Darren and Laura

Ben and I have been looking forward to this past weekend for months. We had a huge master plan on how to attend one of our best friends wedding in Indiana, sans kids. This would be the 3rd weekend we have ever been alone together without kids since we had our first. Crazy to even think about and those of you that know me won't believe this. Trust me, we have lots and lots of family that helps us all the time when they visit or we visit them but they all live 1000+ miles away. So, a night away, all night, just doesn't happen. Yes, we have spent a fortune on sitters and nanny's but only for evenings out. Ok, enough on that. I left last Thursday at 5 am with a soon to be 2 year old and 4 year old to venture on a 3 hour flight to Omaha. In Omaha I met the in-laws, MeMe and GO, and turned around at the baggage claim and hopped on a flight to Chicago and then on a flight to Indianapolis. Even with the tornados I was only 2 hours late-not bad. Ben then got on got on a 6pm flight in Phoenix direct to Indianapolis. He was supposed to get in at midnight but instead got in at 2 am. Who cares? I didn't have children to get up with the next morning. Little did I know what was in store for me. I had literally mapquested malls, favorite shopping spots, etc. Ben would play golf and do the groomsman thing and I would play BY MYSELF! We were all weary of Mason being dropped off because he has been an extension of my hip lately. He would scream when I would leave the room or even if moved 2 feet from him. He grunted for me (for those of you that know Mason, you know what I am referring to), I told him again that he was staying, mommy was leaving, Luke will be with you, and he kissed me, turned around, and strutted out of the airport pulling his little frog suitcase. The best part was seeing MeMe and Go turn and immediately start running after my boys. Ahhhhh, the story of my life. Anyways, more on their trip later.

I was bound and determined to take naps, shop, relax, maybe have a massage, etc. I shopped on Friday and rushed home to fit a nap in. I knew I wouldn't see much of Ben on Friday but we planned to at least spend Saturday morning together in Indiana. I woke up from my nap and didn't feel great. I thought something was wrong but I had my eye on the prize and I was going out for a night out without kids, and without kids to wake up to on Saturday am. I did have quite a bit of fun on Friday, but ended up throwing up ALL NIGHT. I remember at the Rehearsal Dinner everyone saying that it was one of the best meals they had ever had. I remember thinking, huh, I'm just not that hungry. All I wanted to eat was the bread. I again, ignored this and moved on. Needless to say I didn't move on Saturday, couldn't even turn the TV on in bed, couldn't bathe myself, nothing. I was a mess. I finally got in the shower at 2 to get ready for the wedding, and my ride picked me up at 2:30. I wasn't looking too good, nor did I care. I was proud of myself for even making it to the 3:00 wedding. (Ben went early for pictures, etc.) I ate some salad and bread and a bit of cake and made it until 11:00 that night. I finally DRUG my husband home-meaning the Marriott. I then had a fever and chills all night and didn't keep anything down until Sunday night-after I had slept15 hours straight. So, the romantic weekend we were hoping for didn't turn out exactly like we had planned BUT even through all of this we had an absolutely fantastic time! We met some great great new friends, only wish they lived closer! Laura was the most beautiful bride-perfect dress, perfect hair, and the glow of an angel. The wedding was sincere and intimate, the reception an absolute class act and a lot of fun. If this girl can reel in a guy like Darren, she is set for life. He is an unbelievable catch, as is she, and they really and truly are perfect for each other. You know what I am talking about. Have you ever gone to a wedding and think "Oh no, this isn't going to last?" It is horrible to say, think, or write, but you know you have thought that a time or two. And, you probably have found out that you were right! I have no doubt that Laura and Darren will truly live happily ever after. Darren and Laura are off to the Almalfi coast of Italy and the Greek Islands. I hope they aren't puking. I hope they are doing something else. Thanks for including us in your special weekend!

I promise we are great parents...

Over Memorial Day we decided to take our bikes, double stroller, cooler, dog, camera, and phones on a picnic. We had no idea what kind of adventure we were about to endure. This kind of stuff, I KNOW, doesn't happen to everyone. This isn't normal. I realize I usually plan too much, take risks, and push my kids to be adventurous. A VERY long story as short as possible-

Throw in all the above stuff. We don't have a seat on the back of my bike yet for Mason so I decide to run beside Ben and Luke, who are on their bikes, with Mason in the double stroller and the dog tied to the stroller. I am also carrying all the food, drinks, camera, etc. Now Nelli and I had already gotten our run in for that day but a little extra exercise can only help especially the amount of bbq's we have been to lately with chips, dip, cookies, ribs, beer, more chips and dips, is exponential. So we load up the truck and go to a park close by and take a bike/running path to a pond. We get to the pond and I'm in front, then Ben, then Luke. I hear Ben say "Luke make sure you are going slow enough for the fast turn-don't ride into the pond." I look back immediately and I just see Luke ride straight into the pond, head submerged, bike sinking to the bottom, and my heart stopped. MY BABY! Now, I have Mason locked into the stroller with the dog tied on. Ben jumped off his bike and pulled Luke out of the pond. He came up and immediately swam to the edge-all those swimming lessons paid off! He is hysterically crying and COVERED in some sort of neon green seaweed. I untie the dog, put the brake on the stroller, and run over to him and just hold him. Before I even get to him the dog has fallen into the pond and is now swimming in this pool of neon seaweed. I have to pull her out as well. So, we are all covered in seaweed. I'm just glad the stroller didn't go into the pond, yet. So Luke calms down fairly quickly- Ben and I are just looking at each other not knowing what to say. I grab the camera and let Mason out of the stroller. Ben and Luke fished out Lukes bicycle. Now, a week later and it is still in the garage covered in seaweed... So Luke is of course soaking wet. We are walking around the pond and find some nice huge dead catfish and you can only imagine how cool my boys thought that was. All of a sudden, Ben just points and grunts at me. I look over and the stroller that was parked on the hill, in the shade, where we thought would be a good place to have our picnic, is flying down the hill headed towards the pond. Camera, cooler, phones, etc. I bolt, I was running as fast as I ever have to try and stop the stroller from going into the green seaweed. LUCKILY, Lukes bike stopped it. Knocked over the bike, stroller and everything else flying out. I grab the camera again. I just said, we need to eat quick, get home safely, and not leave the house for the rest of the day. Ben took his shirt off so Luke could wear it because he was cold. Of course Mason then wanted his shirt off like Daddy. Hence, the pictures. We made it home with only Lukes training wheel coming off but no major injuries. Yes, we all went straight to the shower!

God Bless Home Depot

What a day, what a fun day, really. Some of you won't understand how I find the day I had today "fun." Here is my day:
5:30- wake up and cycle 12 miles, take dog running 1.5 miles (hey, I'm taking all the credit I can get)
7:00- come home to 2 boys eating breakfast, Ben leaves, we play choo choos. Boys fight over who gets the engine train but they both agree mommy gets the caboose. Go figure.
7:45- shower, dress, dress kids. Negotiate snacks for boys, pack swimsuits, towels,drinks, extra clothes, monster trucks, retrieve all the tools in the garage the boys have gotten out while I am getting ready, feed dog, pick up all shoes so dog doesn't chew, track down boys and lasso them into the car(this is the hardest and most aggravating part of my day). All of you parents with more than one kid understand the amount of energy it takes to get 2 kids locked and in their car seat.
8:45-arrive at park with play fountains,etc. Play, get really wet then cover with sand, climb trees, chase lizards up trees, chase birds, eat snacks, and we made some new friends.
10:30- clean up boys, put Mason in dry clothes, load up and head to Lukes swimming lesson.
11-11:45- Lukes swimming lesson. Mason and mom socialize with friends, eat popcorn, and watch Luke. Get Luke showered while chasing Mason- he loves to leave the main room to watch the big fish tank. Make Luke go potty as it is inevitable that he will have an "emergency" 2 minutes after we leave which means pulling over, unbuckling, etc. I'm not the most patient person in the world but I am still learning. Kids and husbands are the best teachers!
12:00-put Mason down for a nap,feed Luke lunch, grab a bowl of Lucky Charms for me, switch laundry,unload dishwasher, and place clean laundry in basket next to couch to pretend to fold and put away. Thinking, I'll do it tonight while I watch American Idol. Guess what, I'm watching Idol, writing this, and laundry is still there. Whatever...so house is in order, Mason is sleeping, and I think I need to just sit for a bit. I help Luke pick out a movie- Peter Pan Return to Neverland-which we "accidentally" bought because when we rented it from Blockbuster we lost it and didn't find it for 3 months. So, now it is ours. Great. I curl up in my soft leaopard blanket, Luke is sitting next to me. We get to Chapter 18 of the movie and the DVD player gets all *$#@#$#$%. It might have something to do with the fact that last week I caught Mason feeding the DVD player with all of his Baby Einstein CD's. No kidding, I pulled out 10 DVD's one at a time. Everytime the opener would go back in it popped back out another DVD. There is still one jammed in there that is stuck, I can hear it, BUT I got the DVD working otherwise. We just can't use #3. This will all be news to Ben BTW. So after turning off all electrecity to the DVD player, ejecting, turning, and all but shaking the DVD player-did this routine at least 6 times- Peter Pan is back on. Well, in the meantime when I fired Luke from trying to help-he tends to think the more buttons you push, the more likely it is to work- I get back on the couch, snuggle up, and hope for more time before the Masonator wakes up. Luke turns around and says "mommy, look, I handcuffed my hands together!" I immediately know he doesn't have the keys. He has been playing with these handcuffs the last 2 days but this morning Ben asked him where the keys were and said if he didn't know then he shouldn't play with them. The past 2 days I had visions that this was going to happen and I even thought about what I was going to do when it did. Why didn't I take the cuffs away? And endure the tears of sadness, the negotiating tactics to try and get them back, or was I secretly hoping he would do it and all I had to decide was what to handcuff him to? Ok, not really. I'm not that mean. So, he says "mommy, I can just slide my hand out." Well, he got one of his hands out but the other was VERY tight. I just started laughing...and I couldn't stop. In my mind I was trying to keep it light for him so he didn't panic. I laid back on the couch and said "well, you better go find the keys." Of couse I eventually got up and we searched the house for keys. At one point we sat back down and I told him he at least had a really pretty bracelet. He didn't think that was very funny. At first, Luke was sort of laughing, because I was definitely laughing. Why in the world do we have so many "mystery" keys. We have more random keys that I have NO idea what they are for. It is sort of like socks-there is always one but never a pair- I'm convinced the dryer eats them. So, we try all sorts of keys, we go to the work bench and the ridiculous amount of tools my husband has for lord knows what, (he probably doesn't really know what, but they are cool tools) and we try to pick the lock. I have actually gotten really good at picking locks because Luke sometimes locks his door, falls asleep into his deep sleep coma, and then I pick the lock. We even keep a long skinny screwdriver above his door, it happens that often. So, I don't really want to go to the police station. I decide that when Mason gets up, we will go to Home Depot. They know me there-mostly the guys in the painting department or rental tools (ie shit happens). I'm not known at the latest fashionista Scottsdale boutique or the hottest new club in town, or the philanthropic volunteer BUT the boys at Home Depot know me, or shall I say men.
Now, Luke is starting to get upset and wants to wait for Daddy to get home, he wants to swim in his cuffs, sleep in his cuffs, etc. He is just nervous it is going to hurt. Mason wakes up, we head to Home Depot with lots of tears from Luke. 7 handHome Depot "volunteers" later, many tears, many tours of Home Depot, much drama and many laughs later, the cuffs are off. All this time Mason is somewhat following us, because Luke won't let go of my hand, and Mason is carrying my car keys trying to unlock everything he can get his hands on. The cuffs were cut and then eventually 2 guys picked the lock. We had in our some giant bolt cutters to take home for Daddy to do. He got scared so I just said we could buy some and cut them at home. We had to take the cutters back to the shelf when they got the lock picked. I said "my gosh, I thought I stumped the men of Home Depot!" They said "almost!" I said "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll be back."As we are waling out Luke says "mommy, next time can we buy the cool tool cutters to cut them off?" Next time? I said "sure." OH MY GOSH! We go home, put back on our wet swimsuits, sunscreen, etc. Then, Ben walks in. He has some work to finish in the office so I say have a cocktail with me and when you are done with work come out and swim. Great! He finishes work, jumps in the pool, boys are winding up, and his phone rings (which it does 1000498472394759387498725 times a day) but he got called in to size a case. He was gone as fast as he jumped in the pool. I did get to finish his cocktail for him though. So, swimming, dinner, dance party, teeth brushed, pj;s, books, and bedtime for Luke. Ben got home about 7-just in time to put Mason to bed.


Now, I have shared this story with many people today and the first question that is asked is "where did the handcuffs come from?" That, my friends, is for another day, another time, and probably another blog. You will wish you hadn't asked.

UPDATE: It is now Wed. am and I am adding pictures and posting. BUT- we found the cuff keys last night but I can't tell you where. Luke asked if we could dig them out of the trash. Of course, I said no...

Another Day at the Park

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