and then went to the movies. I really wanted to take the girls to "Muppets: Most Wanted", but Sarah wanted to see "The Lego Movie" because I had taken just Andy a few weeks ago and then after looking at the trailers she decided on "Mr. Peabody and Sherman", which was awesome. We didn't consult Amanda because all she really cared about was whether or not she was going to get candy, but she was a little confused and about an hour into the movie asked me where the Legos were.
Yesterday we hung out for a few hours in the morning and then went to Amanda's speech therapy make-up session since I completely forgot to take her on Tuesday for no good reason whatsoever, then we headed to the mall for lunch and some shopping. It wasn't until we got there and I couldn't find anywhere to park and once we got inside it looked like the same amount of people that are at the mall on Black Friday that I remembered why I never go to the mall on the weekends. Way too many people. That's the joy of being someone who doesn't work, you can go places when nobody else has time to go there. But I did go to the mall with two crazy, hyper little girls for several hours and we survived. They got Build-a-Bears which Amanda paid for with her own money and Sarah cashed in a sticker chart and that made the whole trip tolerable for them. I got a new dress that looks AMAZING on me (even if I don't really have anywhere to wear it) so all in all it was a win-win for everybody.
Today we got out of the house a little early before swimming and made a stop at Wal-Mart because I had to buy some color run remover for a shirt that was molested in the wash by another shirt. Not pretty. I absolutely hate going to Wal-Mart, especially with the girls. That place is so packed with stuff everywhere that it is over-stimulating for them and they have to touch and look at everything. There is no such thing as a 5-minute trip to Wal-Mart. On top of that they convinced me to buy a lot of candy that we don't need but will be helpful on our flight to San Diego on Wednesday which I will be taking alone with the kids because Charlie will be in Las Vegas on business and is meeting us there. The only positive thing that came out of the Wal-Mart trip is I got our cascarones (hollow eggs filled with confetti) for Easter. I will give props to Wal-Mart for always having cascarones at Easter time.
After swimming we hit Home Depot for some light bulbs because not a day goes by where we don't have at least one can light burn out in our house. We're pretty sure there is some weird electrical wiring problem in our house that makes it hate can lights. I offered the girls hot dogs for lunch on the way out and it was the easiest and cheapest thing we did the entire weekend. Plus, I didn't have to feed them when we got home. We topped the weekend off with a viewing of "Frozen", which I bought on Tuesday and was waiting for the perfect two hour time period to pop that sucker in and sit quietly on the couch. Done. Now I will have to listen to it in the car for the next few months on end, but I'm good with that.
So overall, not a horrible weekend, just a lot of negotiating to get everybody on board. I miss Charlie and look forward to seeing him tonight before he leaves for Las Vegas tomorrow, yes tomorrow, and even more look forward to our Spring Break trip on Wednesday. I cannot believe it's already Spring Break, this year has gone by so fast. Not really the first part of the school year, but definitely since they have gone back in January. I'm already stressing about getting the kids scheduled for everything this summer and getting all our travel plans in order and trying to figure out how I'm going to get to the gym and not gain 10 pounds back with all of our "vacations". But for now I just need to get us through the next two weeks. California, here we come!
This weekend Charlie took Andy to L.A. for a belated birthday trip, so it was just the girls and me (Mom, I wanted so badly to write "me and the girls" just now, but all I could picture was you shaking your head and wondering where you went wrong in instilling good grammar in me - you're always in my head). This was similar to but nothing like last weekend where both girls were under the weather and all they wanted to do way lie on me all weekend. It's amazing how Charlie is the fun one and they are all about him except when they don't feel well and want to smother me with their hot, feverish bodies and cough into my face. Anyway, I have learned a fantastic lesson from Charlie which is just because one of us goes out of town doesn't mean the rest of us have to suffer. Meaning, whenever I go out of town he does all this fun stuff with the kids so he doesn't have to sit at home and do nothing with them (which is torture in itself) so this weekend I decided to do the same.
Spring break started on Friday (because two weeks isn't enough, they have to add one more day to the beginning) so Sarah was off from school. I dropped her at Amanda's school, which we often do when Sarah has the day off and Amanda doesn't, and got in 9 miles on the treadmill at the gym. Believe me, this was key to wearing me out and giving me more patience for the weekend. After school we went home for lunch and then went to the movies. I really wanted to take the girls to "Muppets: Most Wanted", but Sarah wanted to see "The Lego Movie" because I had taken just Andy a few weeks ago and then after looking at the trailers she decided on "Mr. Peabody and Sherman", which was awesome. We didn't consult Amanda because all she really cared about was whether or not she was going to get candy, but she was a little confused and about an hour into the movie asked me where the Legos were.
Yesterday we hung out for a few hours in the morning and then went to Amanda's speech therapy make-up session since I completely forgot to take her on Tuesday for no good reason whatsoever, then we headed to the mall for lunch and some shopping. It wasn't until we got there and I couldn't find anywhere to park and once we got inside it looked like the same amount of people that are at the mall on Black Friday that I remembered why I never go to the mall on the weekends. Way too many people. That's the joy of being someone who doesn't work, you can go places when nobody else has time to go there. But I did go to the mall with two crazy, hyper little girls for several hours and we survived. They got Build-a-Bears which Amanda paid for with her own money and Sarah cashed in a sticker chart and that made the whole trip tolerable for them. I got a new dress that looks AMAZING on me (even if I don't really have anywhere to wear it) so all in all it was a win-win for everybody.
Today we got out of the house a little early before swimming and made a stop at Wal-Mart because I had to buy some color run remover for a shirt that was molested in the wash by another shirt. Not pretty. I absolutely hate going to Wal-Mart, especially with the girls. That place is so packed with stuff everywhere that it is over-stimulating for them and they have to touch and look at everything. There is no such thing as a 5-minute trip to Wal-Mart. On top of that they convinced me to buy a lot of candy that we don't need but will be helpful on our flight to San Diego on Wednesday which I will be taking alone with the kids because Charlie will be in Las Vegas on business and is meeting us there. The only positive thing that came out of the Wal-Mart trip is I got our cascarones (hollow eggs filled with confetti) for Easter. I will give props to Wal-Mart for always having cascarones at Easter time.
After swimming we hit Home Depot for some light bulbs because not a day goes by where we don't have at least one can light burn out in our house. We're pretty sure there is some weird electrical wiring problem in our house that makes it hate can lights. I offered the girls hot dogs for lunch on the way out and it was the easiest and cheapest thing we did the entire weekend. Plus, I didn't have to feed them when we got home. We topped the weekend off with a viewing of "Frozen", which I bought on Tuesday and was waiting for the perfect two hour time period to pop that sucker in and sit quietly on the couch. Done. Now I will have to listen to it in the car for the next few months on end, but I'm good with that.
So overall, not a horrible weekend, just a lot of negotiating to get everybody on board. I miss Charlie and look forward to seeing him tonight before he leaves for Las Vegas tomorrow, yes tomorrow, and even more look forward to our Spring Break trip on Wednesday. I cannot believe it's already Spring Break, this year has gone by so fast. Not really the first part of the school year, but definitely since they have gone back in January. I'm already stressing about getting the kids scheduled for everything this summer and getting all our travel plans in order and trying to figure out how I'm going to get to the gym and not gain 10 pounds back with all of our "vacations". But for now I just need to get us through the next two weeks. California, here we come!
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