Addendum...

One of my friends reminded me, tonight, that I actually own a maternity swimsuit, too, so that brings the count to 10... TEN... and, yes... I realize that I am starting to sound like the count from Sesame Street (and I plan to meet him next week)... That one doesn't fit either (I hope), although if I find it, maybe I'll wear it... It couldn't look worse than the rest of them...

Lisa

I own NINE Swimsuits...

... and none of them fit!!!

Now... technically, I can get into 8 1/2 out of 9, from the size 6 bikini to the size 12 one piece swimdress, but they all look ridiculous! I am so serious, the size 6 looks awful (really awful), but it actually doesn't look any worse than the size 12, and it's so not that they're all too small, because the 12 is loose in places, even though it's tight in other places...

ARGHUGHHHARGHA... (That was me screaming...)

I am going to Florida in 4 (count them, FOUR) days, and I am seriously thinking about investing in a burlap bag... to wear over my head... so that at least no one will be able to identify me while I visit 4 ( again, count them, FOUR) waterparks! Or, maybe I just need a scuba diving suit or something... hmmm... eBay?

Lisa

Outrageously Stressed Out...

I have been putting off making things "right" with someone for quite some time now. It's not really that it's been intentional... just inconvenient, I guess...

Or maybe there's more to it than that, but I am really struggling with what to do about this.

Sometimes I think stuff is better off just left in the past, but I know I'm never going to feel quite right about the whole thing until I've made every effort possible on my part to make it right...

And I thought I needed advice about this, but I guess I really don't. I know what I need to do...

Now... to just do it...

Lisa

The Spider That Made Me Cry...

... So, I took my kids (Seth, Grace, and Caleb) to see Charlotte's Web today.

I read Charlotte's Web a long time ago, and come on... everybody knows Charlotte dies at the end. But I honestly got tears in my eyes when she did, and sat there thinking to myself what an idiot I must look like, because here I am sitting front and center, mind you, crying over a fictional spider, when I smash the real ones at my house all the time... ah... the irony...

After the show, I took Caleb to the women's bathroom, and let me tell ya, he was furious. The child does not understand why he can go into the women's bathroom but I can't go into the men's. At any rate, I let him go into the stall by himself, while I held the door. But, after a few minutes, I decided he was taking way too long, so I opened the door... and he was gone!

At this point, I pretty much screamed, "CALEB"... and a lady from the other side of the bathroom asked, "Were you with that little blonde boy?" And I (in a panic) of course said, "Yes!" And she said, "He just ran that way (pointing)... fast"!

So... of couse (again) I ran out the door, to find Caleb standing calmly with Seth and Grace... and to find Grace wiping tears off of her face, because Charlotte was dead... and so we come full circle...

Caleb is not allowed to go potty by himself in public restrooms anymore...

And somewhere there is a point in all of this... about Charlotte I mean... not about going potty...

On the way home, I talked with the kids about how Charlotte had great love for Wilbur because she gave her life for him. It's Biblical, you know... John 15:13 says, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." Amazing where you can find truth... sometimes when you're not even looking for it.

By the way... I actually observed the rules about not taking pictures this time... not because I'm getting better at following rules or anything, but because I was in a rather conspicuos spot to be taking pics. I did, however, get a nice shot of the kids outside before the show:

Lisa

Buy This CD!!!

So... a few months ago I wrote about the song, "Words to Build a Life On" that I heard at Paradise '08. I then went on an amazing google search that took me all over the place until I finally found somebody who knew the guy who wrote the song, and I found the writer on myspace. Yes, myspace is good for something... At any rate, I have had several comments/questions on my blog about where to get a CD with this song on it. I am glad to say that the CD has been released! I ordered my copy, which is on it's way, and I said I'd give it a "shout out" on my blog... So... buy this CD!!! Here's the link. Seriously... everybody needs this song. It rocks!

http://store.bandwear.com/mikecrawford

Lisa

Time Flies...

... When you're seven goin' on seventeen!

Ah... Grace's 7th birthday! It never ceases to amaze me that my kids are growing up so fast, and then I stop and say that every time one of them has a birthday, and I realize that it's still true!

We mercilessly teased princess Grace all day long about how she wasn't going to get any presents, but I guess she knew that wasn't true, because she informed me that you only have to be good to get presents for Christmas... You always get presents on birthdays... hehehe...

Took some pretty good b-day pics. after fighting with her about the bees outside... ugh! Here are a few of my favorites:

My beautiful girl, after she stopped screaming about the bees...

A pretty good look at some real character...

Exploring the flowers...

At the park...

Of course, Grace thought we needed to go to Chuck-E-Cheese for dinner... which we did. We ate pizza and played games and came home with a boatload of candy, because that's mostly what the kids spent their tickets on this time around!

I made a Disney Fairies cake, which was one of my more pathetic cake efforts, but Grace loved it anyway. I made a funfetti cake with white frosting, sprinkled it with tons of "Pixie Dust" (aka white sugar sprinkles), and added five mini fairy dolls and a number 7 candle! I think I am going to start buying birthday cakes... then again... maybe not:

Present time was nothing short of hilarious! Grace has always loved opening presents, but I have never seen her quite so excited! And that's sayin' somethin'... Many of her presents were Disney Princess related, and by the time she got to the last one (FIVE Disney Princess dolls wrapped together) she was so excited that she was literally throwing the individual dolls on the ground and screaming! Oh my gosh... I will try to post the video once we get it captured, because I have seriously never seen anything like this! I was cracking up! I do have a couple of pics. that do the facial expressions justice:

I think Grace would tell you it was a very good birthday!

Lisa

Wasting Time...

...That I don't have to waste!

But... anyhow... I have needed to make a post for some time. I hope that in the very near future I will have the chance to smother this blog with videos and pics. of things like the end of summer children's program, Backyardigans Live, and our recent (uh... yesterday) field trip to Science Central. I have also had some really great Spiritual kinds of thoughts here lately that I want to share. But for now... I have a somewhat mindless rambling on this very cold day, on which I am sick, and on which I am functioning on little sleep since I stayed up until 2am...

Begin Rant:

So... I was reading all the rumor boards about what might happen at Cedar Point next summer. Look, I warned you that I was wasting time! Did you not read the title of this post? Anyway... looks like the most popular predictions are that Disaster Transport and/or Demon Drop will come down (uh... have we not all been saying this for many, many years)... And that a lot of people would like to see a dark ride, water coaster/water ride, huge wooden coaster, or flyer (no surprises here either). I, for one, want a flyer. I have never been on one, and you know CP would build the best one ever.

At any rate, I came to one post that just almost cracked me up. The vote was for a new wooden coaster, and I quote,

"Woodie. The park only has 2 woodies and with 17 coasters that is pretty odd. Both of their woodies Aren't anything special. I can understand that Blue Streak is a nice little historical woodie but Mean Streak is just a big mess from what I've heard. And since woodies are getting popular again they could take out Mean Streak and put in a BIG GCI or Gravity Group. Maybe even an Intamin! Mean Streak takes up a lot of space doesn't it? An Intamin would be great right there." (http://www.coaster-net.com/forums/?showtopic=8777)

You know, I just love reading posts by people who can't count almost as much as I love reading posts by people who can't spell... (Not to mention the fact that the post would have been a lot easier to read if the guy just said "Wooden Roller Coaster"... my gosh... people just don't think!)

CP Wooden Coasters:
Blue Streak
Mean Streak
Mine Ride
Uh... Gemini... hello!

That comes to four, I think. Could someone count that up for me, just to make sure I've got it right? It just irritates me when people try to look cool by talking about something that they know nothing about. Have I ever done that myself? Yes... absolutely. I made myself sick.

So... yeah... there are definitely things I could be doing right now that would be a better use of my time than this. But just so you know, based on my research I think the most likely scenario is that CP is either going to revamp Mean Streak to make it a more palatable ride, or I think there will, indeed, be a new Wooden Coaster. One of those things, or the park might actually take a year off to improve Soak City or the resorts or something. Personally, I'd like to see them resurrect the Mill Race or at the very least bring Pepsi Plunge on over from Geauga and stick it in Kiddie Kingdom. Flume rides are really fun for little kids, and they can't ride Snake River (which isn't even a "real" flume ride) until they're 48" tall...

OK... I'm out... I need to go do some Chinese Fire Drills or something...

Lisa

Science Central, Field Trip #1...

... Three hours in the car, was it worth it?

Yeah... I'd say so!

The kids and I had a wonderful time at Science Central today! We went for a meteorology lab, but we figured since it was such a long drive we might as well make a day of it! So... for the morning we explored the exhibits!

Seth and Grace had a lot of fun going down the two story slide and measuring the amount of time it took to reach the bottom. Unfortunately, the calculator was broken, so we didn't figure out their speeds... Yeah, I could have done this with pencil and paper, but I was being lazy... Seth also had a "blast" with the rocket launcher (yeah... bad pun intended), and Grace loved using the pulleys to lift herself off the ground! The mirror exhibit was lots of fun, but I liked the one that made me skinny a whole lot more than the one that made me fat! Caleb enjoyed the climbing wall and kept posing and saying, "Mommy, take a picture of me!" I think he thought it was a huge studio prop... hehehe... He also had fun in the "littler kids" area, where there was a train table! And Ian... Oh, how he loved the water table... so much so that when I turned my back for a moment he climbed right in! He spent the rest of the day in wet pants, because I didn't have a change for him, but wow, did he ever have a good time!

All of the kids liked "the sewer"... but not in the dark... at first! It was this tunnel that they had to try to crawl through using only their senses of touch and hearing, since it was completely dark. They couldn't find their way out, which was sort of hilarious until a balloon popped somewhere and they all freaked out! And I really mean freaked out! Seth thought it was a bomb, and all three of them started screaming and crying! (By the way, we were almost the only people in the building, so there wasn't a huge audience or anything) I got one of the staff people to turn the lights on for them, and they made it out, but it took some doing to convince them it was only a balloon! After that, they went through the tunnel a few times in the light and were finally brave enough to try it again in the dark, which they did masterfully this time around!

We left for lunch, because the "food court" consisted of a couple of vending machines (not even with sandwiches, just chips, candy, and ice cream). We had to take some one way streets, which always makes me a little nervous, because I am scared I will not be able to find my way back! We found a Burger King and did, indeed, get back to Science Central. We then walked to a nearby park to eat our "picnic", which was good until the "bumblebees" decided they wanted to share. Then we picked up the rest of our food and ate while we walked back! Next time we will pack a lunch!

The lab part of the day was really fun for the kids. There were about 12-15 kids, I would say, and they all got to participate! Seth did part of the balloon popping experiment, and Grace got to demonstrate the effect of lightning! Everyone had the chance to shake thunder sticks, and then the kids did a weather forecast (which they think was actually on TV, even though I am about 103% sure it was not!)

Here are a few pics of the day:

The only really bad part was the drive home! I actually managed to navigate the one way streets without any issues, but when I went to get on the expressway, a semi truck literally ran me off the road! I have gone over this about a million times, and there was absolutely nothing I could have done differently to make the situation any better. I tried to give him the right of way... twice... while he was running into my lane. I know... for sure... that I was not in his blind spot and that he definitely saw me, because he sped up when I tried to get over, and then he decided to get into my lane (without the use of a signal, I might add). I finally had to make a split second decision about whether I wanted to be hit by the semi or go over the embankment. I, of course, chose the embankment and was, thankfully, able to stop just barely short of actually going over it. Can't say I wasn't shaking when the whole episode was over, but I was very, very grateful that we were all safe. If it hadn't been so scary, it would have been funny with the kids yelling, "Mom, how are we going to get back on the road!"

So... yeah... Science Central! Overall it was a fantastic day! This is definitely a spot we will hit again... and again!

Lisa

The Backyardigans Live...

... Well, Phil probably said it best, "If you've seen one stage show, you've seen them all!" But, come on we all know it's fun... at least for the kids!

This was Ian's first stage show, and actually it was Seth and Grace's first major stage show (although we've certainly hit our share of amusement park shows and educational assembly type shows). Ian wasn't all that impressed once he'd ripped his paper shield to shreds, but he did like it when Pablo flew across the stage, and I was able to convince him that the egg was a ball, so that kept his attention! Over all, he didn't do too badly. I am quickly learning that Caleb loves stage shows, and I am not sure the child ever sits that still for anything else. Seth had lots of fun (although the Backyardigans are probably getting a little on the young side for him). But is was Grace who I really enjoyed watching! She was so caught up in the whole thing, and on the interactive parts, I think she really thought the characters were listening to just her and that she could help move the plot along (even from the nosebleed seats up top)! It was great.

So... yeah... It was basically a spur of the moment decision to attend this show. We had considered it early on, but when the seats dropped to half off the day before the show, we figured we might as well go and take some friends along, too! We all had a fantastic time!

And, by the way, there was no photography allowed, so I only snuck in about 50 shots... along with every other parent there... I took many of them without the flash, which resulted in a whole bunch of blur (ah... pretty colors...), but by the end I realized that there were so many flashes going off, nobody was ever going to figure out who was taking the pics, so I got a couple of good shots in:

Lisa

And so I survive...

... another week of school.

I guess...

This has to end soon, because I am way too old...

And I no longer have any patience for people who can't spell...

On with the weekend...

Lisa