what a day - kinda got long sorry

I will post pictures later - but for now, just let me rant about my day just a little.

To say that I have been beyond busy this week would be putting it mildly. I have rushed to answer this email, to run to that meeting, to answer this and that phone call, to cuddle a sad child, to fix dinner, to work out, to organize everything that is in chaos, to read to a child, to sort junk mail, to go over the school work we are about to start, to celebrate my Mother's birthday, to visit the sick-lonely-elderly, to reassure my sweetheart that he can get that bonus if he works 70hours a week, to find lost shoes, to wipe runny noses, to read the scriptures, to have Mommy prayers, to unload the dishwasher, to re-wash the laundry that sat too long in the washer, to find matching socks, to pick up dry-cleaning, to heat up left-over pizza, to email friends, to figure out scouting and how far behind we are, to gas up the car, to return library books, to dye my hair - all to lay myself down at night and sleep as soundly as my restless mind will allow so that I can get up and do it all again tomorrow.

So today.

We, the kids and I, were at the dark and vacant church to print off paperwork for the new counselors and secretary. Let me add here that the computer at the church is a Dinosaur that moves far slower than molasses. I had six copies of about 10 different multiple page reports to print, collate and staple. After waiting and waiting and reciting Brother Nelson's reassurance "just be patient with it and it will print" over and over to myself to try and not throw the printer through the window I realized that the ancient printer that gave no warnings or codes to explain the stall - was jammed.

Noble and Liam played in the High Counsel room and held "pretend church" and Hewy was with them for the first half of the time I was there. I had told them they could only play in the hallway where the Stake offices are, in the High Counsel Room or in the office where I was. Because honestly, I am a little scared of the church when it is abandoned and dark as it was, and I didn't want to have to track them down. Did I mention that I lock the doors behind me so that no one that doesn’t have a key can get in, and that when I don’t have the boys with me, I lock myself in the office? About half way finished with my madness of printing, Hewy came in and I could tell he was growing tired of being in the dark deserted church. I gave him four sheets of paper and Crayola marker that I found on the desk. he was satisfied.

A little too satisfied.

I heard him say:

"Mom, I draw mine hand" glanced over my shoulder, "Good H. you drew your hand!"

"Mom, I draw plane" and I not looking back said, "Wow, that's great!"

"Mom I draw race car, vroom, vroom!" I repeat, "Vroom, Vroom!" to fake my interest.

"Mom, I draw music, da-da-da-da" and I sang along with him, still not looking at him.

"Mom, I draw circles."

Mom, I draw a star" so at this point I am mostly tuned out.

until I hear:

"look Mom, I draw'd pants, see me"

I think to myself… “See…me?”

And when I look back I see my fair haired pale skinned boy is, well, BLUE! He had taken off his shoes and covered his feet, his legs, his belly under his shirt, his arms, his hands, his face and neck - BLUE. But not a single stroke had marked his clothing - because he apparently understood that was a no-no.

Then and only then did I realize that the Crayola marker I had given him was not a "washable" one.

I finished my reports, logged off and shut down the computer and loaded everyone in the car. I pulled several baby wipes out and attempted to wash his face and the blue didn't so much as smear. I realized that I would probably take skin off if I tried to remove the blue.

I decided we should just continue errands for the day rather than attempt a bath first - if it wasn't coming off with wipes, a bath wasn't going to help either. We headed for Costco.

And the day just keeps getting better.

Noble and Liam were very good at the church and they were mentioning that they were hungry, so we decided to eat first while we were at Costco. 2 hot dogs w/drinks, 1 slice of pepperoni pizza and a turkey wrap. We had just sat down, handed out the grub, negotiated sharing the drinks and I was taking the first bite of the wrap when...

Thud, swoosh, splash - I can't remember if I heard it or felt it first, but I knew what had happened. Hewy had dropped the full lemonade and it had spilled, gushed, flowed freely to freedom all over the floor and my feet and legs. I remember closing my eyes and inhaling - I don't recall how long that was, but I know that a female voice sounded while my eyes were still closed "I'll get you some help." I don't think my eyes were closed more than a blink and half to calm myself, but something of her motherly instincts told her I was about ready to flip to the dark side of Motherhood.

Help came. They were nice. They all cleaned. The other women said "I've been there." I sucked it up, we ate, we refilled our drinks, we headed to the greater abyss of Costco to shop for our bi-weekly staples of Milk, Fiber One cereal and cucumbers...

Did you read the part where I said - we refilled our drinks? Did you think I was testing fate? I didn't realize it at the time, but I guess that is what I was doing.

We were not 2 minutes into our shopping, nothing had even been put in the cart yet when I turned around to see Liam shaking his leg like he had wet himself - and yes, I recognize what a child looks like when he has done that, because I have seen it, but that's another story.

I think I closed my eyes and inhaled again, deeply this time. Calmly, "what happened?"

“Well, I was just...” (no words just an expression) “and then...” (no words just hand movements towards the empty cup and puddle on the floor)

I let the authorities know and then I walked away.

I fully expected to hear someone come over the loud speaker and say "Would the woman with the Blue Child please leave the store immediately."

But that didn't happen. We got our three gallons of milk, cucumbers and two (yes two) Costco size boxes of Fiber One cereal and made our way to the cashier. I know I have mentioned before that we are at Costco frequently enough that they know not just me, but my kids by name. As I unloaded the cart the cashier, Chrissy, said, "Hewy! What happened to you buddy?" I explain. She laughs. The person I would describe as a bagger, other than Costco doesn't have bags, I guess he is the "Boxer" laughed too. Yeah, Ha-ha-ha, no pride left. We take our ticket-outta-the-place (A.K.A. the receipt) and start to walk out, past the food court and I hear from behind us as we pass, "hey Hewy, you're blue!" I turn to see Hewy's favorite checker/cashier, Kristen, who has been in love with him since he was an infant. "yeah, we are trying to teach him his colors" Ha-ha-ha please get me outta here.

H-y is strict when it comes to routines. Like at the gym - he HAS to push the handicap button to open the doors, he HAS to wash his hands before he goes through the child-center gate, he HAS to turn around to have his sticker put on (not have the person reach around him, to put it on his back). Certain things have to happen in certain order. Like leaving Costco. He HAS to have the receipt and he HAS to give it to the person to be checked, and he HAS to get a smiley face.

I thought the receipt checker was going to bust her side open when she saw him. She even went to get a BLUE marker to draw the smiley for him.

This is my humble life.

I told a friend this afternoon that I really wanted to eat my weight in potato chips - but instead I went to the gym while my kids swam in her pool. Hewy is still blue. If chlorine didn't work...

And he had a bath tonight. Still blue.

:)

Our Family

This is our family on Semi-formal night.

Mazatlan, Mexico

Mazatlan was our family day. We got up early, got off the ship, took a taxi to the Star Fleet Port and boarded three smaller boats that took us on a tour. Around the Lighthouse, the second highest on the world, by the Pirate Caves, past several rocky islands and finally to Deer Island. There was a small beach there - and for a long time we were the only ones there! It was nice to have some time with the greater family - although we are getting so big that even we are all together we hardly get to see everyone!


Left to right - top to bottom
Noble and Aerie
Liam and Aerie
the family on our deserted beach
Dad in full snorkel gear
Brent being silly
Anna and Henry
Sophia
Brent helping Noble snorkel

Coco being oh so cute
Henry and Dell
the family
Alec and Hewy
Hewy on the boat
Grandpa and Liam and Kai
Jenny and Fu
Liam and Grandpa
Christy, Jeffrey, Sallie and Shauna


Another story from Mazatlan. After our family time we all headed back to the ship to rinse sand out of places it should not have gotten to. However this was the first port that may had a WalMart. Alec hired a taxi to take him there so we could buy a few things that we found ourselves without due to our missing luggage. They had agreed on $10 fare. It took them nearly 20 minutes to get there and Alec realized this was not somewhere that he could just "catch another cab." The driver said he would wait for him. When they arrived, the driver decided to come in and walk with Alec. He ended up being a big help because he thought up things that we needed that even I had forgotten to tell Alec to buy. Sock, underwear for the boys, etc. He also helped Alec pick out some make up for me - i can just picture this in my head. A Mexican Taxi Driver and my white Spanish speaking husband in the make-up section of Wal Mart trying to figure out what I needed. The driver then drove Alec back to the ship. When he asked how much he owed him, he answered $10- that was the agreement. Alec was amazed thinking that would be the one way fare. It's good to know good people are out there.

Cabo and the story

The Story of our Cabo, Lover's Beach adventure. We took the glass bottom boat. But when it was time to get off at Lover's Beach we realized that... GASP... there was no dock there. This was a get off the boat by jumping in and wading to shore kind of thing. First thought - Hewy. Second thought - Liam doesn't swim. So that ended up not being so bad, someone helped with Hewy and we were close enough that Liam washed to shore.

But then...

We realized to get back on the boat we would have to wade or swim out to it when it returned in two hours for us.

And then...

We realized that the sea was getting an attitude and that boats were having a hard time getting in close enough for swimmers to be picked up. When that time came - it worked out too. But not without some effort. The boat had to come in and go out six or more times to get everyone in our group of 12. Again there were helpers... thankfully. Thankfully I have been working out so when I had to pull myself up - I could. At the time it was much more intense than I can retell. It was scary for our kids - but after it was all said and done... we had something we could cheer them on about. Look how hard that was, and you did it!!!

Noble and Liam on Lover's Beach

Liam lounging on the beach with the Disney Cruise Ship in the background.

Lover's Beach, Cabo

Lover's Beach at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
After getting off the "Mickey Ship" (as Hewy calls it) we took a glass bottom boat ride down to Land's End, the point of the Baja. We then, get this, jumped ship/boat and waded to shore at Lover's Beach. We could walk from one side of the land, at the Sea of Cortez, to the other side, the Pacific Ocean. It was a cool life experience. The surf was way to rough for the kids to swim and even for Alec to swim, thankfully there were awesome rocks that the boys loved to climb on.



This is looking towards the Sea of Cortez and the rock framed the Disney Magic just right. I wonder how many other people got this shot?

The boys loved climbing the rocks.

Liam and Hewy explored this way through the rock. A little boys dream, a world of rocks.

This is looking towards the Pacific Ocean. The reason I took the picture is you can see the rock that the Liam and Hewy explored (from the picture above) in the background and then about half way from that rock to Alec you see a little hatted boy sitting in the sand. What you can't see is the little boy screaming - not happy, and determined not to walk a single step forward nor let his mother carry him. Daddy and Daddy only. The problem was that Alec was swimming - but thankfully he returned just in time in SAVE THE DAY!!!!

Disney Characters

Disney characters were a highlight for the kids. Hewy responded the best - he was almost at a perfect age. Noble and Liam tolerated them, but didn't get that excited about them. We had a Character breakfast our first morning and that was a great way to start the day and the cruise.


Hewy's fave was Minnie Mouse.

Noble and Liam have always loved Goofy - I would still dare say that Goofy is their favorite still. They both can laugh like him and make other "Goofy" sounds - like the one he makes when he is falling. "ya-hoo-hoo-eee!"

Disney snapped some pictures of Hewy with Sorcerer Mickey that are just to die for - hugs, kisses and genuine smile... I may have to scan them in.

Family in Cabo

I have this habit. If I see strangers taking pictures of someone, a husband, their sister - who ever, I always blurt out - would you like me take a picture of both (or all) of you? It is always accepted. Maybe this habit annoys my hubby and kids because it makes us stop at random places - but it's service right? That is how this picture came to be. I had seen two strangers, one taking the picture of the other and then just as they were about to switch so the other could be in the picture while the other took the picture this time... I butted in. And then, like 50% of the time, they offered to take our picture. Not very often do I make it into pictures, let alone with everyone from my family - so even though I was hot and sweating from trekking around Cabo looking for sunscreen (as the 10 bottles I packed didn't make it on the ship and my family has strong opinions about sunscreen) I agreed to have my picture taken. And here you have it:


And normally - pink AND Mickey Mouse would not be my first choice.
lost luggage - Disney Cruise - nuf' said.

Pirates!

Our favorite "shore excursion" that we did in any of the ports was in Puerto Vallarta. We boarded a Pirate ship, the Marigalante, and the crew put on a show(s) for us, fed us breakfast and lunch, took us to a private beach and kept strawberry and pineapple smoothies in our hands.


Once we were on board, Liam was approached by a pirate and asked if he wanted to STAR in the pirate show. He became the 21 year old "Jimbo" of the show they put on. He got to be on stage and even hold a real sword. He had a good time and we were proud of him for behaving and acting it out so well.

This was Liam in the show. The pirate that is holding a sword to him wanted to be the new captain, but Liam, I mean Jimbo, was the true captain's son and it was his 21st birthday, and therefore he was going to be made captain. In the end, the good guys prevailed, and Liam (I mean Jimbo) was made captain of the ship!

The entertaining crew.

As we left the three main pirates posed with the boys. This was our favorite activity by far of the cruise.

Best Cuz's

Liam and Aerie were almost attached at the hip on this vacation. Liam would have joined the Brent Dunn family if it meant he could spend more time with Aerie. They even started their own "club" on the ship and had kids that followed them around and did what they said. I am grateful that they are such good friends and that even when they are not together - they still think highly of each other.


Liam and Aerie willingly jump out of the boat together in Mazatlan.

If they weren't cousins and best friends you might think this pair were in love.

Like I said, inseparable. Karaoke, dancing, deck parties, pirate night, dinners, other meals... these two were always together. Making their families miss them both!

Cousins

Liam - Leonie - Coco

Amalie - Hewy - Leonie - Henry

Starting with Liam and moving counter clockwise
Liam, Aerie, Emily, Katie, Noble and Malachi

random pix

This was Noble's second dessert of the night. He was pleased, can you tell.

Hewy loved that there was chocolate left on his pillow every night.

I wrote Noble's name on his back in Sunscreen. I didn't leave it that way - but having his name tanned into his back might have been cool too.

This is one of my fave pix of Hewy - I love this face, it's so HIM!

Derby reputation

So remember when Noble won first place in our Troop's Pine Wood Derby?
One of the activities on the Cruise was the Mickey 200. We were given everything in the first picture, told that our "car" should be as wide as our room key, and that we had about 7 minutes to create a car to race.

Lets just say that Alec has this Derby thing down to a science. Funny to me, as you see, he strongly disliked (read: hated) Scouts. But he has some strong opinions, all that seem to make a difference, about how derby cars need to be made. Apparently they apply to veggie cars too.

This was our finished family car. Pluto nose and Mickey spoiler, or was he supposed to be driving?

Hewy insisted that the car was his and he had a hard time that Alec wouldn't let him touch it, I mean hold it... Did I mention that Hewy popped the wheels off once right after Alec had "aligned" the car?

Oh, and did I mention that our car took second place out of 27 cars?
The Dunn family is going to get a reputation for winning Derby races.

Momma Love

I can't really think of anything to write about this - other than I love my boys!


Hewy and me on our first day on board!

Noble and Mom laughing at Liam in the Pirate Play

Mom swimming with the boys in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Pirate Night with my boys!

The 2000's

What wonderful kids we have in our family!
"The 2000's" the three cousins that were born in the year 2000. Thankfully, they are all very good friends.


Liam - Aerie - Emily

Emily - Aerie - Liam