Can't talk....coming down....

Well, not only did we all survive our vacation, but we all had a blast!!!! I have to thank my parents for that one....the kids are wonderful and all, but 24-7 with them in a foreign environment has some serious pitfalls. Handing them off to eager grandparents definitely makes for a happy family (and I'm pretty sure happy grandparents, too).

First of all, I have to say that the Great Wolf Lodge ROCKS!!!! What an amazing place.....definitely kid-oriented, and good for a wide age range. Anya (and George) loved the MagicQuest game... you buy your own wand that interacts with sensors on items throughout the lodge. THere are a bunch of quests and you have to figure out where to go next, etc. The nice thing is that the wand is yours to keep and it stores your info so you can pick up where you left off. In addition to that game, there's the waterpark. Oh.my.god....For a few minutes when we first arrived, I thought we were going to have a problem with Baz.....the water temp seemed a little chilly and the noise level in an enclosed waterpark took a little adjusting, so his first impression wasn't favorable. However, he changed his mind pretty readily after testing the waters. It turned out that I must have taken him into a colder part of the park because the rest of the pools, etc, were very comfortable. He also learned to LOVE the kiddie slides and practiced saying "again" over and over and over! There wasn't much he didn't like (except for the concrete stairs that he fell and banged his face on :( ), but even that wasn't too bad.

Anya needed no encouragement- she jumped right in....she moved on to the big body slides right away! After swimming a bit, we moved on to the tube slides. Another winner- she wanted to ride over and over! This was another time we were happy to have Gram-Pap-Pap along....each kid had fun being with either grandparent AND mom and dad got to ride the big rides! Pap-Pap loved the big kid rides too- we rode a bunch of them over and over. The nicest thing about the lodge was that it was a very slow time. We rarely had to wait for a ride, and when we did it was only for a minute or two. Sometimes we wanted to wait a bit to catch our breath- there were a lot of stairs to get to the top!

This trip helped to assuage any fears I had about our upcoming Disney trip. The biggest obstacle for us is bedtime/sleeping and we had no issues in that department at all. Anya was so tired by the end of each day that she hardly fought bedtime at all. And she's turned into a heavy sleeper- once she goes down, she wakes for NOTHING!!!! Baz happily ran to his PNP each time we offered it. He napped at least once per day, no matter where he was (well, where the PNP was- I don't think he'd have gone down in a stroller). I have to comment again on how amazed I am by his sleeping habits. Anya would NEVER nap during the day in a foreign environment and bedtime was such a struggle. I suppose I have to find something else to worry about...oh, what will it be???

Rater than upload 5784397987 pics to this site, I made a shutterfly album and emailed it out. If I missed anyone, email me or post a comment and I'll include you (sorry about that).

Vacation!!!!

So far, our vaca has been a blast! Very few meltdowns for either kid- woohoo!!! Our trip her was pretty good- the traffic reports were terrible, so we took a roundabout route and it paid off. Baz started getting a little restless by the end, but a little car bribery (ie candy) calmed him down for the remainder of the trip. Saturday evening was fine- some fun in the hot tub tired the kids out enough that bedtime wasn't even an issue. ANya has been a TERRIBLE sleeper when we travel anywhere, so this is a source of angst for me, but she has been wonderful every night, even for my parents. Baz has been an absolute DREAM....he goes up to his PNP and asks to go in!!! This is for naps and bed....I about fall over each time it happens. I've been so conditioned by 3 years of Anya's fighting sleep at any cost that I can't adjust to a kid who LIKES to sleep. He's still been on a 5am wakeup, but this morning I put him back in his PNP at 5:45 and he went back down until 8!!! Maybe this is a solution, but I'm not sure how it will affect his am nap, but I'll take it for now! I was hoping that skipping an afternoon nap would solve the early wakeup, but no such luck. I really hope this isn't his way of getting rid of the am nap and moving to just a pm nap- I do so love 2 naps!

Enough sleep talk....what have we been up to..... Sunday was a lovely day...had a couple of trips to the hot tub- I'm so glad the kids love it as much as I do! If we even get our own, we'll be a family with some pruny digits!!! Anya got adventurous and tried jumping in many times and Baz was happy to stand on the side and play with his toys. Uncle Donovan was there when we arrived on Sat and the kids had fun playing with him. Aunt Liza came up Sunday afternoon and joined in the festivities as well.

We headed over to our resort and went bowling. Luckily, the bowling lanes were next to the arcade, so when Anya "had enough bowling" after a few rounds, she and Baz were entertained there while the rest of us finished up. She did ask to go back the next day, but I think we'll wait until she's a little older for that! We then spent a little time in the kiddie pool upstairs- the kids wanted nothing to do with the regular pool after spending so much time in the hot tub, so that was a lost cause!

Sunday night was "date night" for mommy and daddy as both kids stayed with Grandma and Pap-Pap. It sounds like they behaved and Baz mostly slept all night (except for his 5am wakeup). We enjoyed a ful night's sleep (dreams and all!!!) and a quiet breaky out. We spent the afternoon with Pap-Pap (poor grandma had to work again) and visited one of the lakes in their development. The kids came to the condo with us that evening and once again had a prett smooth bedtime. Can you tell vacations revolve around getting the kids to bed?

Yesterday was a fun-packed day. We started out driving to central PA to pick up an ebay auction item for George. Given the number of variables (traffic/construction, getting lost, meltdowns, etc), it went perfectly. On the way back, we stopped at Bucknell and I had a chance to reminisce a bit. It was very cool showing Anya the Bison and giving her the quick tour- oh how I'd love for her to go to school there. Of course, she'd hate it because I'd be there all the time, but that's a long way away. After a trip to the bookstore and a few photo ops (I'll add pics later- they're still on the camera), we packed back up to go to the Stroudsburg Fair.

The Stroudsburg fair is THE county (might even be the state fair) of PA. It's nothing like the little carnivals we go to on Long Island. This on has a tremendously huge fairgrounds and more livestock and plants than you can imagine. We picked out the most interesting things for the kids and saw the barns and barns of goats, pigs, sheep, cows, and a few horses. Baz thoroughly enjoyed using his animal sounds and loved loved LOVED the tractors and trucks. In fact, they have tractor-pulled trams transporting people from the parking lot to the fair and he must have shouted tractor a hundred times!

Anya liked the animals as well, but her fave were the rides. They had 2 different areas of rides, so she had a lot of options. The only really new ride was the Tilt-A-Whirl. We've never checked the height requirement for that one (probably because it would involve a parent riding with her), and when we walked up to read the sign, the attendant just waved us on. Crap.....this meant that I had to get on with her. (Have you ever tried to tell a 3 year old that she can't ride something???). Luckily, it was a long time since lunch, but I felt mine trying to make a reappearance. I'll have to check the camera for the pics, but I saw George on the sidelines giggling at my situation and trying to capture my plight on disk. The last ride was the spinning dragons. We've ridden this ride at every carnival this year, so I wasn't too concerned since it was jsut Anya and I and I control the speed of the spinning. Well, that ended when Maya and Hannah joined us. They were 2 cute and chatty girls who were all about spinning. Cheered on by George and my dad, they had us going at some super-high rpm's. This time, I almost did toss my cookies, so that was the end of the rides! We had another tractor ride on the way out and Anya tried some homemade pumpkin ice cream- yummy!!!

Last night, Anya insisted on sleeping at Gram-Pap-pap's, so we packed her up and Baz stayed with us and we caught up after a busy day. Today we're heading to the Great Wolf Lodge- I think it will be a blast..I'm sure I'll have lots of pics to share later!

Slytherin

Anya's made up a new way of exiting the bathtub...slithering. It's cute because she doesn't take the time to pronounce her "th"s..she CAN do it when prompted, but usually she doesn't. SO when we tell her it's time to get out, she announces that she's going to "slizzer" out, and slither she does. I'm not sure how she manages it, but she lays down on the bottom of the tub and makes her way out on her belly. If she starts speaking parseltongue, I'm looking up the real Hogwarts!

Good day

Today I can truthfully say that I enjoyed being a mother all day long. I always love the kids and love that I have them, but I don't always enjoy mothering them. Even though Baz was up for good at 5:15 (ugh), after being up twice (maybe thrice -double ugh) during the night, he was so happy and giggly, I could hardly be upset with him. He stayed happy and adorable until naptime when
it became clear that he needed a rest and sleep he did! He even happily lays down (face down, of course), when I ask him if he wants a new diaper!

Anya woke up happy as a clam, too, and barely fought me all day. She did earn a couple of TO's for hitting Baz, but went right over to the chair and took her punishment quietly. The 3 of us made a trip to Wally World and BJs for some last minute travel items and it was completely enjoyable!!! Neither kid fought getting into the car. THey happily "drove' the kiddie car through BJ"s and of course said their hello's to the Halloween PIrate. They were captivated by the prelit outdoor christmas tree set that was playing showtune-type carols at ungodly decibels! It's a cute idea, but I can't imagine keeping your neighbors happy while displaying that!

Baz truly surprised me when we stopped for a hotdog lunch at BJ's and he walked right up to a highchair and asked to go up! I was wondering how I would manage corralling him while keeping an eye on Anya and our cart of stuff, but it wasn't even a question!

The rest of the day was spent doing fun things like watercolors, princesses, watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and having parades, in addition to packing and cleaning to go! I really feel like I accomplished all my goals today, including having lots of playtime with the kids. In fact, I don't think I screamed like a lunatic at all! Bring on the vaca!!!!!

Getting ready for a vaca!!!!

Today was hectic because I was hell-bent on getting the house straightened up so I can pack on Friday and we can come home to a clean-ish house next week. Of course, with 2 toddlers, this was no small task! There were times when they were moving so fast to un-do what I had just done that I almost gave up! I did manage to organize Baz's closet and pack up his newborn-6mo clothes. THis was his cue to grab each item and toss it as far away as possible as I placed new ones in- ACK! He got distracted from this task by his drawers with even more clothes to throw around!
I did take a few breaks to play with the kids...first, we had a round of "what animal am I?". We took turns sitting/crawling, etc on the rug in the family room and acting out a different animal. Al 3 of us had fun with this one and there were no toys involved!!! Later, Anya became a conductor (this was inspired by the rubbermaid storage totes I was using for the outgrown clothes), and I had to perform as she conducted me. SHe was actually pretty good- now I have to figure out where (besides Fantasia), she's seen a conductor! I'm guessing there's been one on Little Einsteins at some point.

Fantasia rescued me this afternoon- when I finally got Baz down for a second nap and needed a little time to rush around and complete my goals for the day, I had to find something to keep Anya busy. She asked for Fantasia and was captivated for the WHOLE thing- even the little speech at the beginning! I managed to mop 2 floors, fold 3 loads of laundry and pick up 2378998 toys, while cooking up some arroz con pollo at the same time- yummy!

So now I sit here, relaxing in my semi-clean family room, packed up for tomorrow, hoping for a more restful night and knowing that in 3 days, we'll be on vaca!!!!

So what can I say about the kids today???? Baz decided to rudely awaken everyone around 6:30 this morning. George was none too pleased about this, but I think he should be happy that he had an extra hour of sleep beyond what I got, AND it was uninterrupted sleep. Baz is back to his regular "teething" pattern of several wakeups per night. I just can't give him boot camp when he's clearly cutting 4 molars at the least. He's talking more and more and even making a few 2 word phrases. He "helped" me pick Anya up today...I put him in the stroller to keep him contained and the entire time (we had to wait a few minutes for her class to finish), he sat forward and gripped the front of his stroller.

Anya seems to have had fun at preschool today, but I still don't really know what she did. SHe comes home with a few worksheets that she's done and/or colored and she told me they played on the playground, but other than that, the day is a mystery. I hope that as she gets used to it, I'll find out more, but I just have to imagine what she does for now!

They have a field trip in a few weeks- conveniently, the parents pick the kids up early (11:30) and meet at the field trip place at 12:30. OK- I'm all for doing fun things with my kids, but I work!!!! Sure, I can reschedule my patients and take the afternoon off (which is probably what will happen), but that's not easy. ANd of course it falls when both sets of gparents are away, so they can't even help out. Oh well- this should be the worst parenting situation we have, right?

Daddy took us to the zoo!

It was a perfect fall day- sunny and crisp, not too warm, not too cold.....so we went to visit the animals at the nearby zoo. It's more of a refuge for rescued animals, but it still has a good number of unusual animals. Both kids were excited to go, but Anya remembered too well the nip on her finger from an overzealous goat. Baz had no such memory and squealed with delight as the goats licked up the food from his hand. Here's a little clip:



He learned several animal sounds- "baa" as you already heard, "moo", and "tweet". He has "roar" down and kept repeating "pooh bear" at the brown bear named pooh.

We stopped to visit the turkey vulture and having been there numerous times, Anya remembered that he's missing a leg. We couldn't see today because he was sitting down, but she still asked why he was missing a leg. I told her that he was hit by a car when he crossed the road. Without missing a beat, she asked "Why didn't he look both ways before he walked?" Woo-hoo!!!! Now we just have to get her to slow down enough to remember that when it really counts!

We managed to get the pool 80% closed this weekend.....the pump, filter, and lines are drained and plugged, tons of shock thrown in, big balloon in the deep end, and the cover is on. The only thing left is to place and fill the water bags to hold it on. FIngers crossed that this happens before the week is over!