week ending may 24, 2009:

Week ending May 24, 2009:
C- Dad, have you heard of Geico?
D -Yes, have you?
C - Yes.
D- What is Geico?
C- It is a place where you get free rate quotes.
D - Uncontrollable laughter.
C - I think they also have car, motorcycle and boat insurance.
Chloe has begun parroting commercials. Also this week she told me that Kaboom knocks out lime stains and soap scum, and Johnson No-More-Tears shampoo leaves your hair soft and tangle free.

This was the last week of pre-school. Both kids were a little worried that they wouldn’t see their friends any more. Chloe had a few specific friends that she was worried about so I made up cards for her with our phone number and e-mail address to give to her friends try to set up play dates over the summer. Before we went in for the last day of school Chloe huffed “It’s not fair that today is the last day. I want MORE days of school!” I really love that they like school now since they were somewhere between ambivalent and downright negative about school last year.

Every other week I give the kids a dollar, and they usually choose to spend it right away at the dollar store (I cover the sales tax). Last week Chloe found a beautiful yarn and decided to buy it. Before we checked out I warned her that I did not know how to knit and I’d read that kids should be 8 years old before they learn how to knit, AND that the particular yarn she’d chosen would be very hard to work with because it is not smooth. She said that Grandma Becky next door would teach her how to knit. Every day when we’d drive home we’d note that Becky’s car was not there as she’d gone on vacation for several days. As soon as Becky was back Chloe was so excited to go over there. Becky said she’d be happy to help, that she’d give Chloe some left over yarn that would be easier to work with, and told us what kind of needles to buy. The next day we bought a kit with two sets of needles (now Alex wanted to try also), and how-to book, and some other knitting accoutrement. Chloe watched dutifully and could do a few steps of the 4 step process, with help.

Also this week Chloe announced her engagement. She asked a boy from her preschool class to marry her and when I suggested that they get married after college, she thought that was fine. She decided that she was going to give her knitting project to the boy as a “wedding present”. With a great deal of help she made a little square about 10 stitches by 10 stitches, wrapped it in gift wrap, and gave it to the boy at school.

week ending may 17, 2009:

Week ending May 17, 2009: This week we went to Kindergarten Orientation. The kids were a bit worried about it since they didn’t know what to expect, so I assured them that I’d stay with them the whole time and that they wouldn’t be expected to do any homework. When we arrived at the school, the first thing they did was take the kids over to the kindergarten classrooms and leave the adults in the “media center” (library) to listen to speeches by the principal, guidance counselor, and a teacher. Fortunately the kids didn’t seem to notice that I had accidentally lied to them. We learned that it will be most of the way through the summer before we know who their teacher will be, or what time they will get on which bus. For the last several years the school has taken attendance at 8:25a, had lunch for the Kindergarteners at 10:30a, allowed for an afternoon snack (if the kids bring one for themselves), and had dismissal at 2:55p. There is no reason to assume it will change this year, but the county decides the bus schedule which then dictates everything else. The principal said that the first day of school is a very traumatic time, for the parents, and that they tend to see a lot of crying, from the parents, but that the kids generally take it in stride. When I went to find the kids, they were in the same classroom (there are 3 or 4 kindergarten classrooms with approximately 18 kids each). Alex wanted to go home and Chloe wanted to stay for the rest of the day. Both kids liked the teacher and Chloe loved the “partner” that had been assigned to her.

Chloe has started calling Alex “Al”. He doesn’t get frustrated with it, which is surprising since he’s angry with us for naming Alexander instead of Alex. When we try to call Chloe “Clow” (like glow, not like cow), she objected. Even at 5 she doesn’t seem to be able to see how something she does will make someone feel the same way that that she feels when the same thing is done to her.

Casey and I have our 13th wedding anniversary coming up. We are talking about piloting the boat to someplace interesting, having dinner, and docking for the night. Chloe overheard us talking about it and started crying instantly because she didn’t want us to go. I reminded her that if she goes to Grammy Barb’s house she gets… I can’t remember now what it is but it is something like extra soda, and watching “Sponge Bob” (which is NEVER allowed in our house). Chloe sobbed “but I like you better than Sponge Bob!”. I couldn’t believe it! Ever since we banned Sponge Bob he has been the hero and I have been the bad guy, and now I get to be better than Sponge Bob?! Of course I’d really rather that the kids were confident enough that a sleep over without us was nothing to bat an eye about, but being better than Sponge Bob is good too.

We also had the end of school picnic called “Bay Day” at Sandy Point State Park, and Chloe and I drove into the hood for “A-May-Zing Animals”, pictured together here: http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/May2009#

Florida 2009 day 8:

Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/Florida2009#
Florida day 8: The drive home. We got up at 5:15, packed the car and were on the road by 7:15. We stopped at a McDonalds with an our door play area at 11am for an hour, then at another McDonalds with an indoor play area at 4pm for another hour. At 7pm we stopped for one last potty break and put the kids in their jammies. At one point Alex angrily informed us that if we’d flown, it wouldn’t have taken this long, but we started running a DVD on the laptop and didn’t hear any more complaints. We ran through a rain shower near sunset and were rewarded with a brilliant rainbow. All told, it was a very easy drive.

Florida 2009 day 7:

Florida day 7: Our last day playing in Florida. Chloe was over her fear of going in the pool without the life vest. She started dipping her face in the water. Then she asked about what the skills were in the swim lessons that she’d have to complete before she could go to the next level. The skills are 5 bobs, putting their face in the water for 5 seconds, floating on their back, and floating on their belly. She got through holding her face in the water for 5 seconds and was very proud of herself. Then she started trying to swim with her head above water. Over and over she’d dog-paddle from the steps into her father’s waiting arms. She was ecstatic!

florida 2009 day 6:

Florida day 6: Today the kids said they wanted to go to the pool, but they dawdled most of the day and only had a short time to play in the pool before dinner. For hours Chloe insisted she wasn’t getting in the pool at all unless we’d let her use her life vest. We held firm and she eventually tried using her doughnut floatie and it worked just fine for her and she had a great time. We went out to dinner at the Grand Floridian Café and I gorged myself. As we were walking back to the car Chloe started grilling me about why my belly was “so big”. I insisted it was because of the over eating. She insisted that there could be a baby “in there” because “you never know when God is going to give you a surprise”.

Florida 2009 day 5:

Florida day 5: Today we went to Epcot. We hadn’t been there since the kids were one, so all of the rides that we tried were new to us. The kids were very brave about the hang-gliding ride and the Test-Track car ride. Alex LOVED Mission Space in which it feels like you are in a space ship, blasting off into space and crash landing on Mars. Chloe and I had lunch with the princesses and Daddy, Grammy Barb, and Alex had lunch at the Beirgarten in Germany. After lunch Chloe wanted to go shopping in the World Showcase and Alex wanted to do more rides, so we parted ways again. Chloe loved the kimonos and fans in China, and the dolls in Germany. Alex liked doing more rides. After we met back up we did one more ride called Living with the Land. The kids are at a perfect age because they were actually impressed by drifting along in a boat seeing where pineapples grow.

florida 2009 day 4 - Magic Kingdom

Florida day 4: We went to the Magic Kingdom today. We got there just in time for the big song and dance number that all the characters do in front of the park right before rope-drop. The pictures pretty much tell the rest of the story.
http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/MagicKingdom#

florida 2009 day 3

Florida day 3: I woke up at 2am and never really got back to sleep, so I felt really lousy by the time the kids woke up. They were playing on the floor, so I also sat on the floor hoping to score some cuddles. They both came over and fought over my lap and whined about sun burn and not being allowed to use the life vests anymore. Instead of being annoyed about having to listen to the un-pleasantries, I realized that they trust me with their concerns and that trust might not last forever. Even though I was momentarily proud to be their safety net, I didn’t want to listen to the whining about the pool all day, so when MomMom said she was going to Clearwater Beach, and Casey volunteered to drive, I thought that sounded like a great idea. We ended up driving an hour and half and when we got to the beach, the kids just wanted to play on the play ground next to the beach. A little annoying since there are plenty of closer playgrounds, but easier than trying to rinse off sand and change out of wet bathing suits in public facilities, so we didn’t argue.

florida 2009 day 2

Florida day 2: The kids spent the morning at the playground and the whole afternoon at the pool. They used their life vests because they don’t know how to swim, but were able to play with the other set of 5 year old twins who do know how. Alex got his first ever sunburn. At first he didn’t really believe us that the cause of the pain in his skin was sunburn. Chloe cried in the bathtub that her rear end hurt from the constant wedgie the life vest gave her, so I told her she couldn’t use the life vest for swimming anymore which upset her greatly.

florida 2009 day 1

Still no wifi at the condo, but the Knights Inn next door updated their router and now we can borrow their signal. Hit the road at 6:43p. The kids fell asleep at almost 9p, at woke up again in Georgia at 3:50am for a potty break. It took them almost an hour to get back to sleep and I worried they were going to stay up until dawn. The did wake up at dawn (about 6:20a), shortly after we crossed over into Florida. We had our very first ever breakfast at McDonalds, and there were on the beach (Jacksonville Beach) in our jammies before 8am (trying to find the public facilities we'd read about). The weather was perfect and the water was warm-ish. After lunch we started the rest of our drive to Kissimmee. The kids were in the pool at the condo by 4p! All told it went very well, but it turns out that neither Casey nor I are very good at sleeping in the car. Even though we saved $500 by driving (and not having to rent a car), I'm not sure we'll do it again since we are soooo tired.