4 Miles

"They get to do it in their underwear."

"That doesn't look like fun."

"When I get older, maybe I'll do that."

Alex came out of his room, still sleepy-eyed from his nap. He was rubbing his eyes and then he mumbled something. I asked him "What?" and he said, this time a bit more awake, "I had a BIG bless you!" 

It took me a moment before I could ask "Do you mean a big sneeze?"  He said "yes".

We worked on painting the front door, shutters and garage door. I don't have 'after' pictures yet because we're not quite done. But while we had the paint out, we painted a chair made for Will. Uncle Tom made this two years ago, and we finally got around to painting it.  Will REALLY wanted to help paint it. I was hoping to have James use the sprayer on it while he was painting the garage door. When I said that, Will started to cry. I had NO idea it meant so much to him! So we let him do the first coat with a brush and then we'll do another coat with the sprayer.

We'll just say it was good Dad was there to smooth out the major globs every few minutes.

Finished, with almost as much paint on him as the chair!

Ok, first I must admit I've grown to use that phrase from reading a cool site called The Pioneer Woman. If you haven't explored it before, you must!

I don't intend to make it sound like things are always sunshine and rainbows, giant tents and fun times here.  We have our bad days as well.  Today we had some bad moments that were so crazy I felt I should share. 

Today was our last play date for MOPS. I knew it was going to be tough…the kids were up too late last night and were fussy this morning. But I thought better to be out doing stuff then stuck at home and listening to them fuss.  AND–I was the one who wanted to do playdates, promised to be there and then didn't go to the last two, so I REALLY felt the need to be there! So, we went. We went to a park I'd never been to before and I managed to find the parking lot FAR away from the play ground area, not the close one. So we lug ALL our bags (the bag of toys, the bag of towels/dry clothes, the bag of food and the diaper bag) to the park.

Our time at the park was a nice time. The boys enjoyed it. But, we managed to be there at the same time another MOPS group was there so it was harder to talk with other moms because we had to really watch the kids in the mass of people there.

Finally, it was time to go because Alex was crying about being wet (after running into the spray fountains, so I could just shake my head, dry him off and then he'd go back and get wet again).   Getting ready to go kids were all fussy and I got to hear loving things like "Thanks for bringing us mom" "NO! I don't want to go!"  I worked on getting them dried off and changed into dry clothes. Alex told me "Pee come out" so I told him to go in the swim diaper. Then, I asked if he needed to go pee (seeing the restroom right across the way) and asked him if he wanted to go in there, he said no, I ripped off the swim diaper and threw it away and put him in the only clean, dry cloths I had–with underwear, the diaper got left in the car.

I told the boys they could run on a football practice field next to the tables (while I was packing things up) and then when we were ready to go to the car, I realized Alex had peed (heh–I firsted typed that peeded!) ALL over the overalls/shirt/underwear I had put him in.  <sigh>  So we started to head to the car and the boys run ahead.  Alex fall and scrapes both knees and hands and was quite upset. Since he was overtired he was crying and crying over what normally he'd shake off pretty quickly. And of course, he wanted up.

So now I'm having to HOLD a pee soaked child, the bags and then I look up and Will had run off, so I'm trying to look for Will, holding a heavy pee soaked child and carrying 3 bags of various crap.

I finally found Will and YELLED. I was upset and he seemed so glib about just "going over there" and I found myself using the harsh tone I cringe when I hear other people use. But I couldn't figure out a way to get him to realize how upset I was. I put Alex down and got eye level with him, grabbed him by the sholders and almost shook him b/c I was mad and scared b/c I could NOT find him, and I told him how scared he made me. He started crying, Alex was crying…yeah, it wasn't good.

Then, Alex cried most of the way home.  We got home, got him changed, got kids fed and got them down for naps. I got my needed time out.  And the afternoon was a better.

Ahh, another August tradation–the Indiana State Fair! Once the boys saw it was opening, they wanted to go RIGHT AWAY. With a number of issues up in the air and it being cooler and not a weekend, we thought today would be the best day to go. So James took the afternoon off and we went to the fair after nap time.

We started by looking at various barns (pigs, horses, donkeys and cows).

The boys watching the winning cows being presented.

Then we stopped and had supper.  This picture just made me laugh.

Alex didn't want to eat, he wanted to ride the "Tractor Train" (see picture below). He kept seeing them drive by where we were eating. He actually started to cry when we went into the cow barn saying "No barn! I want tractor train!"  So we told him we'd eat and then they would ride it. He did manage to eat some, but spent more time watching the tractors drive by.

We had brought the stroller, so I stayed behind with it and the boys took a ride around the fair grounds.  I stopped by the Dairy Booth while waiting (they sell all kinds of yummy dairy items there–grilled cheese, yogurt, frozen yogurt, ice cream, milk shakes and frozen custard). (No, I didn't have grilled cheese or yogurt!)

Then we walked around to the Future Farmers of America building. They have most of the kid friendly things.

Including both boys new favorite–golf. In the car home, Alex was telling us how you take the "golf ball and the golf stick and the golf 'glove' (how club sounded from him) and you hit the ball!"

Will is excited about getting the ball in the hole.

Driving a toy tractor.

We ran into some friends from church while there–their daughters and the boys had fun playing in this area and for part of the time had the whole place to themselves! (Will's up by the top of the black tube slide. And yes, the daughters are twins.)

We had to make one more stop by the Dairy bar for milk shakes for the boys, and then it was time to head home. We all had a good time and everyone feel asleep pretty quickly.

What to do on a rainy day? Make the Biggest Tent EVER!

Well, today was a day that did NOT go according to plan. First–our plan: We picked a hot day with no predicted storms to drive up to Grandpa & Grandma's and go visit the lake by their house.  The boys had a great time last time we were there and we had to leave earlier then we wanted (it closes at 5), so I thought we'd go early and make a morning of it.  The lake closes for the summer on Sunday (all the lifeguards go back to school) so this was our last chance to go.

So, reality. We got up to the house, got changed, went to the lake all while I'm watching the clouds get darker and thicker. I had the radio on in the car and the local station (well, one based 45 minutes away) even said "Our radar is clear!".  Within 5 mintues of getting there the wind picked up, the clouds got darker and we started to hear thunder. We were invited by the nice lifeguards to join them in the concession stand. After waiting around, watching the cool clouds and hearing the thunder get louder, I realized that was NOT a good place to have two kids who are scared of thunderstorms. So we went back to Grandma's and had our picnic lunch inside.

We decided to eat and take some naps and then we'd go back to the lake. Except right as nap time ended, it started to rain AGAIN. So we came up with Plan B.

Plan B was the Burger King with the indoor play area.

Along with a special treat (since their shake machine was broken, we had to try the Hershey Sunday Pies–I don't think the boys minded!)

Overall, the boys didn't mind the change in plans, they had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa–and  that's what really matters!

(I had to put this one in just because we can't end on a sweet note!)