Go West, Young Man (Part II)

If you haven’t read about our first trip taking the kids out west, catch up by reading here.

In Part I, I tried to capture some of the highlights. In Part II, I’d like to give you some snippets of the trip, so you can really appreciate a taste of what it was like.

Just watching all the cousins play together was so special. Here’s a video of them playing “Ring Around the Rosy” with Elsa, who is a neighbor.

 

(If you can’t see the video, click here.)

Another fun everyday moment was wrestling with Daddy/Uncle Dave. Here’s a look at the kids in action.

 

(If you can’t see the video, click here.)

And as promised, here’s a compilation of some favorite quotes we wrote down on the way home.

Favorite Quotes

• Alyssa 10 miles into the trip: "I'm boring."
• Jack after the 1st stop: "Are we in Colorado?"
• Alyssa: "Mommy, if I stand under the hair dryer [hand drier in the bathroom] will I shrink?"
• Lauren to Drew: "Say, "May I please have my train?" (after he dropped it the 100th time).
• Alyssa: "Today we are going to stay at the hotel at the side of the rectangle." (after her first lesson on maps).
• Alyssa: "I don't get it. We went to Florida and it was far away and we took an airplane and it didn't take too long. But Colorado is far away, and we had to stay in a hotel to get here. [Pause] Oh, I get it, an airplane is faster."
• Alyssa: "Drew bite-ed me."
• Laurie to the kids after we arrived: "Was that the longest car ride that you have ever been on?"
• Lauren while petting the cat, "My Daddy has whiskers."
• Alyssa: "Tomorrow we are going to hike in the mountains and maybe see some elf [elk]."
• Mike: “Alyssa, would you like to learn how to ride a bike without training wheels?”
• Drew: "Don't wash my new haircut or you'll make it dead."
• Lauren: "We're going to Bulldozer [Boulder]."
• Will to Alyssa: "When you leave, I'll be dreaming about you."
• When we told our kids that we were going to play on a bounce house they corrected us and said, "No, we are going to Bounce Town."
• Jack at Rocky Mountain National Park: "I saw a shark, elephant, alligator, snake, lion, bird and a rabbit."
• We all went out for ice cream. A kid on the bench across from us looked at us and said, "6 kids!!" [He probably thought they were siblings.]
• Jack on Pearl Street: "We're on Earl Street."
• As we left Colorado the kids said: "Bye bye mountains."

Another fun quote was when Alyssa and Will were dancing. She told him, “Put your arm in the hole.” He obliged for a little bit, but as you can see, he didn’t want to dance too long. I was so excited I had my camera ready for this!

(If you can’t see the video, click here.)

I think one of my favorite moments of the week was when we were taking a shuttle in Rocky Mountain National Park. The kids started singing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” thereby providing free entertainment to the whole bus (which I hope they found cute and not annoying!).

(If you can’t see the video, click here.)

When you take our crazy family on a trip like that, you can’t come home without learning a thing or two. So here are some things that we learned that week (mostly about the road trip):

Things We Learned

• You can survive a trip with 4 kids and 2500 miles in the van during one week.
• Wrapping new toys up as presents to open along the way helps (I recommend 1 per 200 miles).
• It's very stressful when your DVD player breaks and you still are 2 more states away from home.
• Giving each kid their own blanket in the car was a big hit, especially for those who like to play hide and seek. (Except for those times when they fought with their blankets.)
• They actually make sinks with soap dispensers and driers all in one now! They don't necessarily work, but they make them.
• The world's largest bottle of ketchup in a town called Collinsville.
• Lauren and Jack like to sing along to Kidz Bop CDs and Lauren will tell you which songs are her favorites at the ripe old age of 3.
• Not all rest stops have vending machines.
• Don't stop in a town called Pocahontas for your daughter (who loves anything having to do with Disney princesses), because there is no food there!
• When the kids won't sleep in the car, turn on sports radio or talk shows. Works like a charm.
• When you travel that far with kids in carseats, the parents get to play fetch like dogs for every toy that gets dropped.
• Having each kid pack their own backpack of toys works really well. It's one piece of luggage they can carry, too.
• When your redheaded son goes down a concrete driveway in a toy coupe, you have to tell him not to use his toes as brakes.
• A 5 year old can figure out how to adjust all the fans and corresponding controls in the van.
• When your kids are squirmy and you try to distract them by saying: "Look, cows! Can you count them?" they won't go for it.
• Eastern Kansas is lush and green. Western Kansas is full of prairie grasslands and windmills.
• When you use the random function for the first time on a CD that the kids have listened to for 1000 times, it will completely throw them off. They will feel compelled to continually ask you when their favorite song will come on.
• Mike and Laurie are very brave for hosting that many people for that long! They were such gracious hosts!
• Long road trips make Drew scream at random intervals in the back of the van.
• Low humidity takes away Drew’s super bouncy curls and makes you evaluate when it’s time for a haircut.
• Our kids love to point out every bus they see, even after 2400 miles on the road!
• Alyssa is convinced that The Arch in St. Louis is "The Ark".
• Missouri has mile markers every 2/10 of a mile. This drives some automobile operators completely nuts.
• When you lose your atlas with 2 states left to go, that is very stressful. So is stopping at a very scary place because you don't know where you are going but have to use the restroom badly.
• Lauren can make a princess wand out of Legos.
• Having a Grammy pack a bag of toys and activities for the kids to do in the car is a lifesaver at the end of a long trip.

Speaking of the end of the trip, here’s what things looked like in our van at the end of the trip.

(If you can’t see the video, click here.)

Really makes you wish you were there, huh? Still worth it! We had a great time. Thanks, Mike, Laurie, Will, Paige, and Papo & Grandma for a great week! We love you!

God bless,

Amanda

Children's Conversations

Now that the little kids are talking more, I am learning to expect anything in the car. A couple of months ago, the kids were having a really bad day, so I loaded them into the van and decided it was time to drop off my prescription at the drive thru pharmacy (I could tell you where they all are in our area!). On the way back, this is what I heard:

Alyssa: Jack, do it again. Do it again.

Jack: Poop

Alyssa: [Hysterical side-splitting laughter.]

Do it again, Jack. Do it again.

Jack: Poop

Alyssa: [More laughter indicating this is the funniest thing she has ever heard.]

That's right, Alyssa taught Jack to say poop. We have a lot to look forward to, don't we?

 

So today, when I was running errands with Alyssa, we had a couple of interesting conversations.

As we were driving with windows down, I heard paper crinkle behind me.

Me: Alyssa, don't throw any paper out the window.

Alyssa: Why?

Me: It's very bad. That's called littering.

Alyssa: What happens if you do that?

Me: The policeman pulls you over and makes you pay money.

AG: But Daddy throws his boogies out the window.

So after that unexpected laugh, we ran our first errand with no complications. Then, well, we headed over to WalMart. Ever since she figured out we were going there, Alyssa had been negotiating a little ride at the end. But as we walked in, we noticed they didn't have any little rides there anymore. Part of me was disappointed, too, because I wasn't sure what would motivate her to be well behaved the whole time for 2 errands in a row. But then I was quickly distracted by alarms blaring throughout the store. It reminded me of the fire alarms going off in the dorms at college.  I am not exaggerating, it was going off for a full 5 minutes, maybe longer. I got at least 5 things in my cart before it turned off. They said they were testing the sprinkler system. Lucky me to be there for that! Despite all the noise, I was able to hear Alyssa above all the drone. As I got some food, she said, "Mommy, could you buy me something to eat?" Down the juice aisle she said, "Mommy, could you get me something to drink?" Then we walked by a bunch of stuffed animals hanging from the side of the cereal aisle (because we all need a stuffed animal with a bowl cereal in the morning, right?) Alyssa changed strategies and said, "Can we buy this stuffed animal for Lauren?" I hope she is thinking of others and not wishing to play with it herself when Lauren was done.

Next on the list was to pick out two cards. As I was searching for a graduation card in July, Alyssa said, "Mommy, could you send me a card?" The lady next to us heard her and laughed. Then when I muttered something about how they just don't make cards for the particular obscure category I was looking for, the same lady laughed again. Something tells me I would have liked hanging out with her.

Then it was off to pay. We even cruised right up to an open lane. I was beginning to think my luck at Wally World was changing. I was buying 2 digital converter boxes and using my super duper coupons from the government. I even double checked with the cashier that I could use 2 coupons at once. No problem, right? Well, it is unless you run your credit card through the machine while the cashier is scanning the items BEFORE she runs the coupons through. So, she had to get a manager over with a magical key, void the whole thing out, rescan everything, and then use the coupons. I have to give Alyssa credit that she did pretty well through all of that. Then it was back into the car again.

Alyssa (as we are driving): Look, Mommy, someone threw some trash out the window.

Me: That's awful.

Alyssa: That's very bad, huh?

When I watched Stitch and... When I watched Stitch and... When I watched Stitch and Wee-whoa. [Lelo and Stitch]. I saw someone walk by and when they finished their drink they threw it into the water [ocean].

Me: That's terrible.

Alyssa (with great authority in her voice): Yeah, they will have to go to the policeman and pay for jail.

Next, we arrived at Dick's Sporting Goods. Alyssa immediately launched into negotiations to ride the "Xcavator" [escalator]. Then I was treated to such conversational gems as: "Can you buy something for me?" "Look this ball looks like Lauren's."and "Can you buy a shirt for me?"

Well, I let her take an escalator ride right when we got there, especially after she did so well with the coupon fiasco. I thought it might help me to case the place to find where our targeted item was, too. That didn't work, though, since what we were looking for wasn't there. But, since she did so well, we took a 2nd escalator ride. We walked around and looked at all the stuff. But then, when we were headed back down, Alyssa got a little fearful of stepping on the escalator at the right time. I can remember how I was always afraid of being caught in the things, so I didn't want to rush her. But, of course, someone was behind us while she gathered up her courage. He was very gracious about it, though. It was about this time, though, I have to admit was thinking about the good ole days when I could scarf down my lunch and run 3 errands during my lunch hour. Boy, did I take that kind of thing for granted! I also wondered if maybe Dave got off easy taking the other 3 to the grocery store at the same time. (Turns out they did very well!)

So later that day, Dave was putting on Drew's shoes. As he leaned over, a bit of flatulence leaked out. Lauren said "Da-dee" then a few seconds later said "tooted" and then a few seconds after that she held her nose and said "Pew eeee!" We couldn't not believe that came out of her mouth completely unprompted! It was just about as funny as than one of those GasX commercials. (Try to say "Your son Rip is on line toot" with a straight face.)

Later on, we were all driving home in the van and, Alyssa (who was buckled into her carseat) said, "Sometimes when Lauren drops things, she asks me to get them and when I tell her no, she gets an attitude." (Or maybe she is just two.)

Shortly after that, we saw some hot air balloons out the window. After Lauren spotted them, she looked at Alyssa and said, "Ahhissa, see?" We thought that was so sweet that she didn't want her big sister to miss them. They were pretty to watch and the perfect way to end another typical day with our family.

God bless,

Amanda

It's the Little Things That Make You Smile

As you can imagine, life in our house is pretty chaotic these days. The workload alone keeps me hopping and I have accepted that my house will never win any "Housekeeping of the Year" awards. But as I stopped to catch my breath, I realized that there are lots of little things throughout the day that make me laugh or smile. Here's a sample of some moments that made me smile the last 24 hours in our house:

* As we sat eating dinner, we looked over a Drew, who was supposed to be happily eating his yogurt out of the suction cup bowl we bought for such an occasion. Instead, he has stuck it on the patio door behind him.

* In the morning, before I get the little kids out of their cribs, I have to give Drew his medicine for acid reflux. I give it to him by syringe and then rinse it out. I forgot to shut the bathroom door, so when Jack was out of his crib and noticed it, he stood looking at the door saying "ut oh, ut oh."

* Alyssa likes to hold blank photo albums and flip the pages as she "reads" stories that she has made up for us. (It really confuses the triplets when she is done and they grab the same album and see nothing on the pages.) One of my favorites is the story about Daniel from the Bible. She ended it with "and Pharaoh hit him with the car."

* Lauren fell down the stairs (she only has access to two of them). I wasn't there to see what happened, so I was quizzing Alyssa for some clues to which injuries I needed to nurse. When I asked Alyssa where Lauren hit, she said, "on the wall." I guess next time I'll have to specify "Which part of Lauren's body was injured?"

*Shortly after I got Lauren to stop crying, Jack changed from quietly sitting next to me on the step to balling his eyes out. Then when I thought out loud "Why is he crying?" Alyssa said, "Mommy, he's got a ball stuck in his mouth." After I was sure he wasn't in any danger (it was a ping pong ball that we had confiscated a while back), this made me laugh out loud. He kept getting madder and madder. It reminded me of the scene in airplane where the woman has eggs coming out of her mouth. You just never know what you'll see around here - especially when you think all the ping pong balls have been hidden for months.

* A couple of minutes after Lauren and Jack both calmed down, someone decided it was a brilliant idea to bang their head on the wall. This made the other kids laugh. The next thing I know, all 4 of my kids are purposely banging their heads on the wall and giggling about it the whole time. At least I didn't have to worry about their injuries anymore!

* In the morning the kids like to look out the window and watch the bus go by. The triplets can all say "bus" now. It's so cute to look at them all from behind staring out the window. But now when they look out the window they say bus. They seem confused that it's not there all the time.

* When it's time to get dressed, Alyssa often likes to pull her nightgown down just below her shoulders and wear it hula style and do a little dance. But today she has gone through a growth spurt and can't wear her nightgown that way anymore. She cried hysterically, because she can't do the hula in it anymore.

* The kids fight frequently over the toy of the day. Today it was the giggle stick. There is something about these little people with big heads, not much hair and short stubby legs duking it out that makes me laugh sometimes. You don't have to teach them to act like siblings. It just comes naturally.

* Alyssa and Lauren were walking around the obstacles on the family room floor. Alyssa informed me that they were mermaids and they were trying to avoid the sharks. Who knew we could fit in an aquarium in that room, too?

* Thanks to several generous people, we were able to cash in 3 gift cards and get a small bounce house for the kids to burn off energy in. It's so fun to watch them bounce around and see their hair stick straight up as the static electricity builds up. Lauren is a manic in that thing and her little body bounces so high, that sometimes I think she will bounce right out of it.

* Alyssa loves to dance all the time, so naturally, the triplets want to be just like their big sister. Whenever we put music on now, the triplets bop up and down and twirl around. It's really cute when all 3 of them do it at once.

* As I was in the kitchen working, I looked over and Alyssa and Lauren were sitting on the Dora beanbag chair together. Alyssa was "reading" her little sister a book. A few minutes later, the boys joined them and I had all 4 kids perfectly posed for a picture.

* I was holding Drew on my hip and we were near the kitchen counter. He decided out of the blue that it was just hilarious to bend backwards and rest his head on the counter. I still don't know why that was funny.

* The triplets are just getting to the point where they are starting to run everywhere. They are still pretty new at it, so sometimes their little legs don't work too well. It's cute to see as the stumble a bit on the way to their new adventure. Sometimes they like to run to the front door and back. Sometimes they make a sound like aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh. They seem to enjoy hearing how the sound changes as their feet hit the ground and change the vibration of it.

* As I was going about my daily chores, I happened to look across the room to see Alyssa hopping across the floor like a bunny.

* Before we eat, I load the triplets in their booster chairs and put on their bibs. This is something we call "lock and load." Jack got a little impatient today and for the first time just crawled right up into his chair and was sitting there waiting for me to buckle him into it.

* I remember a time when the kids didn't even know how to feed themselves finger food. Now, as I dish out the food, they point to a spot on their tray and show me where they want it.

* I forgot to space out the kids enough when I put them in their seats for lunch today. Next thing I know, Drew is grabbing Jack's bib and strangling him with it.

* During lunch time Alyssa fielded a phone call for me. She said, "Mommy, it's for you. It's the operator."

* A little bit later into lunch, Alyssa asked me, "So mommy, how was your day?" You would have thought she hadn't been with me all day, including first thing in the morning when she woke me up!

* Often when Jack is sitting in his chair, he will say "Mommy!" If I respond with "Jackson" he says "Mommy again and we go back and forth. The really funny thing is that the way he says it, you would think he was in the mafia or on the show "The Sopranos."

* After lunch, loading the dishwasher is quite a challenge. Not only do I have to keep little people away from the knives, but I also have to keep them from crawling into it. So instead I turn it into a game that they can help me close the door. Then I thank them by "giving them dawg" (hitting our fists, kind of like gimme 5). But I have to give dawg to all 3 of them then.

* Later I looked over at Lauren, and she is just babbling away on her toy cell phone. I don't know who she has to call at the age of a year and a half, but it sure did seem important.

* We have some of those plastic frogs that you push down the tail and then they jump up high. The kids were bringing them to me and just giggling as they flew threw the air. They were trying to do it themselves, but just don't have the finger strength yet. We also found the windup bunny that goes around in circles. You would have thought I had taken them to a carnival!

* I had a bit of a cold, so Alyssa spent the day nursing me back to health with homemade pretend plastic cherry pie soup. It was delicious. I think.

* The closet in the kids' room has become a mess of once sorted shoes. It was all over when the kids decided that was a fun place to play. Lauren brought me a shoe to put on and it was a summer sandal I had been wanting to check the fit on anyway. It fit just right, but I told Lauren that I had no idea where the other one was. A couple minutes later she came back from the abyss of the closet and handed me the other sandal to put on. She wore them for an hour, too!

* Later, as I held Drew again on my hip, he decided that he had to have my thumb to eat. It wasn't time for him to eat, he just thought my thumb was a luscious thing to chew on at that instant.

* In the family room where the kids like to play, Lauren decided to climb up on one of the little shelves and laid down for a bit. Life is rough at her age.

* It is so precious when the triplets want something like a ball and I give it to them and they get the sweetest smile on their face.

* Alyssa did a curtsey. Lauren wanted to be just like her sister, so she tried to do a curtsey, too. The only problem was that she had pants on and didn't have much to grab to do a curtsy with.

* For some odd reason, the kids think it's really fun to take off my shoes. So when I actually sat down for a minute, there is Drew taking off my shoe.

* Last but not least, I even had a moment to laugh during naptime. I was enjoying the peaceful calm time of the day, but I was also looking out the window to see if it was freezing rain or snow coming down at this point. I happened to be looking when the mail lady came by. Evidently, it was freezing rain, because as she went to deliver my mail, I noticed her pull out a mallet and pound on my mailbox to get it open. Isn't it a federal crime or something to beat a mailbox with an object like that? Yet it was the mail lady who did it! That explained why our mailbox was so bent. I thought it was so punk neighbor kids. I never would have guessed it was a federal employee!

I just never know where my laughs will come from around here!

God bless,
Amanda

This was copied and edited from our previous site on Babysites.