Aloha (One Month Later)

I feel like lately my life have been in a constant state of go, with about six hours of sleep.  Because if I don’t at least get those six hours, the go is going to completely stop.  That is why I have slacked on my writing the past six months or so and I hate it.  I love to write and love to tell the stories about the girls, but the constant state of having something to do makes it hard for me to find the time.  It's summer break now, which I though meant I'd have more time to write but as it turns out, no.  I do not.  In the two weeks that the girls have been out of school we have gone to the Natural History Museum, the beach- twice,  the zoo, the farm to pick strawberries and other produce, and the Federal Reserve.  A field trip we took with Sonya's girl scout troop where I saw more money than I will ever know in ten lifetimes.  At one point I was trying to figure out who could help me with the biggest bank heist ever.  Turns out I don't have those kind of people in my life.  I digress.  So finally after the first two weeks of school being nonstop, I have all three girls in day camp this week until 1pm and I have time to poop in peace, both in writing and well, for real.  

I have a build up of stories though, so let's just go back to the beginning of May when we did get a short respite from all the craziness of our life in the form of a trip to Maui.  Yes that's in Hawaii.   And yes, it was just as amazing as you imagine  it to be.  And yes there were some antics along the way.  Where to start?

Well, let’s start with the fact that we would never have gone on vacation in the middle of May when we had to pull the girls out of school by choice.  However, one of Andy’s best friends and Godfather to Georgia, Jamie, was getting married.  He and his fiance, Monique, decided on a destination wedding in Maui.  I think I did mention them getting married when I talked about the fact that Georgia was going to be the flower girl and also Andy was officiating.  This is now the third wedding he’s done.  It’s quite the little side business he’s got going.  Except for the not getting paid part.  But we get to go to some awesome weddings in some great places and this one was the best.  I mean you can’t really beat Hawaii.  No offense to the other 2 weddings he's done.  So this wasn’t just a wedding we were invited to, but one my family was an essential part of.  Oh darn, we were going to HAVE to go to Maui.  What bad luck for us.  

Since we were going during the school year, I had to talk to all of the girls’ teachers and the principal to let them know why they were going to be gone.  They were all excited for us.  I know the district will not be when I get that nasty-“your kids have six unexcused absences” letter, but I don’t really care about them.  They are just mad because they did’t get their money for my 3 kids for those 6 days.  Oh well.  

As fantastic as Hawaii is, the time change is hard to get a grip on for some reason.  We go back east from time to time and don’t seem to have a problem when we go that direction, but I knew we were in for fun time when Georgia came into our room the first day we were there at FOUR AM and said,

“Mommy?  Is it time to get up?”

Well yes if we were in Burbank where it is 7AM but not here where the sun isn’t even thinking of breaking yet.  I explained to her that she couldn’t get up until it started getting light out.  That would buy me at least two hours right?  Sure, if you're talking to a 12 year old, but not at 5.  For the next two hours she came to my bed wide awake to tell me, "I need a drink of water, I have to pee, I think it's starting to get light outside- (it wasn't), Can I watch TV?"  So yeah.  Sleeping was not happening past four.  Around 5:45 we were just beginning to see some light from outside and Georgia took that as her cue.  She went around and opened every blind in the room yelling, 

"It's morning! It's morning!"  

It was going to be a long day.  

That first day we took it easy and hung out at the beach that was literally, 100 steps from where we slept.  It was awesome.  It was a gorgeous day and we just relaxed swam, ate, and drank happy hour beach bar Mai Tais.  Well I did anyway.  

The view from our room.

The next day we decided to go to the volcano on the island.  Most people get up at 2am and drive up the volcano to watch the sun rise.  This was something Andy and I had done 10 years ago when we were childless.  We weren't going to punish ourselves with that adventure this time though.  No instead we figured we would just drive up, look a the crater, take some pictures and be done.  Easy peasy.  Sure, it would have been had Andy not thrown out his back 20 minutes before we were going to leave. 

We thought about not going at all, but Andy was determined that this was his vacation and it wasn't going to get ruined by his faulty back.  So he took some muscle relaxers and we decided I would just drive.  Totally fine, sure.  Except have you ever driven on a windy, narrow, the cliff drops off below you, moutain road? Yeah I haven't done too many of those and for good reason.  They FREAK ME OUT.  Not to mention the fact I was driving a rental jeep, a car I wasn't even the least bit comfortable in.  I was fairly certain our death was imminent.  I felt bad that Jamie and Monique's wedding would be overshadowed by the tragedy of the entire Dadekian family falling off of the volcano.  But somehow we made it to the top even if it was only going 20mph.  We got out of the car, Andy feeling completely stiff, Lana a bit green from car sickness, me deep breathing out my anxiety and the other 2 completely oblivious.  

It was beautiful when we got to the top and the girls enjoyed the volcano crater with the exception of Lana who wanted to see a "real" volcano, which meant one that was actually erupting.  We tried to explain to her how bad it would be if this one were erupting, but she would have none of it and continued to whine for about 10 minutes about her unhappiness. 

At the crater. Picture courtesy of Georgia.

 After a few pictures we decided we were done and ready to head back down.  Crap.  I had to drive down.

Driving down was so much more hellacious than driving up, for a few reasons.  First, you're going down which means pretty much riding the break the whole way unless you want to fly off a cliff.  Second, they have this great adventure in Hawaii where you take a tour and go look at the volcano and then bike down the whole thing!  Something I might have considered in my younger years, but I don't think you could pay me to do it now.  Biking down that narrow steepness and having to make sure you don't get hit by some idiot driving down like me? No thanks.  Especially when you add number three in-the fog.  The fog that was so foggy I couldn't see the fog two feet in front of me.  It was just plain old scary.  Andy had been encouraging me on the drive up and started to on the drive down.  I guess I should mention I am not the main driver in the family.  Whenever we go somewhere together he always drives and it's the way both of us like it.  Sometimes, when I do have to be the driver in the car with him, I feel like I'm 15 again and my dad is telling me what to do.  So this was extra fun for both of us.  

When we got to the part where there was fog AND bikers, I had no idea what the hell to do.  I was constantly turning a corner, and didn't want to get over in the other lane to pass the bikers for fear of being hit head on by a car coming out of the pea soup fog.  So I just passed the bikers getting really close to them but not to close.  I guess Andy thought it was to close and yelled at me at one point, 


"You're too close!! You're too close!  You can't pass them on a turn!!"

To which I yelled,

"If I don't pass them on a turn, I'm not going to be able to pass them at ALL!!!!"

I'm happy to say we made it out of the fog and off the volcano with no bodily injury to others or anyone in our car.  Phew! I did sort of feel accomplished later, like I had faced a fear, so that was good.  The great news was we made it back to the beach by 3pm, just in time for my Mai Tais.

The rest of the week wasn't quite as stressful.  We did the Road to Hana the next day, after which point we decided we were done with the sightseeing.  Don't get me wrong, it's a gorgeous drive, but being in the car with the girls right next to each other for 2 full days had led to a handful of fights between them and Andy and I were on the verge of throwing them in to the crater of the volcano.   We decided that we were going to beach and pool it for the rest of the trip, which the exception of the wedding festivities.  And that's just what we did. Oh!  We did go to a Luau one night too, which was also a lot of fun.  Typical Hawaiian tourist stuff, but a great time.  

Hike through the rainforest on The Road to Hana.

At a Waterfall off the Road to Hana.  This was moments before Georgia FREAKED out about a lobster like thing I pointed out that was in the water.  That's a story for another post.

Learning about items used in the Hula.

Learning the Hula

I swear that is not a backdrop, but the real sky and water.  So amazing!

The wedding was beautiful and Andy did a great job with the ceremony.  Georgia was absolutely adorable and took her job so seriously.  She even got her hair done and looked like she came straight out of Mad Men.  She loved all the attention she was getting all day and at one point Andy had to remind her that it wasn't her day, but Monique's.  That didn't stop her from enjoying all the adoration she was getting from all the bridesmaids and party guests though.  

Georgia and her "Mad Men" hairdo.

Oh and then there was this that Monique gave Georgia as her gift for being in the wedding.  Needless to say I cried.

Andy marrying the happy couple. Picture courtesy of Sonya.

After the ceremony.

Our last full day we were there, it was supposed to rain all day.  Something we were dreading would happen.  So in the morning we went into town to buy some souvenirs.  By the time we got back to the hotel all of the angry dark clouds were north of us and we had nothing but sun.  So we spent the rest of the day on the beach.  We stayed all the way until sunset, because even though the weather was nice the whole time we were there, the sunsets always got lost in some lower clouds.  Not this time though.  It was the prettiest one I've ever seen.  I took a bunch of pictures and captured what has now become my favorite picture ever.  (see below)

Wine in a plastic tumbler at sunset.  Don't get better than that!

My favorite picture of all time.  Sonya and Andy-sunset chat. 

It was an amazing week in a beautiful place.  I love that I got to go there and spend that time with my family and not worry about cooking, cleaning, PTA, Girl Scouts, or even working out.  I let it all go.  I got to be fun mommy because I could.  When we were trying to decide months back  if we were going to be able to pay for this trip I told Andy we should just do it.  Yes, it will be expensive and no we will not be able to do any other trips this year or do anything new to the house, BUT we will be making memories together as a family.  Something that can never be taken away.  Money will always come and go, and taking this trip would hurt a bit financially, but not break us.  You know what?  It was all completely worth it.  Ten fold.

Thank you Jamie and Monique for having your wedding in a beautiful place and making us a big part of it.  All the best to you for many many years to come!

Fun times at the beach!

Dreams DO Come True!

Oh hello there.  Have I mentioned yet how extremely depressed I am to be back from vacation?  I mean it's on par with planning a wedding.  This vacation has been in the making since before any of us had kids.  It is also the first real vacation Andy and I have had since we had the girls.  Truth is as much as I love my family, going to visit them doesn't really count for "vacation".  At least not the kind I like to dream of.  Sorry guys.  So yeah, now I'm home and having to do the daily grind again and discovering I really should have been a Real Housewife of Orange County, with lots of money, full time maids, expensive cars and fancy vacations.  Instead here I am.  A Real Housewife of Burbank complete with mini van and visits to Florida just to see family.  Not quite the same.  Oh well.  I did, however, get to swim with a dolphin on my real vacation.  A memory that will get me through the long days of breaking up fights and sorting through laundry. 

The cruise we took went to the Western Caribbean.  We stopped at Grand Cayman, Costa Maya, Cozumel and Disney's Island, Castaway Cay.  Castaway Cay was easily my favorite place we went on the trip.  It was a perfect island on a perfect summer day with white sand beaches and crystal clear water.  We snorkeled, swam, ate and of course, drank.  It was the perfect beach day and I loved it.  However, in Cozumel we got the chance to swim with a dolphin.  Even though Castaway Cay was my favorite day on land, as far as favorite experience of the trip, it was dolphins all the way. 

 For those of you who don't know me, I love dolphins.  They are my favorite animal and yes, I have a tattoo of one.  I know-how cliche.   I don't care, they are such amazing creatures.  For years I've been looking forward to taking this trip for so many reasons, but especially because I could go on this particular excursion.  It was a bucket list item of mine.   I signed Andy, Sonya and I up to swim with the dolphins and the two little girls to do a "dolphin experience" with my parents.  They were to little to do the swim.  Plus they can't really swim still, sooo there's that.  Sonya just learned to swim last summer, but she insisted that she wanted to do it and she would have a life jacket so I figured it should be fine right?  At least I always hope for the best.

We arrived at the place where we were going to swim with the dolphins and it was a huge area of ocean surrounded by a chain link fence to close off the rest of the ocean, so the dolphins couldn't get out.  Or bigger animals couldn't get in. (Yes the theme song to Jaws quickly went through my head, but I pushed it out.)  Regular little old fish could get in, but who cares about those?  Apparently my daughter.  

First they gave us a little orientation on what to expect and how we were going to swim with the dolphins.  We were separated into groups, since there was a big group of us from the ship.  Fortunately, our swim group ended up being small with  Andy, Sonya, me,  my sister Beth and her two older kids, Zach and Grace.  Beth's youngest, Ben, wasn't old enough to do anything but observe, so her husband, Kevin stayed with him on the dock and took awesome pictures for us.  (Thanks again Kevin!)  Another father and daughter were added to our group to make it a bit bigger but  still smaller than the rest.  

Porrrrrtos!!

We walked to our area and met the trainer than got in the water to meet our dolphin Porrrrrtos. (roll those R's as you say it)  I took his name as a good sign because Portos just happens to be my favorite bakery/cafe here in Burbank.  Oh the cheese rolls!  I digress.  We all walked into the water and waited on a platform against the chain link fence separating us from the rest of the ocean. (Da nun, da nun-Stop it!) That's when Sonya's anxiety started.  First she couldn't really touch the platform.  No matter Sonya, you have a life jacket.  Then, since it's the OCEAN, it was a little wavy.  Calm down, you're fine.  Then there was the fish.  OH MY GOD! THERE WERE FISH!!  Yes, Sonya, this is the ocean and the chain link fence will not keep them out.  You are fine.  Ignore the Jaws theme playing in my head.  Good thing SHE'S never seen the movie.

Then I had a flashback of me about her age on vacation at a water park in Florida.  The slides were mostly in the ocean if I recall.  I was about to go down a small water slide and my dad was at the bottom to catch me, but I refused to go because there were FISH in the water.  I completely freaked out and refused to slide, which resulted in my Dad becoming frustrated and me dissolving to tears.  I tried to empathize with her and help take her mind off of them.  It helped that there was this awesome mammal swimming around, doing tricks and giving us kisses.  But she was even a little hesitant to do anything with the dolphin.  

Instead she took her time and watched the rest of us.  Andy was one of the first to go and he was a pro.

Andy's ride

Then my seven year old nephew, who is on the swim team at home, was told to swim out a bit.  This way the dolphin could have enough room to pull him back in.  So my sister said to him,

"Swim out Zach.   Like you do on swim team."

She might as well have said, "Swim Forrest, Swim!"  Because that is all Zach did.  He started swimming and didn't stop.  I think he was trying to swim back to the other side.  We all tried yelling his name to get him to stop, but with the noise of the ocean he didn't hear us at all.  Eventually Andy had to swim out to get his attention.  Well, my sister told him to swim like on the swim team.  He was really only doing what he was told.  

Zach also had a little trouble staying on the board.

After Zach was pulled in by Porrrrtos, it was my turn.  I was so excited and a tiny bit nervous.  I had already gotten to know Portos a bit through a kiss and I got to hold him, but now he was going to swim me into the platform. 

He was like a big puppy dog

He loved me

Gracie and my sister, Beth

 I waited out in the open water and he was given the signal by the trainer.  He swam out and around me and flipped over on his back.  I grabbed both his flippers and his strong body pulled me quickly through the water.  It was AWESOME!  I loved every second of it.  I also went out on a boggie board and he pushed me back in by my feet.  Also fun, but I liked the first swim better.  

Swimming with Portos

Going for a ride

Finally, Sonya was the only one left to go.  She was still anxious.  I think she was more afraid of the deep water and the fish, but also nervous about the dolphin.  He was a huge ocean creature that we all were totally trusting.  To be honest though, I never once felt scared of the dolphin in any way.  He was like a Golden Retriever.   I told Sonya I would swim out with her and she agreed.  I talked to her the whole way, telling her it was fun and she could do this.  Not sure she believe me because this was her expression as she waited for Portos to arrive.  

Nervously waiting-can you tell?

Okay, she may have been a tiny bit scared, but turns out she loved it.  

She loved it enough to go back and be pushed in on the boogie board, which resulted in my favorite picture of the entire vacation.  

Waiting...

It's a little blurry, but the look on her face is absolutely priceless.  

BEST...PICTURE...EVER!!!

We all ended up having a fantastic time.  My little ones were only a few feet over in one of the smaller sections with  my parents and my sister Megan and her family.  They were able to get up close to touch and see a different dolphin and her BABY!  They got to be in with a baby dolphin!!  Okay, I was a little jealous when I found out, but I did get to SWIM with a dolphin, so I got over it.  They all had a great time, although according to my mom, Lana almost bailed when she saw she was going to be IN the water with them.  Luckily, my mom is a first grade teacher and doesn't back down in the face of a stubborn six year old.   She talked Lana into it and in the end she loved it. They also told me that Georgia was fearless from the beginning and would probably have done the swim if we let her.  She does seem to be the most adventurous of my three.    

So yes, one item on my bucket list now checked off on the best vacation ever.  Not really sure what the other items on my list are though.  This was pretty much it.  Well, that along with meeting Jon Bon Jovi someday.  I know, I have high aspirations don't I?  

Annnd...We're back!

Hey everyone!  So here I am back from an 11 day stint to hot and humid Florida.  Actually it wasn't too hot and humid the first week or so we were there.  The last few days when it rained on and off, yes, but it was suprisingly bearable. I was worried about this because you have to remember I live in hot DRY California.  Desert country.  Yes, it may reach 100 degrees during the summer, but at least you don't feel like you just stepped out of the shower five minutes after being outside.  Weather aside, we had a fantastic time.  


I mentioned the few days we spent at my parents house in the last post.  The second half of our trip was spent on the west coast of Florida with Andy's parents.  It was there that the weather took a turn, but only for the last couple of days really.  We managed to visit America's #1 beach, Siesta Key, fed the Flamingos at Sarasota's Jungle Gardens, and swim in the pool a few times before being trapped inside.  So the weather didn't hold us back that much.  It was just cloudy most of the time and I didn't get to finish working on my tan to bring my skin from clear to pale white before we left.  Oh well, I have the rest of the summer to do that, I suppose.  Especially since we won't see a drop of rain here until at least October.  It was actually nice to step out into a summer rain downpour.  We don't get that here at all.  Remember-desert.  


The girls had a blast visiting with their cousins, Brigid and Moira.  Everyone got along well and they took turns on who were the best buddies.  After spending this time with them, it's evident that Lana and Moira were cut from the same cloth, so to speak.  She goes from 0-60 in five second like Lana.  One minute doing great and having fun, the next her world is crumbling around her and she is letting everyone know.  Good luck David and Brenda.  Call me when you need tips.  Although, I may not have them.  I will say, I think Lana may be a bit more volatile than Moria though, so you might have an easier time.  Brigid and Sonya are a lot alike.  They are the in-charge-oldest-rule-followers.  Brigid loved having someone older to look up to.  I remember feeling the same way about my cousin Michelle as a kid, because I was the oldest.  Georgia is so go with the flow, she hung out with everyone and kind of tied them all together.  I loved seeing them all interact and hopefully they can come out to visit us sometime soon.  


My in-laws were very gracious hosts, even opting to stay at their friends house across the street so we all had beds to sleep in.   We had delicious dinners, including Lobster on Medz Papa's birthday, and a couple yummy meals out.  I thank them for all their hospitality.  (Especially those Lobsters!) All in all the second half of the trip was fun filled too.  


It was a great time and I wish we could do it more often, but flying ain't cheap for 5 people.  Not to mention flying with three kids.  Actually that part isn't so bad anymore. My girls did excellent both days of flying.   I even received a compliment from an older lady at the end of our first flight on Saturday from Tampa to Phoenix.  She told me how well behaved my girls were and that you don't see it often anymore.  Totally made my day.  However, (total tangent...) let me save some of you out there with younger kids the trouble.  If your kids are between the ages of 11 months and 2 1/2, DON'T FLY.  Unless it's a really short trip.  Before our trip to RI in October we hadn't flown with the girls in 2 1/2 years and that was for good reason.  Our last trip back from FL, three years ago, was nothing short of a nightmare.  It actually wasn't the girls' fault, but everything we went through that day with them made it so we didn't fly for a few years.  It's a long tale and one that I will entertain you with at another time.  I'll just tell you we were supposed to get back into Burbank at 2pm that day and we weren't home until 11pm.  Oh what fun!  It's also why I will NEVER fly American Airlines again.  So yeah, save yourself the trouble and drive, or make people come visit you, until you can keep your kids occupied on the plane with coloring, reading or TV.  End tangent.


So that's it!  I'm back to writing and with mornings off this week even.  The girls' have camp all week in the morning.  I wish I could say I will get a lot done, but seeing how it's almost time to pick them up and this is all I've accomplished so far today...it doesn't look so good for all those closets that need cleaning.  

Sad to Say Goodbye

We are halfway through our vacation now.  This morning we left my parents' place and made the 3 hour drive across the state of Florida to visit with my in-laws.  I can't believe it's half over already.  We all had a blast with Nona and Grampy.  Every day was filled with fun things like the water park, Lion Country Safari, the beach with a trip to the pool thrown in just about every day.  The weather has been cooperative and we've had gorgeous days so far.  I am so appreciative to my parents who made everything fun, and my mom who helped us with the girls so much, I actually felt like I was on vacation!  I am looking forward to the next few days too.  They promise to be filled with fun times celebrating Medz Papa's birthday and visiting with Andy's brother, David, his wife, Brenda and their kids, Brigid and Moira.  It will be great for the girls to visit with their cousins.  I just wanted to check in, give a shout out and share a little Lana story. 


 Yesterday, we came back from the beach at my parents house and went to their shower with the girls where we dumped out a quarter of the beach from their swimsuits.  As I was showering with them later, Lana was working hard to get all the sand, piled in the shower, to go down the drain.  I told her not to worry about it.  Then I  jokingly told her we needed to leave it so Nona would have something to do the next day. 


"Why do we need to leave something for Nona to do?" She asked confused.  


"Because she's going to be sad that we are gone," I tried to explain.


I knew after having all  of us there for four and a half days, my mom was going to be upset to see us go.  On top of that she doesn't have as much to do during the summer, since she is a school teacher and off right now. Plus my father would be working all day with a business dinner that night.  He wasn't going to be home until much later.  I knew my emotional mom, would have a rough time after we left, and when she is sad, angry, frustrated, nervous, or any one of a number of emotions, she gets through it by cleaning.  When I was a kid and would come home from school to unnecessary house cleaning, I knew to steer clear of my mom.   I was pretty sure by the time my dad got home on Monday night the house would be sparkling and smelling of Pinesol.  


"So she needs stuff to do?" Lana asked, still not clear on what I was getting at.


"Yeah, it will help her to keep her mind off of us being gone if she has things to clean, like the sand in the shower,"  I honestly did not intend for my offhanded comment to create this much conversation.  Lana kind of shrugged it off.  Then, after our shower, she told me that she wanted to make a picture for Nona so she wouldn't be sad.  So sweet.  


The girls spent almost the entire morning with my mom.  Eventually we had to leave, so we loaded up the car and headed out.  About fifteen minutes down the road, Lana said to me,


"Mommy?"


"Yes, Lana?"


"Did we leave something for Nona to do?" She asked concerned.  


I giggled then asked, "Are you worried that she's going to be sad?"


She nodded her head.


 "Don't worry Lana" I told her.  "She might be sad, but you guys left enough of a mess for her to clean up so hopefully that will keep her busy for the day."  Or in my mom's case, it might have kept her busy for about two hours.  


Thanks for the hospitality Mom and Dad!  We had a fantastic time!!  

Taking A Break

Hello everyone!  I thought I should let you all know that I will be on hiatus for the next couple weeks, since we are in Florida visiting all the grandparents.  I might have a chance here and there to write a little something when the old folks go to bed, but in case I don't, I just wanted you to know I haven't disappeared on a plane to Hawaii by myself.  Although, that might be what I do before the end of July.  A few of you have asked about seeing my hair and I promise in the next few days, when I actually dry it and put some makeup on, I will have someone take a picture and post it.  In addition, I mentioned the kitty we were getting couple posts ago.  Here's a little preview of him.

I know!  Super cute, right?  I will tell you all about him and the additional fighting he's caused amongst the girls when we get back.  For now, I will tell you that he is 9 weeks old and his name is Mercury.  Lana came up with the name a couple weeks ago during the time when Andy was playing all the Queen music and concert DVDs for them.  So she suggested that when we get a kitty we name him Freddie Mercury, or just Mercury.  I immediately loved it and it  does fit him.  He's back with his foster parent, our friend Cecelia, until we get back from Florida.  We miss him already, but there will be so much to do here in the sunshine state that we will all survive until next week.  In the meantime, keep checking back here.  I'm sure there will be a number of stories to come after this trip.  

Vacation-All I Ever Wanted!

About a month ago, I decided it would be a nice idea if just the five of us went away for the weekend. I know we went on vacation when my in-laws were here, but I wanted to do something with just our little family. I looked on line and found a Marriott in Newport Beach at a cheap price. See, my Dad works for Marriott, so we get discounts on all Marriott hotels. You have to find the right time, the right hotel and I can't always get his rate, but most of the time I can. And when I can, it is REALLY cheap. He is never allowed to stop working there. At least not until someone else in the family gets a job working for them.

I thought this would be the perfect little getaway. Hotel near the beach, we can relax, go to the beach, swim in the pool have dinner out. Most importantly, I don't have to cook or clean. Then again, I sometimes forget that I still have three small people who still need LOTS of attention. Damn them! I was looking for relaxing! I also forget that in order to do these trips I have to spend an entire day packing and getting everyone ready, then an entire day unpacking and cleaning up after everyone. Is it worth it to have two days of no cooking and cleaning? Okay, well maybe, but still. It ends up being a lot of work. Going on vacation with kids, I realize, will ALWAYS be a working vacation no matter what. We did have some fun, even if we had a couple minor problems. Like the fact that I forget to pack Andy's bathing suit. On a trip to the beach. And the only one he could find at Target was white with fuchsia flowers. Good news! It was ONLY five dollars!! Oh, and then there was also losing Lana's blankie.

We drove down there on Friday night. Newport Beach is only about 45 miles from our house, but you never know how long that will take with L.A. traffic. I wanted to leave in enough time for the kids to NOT fall asleep in the car, but since we didn't leave until almost 8pm, that wasn't happening. Oh well, at least we missed traffic. We got to the hotel around 9pm and after checking in, I grabbed a luggage cart to use. The girls were all passed out in their car seats, so Andy piled all of our bags and whatnot on the cart, then went up to the room while I stayed with the girls. He came back and we loaded the girls onto the cart. This would have been perfect if they had stayed asleep, but since none of them are four months old anymore, they all woke up. When I put Lana on the cart she had her blankie with her. Five minutes later when we were in the room, she did not. NOOOOO!!

We had them in bed when Lana realized she didn't have her beloved blankie, so we started an all out room search. Luckily, it wasn't that big of a room and we hadn't been there long enough to trash it yet, so it was an easy search that unfortunately, turned up nothing. This was NOT good. I told Andy to backtrack downstairs, search the cart, etc and see what he could find. Meanwhile I continued to tear the room apart. Before he left, he told Lana that she was just going to have to do without it if we couldn't find it. Yeah that's all fine and good, but who's going to be up with her all night as she rocks back and forth, crying for blankie like some jonesing addict? I'm pretty sure that will be ME.

NOT PART OF MY VACATION PLAN!

He came back to the room, having found nothing. Then I asked if he checked at the front desk when he was down there.

"Uh no," he replied.

REALLY? See now THAT would have been one of the first things I did, but for some reason he does not think this way. And I don't mean to single him out, because I'm pretty sure there are plenty of husbands out there who wouldn't have done that either. I see you wives nodding in agreement. Do we really have to think of EVERYTHING?

So, I made him go back downstairs to the desk to check and if nothing else to let them know we were looking for it, should it turn up. Five minutes later he came back with a smirk on his face but nothing in his hands, shaking his head no. Then I noticed the little blankie tucked in his back pocket. He walked around for a few minutes, still pretending he hadn't found it, letting Lana squirm a bit more. Then she spotted it, smiled and yelled,"DAD-DY!" She grabbed it out of his pocket and giggled, and immediately started chewing on it. Blech! I don't know how she can do that. Whatever, at least it was back!

My nights sleep was saved-for the most part. Getting them to sleep after their little nap in the car was no easy chore, but we weren't having to do it without a blankie. I still shudder at the thought. I realize I've created monsters with the blankie situation in my house, but now is not the time to tackle that one. I'm thinking more about attempting it when they're say... 22? That's good, right?

Sister Support

I did promise you all a longer story today, so thanks for checking in and here you go!

Let me start this by giving you a bit of back story. Most of the time when one of the girls throws a temper tantrum we will walk away and let it happen. That is if we're not in public. Sometimes we try to do things to calm them down, like tell them to take deep breaths, or relax. When they do calm down, we will usually commend them by saying, "Good job calming down, Lana (or Georgia or Sonya)." This helps them to completely come back down to earth and actually listen to us.

On our first day in San Francisco, the same day we forgot to bless Lana, we were on our way back to the car after a full day of Fisherman's Wharf and the Aquarium of the Bay. It was also the first day of no naps for the two little girls. The first of THREE days of no naps. All the moms out there just gasped, because you know how bad it can get without one nap that is much needed, but three days in a row? I was pretty sure one of the girls was going to to start having her head spin around while speaking in tongues by Monday. But, we were on VACATION! So we were letting it go and doing our best to control the crankies. I have to say, they did do pretty well overall, and to be honest I think the first day may have been their crankiest. Well, Lana's anyway.

So, we were on our way to the car when Lana decided she needed to pee. I told everyone to go to the car and get the other two buckled in while I took Lana to the bathroom. When we returned to the car, everyone was waiting for us. Lana climbed in the car and started to get in her seat. I walked over to the parking payment station to take care of the parking for the day. When I got back to the car, I found Lana outside of it and Andy threatening to leave her there. I asked what the problem was and they informed me Lana wanted ME to buckle her. This is an ongoing theme with her, wanting me to do everything. It's less about me and more about her need to have power over a situation. We decided we were not giving in to her this time, and Andy forced her back into her seat and buckled her himself.

To say she was unhappy would be a serious understatement. She started a temper tantrum to end all temper tantrums. Since we were in the car, we decided to let it go, doing our best to ignore her. She screamed and cry and thrashed her body around the car seat. She threw her blankie on the ground and pulled her shoes and socks off her feet. Then she complained of her skirt falling down. Most likely due to all the thrashing about. Instead of getting a hold of herself to ask nicely for help she yelled,

"MOOOMMMYYY!! HELP. ME. NOW!!"

When I continued to ignore the orders, she whined and cried some more. Then she began to yell,

"MOOOOMMMM! TALK TO MEEEEEE!!"

That one killed me, but I knew that talking to her at that point would just negate everything we were trying to do. She knew how to ask for things and how to calm down. I had to believe she would figure it out.

Then she started to yell for her blankie. The one she had thrown on the floor. Again, I waited for the demands to end and to hear a nicer request from her. Sonya and my in-laws sat in the backseat doing their best to ignore the situation and played "I-spy" as we drove toward the Bay Bridge and our hotel. Georgia sat next to Lana in her car seat sucking her thumb, clutching her blankie and staring straight ahead.

The tantrum went on for what seemed like ten hours, but was at least a good ten minutes. She would slow down and seem to be getting to a stopping point, but then rev back up again. Finally, just when I thought I was going to break, I heard her take a deep breath and say very calmly,

"Mama?"

I really didn't think not to respond to her because she had said is so sweetly and calmly. So I immediately said, "Yes, Lana?"

"I peeze have my bankie?" she asked very kindly.

"Of course you can," I replied and handed it to her. She put it in her mouth and relaxed further. Then, from the seat next to her, Georgia pulled her thumb from her mouth turned to look at her sister and said,

"Goo calming dow Lana."

I looked over at Andy and the two of us giggled at Georgia's praise of her sister. We then agreed and complemented Lana as well.

It's so hard to figure out the right thing to do in some of those situations, especially when the tantrums get so out of control. Every parent has their own way of doing things. Who knows if we handled it the "right" way, but as least I know we're teaching our girls to support one another. That has to be at least one point in the doing things right category.