Home Sweet Home

Yee Haawwww. Today is the day come home. Not really Yee Haw because I'll be traveling most of the day and that is never fun. And think of all the laundry that awaits me. That is okay. I'm always ready for my own bed after about 3 days and I am missing my 3 kiddos.

This picture is from Jackson Hole in February 2001. It was one month before I got pregnant with the Big Guy. It was also where we learned on the news that Tom and Nicole were divorcing (I remember random things like that). That was the same night my Hubby went to bed at 6PM and made me mad. I had a beer and watched a new episode of Friends on Must See TV.

Out of the office

Spa Day

This is another prescheduled post during my hiatus from life. If I am not messed up with the schedule, right now is when I am having a spa treatment. Ahhhhh. Finally. A REAL vacation.

Nightmare Vacation Spot

I think this is the day I am supposed to actually ski. I think this is the day that I won't be talking to my Hubby. I'll let you know later.

Still pray for my children, but today please pray for me as well.

To Ski or not to Ski

I am leaving tomorrow for several days. My Hubby and I are going skiiing and we are leaving our kids for the first time. I don't think we have both been gone from them except for a night when I was in the hospital having Baby Girl and a night when the Big Guy was a toddler and I was hugely PG. So it goes without saying that I am a bit nervous of Grammy's babysitting abilities. My boys are going to be wild. The logistics of their little schedules, schools and lives has been a nightmare (and that is with skipping most everything).

Baby Girl has been sick with a bug for 2 days and I'm not feeling so great myself. Please pray that she will be well taken care of and won't forget who her Mama is. I hope she isn't too confused about where I am.

Oh, and I don't ski.

Mexican Duck

As promised, another Mexican Sombrero picture.

Epcot

See the bracelet the Little Guy is holding in the first picture? That is one of the groovy bracelets he made at the camp he went to. He stood in line a long time so he could give one to Donald. We didn't expect him to fit it over his big Duck Hand and wear it all day. I don't think he had pockets in his shirt either (why doesn't he wear pants?). Little Guy really wanted him to have it and that is sweet so we let him go for it. The bottom picture is him trying to give it to Donald. Mr. Duck would look at it and then give it back. Little Guy would give it again...same thing. This went on a few times. Finally I went over and tried to explain to Mr. Duck that the bracelet was for him and he should keep it. So, then he handed it to the Big Guy. It is not easy talking to a Duck. Maybe Disney has some policy I don't know about that characters can't accept gifts, but come on! I can't imagine women are throwing their underwear at them or offering real jewelry, but who knows. He could have tossed the plastic bracelet behind him in the woods for all I cared - just don't give it back. I tried to give it to his "helper" the photographer and he was a dufus too. He acted like he didn't know what to do. The Little Guy was kind of upset about it so finally we just walked away and Dad gave him a big talk about how it is the thought that counts and it was more important that he wanted to give it, blah, blah blah. I don't think he will be scarred for life. Time will only tell, of course.

Lessons to learn: Speak Spanish to Mexican Donald and maybe he will understand or just don't give anything to him in the first place to avoid total confusion.

Vacation Part 3: Epcot

I thought I would share my lovely Husband's picture of us with you. He normally is a great photographer and I will confess that I am the one that suggested moving out of the sun (as I did all day long). We will just blame this on the little decrepit camera. Do you like the big pyramid coming out of my head? Nice touch, don't you think?

Epcot was great. It wasn't crowded at all. We didn't have to wait long for anything we wanted to do. And the Baby Care Center was wonderful. I intended to spend a lot more time there, but the day got away from us. We learned that the Big Guy really loves Asian buildings (who knew?) and Snow White is a lot whiter at Epcot.I suspect it might be Alice (in Wonderland) in a Snow White wig. She had the same English accent. At least I hope it is a wig. I would hope she wouldn't cut her bangs that short to work at Disney. She was sweet when she called Baby Girl "princess". We had never had one of our children called "princess" before that day. I'm sure Baby Girl scratched her with her scary sharp fingernails. I hope they pay Snow (as I like to call her) well because it was terribly hot to be in that costume having to be friendly to so many people. I wonder if her Prince has to tell her to "be nice" after a long day at the park?

Our friends met us for some beers in Germany AND in Italy. Our very cultured children chose to eat in *America* and we had to sprint to catch the last ride of the day. Disney workers surrounded us and just stood there as we relaxed on benches after it was all over with. It was their silent intimidation that finally drove us out of the park.

Thelma & Louise and friends

It isn't the most flattering picture, but we howled after taking it. We had to chase this clone trooper down to get this shot. He wasn't very willing. I told Louise it was a good thing she had 17 years experience and a long arm. An amateur could not have pulled it off.

Always the good multi-taskers, we now have our T&L picture representing our MGM trip and the first with my new baby (still new at 8 months!). I don't know who the guy is in the back. I should have had his hat to keep from getting sunburned. I am a true redneck now.

Hurry

Hurry! Run and get your picture made with that thing before we have to stand in line! What is that thing? I don't care, just hurry!

I hate it when I get red eye in my pictures.

Vacation: Part 2 - MGM

Day 6: After toothbrush was flushed, I loaded all 1,500 bags while 3 other grown ups (not including me) tried to contain my 3 kids. The Little Guy insisted he take my cousin's toys home and I told my Aunt I wish I had some Valium. I finally got back on the road to our hotel by mid afternoon. I called Hubby and warned him that I was in the worst mood possible and his boys were rotten. He signed the boys up for an evening camp that lasted 3 hours so we could go out to dinner on our own. It was as close to a date night as we ever get, I guess. We still had Baby Girl to bounce up and down during dinner, but it was good. We walked around the Boardwalk afterwards and watched annoying street entertainers. A little 4 and 6 year old boy ran up to us to see "the baby" and I felt sad that we didn't have the boys with us. What is wrong with me!

We picked up the boys from their camp and one of them immediately started crying. I thought he must have missed us badly, but no, he was upset because he had to leave. Apparently they had more fun than they ever had before and bonus: 3 bracelets were made for me that are a groovy orange color.

We had planned on going to MGM on Friday (it is officially "Disney's Hollywood Studios" as MGM's contract ended). That was really the only park we had planned to visit. My friend was coming with us and called to tell me that Friday was G A Y day at the park. Great. Just where Thelma and Louise don't want to take their families. We were quite afraid of what the parades might look like on that day. It was actually G A Y week for all of Disney. If I could find my soap box in all the clutter and unpacked bags, I would get on it and rant about taking my young children to the Happiest Place on Earth to see vulgar t-shirts and other oddities. I can't find it right now so never mind.

It was imperative that we see the Jedi Training and Star Wars parade at MGM so we changed or plans slightly. We bought a 2 day pass and decided to go to Epcot first. After we bought the tickets, the ticket lady told us the next day they would be closing MGM early for you-know-what-week. SO, we changed our plans again and went ahead with MGM on Friday and saved Epcot for Saturday. I know, it is confusing. It was a great teaching opportunity for our children. "Go with the flow" was a major theme that day. It was a new concept for Little Control-freak and Big-Routine-Guy.

They were going to Epcot and then they were not.

Unlike the common folk, we rode our little boat on over and had a great time. The Star Wars parade was well worth the wait and Baby Girl allowed the kids to ride a lot of rides twice in a row with their baby-swap policy. She was a little dream baby and easy to tote around even though it was hot as heck. The boys were both tall enough to ride all the fun rides whether they wanted to or not. Tower of Terror gave them lots to talk about and I think we loved the Aerosmith roller coaster the best. Hubby said the laser light show was worth the ticket price. I have it on video if anyone wants to come over and see it (or you could just say you are coming over and we will go out!) . We got back to the hotel around midnight to see Epcot's firework show out the window. All 3 kids were put to bed dirty and were fast asleep as soon as their little heads hit the pillow.

Vacation: Part 1

Day 1: Last Saturday (5/31/08): Spent all morning packing car. I was mad because Hubby didn't do enough or move fast enough. Trip began and I fell asleep. I slept hard and woke up to find that we were still only in the first hour of the trip. Stopped at a McDonalds for lunch and Hubby really outdid himself. He always finds the worst one and this one was complete with 50 flies buzzing our heads as I tried to feed Baby Girl peas. Hubby told me to "be nice to him." We got to our hotel, unloaded and put the kids to bed. We were starving and I sent Hubby out into hotel to avoid paying $25 on two hamburgers with room service. He spent $30 and comes back with a Turkey Burger and BLT. The Little Guy begs for food so we let him get up and have a bite. Sometimes we forget to feed them. Squeaky wheel gets the oil...

Day 2: Hubby went to his conference in the hotel and I try to entertain the kids. We had breakfast and walked around looking at all the swell amenities. We took a walk to Disney's Boardwalk and went in the first air conditioned store I found. Little Guy spits on the floor and we had to leave. It was dead on the Boardwalk and HOT. I took them to an arcade and spent $15 on video games. It was so loud that no one noticed or minded Baby Girl screaming. I took the boys down a little further and bought us all ice cream for lunch. The Big Guy told me "you are being so nice to us." Diet is blown. We had to inhale the ice cream cones because they are melting so fast. We went back for naps and the promise of swimming if they were good. Everyone is in bed and I am the only one that sleeps. Little Guy pushed his luck too much. We got lathered in sunscreen and the maid called to ask if she can clean the room. We got out quickly and took Baby Girl for her first swim. They had a fun slide that I wouldn't let the Little Guy go on because it emptied in the deep end. He told me to "put that baby down so you can catch me." The pool was fun although the Little Guy had to get out 3 times to go to the bathroom. 3 times we got out, dried off, packed up and went inside the building. After the 3rd time, I said we are just going in for good. Once he locked himself in a bathroom stall and climbed out underneath. I couldn't get him to go back under and I noticed days later it was still locked. Sorry, hotel people.

Hubby skipped a work thing and we all went to Downtown Disney that night.

We had to take the bus instead of the hotel boat. Hubby tried to convince me a boat is better by telling me that it is more fun and a bus is for common folk. We are common folk so I still don't get it.

They boys played at Legoland and later built their own lightsabers. Luckily I was outside feeding Baby Girl so I couldn't be embarrassed.

Fit was thrown by the Little Guy when we left.


Day 3: The next few days were spent at my Aunt's house. Hubby stayed behind and I loaded up the pack-n-play and 1,500 bags (it seemed). I was locked out of our hotel room because my key wouldn't work. I had to go through many hoops with security to get back in. What a cool job it would be to pretend to be a Mom with 3 kids breaking into Hotel rooms. Good thing those security dudes are on their toes. Too bad they didn't know about my PMS, though.

I finally made my way to what I thought would be total relaxation at my Aunt's house. She wasn't there when we arrived so I spent an hour trying to keep the boys from breaking anything and answering all their questions about why things were different in her house. Why is that table in a new place? Why did she get a new TV? Where are the toys? Where is the piano? Where is she? I fell asleep as soon as she arrived to watch my kids. Ahhhh.

She fed us well and it was a pretty good time. I'll spare you the gory details and just say that the boys were really bad. Maybe it was my lack of patience and PMS that made them seem worse than usual. I know the Big Guy can get out-of-whack when he is out of his normal routine and there was probably too much TV and some boredom for them. It all ended in the Little Guy having a meltdown and flushing his toothbrush down the toilet. I bet you didn't think it would actually go down, did you? I wouldn't have either if I had not seen it myself. I fear there will be a breakdown in some large Florida septic tank. If you hear of that, please don't turn us in. I hope that Go Diego Go toothbrush is never traced back to us. My Aunt didn't seem too bothered by it (because she is sweet) and told me she didn't sweat the small stuff. I'm not convinced yet that it isn't big stuff. A side note: last time we were there four of us were sick throwing up or with you know, the other side of things. My kids somehow manage to lick Disney World every time we go and almost always get sick. Anyway, my Aunt had a septic or water problem where we couldn't flush the toilet or wash the sheets the kids were throwing up all over. Aren't you glad I shared? My point is that my Aunt goes through that stuff with a smile on her face and most definitely should be Sainted. I don't know why she doesn't disown us.

Homebody

I'm home! I'm so happy to be home. Sort of.

At least now that I have been to the grocery store, I am pretty sure I could last more than 75 days in my house. You should see the laundry I have not touched and the unpacked bags that are everywhere. I would never run out of things to do - that is for sure. If the little guy would stop wetting his bed I bet I could get ahead on the laundry. Maybe.

We had a fun filled week, but I have canceled our beach vacation next month. It is too much gosh darn work for Mama. The last two days were especially exhausting and ended in a mad-8 hour-dash home to play a late night, 3-set tennis match in the miserable heat. Yes, I am crazy. It was terribly unfortunate for my family that I was PMSing the whole week. I am one of those people that really only feels good about one week a month. This wasn't that week. In addition, note my jaundice:

I would like to tell you that this is me and Hubby before our sunburns, however, I can't lie. You could have been fooled because it is the spitting image of me with red in the hair, yellow tinted skin and a little bitty camera. I have to wait as long and as still as her to take a picture with my old decrepit Sony camera. The kids have usually circled me twice by the time it takes the picture. That would have to be my dream boyfriend in this picture: tall, yellow and handsome. How nice it would have been to have someone else carry the backpack and video everything for me! I'm sure even my Hubby would have enjoyed having him along to help with the kids. It was a big dilemma on what to do about a camera. My Hubby had some not so helpful suggestions like "take your MacDaddy" and when I balked at that said "just don't take a camera." What? I'll be breathing, right? I ended up taking more video this time and intend on making an awesomely cool DVD for my kids. (Like the way I turned that whole thing into lemonade?). Don't worry, I have a few unflattering pictures to share with you this week.

Stay tuned for full updates including a new and improved white Snow White. You might not have seen your last Mexican Sombrero either - don't worry, it isn't on Snow White.

OR IS IT?????

Spectromagic!

The Big Guy loves a parade. At Disney we will make sure he sees the afternoon and evening parade. He learned quickly how to find the parade route on the maps. My Hubby bought the $12 CD with the Spectromagic parade music and the boys insist that I play it whenever a friend rides in our car. We have our own little mini-parade sometimes. Too bad my minivan doesn't look like this float.

Last year at Animal Kingdom when it was 200 degrees and I was pregnant and miserable, we saw their parade right before it started to storm. The normally 15-20 minute parade took place in super-fast speed and was done in about 3 minutes. We would have been oh-so disappointed had it not been the funniest event of the day. I'm sure it was the ONLY time I laughed that day.

I'll give a full report of our Storm Trooper Star Wars parade when I am back. That is the only parade we will see this year.

Scary Bear 2006

I was afraid they would never grow taller after those heavy hands pushed down on their little heads. Looking back now, I can see that they did. Whew!

We were having so much fun that someone
a) peed in their pants
b) threw up
Either way...a darn good time!

The Queen B

The Queen Biotch (as my friend Heather would say). I took this picture years before I had Baby Girl...just for my own princess self.

Truthfully, I relate more to the wicked step sisters with my big ugly feet and would let Cinderelly do all the floor scrubbing in my house if given the opportunity.

Playhouse

Who is that unnamed dinosaur and why is he punching my kid?

Universal Fun

2005

We never hear from our friend on the right. I hope we run into him at MGM. I would hate not to have him in future pictures.

In case you are wondering...yes, they do let you into Universal Studios with a Mickey Mouse covered baseball hat. No problem.

buzz off

Buzz was not hanging around for even one more measly kid. So, this is the best we could do. It was fine. My kids aren't really the hugging-large-costumed-character kind anyway. Lucky for me because I am not the waiting-a-long-time-to-have-my-kid-not-smile-next-to-the-big-freaky-cartoon-character kind.

Snow White and One Dwarf

I don't know how well you can tell from this picture, but that girl has quite the tan on her snow white arms. She is not as white as me and I could dance around on a float with short people singing "Hi Ho, Hi Ho," all day long. I do that every day anyhow and for FREE.

Animal Kingdom Parade Arm

I hope I remembered to bring Purell. I know they will want $58 for it at Disney.