I'm so out of it...

Day 18 - Wednesday - August 9, 2006

I have been out of it all day. I went to the grocery store THREE times today. With THREE kids. That alone is enough to make me shake my head and ask, "Why?!?" Aunt Flo has been kicking my butt this month, leaving me cranking and pretty much worthless. But oh well. What can you do, really?

A recap of today's activities:
- Wake up wondering if I was imagining the very loud, oh my gosh the house is shaking, thunder from last night. Scrape me off the ceiling, why don't you! As if I weren't freaked out enough, the thunder had my heart racing again at midnight. (I asked Elena later and wasn't imagining it; the thunder really was shaking the houses!)
- Out to the grocery store (need ingredients for tonight's dinner - spinach lasagna rolls) and Starbucks (self-explanatory!). I even bought a newspaper from the paper peddler outside Starbucks because wouldn't that be a nice, relaxing, vacation activity - reading the paper (something I very rarely do at home).
- Back home I bring in the groceries and immediately realize I have forgotten the lasagna noodles. A key ingredient, no?
- Tell the kids they have 5 minutes before we go back to the store. My phone rings - a message. It is Patricia. I call her back. She is inviting us to meet her at Explora this afternoon. I tell her I have to talk to Elena first to figure out our plan of the day.
- Call Elena. Decide on a late-afternoon get-together.
- Load up the kids and head to the store again. Call Patricia and tell her we should be able to make it by 1:30 depending on how quickly I can get dinner together.
- Back home the kids play while I boil, chop, mix, and assemble the lasagna rolls. Halfway through the salad-making I realize that I don't have enough lettuce. Turns out the extra head of lettuce has been in there awhile because when I take it out I discover the yucky, mushy, black bottom. Looks like we'll be stopping at the store AGAIN on the way home from the museum. As long as I'm there, I'll pick up some italian sausage to be sure we have enough food for everyone. Grandma and Grandpa R will be coming down from LA for dinner as well so that's 2 more to feed.
- Load everyone up and head to the museum. Arrive at about 2:15. Patricia is also just arriving so that worked out. Pay $16 to get in. Adults are $7. Seems a bit high for a CHILDREN'S museum but whatever. Herd my kids through the museum. They seem to be having fun and are staying together pretty well considering the age range. And the fact that there are 3 of them and only one of me. Upstairs there is an outside porch with life-size lincoln logs. Well child life-size anyway. So you can build cabins and benches and tables and... Very cool. That was the most impressive thing to me out of the whole place. (just googled and found this website. Apparently it is called slotwood. The ones at the museum were a little nicer but the whole concept is cool if you ask me!) The kids also enjoyed the laminar flow fountain. You can control the water flow with buttons. At 3:30 we head out so we can get back (after our 3rd grocery store visit!) to finish dinner preps and get over to Elena's.
- Dinner was good. I got more good snuggles time with Seth. Grandma and Grandpa made it down.
- After dinner Grandpa was outside video-taping the kids playing in the back yard. When I went outside later, the kids had filled the sandbox with water and were now playing in a mudbox. Hello?!?! Aren't you supervising them, Grandpa? Oh, he says, I was busy videotaping. Videotaping, yes. But apparently not paying attention to what he was seeing on screen!
- Hosed everyone off then borrowed a couple clean shirts to wear on the ride home. I was going to make them ride home in their underwear but Grandma found shirts for them.
- Grandma gave the kids a bath while I looked over the map and discussed travel plans with Grandpa R.
- Put the kids to bed.
- Talk to Grandma and Grandpa for awhile. Turns out they are not staying through the weekend - just came down to pick up the extra car and take it back up. Also, it turns out that TODAY is the full moon day. Maybe that's why our little adventure was so doomed yesterday - it wasn't the right day! If only I had a brain and could read the calendar...
- Put myself to bed with the portable DVD player. Watch Legally Blonde 2 until midnight. Yawn!