Day 2

Ok yesterday being uneventful only led to today being a little more eventful. Wake up 8:00.....continential breakfast delivery ........my job. UMM HMM........there I stand making waffles........so much for vacation. Delivery......everyone happy....husband gone. Yeah making his own waffles and going to eat them on his own leisure. Gotta love the man. Pool time, everyone enjoying the water and the heat of the sun so the morning is going quite smoothly. Then......packing up. Yeah the dreaded getting organized time in our lives. Jeff is out at the van organizing and I am left with the kids.............about that time here comes Kennedy doing the whole need to catch my breathe screaming deal..........yeah hand in the door. First thing that runs through my head is Oklahoma City Emergency Room..........you have the picture don't you? Yeah well........4 stitches later......a little motrin.........and later......a little tylenol with codine (can I use that for everyone?) The doctor said two things that are pretty indictive of my world........"She screams like a Husker fan" and "She is a pretty tough little girl"..... umm hmm she has a sister and brother both 2 yeara older than her, she has to be. Ole brother Jackson might have helped Kennedy earn the first stitches in this family, and I am quite sure that it won't be the last.

So yeah onward again. Everyone slept this afternoon, those might have been the most quiet 100 miles that we will see in this trip.....made a phone call home to my mom and I told her we ended up in the ER and Kennedy has 4 stitches.....she was bawling. Great guilt at it's best...because no one and I mean NO ONE can guilt me like she does. Of course she is convinced that there is no superivision going on in my house at any given time........she is great. Amazing how she has forgotten.......and I have scars of many places that should have had stitches and didn't. Of course there are also the wounds that I wouldn't have shown her at the time I did them either......that is a whole other point.

We stopped to play at another Playland this afternoon...........closed................AWESOME. Jackson continued to scream like a girl laying on the floor for what seemed like an eternity. We go back to the van and of course Kennedy has done her duty so we are looking for a new diaper. Unpacking, repacking.........seriously we should be more organized. I was throwing stuff out of the vehicle left and right and I saw a vehicle pull up behind me.......I ignored them. I really don't care what else goes on around me at this point. I see them pull out and then pull up to the back of the vehicle......I go around to the other side and continue to pull out other items we no longer need..........and then note they are talking to Jeff and Jeff has stopped what he is doing to talk to them. All of a sudden..... I hear them saying some sob story. I turn around, and quickly assess the situation, standing in 105 degree heat with Kennedy the 36 pound wonder, and two other kids running around the vehicle. Here is a newer than mine Explorer, a lady with much more fashion than I have, all of her teeth, husband, clean vehicle..............and yeah..........here goes the tude..........another thing I packed just in case. I looked at them, looked at Jeff who happens to be the world's largest guppy..........and I state "You know what we all have our problems, I am sorry for whatever is going on in your life........but no we aren't helping you. I am sorry we are just trying to make it for ourselves, we have three kids, we have our own bills..........sorry you will have to go on somewhere else thank you and have a great day." UMM HMM..........now the idea of a bullet sticking into my head just came around............no.........even better they gave me the ole " God Bless You and your children, Mam." Yeah great. God on their side. He must have helped them out a lot in about 40 feet as they went through McDonald's drive thru. Then I stuck a hole in my styrofoam cup..........pop everywhere. We drove off and I am ranting and raving to Jeff about the whole situation and I hear Delaney say something dropped out of the vehicle...........yeah her cup..........God was paying me back pretty quickly I guess for being sharp tongued...........gotta love it.
So after a detour not being able to find the hotel, we finally got here. Checked in, had a great visit with the lady at the front desk, once again reframing me to believe that God puts people in your life at the right time, and we are ready to go swimming. We unpack and the kids rush into the room to check things out, and pretty soon Jackson is carrying around a coffee pot. Yeah great Jeff says and then goes and tells him to make coffee. Which........of course he does..........and Delaney gets burned. Jackson once again.....just helping out. That was at 8:30....Miss Drama Queen just fell asleep now.........we have had two runs for ice........I have refilled her cold ice water cup every 10 minutes for the last 3 hours.................I think she is sleeping. I calmed her a little playing with her hair and she suddenly looks at me and tells me she loves me........that is what it is all about. If you don't have that, you don't have much. Jeff went off about how dramatic she is.......and I just reminded him maybe not everyone has the same pain tolerance his wife does!!! Point made. She may have gotten a little of the expressiveness from me I will admit. We always know what Delaney is thinking and feeling. Watch out world. She also was telling me what each cloud in the sky looked like today. She is very creative.
Jackson also got Jeff tonight............great story. We had some beer chillin in the sink with some ice and water.........and Jeff went to put on his swimming trunks. Can't find them. Tells me that Jackson had them...........well they were chillin too! Classic. Jackson does the whole sqealing thing.......and onward. I am sure he will get me tomorrow......and the day after that ..........and the day after that. I just hope we survive the rest of this trip without anymore ER hopping.
Happy trails...........

Kennedy is doing fine too........I told Jackson not to squeal in the vehicle today and about that time she lets out this huge squeal......looks at Jackson and laughs...........the whole belly laugh type of laugh..............great! I think I have met my match.

Shamu tomorrow............think he is ready for us?

Day one

Wanted to leave Coleridge by 10 this morning. Yeah we were on our way by 10:30........close enough right? We did stop to get gas, saw Jeff's mom and she loaded the kids up with their first snack of the day, and then stopped at the bank........snacks 2 and 3 of the day on board....and then had to stop at the store for Jeff to do one last thing of the day. His grandma was also there and saw the kids. I just made the statement "How much fun can you pack into one vehicle?" and the response I got was "Amy you are blessed, remember when you didn't think you would have any of them?" UMM.........yeah I guess I just want to state that I love my kids dearly......they make every day bigger and brighter and I really don't know what I would do without them.....but there are times that it is a struggle. A real struggle. But I do love them. I wouldn't do all the things I do for them if I didn't love them. Onward.
So........honestly Friday was a pretty good day. We had naps all staggered in the afternoon, it seemed that there was always someone sleeping. The BUCKET O FUN...........yeah well we were successful with that until about Norfolk, where we picked up snacks 4, 5 and 6........Great thinking, but let me tell you the viewmasters were a hit. I always wanted a viewmaster when I was a kid.........yeah no..........but we do have 2 of them to avoid all agruements and we still find ways to argue about them. Funny how that works. We stopped and had a picnic lunch in Hebron NE, and it is just great how anything we do is awesome for the kids. They just really do a great job of rolling with the punches sometimes. Gogurt.......might quite possibly be the messiest snack ever.........but let me tell you.........10 tubes gone in minutes between all of us! 105 degrees outside and you would have thought we gave those three kids the world.
We then stopped and played at a McDonalds somewhere in Kansas............Jackson didn't make it to the bathroom and ended up stripping in Playland........I was up getting the kids their 1st Happy Meal of the trip............and I come back to these two BIG nine year olds going off about this little boy stripping in Playland. I knew this had to be Jackson. Sure enough. We apoligized to the girls and honestly it was all innocent. The girls continued to go off for the next 20 minutes and good thing I packed my angry eyes............they came in handy. I quickly told the girls we are sorry now drop it. Point made right? Well stubborn little Kansas girls didn't have on their ruby red slippers to get them back to their happy place, so I may have made a comment about them being chubby in their ugly swimsuits. Not directly off course, in passing just loud enough so they could hear the words, chubby, ugly and swimsuits. That is what they get for messing with my obviously well endowed son. HE HE HE
We made it to Oklahoma City and checked into our $49 hotel room........there were some reasons for this of course. First of all , we were a minority in the fact that we had full head of teeth, and we were about the only ones without a bar over our steering wheel when we left our vehicle. Pretty uneventful night........went swimming, Delaney was doing everything that she should have been doing in those swimming lessons that we paid money for but refused to get into the water on the last day..........yeah. Nice.
555 miles down............445 to go. Sea World here we come...........

What was I thinking.....

Back in February on one of the snow days I was enjoying, I decided to book our vacation. You know Texas in August.....4 days.......Shamu........sounds great. It really will be great ........once we get that 15 1/2 hour drive behind us. Today Delaney had dance and the other two went with my sister in law for the day. Seriously, not taking anything away from people with only one child, but seriously........it was a breeze. Don't get me wrong, I did still get to listen to the whining, and she did start various arguments with me instead of her siblings.....and I did get to hear about all of the gorgeous items that she wanted in the nail polish aisle.......but it wasn't in stereo. Kinda nice. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids, but the little things that I used to do just aren't that easy anymore. It really was nice of my sister in law to take them off my hands for the day so I could get a few things done.........but my nap was awesome too.
Confession time.............today was day two of no Hawaii. Nice huh. So Jeff came home this morning, and I made the trip. The hula girls and boy all decided that they needed to sing and hula a little more at this time, not on another island, but right in "my Hawaii." How does that happen, they don't want anything to do with me and the minute I get in the "island" there they are. Doesn't matter if it is on of my 30 second visits or my 5 minute thinking visit.........there they are. Beat me.
So have most everything packed for tomorrow. 9 day vacation. Jeff has managed to pack his clothes........oh actually he just took clothes from the clean pile that has been in our bedroom since May 1st.............I don't make this up............I on the other hand have 3 kids packed, I will pack myself tomorrow, and all of the meals, snacks, and entertainment for the trip pack also. I am sure I will be reminded tomorrow night about all the things I forgot............CHEERS.

MY LIMIT

The one thing I have learned maybe the easiest with being a mom in some aspects is where I have to draw the line to reach my limit. Yes there are still times when I volunteer to do things that I know are over and above the line of duty, but honestly, I have been able to set some limits and know when to stop. I know that there are many people who say they will won't stop having kids until they are 40, or people that are willing to go to 10 in order to get an even number of boys and girls. Honestly, when I was 9 months pregnant with Kennedy I knew enough was enough. I had a C section with her, and I remember telling the doctor at 3 AM that morning if he forgot to COMPLETE THE JOB, I would make sure that he would raise the next of the Hall Children. Point made.........job done.
All of this was decided before we switched from man to man defense to zone...........you people with more than 2 kids get that statement don't you? Yeah the whole have 2 hands and two kids or with my husband one on one attention .........all of that went out the window when number 3 came along. Needless to say, today was one of those days where I knew I was at my limit and had outdone myself. I volunteered to babysit for my 2 nephews while their mom and dad were still in the hospital with number 3. So add to the 4 year old, the 3 year old and the 18 month .....add a soon to be 7 year old and a 2 1/2 year old.......oh and they are both BOYS. You know the ones with that optional listening operation fully installed. WHEW. We had an interesting day. Honestly we all got along well. I didn't get anything else done around the house, and was lucky to have my husband come home at noon so that I could get lunch together, but we survived. They did a little swimming in the pool, and even dived off the redneck diving board (aka.....little tykes teeter totter), crafts were done this afternoon together, and naps........possibly the highlight of the day. I would just get a couple of them entertained and they would be fine and I turn around and Jackson is stamping himself on his face with my stamps, or the 2 1/2 year old would be gone. I tell you that kid is faster than lightening. LIGHTENING I TELL YOU! The 7 year old did help out a lot..........but here again people.............I know my limits. 3 is my limit for kids. We got ready to take the kids to the hospital to see their mom and brother, and guess what.............dog gone. Seriously ...........how often can one dog justify CALGON trips? Oh and that big green leaf is still on Jackson's mouth and when we go to get out of the car he has no shoes. Yep......3 is my limit.

13 years later

Met up today with my college roommate back at our old stomping grounds in Vermtown. Life has really changed in that time. We went to eat at the Cherry Grille.....six kids between us and all of them under 8. Needless to say, hands were full and quite sure they were happy to see us leave. Syrup, ice cream, mac n cheese everywhere by the time we left. Ole Kennedy even learned the new trip of blowing bubbles in her milk......great trick. We also may have entertained these six kids at Walmart in the bike aisle. Seriously I would hate for those bikes to be put together by some poor Walmart worker and just sit there and not be used for the whole summer. And maybe we also helped with the advertising.......yeah that is it........kids riding bikes around in the toy aisles, seriously it was only 3 or 4 aisles. It wasn't like it was the whole store. Don't know why that lady got all cranky about putting the hoola hoops away either. Seriously, what else is there to do in Vermillion on a rainy day?
I left Vermillion after only a few hours today.........naps. Kids needed naps. Wow.....and they have been just SO much fun since they have woke up. We went and met the new addition to the Hall family too tonight........Anderson Willis.......was great to see him here and everyone doing well. Kennedy really didn't know what to think of us holding that new baby. Don't think she wanted to give up the crown of youngest baby Hall. Funny how in also many ways she wants to be all grown up and keep up with her bigger sister and brother and yet in so many ways she wants to maintain the baby status.