Mommin' It Up!

June 24, 2008

Some Moms are Fun Moms. And then there’s ME.

Yesterday my friend Andrea and I were talking (yes, this is the same Andrea whose house and dog Joshua puked all over. Yes, we are still friends. We were at a park yesterday so there was no need to worry about Joshua hurling all over her carpet or newborn baby. Anyhoo.) about my recent vacation to Virginia, and I was saying that when I go on vacation, I like to just lay around. I prefer if that “laying around” happens on a beach, but Virginia was good too. I mean we took the kids for short outings to the creeks and rivers and other places where they could play, but no more than two hours long at a pop. Andrea agreed and she also likes a lazy vacay. She vacations each year in Florida, but, she said, “I have no interest in going to Disney World or anywhere like that.”

“Me neither!” I agreed. “Emily took Kate though. She’s crazy!”

Sorry Karen, but the thought of going to Disney World with my kids makes me want to jump off a bridge. Nothing against you, good folks at Disney! I would LOVE to go with my husband or with Emily and kick it Disney-style for a day (and then spend the rest of vacation laying around) but I am waaaay too lazy to take my kids there. Besides, I think they should wait until they are older to truly enjoy the magic. My parents took me when I was six and the only thing I remember about it is that the guy dressed up as Captain Hook scared the bejeebers out of me and my Dad almost clocked him ’cause he wouldn’t leave me alone! I don’t want a hug, you gimpy pirate! Leave me alone!

Emily, on the other hand, is a fun mom. As I mentioned, she and Andy took Kate to Disney when Kate was three and she had the time of her life! And I think they actually had fun, too. Unless they are just lying to save face. Which is what I would have to do.

Andrea and I continued or conversation by focusing on local spots to avoid. The first one that sprang to mind was an amusement park I loved to go to when I was young, which is about an hour away from our house, Kings Island. “Oh yeah,” I said, “You couldn’t pay me to take the kids to Kings Island. I know Emily has taken Kate there though.” Andrea agreed that she too would rather go on Fear Factor than take her kids to Kings Island. Too much waiting in long lines in the sun with people whose kids are not nearly as innocent and sheltered as ours are! And lots of teenagers making out everywhere. And more tie-dye than is healthy in one locale.

Just a mere 8 hours later at about 8:30, I got a text message from Emily on my cell. Here is what it said: “We are at Kings Island and we are in line for the Beastie for the 4th time today. I am too old for this.” I was all by myself, but I totally cracked up. I had no idea when I was having that conversation with Andrea earlier, that Emily was actually AT Kings Island at that exact moment with her hubby, 4-year-old, and 10-week-old!! She was at the very place I said I wouldn’t be caught dead at! Because apparently she and Andy don’t mind torturing themselves so that their kids can have fun! Who knew??

I called her the next morning and said, “There is just one thing I need to know. I know you were both smoking crack. But which one of you bought it?”

“Actually,” Emily said, “we had a really nice time. One of us stayed with Sam and one of us rode rides with Kate.”

A nice time. Riiiight. Keep telling yourself that, Em. And keep on smokin’ that crack! I’m sure it helps!

June 13, 2008August 8, 2010

More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About My Family Vacation

A few short hours ago I returned from my Big Fat Virginian Family Vacation, and in the spirit of telling you more than you ever want or need to know about my life, I thought I’d share a ~~few~~ ton of details with you. The reason my brothers, myself, our spouses and our total of eight kids between us all gathered at my parent’s Blue Ridge mountain retreat is because forty years ago, these crazy kids,

who are now these crazy kids (and also happen to be my parents),

got hitched!! And we wanted to celebrate, and as my dad likes to say, “have a big time.” So, my niece and I went to the store and got a partially decorated cake and made it look AWESOME:

Then we ATE it! And ice cream too! Yummy!

But, since it’s a seven hour drive to this mountaintop paradise, we also had to stay a few days and have fun together. Unfortunately, my husband couldn’t get the week off of work so he was only able to spend one night with us there. 🙁 He had to go back to Ohio and OOPSIE he accidentally took the kids’ car seats with him so I got to visit the local Wal-Mart and stimulate the Lexington, Va. area economy so we could get around during the week and get home (small detail)!! (We hitched a ride with my brother and fam in their SWEET Toyota Sienna mini-van. But that adventure will have to be its own separate post next week.)

My brothers and I kicked the week off right with a visit to the local CVS. My parents’ house is four miles up a mountain, and the town at the bottom of said mountain does not have much to offer except a Mormon college, a Food Lion, and praise the Lord, a flippin’ CVS!! So my nerdy brothers and I (I am the COOL one in the family, believe it or not) tore up the local CVS. My brother Andy said, “I feel like I am in the presence of greatness.” And I was all, “You can be my apprentice.” And he was all, “How about your Padawan Learner?” For those of you who are not huge dorks, this is a Star Wars reference. My brothers looove Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, etc. I was all, “Andy, you just brought CVSing to a whole new level of nerdiness!” It was epic, to say the least. We did two transactions and I think we wore out our welcome at the small-town CVS! I will detail our purchases in my Super Savings Saturday post tomorrow. Never fear!

It was HOTTTTT most of the week, but we did get out to take the kids to some of the beautiful local creeks and rivers to play. Here’s Joshua at a stop on the Blue Ridge parkway called “Otter Creek”:

When it was too HOTT (I’m talking 98 degrees baby!) we just stripped Sophie down to her diaper and put her in a rubbermaid tote with a little bit of water at the bottom and stuck her on the front porch. Yee-haaaa!! It was pretty much the most fun she’s ever had in her life!

This was actually taken on the first day of a nasty stomach flu bug I caught. My brother and sister-in-law had it too! I spent a good part of this day and the ENTIRE next day in bed! It was awful. So I missed some fun times but my family did a wonderful job of taking care of and entertaining my kids for me!! So thanks to them!!

Sickness aside, we had a really had a great time. One thing I love about my family is that we just like to be together. My brothers and sisters-in-law all make very good company. We all crack each other up which is fun. So I can honestly say that five days with 15 of us all in the same house was FUN. Really! I’m so thankful for such a wonderful family.

I took hundreds of pictures while I was there (449 before I started deleting the bad ones!), so my Weekly Winners post Sunday will be a big one! And perhaps it will contain another vacation anecdote or two. But for now, I’m pooped, so I am going to leave you with a picture of my son enjoying his first S’more ever at the bonfire we had in my parent’s yard last night:

The whole vacation was just THAT good!

June 11, 2008June 11, 2008

WFMW: Tottoos.org

I’ve been meaning to write this WFMW for, oh, about 11 months, but with summer here, now seemed like the perfect time to finally do it!

Last June we took a trip to Disney World. Kate had just turned three. Being the giant dork I am, I was researching everything I could. You should have seen the notebook in my purse with maps, the order in which we’d ride each ride, “must see” tips and more. It made Jenny and her coupon binder seem well adjusted.

But anyway! Right before we left I found out about Tottoos. They are, as you might imagine, tattoos for kids. Here’s what they look like:

Yes, I planned to tattoo my cell phone number on my child’s arm! We were about to leave on our trip, and I wasn’t sure I could get them in time, so I called the tottoos people and they were SO nice and sent my order to me with time to spare.

Tottoos aren’t like the regular temporary tattoos you’re used to. They are more plasticky (yes, that is the technical term) and you have to use their special remover to get them off, so they are water proof and will stand up to a long day at the amusement park or whatever.

They also have a medical alert variety that can be used to warn people about a child’s diabetes, allergies, etc.

I took a lot of razzing when I told my friends at work that I was going to order these (paranoid much??) but they were great. Having been lost in Disney World myself as a child, I really wanted to make sure that we would be quickly reunited with Kate should we become separated. She couldn’t be trusted (and still can’t, really) to remember a phone number, especially if she were upset, so this was perfect. I just told her that if she couldn’t find us, she should find a Disney worker or another mom with kids and show her Tottoo.

Fortunately, we didn’t need to put the Tottoos into action, but I was very glad to have them. And many, many moms stopped me throughout our trip and asked me where i had gotten such a thing.

Keeping kids safe – that works for me. For more Works for me Wednesday fun, head over to Rocks in my Dryer!

I just got an email from the nice Tottoos people and they are offering our readers 10% off – just use the code MOM10.