We love Shamu!

So on one of the days that I had to be at work and was regretting doing a double and so tired of all the people who seemed to be so high maintenance, I got a little ray of sunshine from one of my really good friends. A passenger had purchased five city passes and had not been able to use all of the coupons that were inside. So the passenger gave my friend the coupons and he gave them to me.

The coupons left over included free tickets to Seaworld, where I have never been, and zoo or Wild Animal Park passes. The zoo I have been to so we invited my friend Josie and her husband Ricky to go along with my husband and kids and I.


We decided to go late in the day after everyone got off of work. The first thing we did is let Jack run around the Bay of Play, which he thoroughly enjoyed. He jumped on a giant air filled trampoline and ran through hanging punching bags and climbed through the biggest net/tunnel/bridge that I have ever seen. I had to follow him through the climbing maze because there were so many exits he could have come out without me knowing it and I could not have that. So there goes Mommy climbing and crawling and running and sliding and I was so tired and my thighs hurt. Jack... he still had plenty of energy after nearly exhausting me.



Alex had his fun too. He spent some time in the giant sand box and then played music on large instruments that he just loved. He was so cute running around and hitting the giant xylaphone or the chimes. He was having a ball.


We finally did go and see the exhibits, but not very many. We saw the penguins, which reminded Jack of Mumbles in Happy Feet. We saw the sharks and both kids were awed when we walked through the tunnel and saw sharks swimming on top of us. We also saw manitees, the Budweiser Clydesdales, and sea lions.

The best part of the entire night was the Shamu Rocks show. It was a show set totally to rock music and guess what?... It rocked! I loved it and Jack loved it and Alex loved what he saw of it when he wasn't trying to give our stuff away to strangers or steal stuff from the people in front of us. I'm excited that I will actually have pictures of me with my family doing something because Josie loves the role of shutterbug. I still need to get the pictures from her camera and then I will post them.
The white spot you see is part of Shamu's underbelly. It is very hard taking pictures through 3 inch thick glass in the dark. The boys loved Shamu. Jack would get so excited everytime he swam by and Alex would stomp and point.
Jack just could not keep his eyes open anymore and missed the last part of Shamu Rocks.
Alex on the other hand, wide awake the entire time.

The visit to Seaworld didn't last long but it was worth the cost of admission (FREE) and I would love to go bacck and see more shows. I do however recommend to anyone who goes that you have to see the Shamu Rocks show.

As if I was not tired enough, the next day Andy wanted to go to the beach to brush up on his swimming skills. So we all went to the beach and I watched the kids while Andy swam a few miles. Unfortunately, along with the camera, I forgot the sunscreen and I got a sunburn and Jack burned his back just a little and Alex (who had on a shirt) got a pink nose.

We did not realize we were burned until later in the day, but while we were at the beach we had a lot of fun. Alex would throw himself on the ground and swim in the sand and Jack was all over the place with his little sand trucks and digging and what not.

I dug Alex a little hole that was just his size and when he got a little chilly from being in the water and having the wind blow, I would put him in the hole and he would play and dig and just thought it was the greatest thing in the world. We call it the baby hole.

Needless to say the next day, when I had to work, I was exhausted not only from the running around, but also from the sunburn. I ached and I was tired and my two doubles the next two days were so hard. I made it through and am still so tired, but I got ot do something fun with my family and that is what matters most to me.

Late night studying... Where am I,college?

I completely forgot what it was like in high school to stay up til the late hours in the evening trying to finish your assignment that is due the next day and that you have failed to work on because you still have plenty of time. Not anymore. I have been really good at keeping ahead of my assignments for school the last couple of months but let it slip this last two weeks. I have had an excessive amount of days off in which to complete my school work but can't remember for the life of me why I didn't get it done.

Perhaps I was busy with the kids or watching TV (that is definitely not it unless Spongebob sucked me into his evil spell, i don't get to watch TV) or perhaps it was a mutlitude of chores that eagerly filled my every waking hour. I need a schedule that I can stick to.

I had planned on only working three days a week by doing doubles on two days so that I would have more time to do the things required of me; however, I have found that this plan has backfired slightly due to the increased lack of sleep resulting in a very nonfunctional inefficient me. Dishes need washing? I'll fill the sink with water and soap and while that is happening I will go do a load of laundry... whoops the baby needs changing and I need to get all these toys off the floor before I puncture my foot one more time... then the water is too cold to wash dishes and I forgot the clothes needed to be moved from the washer to the dryer and my life is constantly moving backwards when it shoudl be going forwards. By the way the assignment was due today at midnight Arizona time which is, I believe, eleven my time and I forgot about that until I turned it in and noticed that it is 20 til eleven and I am lucky that it wasn't late. Or maybe we are the same time and it is Daylight Savings...(is it on or is it off) Sometimes the same sometimes different...I never can tell. All I know is that it is dark when I go to work and dark when I come home, but I get to tuck the kids in bed and I love that.

It seems I have lost my focus lately. I have been trying hard to do do the things I need to do, but I have become increasingly stressed out and easily angered and annoyed and I try not to take it out on the kids and when I do I feel like a bad mother. I want to cook my angels meals everyday but sometimes forget or am too tired. How do they get up every day at 7 am without fail. Oh yah, it's because they don't get up at 3 am 3 dats out of the week and stay up past 8pm 4 nights a week. Charmed little lives they lead... My babies who aren't really babies anymore.

I love them too much, even when Jack tells me he hates me because I won't give him any cookies because he didn't finish his dinner. How about an apple instead? Even when Alex dumps the full glass of water for the third time in one day or drops the remote control in the toilet or throws Mommy's shoes in the trash. I still love them and they make me smile with their little faces that cannot lie. Yep, I still love them and hug them as they try to run away from me... Then I mock sadness and they come back to tell me it's okay and that they really do love me.

And it is really late at night for someone who wakes up at three so when I read this tomorrow I will ownder who posted it and why they are so crazy. I have to get some sleep.

Sprinklers and fireworks do mix

The fourth of July was fairly uneventful for us as we decided it was far easier to stay home and BBQ then to go out and fight the crowds at the beaches just to get a good seat for the fireworks. So Andy grilled us up some brats burgers and we spent the entire day drenched in sunblock and sweat and a little water from the sprinklers. It was nice to have a full day as a family to just play and enjoy each other. The kids loved having our undevided attention for the entire day. We took turns pushing the kids on the swings, working in the garden, and playing in the sprinklers. Jack and Alex had such a blast. Alex didn't really get the concept of the sprinklers but got wet none the less. He kept trying to get a drink from the spray and it surprised him everytime the sprinklers sprayed him in the face.


Jack on the other hand knew all to well what the sprinklers were for. He started out fully clothed and got progressively more naked the wetter he became until he was running around completely in the nude. It is very difficult to talk a three year old out of taking his underwear off when it is obviously bothering him that it is so wet (no, it never occurred to us to actually put him in his swim trunks). I tried to talk about what the Fourth of July meant to Jack, but he very rarely sat still long enough for me to get much more then "America fought and won our Independence on this day." Alex did not make it far enough to watch the fireworks. He conked out around eight after having his hair cut and a nice warm bath. He had a big day for a 17 month old. Jack also received a haircut as well as Andy.
Jack on the other hand stayed up until about ten. We went out to the back yard and sat up in the playset and watched the 8:30 firework show in national City, which was alot closer to our house then I realized, then stayed up to watch the 9:00 fireworks that were being set off in the bay. We were far enough away that we could see all five shows going on at once. We stayed up just a little longer to finish watching a movie before Jack finally was worn out enough to go to bed.
My kids can be so cute sometimes... I mean, all the times.

Not so secret garden

So when we first had to move from our townhome that we rented, that just happened to be right on the beach, I was pretty upset. Not just because I liked the sound of the waves and had gotten used to the smell of salt water and fish (it really did smell like fish early in the morning), but also because it was a huge place with tons of room and we had lived there so long that it had become like a real home. Andy had lived there for over ten years and I had been there for almost four. Alex and Jack were both brought home from the hospital to that home and my sister, parents, Andy's parents, and various others had come to visit us there mostly to see the beach, but here we are in another rental house about four miles in from the beach and I thought I was going to hate it, but I don't.


There are downsides to this house in particular, like the fact that it backs up to a four lane highway and that it is smaller then we are used to, but living inland and in a house that has its own yard has been one of the best things for our kids and myself that we have experienced. We have plenty of space for the kids to play out in the backyard without having to watch them continuously. We were able to get the kids a playset, which they love, and we were able to get a little wading pool for them to play in on hot summer days. Not to mention the barbeques and the patio set we never had room for before. I never realized how much time we really spent indoors at the other place. I know it seems like we would be out at the beach daily, but there is only so much sand you can take when it gets everywhere...EVERYWHERE!


So now as I was outside this morning I just wanted to share a little piece of sanity that I was able to give myself and my family at our new home (new?...maybe been here almost a year). The way the house is set up there is a kind of useless piece of yard in the back on the side of the house that was full of rocks and glass and trash from the previous renter. We did a lot of hard work, boys included, clearing it all out and digging up the rocks to make the space useable enough to plant a garden.


At first it is a little disappointing to do so much and get so little in the first couple of months. It has been almost two months since we planted lettuce, both iceberg and romaine, but had little success because of an influx of aphids and little knowledge of what we were supposed to be doing or when the lettuce matured. At that same time I planted some strawberries and out of the six only three survived. Bummer.


Since then we have successfully grown onions, sweet potatoes and strawberries, which are so much better then the ones I get at the store. I also just recently put in cucumber plants and they have taken to the garden like a weed. I checked the other day and I saw teeny tiny cukes growing on the vines. I try to weed the garden once a week, but sometimes I don't and then I pay for it later. I am way excited that soon I will be able to harvest the fruits (and vegetables) of my labor.

Now that's a vacation!

OK, I just need to let everyone know how excited I am that in August when we are able to go see Jack and Alex's Grandpa and Grandma Konlock and Uncle Mark that Andy, Mark, and I will be making a short trip to Chicago so we can see Wicked. I loved the book and kept seeing that the musical would be in Los Angelas at the end of this month and the beginning of net month. I had mentioned it to Andy but didn't really think too much on it until I came home from work the other day and he suggested we go see it in Chicago while we are on vacation. Andy's mom, Ann, volunteered to watch the kids so that we could go. Although we had originally asked to see if she would have liked to join us, it was clear after she offered to watch the kids that someone would have had to stay behind with them. Anyway, we got a hotel and plan on making a day of it there in Chicago and then stay overnight and site see the next day in places like Millennium Park, Navy Pier, and the Sears Tower. Fun!!!

Alex becomes a big boy!

We finally decided that it was time to get Alex a toddler bed. Lately when I have been putting him down for his afternoon naps he has just climbed out of his crib and spent the next hour or so playing in his room quietly, which is nice, but I am afraid he is going to fall and crack his skull during one of his escapes. IKEA here we come.
Jack's bed.

IKEA is where we got Jack his bed and we really liked it. We were hoping to get another one for Alex just like it so they would match, but, of course it has been about 2 years since we purchased Jack's bed so they had a newer, updated version. It is still nice and well made, but slightly larger. Normally we do not buy anything large from IKEA, but they did a really good job in the construction of this particular piece of furniture.
Alex's bed.

We got it home and Andy put it together that night. I was kind of hoping he would do it the next day when I would be working a double, but he didn't want to, so i stayed up later then I should have helping him put the room in order and get the bed in. needless to say, I was exhausted after working 15 hours the next day.I still have yet to recover.

We also got some character sheet sets with matching comforters for the boys. Jack got to pick them out. He already had Cars and Transformers, so he chose Thomas the Tank Engine and Spiderman.
They are so cute together.

Anyways, Alex loved it and immediately crawled in and pulled the covers up. He slept pretty good in it that night and didn't fall out even once. The next night (last night) he decided to crawl into bed with Jack after playing in the dark for about an hour with each other. I checked on them this morning and Alex was sleeping right beside Jack at the foot of Jack's bed. So cute. I wish I hadn't been on my way to work this morning, I could have enjoyed it more.

I guess my baby is growing up. He no longer will be in his crib, he walks around and climbs just as well as Jack does, and pretty soon he will be talking too. All his milestones are going by so fast. He is no longer a little baby but a little boy. It is hard to say when that change takes place, but you can see the little boy in his face now. I saw it when Jack turned from a baby to a boy too and it was just as hard then as it is now. This is just a little hard to swallow only because I know I will not be having anymore kids, so I will not get to see these milestones anymore in my immediate family until My kids grow up and have kids of their own. Makes me sad. makes me love them more each day. Makes me want to take lots of pictures. makes me happy.

My babies are growing up

I am being matriculated!!

I have been patiently waiting for my grades to post in my last two classes. I was worried that I really didn't do too well and was expecting a B or less; however, I was pleasantly surprised when I checked today and got 100%. 100%!! This was in my grammar class, which I am not fond of, and the teacher had always marked my assignments off by 1 point every time, so I was expecting to be graded harshly. Who knows... maybe I was and I am just that good. Anyway, I passed both classes with flying colors and can star putting my full focus on my 2 new classes. I have another grammar/writing class and, finally, an accounting class. It's about time, considering that is what I am trying to get a degree in. I am super-excited. That's right, I am happy to be in school. I forgot what it was like to learn and I love it. Frustrating sometimes, but I love it.

Speaking of school, I am waiting for the new GI Bill thingy to pass to see if it allows spouses of veterans to use the GI benefits . If it does, i will be doing a lot more educating of myself. Let's keep our fingers crossed.