Week 42: William Shakespeare and Other Dumb People

A blog on Thursday Night. Look out, people- things are getting ex-cit-ing!

Actually, I just have a lot to do tomorrow, and I'm trying to cross things off my list a little early. Laundry Folded, Blog Written- that sort of stuff. Because let me tell you, getting all my ducks in a row for summer vacation is a time consuming project. We are down to three days left of school. THREE DAYS!!!!

Now, this is very sad of course because all my kids won't be going to the same school- EVER AGAIN. To make matters worse, so far Peyton has been Ok-ed for school choice next year to return to Oakstead (since we live just outside the district) Hayden, however is on appeal because the originally rejected him. Their response when we called: 'We had no idea they were brothers'. Guess that spot for 'list siblings who go to this school' is for nothing. Anyway, if he doesn't get approved, he'll have to go to Odessa. I'm not about to take Peyton out of Oakstead his fifth grade school. So then I'll have to deal with three different schools. Oh boy, things are about to get real. Thank God I'm a stay at home parent or it would be complete chaos!

Again this week I failed to write anything down. As we get to the end of my weekly blog writing, I'm certainly getting lazier about it. My list is also not coming a long at all. I'll have to check out what theme weeks I can fit some stuff in. I'll have to go look and update, I haven't in awhile. So, anyway, forgive me if this seems a bit spacey or is lacking detail.

Saturday was pretty low key around here. Asa had to work since he was off earlier in the week. Plus, I can deal with crowds- but holiday weekends just become a bit much for me. The traffic is terrible, and the parks, beaches, and any sort of touristy thing is just super crowded. It's even frustrating to find a parking spot. I despise going out on holiday weekends so much I did all my shopping Friday so I could hermit it up on Saturday. Casey called and had Calib and Peyton over, so it was pretty quiet around the house. They got to swim in the Oakstead pool, which makes me slightly jealous. Granted the Suncoast Meadows pool services a whole lot less households, but it's not nearly as nice. I told Asa when we buy a house we need a pool, because that would be awesome. We did get the lawn mowed, the house all cleaned up and the dogs had a bath so it was a productive day.

Sunday we decided to go to the pool, crowds or not. It actually wasn't that bad, but the sky was getting awfully cloudy so I think people kind of stayed away from it. Somewhere along the way we lost Hayden's floaties though (ugh- and I was just at the dollar store today and forgot to pick some up, darn it!) We'll have to get some new ones, but I'm convinced he'd be just fine without them.

Sunday evening we had a cookout with some of our friends. It's nice to have the 'bigger' house to have people over in. Still loving the two separate living spaces. Anyway, Asa and I had picked up hot dogs and burgers and everyone else brought sides. Somehow we ended up with a ton of snack items left here, which has been great because the boys have been eating them all week and I didn't have to shop for after school snacks. Katie and Kevin brought Angela, and JD and Tracy brought little JD- so we even had some extra kids around.  It's much more fun to share the evening with you in pictures than to tell you what happened, so here goes.

First, JD was kind enough to tinker with my ddr pad and fixed it. I haven't used it this week, but when I do I'm sure I'm going to be thrilled to have it working again. Plus then everyone got to play on it and JD took some pretty funny video of Houston DDR-ing with his hands in his pockets, Ann trying to get the hang of it, and Asa sticking his butt out while his feet moved at the speed of light.

Fico was nice enough to take the kids down the park, and somehow got roped into playing connect four launchers with them. 

I'm not sure exactly when or how, but someone eventually decided a light saber fight was in order. Between us and JD there were 10 light sabers. I'm not sure my neighbors appreciated the madness that was going on, but we never got any complaints about it. So that's good.

Then we moved on to Apples to Apples, it reminded me lots of Taco Fiesta Nights in Huron. Those were good times, maybe I'll institute a Taco Fiesta Night here. Anyway, Katie whined about how she never wins. I'll give you one guess who won.

Then, things got weird...

By the end of the night we had some sleepy heads on our hands. 

Anyway, thanks to everyone who came out. And to everyone who listened to Hayden spew his usual nonsense. Sorry if you got sucked in.

It was 1 am by the time we all got into bed on Sunday night, and Asa had to work (though from home) on Monday so I let the boys sleep in. After they got up we decided to chance the weather and go out to Honeymoon Island. It was windy and cloudy, but on the upside not very crowded. Since it wasn't very cloudy we found some really great shells. Lots of hermit crab worthy ones. Peyton was so excited about them.

Funny thing about the beach. No matter how old you get digging a hole and playing in the sand doesn't really ever get old. We spent about an hour and a half at the beach and the boys were ready to go. They wanted to make it to the sprayground before it started raining.

About 5 minutes from Honeymoon Island is the Dunedin Sprayground. It's a nice little stop to wash off the sand and the salt. They just got a new playground put in, and theres always a little food truck there with very reasonably priced ice cream (we each got an ice cream sandwich for 85 cents). The boys happily played in the water until it started raining and then we headed home.

On Monday we also decided to turn our summer bucket list into theme weeks. So that night we sat down and planned out what themes we wanted to do and where they would fit best. I even let Calib pick which ones he would miss. I'm pretty excited for Game Week!

Tuesday night after school Calib and I went out to Saint Pete to go to a Rays game. As an early birthday present (he's so hard to shop for giving him tickets to things is so much easier) we got two tickets to the Rays vs. White Sox game and told him he could pick whoever he wanted to go with. He picked me, which Asa was happy to accept since he was still tired from work Monday and actually having to go into the office Tuesday (I felt like I was in solitary confinement without anyone home with me!) We stopped for dinner at Panera, and then headed to the game.

 Unfortunately, the Rays lost 7-2.  Even more disappointing, the 2 runs we scored Calib was in the bathroom for. It was the only time he got out of his seat the whole time. I think he had a good time anyway. He had gotten a card in the mail from his grandma and grandpa Kettner and used the money they sent to buy a Rays hat. We got home a little after 11, so he was pretty difficult to wake up for school the next morning.

Wednesday was Hayden's awards at school. They started at 10 and Asa had to work until 10. He made it just a minute before Hayden got his 'Friendly Helper Award'. Every kid gets some award, but he was pretty pleased with his. I had a good seat in the front row, so I was even able to get a cute picture of him on stage with Ms. Bazin.

After we left school, we stopped home for a quick change and lunch before Asa and I went out to Adventure Island. It's most likely our last date day for awhile, unless he's able to pick up a shift next Saturday. It was a nice day, warm and sunny so we did our usual couple of spins around the lazy river, and sometime spent in the pool before it was time to get the kids from school.

 

Which brings me to today, I spent the day making lists, typing out the boys summer rules and figuring out our point system for the summer. It's going to be pretty awesome. The boys will earn points for chores, good deeds, agree-ability, ect. Then on Sunday nights were going to auction off 'prize passes' for their points. Everything has a minimum bid of course, but there are some super fun prizes in there. We have the ultimate sleeper pass that lets you sleep in as late as you want. We have the Bedtime snack immunity pass where your bedtime snack won't be taken away regardless of a poor showing at dinner. You know, stuff like that. I also made up chore cards for each room, and gave them all point values. I got out my handy dandy laminator and made it all pretty. The boys are actually really excited about it.

I guess that's it for the week. I wrote nothing down this week, so I don't have any cute little funny stories to tell you. Gosh, I have to be better at that next week.

Up Next: Field Trips, Birthdays, Family Visits and SUMMER VACATION!!

Week 41: Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, Punk R ock

Good news guys, after my disappointing showing last week with remembering the 'It's the End of the World as we Know it' lyrics, I did learn something in college after all. I can still easily sing along with We didn't start the fire. All those student loans aren't for nothing, people!


Anyway, today, we have some very special guests. This past week the boys had some fun stuff going on at school, so   instead of me relaying what they did, I figured you'd like to hear it from them. Guest writers people! It's a first.


Last Friday Calib had his sunshine state party. Here's what he had to say about it:


First I did a kickball game we won 15 to 11 their was no out limit . We just changed sides when all of one team got to kick. Next we did a three legged race it was alright. Next we did a hula hooping contest it was boys vs girls first side to have everyone down lost, it was a tie. I was the first one down.Then for people who read all 15 sunshine state books they got to make designs on a brick that would be put around the school. It was cool.THEN WE GOT SOAKED!!!!! We put a sponge over our heads and the rest of the water went in the bucket. The team with the most water in their bucket won.Then we got papa johns pizza in the cafeteria and a cookie with goldfish and lemonade Hawaiian punch.Then we made volcano and made it explode.Then we played board games. Me and my friend played bop it.Next we did a hayride in the dark.  We had to find the items as we drove past them on a four wheeler.Then I played flashlight tag and crouched in the grass and it almost worked.Then we came back to the cafeteria to eat cake and ice cream with left over pizza and we danced for the rest of the time.You had to leave at a certain point depending on how many books you read. I read them all.


Then, Thursday the boys had Otter Splash at school where the school rents out waterslides, and has water related game for the kids. Peyton refused to contribute, so I enlisted Hayden. Here's what he had to say:


"My favorite thing was the animal slide. The animal slide was kind of like bumping like on a train. It was kind of like a smooth slide, with water. The thing thing Ms. Bazin did not like was Austin peeing in his pants. He had to sit out and go to the clinic and change clothes. And I was really happy when I got to lay on my towel for a second. I played the greatest water game, it's like an water obstacle course. It was like blue alligators verses green alligators and we had to make it over the obstacle course.  The blue won. The next thing we did, is you had to use a spoon and you had to try and get the most little sphere things in a big black bucket. The other team won that game. Jacob, Loreli, Olivia, and Kaylan were on my team. The beach ball game I had zero fun at because everyone was stealing all the balls I was going to catch. When we got back to class I felt like I had really fun at Otter Splash."

I'd like to thank my co-authors this week! Thanks boys! Maybe sometime I'll get Peyton to write about something too. Maybe he'll really like something we do this summer. I have groupons stocked- a whole bunch of new crafts stored up, and theme weeks I'm working on. Of course we also have our bucket list in the works.


Gosh, it seems like the weeks are flying by now. We're down to six days of school left. Speaking of which, I'm so jealous of everyone's recent facebook posts. Everyone's kindergartners up north are getting cute little cap and gowns and ceremonies. We have an awards assembly, but nothing like that. Nothing like that for the fifth graders either, who are leaving the school. Boo! I want cute little people in graduation outfit pictures too.

Anyway, last Saturday we did some chores around the house, and then headed out to the fresh market. We didn't run into anyone we knew, which was a shame because they were giving out free four packs of applesauce squeezers- one per family. We could have had Justin grab some for us too. We did venture into the world of flavors at the tropical ice stand and get lemonade. It was alright- not my favorite. I do enjoy that it's getting so much more popular, that there are now all kinds of new vendors and even a little play area for kids. We played a little baseball, which these two very sweet old ladies happily watched us play from the sidelines. They clapped for the boys and everything. After Peyton hit the ball onto the stage with the band though, we quickly apologized and made our exit. When we stopped by the farmers market they had wax beans. I didn't even know wax beans existed outside of the bean game! We didn't get any of them, but Asa happily took his picture and sent it out to everyone offering the whole pile for some Cocoa Beans.

We had to hurry home because Peyton had a birthday party to go to. His best friend, Ciara is moving and so even though her birthday isn't until July, she had her party so she could celebrate with all her friends here. They went to the bowling alley, and Peyton had a great time. It was funny when I went to go get her present he was like 'She's not one of those yucky girly girls'. He got to bowl a couple games, have some pizza and cake, and play some arcade games.


Sadly though, while he was gone we had quite the catastrophe. I was working on homework with Hayden (his very last weekly packet!) when Asa was about to go vacuum Hayden and Peyton's room. He opened the door and found Phenom (our dog) had been shut in there with Denali (our rabbit). He immediately yelled for me, and I came running. When I saw Denali, I honestly thought she was dead. It was just awful. Asa quickly got Phenom out of there (he somehow managed to knock the bottom out of Denali's cage), fixed Denali's cage and put her back in there. She wasn't bleeding, and didn't have any injuries we could see, but she was clearly in shock. Long story short: after a week of warm towels, hand feedings, and lots of quiet time (we even let the boys have sleepovers in Calib's room on weeknights) I am very, very happy to report Denali is doing just fine. We're all so happy and relieved. She's back to her normal self, but we've been very careful about where Phenom is.


Anyway, we had planned on going to dinner with friends on Saturday night, but had to cancel because we really weren't sure if Denali was even going to make it. Asa picked Peyton up from his party, and had to explain what had happened. He was pretty devastated so we spent the evening doing our best to cheer him up. We played games, watched Pirates of the Caribbean, had a sleepover in the living room, and even downloaded the Hidden Mickey book to my kindle which the boys had been wanting for a long time. If you don't know what a hidden mickey is: They are mickey's (faces, profiles, written names) that are in the parks, but rather inconspicuous. They originated when the idea came about that Mickey would not be included in Epcot. The imagineers didn't like this, so they found ways to 'hide' mickey in the park. Now, they're all over the place. Our book offers clues, and it links to hints if you need it to be more specific. We are highlighting the ones that we find.


Sunday morning we had plans to go to Disney, Denali seemed better and I thought it best to get the boys out of the house so they wouldn't be checking on her every 20 minutes freaking out about it. We got up around 7:30 and left by 8. I had already packed breakfast, lunch, and the stuff for the waterpark. When we got to Hollywood Studios the parking lot was already half full- and the park had only been open for just over in hour. You could tell it was going to be a busy day because they already had cars parked on the grass and in other non-parking spots. But, that's usually par for the course this time of year and especially when it's Star Wars weekend. You kind of just have to roll with the crowd, and be patient. We even bit the bullet and waited almost an hour to ride Toy Story Mania! Asa had never been on it before, and in my opinion it's the best ride in the park. The boys were patient too. We read through a lot of the hidden mickey book, and even found a couple.

When we got off the ride, (Asa beat us all by 80,000 points- ridiculous!) we headed across the way to a food cart, where hidden mickey's were. We located them both and then the worker said 'Oh hold on, there's another hidden mickey for you'. We were confused: the book didn't include another hint. Then, she pulled out three mickey ice cream sandwiches and handed them all out to the boys for free. It was pretty awesome.

Then we waited in line to see Star Wars characters. The boys happily waited eating their ice cream, and talking to the storm troopers that were walking around.

Then, we continued on to our hidden mickey hunt. It's a whole new adventure for the boys at Disney. Even ride's Peyton isn't usually thrilled about he wanted to go on to see the hidden mickeys. Some of them are easier than others.

In the honey I shrunk the kids playground there's a hidden mickey raised into the 'logs'. We couldn't find it forever, and the girl working there just kept laughing at us. Eventually we gave up, and she showed us. Asa was leaning on it- and she said we all touched it at one point. Hopefully we get better at spotting them throughout our hunts for them.

We headed out around lunch time, and the park was even more packed. It really is getting so hot here, so by mid afternoon it gets a little uncomfortable in the parks. We picnic lunched in the car, it was so hot the peanut butter had melted, and the bread felt like it was fresh out of the oven! After that we went out to Aquatica. It's nice to have an Orlando water park on our passes. It allows us the freedom to go to the parks in the morning, get all gross and sweaty, and then go cool off- without having to sneak into the resort pools. Its another one of our favorite things to do. Shh! Don't tell anyone.


Aquatica was crowded- we parked in the very last spot in the parking lot- but luckily, the park really handles the crowds well. We did our usual rounds of floating through the river, running around the big bucket play area, and Hayden running all around the kids area while Asa, Calib, and Peyton head off to do some other slides. We all reconvened in the sandy beach area by the wave pool. I just want it to be known, as I was sitting under the palm tree, feet buried in the sand- I realized living in Florida has not been lost on me. I love it here. We had to head home just short of closing though, Asa worked at 7:30 Sunday night in order to get some time off later in the week. We're stock piling date days at the end of the school year to enjoy our time together before the boys are on summer break.

Monday something super cool happened. Calib came home from school and asked me to cut off all his hair. I was not a fan of the long hair, but it's his hair- he can do what he wants with it. I would be lying if I said I wasn't happy dancing inside when he said he wanted it cut though. I have a theory why he did it, but I'll keep it to myself. Either way, I love his new hair cut.

Tuesday Asa had his half day, so we went out to Ikea just to look around, and get a couple of meatballs. Then, we had been hanging onto a groupon for nearly six months for Gametime (kind of like a grown up Chuck E. Cheese). Our groupons gave us a pass for unlimited games for two hours. The catch was, though, that we couldn't play anything that gave you tickets. This kind of stunk because even if you wanted to you couldn't play ski ball, or football, or super monkey ball. But, you did also get a card with 90 credits to spend on these. We did find this one game you had to work together as a team on, and it had a story line to it- with three different ways to take. We played it three times, but never won in the end when we both had to stop our arrows spinning in a particular spot. We played a lot of basketball, and air hockey. I'm pretty confident I won the most air hockey games, Asa would probably tell you differently though. After our two hours were up we used our 90 credits to play some awesome connect four game that was so large it covered the entire wall. I won, but only because Asa let out an expletive when he screwed up- otherwise I probably wouldn't have noticed. We got to play some ski ball, and the other tickets games we had been eyeing. Then, we used our winning tickets to get some warheads and headed home to pick up the kids from school.

Tuesday Night the boys came home with their usual otter splash instructions- Go to school in your swim suit, bring a water bottle, apply sunscreen at home, and bring a change of clothes and a towel with your name on it. I usually gave Calib and Peyton their towels with their names embroidered on them, and cross my fingers they don't get lost. But this year Hayden was going to and would also need a towel. So, I decided I could take some of the old bathroom towels I had saved when we got our new ones, give each of the kids a bleach pen and let them decorate their towels for Otter Splash. I really liked Peyton's with his giant Otter Splash and some cute little fish , Hayden's was the usual craziness scribble scrabble, and Calib made some sports references. I thought they turned out awesome, and the boys were pretty pleased with them.

Wednesday Asa also had a half day- he's working Saturday morning a couple hours. We looked at our remaining groupons and decided to use one for a seafood lunch at a place by one of the marina's in Saint Pete, called fish tales. The whole place is outdoors, on the water and the food was delicious. I had a crab cake sandwich, Asa had a seafood wrap and we split some nachos. Probably more food than we would have ordered- but it was $10 for $30 worth of food and drink so an appetizer seemed logical. They didn't even charge us the tax, so the bill came out to nothing but the tip. Not bad for $10.

Then we went out to the Tradewinds resort in Saint Pete beach. They have giant inflatable waterslides, trampolines, and obstacles to climb on. It's usually something like $27 for an hour out on the waterpark, but I had found the groupons for $10 so we decided to give it a go. First of all, you are required to wear a life jacket. While you do swim through deeper water, once you get out to the waterpark it was up to my chin. I understand completely why you need to wear it, but it made it nearly impossible to get up on the course. There isn't a rope ladder or anything, just handles to pull yourself up. But once your life jacket hit the raft, you wouldn't budge. There was no sliding up onto the rafts. You had to kind of roll to get up there, and hope not to get a face full of salt water.

When talking to the lifegaurds out there, they pretty much said it was the worst time of day to come out there- because of high tide. At low tide the water is only about waist deep and therefore you can pretty much just jump up onto everything. That made a lot of sense, and I wished I had thought about that sooner. I did climb on a few things, but after 45 minutes I decided I would swim back to shore, and take some pictures of Asa out there climbing around.

Also, tradewinds is pretty crazy. They have a bunch of pools, paddle boats going through rivers through the whole resort, giant inflatable stuff on the beach, and this: A water jet pack. If only it wasn't ridiculously expensive. Because it looks awesome. People were doing it the whole time we were out there, so I snapped a picture to share.

After the hour was up we headed back to the car, Asa was more exhausted than I was because he had done a lot more climbing. It was a fun thing to try, but I don't think I would do it again. Now Peyton, Peyton would LOVE it. So, if it comes back up on Groupon I'd get it for him and Asa. On the way home we stopped for some ice cream and went to pick up the boys. We spent the evening watching the American Idol Finale (the boys were happy Philip Philips won), and the Modern Family Finale. We miss Survivor Wednesday nights already!


Thursday and Friday I spent catching up from all my time off earlier in the week. Dishes, laundry, meal planning, grocery shopping- that sort of thing. Holy moly are things on sale this week- thank you, Memorial Day. I even managed to get 3.5 whole fryer chickens for $2 a piece at target. If only I had a bigger freezer. Also, next week I think we'll be having a lot of cookout food (since that was all on crazy good sales!) It was Asa's normal work from home week too, so I had lots of company, which is always very nice.


Friday Asa and I both went to pick the boys up from school. When we lived in Dade City, I used to take them on Fridays to get a junior frosty and some french fries we'd split at Wendys. Calib had mentioned this little tradition earlier in the week and asked if we could do it again. Then I realized- since next Friday Calib will be on his field trip and not home until 8- This was THE VERY LAST Friday I would ever pick them all up from the same school, at the same time, all together. So sad. So of course we went out to get frosties and french fries all together.

Friday Calib also had his fifth grade kick ball game. They spend most of the year excited about this. The fifth grade classes all play tournament style to get a champion team. Then at the end of the day, the champion team faces off against the teachers while the whole school watches. There was an argument Friday morning because Hayden refused to root for the Rays (Calib and Peyton's pod), and instead rooted for the dolphins (his pod). Calib got in the car, and I could tell he had made it more than one round. Either that or the winning team rubbed his face in the dirt- because he was filthy! He happily told us his pod had won four tournament games to be the champions. He even made the double play to end the semi-finals. However, in a 4-5 battle, they lost to the teachers (who apparently in the history of this game have only ever lost once). I told them that was pretty impressive. Plus the fact they all had to be exhausted from spending their entire day playing kickball while the teachers came in totally refreshed. I know he was disappointed though. 

That's pretty much it for the week, though I do have a few added awards to give out:


Best Game of the Week:
Shoot batman off the bar stool with a nerf gun. Super entertaining.


Worst Game of the Week:
Bachlorette bingo. How did nobody win with squares like 'Someone says the word 'journey'' and 'Someone leaves in a helecopter'? Those things always happen on the Bachlorette


Best School Work Brought Home:
It was portfolio day! I love when they get their portfolios with all their art work they've made all year. It's my favorite thing they bring home all year!!


Best Meal:
I added carrots to the low country boil this week. It's a must include now. Even Asa loved the carrots, and he usually hates them. Although, I've recently gotten him on carrots and hummus for snacks too. Yum!


Best Movie:
We got Edward Scissorhands from Netflex!  The boys loved it, and most of it was even filmed in our very own town! (some in dade city, and other area's around here too, but still awesome!)


Cutest Quote of the week:
Hayden: "Ms. Bazin says I am a very good role model"


It sure is the end of the year:
Me: "So what did you guys do at school today? Are you even doing anything anymore?"
Peyton: "I colored"
Hayden: "I played with solid shapes"
Calib: "Pretty much just kickball"
Asa: "So like are your teachers taking naps a lot now or something?"
Calib: "Mine always has her laptop out. I think she's on facebook"
Peyton: "Yea, I see mine have her email out all the time"


And finally, there was the great pillow incident of 2012:
Asa: "Babe, should I wash my (feather) pillow?"
Me: "No. That's a bad idea"
Asa: "I think I'm going to wash my pillow"
Fast forward a couple hours, from the laundry room
Asa: "I don't think I should have washed my pillow"
Me: "I told you not to wash it"
Asa: "I need a vacuum"

So, naturally I go to check and see whats going on. When I got to the laundry room he was just finishing cleaning up, when he plopped blankets that were waiting to go in the washer back in the corner, and feathers began flying everywhere since they were on the blankets. Then he went to dump his last dustpan full of feathers in the trash, and when he opened and closed the trash feathers started flying everywhere again. Then I noticed they were all stuck to a sweaty Asa, and all in his car. I laughed so hard, I cried. 

Later that night, he brought our clean sheets from the washer, when we started to put them on the bed tiny pieces of feathers started flying everywhere. So much so, Hayden and I were convinced it was snowing. I couldn't help from laughing, even though Asa was pretty bummed about it. Hayden generously offered up one of his pillow pets as a replacement. So, I am now an adult sleeping in a bed containing a pillow pet. And I thought it was bad when we resorted to the kids pillowcases. 

Next Up: A Memorial Weekend BBQ, Kindergarten Awards, and Birthday Cake!