Geocaching

I first heard of geocaching when Emily was about 3 years old. For anyone reading that hasn’t heard of it, different containers with items are hidden all around the world, and you use coordinates and GPS to locate these “caches.” When you find one, you sign the log book in them and enter on the www.geocaching.com website that you found it. At the time, I felt like 3 was too young to really get what we were doing, so I moved on and forgot about it.

The other day we were reading a book where the characters learned about geocaching, and the kids were fascinated to learn that it was a real thing. So we went to the website, watched the Geocaching 101 videos, and looked at maps that showed the caches that are hidden near us. We also read the “geocaching creed” and learned about some of the terms used in this hobby. Emily packed a bag with a change of clothes, a pen and who knows what else, and we were ready.

The next day, we all loaded up and headed to the spot where one was supposedly hidden. We had the description of what it looked like and the coordinates, so we pulled off the road and ventured into the area by the woods. One thing I didn’t read about on the website is that when you are in minivan, pulled off the side of the road with 3 small children and searching around near the woods in the rain, you look like you are stranded and in need of help. We hadn’t been out of the van for 30 seconds before a woman in an SUV pulled off and yelled across the road inquiring as to whether we were okay. I said “oh yes, we’re fine, we’re just geocaching.” When her face was blank and she asked if I was sure, I said “we are searching for buried treasures around here” and laughed nervously. I am sure she thought I was an idiot. The more I thought about it, the funnier the reality of what we were doing became and I couldn’t stop laughing.

Unfortunately, we didn’t find the cache. We had to leave after a short time due to the fact that the rain picked up and I couldn’t really let Annabelle run around on the side of the highway. Next time we try, maybe it won’t be raining and Annabelle will have other plans. 🙂

School Supplies

It’s December. This means that in our house, nearly all the school supplies are gone. I don’t know where they are, no one does. We don’t have an animal to blame (although we do have a toddler so that’s kind of the same). All I know is they’re not here. The last two years when all the back-to-school deals were going on, I bought one of everything. That was a total laugh. This year, I thought I did better with buying multiples but apparently not. Is it like this in schools too?  I feel like I want to revise my Christmas list to include Sharpies, pens, crayons, markers and scissors because it seems that all we have left are a bunch of unsharpened pencils and some googly eyes. Nobody wants to write in pencil in my house, and it falls under my ever-growing “who cares” list, so work can be done in anything you can find at this point. I have made some strides though with pencil-usage because I have finally convinced Emily that when you’re making something like a poster/card that’s going to be presented and shown to someone, it’s better to trace in pencil first so you can erase if you make a mistake. She did her math in pencil today. I’m counting this as a win, even though 5 minutes later Annabelle came and scribbled all over it. Guess I won’t put that page in her portfolio after all.  Speaking of Annabelle, I should ask for her help with finding the school supplies because just a few days ago, she found a black Sharpie (a highly prized find) and scribbled all over the wall. All of the repetitive “only on paper” phrases that we say when she picks up a writing instrument have really paid off. She’s my first one to write on the wall though, so I guess I was due. Many thanks to the Mr. Clean magic eraser!

Not everyone has this problem with supplies though. My mom has a big box of crayons FROM MY CHILDHOOD that is not only complete, but probably has no broken crayons. She has tons of other relics like clothes, toys, books, etc. in perfect condition. This is impossible to comprehend so there’s no use in dwelling on it.

Sometimes even the supplies we do have don’t seem to serve our purposes. For example, the other day we were going to do a science experiment about balance. You had to have a ruler and some pennies. However, the only ruler I could find was a rubber ruler that was too bendy to work. Of course.

Honestly we just need some kind of supply dispenser where you have to put in a coin and it dispenses a Sharpie. Or maybe we can get one that accepts single socks as payment. In the meantime, I’m watching for December school supply sales.

Katy Perry is my Worst Nightmare

***Author’s note- I wrote this back in 2012, when Emily was 3 and Samuel was an infant. I haven’t read it since until I came across it in a file tonight. Sometimes in the busyness of life we manage the plans on our calendar, but it’s vital to remember the spiritual plans. These plans are still in progress, we’re doing these things and it’s going well so far. ***

Katy Perry is my worst nightmare. Not because of her music, mind you—in fact, gun to my head I couldn’t tell you a single song of hers that I’ve ever heard. But I had the unfortunate experience of reading an article about her while waiting in an airport one time, which led me to look up more information online once I got home. The reason I shudder to think of Katy is that she was raised in a very conservative Christian household. She was allowed to listen to only gospel music, and they did not have any mainstream media access. Her parents were both ministers. And now, look at her. The world sees her as a hero, an idol, an interesting and wild girl who “broke free to be true to herself.” And all I can imagine is the despair her parents must feel. And I panic, because the truth is, no matter what you do, even if you raise your children in the very best way (whatever that is)—they could still turn the complete opposite direction. If you hold them too tight, they often rebel. If you hold them too loose, they’ll almost certainly fall prey to the world. And again, even if you hit that happy medium, it can go awry.  It is such a stinking shame that there is no formula for this.

Because there is no shortage of stories about those who are raised in very conservative homes and then go the opposite way, it makes me really think. I’ve identified three traps that I think even the most well-intentioned parents unconsciously fall into.

1. It seems there are a lot of “don’t do this or that’s” or feelings of fear for their eternal life or punishment that some parents seem to instill, sometimes unknowingly. When Christianity is just a list of things you can’t do, things you can’t think about and ways you can’t be, it’s not sustainable. And when a judging, restrictive, punishing God is the only God presented, it is no wonder that people fall away, probably feeling they can’t ever win His favor anyway so why bother.
2. It’s a problem when God is something that is only thought of on Sundays or when rote prayers before meals are all there is. Doing church is much different than being a Christian and having a Christian worldview.
3. Perhaps most importantly, I think something that is so overlooked is focus on the supreme love of God. The two commandments in the New Testament are so all-encompassing: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If these are the two greatest commandments for us, why do we get so wrapped up in the legalistic minutiae? This is not to say that rules aren’t important, that principles of conduct and comportment don’t matter or any of that. But much can be learned without words through acts of service and love.

To try and dodge the above mentioned traps, I have some plans. I already said there’s no perfect formula, and it very may well be that many parents whose children have fallen away haven’t done any of these things. But I think plans are important, so here are my pre-emptive moves:

1. I hope to focus more on the things that they DO get to do rather than things they don’t. While we have some definite ideas about things we don’t plan to incorporate into their daily lives, we will balance that by providing fun and interesting alternatives. In other words “yes they may get to do that, but look what you get to do!” And I have every idea that when they get to the age where friends are over, the friends will think what we’re doing is “cool.”
2. I am and will continue to be intentional about incorporating conversation about God throughout each day in various ways. This can be as simple as noticing the rain and pointing out that it sure is great that God made the rain so that the plants, trees and flowers can be so happy and grow or telling her I sure am thankful that God picked me to be her mommy and her to be my daughter. Every day we do age-appropriate devotions, read from her preschool Bible and do memory verses, but she’s not just memorizing it-we talk about what it all means. I know she is only 3 but I’m hoping that establishing these patterns early and reinforcing them over time that they will really be cemented in her as time goes on.
3. Last but certainly not least, the main way I plan to teach Emily and Samuel about God is through loving and serving others. There is such great satisfaction in serving that it almost feels selfish sometimes. I plan for us to do lots of service projects with them, to teach them to look to the needs of others and that doing so is an expression of God’s love. I believe those experiences will be a real and lasting concept for them to grasp onto that hopefully will be so ingrained into their lives that even if the try to turn from God, they won’t be able to or their hearts will bring them back.

So that is my plan. It may work, it may change, it may completely fail. Above all, I need to consistently pray for God’s hand and His will in all of this and that He will grant peace to my worried heart about how it will all turn out.

Kids and Restaurants

Kids and Restaurants; has there ever been a more perfect combination? A time where hungry people have to wait for an undetermined period for their food and adults pay for kids’ meals which will either be devoured immediately (cue statement of “I’m still hungry!”) or remain mostly untouched. Where diners without kids grumble about the kids being there and families think the others should “deal with it.” All the new moms think “my kid will never do that!” and the veteran moms are like “not gonna die on this hill.” There will never be a cease fire in this war, and kids are part of the package. Of course, parents are the ones responsible for their kids but there really are some things that restaurants could do to make things easier.

1.       Have step stools or standing ledges at the bathroom sink. Kids are gross; everyone knows this. In addition, many treat the bathroom as if it is a touch and feel museum. My kids have crawled on bathroom floors, opened the “special box” in the ladies restroom, reached into the trash can, touched the toilet seat (AAA!) and probably more. I want them to wash their hands 24/7 when we’re in public but ESPECIALLY when they’re about to eat! However, having a child wash their hands in a restaurant bathroom involves holding them up and over the sink, which is hard and hurts their stomach. They still can’t reach the soap, and the soap will definitely be out, so the parent has to then lunge across to another soap dispenser and rub it on their hands and then do it all over again since the child will then rub their hands all over the sink or just let the water rinse all the soap right off without rubbing their hands together. It’s a whole thing. Of course, step stools and ledges are unfeasible since undoubtedly kids would fall off and then the place would get sued, but that’s another story.

2.       Go ahead and bring extra napkins when you seat us; you know we are going to need them. Just bring them and don’t make us ask.

3.       This one seems obvious but don’t place the food or drinks in reach of a baby or toddler. I can always tell when a server isn’t a parent because they will say “be careful, this is hot” and place it right in front of a young child, and you then have one millisecond to snatch the hot plate (or giant drinking glass) away before the child plunges their hand into it. I have even had this happen with fajitas, where there is an actual sizzling skillet. I would never have thought of it before having kids, but I think it should be in restaurant training.

4.       Bring the check immediately. The food, toys, songs, coloring pages, visiting etc. can only go on for so long. When you have small children, sometimes you reach the point of no return and it’s just time to go…now. It’s stressful when one parent has to leave with the kids and the other is left frantically searching for someone, anyone, who works at the restaurant to just let them pay and be done already.

5.       Offer some special glue that will attach the child to the booth/chair. I would seriously pay for this; my kids either want to be standing next to their chair, doing the “one cheek” thing and leaning over into the other person or falling off their chair. Maybe they don’t want to fall off but they do…frequently

6.       Have some sort of sound proof box that you could place around a table where the kid was being loud/annoying/rude/you-name-it. I would think this would be welcome to all diners; I have wished for such a device on both sides of this. Of course, adults can be loud/annoying/rude too, so since we’re wishing, just have it go around the offending person, that way everyone can eat in peace.

So since all of the above except the last two are actually within the realm of possibilities, let’s address some things parents can do. This list will be shorter and without much commentary because as we all know, ANYTHING you say about another parent or child will enrage part of the population and I just don’t feel like dealing with it. So here we go:

1.       Clean up after your kid or tip REALLY well. Actually, do both. And apologize if they make a mess or anytime it is warranted.

2.       Bring some special glue that will attach the child to the booth/chair. This way, if the restaurant runs out, you’ll have some with you.

3.       Keep your kid at the table, preferably sitting in their chair (SEE NUMBER 2 ABOVE). I know this can be a challenge, but chances are that no one else will think it is okay for the kid to run/hop/skip around in a restaurant or to be going over into someone else’s eating area.

4.       If your child is causing a disturbance, take them outside and return when they have calmed. That’s really it.

5.       If your kid licks the parmesan cheese shaker, pees or throws up in the middle of a restaurant, apologize profusely (and again, tip well!) but don’t keep playing it over and over again in your head and feel guilty about it for years like some people I know. (Ahem.) These things happen.

6.       In all seriousness, use manners and teach your kids to use them. Using manners can cure many ills.

Bon Appetit!

Moving Announcement!

OK not us, but this blog. As of today I’ve moved my WordPress site to another server. (OK, I haven’t moved it, but my husband and his brother did.) Sheesh, lots of qualifications here for such a short message!
Anyway, the direct web address is http://www.hopesicle.com, so feel free to visit me there! If you have this blog saved in your favorites, make sure you update it with the new information. I’ll be taking this one down in the next month or so.

Chickens Etc.

I have the greatest in-laws in the world. And yes, they read this blog from time to time, but that’s not why I say that, I thought they were awesome long before they became my in-laws. But this is not about their great qualities, though I may write about that sometime, this is about their home.
They live on a large piece of land and are farmers. But not the kind you’d think; my in-laws are butterfly farmers. I love telling people this because usually they get a very confused look on their face. My mother in law is actually one of the top experts on butterfly farming in the world and they have hosted interns from many different countries at their farm. It’s truly an amazing operation. Parts of the farm are like a laboratory, with caterpillars in various stages of development and most people would be shocked to learn the volume of food that they eat every day! Each morning they have to replace/add food to their containers and it’s a whole process that I won’t get into right now but of course the finished product is room after room of beautiful butterflies! (You can read more at www.butterfliesetc.com)
In addition to the butterflies, they have a chicken coop. (This is a hobby of my mother-in-law’s, not a business thing) It’s a spacious enclosure where the chickens enjoy plenty of water and food. And boy do they eat! These chickens don’t just have chicken feed or corn or bugs-these chickens enjoyed leftover ham, mashed potatoes and vegetables from Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner, and they eat that way all the time! Basically there is very little wasted food in their house because the chickens get all the leftovers. (who needs pigs?) And of course she always has plenty of eggs-I was so excited to get to bring some home the other day. They are so interesting because they are all different sizes and even shell colors.

(In the above picture, the white one is not from her, it’s just a standard Publix egg) I used two of her eggs for my New Years Day cornbread and I just felt so cool, like I was using “REAL” chicken eggs! (as silly as that is!)

On Christmas Day we all took a walk out to their pond to feed the fish and that was so much fun. Those fish went crazy! And my mother in law knew exactly how much bread they would eat before they would get full.

I’m so thankful that my children get to experience nature in this way as they grow up. Samuel could literally watch the chickens all day I think, as we’re going into their house he always points straight at the chicken coop like “let’s go over there!” And it may seem silly to get excited about “real” chicken eggs, but to this city girl, it’s all pretty awesome!

Resolutions

Most people I know are pretty anti-New-Year’s-resolution-ish. Personally, as with the end of many other things, the end of a year is both sad and exciting for me. That is to say that once I get past being sad, I am excited about it. New Year’s resolutions have a bad rap, mostly because so many of us are so bad about it. Why set yourself up to fail? And I understand you can make new resolutions at any time and that most of us probably won’t lose weight, start and keep on exercising and the other normal things we try to pledge. But I just can’t escape the promise of a new year, a fresh start, a clean slate, even though technically there’s not much difference between 11:59pm on 12/31 and 12:00am on 1/1.

Last year I made my resolutions in November, and I remembered that I wrote a post about it here http://wp.me/p14pJu-3h. As I re-read these two items I give myself a B on the first one because although I did stop listening to talk radio and I have maintained the commitment about media with the kids and my own personal intake of it, I still get wrapped up in articles/forums/blogs from time to time that don’t conform to the “whatever is true, noble, excellent or praiseworthy” criteria, nor are these things uplifting. So this year I’m going to strive to seriously put a stop to reading these less-than-positive and unconstructive things, because really, do I want to spend my time on junk? I think not.

So the first resolution I am adding for 2013 is to waste less time. Now this is kind of complicated, because many people (especially us women it seems) seem to equate relaxing with wasting time, because there is always so much to do! I believe relaxation is necessary, and good, and let’s face it; the laundry will never stay done, there will always be more dishes and the house will never stay clean. But if I’m not going to be getting stuff done, I want to spend my relaxation time wisely. I spend too much time on Facebook, too much time just wasting time in general at the computer in the evenings after the kids are in bed. Too much time staring at the stacks, messes and laundry around the house instead of actually bucking up, setting the timer and doing some of it.  Too much time worrying about things I can’t control, things that might happen, things that will never happen and things that are happening with other people, which brings me to last year’s second resolution.

Yeah. I pretty much failed at this. I don’t think about God’s Sovereignty every day and in every situation. Sadly, truth be told, I hardly ever consider it. So this one gets a big fat F, and a do-over in the #2 slot on 2013’s list of resolutions.

I want to be a better person. (Don’t we all?) I want a better thought life, a cleaner heart and a more steadfast spirit. I want to be more loving to my husband, I want to continue spending as much quality time with my children as I can. In addition, although it is not a resolution, I believe that I am possibly being called to do something new that will be difficult but meaningful in the near future (prayers welcome about this!) Can I accomplish all of this in 2013, as well as continuing 2012’s plans? Maybe, maybe not, but if I stop trying, I definitely won’t.

Happy New Year to all!

The After Christmas Letter

Although I send out Christmas cards every year (some years I send more than others), one thing I have never done is a Christmas letter, where you give an update on the family for the year. I’ve read about people not liking them and there are jokes about them being cheesy, fake, brag-a-thons and all that. But I LOVE receiving them! Unfortunately, I did not receive any this year, but I did get to read a couple of the ones my mom got. Of course it could be argued that Facebook has made the need for such updates obsolete, since many of us keep others informed about goings on frequently. But there are many who aren’t on FB and who only are on every once in awhile. And I love the idea of summarizing the year, of looking back and taking the time to reflect on everything that went on. How many of us have trouble remembering what we ate for lunch yesterday or what we did last weekend? Life moves at such a fast pace that sometimes it’s nice to slow down and remember.

Although I never think this of others’ letters, when I’ve considered writing a Christmas letter, one of the things I’ve thought about for myself is “is this an accurate picture?” After all, though my letter would encompass the highlights, the interesting things, it would certainly leave out the not-so-good things that happened. So in the interest of full disclosure, here are some bad things that happened to us in 2012. We got sick. Samuel was bit several times in his little class. We had many difficult (and sad!) potty training issues with Emily. I had many, many sleepless nights about childcare issues. Mark continues to have his migraines and has recently started having blood pressure problems. Samuel has an unexplained chronic nighttime coughing/choking thing that is scary to him and upsetting to us. The chronic tendonitis in my back has gotten worse. Mark got a speeding ticket. We had bad days. I had something stolen. My mom was really sick all year, and still is. Samuel’s entire fingernail fell off and was gross after Emily accidentally slammed it in the door. There was work stress. There was friend stress. There was family stress. There was financial stress. There was church stress. Should I go on?

Wasn’t that fun to read? I mean what is the response to that? Everybody has problems! This exercise has shown me that what I want to do is to think about the GOOD things! The things we experienced, the fun stuff, the summary of 2012. So, without futher ado, here is the Smith Family After Christmas Letter.

Dear Friends and Family,

Happy New Year to all of you! 2012 was a whirlwind and we can’t believe it’s already over. We wanted to take a moment to give you an update as we reflect on the year that we have had.

Emily turned 3 in February, and she continues to just be so much fun. She is the best big sister in the world to Samuel and takes such good care of him! When we’re at the park, the first thing she does is to introduce herself and her little brother, she shares very well with him, even when she gets a special treat! Unbeknownst to him, he appears in her make-believe scenarios as Prince Philip (from Sleeping Beauty),  Joseph (around Christmas time), her dad, her husband, the mailman, the messenger and pretty much anything else she needs for the setting. She has a wonderful imagination, and still loves Minnie and all of her “babies.” We have frequent “bow contests” in her room, and her room is often a hotel, classroom or other such venue. Emily finally mastered potty training this year (night time too!) which was a huge accomplishment as she had a significant issue with part of it. She participates in a ballet/tap class at her preschool and I plan to start teaching her violin sometime in 2013. She goes with me to visit “the grandmas and the grandpas” at local nursing homes at least once a month and does a great job interacting with the people there while I play violin music for them. In addition to writing her name and Samuel’s name, she knows lots of songs, can count to 100 and memorized 9 Bible verses this year. She loves learning new words, reading, coloring, dressing up in her princess costumes, playing outside and pretty much anything. She is the epitome of a happy child and we are so proud of her in so many ways.

Samuel turned 1 in June, and boy has he learned a lot this year! He learned how to drink from a cup and a straw, gave up his bottle and learned to eat solid food. He learned how to crawl, walk and run, and he is really communicating more and more every day. He has about 10 words but he understands FAR more than that, and loves to look at books and point at things. He got his first haircut. Like his daddy, he loves to take things apart and discover how things work. He is left handed, which is so cute for some reason, and he is learning well to color only on paper. A completely different personality than Emily, he is slowly overcoming his separation anxiety, which has been helped tremendously by the fact that he (and Emily) are both full time at their little early learning center. He loves to dance and do motions to a few little songs. He got to be in his first Christmas program, performing Jingle Bells with the rest of his little class. It is so funny to see him playing with his little cars and to have “boy things” around, and we are loving watching him learn and grow.

We took several trips to Disney World this year and we all had a wonderful time doing that. Emily and I went on our first of hopefully many “girls getaway” trips to Tallahassee in November, and that was really special. She and Mark camped out in a tent in the backyard a couple times this fall, and he says that sooner than later Samuel will be joining them. Emily and Mark go on dates every other month or so and she looks so forward to those outings.

Mark and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary on 2/2/12 with a wonderful 7 day cruise while Emily stayed with Uncle Todd, Aunt Kendall and Lauren, and Samuel stayed with a couple he loves from our church. We both have the same work schedule and get to ride to work together most days, eat lunch together and drop off and pick up the kids together. Most importantly we are all usually home together in the evenings so we get to have a lot of quality family time playing and laughing together. We have been blessed with (mostly) good health, and although constantly messy, our home is a joyful, relaxing place. We are so thankful for everything and look forward to another great year in 2013.

Love,

The Smiths 🙂

The Easy Years

Emily and I recently returned from a weekend trip to Tallahassee. I had such a good time walking around the campus of FSU with her! I showed her my dorm, though we didn’t get to go inside. We walked through one of the music school buildings and I showed her where I took my harp lessons and went to orchestra and all that. We went to the Student Union and to the FSU post office, where I showed her my mailbox where Daddy and Grandma used to send me letters all the time.

We ate at Bruegger’s bagels, which is the BEST bagel place in the entire world.  It was such a surreal thing to be there with her, and to realize it has been 11 years since I graduated! That is insane.

It is amazing how years can change the way you look at things. As we drove around, I was struck especially with how hard it must have been for my mom and dad to send me off to college. To a big city where I had never lived, for the first time to EVER be living anywhere but under their roof. To a campus which was right across the street from a liquor store, a Greyhound bus station, a homeless shelter and a store called Condomology. …. Did they sleep at all? Did they cry all the way home from dropping me off? How did my mom not call me three times a day at least, and how did they not worry that I was eating, that I was safe, that I was making good choices, that I was okay? I’m pretty sure they did worry about those things, because I don’t see how it would be possible not to.

People often make comments to me about how they remember those hard years when the kids are very small and all that. Although there are challenging times, I do not think this is the hardest time. In fact, most of the time I think things are pretty great! I’m certainly not saying it’s easy, but it is not the unbearable, 24/7 level of hard that I thought it would be; my expectation was off the charts. And to me, I’m in the easy stage! Right now I have a vast amount of control over their lives, I call the shots. But as they get older they move farther and farther away and make more and more of their own decisions. But I know all the answers now! I’ve done the growing up thing, I know now what to care about, what to not care about and what to do, so they should listen to me! And this realization made me understand that I have now joined the ranks of what my parents and every other parent since Adam and Eve has probably felt.

But they probably aren’t going to listen to me, because although they’ve been on Earth mere moments in comparison, I will be the one who knows nothing. Just the other day Emily came home and said “Maddy says that ladybugs DO bite!” and I’m thinking, “Maddy was an infant that was born around the same time you were. She was a toddler less than a year ago. And you believe she may be right when I’ve already told you they don’t bite?!” (obviously I didn’t say that, I just told her that Maddy, which is not her real name btw, was wrong and that ladybugs don’t bite)

The hard years are yet to come. I can’t imagine the angst that goes into letting your child go away on a trip without you for the first time. Or the first time they drive by themselves and you watch them go off into the distance. I dread the pain of watching them deal with rejection, with hurt, with embarrassment…….all the inevitable things that are still far off right now, the things that mommy kisses and band-aids can’t fix. And aside from all of this you hope they make the right choices, remember what they’ve learned, and don’t into trouble, yet you are powerless to stop it if they go the other way. Yes, these are the easy years.

If I could keep them as babies forever I probably would. And I know, I know, each new stage is great but it’s just flying by so fast and they’re so small and soft and wonderful right now. I feel like I’m going to wake up tomorrow and be driving away from their dorm room with tears streaming down my face and from what everyone says, that’s pretty much how it is; their childhood goes by in a blink. It’s a fair assumption to say that I’m probably not going to handle the empty nest thing well since I am already dreading and worrying about it. Hopefully we will be able to go on cruises a lot during that time! I sure wish there was a remote control in life where we could pause, skip, stop, rewind and fast forward. But since there isn’t, I guess I need to work on accepting the truth that God has a plan for every part and every stage, and I have to have faith that things will be ok.

The Magic of Disney-The Conclusion

The next morning, they woke up at 8:30, but that was earlier than they should have awakened, given the busy, long day the previous day. We packed up, ate breakfast and headed out to Epcot. While this may seem odd, we decided to park at Epcot and take the monorail to Magic Kingdom to see if it would be quicker than parking and taking the tram. The results were inconclusive because it still felt like it took forever. Today the park was less crowded, and we went back to the new circus area to visit Minnie and Daisy. Emily was so excited when it was her turn and skipped up to them as usual. She is always so happy to see her friends. 🙂 Samuel, on the other hand, wanted no part of the characters! He’ll eventually come around.

We had told Emily she could pick out a souvenir and the Big Top store that we exited the character greet into was big, so she walked around and looked at everything while I got us some snacks. Wouldn’t you know, she picked out a new Minnie! This one looks the same as her little Minnie, but is taller. I have every idea that, knowing Emily, once she gets done calling her “new Minnie” that she will be called “medium Minnie.” We got Samuel a matching Mickey, and Emily spent the rest of the day “taking care of her children” by showing them out the window of the monorail, taking them on rides, sharing her snacks, etc. So funny. We then left (did we seriously just go to MK to see Minnie and Daisy??) and went back to Epcot. By this time, Samuel was droopy, but he managed to make it through the Nemo ride and into the aquarium, all of which Emily loves. By this time it was around 2:00 but we decided to leave the park and on the way out we saw Goofy so we stopped to see him. This time we let Samuel stay in the stroller, and Emily did her thing as usual. But afterward as she was walking away she suddenly turned and ran back to him, Goofy bent down and she kissed him right on the nose! It was SO sweet.

We made it to the car and planned on just driving through somewhere to eat on the road. Then we thought maybe it would be better to just have a relaxing time at a sit-down restaurant, so we went to Uno’s, which is one of our favorite places. Mark took Emily to the restroom because the women’s room was closed for some sort of maintenance so Samuel and I played peek a boo and other baby games at the table. Then he coughed a couple times……………and then projectile vomited all over my shirt and jeans, my seat, the highchair and the floor! Oh. My. Word. So much stuff, and I took the worst of it. In the midst of surveying the damage I was reminded yet again how little Samuel actually chews his food. There was just so much. You would not believe a baby belly could hold so much, but here it was. He wasn’t crying, he just sat there casually like “what’s going on?”. The waiter came, then quickly went and got me some industrial disposable towels. Just then Mark and Emily came back. Mark started helping me, Emily started gagging (if you know us, you know how since Samuel was born Em has gotten grossed out when he spits up, has excess food on his face..and especially in this circumstance) We told Emily to go around the corner, Mark took Samuel away and I continued trying to wipe the excess off my soaked jeans and mop up the floor. Mark came back and gave Samuel to me and went outside to get me some clothes. Samuel then proceeded to create a dirty diaper, I said “check please” and asked the waiter to box up our food, which was on the tray, waiting to be served to us. What a mess. I told the people in the booth across from us, who had to see everything in the middle of their dinner, how sorry and embarrassed I was and they were very understanding, said they’d been there before, etc. I went to change…then remembered that the women’s restroom was closed! I asked one of the waiters and they said that whatever maintenance they had been doing was now done so I could go in. Whew! Much better than trying to change in the car.

What else can I say? That’s the end of the story, and what better ending could there be? This is the type of story that would always make me count my lucky stars that I didn’t have children in the old days. Little did I know that making it through such incidents allows you to do things you never thought you could or would do, and that even though it is messy, life with these children is fun, funny and just absolutely wonderful. One of the best parts is all the quality time I got to spend holding, hugging, kissing and playing with them. I missed them even more than usual when I went to work on Monday because it was just so great having so much family time over the weekend. Though it might seem like a disaster, when Mark and I have talked about the trip with each other, it’s been mostly positive because although the bad parts were bad, the good parts were SO good. I’m sure we’ll be planning another Disney trip in the near future, though we wouldn’t mind if it was just a LITTLE less eventful!