Waiting, waiting, waiting................

Apparently summer can't come soon enough for my kids. This photo was taken LAST year at Harriet Island.
While scrolling through my plethora of photos, Claire said to me, "Remember that day mom? I LOVE summer!"

Yeah...well the countdown has started. Claire officially has 2 days left and Miles has 5. And then..sweet sweet summer break. And an upstairs remodel. But more on that later.

OVO!

This year for Mother's Day, Ryan was out of town working. I make a big deal out of Mother's Day. I know I know...people say "I don't care about it". I do.

I'm a stay at home mom with two kids, and I like to think of Mother's Day as my ONE and ONLY day off for the year. I like to sleep as late as I can. And I like to NOT cook a meal at all during the day. Selfish? Who gives a shit. I work hard all year keeping my kids alive. I deserve one day.

But this year, because Ryan was gone, I spent the weekend at my parents house, which is a shit ton of work in and of itself. Then because it was Mother's Day, my mother felt that SHE was queen bee, and bossed me and my sisters around all frick frackin' day. I did all the cooking the entire weekend too. Ryan? He was working. But then went on a brewery tour with co workers and had a fancy steak dinner that he didn't have to cook or pay for. Plus he was in Denver. Nice.

So...Ryan being the sweet loving husband he is, felt pretty bad about being gone and surprised me with tickets to Cirque Du Soleil Ovo. Which by the way, I've been dying to see. I've been to 3 of their performances over the years and LOVE LOVE LOVE it!



Yesterday was our day! The kids were super excited to see it too. Although I was a bit concerned that Miles wouldn't care for it. The last live performance Miles was to, was Beauty and the Beast, and he complained of having stomach pains during the first 45 minutes of the show. Which was gas and said gas was code for BORED. So he left. I was less than excited about THAT.

However Cirque Du Soleil was completely different. The kids loved the show! It was so entertaining. At one point during the contortionists, Claire said to me, "I can't do that with my body, but I think I'm going to try when we get home." And she was not quiet about this statement. AND she tried. Although she's not as bendy.

If you can see this show, do. You won't regret it at all. I just kept thinking, "Shit. I wish I was that thin and flexible. Gotta work on THAT!" The little Asian girls flipping the big kiwi slices were A-Mazing! Seriously. They flip each other around using just their feet.

Claire doesn't seem all that excited to begin with, but she had no idea what she was in for. And Ryan has a photo with that guy in the Packers hat and green t-shirt in the background, MAJORLY photo bombing.


And then Claire was really very concerned about the big egg/cocoon/ball of light that had sound like a swarm of bees.


Photography not so great in the dark on the sly.

I can't say enough about this show. It was so entertaining. And it was a really great way to spend the afternoon with my family. Happy Mother's Day indeed.

You must see this movie

Bridesmaids

I haven't laughed so hard in a movie in a very long time. Seriously. Hysterical!

Iowa!

Well...we were in Iowa this weekend for one of Ryan's work trips. He had to work overnight Saturday, so we packed up the car and the kids, and headed down.

It was a nice drive very little rain. Although I hear there was major rain/tornadoes here in MN. We didn't do much Friday. Just ate dinner at the hotel, and took the kids swimming in the ecoli infested hotel pool. (You can't tell that I don't like them can you?)

The first night the kids slept in the adjoining room together. It was not bad. I didn't sleep great, but it was ok.
The following morning we went the cemetery where my Godmother's parents and grandparents are. It was a really nice day. The last time we went there, we were joining Ryan on another work trip and Claire was very little. She was scared of, "That lady who keeps lookin' at me mom!" Of course there was no lady to be seen. And I could see the whole of the place, as it was a small country cemetery, with only a horseshoe drive. We left fairly quickly. It was not cool. But, in her defense it was during what I like to call, THE DIEGO INCIDENT.

Thankfully I believe Claire has grown out of her creepier-than-shit-little-Asian-girl-seeing-messed-up-dead-things phase. I hope so at least. There were no old ladies looking at her this time.

Afterward, we headed to the Science Center of Iowa. It's pretty cool. Similar to the Science Museum of Minnesota, only on a smaller scale and geared more towards kids MY kid's ages. It was great for them. They did experiments. And there was a place for little toddlers and babies. We spent a couple of hours there and then headed to lunch.

We went to a place called The Spaghetti Works. I thought it would be the same as The Old Spaghetti Factory here in MN. Not so much. I can't go into details, but suffice it to say, my daughter who LOVES pasta, would sell out her brother, father and mother for it, refused to eat her lunch. It wasn't good.

The day ended with a trip to the book store, and Target. It's not a day if it doesn't involve a Target run. The kids went swimming for 2 hours with Ryan. I stayed in the hotel room and did some reading. Yay! Alone time!!!

Ryan left for work at about 9:30pm, and I sat, hoping the kids would go to bed. Between listening to the hundreds of young boys at the hotel for a little league tournament, and the wedding in the ballrooms, I didn't think it was going to happen. OH MY FUCKING GOD was it loud. And, we were right across from the elevator. And lots of tween boys running around a hotel while their parents got drunk in the pool area.

But it settled down "kid" wise after about 10:30. Then the REAL fun began, as a drunk couple from the wedding stood outside my door, swearing at each other. LOUDLY. Of course I had to look out the peep hole. It's not called a peep hole for nothing. And I saw the lady slap her husband. Like...really slap him hard. She did it after he told her, "you fuck everything up you stupid fucking whore." It was really unnerving, and I wasn't going to do anything about it until I saw him cock his fist at her. So I quietly opened the door and scared them both. I politely told them I had two kids trying to sleep and could they please keep the yelling down. I think I caught the guy so off guard, he apologized and then told me his wife was making him so mad. But the woman kept yelling. So I said, "Are you ok? Should I call the front desk for you?" Then they left.

And..I went to bed. Claire insisted on kicking me throughout the night which was all kinds of fun. And then in the morning, Ryan informed me we were leaving a day early because the job he was doing didn't work out the right way and he would be coming back over ANOTHER weekend to try and get it finished. So we left.

The only highlight of the drive home, aside from the torrential rain that we encountered upon entering MN, was a guy, wearing the following t-shirt, walking into a Dairy Queen with his probably 10 year old daughter.


Keeping it classy in Mason City Iowa.

Things I've missed as of late.

~ I miss talking to grown ups about things NOT related to kids.

~ The Facts Of Life

~ My flat stomach (No, just kidding. I never had one)

~ My kids as babies

~ Hanging out with my girlfriends.

~ My sister in law's birthday. I facebooked her but it's just not the same.

~ My friend Kelly's birthday. He hates Facebook birthday wishes....so ....I did it here...completely anonymous. Heh heh heh...

~ My husband. He's traveling like a mother fucker. I miss him the most.

~ Dian Friday nights.

~ A clean house. Since Ryan's gone, I am lazy and don't want to clean anything.

~ My sister Sara. She lives in California.

~ Sanity. Cause you know as you get older it gets lost. Although..I'm trying. Really really trying.

Some of these things I've missed because well, I just can't get them. Others I've missed, because, I'm forgetful as sin lately. But mostly...I'm just....missing stuff. Oh...and I lost my keys last night. Shit.

My worst nightmare come to life...kinda

Mounted in Alaska.

Well the title alone had peaked my interest. I'm not a pervert or anything but I didn't understand how this was on the History Channel. And I was going to watch it.

Then my good friend, and hunter-gatherer-fisher-extraordinaire shared with me what it's about.

Taxidermy.

If you follow and actually read this blog, you'll know I have a VERY serious "healthy" phobia of taxidermy.

I can't see it. I can't be near it. I can't stand it. I have gone so far as to walk in and right out of restaurants when there's animal heads hanging on a wall. Or worse, if there are fully stuffed animals with legs and tails and bodies. *shiver*

I can't go into a Gander Mountain, or Cabela's. Lord help me in the Science Museum of MN. I walk around that place half hiding my face, half walking behind Ryan with my eyes directed straight to the floor. It's sick I tell you.

So yeah...I'm not going to watch Mounted in Alaska. No matter how dirty the title is.

*I'm even having a hard time looking at this stinking post. Ugh. Help me Dr. Someone who treats weirdos.

This was Easter

The kids were happy to dress up all fancy like.



We went to church at 7:35am. Don't ask me what bee got in my Easter bonnet. But we went. I can't tell you the last time I went to church. Close to never. But I wanted to go. We went with my in laws. And the kids were surprisingly well behaved. No talking, no fidgeting, and no swearing! I'd say that's a good day with God.

When we returned home the kids played outside and I prepped for the invasion of my mother's side of the family. Close to 35 people over. We had a few "non" family members, but it was Easter and I had a shit ton of food.

There was an Easter egg hunt



Then the food


There was ham and pulled turkey too. Just didn't get that in the shot. It was on the stove.

After all was said and done, people filtered out and Ryan shared with me that my cousin Jason left Miles a gift. Jason has been Miles' biggest Star Wars "dealer" over the past several years. I would say Jason's entire collection of anything Star Wars that was awesome ever in the history of the world, has been passed on to Miles. Then...the Pièce de résistance. The very sought after collectible 1978 Death Star. If you collect Star Wars things, you know this is a big fucking deal. Miles has a Millennium Falcon, and an AT-AT from my cousin. But this...THIS is the bragging piece in the now shifted collection. I can tell you, Miles didn't know what to do with himself. I'm thankful he didn't pee.


Jason is 4 years older than me. When I was a kid, he was my dad's favorite nephew. He was into plastic models and war shit, just like my dad. At family get togethers you would find them looking over a new model my dad had put together. My dad gave Jason a lot of things to get him started on his life long hobby. And now Jason is passing on the sharing-a-toy-tradition to Miles. To which Miles is all to happy to participate in.

After the excitement of the Death Star, Ryan's family came over. We had dinner together and let the kids play on the play set. Miles and Claire were really into jumping off the swings



The day was really enjoyable. I love holidays were I can see family and the weather is lovely and my kids are happy. And now some random shots because all Miles did after he was done jumping was play with the Death Star. And Claire...well she was just happy to be outside.