always expect the unexpected

One of the things I've learned since becoming a parent is you should never expect anything to go according to plan. And I am a serious planner. Ask anyone who knows me. So really, what I've had to learn is to be more flexible. Not so easy for someone like me, but necessary.

Thursday afternoon, we headed to Pennsylvania for a planned rendevous with our NJ cousins to Dutch Wonderland. The trip up was an uneventful almost three hours (other than a very close call of getting rear-ended, and an unfortunate case of getting screwed over at the McDonald's drive thru). We all met at our hotel and enjoyed some swimming....

....and went for an early dinner. Which is when Logan started melting down. Eating out with a two year old is hardly ever fun. But eating out with Logan is bonafide torture, and this particular dining experience on a scale of 1 - 10 was a strong -15.7. As we were to find out later, I think he was trying to tell us something.

We wrapped up dinner and headed to the theme park to buy our tickets for Friday. By doing so, they allow you to preview the park for three hours before closing. We were able to check out some rides and get the lay of the land, preparing ourselves for hours of fun the next day.

That night, Dylan was having a hard time sleeping and very restless and insisting he was hot. Warning number two.

The next morning, I took the kids to the hotel lobby for breakfast. Where Logan proceeded to projectile vomit his milk all over the table, floor, himself and me. Andrew and I got him settled in back at the room, and I went to check on Dylan, who was still in the lobby with our cousins. And no sooner did I sit down to eat my breakfast, Dylan joined the barf-o-rama and threw up all over himself, the table and my breakfast. This leads me to a second thing I've learned as a parent. Always, always bring extra outfits. Pack what you think you need, and then throw two more outfits per child in the suitcase. There is a strong chance your child will encounter dripping ice cream, blood, paint, chocolate or vomit, and you have to be prepared.

So at this point, we knew we'd be packing it up and heading home. There would be no water park, no log flume rides, and no super cute frog diving show, that my friend Kristin told me about. We borrowed some plastic laundry bags from the front desk and kept our beach towels ready, stripped both boys down to underwear/diaper and hoped for the best.

On the way home from PA, our mini-van was a mobile vomitorium, and Andrew spent most of yesterday afternoon scrubbing vomit out of carpet and car seats.

The silver lining is that our park tickets, which we had purchased upon arrival, are good for the rest of the season. So we'll be picking a day for Daddy to play hooky and we'll head up for the day. The park is clean, and shaded and the staff seems really kid-friendly. And the attractions are all based for young kids, so its well worth the trip.

Also, the vomiting has stopped and the kids both seem perfectly fine now. Which is a beautiful thing since Daddy leaves Monday for Boston for four days.

Dutch Wonderland, we will be back!

Grandma Bobbie and Grandpa Joe...

...are here for a short visit, and the kids are in heaven! Grandma has taught Logan how to wink, and Grandpa gave Dylan a bug vacuum. They ate pizza last night while Andrew and I enjoyed a lovely adult night out, and we enjoyed time at the pool and in the backyard.

We are heading to Dutch Wonderland to meet our fabulous NJ cousins on Thursday and Friday, and can't wait to check it out! I'll do a big post this weekend when we return.

long days when daddy is away...

Logan, when we are at the community pool, it is generally not a great idea to pinch and fondle your nipples, then lean over and pull my bathing suit top down to see how mine compare to yours. I guarantee yours are much perkier and cute.



Dylan, when talking about dead presidents and referring to George Washington, it isn't very nice to declare him deceased then follow it up with "Oh well, so much for him!".



Logan, when we are in the lake in five feet of water, it is generally not a good idea to jump off of the raft until you know I'm ready to catch you.



Dylan, when we are at the lake and you accidentally leave all the floating rafts in the water, then they get carried down the shore while we are at the house eating lunch, and mommy has to climb over someone elses boat dock and hoist up onto the rocks where all the snakes live to rescue the rafts, try not to look so entertained on the boat dock watching in me earnest while licking your blue rasberry freezy pop.



Logan, I do not, I repeat DO NOT want to eat crackers that have been sitting in your mouth getting warm and soggy. Thanks for trying to share buddy, but you should apply those sharing principles during playgroup and not while eating.



My children, how I do love you. I would suffer endless pain for neither of you to ever be ill or get hurt. But thank God in heaven Daddy comes home tomorrow and then Mommy has an overnight girls weekend planned this weekend. Where I will sit by a pool, with no one pulling my bathing suit top down or trying to stuff soggy half eaten Cheez-Its into my mouth.

splish splash

Andrew is heading to a work conference this week. So tomorrow morning the kids and I are heading to the lake house to meet my Mom for a few days. In the meantime, here is a photo I snapped of the kids splashing in our baby pool on Friday. Be back soon!

summertime, and the living is crazy

I'm suddenly aware that we are almost already to the middle of June, and summer is flying by way too fast!



With preschool and soccer over, our days have been filled with pool time and playdates. Its much more fun taking Logan to the pool this summer. He has very little fear of water and sticks his face in, and tries to do whatever Dylan does. When we are not at the pool, it seems I am doing laundry - all the extra wet towels and bathing suits.



The kids are so active, its hard to keep up! I'm trying to minimize TV time. Today during Logan's nap, Dylan and I had science time, followed by an hour floating objects in our baby pool to see if they'd sink or float.



These next few weeks, our calendar is jam packed with random short trips, parties, visitors and other goodies. I think July will be a bit more calm. We are, however, planning Logan's 2nd birthday party and keeping it on the smallish side. We'll save the big 'friends' party until 3 or 4.

Since I have no interest in summer TV shows, I've been spending more time reading in the evening. I just finished this and now I'm working on this. Totally different from each other but both equally captivating!


Also, I just started a new volunteer position within my MOMS Club, and I'm planning all of our weekly events. Its a lot of work, but we're getting to do some pretty cool stuff I'll be blogging about at some point!

hot fun in the summertime

paybacks

Logan, oh Logan. You have so many quirks that make you so funny. You love to run around naked before bath time, smacking your own butt. You love to wear your brother's soccer jersey day after day, even though it comes down to your shins. You love to honk your nose and everyone elses. You love your binky so much that you try to find ways to eat food without taking the binky out of your mouth.


But I must say, this outfit takes the cake.


"I'll be taking these Huggies, and whatever cash you have in the register!".


This will be the one I pull out and show your date before the prom.


"That juice really filled my bladder. I think I will soil the rug."


I'm sure posting these photos violates some sort of good parenting rule, but I couldn't help myself. Sorry Logan. Someday you can crap in my sneaker and pay me back. Oh, I forgot, you already did that!

weekend wrap up

This weekend, Dylan had his last regular soccer game of the year (the tournament is this weekend). Andrew has enjoyed coaching the team for the most part (except for the incident where one of the kids randomly walked up and punched him in the you know whats). Yowza. We are trying to decide if we should try a different sport this fall, skip sports all together for a season and let Dylan get adjust to kindergarten, or stay with soccer. We'll see.

On Sunday, we joined the Clark Crusaders team in the Walk for Juvenile Diabetes Research.

The team raised close to $10,000 for diabetes research! It was a beautiful day spent with a great group of people, and there were tons of kids' activities and fun. Dylan practically ran the entire walk, and then we spent the rest of the day at the pool cooling off. His endless energy never ceases to amaze me. Logan is more interested in the snacks I've brought, with a little splashing here and there. Whereas Dylan is nonstop swimming action the entire time, even though the water isn't exactly warm yet. I'm just glad Dylan is a pretty good swimmer or else I don't know how I'd handle them both by myself at the pool with one in the water and one out.