I did then become frustrated with my suit case closet system, which really isn't a system at all anymore. It's just a pile of clothes, some dirty, some clean, intertwined with toiletries, souvenirs, and chargers for various electronic equipment. I used to be organized but that was so 20 days ago. It did cross my mind when I arrived at my moms that perhaps the wisest move would be to sort things out and unpack some of them. But then I just thought about repacking for Calib to go to his dad's house and us to go to Niagara Falls and then thought, well, screw it. Organization is highly over rated, right? (No Asa, this is not a permanent thought- as much as you love chaos, the house just would not run.)
I had to run out to the store this morning to get my mom her cake for her birthday, and get a picture printed of all of us in Alaska and a frame to give to her. Plus, I brought home lunch. Then we went out to see Cars 2, since it was the last day for it in Fremont (theres a whopping four screens at that theater, so movies don't last there very long). It was ok, but it was no original Cars. Although Peyton, who is usually very opposed to 3-D movies, wore the glasses the whole time and never once complained. That was a welcome change. I would like to thank the Bugs Life in 3-D at Animal Kingdom for ruining that for the last couple years.After the movie, we went to the African Wildlife Safari in Port Clinton. I had found a groupon so we could go for $5 a person. Plus, we totally broke the rules and brought in our own carrots to feed the animals. 71 cents a bag at Kroger sounded a whole lot better than 4 bucks at the animal farm. Even MOM was all about breaking those rules, and we all know how goodie two shoes she is. For those of you who don't know, this is a place where you drive your car through and feed an array of animals, from deer to buffalo. Calib has never gone before, because he's always with his dad when we go. Today I thought maybe he preferred it that way. He was freaking out at all the animals sticking their heads in the window. At one point an elk stuck it's head in the window, sniffed his leg and left a trail of slobber. I thought Calib was going to have an accident in his pants. He would just start saying 'ok, we're done. Ok, let's go. Ok, let's drive'.
He rolled up his window when we got to the Yak, because he said it looked terrifying. Now, besides his size this yak looked nothing of the sort. He looked to me like he saunters along most days thinking 'humm-dee-dum-dee-dum-dee-dum'. His hair was over his eyes, all shaggy and disheveled looking. I wasn't able to get a picture because he wouldn't come up to our car. Peyton was halfway out the window yelling 'here yak! here yakky-yak!' waving a carrot around, but he just wasn't interested. Calib spent this time yelling 'Peyton- no- Peyton- your out the window too far', pretty much covering his eyes. It was pretty funny. Really when I saw the yak, all I could think about was that Yak-a-dilla that I passed on in Denali. I wonder what they taste like.Hayden really enjoyed it. He would feed some animals, and then as more came, he'd yell at them 'sorry, we're sold out of carrots', laughing at it every time, as though it was some inside joke with the animals. He did want his window rolled up when we went past the buffalo area, but was hanging out the window when we went past the yak. Mom had a good time, I think. She got slobbered on pretty well in the beginning, and kept asking this one llama to move who was standing just in front of her drivers side mirror. At one point she said 'I can hear your blog now'. Happy reading, mom!
At the end of the drive thru, we got to the giraffes. We had a carrot a piece saved for him. He would bend down to the car, wrap his tongue around the carrot, and pull away chomping on it. It gave me flashbacks to that awful experience when the giraffe at the lowry park zoo wrapped his tongue around my hand to grab the cracker *shudders* When we were all done we headed over to the little zoo/park area they have where you get out of your car and walk. They were just closing down the pony rides, and my mom said very loudly "Oh, all the way from Florida and you just missed it". She was successful in her indirect comment, as the lady who worked there made an exception and let the boys each have a ride.
After dinner we ate at Burger King in Port Clinton and the kids played at the play area. It's right out by the water (Lake Erie) so we all stuck our feet in. Normally when I show up here in the summer and stick my feet in the water I think it's freezing. Today, I commented that it really wasn't that bad, it felt warm even. Such low standards I have these days. I really need to head home before I start thinking wearing sweat shirts in the summer is normal. Because, it's not, people. Peyton was proud of himself for skipping rocks, a skill he picked up along the river in Denali. Then we headed back to Fremont.
We skyped Asa for cake. It was a strange reversal for us always skyping my mom for birthday cake for all of our birthdays. It's ok though, because Asa hates coconut, almost as much as he hates unpacking, so he didn't really care that we were having cake while we skyped. Mom kept getting phone calls though, so we hung up. She was most popular today, at one point she had her cell phone ringing while she was on the house phone while Asa was on skype. I expect the same popularity when I turn 30, k? Ben came over to visit for a bit. It's always a nice visit from him. Hopefully I'll get to see him a couple more times before I head back.We broke out the sparklers for the big event as well. I demonstrated with one, and then let the boys have at it. It was the first time Hayden had free sparkler rein. I think Calib was more nervous about it than I was, but I suppose we have to take into account that his nerves were already frayed from that deadly yak encounter earlier in the day.
We tried to catch Fireflies tonight. Hayden asked why they were only on fire part of the time (when they lit up). I tried to explain but then he had random questions about why they light up, and why they 'hate Florida so much' (we don't have them down there). We had absolutly no luck catching them though. I came inside to start uploading some Alaska pictures to snapfish (Because Cort told me to get on it-- even though I replied with "geez, Cort, some of us are still on vacation") and I discovered a lightning bug crawling on me. Isn't that just like my wildlife search this vacation? From Moose to fireflys.. they think they're out smarting me. I showed that bug though. I put him in HAYDEN'S jar. The kid who will roll it, shake it, and turn it every which way.
Bedtime is not so awesome without Asa. Of course I miss his company, but I also really miss his help. Single parents = standing ovation. It's a lot of work when you don't have someone to sing the wonder pets teamwork theme song with. I would not want to do this all by myself all the time. Maybe that's why Asa enjoys the benefits of Asacation. I get to see what single parenthood would be like, so I put up with his crap for another year. I think it's his master plan, so he can keep getting away with his Asa-isms.
Speaking of Asa, on the Asacation front- things don't seem to be going so well. He's barely slept and complained several times about having no time. Which, is kind of funny because we always complain about you single people who claim you have no times on your hands. To be fair, he did have a lot of family/house related things to take care of when he got home. Since, you know, he was gone for 16 days (or whatever it was- I'm so losing track of days). Bills to pay, floors to clean, dogs to wash, gardens to tend to, dryers to clean out (apparently I left a load of wet clothes in there- for 16 days, whoopsie). I feel as though he'll have plenty of time once he gets all situated. However, I don't know how settled into home he plans on getting before I get back, since when I was packing bags to go back with him he asked only where his socks and underwear were so he could locate those. Today when I spoke to him he said he couldn't find his deoderant so he was using my travel sized secret he found in the bathroom. If he had unpacked, I'm sure his deodorant wouldn't be MIA anymore.
Picture for the end of the day: I'm ill. The dripping nose has become a steady stream. But on the up side, while blowing my nose, my ears finally popped. They had been clogged since the plane! Here's hoping this nyquil does it's job and I feel better tomorrow.Homesick meter: 5. I broke out the wii today, and heard nobody say a word about missing home. Although you should have seen them all skyping with Asa- I think they were more excited to see Porkchop. Maybe they just forgot that home exists, that they actually live somewhere that doesn't involve a suitcase and a travel toothbrush.
Next Up: Niagara Falls, Canadian side-- yay passports!
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