Sometimes, after a long month of non-stop stuff, you just need a rest.
That is when a mom comes up with “pajama day”.
You know — where the kids wear pajamas and watch a movie while mom runs errands by herself!
It was a beautiful afternoon.
Thank you Ka for being a listening ear.
Thank you COX for having the “Flinstone Movie” available for my kid’s viewing pleasure.
Look at this guy all hopped up on popcorn while doing a little dance!
Guess what little girl just got introduced to the new punishment?
(I probably should have added in “or bite my nails”.)
Megan gave me these Bendaroos a while back, and they have lasted through MANY a craft session.
Scout created a lovely rainbow into a pot of gold.
Everyone oohed and aahed.
And then poor Icka came up with this monstrosity.
I called it a bird’s nest.
And even she knew it was a little chaotic when she admiringly looked at Scout’s piece of art.
Poor thing, but we all still tried to ooh and aah.
Scout and I got to spend the day together. We came up with a bunch of ideas, but nothing beat out booby trapping the house to “get” Micah. Not mini-golfing, not playground tour, not beach and then swim — NOTHING!
SO booby trapping it was!
We saran-wrapped the toilet.
We short-sheeted the bed.
We stuck an alligator in his drawer to scare him.
We put baby powder on the first three turns of the toilet paper roll (which he thought was itching powder!).
We drew new facial hair on the mirror to make him think he forgot to shave.
And after Navy got home, we made a new diet Coke out of sprite and soy sauce.
You have NEVER heard gut-giggles like Scout’s when Micah took a drink and spit it out in the sink!
It was hilarious!
And Micah was a great sport - seeing as it had to STINK of soy sauce when he opened it, but still took a swig.
Then Micah went in to “use the restroom” and went for the gusto again!
I was particularly impressed with his ability to start and stop.
The kids came in after he started to scream and yell, and they gut-giggled like maniacs.
Then he couldn’t figure out why he was so hairy.
(Not the right angle unless I took a shot of the back of his head.)
And we left some of them for after the kids went to bed.
But imagine their delight when he came up to them in the bath and asked what sort of powder was on his toilet paper.
That one caught him by surprise.
And when the house finally quieted down, and I was EXHAUSTED, all I wanted to do was go down stairs and crawl into bed.
But knowing I couldn’t ruin the last trap, I stayed up while Micah watched lame storage unit show after show.
When we finally went down, it kind of caught him by surprise, and I laughed.
Scout ran down first thing, and gut-giggled once more as Micah recounted getting into bed and getting stuck in really short sheets!
Nice work co-booby trapper!
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The best part — that diet Coke trap kept on giving and giving.
I think three other people had a taste of that loveliness, and we kept resetting the trap.
It was hilarious.
I love a summer morning filled with happy kids doing productive things.
Lately, we have done a lot of “reading time” & “journal time” in the a.m., so this day, we opted for something a little more exciting.
So the morning activity du jour was…..
finger painting.
And they were both as happy as little artist clams.
Too bad this “smiling” boy was locked inside because he doesn’t quite get the whole paint thing yet.
But locked-in Dash and locked-out Navy (both due to their inability to keep messes on the down low) entertained each other through the glass happily.
I was in the Legoland family bathroom with Navy as she was sitting to do her business.
We had the most interesting conversation.
Me — “Navy, how did you get all of that sand in your hair?”
“Dash kept throwing it at me and hitting me with his shovel when we were digging for Dinosaur bones!”
“Holy Cow! You just need to tell that Dash to be soft to you!”
As she threw her arms in the air, she said, “I know, it is just NOT USE!”
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Then five minutes later, I told her to hurry it up.
And that public restrooms aren’t may favorite place to hang out.
Then she moaned and groaned a bit, and then told me, “Mom, this is just really hard work.”
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When she finally finished, I gave her a ball of toilet paper.
Then she needed another.
Finally she told me she got a “clean sweep”.
I got ants in my pants to go to some sort of amusement park, so I chose Legoland which has younger rides — and would hopefully be less crowded. My mom and NayNay joined in on the fun, and it was a pretty good day. The crowds were definitely there, but we found a few little pockets where the kids just ran around like crazy and had a blast.
As soon as the kids were sun-blocked up, we hit our first ride.
Notice Navy swinging and spinning on the handrails in the background.
That was a theme of the day.
Our longest line was for this lame 25 second ride — where the kids shot targets the whole time.
But I’ll admit that the kids loved it.
Bot not the part where I scored over 600 points, and they didn’t hit 200.
Sorry suckers!
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The playgrounds were the biggest hit, where the kids ran and ran.
They loved the tube slide.
After 45 minutes at the playground, I had Scout grab Dash so we could move on.
Clearly, Dash was saddened by the news.
Navy found a Lego princess, and did her best at the “princess stance”.
NayNay was an awesome sidekick to Dash.
She is slightly obsessed.
As is he.
I died over the boat tour of “Miniland”.
Dash loved it, but would have gone over the edge if it weren’t for NayNay!
And to top the day off, Icka stole someone else’s stroller for her and Dash took take a stroll in.
She brought it over about 100 feet, and was just taking Dash for rides in it.
It was hilarious, but I made her get out and return it ASAP.
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On our way out, we stopped by the Lego store, and bought the kids a little treat of their liking.
Their picks didn’t match my picks, so I bought them each a sword and shield.
Scout was the pirate.
Navy was the princess.
Dash was the knight in shining armor.
When we got home, they all got gussied up, and went in to attack the big, mean monster.
His name is Dad.
I have it on video, and it was hilarious.
Here is the middle of the fight after Micah had to jump on the table for fear of open flesh wounds.
But the best was after I turned the video off, they kept attacking.
And the attack was brutal, and was painful, so Micah ran out the front door to escape them.
Then there Micah was…running down the street while three little swordsmen were running after him.
I caught this blurry photo of him before he ran back in the house, and up to Nonnie’s room where he locked the door and hid.
It was quite possiibly the funnest part of the day for the kids.
But upon Micah’s silent request, those swords have been hidden for a later date!
Scout was just introduced to my latest and greatest punishment.
Bella taught Dash one of my favorite tricks he does.
The “Special Kiss” involves him taking someone’s cheeks in his hands and him leaning in for a really soft kiss.
I order a “special kiss” about 75 times a day.
Last summer Scout picked “Go on a hike” out of our summer jar. But the day we were going to go, it rained and we picked out another activity from the jar.But ever since, Scout has talked about that hike several times, and my mother’s guilt has been on the rise. So I finally made it happen. I looked up local hikes, and we hit up Camino Las Ramblas, and had an awesome hike to Flag Hill.
Here we are pre-hike.
Three people mentioned to us that there were tons of snakes and to take the easy trail for the kids.
But we were up for the hardest trail…of course.
This hill was so steep, it was crazy!
I literally was afraid for Dash in the stroller, but luckily Micah managed like a pro.
When we got to the flag, the kids were wiped, but so excited we had made it!
I loved the part where we got to sign the book to say we had conquered the trail!
The two oldest signed their own names in the book.
This guy was so excited to eat some snacks and to run around at the top for a while.
Although I deserved the award (hiking at 6 months pregnant in major heat), I will graciously give the “best hiker” award to Micah — the stroller pusher.
But now that I think about it, Scout and Navy should actually get it.
They were insanely happy and brave and persistent the whole time.
But we can’t rule out the little Dashy who was happy as a little clam while tucked into his stroller, until he needed a “Neenk”!
Good thing Micah had lots of water to go around.
All three of these kids were a delight to have along.
And I think it is safe to say that we will definitely be going on more family hikes.
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When we got in the car at the base, I put Dash in his seat, and he started clapping and said “Yay!”
It was so cute.
And then as we started to drive, I said, “Well everyone, that was our first family hike with everyone. Wasn’t it fun?”
To which Navy responded with, “That was NOT everyone! Nonnie didn’t come.”
Then I explained that it would be a cold day in -you know where- before we got Nonnie on that hike!
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