Finally... vacation

Thank goodness for swimming pools. Otherwise the highlight of our first day of vacation might have been the giant cow that stood in front of the Cheese Chalet, across the street from our hotel.

It's not  that this was a bad cow sculpture, by any means. But had this been the only thing for me to write about, then I'd have been forced to make jokes about cheeseheads, which just might have offended several cheesehead friends of mine who read this blog.
 

So all in all, it's a good thing that a few hours after posing with the giant cow, Sydney experienced a breakthrough moment in the swimming pool.

"Look, Mom! I'm swimming!"

Granted she was wearing a life jacket, but this was the first time we were able to pry her fingers from our arms and leave her to paddle around the pool.

It was a smaller pool and the water was fairly warm. Translation: the kids would have swam all night if we'd let them.

Sydney was immensely proud of herself. We were almost as excited as she was. For the first time ever, Jeff and I were able to sit in a hotel whirlpool together and watch the kids play together in the pool. Vacations from this point forward will become more and relaxing.

At this rate, by the end of this week - with access to a pool each day - she just may turn into a mermaid.

Working late

If I wasn't already in desperate need of vacation, the last two weeks of work would most certainly have pushed me to that point. It's been insanely busy. I've been staying late some nights, and bringing work home the others, trying to get everything done that needed to be done.

Unfortunately, that wasn't an option one evening earlier this week. Jeff was working his usual shift, and I needed to be at the office to proofread some documents and give immediate feedback so that my art director could make necessary changes in order for it to be ready for a big meeting the next morning.

Jeff graciously agreed to pick up the kids from daycare and bring them to my office on his way to work so that I wouldn't have to make the hour-long round trip to get them and return. I suggested he grab some movies, so the kids would have something to do while I worked.

A little before 5 p.m., Jeff dropped off the kids and the portable DVD player.

The broken, portable DVD player.

Not a big problem because we have a DVD player in our conference room. However, that DVD player became useless when I discovered the Scooby Doo case Jeff had grabbed was empty.

What to do? As quickly as I could while the kids scavenged through my office, I finished proofing a couple things and gave them back to my art director. Knowing it would take him at least a half hour to make the revisions and print out another draft, I headed out with the kids to grab some dinner and to find a Red Box.

On the way, we passed what looked like some sort of accident. The cross street was blocked off by multiple fire trucks and police cars. "We need to call Dad and tell him about this," AJ suggested from the back seat.

"I'm pretty sure he already knows about it," I answered, noting the number of squads on the scene.
As we inched our way passed the accident scene, which happened to be right next to a construction site, AJ announced confidently, "I bet I know what happened."

"What's that?"

"It was a hand grenade."

That must have been it!

We finished our tasks, renting a movie and going through the Taco John's drive thru. At last we made it back to work. On the way in the door, AJ noted a feather on the ground. (Thankfully he'd missed the bird's entire wing that was lying a few feet away. Bet that was an ugly way to go!) Lookng at the feather, AJ sighed. "I wish it was clean and I had ink. Then I could write a constitution."

Sydney, making a pretty impressive history connection for a four-year-old, responded, "I wish I could meet George Washington."

Without missing a beat, AJ told her, "You will, Sydney. Someday in Heaven."

I love how their minds work!

Back in the office, the kids happily watched their movie and ate their tacos and potato ole's. And then they watched the movie a second time as I continued my work. Finally I got to a point where I felt comfortable leaving. Or maybe I just recognized I couldn't expect my kids to sit quietly any longer. (The fact that I felt like my brain was shutting down for the night was just added motivation.)

It was a little before 8 p.m. when we finally headed out the door. Feeling like the worst parent ever for making my children sit at work for so long, I decided to be impulsive. I asked the kids if they were in a rush to get home. Slightly confused by the question, they answered no (as I knew they would.) And so we headed to Canal Park and made a stop at Dairy Queen.

With ice cream cones in hand, we headed for the Lakewalk.

(I so wish I'd had my regular camera with a flash with me. With a little fill light on their faces, the above shot would have been spectacular!)

Once the ice cream was gone, we threw rocks into Lake Superior.

And then we threw some more.

And some more. (I love Sydney's never-give-up enthusiasm.)

Jeff was able to stop down for a few minutes and see us. Shortly after that we headed home. During the drive, the kids were already asking when we could go back to the Lake and do it again.

How I love my kids! They'd just spent almost three hours at my office. And a simple side trip for ice cream and rock throwing was all it took to totally turn our evening into what AJ proclaimed was "a good, good night."

Gustav the Golden

The original plan was to get two puppies at once - a girl and a boy - Molly and Gus. We were advised against that because of the level of work needed to train two puppies at the same time. And so we decided to start with a female now, and add a male puppy next year.

A month ago, we made a down payment on our Molly. Two weeks ago, we heard of a puppy named Molly Rose. We liked the name, and decided to copy it, so our future puppy became Molly Rose.

And then today happened.

Today we discovered just how non-detail-oriented our breeder is. (As in, she apparently can't count to four. That's how many female puppies are in the litter. We were the fifth to give her a down payment, and it wasn't until today she informed us she didn't have enough females.)

And so, meet our new puppy: Gus.

His full name will be Gustav the Golden, though I suspect we'll call him that as often as we called our previous dog Maggie Mae Morgan. Which was pretty much never.

Gus is a pretty mellow pup. (At least he was this evening following a visit - and round of shots - from the vet.) Or maybe he's just strategic. Because while his siblings were mauling the kids... 

... Gus wandered over and cozied up to one of the key decision-makers.

... and then contentedly snuggled with another key decision-maker.

We gave all the puppies a chance. (At least I think we did. To be honest, with the exception of one that had a sort of white spot on his forehead, I couldn't tell any of the others apart.) They were sweet. They were fun. And they were far more likely to nip our ears, bite our toes or lose interest in us.

But not Gus.

He patiently cuddled with each of the kids, despite their well-meaning, but not particularly comfortable, styles of holding him.

Despite the screw up by the breeder, as we played with each puppy I commented to Jeff that I didn't think we could make a bad selection.They were all so sweet and adorable. But Gus - he just stood apart somehow.

Eleven more days until he's ours. Molly Rose can come later. I do believe Gus is going to fit into our family just fine.

Interior decorating - princess style

We're not just princesses, we're artistists! That's what Sydney declared as she helped decorate her bedroom walls with new easy-to-peel-off Disney Princess stickers.

This was something Sydney took very seriously. Dressed in her "beautiful gown", she must have felt inspired to add the royal decor. Sydney
knew exactly where she wanted each piece (i.e. wherever the whim struck), and insisted on helping.

I'd left the room at one point to see what AJ was up to, when suddenly I heard her call, "Mommy, I did it myself!"

Did I mention the stickers are easy to peel off and reposition? Thank goodness!

Sydney once again demonstrated her objection to the style philosophy of less is more. And so slowly but surely, so as not to be noticeable, Mommy has been peeling and shifting the stickers so that they're now more spread out across her wall.

Looking around the room at the multiple decorating themes, I realize I'm in no position to criticize. We seem to be adding decor on an almost annual basis. When she was a baby, I decorated with gerber daisies. Next up were star stickers on the headboard of her bed, followed closely by Dora, and now it's princesses.

The star stickers were the first to go. Such sacrifices we make as artistists!

Alex for an afternoon

We've always called him AJ. And with the exception of about a two-day period when he complained he wanted a name with more letters (he suggested Dave), AJ has been fine with the nickname.

So it came as a bit of a surprise last fall when suddenly anyone who knew him through school started calling him Alex. It was even more of a surpise to learn that while it was the teacher who'd started it, she did it at AJ's request.

When the school year ended, so did all references to Alex. Until Sunday when we invited his best friend from his kindergarten class to come over and play.

I suspect it was a similar story for Evan T, who probably is known as just Evan everywhere other than in a kindergarten class that includes another boy named Evan. And so, Alex and Evan T happily bounced around, calling out each other's names as they played pickle in the middle.

When AJ learned that we got to keep the rented bouncy house for an extra day after Sydney's party, you could see his mind at work as he figured out who he wanted to invite over to play. It took a bit of work to find the slip of paper with Evan T's phone number, and a bit more work to decipher it since most of the number's were backward. But we did it, and Evan T was available, and what a fun afternoon it turned out to be.

 

When it got too hot to bounce anymore, the boys cooled off inside, briefly playing pirates. And then then cooled off even more by running through the sprinkler, daring each other to see who could get the closest, who could tolerate the biggest blast of cold water and other tests of bravery.

Wait! Is that a bug?

Okay, back to the sprinkler.

As fun as it was to watch and listen to them play, it also reminded me why I couldn't handle a job in elementary education. There's just a certain disconnect between what strikes their funny bone, versus mine. For instance, lifting their shirt and playing bongo drums on their stomach produced hysterical laughter. And making up songs that include the word "poop"? Well, that's even funnier.

I don't get six-year-old humor.

Which is exactly why it's good for them to play with friends their own age. And then, just like that, Alex switched back to being my sweet AJ, always seeking my approval. At bedtime he asked, "Did you have fun when my friend Evan T was here?"

"It was fun watching you have so much fun," I affirmed.

"Yup," he agreed. "It was a fun, fun day."

Party for a princess

Sydney threw in an eleventh-hour curve ball, asking for Barbie paper plates instead of Disney princess ones. And Mother Nature wasn't much help either, drenching us with rain overnight and turning the bouncy house into a wading pool.

But by party time, Sydney was back in princess mode. And a combination of buckets, towels, turkey baster and finally the wet vac got the bouncy house dry and back to bouncing form. And Sydney had fun at her first ever birthday party for friends, which really is all that matters.

The rest of the kids had fun, too, running around the house and yard in search of clues in a treasure hunt. Jeff led the way, and ultimately the kids were rewarded with a quarter. Quite the loot!



Left to right: Ethan, Arianna, Addie, Carver, Lily, Erin (Addie and Lily's cousin), Sydney and AJ.

Ever the Princess, Sydney had numerous costume changes throughout the afternoon. Her yellow Belle dress is nice and all, but it simply cannot compete with the beautiful new gown from Carver and Ethan, not to mention the perfectly matching Barbie fairy shoes from Addie and Lily. Her first pair of high heels!

Amazingly, the dress stayed clean through cupcakes and ice cream. (Or not so amazing, considering that once she blew out her candles, Sydney announced she didn't want a cupcake or ice cream.)

And then it was back to the bouncy house. Mommy forced the costume change this time.

As it turns out, the rain and overcast skies were a blessing in disguise. We were supposed to return the bouncy house immediately after the party. However, the rental place told us that in the event of rain, they would prefer we keep it an extra day to give it time to dry, rather than bring it back wet. Since the rental place is closed Sundays, that meant we get to keep it until Monday.

The cloudy skies also kept it relatively cool inside the bouncy house - something we didn't appreciate until we went in there Sunday when it was sunny and the temperature reached the 80s. Wow! Sydney came out asking for socks because the vinyl surface was that hot.

As much work as it was to haul and set up the bouncy house (for which Jeff gets all the credit), I'm fairly certain we will never rent one again. At least we got our money's worth - three days for the price of one. And for this one weekend, the kids had a royally good time.

Weekly dose of cute puppies

Here they are at five weeks. Either we happened to catch them during a non-nap time, or else their personalities have exploded since we saw them last! It's probably a little of both.

When we got there, they all came running to greet us. An extra fence has been added as back up in case they manage to squeeze their curious little bodies under the first gate. Once we were inside, we were showered with puppy "affection". AJ's shoes, my skirt - they still go whenever and wherever the urge strikes. 

Good thing they're so cute! If I had my way, this is the little girl who would become our Molly Rose. In the midst of the chaos, she climbed up onto my lap and stayed there.

But then there's also this little darling that Jeff picked up.

Or these two little sweethearts...

Just how crazy is it to sit in the midst of 11 adorable puppies? Here's a look:

Less than three weeks until we bring one home for good. In the meantime, saying goodbye is so hard!

I'd had to go in to work for a few hours on Friday. Trying to wrap up a couple big projects, not to mention get ahead on a few things prior to going on vacation, has made this a pretty stressful week. I cannot put into words how much these puppies helped relax me. So what if I had to go back to work with puppy pea on my skirt? I had the smell of their soft fur on my hands, and there's just nothing better than that!