Sea World, a Bad Mommy Moment, and a 25 Year Reunion

 

Homeschool Day at Sea World

Sea World had a homeschool day that was discounted tickets and everything was shut down except for the animal exhibits and some educational programs.  We haven't been to Sea World since moving here because every time we have  started to get the tickets we'd just cringe at the cost (plus the crowds!) and cancel the plans.  So when this came on my radar I jumped at the chance to take the younger boys, especially since they don't even remember ever goin because they were so young or *cough* not born at all *cough* Bob.  The educational talks were not well planned out or executed.  It was hard to get to them all because of the times and locations not being orderly and the ones we made were so crowded that we often couldn't see the demonstration at all.  That was due to there only being one of each talk for the whole day.  If they'd had repeats of the talks then not everyone would have been in one location at one time.  However, the boys had a blast and learned a thing or two.  A each exhibit, there was an educator to answer questions which made up for missing most of the events.  The beluga whales had a large seating area so we could actually see what was going on, but they were in breeding season and "refused" to come out and perform.  We did see the dolphins and whales though.

After a memorable Mass

So, don't judge me but this particular Sunday it finally happened.  Everyone always asks me if I have ever left one of my kids.  Brian had gone to another Mass because he had to work on Sunday which is a rare occasion.  So It was just me and the seven kids.  I was so very impressed walking out the door that we were totally on schedule leaving and there were no wardrobe issues.  We discussed on the way there that Judah would get to sit next to me this time.  As we are nearing the parking lot, 25 minutes away from our house, I start giving instructions to the kids and Genevieve says, "Where's Benjamin?"  (Yes, she still calls him that and no one even notices anymore because he goes by Judah with everyone else, minus his dad.)  Anyway, panic overtakes me. I do make sure she's not kidding or mistaken before I make a U-turn and have the kids drop in through our security cameras to talk to him and tell him we are on our way back.  Hannah looks up another Mass time at a church closer to home.  We basically just have time to grab him and turn around to go to Mass at a different time and place.  

Judah is old enough to stay home by himself, but because Drew is just two years older and is a homebody he hasn't ever stayed totally by himself.  He had been looking for his Religious Education homework and was in the school room when I turned off all the lights and left.  When he realized that he had been left, he looked for the home phone, but it had been left on the Lego table and was dead.  He never found it.  Then he sat on the couch and cried and prayed until we dropped in through the cameras to tell him we'd be home soon to get him.  How sad is that!  When we got home, I ran in to get him and said that he finally got to stay home alone like he'd been asking.  His response: Yeah, but I didn't want to to be this way."  Ouch.  I felt like a winner of a mom!  

I don't count the kids when I get in the van because they all have a fairly regular seating arrangement and everyone has another person on their row.  I rely pretty heavily on the other kids to say, "Hey, we're missing so and so."  Guess who sits next to Judah in the van...Bob.  He was reading and never noticed that Judah didn't get in the van.  Guess I need to return to counting.  

Gratuitous Cute Baby Photo

And Another

My 25 Year High School Reunion

Our whole family drove up to Dallas for the weekend so that Brian and I could go to my 25th (Yes, I'm old) high school reunion.  I went to a small private school, and I hadn't been back since my 5 year reunion.  It was actually really fun to see some of my class.  This is a mere 13 people from our class of 69 students, but it made it so we could all thoroughly visit and catch up.  I'm really glad that I went!

Brian and I before leaving for the reunion.  The kids stayed at my Mom and Dad's house and got some grandparent time.

College Reunion: Family Style

 We planned a reunion to get some of our families together from my college friend group of about 10 close friends that I've kept up with over the past 20 something years since I met them.  We knew not everyone would be able to come, but decided that we should just plan it and people come if they can.  We had five of us on board, but two had last minute issues and weren't able to make it.  So we had two big cabins and three families to split between the two.  My two oldest boys ended up sleeping over in the other cabin to even out numbers a bit.  We met at Jellystone Park for President's Day weekend.  We had three couples and 13 children, almost half of which were mine.

We are missing three kids here, but almost got the whole group together for a picture.

There were lots of outdoor activities like playgrounds, jumping pillows, basketball, volleyball, Gaga ball, and putt putt golf to start.  There was also an indoor pool since it was February.  In the evenings we grilled and roasted marshmallows for S'mores.

There were cute kids everywhere.  I was in heaven!

 Some of the girls even let me braid their hair!  I played lifeguard in the pool and rescued that cutie in the photo above when she dove in head first with no floaties on.

Then there was a glow stick "Hey, Hey" Ride scheduled for the second night.  The kids were so pumped about the glow stick hay ride.  Unfortunately, the glow sticks were not provided and cost $2 a pop at the front office, but we didn't find that out until the tractor was ready to go.  I thought for sure we'd have some fits about that amongst the little ones, but no one put up a fuss at all.  Bobby had brought his sword glow sticks from home that he'd been saving so he was the only one with any.  Also thought that may be a problem, but it wasn't.  The kids were also sad to find out that the hay ride was spelled "hey" on purpose.  There was no hay, but we were supposed to say, "Hey, hey" to people that we passed.

May the force be with you!

The moms got to sneak away and get some coffee together and we had loads of fun chatting after the kids were all tucked into their bunks.  All in all, I wouldn't do a Jellystone park again, I don't think, despite the obvious conveniences.  It is overpriced for what you get, and I think the kids would have had just as much fun at just any old cabins in the woods with no planned activities or playgrounds.  (The boys did spend a tremendous amount of time playing with water bottles, after all.)  Well, everyone except for Hannah.  She is not much of an outdoorsy person anyway though.

Reunion of "The Twelve"

"The Twelve" is what we once called ourselves. A group of us that met freshman year at Texas A&M have kept in touch for the last nine years since we graduated. This was our fourth reunion and eleven of us were able to make it for some of the weekend at least. Five are pregnant, three for the first time, so there was lots of baby talk going on. We had a great time! My mom so lovingly kept the kids for me so I could have time to talk and catch up.

Past: This was after we graduated at Brian and my first apartment. I think it was end of 2001 or beginning of 2002. It's the oldest picture I could find with all of us together, but I know there is another one out there.

Present: 2010 Three people are missing since two had already left for the weekend when we took this.