Travelling With Children

Travelling with Children. The word "adventure" comes to mind. They love seeing everything new (until bedtime). They love running (away from us). They love trying new things (and breaking them). It's one giant adventure.

We had the opportunity of visiting a place that we frequented prior to having any offspring. Now that we have three bundles of joy, the experience was quite altered. IN EVERY WAY. We didn't feel the usual calm, memory lane thing. We felt like crazy, zoo exhibits.

Favorite moments of the trip: swimming, boating, milk shakes (boy, do we miss those in this part of the country), Minnetonka Cave, seeing cousins, Temple Square, Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house, laughing (and we did LOTS of that)!Baby Lu's favorite part of the trip was having his very own can of sugary goodness. Notice the huge puddle on his shirt. He didn't want ANY help! Not pretty, but noted for posterity.

Here's the Scoop

Here's some summer tidbits!

1. Someone put in a great offer on our house last week. Yahoo!

2. That same someone backed out of the sale yesterday. Blech! I, being the horrid person that I am, hope they find themselves living on an ancient Indian burial ground.

3. I continue to clean my already clean house on a daily basis.

4. We had a super fun Independence Day. The highlight was the "ice fight" after ice blocking. I had lots of ice down my pants.

5. We had our first annual "Ice Cream for Dinner" over the weekend. We went to a yummy ice cream shop in the city. It was hysterical. S couldn't finish her ice cream and was somewhat upset about it. R finished his immediately and wanted, in his words, "another GIANT SUPER HUGE ice cream cone." Baby Lu (aka the SLOWEST EATER ON PLANET EARTH) could have sat there for hours. I was chuckling to myself the whole time because that is a summary of each of their personalities.

6. We will soon be making the official "trek west" (made annually by many of our "people").

Oh, No!

Just for fun I went to the park to take pictures again. This time two of our fave babysitters came with me. We marched hither and thither looking for fun spots to snap some shots. They were jolly good sports. Unfortunately, I gave no thought to POISON IVY. One of them came down with a terrible case. I feel AWFUL! Hopefully she'll think the pics are worth it!!!

Ode to Fathers Everywhere

Father's Day...

When this time of year comes around, panic sets in. For years, I have never known what to get my dad (for any holiday, really). He has everything. Anything he doesn't have, he will buy for himself the day before the holiday. I have given some admittedly awful gifts. This year I think I've got it though. (I say that every year). My sister and I decided to take pictures of the kids!

This little adventure was very funny. I think we ironed forty pieces of clothing (each)! There was a lot of shopping for the clothes, wiping faces, combing hair, rewiping faces, etc. And that was before we even got there.

We decided to go to a nearby park. As soon as we got out of the car, the chaos began. I immediately offered ice cream to any "obediant" souls. No one responded in the appropriate manner, so that's when the YELLING began. I'll admit that any passersby might have been slightly concerned about the treatment of these children. There were some slivers (we insisted they be barefoot) and some tears (the sun was in their eyes even though it was very cloudy) and some running away (they're fast). We ended up with some very funny outtakes. I'll post those another time.

This picture is one of my favories.


My children could not be gathered at the same time. I kind of like the outcome though.

There was lots of attitude to go around!

I Fought the Law

Remember my speeding ticket? It's still a sore subject. I finally went to my court appointment to "offer an explanation." I listened to "Eye of the Tiger" and the theme song from Karate Kid Part 2 on the drive. I was pumped. I mulled over some possible scenarios/speeches and I was going to wing it when I got there. WELL, when I did get there, all that went out the window. I guess I thought there was going to be a court where people like me would be taking care of simple things like traffic tickets and we would be separate from the KILLERS and other COMPLETELY PSYCHO people. Um, not quite. I came very close to wetting my pants. They had us all together in one waiting area and trust me when I say I WAS THE ONLY ONE THERE FOR A SPEEDING TICKET! I was SO glad that I hadn't brought the kids with me.

So, the outcome was that I had to pay the fine and I'm on probation for one year. I was too chicken to ask for anything else. As long as I don't get another speeding ticket before June 10, 2010, it will not go on my record. I ran out of there as if the building was on fire. I hope never to return.

Status and Topless Moment

The house is for sale. So far, no one has come to see it.

I want the house to appear as though no one lives here. My "practice drills" have not produced those results. I would like for someone to come look at the house (and no, I do not mean people I know) just to see how prepared I will be. For some reason there is a certain amount of dread associated with the first showing.

The photo below demonstrates why I am out of my league when it comes to keeping the house spotless. This same incident is repeated 2-4 times each and every day. At least the little cherub weighs 20.0 lbs, FINALLY!!! (Unofficially, on my home scale). I have been doing a great deal of cleaning the past several days. Now, I'm the kind who uses the most toxic cleaning agents known to man. I find comfort in their strong scents. One time in college I got Shower Power (a very toxic cleaning agent) in my eye. I had to have my eye flushed at the doctor. Anyhoo...yesterday I was cleaning the shower with a bleach cleaner. I didn't want it to bleach my shirt, so I took my shirt off. I had my shirt sitting in the hallway outside the bathroom. I walked downstairs to get another cleaning rag. Just at that moment, as luck would have it, someone knocked at my door. Usually I just wouldn't answer it, but my door was open so whoever was there could see that I was home. I whispered to my four year old that I needed him to get the door since I didn't have a shirt on. I put a decorative pillow in front of me and dashed up the stairs to quickly get my shirt. The following is the conversation that took place in the twenty seconds it took me to put on my shirt:

Man At Door: "Is your mom here?"

Four Year Old: "Yes, but she doesn't have a shirt on."

Man At Door: "Should I come back another time?"

Four Year Old: "Yes, if you don't want to see my mom naked."

At that point, I quickly came around the corner FULLY DRESSED. I tried not to look out of breath, hoping he would think the four year old was making up a story or something. He (man at door) looked slightly scared!

Updates

Oh, life just cruises on by...

I'm SOOOO sick of the "house stuff." No, it's not on the market yet. Yes, we're going to put it on the market on Monday. Every day has been filled with the following:

1. Cleaning.
2. Instructing offspring not to touch/take out/move/disturb anything. Sounds like fun for them, doesn't it? I'm sure they've put the word on the street that they're looking for new digs.
3. Cleaning.
4. Yard work.
5. Cleaning.
6. Eating sandwiches or some such "non-cooked" food on paper plates.

Then we go to bed and start all over the next day.

Every day my four year old looks out the window to see if our house "...is on sale." Bless his little heart, he's ready for the whole thing to be done. I think he's also secretly hoping he doesn't have to share a room with his sister too much longer.