The Little Things

Today, I took a shower.  And put on clean clothes.  I used deodorant, brushed my teeth, used my favorite purple comb to comb my hair and put my bangs up with a bobby pin that was resting haphazardly with a bunch of other stuff in my jewelry box.  

Normally, this would not be so significant.  

At this time (4PM) yesterday, Roger and I were standing in front of his mother and stepdad's house watching the roof and windows get boarded up after a major house fire that rendered their home unlivable.  

Even writing that is strange.  But it happened.  We watched the flames come through the roof.  We watched the firefighters work with ladder trucks and hoses and hatchets to contain and eventually put out the fire.  The smoke detectors had worked, one of Roger's 20-something brothers was home and a renter who lives with them was home.  The detectors went off and they got out, shoe-less and phone-less.  And good thinking on their part, as the rear of the house was already actively burning. 

 We found neighbors willing to provide one of brothers who was home at the time with a shirt and some shoes, as he ran out of the burning house in just shorts.  We chased away guys with clipboards who wanted them to sign a contract to rebuild... really guys?  (Seriously, I will make sure everyone I talk to knows how insensitive your representative and company was to be hounding a man who is watching his home and belongings burn.)  No one should be asked to sign anything the day of a house fire, as their minds are complete mush.  We helped provide ages and names to the Red Cross.  We helped to gather all the donations coming in.  We really didn't know what to do, but we tried to do something.  I kept wondering where the manual was for this.  

The community support was AMAZING and unbelievable.  Churches dropped off clothing for the boys and toiletries for the whole family.  Friends and neighbors came with cash and gift cards, shoes and sweatshirts.  Someone pulled up and unloaded 5 cases of bottled water.  The owners and managers of local restaurants came by with free food for the family and people helping.  Neighbors offered space to sit with Red Cross reps and bathrooms to those in need.  It was a truly awesome sight to see the goodness in people come out and shine on an otherwise awful event.

Perspective.  For everyone.  Someone we know went out and bought smoke detectors for their house today, as they had lived on assumption before.  Several people I know went home and checked their own smoke detectors for working connections and fresh batteries.  Almost everyone thanked God is some way for sparing the lives of the 2 in the house and the 4 that weren't home.  

And beyond that, Mark, one of the homeowners, whose catchphrase has always been, "Never had a bad day in our lives..." was still answering his phone with that same phrase today.  They don't get to use their own shower, put on their own clean clothes or use their own combs.  They are homeless, shell-shocked and in disbelief, but also loved, thankful and appreciative of what they have.  

PS - Please go check your smoke detectors...!

Barf-a-Rific

So yesterday we ate breakfast as usual, got Chase out the door early to middle school, got Indy plus the guy I babysit plus the neighbors on the bus to 2nd grade and Riley off to preschool.  At some point after that I was able to contain the boy and get a shower (Hallelujah!).  At some point after that, when RJ was pushing the Dyson around in the foyer, I realized the floor was wet.  Hmmm.  

Upon further inspection, he had massive diarrhea through the PJ's.  Awesome. 

Upstairs.

Change diaper.

Wipe legs.

No time for a bath.

Wipe some more.

New clothes.

Downstairs. 

Roger stops by in between jobs.  Hi Dad.  

Blughoooraghahhhhh.

RJ projectile vomits all over Dad's shirt, himself and the floor.  (In hindsight, it was kind of a spectacular thing to watch...)

{{Stop thinking that you just scrubbed the floor 3 days ago, that's not nice!}}

A neat assortment of mushed bananas, breastmilk and blueberries.

Take baby.

Clean up Dad.

Cover floor with towel.

Upstairs.

New clothes for baby.

Downstairs.

Clean floor.

Down more stairs to start laundry.

Come back up to find Dad holding handful of barf in mid-air over pile of barf on floor.

Another neat-looking pile of bananas, breastmilk and blueberries.  

Baby wants to play in barf.  

Take baby.

Hand Dad towels.

Wipe baby.

Upstairs.

More diarrhea.

New diaper.

New clothes for baby.

"Are you done yet, kid?"  

Downstairs.

Add to laundry.

Send Dad to get Ry from preschool.  

Sit on couch with kid. 

Kid does not want to sit on couch.  

Gets down to play but is doing funny eye-rolling thing.

Pick up kid and stand aiming at sink.

Kid rocks back and forth and does not want to be looking over sink. 

Give up.  

Bring kid back to couch.

Funny eye-rolling thing again.

Hmmm. 

Against better judgment and all instinctual urgings, lie kid down at nurse and put to sleep.

Blughoooraghahhhhh!

Wow.  

How big IS this kid's stomach anyway?

More blueberries?  You've got to be kidding me!!

Since he projected it from a semi-lying position, it misses the couch (nice!) but lands mostly on my hand, leg and shoes.  With just enough dribble on himself to earn a 4th wardrobe change in under 10 minutes.  

With an un-hit hand I check the time.  Roger should be back any minute.  We'll wait.  

Enter Roger and Riley.

Hand baby to Roger.

Clean up floor.

Upstairs.

Change baby.

Change me.  

Baby looks tired.  

He feels about 2 lbs lighter.

"You must be empty now, buddy!" 

And he was.  

Thankfully!  

So basically I got nothing done.  Our to-do list went down the crapper and we sat on the couch with a very tired and sick little boy, reading books to Riley, who very intelligently sat a bit away from us.  He eventually napped, got up and ate a few Cheerios and plain crackers.  Worked his way up to a full dinner of meatloaf and green beans with no further incident.  We had our neighbors from after school until bedtime as their 'rents were busy.  So there were 8 kids until 5 and then 7 until bedtime.  Homework, playtime, chores, some laundry and reading.  We piled all 7 in the car after dinner and went to celebrate Mimi's birthday at the shop which was a good time.  Strangely, no one wants the rest of the blueberries sitting in the fridge.... 

Wait... Come Back!!

"Hello??"  

"Hello??!?"

"Lazy Days of Summer....!"

"Are You There??!?"

"Come Back!  I didn't mean what I said, about being ready for you to be over... really I didn't... just please come back and we can talk!  I'll make it up to you, I promise!"

Ah, yes, but he is gone (he? it? I dunno). Summer as we know it, is over.  My schedule, as I know it, has gone to the cheap Chinese Buffet and over-eaten, stuffed full of follow-up appointments, Open Houses, parent meetings at 3 different schools, feeble attempts at birthday plans, Pumpkin Beer Tastings and weddings.  Why do all you people decide to get married in the fall, huh?  Guess I can't really talk, since our anniversary was yesterday.  Roger happened to stop back by the house in between jobs, not on purpose of course, and so we spontaneously went out to Baja Fresh for our anniversary lunch, with the littles in tow. Yummy.  We even shared the Mango Chipotle Chicken Salad.  We are just so cute.  

So besides the calendar being completely RIDICULOUS for the next 2 months, at least, we had a very nice, very relaxing, anti-beach week in Vermont:

  

 It started off like this....   

  and then when we got there, after trudging thru the traffic in the Giant Pothole called New Jersey and then breezing thru some cool other states, it looked like this:

Even the shark is exhausted from the drive, I guess... 

We always get a suite with a full kitchen so that we can cook our meals, to eat healthier than eating out every day, and to save time and cost overall.  This place, as it was a ski resort at the end of summer in a state where the kids had already gone back to school, was a great trade option for our Wyndham points.  

Day 1, we visited a Dam at the Quechee Gorge.... 

But really we just watched this.  

Can the digger move the pump? 

Yes, it can. 

Can the pump work when it's turned on?

No, it can't.

I'm sort of surprised that Roger didn't end up down there to figure it out.  

We learned about glass blowing at Simon Pierce.  You have to walk through their STORE to get downstairs to see this.  Their STORE.  Of really expensive GLASS things.  Kids.  And a Stroller. Through their STORE.  It sounded like this, "Don't... wait... hey... that's a... DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING...No... Wait, Get Back, Stay on your side... okay... yeah..... yeah.... go downstairs!!!  Yes!  The stairs!!  Good.... go!!"

We visited a FREE Toy Museum.  Very cool place.  Avoid the store if you can.  And, come to think of it just now, I did NOT see a Speak N' Spell...... hmmmm.

Back at the resort, the bottom-of-the-mountain-with-no-cell-service Holiday Inn Club at Mt. Ascutney, Riley did a LOT of this:

"Look!  A Bug!  A DEAD bug!!!"

Side Note - Beyond the dead bugs, of which there were a lot, no doubt, our resort had free kid movies in the theater every night along with complimentary popcorn.  We also swam one day, but not for long, as it was like swimming in an icicle.  You would think that the pools up North would be heated, eh?  

Day 2: Montshire Science Museum.  Well worth the price, an all day thing.  Tons to see and do, hands on, very very fun for all.  We packed our lunch and stayed all day.  

Gears, gears, gears.  This kid loves gears.  

The girls check out some leafcutter ants.  This was one of my faves.  

The Rogers blow air at a moving map.  

Outside Science Water Park.  

Chase builds a dam with some new friends. 

RJ feels like he's at Home Depot.  Up, down, up, down.  He doesn't even know that it's changing the water pattern behind him. 

Science?  This is no science.  This is a drink... for me! 

Did not do this on purpose, but love it.  Looking out at the lake while walking one of many trails at the Montshire. 

Checking out a fort someone started. 

Day 3: Traveled way too far for Ben & Jerry's factory tour and ice cream.  Exciting, but not that very.  

*Had dinner that night at The Garlic in Killington, a nice dead ski town that was way far away over (and up, and over) a few mountains.  Great food, but the littles were in a disastrous state by then. Too dark in there for pictures. 

Day 4: Hiked up Mt. Ascutney.  A 2.5 miles loop ascending 344 vertical feet to the summit.  

Going over "bump trees" as Riley put it.

A hang-gliding launch close to the summit.  

Oh no!  Quick, Riley, pull the kids back up! 

Happy kiddos. 

Inside a tree.  

We are in a cloud eating a snack in the tower at the summit. 

 We are next to a Sprint Tower.  Literally.  We finally have cell reception.  

Since the 2nd half of the trail to the top was like straight up wet slippery rocks, we are pleased that the trail down is a little kinder to small feet and big feet who are wearing babies and toddlers who are pooped out.  

Had a late lunch at Harpoon Brewery.  Sampled some of their beers and brought back some Imperial Pumpkin Beer for the 5th Annual Pumpkin Beer Tasting next month. We were impressed, they have a really nice range of craft beer, from light and summery to dark and stout-y. Stout-y is not a word, but it makes sense to me! 

Somewhere mid-stay, the girls move from their 2nd floor room to the couch bed after a rockin' thunderstorm with awesome lightning that is severely under-appreciated by them. 

The majority of our time in the suite (besides eating and sleeping) is spent making sure the stairs are blocked (he only rolled down once when Daddy was in charge) and the bathroom door was shut so that randomness didn't get flushed.  This time it wasn't.  Busted, RJ!

And so that was Vermont.  

We got home around 4 on a Friday, unpacked and started cleaning out the shed and yard.  We pared down the kids "garage," keeping just 2 of Roger's souped up PowerWheels cars with custom headlights.  We put 3 PowerWheels, a rocking horse thing, 2 toddler push cars, 4 kid chairs and more stuff I can't remember out for trash.  Being on a busy road, it was all gone by the next day.  (Seriously, how do you think we get all of our cool stuff??) 

Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere!

Found a tire swing in the shed that we didn't know we had.  

Total hit.  

And this is like a signature.  It says, "RJ wuz here."

If you're still here, you probably just killed about 20 minutes reading my extra long blog post!