Happy Friday

Well we went to the pool today. The pool I spoke of yesterday is about 30 minutes from our home and it has a great outdoor pool complete with slides and fountains. We have closer pools but the kids love this one so I take them there about once a week during the summer season.

Let me backtrack a bit.

While the boys were playing this morning, I laid out their clothes: T-shirt, trunks and fake Crocs. (yes, fake, I refuse to pay that amount for plastic shoes) And then I waited. RePete saw his clothes first and exclaimed, "Mom, you got my babysuit?" "Why I need my babysuit?" "Look, Pete, my babysuit!"

Pete, looking a bit annoyed, said, "RePete, it's a b.a.t.h.i.n.g. suit, not babysuit." "WAIT! Mom, why did you give us bathing suits? Are we going to the pool?" "Woohoo!"

I love the beginnings of summer. (two months early)

So anyway, we go to the pool which is located at the YMCA, check in, do a quick bathroom run and head for the outdoor pool. Just as we opened the door, a Y rep came up saying, "Sorry, it's closed. We'll be opening at 4pm today."

My boys immediately start to whine. I say to her that I thought it was open from 10 to 1pm today and I guess I should have called first. She said that it was supposed to be open, but that they JUST changed that. (It's 11am)

Well thanks for that! So as I am quieting the boys I ask her if the indoor has free swim today and she doesn't know. I herd the boys toward the indoor pool while muttering under my breath how sorry the people at the Y will be if it isn't free swim time because my boys are going to have a hissy fit and I will too since I just drove 30 minutes in my bathing suit and we're covered in sunblock. I hate sunblock.

Luckily, free swim was happening so we jumped in and all our previous angst drowned.

~R

Bedtime Tales

I had to forgo taking the boys to the zoo today because Pete's new mattress was being delivered a day early. So I had to clean up the boys room because not only was he getting a new mattress but we also bought new beds for both boys and they needed to be assembled prior to the delivery.
I normally make the boys clean their own room, but since that means shoving everything under their beds, I knew I needed to pitch in on this one. I'm glad I did because I found out that Pete is hoarding things in his room. I found 3 pieces of gum in his underwear drawer. (I wondered why the pack in my purse was almost gone!) I found numerous candy wrappers under the bed, behind the dresser and a myriad of other places. (he snuck candy home from Grandma's.)

Allergies

When we visited the Great Dismal Swamp with our home school 4-H group, one of the rangers was talking to the kids and asked this:

Ranger: Do you know what algae is?
Pete: Yeah, it is the stuff that makes me sneeze.

Apparently, it also clogs his ears.

~R

Grandparents

I reluctantly agreed to go with my sister to NC to visit my Grandmother. She turned 75 on April 2nd.
The reluctance is due in part to the fact that we'll be in a car with our three boys aged 13, 8, 4 for almost five hours Friday night. It's also partly due to the fact that my Mom is surprising my Grandma with a little shindig at the old folks meeting house Saturday afternoon. I don't know what else to call it. My Grandma lives in an "elderly apartment complex" and there is not one single thing for 8 and 4 year olds to do.
We are staying with my Dad the night before and I am waking them up early and making them run all over the yard about 100 times (and no I don't mean 7 times). Hopefully this will expend enough energy that they will behave themselves at the party.
Oh and did I mention the family that will attend are from my Mom's side. Several cousins that I could seriously do without seeing will be coming. The joys of family get-togethers. What's that saying about "you can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family" Definitely applies here.
And lastly, it's because we then will be driving the almost five hours back home Saturday night so my sister can enjoy a day off before returning to work.
I had planned on sending a really nice gift and wishing her a Happy Birthday from afar. But my sentimental sister said we had to go because it's her 75th. Of course I'm all like yeah, so, what if she has another birthday next year. She laughed and I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't have said that out loud.
~R

Kids are so fricking literal.

I am smarter than a second grader, thank you very much.

Only he doesn't think so. Someone needs to call CPS - QUICK!

I swear, if that boy corrects me one more time, I am going to lose it. It's bad enough if he corrects me when I am actually wrong, but when he corrects me and I am right, it burns my ass big time.

About 100 times a day, I hear this, "Mom, don't you mean 7 times a day?" To which I reply, "NOOOOO, I don't mean THAT...I mean 100 times a day."

Or if he asks the time and I say, "1:30". He'll look at the clock (the same one I am looking at btw) and say, "Mom, don't you mean it's 1:28?" Of course by that time I can't see the clock because of all the steam escaping my head and clouding my vision. And he's farsighted not near sighted so why is he asking me the time anyway.

OK, deep breath in, hold it, pass out. (waking up 3 hours later) Phew, I feel better.

~R

Reading Glasses

I've mentioned Pete's reading before. How he hems and haws and gets all exasperated reading even the smallest thing.

Well, last week I took him to my optometrist to get an eye exam - a real one, not the quickie they do at the pediatric office. Turns out, he needs glasses for...READING. Apparently the poor kid has been reading using only his right eye because his left eye can't see that close.

I feel terrible for getting on his case or even making him read in the first place, but you know, he never mentioned not being able to see the page. He never complained about headaches or his eyes hurting. He DID rub his eyes a lot. He DID have trouble keeping his place on the page. He DID lay his head down on the papers/books and complain. complain. complain., "I can't read."

So now we know. I have to pick up the glasses today and I can't wait to have him read something. See if maybe anything changes. I really hope something does.

Thankfully, the doctor said it is common for children to outgrow farsightedness. I sure hope so, cause glasses and contacts are a pain in the ass.

~R

Live to 150?

Did you happen to catch Babs last night on the telly? Barbara Walters did a special on Living to 150. It was actually pretty interesting to watch. Some of the people on there, the doctors and scientists were a bit scary. There was one in particular who looked like a hillbilly (no offense to hillbillies). He had a long ponytail and this humongous beard. Oh and he spoke with a British accent. Some professor or something at Cambridge. I couldn't really concentrate on what he was saying because of how he was saying it. I totally expected him to spit into a spittoon at any moment or pull out a banjo. He never did.

Did you know there are 84,000 folks 100 years old or older in the US alone? I found that tidbit amazing. I have really got to pump up our long term investments to make it last that long. We had only planned on living to 100. Or that you can pay $75,000 to have your body cryogenically frozen so that one day you can have your body brought back to life. That should be interesting. I wonder what beliefs these people have. Do they think they currently have a soul? If so, what'll happen when the body (souless at that point) is resuscitated? Of course, if they don't believe in souls then I guess there is nothing to worry about.

And was it me or did all of the "experts" have really dark eyes? They would have been perfect in any movie playing the part of Satan's minions. Really weird - but their eyes held me captive - I couldn't look away.

And finally there was another "expert" at the end of the show who talked to Barbara about sex. According to him, with people living longer, and men typically dying earlier than women, and these super old women still feeling feisty, they'll be turning to one another to satisfy their itch. We'll soon be overrun with old lesbians.

Wow! (stunned silence)

~R