Christmas Plus Some

Christmas

Christmas was really good at our house this year.  J. got  what he wanted from Santa (a Hot Wheels toy) and Legos and a few games for the Wii, so he was a happy guy.  A. was a little harder to shop for.  She doesn't harbor any obsession like J. did (does?) at the same age and so Santa went with a kitchen set.  I think she likes it and maybe it will help let me get things done in my own kitchen.

Speaking of kitchens, my Christmas present this year was a new dining table.  We inherited Wade's grandma's 1970's kitchen table when we got married...10 years ago!  It was ugly then and it has only gotten uglier.  We started with six chairs, but over the last decade we've dwindled down to 2 1/2.  This has started posing a problem considering there are four of us.  Our poor two year old--who is roughly the size of  a three year old--has been sitting in the high chair and it's time to retire that back down to the basement considering she's a little too big for it.

This purchase hasn't snuck up on us.  We've been earnestly looking for a new table for the last THREE YEARS.  But nothing seemed to fit the bill.  I wasn't willing to drop that much money on something I didn't love and Wade lived in some fantasy world where he wanted a 12-seater table.  Which, incidently, costs A LOT of money and aren't very asthetically pleasing so it seemed like we were at an impasse.  It
got to the point where the local furrniture place knew us so well that they wouldn't even bother to come talk to us when we walked in.  They'd just wave from across the store.

So a few weeks ago, we were back in the furniture store and Wade found a table he loved.  It sat 10, but I can't say that I loved it.  To be honest, I can count on one hand the number of times that we have needed enough seats for 10 people in the last year.  And I don't think that finally having a table to sit that many people will  make it so that people will make the trek out to our house.  In other words, I don't think it's the table size that is keeping family from visiting all that often...

But I digress...

As we were walking back through the show area, I saw a table I really liked.  But upon further inspection we decided it would scratch too easily.  And then I saw the one we ended up getting.  I liked it, though I couldn't say I was in love with it.  What I was in love with was the bench seat though and that may have been the deciding factor.

We left that store and went to another store, where we found the table we LOVED.  However, it was nearly twice as much as the table with the bench seat and with the little kids, I didn't want to spend that kind of money only to stand over it and keep watch so it didn't get scratched. 

In the end, we went with the table with the bench seat.  And Wade brought it home on the 23rd.  It took him 8 hours to assemble it.  And I LOVE IT!  I'm glad we went with this one.

This is our last meal with the old UGLY table.



This is our new table.  Right now we have all six chairs around the table and the bench seat on the wall.  I'm not sure if we'll keep it that way, but it seems to be working right now.

 The only bad thing about the new table is that it makes me want to change the kitchen to match the table.  Wade thinks that's the table's fault and we should take it back but I'm pretty sure it's the kitchen's fault.  I'm trying to convince him that we need to paint the walls and as long as we're painting, we might as well put in tile.  And granite countertops for good measure.  But so far, the argument isn't working.  I'll keep at him though.

Plus Some
Can you believe it's the end of the year already?  Where did 2010 go?  So, as customary to all the other years, I'm going to change things up here at the blog.  Which is to say that for a few months, I'll change things up, but then I'll probably revert back to my same old (boring?) self.  But, at least it will be a change for a few weeks nonetheless.

So, here's my proposed outline:

Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays I'm going to keep open to relay funny stories or not...whatever.

Tuesdays will become Picture Perfect Tuesday.  J. got a kid's digital camera for Christmas and he loves taking pictures of the weirdest things, so Tuesdays are just going to be pictures of weird things and people.  Some from him.  Some from me.  No words, so you'll get to decipher the meaning of the pictures.

Wednesdays will still be What's For Dinner.  Incidently, these were my most popular blog entries of 2010 and also the most fun.  Turns out, I enjoy cooking.  Who knew?

Thursdays will become Thankful Thursdays.  I plan on focusing on one thing I'm thankful for.  This could get interesting...

Sundays, I'm going back to the Book Reviews.  I've realized that I haven't read as many books in 2010 as I have in years past.  Partly, the second kid is to blame.  But partly, it's because I haven't made the time.  So, I'm going to try to read a book a week so I can review them on Sundays.  We'll see how it goes.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!  I'm excited to see what 2011 will bring.

Cabo 2010 Part 4 THE END

I'm sure you can imagine that with the airport closed down, it was all fun and games while we waited for the planes to land.  At least we were on ground and not circling in the air.  And God bless the lady in front of us while we standed in line to get our connecting flight from Phoenix to Salt Lake changed.  She had silly apps on her phone that entertained J so he would stop "entertaining" A.

Two hours later, we were allowed on board a plane and then we sat and sat and sat.  An hour and a half later, after I had a minor meltdown with J because he wouldn't leave his little sister alone, we were finally headed home.   And not a minute too soon.

In Phoenix, we ate dinner at Chili's in the airport.  Mid way through the meal, Wade got a phone call from the airline informing him that our plane would be leaving in 15 minutes.  We rushed out of the restaurant and back into the security line.  Then we rushed down to the terminal.

Liars.

It didn't actually leave until 15 minutes before it was scheduled to leave.  Where was that phone call, Southwest?!?

FINALLY, we were headed home.  I was in charge of A for this go round and I was dreading the ride, but as soon as we took off, she was out.  I got to talk to the guy next to me.  He's a child psychologist who deals with behavorial issues and parenting techniques.  He might have been an answer to a few prayers I've uttered over the course of the last couple of years.  We talked about his suggested parenting techniques and he made quite a few observations that rang true.  Plus he said some things that I've been needing/wanting to hear.  I may or may not talk about it all in a future post. 

A. woke up as soon as the wheels touched down in Salt Lake.  We made our way off the plane and then to the luggage caurosel.  Our luggage was nowhere to be found.  After filling out the paperwork in the Lost Luggage Office where the infamous "I know that scream.  You were in San Diego." comment was made, we made our way to my dad's parked Jeep and we were ferried to our home.

Ah, Home Sweet Home. 

At 1 am, the airport dropped off our luggage.  I just threw it inside the door and went back to sleep.  It was so nice that the bed gently rocked me to sleep as though I was still on the ship.

The roundup:

I vow never to go on a cruise with a 2 year old and a 5 year old again.  I realize part of the problem was that I was SO inadequately prepared.  I was under the impression that the kids would be entertained and I would have next to no stress and I was sorely mistaken.  I came home more stressed out then not.  I can now understand the looks people would give us when we told them we were going on a cruise with our kids.

My kids have some serious issues with getting along.  They are also both very intense people, which is weird because Wade and I aren't really that intense.  At least I don't think we are...maybe that's part of the problem.

We'll be driving to Disneyland next year.

I love the cruise part of cruising but I was sick for about a week afterwards with seasickness.  That hardly seems fair.

It was a bad idea to book something so close to two weeks of school vacation.  I need a freakin'  break!

The mere thought of a third kid makes me want to cry.  Literally.  I get sick to my stomach when I think about it.  I will continue to hold on to my belief that if God wanted me to have a third kid right now, He wouldn't make me feel this way. 

I love my kids, but the whining, the screeching, the screaming, the demanding, the teasing, and the willful disobedience has got to STOP before I go postal!  That is one of my goals for 2012 and perhaps my seatmate on the way to Salt Lake was placed there for this very reason.  

The above statement makes my kids seem like heathens.  I don't notice that they're are any worse than other siblings their ages.  But, I'm going NUTS!  And most of the time they're pretty good.  They do really cute things.  And they say really funny things.  And we have a lot of fun. We all just need SPACE.

What's up next?  It's nearing the end of the year, so I have a bunch of things planned for next week.  And it's Christmas.  And I have one last recipe for the year.  I'm excited!

Cabo 2010 Part 3

So where were we?  Ah...yes.  On a ship.

So, Monday, we boarded the ship and then we set sail for beautiful Mexico.  It was a pretty calm sea and the weather was perfect.  However...

I was under the impression that the child play area would be open.  Which it wasn't.  What was open, though, was the Lido Deck, where all the food was.  So we ate.  I think.  If I remember correctly.  We did a lot of eating on that trip. 

Then we had to do an orientation for the child play area and found out that, in fact, it wouldn't be opening until the NEXT day.  That kind of blew a hole in my plans to drop the kids off and lounge.  Meanwhile in the orientation, I could kind of sense how the whole thing was going to go.

I would venture to say that being in charge of 60 kids while their parents go have fun would rank somewhere on the list between picking up dog poo and washing dishes (I mean, that's in my estimation anyways) and none of the people who were introduced to us as attendants in the play area, looked anything like the ladies at the gym running the day care, which is to say...maternal and forgiving and mothers themselves.

However, that was not going to deter me.  I made note of the 10 am opening time for Tuesday and we left to go bide our time until our assigned 8:15 (note: 10:15, Utah time) dinner time.  At some point right before dinner, J. complained of feeling a little sick so I gave him some motion sickness pills and we trooped off to the dining room.

The kids, surprisingly, were really good at dinner.  J fell asleep half way through his chicken nuggets and A. fell asleep eating french fries, so Wade and I had a pleasant meal.  We just laid them out on benches and smiled at everyone who laughed as they walked by.  Then, we picked them up after dessert and carried them back to the room, where we all fell asleep at about 9:30. 

Tuesday morning dawned bright and early and we ate breakfast.  It was a little hairy considering the cats kids, but we survived.  10 am came not a moment too soon and we joined the throngs of parents dropping off their children at the play area.  We were told to come back at 12:45 to pick them up for lunch.  No problem.  Nearly 3 hours of solitude.  Can do.  They both ran in and we scurried away. 

Because A. is only 2, they gave us a cell phone to carry around should something happen and we were needed to pick up either kid.  I was fairly confident in my children's abilities to play nicely with other kids and I didn't worry much about it.  I left Wade in the room and went running.

I ran 86 times around the track at the very top of the ship.  Why, yes, it was dumb.  And yes, it started to hurt.  And yes, people stared.  But I had six miles slated for the day and I was bound and determined to do it.  And I did.

After I was done, it was almost time to pick up the kids.  We grabbed the kids and went and got some lunch.  The play area opened back up at 2:00, but that was when they were doing the ice sculpting.  And the kids were interested in that.  So at 2:30, we tried, unsuccessfully to get A to take a nap and eventually, both kids ended up back at the play area.  I was excited because we technically didn't have to pick them up until 10 pm.  That would be 7 hours of free time.

An hour later, they rang the cell phone to say that A. wanted her mommy.

Ah...isn't that sweet?

I went to pick her up.  Apparently, she had fallen asleep and then another kid had woken her up and she was less than thrilled about that.  Totally understandable.  I'm like that when someone wakes me up too.

J saw me and so we ended up taking both kids with us back to our little closet of a room.  We played some games and the kids were, more or less, entertained.  We fed them dinner and then took them back in hopes that we could eat our dinner by ourselves.

We survived our dinner without any interruptions, but I was on edge the entire time wondering if they would call.  There's a lot of stress that goes into being nervous that your kids are acting up.

Bed came early again and, luckily, for us, they paged some missing soul at 3:30 in the morning.  It woke me up and I never could get back to sleep, but the kids slept right through it.  So, I gave up at 6 am and went to the gym to ride the bike.  It wasn't any more interesting looking out at Cabo as we were pulling in then it is to watch tv at home on the big screen while I pedal.  Stationary bikes are boring!  However, I was really happy for the 80 degrees that was outside.

We took the kids into Cabo and found a public beach.  It wasn't very crowded and the water was perfect.  A. didn't like her swimsuit and it took a while to convince her to at least keep it this much on.  I think the sand got in there and started bugging her.  But she wasn't about to slow down any.  I just had to make sure to sunblock up that little body because of her red hair.

.

We stayed at the beach for a couple of hours and then headed into town for lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe.  A. fell asleep in her stroller on the way over to the restaurant and was quite the attraction for all the natives.  They LOVED her red hair.

It was nice that the kids had some space to play and that they didn't fight because I was almost ready to leave them in Cabo when we arrived.

We bought them each a momento of our trip and then headed back to the ship to get ready to sail back to San Diego.  I definitely could have used two days in Cabo.  I wasn't quite ready to leave yet.

The sunset as we were leaving was gorgeous though. 

Back on board, we (read: I) got the kids cleaned up in the itty bitty shower and then we took them to get something to eat for dinner.  The play area was closed for something or another so we had some time to kill.  We dropped them off for a few hours so we could eat and then called it a night.  Luckily, again, for us someone knocked on the door at 3 am.  We never did quite find out what that was all about, but obviously it wasn't very important.

Thursday morning dawned and the seas were getting rough.  I have an uncanny ability to not be able to tell in what direction the boat is moving unless I'm staring at the water, but Wade has no such supernatural ability.  He was pretty sick the entire day.  After a rough breakfast in which Wade had to take J back to the room because he wouldn't cooperate and A didn't want anything I put on her plate, the kids were dropped off at the play area.  Not even 30 minutes later, they were calling to pick up A.  I went down to get her, but by the time I got there, she was fine.  However, J saw me and he wanted out.  I took him back to our room, where he was complaining about being sick.  I gave him some more motion sickness pills.  Then it was time to pick up A for lunch.  I brought her back and she was acting kind of sick (maybe), so I gave her a little bit of the pills and within 15 minutes, she, J. and Wade were all asleep.

I snuck out for an hour and ate a quiet lunch and looked around.  It was heaven!  Definitely the highlight of the boating part of the cruise.  The kids were still sleeping when I got back, so Wade went to get lunch.  He got back about the time the kids were waking up.  However, the play area was closed AGAIN, so we had to entertain them until dinner time.  We dropped them off and then went to our dinner.  Wade was too sick to sit through the entire thing, so he got up and left to go back to the room.  I finished my dinner and left.  I had wanted to pack before we picked up the kids because the room was so small and with four of us in there, it was a little tight.

I started throwing things into bags, and for the most part, I was able to get everything packed before picking up the kids.  They were a little wired from their long nap, so it took a long time for them to fall asleep, but eventually we all did.  And no interruptions either.

Here's a funny story: I never changed my watch at Daylight Savings Time and so Friday morning, I had no idea what time it was.  We were trying to position ourselves to be close to the first ones off the ship so we could make our 10 am flight and at this point, you were going to have to handcuff me to the ship's railing to keep me from running off.  I was DONE.  I thought we were waking up at 5:30 am, but it turns out it was 4:30 and then we had to get breakfast, which was another lesson in managing cats on a ship.  By the time we got to the deck where we were going to be unloading the kids were going nuts, the people around us were going nuts, and I was well past the nut stage.  And we had all been up for three hours already.

We waited and waited and waited.  Meanwhile, my blood pressure was climbing at an exponential rate.  Apparently, before anyone could be let off, they had to account for every. single. non-US. citizen on board.  And apparently, those people were taking their own. freakin'. sweet. time.  I was going bonkers.  Our plane was leaving at 10 am and it was inching closer and closer to that time. 

Finally, at 8:55 am, they let us off.  We got in line and filed our way out.  Then we booked it to the customs desk.  Wade picked up A., I folded the stroller and handed it to J. then grabbed all three suitcases and we hauled it down the stairs.  It was a feat to have witnessed, I'm sure.

We were one of the first families out of the customs area and onto the street.  We hailed a cab, and jumped in.

"To the airport.  Our plane leaves in 50 minutes." we yelled at the driver.

"Ha." he replied.  "You aren't going anywhere in this fog.  The airport is closed down."

And if you thought this was fun, wait until you hear about the airport...

Cabo 2010 Part 2

A few words before I start in on Part 2:  In rereading Part 1 I realized I neglected to mention that peppered in with all that fun was incessant whining and teasing and screeching and other "public unworthy" moments that made my face both red with embarassment and anger.  Where are those angel children I told myself fifteen years ago I would have because I would be the best parent in the world, dishing out tough love like it was candy and not allowing my kids to walk all over me in public.

Public tantrums??  Seriously, who lets their kids do that?

and take pictures??  Honestly.

Okay, so now that you have the proper information on how the first part of the vacation went, I'll dive right into the second part.

Monday morning I woke up and donned my running gear and headed out to the parking lot.  I wish I were one of those fearless runners who explore their vacation cities by foot, but the reality is, that I'm a little scared.  Like, how will Wade ever find me if someone snatches me 3 miles from the hotel?  Or what if I get lost and I wander around all day looking for my temporary home?  Besides today's workout were half mile intervals.  So I mapped out a half mile loop that took me around the hotel parking lot and down the street of hotel circle to the liquor store and back.  Repeated six times.

Yeah, it sucked.  But it sucked less than say six times around my own neighborhood in 20 degree weather.  At least I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts during all this.

After my workout we went swimming.  In hindsight, it might be a little cold to go swimming in December in San Diego, but that didn't deter us.  Or the kids.  I'm convinced that kids don't feel the same temperature changes that adults do.  Then off to breakfast.

Then it was time for our grand adventure to really start.  The hotel had a courtesy van that took us to the pier (Wade dropped the car off at the rental place the night before) and they dropped us off a good 4 hours before the boat was to leave.  We were corralled into a big holding area where you have to go through customs and check in for the boat.  There were HUNDREDS of people waiting in line.  We got in line, but I knew instantly that this was not going to work. 

Down the pier a little bit is an old aircraft carrier they've turned into a museum.  Last time we were in San Diego, Wade had wanted to go see it but we had run out of time.  Coincidently, we had plenty of time now, so we ditched the line (our baggage had already been taken, so bonus) and booked it down to the museum. 

It was AWESOME.  And so much better than standing in line with two small children.  J was into it at first, but he quickly lost interest until we got to the planes that you could actually get in. 

Up on the flight deck they had the planes they use to carry on the ship.  That was pretty cool to see as well.

The museum is staffed by retired Navy guys and they give these short presentations on how the planes take off and land.  I thought that was really interesting but J kept yelling "this is SO boring mom" during the guy's presentation and we finally had to move on. 

Wade and J got to climb to the very top, where they could overlook everything in the harbor, but A was too small, so I stayed behind.  After a tantrum that rivaled anything I had seen thus far, I was able to calm her down by walking around.  We meandered out onto another deck and saw this:

It's hard to see how truly big this statue is but those trees are HUGE and that's an actual person sitting there on the grass eating lunch.  Anyways, I've never seen this iconic statue before.  I had no idea it was out there so it was a little bit of surprise to come across it.  But very cool.

This is A's favorite doll.  The thing is SO ugly.  I gave her a new doll for her birthday, but she insists on carrying around this one.  And we had to cart it EVERYWHERE.  But if a pumpkin would have made her happy and not cry, I would have carried it around, so I should be grateful it's just an ugly doll.

I can understand why J and A were bored at the museum because I was like them as a kid.  We'd get dragged to these things that my parents thought were so cool and we'd be bored, but the reality is, they are cool.  And hopefully by continuing to take my kids to these relics in American History, they'll grow up with an appreciation of the sacrifice and the honor that has made our country what it is.  Much thanks to my parents and their museum trips to instill a desire for my kids to experience the same thing that I did growing up. 

The museum is a must-see for anyone going to San Diego.  You get a true sense of what it's like to live on one of those carriers out in the ocean.  And it's very fascinating.  So different from what I had ever expected.  Despite the temper tantrums and the whining and the crying, I'm glad we went.

The guys returned at about the time we were suppose to be boarding the ship, so we hightailed it back to our ship.  The line was gone.  We spent about five minutes checking in and going through customs.  Then we were on the ship.  Perfect timing!  Our room was ready and all was good.

For the time being.

The actual cruise experience is too long to put in this post and I'm having severe anxiety from reliving it, so you'll have to wait for installment #3.

Cabo 2010 Part 1

Deep breath.



There were some good moments.  Like when we told J. all morning that we were going to the symphony.  He had the most awesome look on his face when we told him what a symphony was--a quiet place where you go listen to boring music ALL DAY and you can't move or talk or do anything.  He was utterly disgusted and spent the entire drive telling us that he was going to wiggle and dance and we kept saying "you can't!  They'll kick you out."  When we went to park the car, they gave Wade a parking pass and I saw this little head from the backseat lean forward and pratically shout "Give that to me daddy!  That says Lego on it."  And that's how he knew we were going to Lego Land. 

He's still disgusted by our mean trick

And the time at Sea World where we were surrounded by Japanese tourists and a dolphin jumped out of the pool and splashed us. A. let out her infamous blood curdling scream and three video cameras immediately turned to capture my little red head for their posterity. 

Note about my little red head:  EVERYONE commented on her hair.  I don't think there was a day that went by that we didn't get a least one comment about her hair.  She seemed to have a special pull on old men and the Cabo natives. 

Oh and the food...lots, and lots of food.  Good, lovely food.  Any thing, any time you want.  And ice cream.  An endless supply of ice cream. 

And the beach on December 8th (DECEMBER?!?)  where it was 84 lovely degrees.  That was definitely a highlight.

So, overall, I guess the trip was a success.  We all arrived safely.  We all came home safely.  There are no missing limbs.  No arrest warrants.  We realized, belatedly, that cats don't belong on planes or ships, but that isn't a complete shock.  We were forewarned by numerous people. 

But today, I only have enough in me to recount the few days we spent in San Diego before the actual cruise.  Hence the Part 1 in the title.  Tomorrow, maybe I can tell you about the cruise part. 

So, when we booked our little vacation, we decided to add a few days at the beginning of the vacation to have some "family bonding time."  We found a cheap hotel and some discount passes to Sea World and Lego Land and rented a car. 

Flying into San Diego went alright.  It wasn't completely smooth, but we were faring better than the parents in the seats two rows behind us with the six month old.  The only bad part was when we transfered in Phoenix.  We had to stay on the plane and wait for everyone to board from Phoenix.  It was a fairly empty flight from Salt Lake to Phoenix, but it was full from Phoenix to San Diego.  A. looks like she's just chillin' but she was a busy body from the moment the plane took off until it landed.  She didn't like having her seat belt on at all!

J. kept peppering me with question after question until I was about ready to go bonkers.  Man, that kid has a brain (and coincidently a mouth) that won't shut up!

We touched down in San Diego, got our rental car and then headed to Sea World for the day.  It was a lot of fun and the perfect time to go.  I can see why San Diego is called the Mainland Paradise.  It was 75 degrees and there were hardly any crowds.

Here's a funny observation I made though.  You know how here in the Arctic Zone of Utah, the big style right now is to wear the fur-lined boots over your pants.  Apparently, it's the same fashion trend in Southern California as well.  Despite it being 75 degrees.  And I also noticed it in Cabo, where it was 84 degrees.  Fur-lined boots, people, are not really meant to be worn with tank tops and mini skirts.

But I digress...

So we spent the day at Sea World where A. wowed the tourists with her enthusiasm and, simultaneously, her abject horror at getting splashed.  We had a blast going to all the exhibits and shows.  

It started to cool down really fast and at about 5:30, we'd all had enough so we headed to our hotel.  Once there, we spent 30 minutes trying to decide what to eat for dinner.  Meanwhile, the cats kids started fighting and my nerves were SHOT.  I had been up since 5 am and I was beat!  So we decided to order Italian from a place that would deliver.

We started watching a movie and dinner showed up like 90 minutes later.  We all devoured it, climbed into our beds and we were all asleep by 9 pm.

Sunday, we woke up and started telling J. about the symphony.  He was less than thrilled with the idea of listening to boring music all day.  We stopped at McDonald's on the way to "the symphony", where A. befriended a homeless man who apparently use to be on the secret service.  He also carries around the picture of three red headed girls in his battered wallet. 

Creepy.

We ate a quick breakfast where we had a few fights over pancakes and syrup, but we managed to keep everything under some sort of control.

After McD's lovely meal, we headed to Lego Land.  Lego Land turned out to be the best part of the entire trip.  The rides were just the right size for our little kids and it's a really cute park with tons and tons of things made out of legos and activities to do.  We're lucky because our kids are so tall so J could ride every ride and A could ride almost every ride if she had a parent with her.  There were a few that she needed to be a little taller for, but for the most part, she got to ride the ones she wanted to.

We did the jeep safari where the kids were ecstatic to drive their own cars.

 

Then the kids rode a train over in the little kids area.  We probably could have spent the entire day over here.  They loved it.

A. was pretty upset about us leaving that area and let us know by being a stinker all the way through the next line.

We didn't notice until a couple rides later that they have these areas that are set up with legos to play with where one parent gets in line and the other parent takes the kids over to play until the line catches up to the door out of the play area and then you wait the rest of the way (about 5 minutes) together.  That way your kids aren't bothering everyone else and they're not bored.  GENIUS!

We rode some helicopters that both kids loved.  After that, J. got to drive a car around a track by himself.  I had to hide A. so she wouldn't see because she REALLY wanted to do that ride, but she wasn't old enough.  So no pictures of that.

J rode the airplane ride by himself and LOVED it.  Wade gets sick on those kinds of rides so I had to ride with A and J got a seat all to himself.

I look huge in the airplane, don't I?

We also rode this fire engine ride where Wade and I had to pump the entire truck down to the "burning building" and then all four of us had to jump out and Wade and I pumped water while the kids put out the fire.  When you hit the target with enough water, you had put out the fire and a buzzer sounded.  Then you had to jump back into the truck and pump it all the way back to the starting line.  It was INSANE how much work it was. But, alas, I got no pictures because I was too busy working.

They also had a boat ride that let you drive the boats.  We made the mistake of letting A. drive a boat.  She didn't want any help from daddy and she didn't want to go the way you were suppose to go.  That little monkey!

 J and I had fun though.

 J saw this lego guy and wanted a picture with all of us, so here it is.  J. was so excited to get a picture with a real live lego man.

There were a ton of cool things I didn't snap pictures of.  Like the Christmas Tree.  It's HUGE and it's made completely of Legos.  And they have this area called Mini-town and they have these little cities in minature all made of Legos. Lego Land, as a whole, is a pretty awesome place and we had a blast.  We arrived shortly after they opened and then they had to kick us out when they closed.  It's defnitely geared towards ages 3-8 or 9, so I wouldn't suggest taking a carload of teenagers, but for what it was, it was great!  I definitely recommend it families with kids in that age range.

After Lego Land, we went and got some dinner and then back to our hotel.  We were all beat, so it was another early night.

Part 2, detailing "oh mom, this museum is SO boring" and the cruise will come tomorrow. 



A PSA About Cats*

*This story isn't really about cats.

Cats are funny creatures. They are mostly loners.  They don't do well when you try to integrate other cats into the household.  They're stubborn.  They're persistent.  They will hound you until you feed them, and then they will take one bite and wander off.  They lay on the heating vent and suck all the heat into their bellies so that at 5:15 in the morning, you wake up with blue toes.  They glare.  They huff.  If they could, they'd roll their eyes at your mere existence as you walk by.

Now imagine you have one cat.  And this cat possesses most of the qualities of the typical cat.  And you love your cat.  But then you get to thinking that if you love one cat, then surely you would love two cats.  And your first cat would love your second cat as much as you do.  And psychologists say that it's not good to only have one cat.

So you get to work on that second cat.

And the second cat comes home and the first cat sniffs around it, but the second cat doesn't do a lot--it's still tiny--and so the first cat doesn't care that much about the second cat until he figures out one day that he can get the second cat to make a horrific noise every time he pushes it.  And it's funny.  So the first cat pushes the second cat.  And you try to get him to stop.  You do everything you can think of, but he won't stop pushing the second cat.  You are going crazy.  You plead.  You beg.  You withhold treats.  You punish.  You ignore.  Nothing.

So, like an idiot, you decide to take your two cats on a cruise.  Maybe a change of scenery will help.  You quickly realize that maybe it was a bad idea, like many of your recent ideas, but by now, you're sitting in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with 2400 other people and you don't have a lot of options. You also realize that maybe it's not all the first cat's fault.  That maybe the second cat likes to make the horrific noise that is shattering ear drums near and far.  Maybe the second cat doesn't know how to communicate any other way.  But you do know that the first cat is egging on the second cat and since the first cat is older, he knows better. And at this point you will do anything to make the second cat shut up.

You consider abandoning the cats, but people have already pegged you as the cat owners.  You endure and finally, you are set free from a floating prison with your cats and your sanity mostly intact.  Then you sit at an airport with grouchy, tired, bored cats.  And strangers are giving you the stink eye and rolling their eyes at you and you want to scream: "I know my cats are annoying.  I know that.  But what am I suppose to do when the airport has been shut down because of some itty bitty fog?  Huh, Mr. Eye-Roller-Who-Apparently-Was-Born-An-Old-Fart?!?"  Finally, you're let on a plane and you take your seat with your appointed cat, who is still insisting on making the other cat, who is sitting behind you, screech.  And you actually see your third seat mate--a complete stranger--take out ear plugs and put them in.  And you sit on the tarmac for an hour and a half--longer than the actual flight--in complete embarrassment.  Then finally you can't take it anymore and you have to change seats with the cat who is now BITING you and that's when you break down in tears.  You made it 6 days in unfathomably tiny, enclosed spaces and it was the flight home that did you in.

Luckily for you, the cat you're in charge of gets scared when you cry, so he clams up and the flight goes smoothly for you, but maybe not so much for the other cat and her handler.

You repeat the scenario at the next airport, where you're delayed again, but luckily, after trading cats, your cat falls asleep as soon as the plane takes off and you get to talk to another human being of which you have no relation to.  And it's pleasant.  And enlightening.  And an answer to many a prayer.

Finally, five hours late, your two cats and you are home, but your luggage didn't make it.  So you're standing in the Lost Luggage Office at the airport and Cat #2 lets out a blood curdling scream and a lady standing behind you gasps and says:

"I know that scream.  You were in San Diego."

That was 12 hours and 2 planes ago.

Ouch.

So what is the moral of this story?

(1) You cannot herd cats
(2) A third cat will not make cat #1 nor cat #2 any happier
(3) Do not take your cats on a cruise

Hey, speaking of cruises, we just got back from an awesome trip to Cabo.  It was so much fun.  As soon as my blood pressure returns to normal, my teeth unclench and the smoke billowing from my ears dissipates, I will tell you all about it.

#30 Participate in (and Finish NaNoWriMo) AND #5 Write a Novel

A few posts ago, I mentioned that I was working on something huge.

This is it.

What is NaNoWriMo?  It's a yearly contest to spit out a novel in the month of November.  It's short for National Novel Writing Month and people all over the world button down the hatches and write like mad.  The goal is to finish a novel of 50,000 words or more by November 30th.

And despite the weird artery incident with my mom on the 1st and Wade staying out 2 1/2 hours late at a County Planning Meeting on the 3rd, when I was suppose to have met with my writers group to write late into the night, and my mom going back into the hospital on the 7th, and me making freezer meals for my parents on the 10th, and Wade's cousin unexpectantly passing away on the 10th, and a viewing on the 17th and a funeral on the 18th and Thanksgiving and staying up all night on the 25th and the great cake making on the 26th and the great cake disaster on the 27th and A.'s birthday and a host of other responsibilities like cleaning the house and making meals and keeping the kids alive, plus being deathly ill with the cough from hell pretty much the entire month and training for a half marathon...

You get the idea...

So despite all those things, I still churned out over 50,000 words in a 30 day  period.  Which was really more like a 20 day period because I didn't actually get started until the 10th.  And last night at about 9:30 pm, I crossed the 50,000 word line and became an official winner of NaNoWriMo.  What do I get?  Praise.  Accolades.  And the personal knowledge that I have crossed one more thing off the list.

But at 9:30 pm, at 50,000 words I was still not finished with my book.  So I kept writing so that I could also cross off #5, write a novel.  And at 11:47 pm I typed in the last sentence of my first novel ("I'll be right there.") and threw my hands victoriously up in the air. 

How did I do it?  First, I gave up the idea that I was going to write the "Next Great American Novel."  I just started writing  down words.  All the words that floated into my head.  And I realized a lot of things.  Like, writing a novel wasn't really that hard.  (Note: I didn't say that writing a good novel wasn't hard.  Just writing a novel wasn't hard).  It was really just a matter of sitting down and plugging away.  And I found that I didn't really like my story about half way through, but that I wanted to finish NaNoWriMo badly enough that I just kept writing along and then, towards the end, I really started to like the book.

Liked it so much in fact that I ended up SOBbing because a very minor character had died.  And Wade looked at me like "didn't you kind of control this?  I mean, you're the author.  You wrote it in."  I did, but I didn't.  I was just writing down whatever was playing in my head.  And when the script in my head took this turn, I tried to fight it, but I couldn't so I went along with it.

No, I'm not crazy.  I only write what's down in my head. I don't actually act it out.

I found on a good day, I could write 2000 words in an hour.  So, if I would have started on time and kept up, I only had to devote an hour a day to this craft to get the words.  I also realized that you won't get anywhere if you go back and reread what you've already written.  And chances are you won't like it and then you'll want to change that and not write anything new.  It's a vicious cycle, so I refrained from reading anything other than the last paragraph I had written the day before.  I know this means that I probably have some problems with consistency, but that's easily fixed (I hope.)

The most interesting thing I found was that I had PLENTY to say.  There were only a handful of days where I sat down to write and it felt like the words were ticking off like molasses.  For the most part, I'd write to a certain point or time and find that I had logged a lot more words than I had thought.  And there was more to say.  I never ran out of things to write about.  I never sat in front of the empty screen, wondering what to say next.  Oh, and I did my best writing with the television or my ipod on.  Weird, but I couldn't write in complete silence.  So that helped because then I could write while the kids were watching a movie.

Which I never did, because that would be neglectful. ;)

So what now?  I'm going to spend December editing my messy book and then give it to a few people to look over.  Maybe.  Right now, I feel like it's drivel.  But it's my drivel.  And I'm damn proud of it.  And it's given me the confidence to maybe start work on "The Next Great American Novel".  Or whatever. 

But most of all, it was a blast.  I think maybe I'll do it next year too.