Keeping the Kids Entertained

I'm generally not a believer that children need to be entertained all the time.  In fact, I think mommas who constantly entertain their children, or send them to preschool to be entertained, do their children a huge disservice.  Children need to learn how to play and how to imagine.  They need to explore things for themselves.  Thus, you'll notice the crayon markings on the walls of my house, the upturned chairs turned into forts, the "relocated" dirt piles (and holes) in my backyard, empty water bottles converted into toys in the playroom, and pictures of who-knows-what taped to random places in my bedroom courtesy of my kids.  In spite of my type-A nature, I give my children lots of freedom to be creative on their own at home.  This freedom, however, does NOT work on vacation.

Although Mr. Wonderful and I love to enjoy vacations where we have absolutely nothing planned but to relax, this didn't work very well for our energetic gang.  If I had a vacation do-over, the first thing I would do is to plan an activity for the kiddos on Day 1.  In hind sight, we probably should have made more stops on the way to San Antonio, and one stop should have been a park.  Instead, our major stop was at an outlet mall where Mr. Wonderful and I thoroughly enjoyed bargain hunting.  Unfortunately, not all parties (especially Tornado Man) enjoyed this outing.

I knew that we were in for a long week when Mr. Wonderful walked out of a surfer store and appeared agitated with our four year old son.  Apparently, he walked through the store and licked as many stacks of t-shirts as he could find.  Yes, licked--with his tongue!  We're still not sure how many shirts got licked before Daddy saw what was happening.  But we're also pretty sure that we're not welcome in that store for a looooong time!  And that was before the "I'm thirsty" and "I have to go to the bathroom again" started.   Our 2 hours of shopping was ultimately successful, but by the time we left I really did have a massive headache.  And that was Day 1.

On Day 2, Daddy highly overestimated how fun a baseball game could be for little people.  Mr. Wonderful was so excited to get to go to a San Antonio Missions baseball game that day.   It was perfect and sunny, the Missions were playing the Frisco Rough Riders (the TX Rangers' AA team and one of our favorites), and we had seats right behind home plate.  How could this have been bad?

Well, let's just say that our game lasted all of 2 innings.  None of the kids were overly impressed with the game.  Baby G turned bright red and started to literally overheat, Boy 2 complained about every possible thing he could think of, and Boy Wonder started crying when we told him he had to sit next to a stranger.  It was a complete disaster--drama, drama, drama.  The only thing that Daddy really wanted to do on this trip was a huge bust.  And by the time we got back to the hotel, Daddy wasn't speaking to the kids.  He even left me at the hotel and went and got me Starbucks just to get some fresh air.  That's when I knew, we might be in for a really long week.  (Stay tuned to hear how the week got better.)

Planning our Family Vacation: Texas or Bust!

Last week we decided to take a vacation! Since we haven't left the friendly confines of our little Metroplex for 2 years, it was definitely time to go somewhere.  So, we spent a few days researching and discussing where to go. 

Originally, we were completely on board with another trip to Hawaii.  But the realization that we STILL couldn't climb Diamond Head because our little ones can't do the stairs, and we STILL couldn't do the underwater fish adventure because our little ones are too short, and we STILL have to pay the exorbitant fees for the little ones, made us realize that maybe we were better off taking a trip to a more three-kids-friendly place.  (Although, Waikiki really is kid friendly!)

Next, we decided that maybe we should go all-in on a kid adventure this year.  So we looked into Walt Disney World.  It soon became apparent that a family of 5 with little ones is at a complete disadvantage in the magical world of Disney.  For starters, we don't fit on rides very well.  And there's also the fact that we don't fit into hotel rooms very well.  And then there's the fact that taking a family of 5 to Disney World and doing it right (I'm not into a dinky trip at a stinky resort) costs about the same as a trip to Hawaii.  So we decided that maybe Disney World should wait until our kids can actually recognize Disney characters--seriously, our boys probably don't know anyone outside of Mickey or Minnie.

Then we decided that maybe we should take an "easier" trip with our little gang.  Maybe we should stay IN Texas and enjoy our beautiful state.  So, because it is always fun and reliable, we did our little pilgrimage to the San Antonio Riverwalk.  And we're very glad we did.  There are so many things to do when you venture into the Texas Hill Country: shopping at the outlets along I-35; the Alamo; IMAX at the Alamo; Sea World; Six Flags; Missions baseball; San Antonio missions tour; shopping in Fredericksburg; Schlitterbauhn; Natural Caverns tour;  Boat rides down the river; tubing down the Brazos; the Zoo; the train ride at the zoo; western town tours, etc. Of course, we only did a few of the activities on this list, but the kids had some fun experiences, mommy did some shopping, and daddy spent afternoons reading books.  We actually had a trip that resembled a real vacation.

That said, vacationing with the 3 Amigos was easier said than done.  By night #1 it occurred to us that taking the kids might have been a mistake.  By night #2, we were already planning our adults-only vacation away from the kids for our next trip.  By night #3, we were exhausted.  So on each of the rest of the nights, we had a mandatory pajama party in our hotel suite that started around 6:30 pm.  (Thank goodness for bedtime, right?)  And somehow, we survived and lived to tell the stories.  Stay tuned for more tales from the Hill Country.

Derailed Plans and Forever Stamps

 

No, I haven't been hospitalized, institutionalized, comatose, or imprisoned for the last month.  And no, I'm not expecting baby #4!  I've just been busy.  Thus, I haven't written in awhile.

I'm not really sure why I've been so busy, but little things just keep coming up.  Take for example, my litigation meeting on Monday.  Usually, we get everything sorted out in time so that I can skip our group lunch and leave around noon (I love leaving early so that I can catch a quick lunch date with Mr. Wonderful).  This week, however, the meeting went on and on and on and on.  By the time I left the meeting, I was well behind rush hour traffic and was too close to falling asleep to be able to go birthday shopping for my almost 4 year old's birthday.   My plans for this week were complete derailed (and yes, the pun is appropriate).

The long Monday resulted in a change of plans on Tuesday where homeschooling turned into a Mommy-Son date and shopping trip.  That trip was fun, but altogether unsuccessful since train decorations are extremely hard to find--even Thomas decorations were yucky or overpriced.  Seriously, who pays $20 plus the cost of helium for a Thomas balloon?!  So after some planning and plotting, Boy Wonder and I decided that we would create our own train tracks at home so that Mr. T could have a train day party for his 4th birthday.  Thus, our Wednesday agenda went from birthday partying to decorating and preparing for a party (all which I wanted to do on Monday!).

Boy Wonder was so excited about homemade paint-tape tracks that he offered to do the tracks himself this morning while I worked out.  This sounded like a great creative project for him, and honestly, less for me to do.  So I said got for it!

Later, when I walked into our large entry space to check out the tracks I noticed that Boy Wonder had done more than just put painter's tape on the floor.  He proudly pointed out the fact that he had found these cool flags to add to his tracks.  As he grinned, I stared in horror at the many dollars worth of stamps that he had stuck to my tile floor and walls.  Forever stamps with the American flag were all over the place!  Instead of appreciating his creativity, I'm pretty sure I shrieked and said a word that belongs on the "bad word list."  In hind site, I should have taken a picture of his masterpiece, but at the time all I could do was focus on salvaging as many flags as I could.

Thus has been my life lately.  I clean up messes daily.  I deal with crying daily.  I accidentally fall asleep before I finish my to-do list sometimes.  But in the midst of all the madness that is life with preschoolers, I still manage to find time to party with and enjoy them.  Sometimes I just forget to blog it.