This week has been super busy around the house. It's Tuesday, and I already need a weekend to recover from the weekend!
Tuesday I invented clothespin math. I'm really trying to do anything to get Peyton to learn his multiplication tables. Basically, they each had half of a large poster board with some multiplication problems on it, and clothespins with some answers on it and they had to clip the right clothespin to the problem. Hayden was left sitting at the table long after Calib and Peyton had finished- so maybe next time I'll do something different with him- Math night may turn into sight word night or something for him. He is well beyond his years in Math. On the upside we fly through his weekly math homework in about ten minutes the first night he brings it home.
Wednesday I probably should have been getting ready for the trip, but in true Corinne form- I procrastinated until I couldn't/shouldn't procrastinate anymore. I got a lot done- gave Porkchop a bath in the sink (who needs another baby when you have a Porkchop, right? He even wakes me up in the middle of the night whining), made some donut muffins (I totally recommend them- all my pinterest using friends you can find the recipe there), made some paper cup launches (this involves a cup, a balloon and marshmallows flying across the room-- good times!!), and cleaned the house. I just didn't get the packing done, I figured at this point I've become super good at packing and unpacking since I'm off on some trip like every two months, a weekend trip would be super easy to pack for.
I did come up with a great idea Wednesday for a good behavior competition for the window seat on the plane. Although, no sooner had I said "Competition starts now", when Peyton squirted water all over the bathroom, and then replied "Ok, wait. Can the competition start now?'
Thursday I spent the day packing and getting things situated for the weekend. After the boys got home from school, and Asa got home from work I made dinner and we headed out to the airport. Hayden told his classmates he was going to Ohio for the weekend. The conversation went like this:
Hayden: 'I'm going to Ohio for the weekend"
Dude with the glasses (aka Ashton): "You don't even know where Ohio is"
Hayden: "No, I don't. But I just get on a plane and it takes me there"
When we got to the airport, I was quite perturbed to hear checked baggage with Spirit Airlines can only weigh 40 pounds. Now, I'm a pretty frequent flyer, on tons of different airlines, and this is the first I've seen it under 50. Luckily, I had an extra bag for the inevitable stuff that I would bring back, so I piled some jeans in that bag, tied my tennis shoes to my bag, and came in half a pound over- but they let me get away with it. Still, I was annoyed. By the time we got to the gate it was storming really bad- lots of lightning- which is really a typical Florida late summer storm, but not awesome if you're trying to fly out. Some planes were landing, some were getting diverted, but nobody was allowed out to guide the planes in, so everyone just sat annoyed in the airport while planes were getting delayed and diverted. The airline people would come on the announcements and say "If you're travelling on..." (insert dramatic pause here- where Asa and I gave each other concerned looks) Then they would say some random flight (insert relieved noises from Asa and myself) and something awful about people not making connections. Luckily, the storm stopped and we flew out on time. It's a good thing too because the boys were really ancy. Which, Asa and I found amazing. They could survive that awful day of delays, layovers, and issues going to Alaska-without whining but couldn't handle the trip to Ohio without rolling on the floor, whining, and arguing with each other. Lesson of the day- do not fly out after a full day of school. That 2 and a half hour plane ride really turns into like a seven hour trip with driving and everything else. By the time we finally got to my moms house it was past midnight.
Heres the thing about Ohio in the fall- and really, my perception of Ohio. I hated the winter, the first snow was fun, sledding is enjoyable- however, living there year round is not. From the winter I remember not seeing the sun for months at a time, dirty snow, wet socks, frostbitten finger tips. None of these things are good. And so, I do not miss Ohio in the winter. Ohio in the spring reminds me of Cedar Point- and Memorial Day weekend- and how blue the water used to seem then. Until, I moved to Florida and realized that water is anything but blue. And so, I don't really miss Ohio in the spring. Ohio in the summer is fine- but I don't need to miss summer. Because, well, I live in summer. Now, Ohio in the fall- I miss. The leaves changing colors, crisp blue skies and cool breezes. When I was up in the fall two years ago, it was gorgeous out. Warm, not hot, leaves just starting to turn- everything good I remembered about fall. Because of this, I was SO very excited to go see Fall again. Apparently my brain had completely forgotten that fall too has it's crappy side. Cold rain, grey sky, dirty wet leaves everywhere, and again the dreaded wet socks. Not a big fan of fall anymore, fyi.
The bad part about the whole thing was I had planned Friday around a nice cool fall day. We were going to go to a corn maze, pet some goats, feed some chickens, take a hayride. Calib was going to go with Jeff to his grandpas football game too. But, the rain ruined those plans. Everytime I came up with something else to do, it was closed. Eventually we just went out to lunch, and over to the apple cider mill for some fresh apple cider from the mill (because the stuff you buy in the store is NOT apple cider, people). That place is awesome. You know how when you grow up and things you did or places you went as a child just don't seem the same? Somehow the Cider Mill has escaped from that category. It's the one time I wish I could smell, because I bet it smells awesome. Plus they give you free samples, and the cute little wind up apples will eat your pennies. And to top it all off its the same couple working there that has been for 30 years.
After the apple cider mill we went over and bought some small pumpkins. Pumpkins in Florida are so ridiculously expensive compared to Ohio, though most things are. You people pay very little for milk, by the way. And eggs. And beef. And cheese. And fruit. And, really anything at the grocery store. Except maybe oranges. Anyway, after my complete shock of their pumpkins costing $2.50 for BOTH OF THEM! We went to the costume holiday house. This was also a staple of my childhood. I'd go, get some butterfly wings, or a bunny nose- add some glitter and leg warmers (tied over my head for bunny ears of course)- and I had my Halloween costume. The plan was really just to go and get a nose or something for the boys book character parade at school, but they ended up picking out their actual Halloween costumes too. My main concern was getting them back, since my bag was already a half pound over, but I made it work.
Once my mom got home from work, we went apple picking. And yes, it was still raining. But I really wanted to bring apples home. As noted in the previous paragraph apples are way more expensive here. Plus I have all these great recipes for apple butter, and making apple sauce, and canning fresh apple pie filling. Peyton was out of the car for about 5 minutes before he decided it was absolutely asinine to be picking apples in the rain. Hayden was all about it- but I think mostly for the fact that he'd pick one with a bad spot, and then chuck it as far as he could. He liked throwing them more than he liked picking them. It did get old fast though. It was raining, the trees were soaked so every time you'd pick an apple your sleeve would get drenched, the grassy areas had turned to mud, and Peyton kept yelling from the car to see if we were done yet. Not quite the fall experience I had in my head when we booked our trip. However, afterwards I did get a Cappuccino from Speedway (YUM!) and some chud spuds, so I'm not really complaining.
Luckily, it stopped raining in time for us to go to Cedar Point. I often forget amusement parks aren't open year round up there- so Friday night was really our only chance to go. When we got there I saw Andrew, my fondest memories of him include throwing mugs at him in the back of Sneak Peeks. Still, there are only a handful of people I still know working at Cedar Point (and even less than that of people I would actually want to see). We took Haydens picture over at Sneak Peeks, since without Sneak Peeks there would be no Hayden Waterstraut. He was on assignment to make a scrap book page about his family- so we figured Ohio would be a good place to take some pictures. We also had Peyton officially measured, so we wouldn't have any of the 'is he tall enough' drama. He was right at 54 inches. They even made him take off his shoes to make sure we didn't stuff them or anything!
Fifty-four inches meant Peyton was tall enough for any ride at Cedar Point- so he did get his first trip on the Raptor. (aka the best roller coaster EVER). I mostly took Hayden on the kiddy rides, while Asa and Peyton went on the rides. Apparently, that new swing ride that takes you up 300 feet is really frightening. I would have gone on it if it wasn't for the circular motion- because I didn't want to find out what it would be like to vomit 300 feet in the air. Since it was Friday Night, there wasn't a ton of rides open- Hayden especially was out of luck so when we got all the way to the back of the park and realized there weren't any rides he could go on open, I bribed him with a light up sword to walk all the way back up. He seemed ok with that. And of course, what trip to Cedar Point would be complete without an elephant ear and some cheese fries? Right at the end of the night Hayden asked me if we could go home. He said he had fun, but he was sleepy. He made it to the end of the causeway and then passed out.
Saturday Morning when we woke up we got to see Cort, Holly, Gwen and Garrett. Gwen was waiting patiently for Uncle Asa to get up, she even had drawn a treasure map and was requesting he follow the map to find the treasure. Gwen is all about her Uncle Asa, she pretty much knows she has him wrapped around her little finger. I guess that's what she gets for being the only niece. When we got up to Toledo, everyone was just getting to the shelter house at the park to get ready for the party. Here's the thing about the Ainsworth women. They are nothing if not particular. I don't do anything unless I am told specifically where, when, why, and how. Basically, I stayed out of the way and watched some kids until I got pulled into crate paper duty, which I was horrible at. I think I had a height disadvantage.
Grandma arrived for the party, and I think was pretty surprised to see us. This party could also be referred to as 'how many different types of pasta salads can you eat'. Holy guacamole, there was pasta salad for like every birthday grandma has ever had. Thats another thing about Ainsworths though- they always always always have enough food. Overall, they're good company. (Hi guys! *waves*)
It's nice to go to Ohio for events like these because you get to see so many people at once. It was a pretty entertaining day- my friend Ben dropped by, he's pretty much family- most of my cousins and their kids were there- resulting in lots of inappropriate jokes, injuries, and freeze tag- My cousin Joanne was there- to cheat in short distance running and play freeze tag from a bench- My cousin Tim was there to drop my youngest child directly on his head--Clint was there- teaching my kids how to do underdogs on the swings and getting terribly dirty- Cort was there teaching us the art of leaving your kids for someone else to watch. My Uncles were there- inventing games out of throwing acorns into gutters.
My mom had also invited the Sattler side of the family to the party, so I got to see them too. My cousin Jake pretty much ditched us for his girlfriend until we repeatedly texted him things like 'will your girlfriend let you come over?' and then subsequently 'will your girlfriend let you text us back'. Eventually he showed up. Oh, high schoolers. I also got to catch up with grandpa Sattler and let him know all the goings ons in Florida since he moved.
After the party, we had a party- because, thats what we do. A bunch of people headed on over to grandmas house where there was also plenty of food- since we hadn't consumed half of the 115 different kinds of pasta salad yet. The kids played in the backyard- or mostly just ran from Clints giant dog, complained about how rough elemeno played, and then continued to get him to chase them. Before everyone left we took a family picture. Peyton was being his usual pouty self about pictures, so we all were talking to him to get him on board. So, all us plus grandma stood for the picture. Afterwards, we were dispersing, and I see Hayden come running from the back yard- which then made everyone question if he was even in the picture. After looking back through the camera, we had totally missed Hayden- he wasn't with us the whole time. So, we had to take it again. Poor Hayden, nobody even noticed he was missing.
Sunday morning we got up and left Fremont to head back over to grandma's house. I had really thought it was just going to be a few of us over there before we went up to the airport, but it turned into another full blown party, luckily we still had some pasta salad to feed us all. Asa then took our boys, and Max and Henry to the back yard and decided to host an Olympic Event of horse racing, but since they had no horses, the logical step would be to have Calib and Peyton give horse rides to the littler kids. It was quite the sight to be seen. All in all, only one pair of jeans was ruined, and no major injuries were reported.
On the way to the airport- we stopped by walgreens to pick up a couple pictures of Hayden's project he had to do about his family. After we picked them up though I realized we had to double check and make sure the family picture was one with him it- luckily it was- but it really was total luck. He ended up putting the scrapbook page together on the floor at the airport. You gotta do what you gotta do to get your homework done in a timely manner, you know.
When we got to the airport, everyone was buzzing about the Lions game. The security guard was talking about how they were down by a lot- we told him not to worry- so were the Bucs last week. Right before the plane took off the pilot announced the Lions had won. I was a little annoyed that he didn't say how the Bucs were doing when we landed- so Asa sent Noah a text. Everyone on the plane was pretty shocked to hear the Bucs were up- but it was a close game, and Noah texted us the play by play until the end of the game. So, thanks Noah! The rest of the people on the plane- and the shuttle bus- also thank him.
Monday I spent the whole day being pretty lazy. I got some laundry done, cleaned the floors, and got some school stuff together. Calib went on his JA Biztown field trip. It's basically a little town the kids run. He had to be at school early, which after the weekend wasn't awesome, but he was pretty excited about. He got to the CFO of the Radio Station, had lunch from the JA Biztown McDonalds, and got to go to the JA Biztown store. Good field trip, but for $42 it better be.
I'm really looking forward to the weekend- I need a Sunday to hang out, watch football, and do a whole lot of nothing else.
Fun Side Notes:
Hayden on the airplane, reading the safety card in the seat pocket, his observations:
Basically the steps to evacuate the airplane was how to get on the airplane. Be sure to put your 'coat' (life jacket) on so you don't get cold. Opening the emergency exit door is going to the market and putting stuff in the fridge.
Everyone gets in the boat together and shoots the red arrows in the water to get to the plane.
If something bad happens on the plane- you pull the yellow bell down and put it on your kids face, because you can't get hurt with a yellow bell on your face.
Things I said this week, I never thought I'd say (growing up in Ohio):
"Don't take Fletcher home- a sink hole opened up"
"I had to swerve out of the way for the alligator in the road"
Up Next: Were going to see the Monday Night Football Game- tune into ESPN and try and spot us!
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