Now…be honest:
How long does it take you and your family to get out the door when you are trying to do something fun?
Let’s go back shall we, back to the days when I was a child in the house of my parent’s. I can honestly tell you that the house I grew up in had a wonderful appeal to it. My friends were always over and everyone that came to our home was comfortable there (or they faked it REAL well!). My point is that unless we were trying to get out the door for something with a start time our house was as close to harmonious as possible. Now, let me tell you a little secret, when it came to a family outing such like trying to make it to church on time or leave for vacation on time…which sounds very funny if you think about it…why would you PLAN a leave time for a vacation that’s relaxing…I get having a goal time to leave by so you don’t waste the day type thing, but make that goal realistic.
Here’s what would happen: Dad was always up super early…he had no choice he worked every morning and he’s the man who never sleeps (he got that from his mom) but that would mean he’d also be ready about 2 hours before the time to go so then about 15 minute before our ‘leave’ time he’d start his yelling (not yelling at us…at least not at this point) but you know, “time to go…Lets go…move it…I’m leaving…Tammy I’ll drive my car and meet you there…” all this is coming out and the rest of us are trying like crazy to get to the door…panic time was what it was like…in fact that’s when us girls would start yelling back, “NO!! Stop…we’re trying…AHHHHHH!” Talk about instilling sheer panic in your teenaged girls who are trying to look completely beautiful and be ready at the right time to leave…well by the time we’d all made it to the car (sometimes jumping into the van at the end of the driveway cause I guess that was dad’s way of ‘teaching us’…to be paranoid of being left…huh, maybe that’s why I have issues today of being left out…ha!
Anyway, we’d end up making the time barley but making it…but no one ever felt good about how we got there. Now, you may have an open jaw out of shock about my wonderful family…but…well get over it. After growing up and having kids or just a husband I’ve learned that you sometimes have to go to slight extremes to get your children to do things. But one thing I try hard never to do is scream as we are trying to get out the door. I can admit I’m not always successful. I simply subtract an hour to our leave time…so IF we need to be out the door by 9:30 I will put in my mind get out by 8:30-8:45 or so…and this seems to keep me calm and get everyone out on time.
Mark on the other hand is one who tries hard to take after my father…I truly think it’s a man trait. Anyway, we are trying to get to our San Francisco day trip to the Golden Gate Bridge Park. The entire week prior everyone had taken on a nasty cold or sinus thing so no one really felt their best. I wasn’t even sure we’d be going, but according to Mark, it was on. I went to Target that night before to get food for our picnic and when Mark and I talked I told him my thoughts about trying to get out the door anywhere between 9-10 a.m. but the one thing I did NOT want to do is feel rushed or pushed to get out the door. He knoded his head in agreement…or at least that’s what it looked like…little did I know he had a plan of his own…his secret plan. ‘
Morning came and I was having a nice time getting ready…Mark was almost running circles around me but he was being a huge help with the kids. He had about 100 things to do BEFORE we left but he wasn’t saying anything about it. So he was dressed and ready, fed the kids, took out the recycling, then came back for trash…by this time I was ready but the kids weren’t dressed and I was starting to feel like he was in a race to get out the door…talk about feelings welling up from your past.
I told him to relax and that only made him mad. So I got the kids dressed he felt it would help us get out the door faster if he cleaned out the frog tank…OK…too bad it turned into a rescue mission when one of the frogs (Oggy) slipped through the top of the lid and down into the garbage disposal! Don’t worry the little Oggy was ok, shocked to the core, but OK!
He then left and went out to get the kids’ seats into the bug and everything else into the car. I made our lunches and just kept moving inside the apartment…9 came and went…I could see the panic in my husband and it almost made me want o move AS SLOW AS I could! I wasn’t trying to be difficult but this was getting silly. I don’t understand the rush when it’s supposed to be a fun relaxed trip? Mark and I had a “climaxing” moment together…and he left to get more done. We were all ready by the time he came back in and he was apologizing for panicking and pushing. Needless to say we were out the door in the bug by 9:40a.m. Which according to my plan was before 10a.m. we were doing great!
Now onto San Fran…Keep us safe Lord!
Starbucks NEEDED: we made a quick stop…I got my FREE birthday drink from Starbucks and as I walked in I noticed a homeless man sitting outside the door. A well dressed man had gotten him a coffee so I thought I’d get him a muffin and he’d have a nice meal! Too bad the homeless man was gone by the time I came out…so I HAD to eat that blueberry muffin!! Holy yum!! Sorry homeless man, I tried!
We got to San Fran with little hopes of a sunny nice day…it was a good thing we kept low expectations cause it sure was a super foggy yucky kind of day…you go through the day waiting for the rain, but it never comes cause it’s just the fog. We did have slight moments of sun here and there but overall it was mostly foggy! The Golden Gate Bridge Park is a VERY popular place on a Saturday, but never the less we found a parking spot which gave us a nice walk through the park. We got to the museum area, in which they had tents and vendors set up. We sat at the big stage and ate our lunch. This gave the kids plenty of benches to climb on and us a nice time to actually try to digest our food as we ate it trying hard to just breath in-between our bites..we’ve learned just like everyone, parents that eat FASTER or enhale their food before the kids are finished have an easier time getting through a meal. Very tasty I must say!! Everything tastes good when mom buys fruit snacks AND chips not to mention the once a year purchase of juice! (I’m such a mean mom)
After lunch we took some pictures of the kids “performing” on stage and then Mark thought it would be fun to take belly pictures of…me…even though technically I shouldn’t have much of a belly yet! But look at that thing…IT’S GINORMOUS!!
After our tummies were full we headed into the Japanese Tea Garden. It wasn’t what I expected, but it was super beautiful. Even the fat Buda had a glow to him…although I would too when I sit all day and get to do nothing, ha!! The kids did relatively well except or the time Grissom decided to take Keegan down with a surprise attack from the side right in front of the gift shop…luckily I was INSIDE alone getting a map!
We saw some pretty fish…Koi?? I don’t know I just call them Buddha’s goldfish cause they look like giant goldfish. As we walked through this park area I noticed everyone must have thought we were the best looking family they ever saw…or the biggest, ha! I LOVED the looks I got…I noticed one lady counting to herself (she just forgot that her lips were moving)…she counted my kids then I heard her tell her girlfriend, “and another coming…oh wow!” I know…what a thrill for me to have such a team!! The kids got to climb a bridge that was a huge circle…daddy AND I climbed too. Except I got a little stuck trying to come down…so Mark took a picture, thanks honey!
After this the kids were getting tired and honestly I was too, but the show MUST go on so we crossed the street and went into the botanical gardens. They weren’t as vibrate as we hoped and expected, but again they were fragrant and beautiful! And it’s IN my blood to love flowers…so I’m attaching like a million pics!
After this we HAD to hit the kids’ park which happened to be where we’d parked to Bug. As we were walking back I asked Keegan, “Hey, dude, where’d you park?” He looked up at me with complete seriousness and said, “Mom…I didn’t drive…I’m your children, remember?” I had to respond with a serious, “Oh…yea, I guess I forgot that.”
My kids played SO hard that they almost couldn’t play any harder! This area was perfect. They had restrooms close so I was set…and benches for the moms…and a huge play set for the kids (Grissom was a little small for most of it, but Daddy did a great job of shadowing him around) Ella almost lost her hands to all the different monkey bars they had…Keegan almost lost his head walking past all the swings without looking…but it was a super fun way to end our park day! Daddy and his boys played a little football in the huge grassy area. We played here with the kids for a nice 2 hours. Then it was time to eat…boy how times flies when you are having fun!
We didn’t get to see the free roaming bison in this park but I read lots of on-line remarks about how you won’t see them cause they only have a few left so we were ok to skip this for now. IF we were to make any other stops back to San Fran we’ll try to hit that then, but I don’t see that happening.
Trying to get out of the park…hmmm that was wild! So we sat in the bug for a nice 20 minutes until someone finally let us out…driving in San Fran is super fun too…SO glad Mark did so well. I WAS worried about the shifting with the mountainous hills ALL over the place cause trust me when I tell you when you are stopped at a light sitting almost perpendicular to the sky the folks that live there aren’t giving on the space between them when they stop behind you. Mark did great!
I was super pumped for dinner because Mark told me he was taking us to P.F.Chang’s!! I was super pumped UNTIL I got a text from my loving mother who told me that she was enjoying the queso at a local favorite Mexican place back home (the same queso in fact that I’ve craved from day 1 of being pregnant…so much so that I’ve REALLY considered having them ship me some and then some more!!) Thanks mom…it took me awhile to get over the droll that brought on, but I had awhile…it took us a nice 45 minutes to go 15 miles to get to Changs.
Boy…let’s just say you about had to ROLL me outta there! WoW, baby!! I forgot just how much this mama can put down when I really wanna…not sure how great it felt afterwards, but it was good and I got bigger!
Have you ever noticed that when you are pregnant that you can REALLY see your belly get bigger and bigger as you eat? Hmmm…it might just be me!
After Changs was the mostest bestest part…Mark said, “How about a stop at IKEA!!” We didn’t have much time to spare before they closed but all I was wanting was a few NEW bath towels (Ours stink to high heavens!!) You would have thought I’d won the lottery! I was excited! SO…a few $$ later and I had a few new kitchen towels…and some super huge bath towels for both Mark and I. I think our water stinks in the apt. plus we’ve found that nothing ever dries all the way unless you put it in a dryer. So you can only imagine how mildew our towels were starting to smell – yuck!
By the time we got home it was only about 11p.m. so the kids went straight to bed and Mark and I were able to have some ‘date-night’ fun doing something we NEVER do…we…watched another movie (scared you!!).
All in all I had a great day in San Francisco!! I think this was officially the longest my birthday has ever lasted! I guess turning 33 really wasn’t THAT bad!
Sunday night: Mark and I laid the kids down. We’ve found life starts better when Keegan’s in his own little space away from the other 2…it’s always that middle kid I tell’ya! So Keegan’s been camping out on our floor. He thinks it’s for fun, but we know it’s more for sanity! So we got Ella and Grissom tucked in and had just walked out of our room after praying with Keegan. We literally had just sat down and turned the TV on and we hear Keegan, “Mom…Dad………Mom! Dad!!” Mark got up to see what was wrong. He opened our door and asked, “Hey, what’s wrong, what’s with all the screaming?” “Dad…did you hear me? Did you hear that? I’ve been SO quiet!!” Mark, trying not to fall over in hysteria said back, “Buddy, you’ve only been in here for 3 minutes!” To this Keeg said, “Still Dad, I’ve been super quiet!” "Yeah...til now," added Daddy. I LOVE this child!! He was so serious and SO proud of how quiet he’d been!!
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