Kasey and I took some time off this week to spend with the kids, and we went down to San Antonio. I'm not sure where to begin to describe all we did and the funny stories we experienced. So if it write in random thoughts and order, it is because I'm trying to share as much as possible.
We headed down last Saturday and met my college roommate and his family for lunch in Waco. He and I used to go down to the campus pizza parlor and grab a pepperoni and jalapeno pizza every night and I know we discussed many things over those pizzas including our future, but I'm pretty sure neither of us pictured meeting for lunch 15 years later with 8 kids between the two of us. The lunch was strategic genius on our part as the kid all racked out for a good portion of the remaining trip to SA. My sister, niece Morgan, and nephew Colin were already there as well and all were a huge help with the kids. Lily adores her cousin Colin and as usual she was right by his side the whole time. I have to mention that I was very pleased to hear that Morgan was getting a laugh out of the blog at school one day and shared it with her class who got a kick out of it as well. Keep spreading the blog Morgan.
One of the best parts about taking the kids to be with family is you get to spend time with the kids, but you have a lot of help doing it. Mama (who Abby and Chloe have turned into Me-Ma) took the bulk of the duties as Abby and Chloe insisted she change every diaper and feed them the whole time. I was chastised at one point for even trying to fill up their sippy with milk.
After nap time on Sunday we went over to some friends of ours to go to their pool with them and then eat burgers. When they invited us, I don't think they were aware of what they were getting themselves into. It's hard to describe the arrival of our family, but it's not hard to describe the look on people's face when we make an entrance.....horror. Luckily the kids were relatively well behaved and didn't break anything that I aware of.
Lawson Boy took no time at all learning to climb stairs. After testing the waters on the first couple of stairs a few times, you could see the pride in his eyes as he climbed all the way to the top. Great........
We spent the morning and early part of the afternoon at Seaworld on Memorial Day with Lily, Morgan and Colin. The little ones stayed home for obvious reasons. We showed up as the gates were opening and were able to see every show and ride every ride we wanted with no wait at all. We rode the roller coaster four time in the span of about 30 minutes. Lily had her face painted but only long enough for me to put her in the direct path of the Shamu splash which absolutely drenched her. I had a great vantage point of the splashing from 10 rows up so as not to get a drop on me. The little ones spent some time at the pool with mama and papa and I think Lawson Boy was able to get some quality time with his aunt Chelle.
With a couple days of vaca left we are back home to hopefully had some relaxing days of nothing much at all. The trip home was not as smooth as the trip down. Chloe melted down for reasons still unknown and she was very close to riding the rest of the way home on the roof of the car. She and Abby have given a new meaning to sibling rivalry. What started as a sweet gesture trying to calm Lawson Boy down when he was crying, turned into a war of who would calm him down. One of them would say, "shhhhhh, it's okay baby", in an effort to calm Lawson. And the other would respond angrily, "no shhhhh Lawson, I shhhhhhh Lawson." Wildly enough the bickering between the two of them actually calmed him down. I think the boy is starting to realize the crazy factor he is surrounded with and was entertained by the whole thing.
Lily has a bad habit of sneaking into bed with us in the middle of the night and has become so efficient that we do not realize she had done it until we wake up. So I have been explaining that she is now almost 5 years old and 5 year old little girls have to stay in their bed. I explained that upon our return from SA we would begin enforcing the rule and if she did not comply, we would start taking things away from her. So before bed time, Lily informed us she does not want to be 5 years old. When I inquired why, she told us that she wants to stay 4 years old so she can sleep in the big bed. She then proceeded to tell us that it is not fair that I have to go to bed and you and mommy get to stay up and watch TV. She made some pretty good arguments through the course of the conversation, but because she did not like my rebuttal to her arguments, she ended the conversation expressively, "I STILL DON'T WANT TO BE 5!"
She in not only one who can make a well thought out argument. Abby has learned to argue through suggestion. When I gave her the choose of chicken nuggets or grilled cheese, and she did not care to have either her argument was, "hmmmmm, how about pizza?" On one hand I like the fact that we are conversing as opposed to whining. On the other hand, the amount of debate over things is about to increase exponentially.
We still have a couple days left to do nothing, so I'm off to see what sort of shenanigans these kids can get into. I'm sure something of interest will be blog worthy.
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe and the StairMaster
No comments:
Post a Comment