Summer Camp!

For Nugget's birthday, he got a bunch of camping stuff from PaPa, Ma and UP, so after school was out, we decided to put it to use! Hubs was busy working, so another mom friend and I took four kids on a little camping expedition.

We loaded up the car with 6 sleeping bags, 6 pillows, 12 bathing suites, 2 tents, 4 flashlights, a pack of hot dogs, a bag of buns, chips, snacks, marshmallows, Hershey's bars, graham crackers, boogie boards, sand buckets, oh the list went on and on. We took just the bare necessities and still had her car PACKED and my roof pack filled. We hit the road and made it to the campsites just after lunch.

But why pitch a tent when you could play on the beach!

Before finding our site, we unloaded the kids to burn off some energy on the beach. Oh how relaxing! We lost a pair of goggles and my dermatologist would be horrified at my tan lines, but jumping the waves and building sand castles were well worth the peel.

We let the kids play until they wanted a snack and then we headed over to find our spot. One thing about camping at the beach? Everything is sandy.

We found semi-shady spots for both tents, rinsed off the kiddos' hands, unpacked some snacks and started to assemble tents. J's camped a few times before with her kids, so she had no problem setting their tent up. Out tent? Never even opened yet. As I broke the tag thing off the zipper, all I could think was, "What if it's missing poles? Or a section of the mesh?" Hoping we weren't going to be sleeping in the car, I spread everything out and with a little help from Nugget, successfully assembled our little 4 man tent!

After an open fire dinner, we all hit the showers to clean off before bed. Unfortunately, we are at the beach and the beach is in Florida. And it.is.HOT. We got as clean as possible and headed back to our site, but looking at 60 clean piggies and the site full of beach sand and ash made me not want to let the kids touch the ground. Thinking back, most of my camping trips have been in the fall, so everyone's been wearing real shoes. Sweaty feet and flip flops don't mix.

So I said, "You drive, I'll buy!" and we headed to the ice cream shop. The ice cream was delicious, but no one in the shop spoke English and the samples that everyone had before buying our cones? They totally charged us for! We enjoyed the nice breeze and cold ice cream and headed back to the site. We decided the best dessert after dessert would be s'mores and let the kids take turns igniting marshmallows and getting sticky, then made one last trek to the bathrooms before calling it a night.

Me and my two opened the sides of our tent and said, "Good night, moon!" to the real moon. Without lights or books, we made up stories and dozed off. At some point in the night, Nugget stood up and wandered to the door of the tent. Happy I was snoozing in front of it, I got him to lay back down. When the sun, and every bird in Florida, rose, all three of us had moved to a different position in the tent.

We were going to hit the beach again for a morning swim, but the kids were so dirty after breakfast, I insisted on showering them before swimming. Nugget's feet were so dirty, he looked like a different race. After 15 minutes of scrubbing them, I figured the ocean would get the 4 other layers of dirt and we broke down camp.

After a few more hours on the beach, we loaded up our stuff (and about 15 lbs of sand) into the car, passed around a picnic lunch and hit the road.

I miss our old house, our old friends and Chicago badly, but I'll admit, it's nice to wake up one day, decide you want to go to the beach and actually be able to GO. As for the camping? I think we'll hold off on that again until fall when (hopefully) it's a little cooler. And Hubs can come along, too!

Back to the gym and back to the blog!

Yikes! My last post was in May. MAY! And I realized this today and then realized the last time I went to the gym was also in May. MAY!

It's now July.

Yikes.

So here's what's been going on since I last posted (and did side lunge presses).

Started out the summer kind of solo. Memorial Day weekend, Hubs headed to a golf tournament (that his team won!) and the kids and I headed to Disney. We had plans since we found out we were moving to meet some friends in WDW that weekend, so the kids were already pumped. Hubs got the invite to the golf tournament, but I figured I could meet my buddies down there and we'd be fine. Buddies found out they were moving to Cali, so we headed to see the mouse on our own!

And because we were using leftover days on non-expiration tickets, we decided to get the most out of our money. That means 4 parks in TWO DAYS!

We drove down on Friday and checked into our hotel. Some friends of ours here happened to be down for the weekend, too, so we met them at Downtown Disney for Dinner. The kids were excited to eat at Fulton's, but Nugget fell asleep in my lap waiting for our salads. He woke up later and said, "We waited all dat time on the boat, and we didn't eat nuffin!" Bless his heart!

The kids were excited about "riding rides" as soon as we got there, so I told them we could take the Disney bus from the hotel to DT disney. BIG mistake! After the big meal, and while carrying a still asleep Nugget, we huff it to the bus stop, hopping on JUST as the bus is about to pull away. Whew! I was feeling good about it until the bus made it second stop at DT Disney; right in front of Fulton's. Where we had just run from. Awesome. The bus driver then shut the bus off because at that time, it was the changing of the drivers. I've been to Buckingham Palace. I've seen the changing of the guard. That was like a high five compared to this. 25 minutes later, we were FINALLY heading back to the hotel. I managed to get both kids up to our room and at this point, Nugget emerged from his power nap. I remembered I left my razor at home.

I called the front desk only to find out that they have no razors at a value resort. So I looked at the kids and looked at the clock. We were approaching midnight. The next day was going to be an early start anyway, so why start it with a trip to CVS?

"Ok kids! Who wants to go for a ride?"

"I'd rather go swimming."

"Well, put on your suits and well go to the store. When we get back, we'll hit the pool!"

I called the front desk to confirm the pool hours (all night as long as you're not too loud -- so glad I didn't pay extra for a room facing the pool!) and we headed to the store. I was NOT spending the weekend with scratchy, velcro legs. We had a midnight swim then showered off and were out for the night.

The next day we headed to Animal Kingdom. Hot, hot and HOT! Every ride line is outside, every path is uphill and every road is paved with random groups of people, stopping in the middle of the road and staring at something. We started with the dinosaur ride.

Yup! That's us! In the back row. Nugget looking terrified and Strip with her head in my lap. GREAT start to the day! We hit all of our must do's, then hopped back in the car for a snack on our way over to the Hollywood Studios. We rode the Tower of Terror twice, headed over to the Toy Story ride, walked into The Voyage of the Little Mermaid right when it was about to start and then walked across to see the new Playhouse Disney show. They had JUST closed the door, so we scooted over to a snack stand and grabbed a box of popcorn and some water to snack on while we were in line. The new Playhouse Disney, well now Disney Junior, show is the same, but they took out Pooh and put in Jake and the Neverland Pirates. The kids loved it, but we had a nice family from France who kept telling my kids (in the front row) to sit down so their kid could see. I looked around and motioned to the 100 other kids standing and dancing. This was not the symphony. It's Disney World! Get up and move!

We wandered back over and did ToT one last time and the kids got hilarious Mater Teeth Suckers. I found them at World Market before we left

They almost look like pacifiers, but they are suckers with Mater teeth on the front. HILARIOUS! I noticed the Beauty and the Beast show was about to start, so my Maters and I scoped out a place to sit. We got half-way down the aisle and noticed some seats open on the other side. I asked the girl working there if we could cross over the very front row by the stage to get to the other side and she said, "Sure! But you could just sit in the front row if you want!" AweSOmE!

Mini Maters and I plopped down just as the show was about to start, and while it's nothing compared to Broadway, it was fun sitting right in front and watching the singers/dancers attempt to keep a straight face whenever one would catch a glimpse of my Maters!

It was getting close to Fantasmic time, so we grabbed a bite to eat and started walking up the big hill. The show starts at 9 and people had been standing in line since 6:30. That is just INSANE! The other option is to get a dining package where you eat at one of 3 restaurants (at 3:00 pm or something) and you get preferred seating. But the cost for the 3 of us to eat would be around $100. Cost of the three of us splitting snacks and a dinner? About $10. We were going to try our luck and see what happened.

Once we got to the top, the guys with the lights said it was standing room only. Ugh. I asked if we could walk down and come back if we weren't going to be able to see and the guy said that was fine. We got half-way down the hill and I thought that was silly and we'd just go back, get some ice cream and catch the 10:00 show. Just as we were walking back down the hill, or friends texted us that not only had they just walked in, they were sitting in the 3rd row and were looking at a spot in the first row! SCORE! We had great seats, and the kids loved the show. I loved it, too, just not $100 or 2.5 hours out of my life! We did a couple of more rides, then headed back to the hotel.

The next day, we headed to Epcot. We took the monorail, which was having some problems, so it took us a while to get over there, but we made it! Rode all the rides, walked around the world and enjoyed the nice day. The Must Do chick (looped show in the Disney hotel) always stops in Germany for Pretzel und Bier, so naturally, my 6 year-old wants a snack when we get to Germany. "Can we get a pretzel and a beer??" Thanks Disney!

We were heading over to Test Track when I remembered that Disney Visa card members get a special meet and greet and free photo, so we grabbed an autograph book and asked where to go. Surprise! LOTS of people at Disney world are Disney Visa card holders! So the line was kind of long, but we saw Minnie and Goofy in a room with just us, the photopass guy and the characters, so that was fun! When I went to get the picture, every one with Nugget, his eyes were closed. Thinking out loud, I said, "Geeze, you'd have thought they could have snapped ONE with his eyes open..." to which the photopass dude said, "Well, they took THIRTEEN!" Whoa. Someone's not having a magical day! And yes, that proves my point exactly. 13 pictures and not a single one with the kid looking at the camera with open eyes? So I just got one of Strip and Minnie. Because Visa was paying for it. And I went ahead and slapped a border and a date on it for good measure.

We hoofed it back up to the monorail which was, again, not working. So we did a quick change at the top of the ramp while we waited (my cousin opened her own sewing/embroidery/applique shop, so we had something to wear to every park!). We finally made it to the Magic Kingdom at about 7:00 when I realized I had the extra magic hours time written down incorrectly. They weren't open until 2 AM. They were open until 3AM!!

Nugget has always loved trains, and all the times we've gone, we've never ridden on the train before, so we did that first. We then hit all of our favorite rides. At the front of the line for Splash Mountain, they had to shut down the ride. No one would tell us why, just that they weren't sure how long it would take to get it working again. MAN some people get ANGRY about not riding the log! Lots of unhappy people around us! We hopped over to ride Big Thunder Railroad and then went back over to Tomorrowland to see if Nugget was tall enough for Space Mountain (not yet!). We were going to get ice cream and the kids were starting to fade. I asked if they wanted to call it a night, but NO!! WE WANNA STAY OUT UNTIL 3! As we stood in line, Nugget started swaying, so I picked him up. When I went to pay for the kids' cones, I set him down on the glorified granite check-writing ledge where he promptly curled up in a ball, leaned over and fell asleep! He perked up as soon as he saw the ice cream and they were ready to ride some more!

Sometime around 1, we went back to splash mountain which was working. Yay! Normally, after closing, they turn the big sprayers off, so I wasn't too worried about getting wet. I should have been. After the big plunge, I was sitting in a puddle so deep , the kids could have gone swimming in it! Nugget screamed, "I'm soapin' wet!!" We were all three drenched! My dress was so we, I could wring it out and as we walked, I could feel it stretching lower and lower in the back! We decided to start heading to the exit, but needed to do pirates for my little Captn Jack. NO line at all, so we hopped right on and BOY was that boat cold on our wet booties! We walked by Aladdin's magic carpet ride, and since it also had no line, we hopped on it. Then we let the camel spit on us and I suggested we head back to the hotel.

Strip: But what time is it??

Me: Almost 2.

Strip: But we were going to stay up until 3!!!

Me: Yeah, but mommy's tired! How about we head back and you can stay up at the hotel until 3?

Strip:Fine, but we really wanted to stay here until 3...

Me: I know, but I bet you $20 you'll both be asleep before we get to the monorail.

Strip: Nu uh!

One minute later, both kids are out cold. SO glad we had the double stroller! I managed to get them out to the car, loaded up, back to the hotel and up to our room.

We got up the next morning and spent and hit DT Disney for some shopping. Both kids had spending money burning a hole in their pockets. We had an early lunch at Rainforest Cafe then did some shopping. Both kids managed to spend their money on the things with the most small pieces. Yay. I told Strip I might as well put $20 in nickels on the floor and vacuum them up! But it was their money to spend, so we are proud owners of Tangled polly pocket-type set and a Captain Jack Sparrow/Barbossa action figures. I thought the pirates were ok until we got home and Nugget pointed out that the sword comes off! And the gun! And the hat! And the other hat! and the puppy! and his scarf! Ugh!

And while everyone thought I was crazy for taking 2 kids to 4 parks in 2 days alone, I must say it was the most relaxing and enjoyable disney trip we've taken! I hate that Hubs missed it, but it was fun just hanging out with the kids and taking things at their pace. It was also a nice reminder to me that this was totally doable with 2 kids. But if we had 4+ like I always wanted, there would have been no way it would have been relaxing and enjoyable. Win-win! Can't wait to do it another long weekend!

Saying so long to the Sac

It's official. Our old house is now someone's new house.

We moved over Christmas, but the house had not sold. It sold a whopping 21 hours before the company buy out was to happen. OH to have all of those hours of my life back spent keeping it show ready!

That was back in January.

The new peeps didn't want to move until school was out (which I kind of understand, but I kind of don't because our school system ROCKS), so they've been slowly bringing stuff up on the weekends. Word on the Sac (as in cul de sac) is that they are finally moving in this weekend.

So here is an open letter to the newest occupants of one of the best houses in the most awesomest neighborhoods on the greatest cul de sac ever:

Dear New Neighbors,

Congratulations on moving into your new home! We hope you enjoy living there as much as we did. True, we were only there a little over two years, but we packed in enough memories to last a lifetime.

While it may look like any other cedar plank house in the town, there are a few things you should know. First, I'm not sure who was against overhead lighting in 1989, but as I'm sure you've discovered, it can get a little dark upstairs! If the outlets go out in the bathrooms, do NOT call an electrician. There is a reset button on a random outlet in the garage. Don't ask. It was probably the same guy who was against overhead lighting but all for white tile countertops in the kitchen.

You have an awesome tree in the front yard. In the winter, it will look like this

It's fantastic! It will stay this way from November until about March, and you will start to think that it's dead and will never come back again, but then you will go to Augusta for the Masters (ok, maybe not, but sometime in April) and see this when you return

And out come the most beautiful leaves you've ever seen that match the front door PERFECTLY!

Now about trees. In the back yard, you get to see this lovely, that is not technically yours, but you can sit on your deck and admire it

And the big tree that is perfect for climbing drops leaves the size of your kids' head! No kidding!

And as much fun as they are to jump in, be careful because a few good gusts and your yard looks like this

But enough about the trees! Well, one more, just because I love snow

Let's talk about the fence.

The split rail makes a nice neighborhood marker, but our, I mean, your fence in the back is a cute little one. I originally didn't like it and wanted to put up a privacy one like we had in Florida.

That would have been the biggest mistake ever.

Because on the other side of that fence are some of the greatest people on this planet.

Sure, the circle isn't made up of cookie cutter early 20's couples with 2 kids a dog and a cat, but that's what makes our, I mean, your cul de sac so great.

On your left, you have a fabulous family of six. They are awesome for multiple reasons. The older two kids give you a glimpse of what you'll be dealing with in a few years and you can learn from what they do, but there are still littles to enjoy playing with and pass your favorite outfits down to. You couldn't not get along with the wife if you tried and the husband is hilarious (although be warned, he HAS to get the last word in and will argue with a rock, but that's kind of his job!).

On the other side is another family, but with older kids. She is great to swap book ideas with, and he has the greatest smelling cigars on earth (and that's coming from someone who hates the smell of smoke). These are the people who will see you shoveling snow and bring their blower over to clear your drive and walkway without even asking. They'll watch your dog when you're out of town and sit on your back deck to keep you company.

Next to them is a lovely family who kind of keep to themselves, but are awesome. They just finished majority renovating their master bath and kitchen so they can help you out in that area. She is also a phenomenal cook!

Moving on around is another great family. They have older kids, high school and college, but love having kids running around the Sac. They even left their basketball hoop up and love letting all the kids shoot hoops (although the snow plow may have taken it out in December). He makes a mean loaf of pumpkin bread and she is super sweet. They got a new baby named Daisy a year or so ago. She's a golden and she's kind of nuts, but sweet and I'm sure she's calmed down by now.

And the last house on the Sac is another family of four. They have a fantastic driveway that is perfect for racing down. You never know what adventure will be going on in their front yard! It might be a picnic blanket of toys or a bounce house, but regardless, you're invited to join in the fun.

You're entering into a great group, so treat them well! We've been through a lot together. Celebrating the birth of a new baby, mourning in the loss of a teen, things that bring you together and make you realize what a family you've become. These are people who will watch your kids sleep while you drive yourself to the er, clear off your snowy driveway, mow your front lawn while you're out of town, shoot fireworks off in their driveway, come hang on your deck and watch movies on the side of your house, and share a margarita with you while you wait for the school bus on a not-so-awesome birthday declaring it "Margarita Monday!" They will celebrate your wins and cry with you on your losses. They'll support and encourage your kids and throw a tennis ball for your dog, help you build a swing set and let you cook in their ovens.

So play in the snow, jump in the leaves, curse the lack of lighting and bleach the kitchen counters, but get to know your neighbors. They are the greatest ones you could ask for!

Ode to a Strip

And somehow, in the madness of the last few weeks, my baby, my first-born, my little angel turned six. SIX!

She's workin' on a whole new hand!

So here's to you, my sweet girl! Thank you for stumbling through this crazy thing called parenthood with us!

Everything about you has taken us completely by surprise! We joked that our little shoebox house was too small to have a baby in and the only way we'd be able to have one was if the dog were constantly in motion. In early fall of 2004, we told June to start shuffling around the house because there was a new kid coming to town!

I felt fantastic during my entire pregnancy with you, and boy did it show. I stopped looking at the scale when I hit the 55 pound gain, both because I didn't want to know the number and I was too big to see my feet, where the digital read out was!

The surprises kept coming when the doctor served you with an eviction notice at 37 weeks! After 24 hours in labor and a swift c-section, you were here! I remember one of the nurses saying, "8,

9!" to which I screamed, "S

he's 8lbs 9 oz?!? She was three weeks early!!!" but they quickly told me that was just your APGAR score. When I finally got a good look at you (after the ped on call telling me you had small, deformed ears that might never be normal - totally wrong by the way), we were surprised again to see that head full of hair! I expected a bald baby and could almost give you pigtails! And you were a thumb sucker from the start. Wanted nothing to do with a binkie, but would suck your thumb (or my pinkie finger) happily!

Not that I'm biased, but you were always ahead of the game. Sitting up early, waving, clapping, crawling, walking, all your milestones you hit early, which means I was always on my toes trying to catch up to you! You were always a pretty happy baby and loved discovering new things. You and Taylor got a kick out of the spinnie balls on your exersaucer!

You were one before we knew it, and became a big sister just

before you turned two. You took over your roll nicely and were always Mommy's little helper. You fell in love with your baby brother the minute you saw him and were always by his side.

You started school with Ms. Nancy and quickly wrapped her around her finger. You were the best puzzle putter together-er and cutter in the class. Your patience always astounded me. You would sit and just keep trying until you got whatever it was right, whether it was your putting on your sandals or snapping your car seat, YOU were going to do it.

At one point, you told me you wanted to be God when you grew up. When I asked why, you told me it was because you wanted to create lots of things. I told you God already cornered the market on that one and you've now settled for and author, illustrator and a teacher, but not a mom ("Because who wants to change poopie diapers? Not me!"). When I was your age, I told Ma I wanted to be a blue crayon, a teenager and a cheerleader. What can I say, I aimed high!

Your attention to details is crazy scary. Take for example the free art project you did in school a few months ago:

My computer, according to Strip

Which is hilarious because my actual computer? Looks like this:

An apple on the top and 900 windows open at all times. And I wonder why my battery goes so quickly!

Sometimes I worry that you take life too seriously.

You freak out if your brother is swinging on the swing set or if two people are swinging next to each other because he MIGHT get hurt, or the MIGHT bump into each other. Seeing kids get balloons makes you anxious because all you can think about is what will happen if they let go of the balloon and the thought of them being sad makes you sad.

Don't over-think things and miss out on some fun!

You transition beautifully. It's hard for me to believe that you've laid your little head down on your pillow in four different rooms in five years. You've moved more times before your 6th birthday than some people have in their entire lives. And in every step along the way you embrace life and find all new friends. At one point, after this move, you told me, "It' so weird how people down here remind me a lot of people I already know. It's like God gives us the same people, just different faces." You always find the good in people.

I've had so much fun getting to know you over the past 6 years and can't wait to see what the next year brings! Happy Birthday, Strip!

And the beat goes on...

Training for the half has been going well. I've been hitting the pavement and have logged some personal bests in both distance and time. I've just started thinking to myself that I just might be able to do this!

Outside of work, Hubs and I have been hanging out with coworker of mine (J) and her husband (T). We were chatting up the half and got J interested. Hubs worked on T and the next thing I know, they've signed up to run it, too! Yay! We had also been talking about this crossfit kind of gym really close to work and J mentions how we could totally workout there together before work while the kids are in summer camp.

"Yeah! That sounds awesome! I've ALWAYS wanted to try one of those programs, and I know it will really help me with my half training!"

Next thing I know, I'm getting text blasts from her this morning about the training schedule and pricing. THEN she texts me to say, "There's an evaluation tonight and it's free, so I'm getting a sitter for the kids."

Umm. I think I just signed on for this?

So, while I was cooking dinner, Hubs put in 3 miles, I got one kid bathed and pj'd fed them both, Hubs and I weighed on the wii, and I got ready to leave. Before grabbing my water bottle, I decided to brush my teeth again as a courtesy to whomever I assumed would be resuscitating later.

We got there earlier to sign all of the paperwork stating that we wouldn't sue the facility if we had a heart attack mid-session. The saving grace was that the main sessions had ended, so the gym was pretty much empty. Except for the class of 5 high school boys doing v-ups and sprints.

It started out innocently enough. We had to take off our shoes, sit down, put our feet on this scale thing, lean forward and measure our flexibility. I did pretty well on this part! Then, shoes back on and we hit the bikes to warm up. We both got a little nervous when Fitness Man pulled out the measuring tape and medicine ball. We had to sit on the floor and chunk the 9 lb ball as far as we could without moving our backs. Awesome.

As we got a little water, he was saying something about a shuffle and left turn something. We walked to the other end of the gym and he spelled out what we were supposed to do.

"Oh! Suicides! That's what we called them in high school, anyway."

Exactly. Down and back, down and back, down and back. Now do it again.

Still doing ok. Back to the bike. Level 10, TEN, 3 minutes on the clock and go as far as you can.

Three minutes later, 2 sets of jelly legs wobbled over to the scale, because apparently it was weigh in time. J said they probably did it that way so we wouldn't fight it. You're just so happy to stand still you don't care that there's an ugly number facing you!

After writing down my height, I stepped up. Mr. Fitness was holding the digital readout, so I peeked over a little to see what it said, which lead Mr. Fitness to say it out loud, and I mean LOUD. I watched him write it down and then I told him, "That's the last time you'll see that number on my page. It's all down from here."

And back to the wall.

"Now you just need to run all the way down to that cone and back."

"Oh the farthest one?"

"Yup."

"Nice. Down and back?"

"You got it! 5 times, ready?"

I'm sorry, what? He was perfectly nice and cheery for us, but I've got to admit, I need someone SCREAMING at me. I need a good, "PICK UP THE PACE!" or "I'VE SEEN 70 YEAR-OLDS RUN FASTER THAN THAT!"

We got some water, and he started describing what the classes really look like. I'd like to describe them for you, but he just started sounding like the teachers on Charlie Brown movies.

But, alas, they have my debit card number, so I guess I'm in for the long haul! As we staggered out to our cars, J was pretty silent. When I got out of the shower, Hubs was laughing and said I had a text.

So I got home, said hi to my sitter and then

went straight to my bathroom to throw up.

Fun :-)

I texted her back about how awesome we were going to feel after the first two weeks and we'd be itching to work out, to which she responded, Ms. Optimistic are we? Um nope, but they have access to my money, so I'm GOING to get something out of this!

Now, apparently, I'll be crazy training 3x per week in addition to running. But as I told J while we were biking our butts off, "Just think! In a few months, we'll be sipping our celebratory beer before the boys even make it to the Animal Kingdom!" Boo yow!

Happy Birthday, Nugget!

This post is a bit late, but the kid celebrated his birthday for so long, I feel like he should be 5 by now!

With Spring Break, I feel like I completely lost time planning for it, but things turned out great! I delayed sending out the invitations because I was HOPING we could have the party at the fire station. I had to get clearance from the city's head chief, and he wouldn't call me back, so I said forget it, we'll have it at the house and pray it doesn't rain. Late Thursday night, I remembered I had to send out the invitations, so I printed out these:

They didn't have just fire truck stickers, so some kids got a truck, some got the boots and hats and some got a hydrant. Not going to win an award, but better than an evite!

The next week, I had everything put together for the party, but I couldn't find any fire fighter

badges, so I called the station. They guys said to come on over and they'd have some stickers a

nd coloring books for me, and Nugget could tour the station. Sweet!

The super cute very polite fire guys let Nugget climb all over the truck. He got to go inside and push a bunch of buttons and climb on the front and look at every little thing.

They were SUPER patient as he pointed to EVERYTHING and said, "What's that?" and they

would answer. Then every answer was followed up with a "What does it do?"

I've never seen a kid so excited about the jaws of life.

He even got to go in the kitchen and they gave him a banana. As we were leaving, one of the guys gave him a purple glove blown up like a ballon and you would have thought he gave Nugget a million bucks!

So the next day was party day!

The boys took Zoe to the spa (because I didn't know ANY of these kids and didn't want one freaking out about a dog and having to deal with a scared kid and a Zoe locked in our bedroom. Plus, she needed a bath. Aunt T entertained the kids and I finished throwing stuff around. Here are some party pic:

We also had "Pigs in a Fire Blanket," but I didn't get a picture.

I thought up lots of fun, cute, fire themed games and activities, and while I won't share them all, I will share their favorite:

Yup. Uncle J had one balloon left and tied it to the bucket of water guns. The kids LOVED it.

Later, we let a bunch of 4 year-olds take out their aggression on a fire truck pinata (no pull string, just give the preschoolers a stick!), opened presents and had cake.

The kids grabbed a fire pail party favor, and we took the birthday boy out for some hibachi deliciousness where Nugget fell asleep at the table. Now that's what I call agood day!

First day of training in the books!

Hilarious and available at Zazzle. I may have to get it. Or the shirt.

Not the greatest day, but I got it done. There were many points where I could hear God saying, "STOP! This is not for you!!"

I got up, got the kids up, slapped on my running gear and loaded the car (Strip backpack, Nugget backpack, Nugget lunch, my work bag, Nikon camera, video camera (Nugget had an Easter program today), workout bag, toiletries, work clothes, work shoes, heart rate monitor, heart rate watch, iphone arm band. I think that's it. Oh! I forgot to pack my lunch, so as I grabbed Nugget a snack out of the pantry, I snagged a sleeve of crackers and a jar of peanut butter. Rounded it out with a gatorade in the garage, 2 bottles of water and a cup of applesauce. Gotta love the day after a Costco run). Packing for Disney seems so easy compared to that.

Made it to Strip's school early, although I think we still could have gotten there a few minutes earlier. Scooted up to Nugget's school and this is where things went wrong. I thought I could sneak into the office, drop off my work stuff, unlock and drop my bags in the shower room, drop Nugget at early drop off, run, sneak back into the shower room and be sitting at my desk by 9:00.

I thought wrong.

I unloaded the car (see trunk description above) and dropped my stuff at my desk. Went to unlock the shower building and my key didn't work. Tried the second key and that didn't work. Lugged everything to Nugget's preschool, dropped off my clothes, bag and gatorade in the director's office (glad to have friends in high places!), plopped Nugget's stuff in his room, drug him down to the early drop off room ("Dat's not my class!!") then ducked in the bathroom to put on my heart rate monitor.

Time to hit the road!

Oh look! No sidewalks on my side of the road. After a fun game of frogger, I was cruising (and what a difference running with a fun playlist makes! Thank you, iTunes!). I knew I needed to rock out 2 miles which was good because I was about 15-20 minutes late starting. I had mapped out my path and knew where I needed to turn. Unfortunately, half a mile in, I turned down what I thought was Circle, but turned out to be Court, and I ran a tenth of a mile backtracking. Then there will hills. And very familiar cars.

By the time I made it back to work, I had passed 8 people I knew while running and STILL couldn't get into the shower. Three keys and a custodian later, that problem was solved. And in an impressive Superman-like move, I was showered, dried, re-hydrated, face made-up and dressed within 7 minutes. Why can't Disney have that kind of race?!

After today, the only thing I am thankful for is that there is still a lot of time left on that count down ticker! So ready to be able to be able to breeze through a 10k.