The Dells (6/22-6/26)

We are celebrating Nicholas’s 6th birthday in Wisconsin Dells. Leave it to me to take us to the dumpiest RV Park in the Dells. I just can’t seem to get it right in this area… this is our third visit (and the third campground we’ve visited). Well, actually, Marc picked the site the first year we came down here. I didn’t think there was anything wrong with that KOA but he had a different opinion. Last year we stayed at the Yogi Bear Campground. That place was great…but not worth $100 a night, not to mention the worst back in sites I have ever seen.

So you would think the third time would be a charm? Nope…I have us staying at more of a trailer park than an RV Park. We are surrounded by seasonals…and ONE other RV. NO internet…you can probably imagine Marc’s happiness with that. On the brochure it says they have “centrally located wireless internet”…what is that??? But at least the sites are open so we can get satellite…I wouldn’t want to be stuck here with him for four days without internet AND Wimbledon.

We didn’t do much today. We were all ready to get out of the RV after traveling for seven hours so we strolled around downtown for a few hours. We took the kids through a mirror maze and into a big candy store. I hate candy, but can’t help but wish I didn’t when I go into those stores. Everything looks so colorful and yummy.

Tuesday
We did a lot of stuff today. We did the Upper Dells Boat Tour, Wizard Quest, and Pirates Cove Adventure Golf. Miniature golf is like an RV ritual for us. In fact, the ritual began here at the Dells five years ago. We all enjoyed Wizard Quest the best. We got to work together as a family to find and set free the four wizards. But my highlight was golfing…I beat Marc by one. I don’t win often and I don’t usually have to gloat to feel my glory. I got to see some John McEnroe first hand as Marc grabbed the score card and ripped it into pieces before throwing it in the trash. So much for my free ice cream cone…

Wednesday

Today is Nicholas’s birthday. I can’t believe my baby boy is 6. We had a great day today and made sure Nicholas felt extra special. We were at Noah’s Ark Water park for most of the day. This was our third visit to the park. We like it so well because the boys can go on all but three rides (most water parks have the lamest height restrictions) and Aspen can go on a lot too, but she chooses not to. We had to trick her a couple times to get her on a few. We came back to the RV to make Nicholas’s favorite dinner, spaghetti, and then went to Applebee’s for dessert. Nicholas surprisingly wanted the waiters to sing to him (that is very unlike him, usually he doesn’t like any attention – negative OR positive).

Nicholas may be the little brother,
But you can’t really say that he’s small.
When he stands next to big brother, Blake,
He is just as tall.

His teacher describes him perfectly,
She says he is “quietly confident”.
Out of all our three children,
Nicholas is the most content.

Nicholas is a little accident prone,
And he doesn’t really care much for sports.
However, he does have an amazing imagination,
And he builds the coolest forts.

The girls really gravitate to him,
It’s too early for that to start L.
Out of all our three children,
Nicholas is the biggest sweetheart.

Thursday
I am just happy to be back in the comfort of our RV. All I have on my mind right now is House of 1000 Corpses. Blake has been dying to go fishing the whole week and we finally gave in and took him today. I assumed it would be the cheapest activity of the week but it ended up being the most expensive...$230. It was the creepiest too…at that price it shouldn’t be. Maybe that’s part of their plan…we’ll fool these suckers with our little shack, then we’ll whop it to them J But it WAS fun. Nicholas caught the first fish, a golden trout. Then all my boys caught 19 inch rainbow trout. Oh and did I mention that all this occurred (even the fish cleaning) in 45 minutes? Those babies better be some good eatin.
Since we finished so quickly we drove to the movie theater to check times and Transformers was just starting so we hopped out and went to an 8 o’clock show (9PM our time) and had popcorn, nachos, and candy for dinner. There I go getting the mother of the year award again J We didn’t realize it was such a lonnnng movie. Aspen fell asleep half way through (thank goodness, I don’t think I could have handled her asking me where Bumblebee was one more time). But the boys made it and they were ready for Mickey D’s afterwards, at 11.
Transformers was good, but I could have definitely done without the twins. It was just a bit much for me…unnecessary humor. Megan was definitely a Fox in it (how can any woman not think she is attractive) but they even over did that I think. While I watched it I wondered to myself if the director actually told her, “Look, your only job in this movie is to be hawt EVERY frame.” I just can’t take her seriously; I feel that she must be dumb. After the movie I asked Blake if he thought she was a hottie and he said, “Not really”….Marc better train him a little better. That’s ok, he thinks Kate Beckinsale is hot and she’s my girl. She is HOT but also beautiful. She doesn’t have to look like a playmate to be sexy…if you ask me Megan has nothing on Kate in Underworld.

Get Tippy With It (6/21/09)

Never tell a girl that she can’t do something, it won’t take her long to try to prove you wrong…
Last night we had one of our infamous adult parties with friends both old and new. We have such a diverse group of friends that the unexpected can always be expected :)

After eating the best meal for perhaps the entire summer (cooked by my favorite chef of course), the drinking began. For some reason, I always think I need ”a reason” to have a shot. A group of us decided to play Scattagories. The rule is: If you come in last place during the round, you have to take a shot. If you aren’t going to play by this rule…DON’T PLAY. I mean, if Trish can do a shot (and she hates them), than anyone can. The only one who gets a free pass, in my book, is Kyla. She is just starting to drink again after being allergic to alcohol for like ten years. I played six rounds and didn’t lose once. I didn’t exactly kick ass like on the houseboat (Kyla and I think way too much alike), but I guess I get to keep my “Awesome at Drunk Scattagories” title (I had already had a bottle of wine). But the best player of the night, well worst actually, was Laura’s boyfriend. He was all ready to lay a smack down on the rest of us. He ended up losing round one. On round two, he was so excited to have done so well that he couldn’t wait to get started. He spit out his first answer only to realize that he used the wrong letter for the entire round. Laura was right there with him. She lost round one too because she put a different boys name all the way down the column. Just watching those two made the game entertaining.

The real highlight of the night was drunken golf cart riding. Marc decided to take some of us girls for a ride. He drove with Crystal and me in the front. Trish and Holly were on the back. I have never really felt like the golf cart was going to flip before. Marc was turning so fast that I know the cart had to have been on two wheels a couple of times. I told him we were going to flip, but he assured me that it couldn’t happen. Truth be told, he was right, we all made it back on four wheels.

Before tonight, the craziest golf carting occurred with Meredith behind the wheel. She hit a tree with five of us on the cart. The funny part was she hit a tree trying to avoid hitting a tree. I was on the far left in the front holding on, and then Meredith and Crystal flew over me onto the grass. Leave it up to Crystal to top that. Four brave souls hopped on the cart with Crystal behind the wheel. I have to admit that I did feel a little safer. I WAS scared that she was going to hit something though. But I guess she was just determined to prove Marc wrong…she had no problem flipping that baby. I think the five of us just sat there for a minute or two, all mangled, trying to figure out what happened, if we were actually hurt, and then belly laughing so hard that we couldn’t move, hurt or not. I finally climbed out; it actually felt like I was a race driver trying to climb out and over the steering wheel. After a short debate about what to do, whether to call for help or not, the five of us just flipped her right back over and hopped back on. I do have to mention that Laura handled it like a pro…she managed to not even spill her drink during that incident. And poor Angie, she has been a passenger, like me, during both incidents.

So be warned…DO NOT hop on with these girls UNLESS you are ready for the golf cart ride of your life.

What TV???

Well I don't know how, but somehow we managed to not turn on our TV today until this evening. You may not find this odd, but sometimes the TV can actually be a mom's best friend. And we didn't swim either...we just simply chilled. It probably did help running errands for a few hours. One of those took place at Meijer. It was there that some "real" brotherly love finally took shape.

My boys are not near as close as I would like them to be...in fact, the only thing that is close about them is their 14 month age difference. But hopefully, today was the start of what I truly hope for as a mommy. The thought of them not being best friends just breaks my heart.

So, while we were at Meijer we looked at the fishing stuff...Blake needed some new hooks. While I was looking for the right ones the boys were window shopping. Blake came up to show me some "awesome bass" lures. I told him that he would have to use his own allowance if he wanted that. Well, then Nicholas found some "really awesome bass lures" and showed them to Blake. Blake told him that he didn't have enough...it cost $5.49 and he only had $5.25...so Nicholas (being the sweetest boy I know) offered to buy them for him with his money. I said, "No way...Blake is way too mean to you for you to spend your allowance on him." He was very persistent about wanting too. It didn't happen, but Blake sure was nice to him for the rest of our visit in the store.

But, even though Blake didn't get them, he remained really nice to his little brother. You could see the thrill in Nicholas's eyes that his big brother was acting friendly with him. Nicholas even decided to go fishing with Blake when we got home (unlike Blake, that boy HATES to fish). And my two boys fished outside by themselves for TWO hours on the dock rain or shine (it would pore for a few minutes and then clear up). Part of me wanted to be with them, but I didn't want to interrupt their special moment. So that was the highlight of my day...who knows if it will stick, but at least I know now that it is possible.

Marley IS Me

Just finished watching Marley and Me with the family. Well its midnight so really Blake was the only one to make it through. But the three of us cried together at the end. I wonder how long it will be before one of them tells me it is time for a dog? But I am not writing this to critique some movie…it only served as a reminder that I want to write. When the boy was reading his father’s columns it just made me want to have something for us all to look at later.

Everything moves so fast with a family…the years just keep passing me by. I wish I would just remember to take some time out just to write a few special things from each day…even the horrible things. It is most likely that it will all be laughed about at a later time. The funny thing about the movie is that it was like watching my family on TV (minus the dog of course, but we DID have that crazy dog…I just put my foot down and didn’t let him in the house). In fact, I remember way too clearly chasing Luke, a chocolate lab, eight months pregnant on a freezing January winter day. That was my last day…I didn’t keep going for him. I just let him go… he obviously wanted to be elsewhere; at least that is what I told myself.

Oh and everything didn’t start out perfect either…you know, “the plan”. In our case, first comes baby, two actually, then comes marriage. But we had that back to back pregnancy, both boys, and oh did the 2nd one have colic…oh that was our Nicholas. I remember that like it was yesterday. Boy did I have many mommy moments like Jen went through and Marc and I had many “conversations” so to speak, both ready to through in the towel. But we made it, just like they did. I think that going through all that is what has helped me decide what I want to do with myself. I want to try to help other families that just don’t get it…just don’t hesitate to through in that towel.

Well now I just feel like I am rambling. It’s ten till one and I am pooped. Day started out rough, but ended up being great. The sun was on my side…getting to spend some time on the dock fishing with Blake was really relaxing. That boy LOVES to fish. I don’t get to say yes to him often, but I love how it makes his day when I “ask him” to fish. If only I could make each of them happy like that at least once a day…