Family Fun for March, and April.

We were pretty busy during the month of March so we had to fit March and April's family trips into April. LT got to pick the March trip and we went to see the cherry blossoms at tidal basin. That's a great idea, right? Well, the entire population of Maryland thought it was a good idea too. We had tickets for a ferry ride but the wait was over 2 hours and we had another place to be in the evening, so we decided to walk from where we parked. O was a trooper. She insisted on bringing her backpack that was loaded with, who knows what, it was heavy too. Now, what's unfortunate about these pictures is, we don't have any of the blossoms. 

You can tell from this picture, O was THRILLED that 

SHE was the one made to carry her backpack. 

(We did help on the way back.) 

Just what was in that backpack?

 Here is another one of my favorite O poses. 

Oh look, it's President Lincoln behind us.

The mystery of the backpack was revealed when we sat on the steps for a rest. O pulled out her loom kit and got some good "looming" in.

O is usually the one in pictures making bunny ears on others. This time her Dad did it.

BUSTED!!!

There has to be at least one selfie on a trip.

Following our afternoon tromp around blossoms and President Lincoln's memorial, we packed things up and headed over to College Park. A friend of mine is a coach for Gymkana, and acrobatic troupe and they had a show at the U of MD in the evening. The show was worth every complaint we heard from O during the day. She picked up the gymnastics bug and has been inspired to learn some acrobatics on the trampoline ever since. It was so fun to hear her by my side saying, "whoa" and "cool!" I loved the show too, the movement was beautiful.  These guys are really good. They were on America's Got Talent 2 seasons ago. 

Coach Angie and her latest fan.

Here is the set-up for the first act.

Yes, people are flipping through the flaming hoop. It was really impressive. 

Angie says this is one of the more popular routines they have in their shows, ladders. 

It was, once again, impressive. 

Are you KIDDING ME??? Do you know how much strength is needed to execute some of those moves? 

O Speaks

"I had this friend who was a vampire, and when we were in 4th grade he told me I was a vampire too. And I was like 'what'?  Because I have brown eyes. But we're not the sucking blood type, we're mischief. And every once-in-a-while, we suck a little blood. We put this lotion on our face to make it white pale. And we had black hair. But mine was easy to dye because it is almost black." This is one of the reasons why we struggle leaving for school on time. O starts telling me these LONG stories and stops eating to talk. I eventually have to leave the room so she'll eat. 

O - "Mom, dad is going to teach me how to drive because you'll have a heart attack".

O - "When I'm 15, I want an electric scooter. Not the little ones, but a big one that you can plug in or that uses vasoline".

Lots O' Pictures

You would think after a week of Spring Break, I'd have more to say, but I'd rather just show you a few of the things we've been up to instead of droning on and on.

First of all, our bathroom tub expired and I have mixed feelings about this. I'm excited to FINALLY update this room and I'm not excited about how stressful and expensive it is to redo a bathroom. In the end, we'll have a nicer, more functional space and a tub/shower that we like. I'm happy to get rid of the original tub, it was an eyesore.

Here are the BEFORE pictures.

UGLY, UGLY, UGLY!

One night LT and I tore out the shower walls.

Then another day, his sister came over to help take out the tub.

It's no longer as private as it once was. As long as the closet door is closed in the office, the only light that comes in is from the basement. Ha ha ha. Hopefully, we will have it finished before we have a large party. If not, oh well, we'll just keep people out of the basement.

O had a play date EVERY SINGLE DAY of the week. She was in heaven! We even had two days of doubles.

If you are my fashionista friend, and you like shoes, and you have a good sense of humor, this is what you get for your birthday. Handmade bedazzled high heels. 

O reporting for egg hunt duty at our church Easter breakfast.

We put up our trampoline and our little ballerina/fairy has had hours of fun. You just have to watch out for the ticks.

Here is my Sweet Baby A. 

Isn't she just the cutest little bug you've seen?

 She's smiling in this one.

On Friday I took O camping to Tuckahoe State Park. LT was supposed to come, but at the last-minute, he had to back out. I was less than thrilled to go on my own. We met our friends there and life was good again. Here are some pictures of getting wiggles out at the playground.

O, posing, of course.

O posing again. 

DBSA
We had a great meeting. There were 7 of us there and everyone had the chance to say what they wanted without being rushed for time. Several people have asked to meet once a week. I would love to do that, but I would need a co-facilitator. 

Boob Talk
I was feeding SB Alice a bottle and I asked my breastie, Della, if it was formula.D - "Nope, it's boob juice".  
I think that's funny, because when I hold a baby and it starts rooting, I say, "Sorry, juice bar is closed". I now know I was right on all of these years.  

Glorianna mentioned her son never took a pacifier, I asked how she soothed him.
G - "With the boob. For 3 months."

I was leaning over and tucking O into bed she said, through her lion, "May I see your cleavage?  No, wait, get me a bra".

Quotes
Me - "Ray, right"? I'd met this guy once before and I was trying to remember his name.
R - "No, it's Rodney".
Me - "Oops! Well, at least I got the 'R' right".
K - "And you got the 'Y'". 
Long pause...... "you just missed the 'odney'".

"My 6-year-old is always trying to think of ways to earn money...."Mom, can you take the teeth out of dead people and put them under your pillow?" Michelle S

Work
I get to work on the first day back from Spring Break. I can only imagine how wound up the wee ones will be after a week off. I'll let you know next blog post if I survive. Wish me luck.

A Little Dose of O Does a Person Good.

HAPPY EASTER!!

O Speaks

O - "Mom, what president was yours when you were born? Lincoln"?

This one needs explaining. Not too long ago, we watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding with O. In one scene a main character is being teased by his soon-to-be brother-in-law and is tricked into saying, "I have three testicles", in greek. I read the subtitle out loud and laughed.

Instantly, O asked, "Mom, what are tentacles". 

LT, of course, laughed and said, "That one is yours".

M - "Boy parts, but don't say it, it's a private word".

So, now she thinks it's funny/naughty to bring it up in conversations. I'm glad she says "tentacles" and not the anatomy word. 

O - "If a boy hurts me, I know where to hit him, in the tentacles." She giggled wildly and said, "I can't believe I just said that".

O - "I know where to kick a girl, the shins".

O - "What is Jenny having, a boy or a girl"?

M - "A boy".

O - "Ew, how is she going to change its diapers? He'll have tentacles. When I have a boy I'm going to have my husband change all of the diapers".

This is completely unrelated, I had a horrible nightmare, I caught O shaving her head. She said, "What? I wanted to". So, I responded with, "Well, you'd better finish it up then".

Boob Talk

O was telling me a story that went on and on about boobies, so I said, "Sweet dreams and dream of big boobies".

O - "I'm dreaming of Boobie Land. The houses are made from boobs and even the bra shops are made of boobs". Later, in the same story, "One lady has such big boobs she won't leave the house because she's afraid she will get her boobs caught in the door.....And the guys even have the guy things. What are they called again, pimples"?

Yes, friends, this is, sometimes, how bedtime happens at our house.

O saw a breast exam poster in the bathroom of the doctors office. She scrunched up her face as if she'd just smelled something horrible, and said, "Ew" and "that's not very modest". It was the start of yet, another, boob conversation. I explained self breast exams and such. After my explanation she asked, "Did you do your breast exam this month"? I wanted to say, "Na, I just let LT do them," but I held my tongue and didn't answer.

I confess, if I see a friend sitting, I like to sit on their lap and squeeze their head into me. Unfortunately, it just happens to be at my chest level.

M - "Do you like me sitting on your lap and squishing your head into my bosom"?

Erica - "I didn't even notice anything was there".

Work

One day, I was asked to fill in for a Special Education TA, teacher, something,  Um..... yikes. Ya, that freaked me out, I was sweating all day! I have no clue how to interact/teach/coach a child who is having academic struggles. How much do I help them, how much are they supposed to do on their own? 

It wasn't all that bad. I went from class to class to pull out a wee one and we played games. One cute little dude got to read to a dog.

O told someone at school that what they were saying was "bull crap". There is a story to it, and it's not bad. I just think it's funny that we use it so freely at home, she didn't think twice about using at school. Oops!

One afternoon, I was getting ready to leave to pick up O from the bus stop when the phone rang. It was the school, saying they had O there. Oops, there was a bit of a miscommunication about wether or not she was a bus rider or car rider. Parenting Fail!

The school had a fundraiser called, "Race for Education". The wee ones were allowed to dress down for the day and wear running/exercise clothes. In the morning when O was getting dressed, she had to practice running around the room so she could see herself in the mirror. She wanted to make sure she was ready. I love that kid.

It was fun going out with her and run/walk with the other students and teachers. O did a really good job and was having fun, until, she took a spill. The poor kid was jumping over a cone and landed on the side of her foot. I watched her land off balance, proceed to roll her ankle and fall. It looked really bad. It actually freaked me out. I forget she is really flexible and bendy. I took her to the nurse and we decided we didn't need to amputate and an ice pack would do. She was upset for an hour or so. She asked, multiple times, to go home because her foot hurt. I'm sure it did, but I told her it would still hurt at home so she might as well stay at school and learn stuff. I went to our car to get a wrap out of the first aid kit, to help her feel better. The wrap made her foot too large to fit into her shoe, so she was in her sock. When it was time to go back outside before lunch, about 90 minutes after it happened, she was able to walk again. Hooray for miracles. 

Summary - O ran around, O jumped, O fell, O hurt her ankle, O thought she was dying, O wouldn't walk, (which was okay) O wanted to go home, The promise of a sno cone motivated O to walk. O was miraculously healed. Hallelujah!

Only one more to go, I think, maybe.

I PROMISE, I'll be done soon with our trip pictures and stories. 

My Island Boyfriend, Max. It all started with "Hello".

He was such a flirt, a moody flirt that is. Sometimes he wouldn't acknowledge my presence and other times he wanted me to scratch the top of his head. It was short lived fling and it was Oh, so nice.

Quotes
"Always bring more underwear than you think you're going to need".

M, in the airport, carrying one bag - "I'm so glad I have an ass".
LT, carrying 4 bags, - "You calling me a dumb ass"?
M - "No, you're the smart one, I'm the funny one".
LT - "You calling me a smart ass"? 
M - "That shouldn't surprise you".


Here are our bags for the WEEK long trip. Can you guess which one is mine and which one is his? 

The highlights of the trip were the two dives we did Saturday afternoon. They were Shark Adventure dives. On the first dive, we saw some huge stingrays, and the largest loggerhead turtle I've ever seen. The second dive was, by far, what made my entire trip worth it, the feeding of the sharks. I got knocked in the back and a fin hit my regulator twice. The dive master held their dorsal fin and tickled under their nose to mellow them out. He knew I was really excited to be on the trip, so he brought one over to me and had me pet the fin and his tail. WOW! It was SO COOL!!! I was in heaven. The 4 other dives we did later in the week were really boring compared to this one. I really can't express how thrilling it was to be surrounded by 30 sharks. Wow, wow, wow. I can't stop thinking about it. On a side note, I was the only girl on the tour. 

You can see 2 sharks in the water here.

There are cannibal birds on the island. LT and I were both entertained and disgusted to see birds on the beach eating chicken bones. The three birds in this first picture were trying to get the bone from the other bird. GROSS!!!

This is the guest bathroom at our hotel. I've seen mirrors like this before. See, I go on and on forever. (There are some irreverent comments I want to make, about this picture, but I won't).

 Most of the bathrooms, aside from the ones on Paradise Island, were itty bitty. This one was clearly made for people without legs. I think there is less than 24 inches from the lip of the bowl to the wall.

Island coconut!!! 

Some details and other stuff

Food in Nassau, New Providence

EVERYTHING in this city is FRIED. 

I renewed my love affair with fries. It was a fast and furious romance that I had to end our last day there.

Twin Brothers is a popular place and our driver recommended it, so we ate there. They served a pint of oil with their fried dishes. 

Recipe for smelling like onions for 24 hours, more commonly known as the recipe for,

Conch Salad

1 whole onion

1/2 sweet pepper

1/3 pineapple

1 tomato

1/2 mango

1 small raw conch

Coarsely chop all of the above, add lime juice and a touch of orange juice.

Eat and smell like onions for 24 hours

The locals told us, multiple times, Conch is an aphrodisiac. They were quite proud of it.

My favorite place to eat was this little "gem" right around the corner of us. A lot of locals ate there, so we thought we should try it. Their grilled chicken salad was divine. My favorite parts of this picture are, the ENT  RANCE, and the sign with the dude on a skateboard, curly-toed boots, a crown on his head and  huge conch shell in his hand.

Signs

Whenever I see a funny sign, I HAVE to take a picture.

This store CLEARLY has commitment issues.

Don't worry about getting a new sign if you stop selling a certain item, 

just duct tape over it.

Creepy Statues

If you ever lose a baby in Nassau, you don't have to worry. They will probably be found by one of these creatures. 

So, what do you think they are doing with the babies?

A. Infant Massage

B. Stealing it for an island ritual

C. Keeping it safe until you return

D. Scaring the HELL out of it

O Speaks

M - "What was your favorite part of today"?

O - "Daddy left"!

M - "What?!?! Why is that your favorite part"?

O - "Because then we can have a girls night".

Quotes

M - "People are coming over this Saturday so the house needs to be really clean".

LT - "Olivia, we can flush your hair down the toilet". (I don't know where that came from).

M - "Yes, to help clean the toilet".

LT - "It's called a swirly".

M - "My brother had me do it twice, because the first time it didn't work".

LT - "Della got a new hairdo".

M - "Ya, she got bangs, and a new color".

O - "Did she get it from a swirly"?

O, at dinner - "Let's have some squash".

LT - "Okay, sit on the sofa and I'll squash you".

O - "Dad, you need singing lessons".

M - "Olivia, that's not very nice".

O - "It's okay, he's got thick skin."

"She is on what is called "Home Hospitalization" which is a hybrid condition most comparable to a mix between House Arrest and Work Release." Scott S. talking about his wife's progress with her cancer treatment.

LT - "I really need to get other games on my PC besides 12 Dancing Princess's".

At the grocery store in Nassau an item we purchased was a gallon of water. The checker was about to put it in a bag,

M - "It's okay, I don't need a bag for that".

C - "Really"?

M - "Ya, I can just carry it".

C - "Are you sure"?

M - "Ya, Is that weird"?

C - "Yeeeeeeeeees"!

Boob Talk

O doesn't have boobies yet, we call them nubbies. 

O, getting ready to get in the shower, "Look mom, look what happens when I get cold. Touch it".

M - "No thank you, I don't want to touch it".

O - "It gets a little bumpy thing".

M, in Nassau - "I haven't worn a bra all day, and it feels awesome"!

LT - "I haven't worn a bra all day and it feels..."

M - "Normal? Then again, I don't know what you Navy guys do when you get to work".

LT - "There is a reason why we don't talk about it.".