he's free

Sunday, a tornado-like storm came rolling off the mountains and left us with a little rain (finally!) and unfortunately no power.

Knew it was going to be an interesting start to the evening, as the power went out just as I was getting my hair cut. Thankfully there was still enough natural light for the hairdresser to finish, and she did reduce the cost. But was it a good haircut...

I also happen to have a deadline Monday mornings. While most of my section was finished, I had some editing as well as layout to finish and it is all done by computer. So I headed to the nearest, powered, Starbucks to finish.

When I arrived home at 10pm, still no power in town. As I pulled in the driveway I saw flashlights shining in the master bedroom. Stephen was entertaining Jackson with the light. Wondering what he was still doing awake, I soon realized he was hopped up on ice cream cake. We had celebrated his 2nd birthday hours earlier and when we lost power, decided everyone could have a second helping of cake since it was going to melt. This didn't go over well in his little 26 pound body.

He also has an obsession with balloons. We know this. Every time we go to the grocery store, he begs for one. Darn Harris Teeter got the other kids so accustomed to getting a free balloon every trip, they never got obsessed. If only we had a Teeter closer, I would go just for the sake of avoiding the balloon meltdown. Or "boo" as Jackson calls them.

Well, we got him some balloons for his birthday celebration and between the sugar and obsession with sleeping with the balloons in his hands, he was a crazy man that night.

This fateful night, he also learned to climb out of his crib.

Life.is.over

We all finally fell asleep, Charlie and Jackson with Stephen in our room, Avery and I in Jackson's room, to the sound of the neighbor's generator cranking away.

Power is back on and life is somewhat normal, oh wait...I did mention Jackson has found his freedom. So, today he climbed out of his crib at naptime and hasn't looked back. I think freedom is overrated.

Thank goodness he was bleeding

As a parent I have images that run through my mind of things I NEVER want to happen to me. Not big things, well those too, but in this case I'm talking about the little things. The circumstances where I won't know what to say or do because my child has caused a scene. You know, the moments that will be utterly embarrassing to me. Yup, it is all about ME today.

The crash. The sound of a million little pieces of glass hitting the floor. What I should have been thinking, "Oh, I hope everyone is ok." What I was thinking, "PLEASE don't let that have been my child causing that mess."

Trying to leave the Restoration Hardware outlet, Charlie pulled over a porcelain pedestal sink. I was in front of the pack with the stroller, Stephen was behind the pack trying to keep Jackson out of trouble, Avery and Charlie were in between being kids.

As Stephen was checking on Charlie, surrounded by big and little pieces of broken glass, I was consoling Avery who was upset that a) it was their fault and b) it was so loud. So at this point I am kind of thinking "are my children ok?" but the more penetrating thought is "wow, how much is that going to cost us?"

Thankfully, Charlie is bleeding. Whew, there is no way they are going to make us pay if there is an injury involved. I jest. Only so slightly.

Charlie somehow avoided getting really, really hurt. The sink, not attached to its pedestal, with the pedestal not attached to anything, fully fell over. He walked away with a minor cut on his pinky finger, Avery with a sore wrist from trying to catch the falling sink. As minor as the cut was, it was a bleeder. The management was so concerned about him and all the blood coming from his finger, that the broken sink was cleaned up without even a glance in our direction.

So here are some lessons learned.
Stephen and I will NEVER step foot in that outlet again, with or without children. We feel like they have a WANTED poster of us hanging behind the register.
Restoration Hardware will probably never place a freestanding, non-attached pedestal sink in the middle of a room.

let me save you a trip

You know those wacky travel books, where they tell you all the places to visit that are off the beaten path that sound odd, yet fascinating? Don't let them fool you. They are just odd, not fascinating.

DinosaurLand. How bad could it be? It is on Stonewall Jackson Highway after all. And it is a park full of life sized dinosaurs. Not to mention price, a very inexpensive outing for a family on a budget.

You kind of get the feeling of what you are in for as you pull up to the home turned business venture. From the look of the shark which is roadside, you hope and pray the dinosaurs don't look as, well, pitiful. You have driven all this way and have already promised the kids a day of fun at DinosaurLand, there is no turning back. They've got you right where they want you.

Of course the epic adventure begins and ends in the country store/gift shop. Four dollars for the two older kids, five dollars for myself. Let the fun begin.

First stop, the washed up shark by the road. Paper mache-d (sorry can't do all the symbols that word needs) in the seventies. Only feature worth mentioning, mouth open for a good photo op. "They can't all look like this" starts to play over and over in your head.

Past the dirt mound, the real DinosaurLand begins. And you guessed it, more paper mache. All of them. And all dating back to at least 1970 if not older. Avery, love her sponge-like brain, pointed out discrepancies.
"Mommy, that wasn't the real size of the Pteranodon."
"Mommy, that dinosaur is supposed to have another claw on the front of its' foot."
"Mommy, that dinosaur was a plant eater, why do they have it eating another dinosaur?"

So we wandered through all 30+ creations, not just dinosaurs, to end at King Kong. That was about 15 minutes after we arrived. Can we really kill the rest of the afternoon in the gift shop??

Thank goodness Skyline Caverns is only a 30 minute drive down the road in Front Royal. Day not totally wasted.

As we drove home, the kids just kept asking to go back to DinosaurLand. Really? They can't be serious. Ok, they are serious. I think I'll let Stephen take them back to enjoy the adventure (park).

Her escape

We tell Avery she lives in 'La La' land. She has a wild, vivid imagination and it seems like she is always there, in her own world and it takes quite a bit to bring her back to reality.
Well, now that she is reading, she has a new escape (and with two little brothers, who doesn't need an escape??). The girl is not without a book in hand, ever.




I'll keep the photo of her reading a book, naked, while brushing her teeth for the future husband.

there are days

our fish

Our children are fish, I am convinced. The pool is the new playground for the kids and they never want to get out.
Silly me, I thought there was no pool that could top our neighborhood pool in NC. I had images of being thoroughly let down when entering our town pool.
To our surprise, it is even better. And I love that Avery and Charlie are confident enough for me to let them roam throughout the three-foot deep parts, which has four slides, two floating animals, a spouting mushroom, and four dumping buckets. Charlie was a little sad that he is not tall enough to go down the big green slide yet, but I promised him he would be next year.
And Jackson, well, thank goodness the pool has life vests. I put him in one and he is crazy. Jumping in, going into deep water, loving one of the slides.
I love summer.



Avery and Charlie jumping into the pool in Virginia Beach while we were down for Gabriel's baptism.


Sleepy Jackson after time at the pool.

Talent

I am meeting some wonderful people through my job at the paper. Very welcoming homeowners (who even welcome my kids on many occasions) as well as very, very talented artists/builders/designers.
Recently I met Lynda Durham who decorative paints for a living. She is a sweet woman, and oh so talented. Out of all of her artwork that I have seen, I can't help but come back to these switchplate covers. The homeowner hated the white covers the builder left, especially because (as well all know) the eye is always drawn to those first instead of the beautiful tile/stone work.
So the homeowner asked Lynda what she could do and voila...can't even see them.





Yup, she painted them to look like the backsplash. Amazing!