All blogged out

Day 17 - Tuesday - August 8, 2006

I've been thinking and thinking about what I should title today's post. And I finally decided, as I was dragging my feet, deliberating between blogging and reading a book that I'm feeling "All Blogged Out". Guess that was bound to happen given all that I have written in the last two weeks - more than I've written all year, I think! Of course when I finally get around to scrapbooking all these pictures of our trip (I think we're up to about 450 now!) I'll be glad I have all this written to go along with them.

0730 - Wake up. I can hear Ryan in the other room trying to turn on a movie. I know he won't be able to figure out how to get the TV onto the right channel for the DVD player. Which means I'm going to have to get up. Definitely regretting staying up so late last night. But that happens sometimes when Ron is gone. Can't fall asleep. And of course that ice mocha at the bookstore definitely didn't help any!

0745 - Felisa is calling for me. Something about needing a tissue. Ewww - that's a big one. That girl has some of the biggest, uckiest, morning sneezes ever.

0800 - Breakfast. Felisa has a screaming fit because she wants the chair Ryan is sitting in. Which turns into a coughing fit. So I give her some Zyrtec and honey cough. I was going to give her an echineccea yummi bear but apparently they all melted in the hot car at some point along the way. Ewww. By the time we get back to the kitchen Ryan has finished his breakfast so she gets the chair after all.

0820 - Patricia calls to let me know we can come over to play today. I tell her I'm aiming for mid-morning.

0830 - shower time. Tell the kids that they need to get dressed after the movie is over.

0900 - I'm ready to leave. Ryan is still in his PJs, watching. I ask him if the movie is almost over. He says that this is a bonus episode (meaning the movie ended and then he chose a bonus feature). So I suggest that he can watch it later. And he whines. And so I give in because I just don't feel like dealing with it. I work on getting everything ready to go - sunscreen, cups full of fresh water and juice, DVD to return with receipt. I even paint my toenails and fingernails. Don't you just hate it when the color that looks nice in the bottle at the store is ugly once you get it on. Maybe I'll get another bottle sometime later today...

0920 - I can't take it anymore. Tell everyone to get their shoes on and get in the car. Ryan asks where we are going. For the third time I explain that we are going to a store then to meet new friends. Oh, he says. I need to get dressed. Um yeah. And make it snappy! Clearly he has not heard a single thing I said to him this morning.

0930 - off to enjoy a little Starbucks Drive Thru. What I wouldn't give for one of those back home some days... Lourna calls while I'm in line. I end up talking to her while I'm at the window. As the guy is handing me stuff faster than I can grab it I realize what I'm doing. I ask Lourna to hold on then apologize to the clerk and finish our transaction. I HATE when people are so busy talking on the phone that they don't give store clerks the courtesy of their attention during the transaction. And there I was doing it myself. I'm so embarrassed!

0943 - Funny kid conversation overheard from the backseat...

R - Do you know why I don't want to be an astronaut when I grow up?
B - You want to be an astronaut when you grow up?
R - No. I DON'T want to be an astronaut.
B- Oh. Why?
R - Because I don't want to go through a black hole.
B - Well, (in that special way she says "well...") you can just go around
it.
R - I don't think you can do that. The closer you get, the harder it
is to get away from it.

So I guess he was paying attention and actually learned something when we saw The Black Hole movie at the Natural Science Museum in Denver!

0945 - arrive at Hastings to exchange the Wallace and Grommit DVD. Go to the kids' section to find a replacement movie. The kids are behaving fairly well which is good since I prefer shopping there alone! But it was helpful to have Ryan along as my spare memory - telling me which ones we already had at home. Then Bella found what I was hoping to find there - a Little Einsteins movie. So off we went...

1015 - Leave Hastings and head for Patricia's. I had hoped to be there by 1000 but 1030 is good considering how hard it was to get everyone going this morning.

12:40 pm - Leave Patricia's. A nice visit. A nice bonus that another friend of hers was also there with her 2 kids so my kids had someone to play with while I visited. Grandpa R called and asked if he could ride along on our return journey if Mom is unable to make it. I told him yes but he should bring a credit card in case he changes his mind and we have to drop him at the nearest airport so he can return home! Hee hee. Mom called about an hour later and said that unfortunately she wasn't chosen for the MD job so she won't be coming. She did say she has us on the calendar for September. Hope she can make it!

12:50 pm - Stop at Other Mothers, a consignment shop. Or as Ryan likes to call them - leftover stores! Picked up a couple cute dresses for Bella. Which means Felisa had to have one too. And cute winter pj's for Bella. So Felisa and Ryan needed some too... There were no books, toys or videos to speak of though.

1:15 pm - Target. They'll have a cute DVD for the ride home I think. I can't find our backyardigans that we brought with us so I wouldn't mind getting another one. And in typical Target fashion - we found 4 movies and 3 leapster games and a puzzle. Because we were there to buy one thing. It is against the natural laws of the universe to exit Target after purchasing only one item, you know.

1:30 pm - Pick up lunch at Wienerschnitzel. Satisfied that craving... I think Schlotsky's is the only one I haven't had yet on this trip...

3:00 pm - sit down with computer to blog while the kids watch the new Backyardigans DVD we got today.

3:20 pm - Phone is ringing. Which means I have to get up AGAIN and walk to the kitchen AGAIN. In the last 20 minutes I have made about 10 round-trips from the couch to the kitchen. Felisa wants a snack. I forgot my notebook. I forgot my drink. Bella wants a snack. Felisa wants another snack. I forgot my other sheet of blognotes. Man, I'm tired. Maybe I shouldn't have stayed up so late last night... Yawn.

3:28 pm - Felisa just peed in her pants. And on the carpet. No rest for the weary...

3:41 pm - get up to unlock the back door for Felisa. Tell her to STAY OUT OF THE WATER. Though I'm sure she'll find an excuse to get wet anyway. Too bad she doesn't have any more clean clothes to change into.

3:49 pm - Felisa is back inside. Dry. Said it was too hot outside. I think all the rain has been raising the humidity a bit around here the last couple of days. Of course, nowhere near the horrible humidity back home. Ron called while we were at Target. He made it home okay. Said it was REALLY hot there. And the grass was about a foot tall!

3:54 pm - Felisa has developed the annoying habit of saying, "I'm not (fill in the blank)ing." Immediately after being told to Stop (fill in the blank)ing. Which means she was in fact (fill in the blank)ing. But okay - whatever.

4:48 pm - We have entered that horrible time of day when everyone is tired and I wonder how I will ever survive the rest of the evening until I can banish them all to the bedroom and go off-duty until tomorrow.

5:05 pm - They're following me. I came to hide in the bedroom to avoid the bickering. Not 5 minutes later, two of them are here. And fighting over Goldfish. Someone save me! Or them...

5:17 pm - There's more to this entry but since it really is 5:17 pm on August 8 that means I am finally CAUGHT UP!!! And so I will publish it now and edit it later. Because I am CAUGHT UP and I want the whole world to know!!!

9:10 pm - Back from our Full Moon Adventure. Felisa blessedly fell asleep on the way home and not on the way there. The other two are in pj's and watching their new Veggie Tales video. Which leaves me free to rant and rave for a few minutes. I should be doing dishes or laundry but who cares. I'm on vacation. And clean underwear is optional on vacation.

So, back to the Full Moon. Several months ago (probably back in February or so) I was reading a book about family activities and togetherness and traditions. It was very clear that every family needs traditions and I decided that our family didn't really have many. But I didn't want to force one. So I thought and thought and suddenly a brilliant idea came to me... The Full Moon! There is one or fewer every month. It falls on a different day every month. Ryan, for some reason, is very interested in pointing out when the full moon day is on the calendar. Perfect! I put Ryan in charge of reminding me when a Full Moon day was coming up. I decided that we would do a special family activity on each full moon day. Sometimes something very simple like a special dessert or a moon-lit walk around the block. Sometimes something more exciting like spending the night at the condo. And so a family tradition was born. Of course people think it is some sort of pagan ritual but now you all can clearly see that it is not! So quit giving me such a hard time! :)

And now for this evening's activity... A drive up to the top of 4 Hills (though it was probably just one of the four that we actually were on at the time!) to take a short walk in the moonlight. Sounds simple, right? Did I mention that Ron went home last night? Which means that any activity I attempt to undertake on my own is doomed to at least a little trouble. First problem, no moon. Last night we had the most gorgeous moon I have seen in months. Right up over Four Hills area. At about 8:15 pm. Wasn't there tonight. The skies seemed fairly clear in that direction even though it is monsoon season and there has been record-breaking rain here lately. But no moon. Apparently that Navigation class I took sophomore year has all leaked out of my brain because I really thought that even though the moon is not on a strict 24 hour rotation like the sun is, it generally rises about the same general time two days in a row. Of course just typing that is making me think that I am wrong and completely crazy. Oh well. You get the idea. No moon. Bella said it was because it was too shy to come out. Ryan said it was wrestling with the clouds to get out. We saw it yesterday on our drive to and from the airport so that's good enough for me.

Second problem - all the rain has been wreaking havoc on the dirt road going up the hill. Which leads to me four-wheeling up an almost dark road in my mini-van. Oh yeah. Talk about asking for trouble. But we made it. Of course, if the car won't start in the morning, we'll know why.

Third problem - We forgot to take the flashlights out of the van. Which leads to several sub-problems. While I'm getting the camera out and pausing for just the briefest of moments to try to get a picture of the city lights, the kids going running off down the road. And a car comes from around a corner. The two older ones yell car and run back towards me, out of the way. Felisa tries to run and slips on the loose gravel and falls down. And I COMPLETELY FREAK OUT because it is dark and there's no way the driver will see her there. But luckily he was going slow and I think he did see some of our frantic movements because he had slowed way down. And we all survived. But I was still shaking 20 minutes later. And even now, a sick feeling in my stomach when I think about it. I was really scared. Second sub-problem of no flashlights - as we go hiking down the trail I start to worry about snakes and other wild animals jumping out to bite someone. I'm sure the recent car incident had my nerves on edge and we had no flashlights so we wouldn't be able to see the animals before they ate us. So we walked not very far. And I stopped to take a shaky picture of the lights and a couple of the kids. Then we turned around to go back.

Fourth problem - possibly a sub-problem of no flashlights but I'll give it its own heading. I was totally freaking out that we would be lost getting back to the car. Because we were a whole hundred feet or so away from it. And did I mention wild animals eating us? Believe it or not, I'm not usually such a "bogey man is going to get us" person but once it starts, there is no going back.

We made it back to the car without getting lost. We made it back to the paved road without falling into a hole or off the edge of the road and without getting lost. The kids all had a fabulous time. At least I think they did - they were laughing and joking the whole time. So that makes it a success. We will all remember the evening for a while - just for different reasons!

And now in closing, some advice... Don't take your kids on a night-time hike in a strange area when you are PMSing and your hormones are raging out of control. Not going to be fun for you. Oh and be sure to check the moonrise schedule in the early planning stages!

Happy Full Moon Day!