Looking Forward to ... Nothing!
We're back safe and sound. The kids and I (despite my initial reluctance as mentioned in now deleted post) had a lovely time at Moo and Popsy's house. They played, but mostly they spent their time at the pool splashing, doing their tricks and having fun. Our trip there was event-less.
We didn't leave the house. We didn't do much to speak of. And despite our three days of doing nothing to speak of I have a couple of stories... I'm sharing these because Alexander is still (in my eyes) a baby. If he was older I would keep my big fat trap shut. But that's a hard thing for me to do, so I am glad that I don't have to!
After we got to Newport on Tuesday we ate lunch and then went out to play in the pool. About 20 minutes later Alexander came out and told me that he had to pee. I told him to go and pee in a bush. The house was too far to walk to (because I am lazy) and their property is large so he can safely pee in a remote area. He did his stuff and emerged screaming "Momma, Momma! My penis is purple!" And he held it out to show me a blue-ish purplish tip. "Oh no!" He then exclaimed. "I must have had too many purple Skittles in the car!"
Yesterday, about a half an hour before we were due to leave, the kids were changing out of their wet suits and I was making them lunch, Alexander starts screaming "Momma, my weenie hurts! It hurts! It hurts!" I ignored him for a short while remembering the Skittles Incident of the day before. But then it looked like he was really in pain, so I ventured over to take a look. He pulled down his little shorts and I saw the culprit. There was an ant in one of the folds! A little black ant and all these teeny tiny ant bites! Poor little guy. He really was in pain. I gave him some purple Skittles to make him feel better!
After our Second Penis Incident I loaded the kids into the car and braced myself for our 2.5 hour drive home (arewethereyet? arewethereyet? arewethereyet? arewethereyet?) with three kids whining, complaining (I'm cold! I'm hot! Turn the heat up! Open the windows! I'm carsick!) and fighting (He hit me! She pinched me! Alexander spit on me! Ewwwwwwwwww gross!) and of course every 2.5 seconds Christopher has to ask, How long have we been in the car? How long have we been in the car, now? How long have we been in the car now? This is why the car's navigation is perfect. But it needs to be turned on. And Whoever designed the Toyota/Lexus navigation system stinks. You can not activate it or turn on the settings while driving. In order to plug in an address the car must be fully stopped. Great, except when you are on the highway. And I would not recommend stopping in the middle of I-95 just to turn on your navigation device. This seems silly to me. I can hit my info button while I drive. I can see how much gas I am burning by the nanosecond. I can watch the bar graph disappear before my eyes as I get 60 mpg when I coast, then as I step ever so lightly on the gas and see that I am getting a whopping 8 mpg I'm about to pass out but I'm driving, I can't!
I should have turned that damned navigation system on. But I didn't. So I tell Christopher we are halfway there, which we are... almost. It satisfies him for a minute.
The use of cell phones, unless hands-free, is banned in the state of Connecticut. I agree with it somewhat. I do think that cell phones can be distracting. But so can kids. I mean seriously? If cell phones are banned, I seriously think that children should be banned from cars. They are distracting, and in opinion, children and driving don't mix. Like alcohol. Alcohol impairs your vision. So do children especially when they are throwing things at each other and a shoe accidentally hits the back of your head. Not that this has ever happened. But it could! Alcohol affects your judgement. As do children. Especially when you are yelling at them to quitarguingrightnow so that you can pay attention and you accidentally put the minivan in reverse (one week before you are due to trade it in) and it slams, with the tailgate up, crash-bang into the garage! And I hadn't even left the house that day. Imagine if I'd been on the highway for crying out loud! Alcohol impairs your hearing. Hell, so do children!
Do you remember those yellow plastic signs that mounted on to the back windows of cars that were so popular in the 1980s? You know the ones that said Baby on Board?
I think they should re-institute those. Mandatory by the state. A scarlet letter if you would. Children on Board. This would warn other drivers, and have them steer clear (the hell away) from you. They have signs for Student Drivers. There should be signs for mothers as well. I mean, seriously, instead of paying Geico however many hundreds of dollars a year to insure my car, myself, my children and all those (who dare to drive) around me, I think that Geico should pay me for my Five Plus Years of No Accidents No Tickets and for keeping my wits about me. Don't you think?!
We eventually reached our destination, the grocery store! Ahh, yes, after enduring a long car ride I had to tackle the grocery store... with three whiny children! (Let's face it anything more than 15 minutes with 3 or more children in a vehicle is considered a long ride!) So we got out and trudged across the Shaw's parking lot and went inside.
Amazingly enough, I survived The Grocery Store Experience unscathed! I don't think that has ever happened in my life as a mother. I sent Rebecca off to the deli to get a pound of turkey, a pound of cheese and a rotisserie chicken. The boys helped me shuck the corn, get the lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, squash, tomatoes, potatoes, lemons, limes, apples, peaches, nectarines, watermelon, and grapes.
We then got some ground beef (that was on sale that would be put in the freezer for future use) then headed down the soup, cereal, baking, salad dressing, cleaning, freezer and dairy aisles. I let them get their Push Up Pops, Edy's Ice cream (buy one get one free -- how on earth could I resist that!?) and Oreos.
I left the store with $250 less but unscathed. Hallelujah!
The weather forecast for today is terrible. Torrential storms on an off all day. We'll be home and I'll be doing nothing... nothing at all!
We didn't leave the house. We didn't do much to speak of. And despite our three days of doing nothing to speak of I have a couple of stories... I'm sharing these because Alexander is still (in my eyes) a baby. If he was older I would keep my big fat trap shut. But that's a hard thing for me to do, so I am glad that I don't have to!
After we got to Newport on Tuesday we ate lunch and then went out to play in the pool. About 20 minutes later Alexander came out and told me that he had to pee. I told him to go and pee in a bush. The house was too far to walk to (because I am lazy) and their property is large so he can safely pee in a remote area. He did his stuff and emerged screaming "Momma, Momma! My penis is purple!" And he held it out to show me a blue-ish purplish tip. "Oh no!" He then exclaimed. "I must have had too many purple Skittles in the car!"
Yesterday, about a half an hour before we were due to leave, the kids were changing out of their wet suits and I was making them lunch, Alexander starts screaming "Momma, my weenie hurts! It hurts! It hurts!" I ignored him for a short while remembering the Skittles Incident of the day before. But then it looked like he was really in pain, so I ventured over to take a look. He pulled down his little shorts and I saw the culprit. There was an ant in one of the folds! A little black ant and all these teeny tiny ant bites! Poor little guy. He really was in pain. I gave him some purple Skittles to make him feel better!
After our Second Penis Incident I loaded the kids into the car and braced myself for our 2.5 hour drive home (arewethereyet? arewethereyet? arewethereyet? arewethereyet?) with three kids whining, complaining (I'm cold! I'm hot! Turn the heat up! Open the windows! I'm carsick!) and fighting (He hit me! She pinched me! Alexander spit on me! Ewwwwwwwwww gross!) and of course every 2.5 seconds Christopher has to ask, How long have we been in the car? How long have we been in the car, now? How long have we been in the car now? This is why the car's navigation is perfect. But it needs to be turned on. And Whoever designed the Toyota/Lexus navigation system stinks. You can not activate it or turn on the settings while driving. In order to plug in an address the car must be fully stopped. Great, except when you are on the highway. And I would not recommend stopping in the middle of I-95 just to turn on your navigation device. This seems silly to me. I can hit my info button while I drive. I can see how much gas I am burning by the nanosecond. I can watch the bar graph disappear before my eyes as I get 60 mpg when I coast, then as I step ever so lightly on the gas and see that I am getting a whopping 8 mpg I'm about to pass out but I'm driving, I can't!
I should have turned that damned navigation system on. But I didn't. So I tell Christopher we are halfway there, which we are... almost. It satisfies him for a minute.
The use of cell phones, unless hands-free, is banned in the state of Connecticut. I agree with it somewhat. I do think that cell phones can be distracting. But so can kids. I mean seriously? If cell phones are banned, I seriously think that children should be banned from cars. They are distracting, and in opinion, children and driving don't mix. Like alcohol. Alcohol impairs your vision. So do children especially when they are throwing things at each other and a shoe accidentally hits the back of your head. Not that this has ever happened. But it could! Alcohol affects your judgement. As do children. Especially when you are yelling at them to quitarguingrightnow so that you can pay attention and you accidentally put the minivan in reverse (one week before you are due to trade it in) and it slams, with the tailgate up, crash-bang into the garage! And I hadn't even left the house that day. Imagine if I'd been on the highway for crying out loud! Alcohol impairs your hearing. Hell, so do children!
Do you remember those yellow plastic signs that mounted on to the back windows of cars that were so popular in the 1980s? You know the ones that said Baby on Board?
I think they should re-institute those. Mandatory by the state. A scarlet letter if you would. Children on Board. This would warn other drivers, and have them steer clear (the hell away) from you. They have signs for Student Drivers. There should be signs for mothers as well. I mean, seriously, instead of paying Geico however many hundreds of dollars a year to insure my car, myself, my children and all those (who dare to drive) around me, I think that Geico should pay me for my Five Plus Years of No Accidents No Tickets and for keeping my wits about me. Don't you think?!We eventually reached our destination, the grocery store! Ahh, yes, after enduring a long car ride I had to tackle the grocery store... with three whiny children! (Let's face it anything more than 15 minutes with 3 or more children in a vehicle is considered a long ride!) So we got out and trudged across the Shaw's parking lot and went inside.
Amazingly enough, I survived The Grocery Store Experience unscathed! I don't think that has ever happened in my life as a mother. I sent Rebecca off to the deli to get a pound of turkey, a pound of cheese and a rotisserie chicken. The boys helped me shuck the corn, get the lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, squash, tomatoes, potatoes, lemons, limes, apples, peaches, nectarines, watermelon, and grapes.
We then got some ground beef (that was on sale that would be put in the freezer for future use) then headed down the soup, cereal, baking, salad dressing, cleaning, freezer and dairy aisles. I let them get their Push Up Pops, Edy's Ice cream (buy one get one free -- how on earth could I resist that!?) and Oreos.
I left the store with $250 less but unscathed. Hallelujah!
The weather forecast for today is terrible. Torrential storms on an off all day. We'll be home and I'll be doing nothing... nothing at all!