happy first birthday to the happiest, sweetest baby i know.
02 July 2010
01 July 2010
there is seriously no place like home.
i'm trying to figure out the best way to share our awful exhausting loud long tiring great trip to san francisco without droning on and on about how awesome it is traveling with 18 month-old twins. so here goes.
first mistake: not booking outrageously expensive non-stop flight to san francisco. believe me, it would have been worth it. arrive at airport to find our flight to minneapolis has already been delayed. lily waits in line while bryan pushes boys around so liam's restless screams don't fill the terminal (naptime has been interrupted by said delayed flight). wonderful man behind counter does the best he can and finds us seats on the next available flight from minneapolis to san francisco - FIRST CLASS SEATS. stroll around the airport, feeling high on life and loving delta prematurely, as they will shortly be taking their first flight flying first class... or so they think (insert evil laugh here). board airplane and prepare for a short 58 minute flight up to minnesota. hear flight attendant come over speaker to tell passengers we are 8 people over the weight limit, so will be needing volunteers: as a consolation for volunteering, receive $400 travel vouchers and be guaranteed a later flight. take off 50 minutes later than scheduled as a result of the fat-ness on the plane. arrive in minneapolis only to be put in a holding pattern because of weather (later discovering it was golf ball-sized hail). holding, holding, holding... diverted to rochester because of weather. land in rochester at 6:30 pm. filled in on plan: re-fuel, get back in the air within 15 minutes and back to minneapolis. sweet. wait for fuel truck. wait for fuel truck. watch as severe weather slowly approaches rochester. wait for fuel -- another plane pulls in in front of us, having also been diverted to this dinky airport. check watch: 7:30. continue stuffing food in boys' mouths. say a quick 'thank you god' for my sweet boys who did surprisingly well, given the situation. finally get fuel in plane. hear pilot come over speaker telling us we cannot reverse the plane, therefore we cannot take off because other plane is also getting fuel, and is blocking our way out. check watch: 8:00. call delta and get booked on 9:30 (last flight of the day) to san francisco. other plane moves, finally take off at 8:30. land in minneapolis at 9:00, wishfully thinking if we run like hell, we can still make the 9:30 flight. oh, wait a minute, someone's occupying our gate! sit on runway for 30 minutes. if you've figured out the math, you've figured out that our last flight has left the building. with empty seats on it because they didn't want to wait for more severe weather to hit. along with 14 million other disgruntled people pissed off at delta, stand in line to see what prize we get for enduring such hell. well, lily gets the radisson and bryan gets holiday inn. apparently, you scan your boarding pass and the machine spits out what it thinks you deserve. we were good, i guess, because others only got meal vouchers. whoa. luckily, i was able to call the radisson and plead with them, trying not to lose it, so bryan and the kids could in fact, stay at the same hotel as me. stand in line at baggage claim (where those 14 million other people somehow were already), only to be told it was going to be an hour for our bags. check watch: 10:30. talk to other family also flying to san francisco, told we were not getting our bags. NOT. they were going on to the west coast without us. only two people working in baggage claim that night, not happening, lily losing it, tears streaming, father of other family making sure i was ok, hearing liam and finn crying and not caring that other people maybe thought i was a bad parent for not having enough energy to feed them more food tend to them... making it to the radisson, managing to get a hotel room with 2 bathrooms (what?!) and enough space for the boys to roam, and climbing (completely. wiped. out.) into our sleep number bed at midnight, all the while cursing delta's name...
stay tuned for part two: the good part - san francisco!
oh, and if you're wondering about the first class, it was only a dream... different flight, different seats, sad bryan and lily.
first mistake: not booking outrageously expensive non-stop flight to san francisco. believe me, it would have been worth it. arrive at airport to find our flight to minneapolis has already been delayed. lily waits in line while bryan pushes boys around so liam's restless screams don't fill the terminal (naptime has been interrupted by said delayed flight). wonderful man behind counter does the best he can and finds us seats on the next available flight from minneapolis to san francisco - FIRST CLASS SEATS. stroll around the airport, feeling high on life and loving delta prematurely, as they will shortly be taking their first flight flying first class... or so they think (insert evil laugh here). board airplane and prepare for a short 58 minute flight up to minnesota. hear flight attendant come over speaker to tell passengers we are 8 people over the weight limit, so will be needing volunteers: as a consolation for volunteering, receive $400 travel vouchers and be guaranteed a later flight. take off 50 minutes later than scheduled as a result of the fat-ness on the plane. arrive in minneapolis only to be put in a holding pattern because of weather (later discovering it was golf ball-sized hail). holding, holding, holding... diverted to rochester because of weather. land in rochester at 6:30 pm. filled in on plan: re-fuel, get back in the air within 15 minutes and back to minneapolis. sweet. wait for fuel truck. wait for fuel truck. watch as severe weather slowly approaches rochester. wait for fuel -- another plane pulls in in front of us, having also been diverted to this dinky airport. check watch: 7:30. continue stuffing food in boys' mouths. say a quick 'thank you god' for my sweet boys who did surprisingly well, given the situation. finally get fuel in plane. hear pilot come over speaker telling us we cannot reverse the plane, therefore we cannot take off because other plane is also getting fuel, and is blocking our way out. check watch: 8:00. call delta and get booked on 9:30 (last flight of the day) to san francisco. other plane moves, finally take off at 8:30. land in minneapolis at 9:00, wishfully thinking if we run like hell, we can still make the 9:30 flight. oh, wait a minute, someone's occupying our gate! sit on runway for 30 minutes. if you've figured out the math, you've figured out that our last flight has left the building. with empty seats on it because they didn't want to wait for more severe weather to hit. along with 14 million other disgruntled people pissed off at delta, stand in line to see what prize we get for enduring such hell. well, lily gets the radisson and bryan gets holiday inn. apparently, you scan your boarding pass and the machine spits out what it thinks you deserve. we were good, i guess, because others only got meal vouchers. whoa. luckily, i was able to call the radisson and plead with them, trying not to lose it, so bryan and the kids could in fact, stay at the same hotel as me. stand in line at baggage claim (where those 14 million other people somehow were already), only to be told it was going to be an hour for our bags. check watch: 10:30. talk to other family also flying to san francisco, told we were not getting our bags. NOT. they were going on to the west coast without us. only two people working in baggage claim that night, not happening, lily losing it, tears streaming, father of other family making sure i was ok, hearing liam and finn crying and not caring that other people maybe thought i was a bad parent for not having enough energy to feed them more food tend to them... making it to the radisson, managing to get a hotel room with 2 bathrooms (what?!) and enough space for the boys to roam, and climbing (completely. wiped. out.) into our sleep number bed at midnight, all the while cursing delta's name...
stay tuned for part two: the good part - san francisco!
oh, and if you're wondering about the first class, it was only a dream... different flight, different seats, sad bryan and lily.
16 June 2010
totally worth it
so needless to say, our days around here have not been the best. my initial assessment of the severity of our basement was nowhere near what it really is. luckily, none of our things were ruined, but almost all of the basement was finished with carpet. which has been a life-saver with these twins running around. our deductible for insurance is more than what bryan thought we'd spend doing it ourselves, so he and my dad have been working for the last couple of days ripping up carpet, ripping out the super absorbent underneath pad and carting it outside. filling a trash can 15 or 20 times with 80 or so pounds worth of water-logged styrofoam (or something similar), and hauling it up a flight of stairs to the street. yeah. we've transferred the playroom to our office, which isn't child-proofed, about 1/3 the size of their play area downstairs, and has too many things for the boys to get into that they aren't appreciating being in there at all! no limits, mom!
thank goodness my sister was here today, although it was still a rough one... can't go anywhere inside, so hot outside - but luckily, she took them on a loooonng walk so we were able to get some work done. i cooked. which i don't really do. i found something that i knew they would like (parmesan-crusted chicken fingers - i mean, come on!) and crossed my fingers. well, par for the course, they weren't having it. so by the time bedtime rolled around, we were SO ready to put them down for the night. diapers, pj's, replacing all the pacifiers and blankets that have been thrown out of the beds at naptime, brushing teeth.. normal routine. i turned off the light, and turned on the fan as bryan was telling them 'night, night, i love you'. and then, as we were walking out of the room, we hear 'uh-yuh-you'. for the first time in liam's little life.
and the day disappeared...
thank goodness my sister was here today, although it was still a rough one... can't go anywhere inside, so hot outside - but luckily, she took them on a loooonng walk so we were able to get some work done. i cooked. which i don't really do. i found something that i knew they would like (parmesan-crusted chicken fingers - i mean, come on!) and crossed my fingers. well, par for the course, they weren't having it. so by the time bedtime rolled around, we were SO ready to put them down for the night. diapers, pj's, replacing all the pacifiers and blankets that have been thrown out of the beds at naptime, brushing teeth.. normal routine. i turned off the light, and turned on the fan as bryan was telling them 'night, night, i love you'. and then, as we were walking out of the room, we hear 'uh-yuh-you'. for the first time in liam's little life.
and the day disappeared...
14 June 2010
i learned a few things today...
- we should always check the basement first thing in the morning after a giNORmo thunderstorm the previous night
- i shouldn't think things like flooded basements don't happen to me
- something i already knew, but appreciated even more today : dads are the best
- i wasn't as strong as i thought (apparently, carrying around 2 22-pound toddlers every day doesn't make you strong - what?!)
- the wet vac is a serious machine
- seriously, dads are the best
- and i'm sure, had he not been saving lives (i exaggerate, but only a little), husbands would have been the best
- i definitely take the men in my life for granted
- am grateful for the roof over our heads, but cursing whatever part of our house let all this water in
- am also grateful i chose a day last week to clean up a major part of our storage in the basement, putting all of the babies' clothes in water-resistant tupperware
- is it still called tupperware if it isn't holding left-overs in your fridge?
- shouldn't have chosen this particular day to paint our front door 'mixed berry jam' (more on that in a bit) and change the hardware
- if the hardware on your front door hasn't been changed since the house was built (1950s?), there's probably a damn good reason
- trying to force a brass doorknob out of a door jamb with a flathead screwdriver is not a good idea
- using a hammer to jam the screwdriver into said door jamb is definitely not a good idea
- mixed berry jam, i'm slowly finding out, is a fancy word for pink. maybe even hot pink. fuchsia.
- i still love it
- but i'm not sure how bryan will feel about it
- pandora is the best app for days like this (glee radio to be specific!)
- hoping mixed berry jam dries more than just a shade darker
- and even if stan at the home depot tells you you won't need more than one coat, count on more than one coat
- starting to realize why bryan is so obsessed with his drill
maybe tomorrow i will learn how to get the doorknob out of the door.
- i shouldn't think things like flooded basements don't happen to me
- something i already knew, but appreciated even more today : dads are the best
- i wasn't as strong as i thought (apparently, carrying around 2 22-pound toddlers every day doesn't make you strong - what?!)
- the wet vac is a serious machine
- seriously, dads are the best
- and i'm sure, had he not been saving lives (i exaggerate, but only a little), husbands would have been the best
- i definitely take the men in my life for granted
- am grateful for the roof over our heads, but cursing whatever part of our house let all this water in
- am also grateful i chose a day last week to clean up a major part of our storage in the basement, putting all of the babies' clothes in water-resistant tupperware
- is it still called tupperware if it isn't holding left-overs in your fridge?
- shouldn't have chosen this particular day to paint our front door 'mixed berry jam' (more on that in a bit) and change the hardware
- if the hardware on your front door hasn't been changed since the house was built (1950s?), there's probably a damn good reason
- trying to force a brass doorknob out of a door jamb with a flathead screwdriver is not a good idea
- using a hammer to jam the screwdriver into said door jamb is definitely not a good idea
- mixed berry jam, i'm slowly finding out, is a fancy word for pink. maybe even hot pink. fuchsia.
- i still love it
- but i'm not sure how bryan will feel about it
- pandora is the best app for days like this (glee radio to be specific!)
- hoping mixed berry jam dries more than just a shade darker
- and even if stan at the home depot tells you you won't need more than one coat, count on more than one coat
- starting to realize why bryan is so obsessed with his drill
you be the judge
09 June 2010
pond fun!
i don't know if i've ever shared that i grew up on a farm. not a real farm, like corn and cows (although we have had other people rent our land from us to house their cows), but 62 acres of land in the country. a farm. over the years, we had sheep, goats, chickens, a couple of horses (for a very short time), dogs, and a countless number of cats. at one time, it was 14. 14. on this farm are two ponds. one of them was already there, and my parents put in our swimming pond a few years later. it has a peninsula, and a dock, and we spent so many hours in it... and somehow, as i've gotten older, i haven't so much been into the whole pond thing. part of it has to do with the fact that the sand guy didn't dump the right kind of sand a couple of summers ago, it's more like gravel and it's ended up more mud, less sand where you can touch. slimy. however, as the boys are getting older, i've been told a few times by my mom and dad that i can't pass my irrational fears onto them. even though it's not a fear (eyes rolling), i'm letting it go and not thinking about the algae and ginormo catfish in there.. the boys got in for the first time last weekend and had a blast!! the first of many times, i'm sure..
finn with mimi
liam having a blast with poppy!
02 June 2010
01 June 2010
swimming with the bear
forgot to take the camera to the pool... but got a few cute pics of the guys beforehand. seriously, i don't know of anything that is cuter than these three boys!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)