Sea World here we come!!! The kids were very excited to be headed out to their adventure “under the sea”. The drive was about one hour and they kept themselves busy doing what all twenty-first century kids do in the car – watch movies and play games.
After a day in the car the kiddos were revved up to get out and burn some energy. I think they would have been happy doing anything but we decided that a good dip in the ocean would do them all some good. It takes a while to get us all lathered up in sunblock and out to the sand but we eventually made it right around the time the sun was a massive ball of fire directly overhead.
Today we left for our family vacation at the beach. We had plans to be in bed early and on the road by four so that we could get the kids out of bed, still sleeping, drive most of the early morning and arrive around lunch with an afternoon of swimming to look forward to. But after finally getting into bed somewhere near three-thirty four didn’t sound so appealing. We did eventually get on the road but not until after nine. Not too far down the road, right before pulling onto the expressway, Carol was curious if I shut the garage door. Of course I did…right? We had to go back into the house several times for this or that prior to leaving and neither of us could remember if we shut the door the final time. We called in a favor and the thought paid off – sure enough I had left the door wide open to the world.
We had a great time this past weekend spending some time cooling off at the Duluth Town Center Fountain. The Sun was blisteringly hot and the air might as well have been dripping water, but the water coming from the fountain was refreshing and cool. We grabbed some Chick-Fil-A along the way, ate on the curb, and headed in. Once they all got used to the water they had a great time. Isaac didn’t need any warming up and was racing in circles as fast as he could swallow his chicken and fries. Piper was on his tail but needed her hand held for the first few minutes – that was until she got wet and started play. Violet needed a bit more prodding and she wasn’t having anything to do with me taking her through. Carol grabbed them all took them on a few laps to get them all good and soaked – that’s all it took to get Violet all revved up as well.
Jacob received a remote controlled car for Christmas this past year. One that can drive over nearly anything, spin in circles, do wheelies, and glow in the dark. Piper loves this car. She has only just started learning how to drive it with any control, but half the fun is figuring that part out. Her and Violet both took the car for a turn around the house. I followed them around with the camera while they had a blast. One turn for Piper and one for Violet. About a week after this we saw the same car on Woot and decided to get one for Piper as an extra gift for her upcoming birthday.
Two Jamaican Brides and One Curly Headed Princess — 45 Min of tortured fingers
Three Times My Little Pony — Russian roulette with a fairy wand
Hungry Hungry Hippo Marathon — One Mommy with a Migraine
Barbie Bath Tub Party — Barbie needs a maid
Pedicures All Around — Toenails on ground
Snacks at 10:30pm — Energy before bed
Tucked into Bed — Tiredness still forthcoming
Hugs all around — and around and around and around…..
I am never sure whether to feel happy or sad whenever I get to visit the Ranch. On one hand I am happy that these animals get to live, basically get a second chance, and at the same time provide some up close encounters for the kids, sort of entertainment. On the other it makes me feel that this is just another form of making money that, while providing entertainment, lacks what it is perceived to offer. Many of the animals are caged indefinitely without even the chance of freedom. I can only hope that our kids take the time to appreciate Nature for what it is and the impact that We can have on it in both large and small scale.
Now enough of me on a soap box. All the kiddos were going to be away for some or all of Spring Break this year so we thought it would be fun to do something out of the ordinary with them before seeing them off. We didn’t tell them what we were doing until we got there and even then I don’t think they really understood what we were going to do until we started seeing and feeding the animals. We packed a backpack full of old food stuff and picked up some corn and apples at the concession as well.
The day has passed now and since been replaced by a dizzying array of southern winter weather. We have had ice, warm rain, lightening, 75° weekends, slush, wind, downpours and pretty much tiny slices of everything else since that snow. It was a fun day for us though. It started late in the evening, past the point where we needed to be out, and continued throughout the night. I don’t know what the official “inches” were but I would guess that it was four to six, maybe even a touch more. Once we were bundled up and the kids were anxious to head out into the blizzard and play. There were certainly snowmen out there that needed building and snow balls that needed targets and they were bound to oblige.
Halloween has come and gone. The loot has been categorized into various zip lock bags and put into deep freeze for behavior based distribution. The kids had a month of various Halloween activities: Netflix provided movies, Carol provided the arts and crafts and I provided labor for scooping out pumpkin guts. Costume selection happened about a month ago and the kids are already planning what they want to be for next year. The costumes were fun. Jacob was Ninja, Isaac was a Special Ops Soldier, Piper was Silvermist and Violet was Ariel. The all looked great and the got to pick their own costumes – thank you Internet Gods for not making us drive all over creation looking for the perfect costume.
Our household is down to one vehicle following an accident in the Xterra. Thankfully nobody was severely injured. Carol took the brunt of the impact with the airbag, seat belt and steering wheel. Jacob and Violet had seat belt burns and indentations but where otherwise unhurt – well maybe emotionally scarred a bit. Jacob was shaken up a bit as was Violet but neither had any significant injuries that weren’t healed within a day or two. Whenever we mention the truck now it is funny to listen to Violet tell us that it is broken – “truck go boom boom daddy, truck goes boom!!!”
