At the Beach

Manic Mondays

Off the top of your head list 4 words to describe you today, just as you are right now.
Busy.
Sleepy, but too busy to sleep.
Glad it's sunny out.
Happy it's summertime.
If you had an extra hour in your day today what would you do?
First, go for a long walk with Christopher. Then sit on the deck 'til we couldn't stand the mosquitos anymore.
When is the last time you got lost and what happened?
We got lost in San Diego when we were trying to go downtown, to the Gaslamp District. Christopher took one wrong freeway, then in my good attempts to get us back on track, I redirected him onto another wrong freeway. Once I stopped "helping" he got us going the right way...

Photo of the Week

From the Mouths of Babes

Last week the kids and I attended Vacation Bible School all week during the mornings. Audrey had her own preschool class to go into, but after the first day it became an issue for her. She wanted to stay with me in my "class", where I was teaching the kids the songs and hand motions.
No matter what I said about how fun her class was, how her teacher missed her, how her friends would be there asking for her, she didn't bite. All there was was sobs and tears, clinging to my pantleg. All this and we hadn't even left the house yet for the second day.
Along comes Daddy, asking Audrey what's wrong. We explained the trouble, to which he responded, "Audrey you need to go into your class today, and when you are ALL done with it, we will give you a treat. Would you like a treat?"
Audrey sniffed and nodded her head demurely.
Dad said, "Ok then. After you finish YOUR class today [a parent's day is full of repetition], Daddy will give you a treat. What would you like for a treat?"
Audrey, without hesitating, said "Five dollars."
From the mouths of babes.

Manic Monday

Hey there Monday Readers! I wanted to put these questions out to YOU today...answer one, answer all.

What is the healthiest thought you have regularly about yourself?
What do you like best about your best friend?
What one thing have you done that pleased your parents the most?

Photo of the Week

Here's Christopher swimming with all 3 kids hanging onto him like barnacles. I think the game was called "Try to Sink the Giant".

The Toy Bin Crisis by Susan Senechal

I cleaned out the toy bin awhile ago and got ride of some old broken toys and things the kids never played with anymore, anticipating the arrival of new toys for their birthdays. The flaw in my plan? I threw them into the garbage can under the sink, expecting my husband would take the trash out before my children got up.

Today, I wouldn't make such a mistake. But I was a novice toy thrower-outer, and I made a rookie mistake that proved to be costly. Our then 4-year-old Matthew woke up earlier than usual that morning, and for some unknown reason, he immediately walked right to the cupboard, opened the door and peered into the garbage can. Is there such a thing as broken-toy radar? I have no words for the scene that ensued. It lasted all morning. When I left the house in late morning, Daddy distracted him and things seemed to calm down for awhile. Then Matthew saw the garbage truck on a nearby street, and the crying began again.

I'm not talking expensive toys, or neat toys with a little break, but rather a tiny beach ball that no longer holds air, a part of a broken toy from a "Happy Meal" that some other child LEFT at McDonalds, and we found and took home and other assorted broken toy parts.

Going Deep

Reporting Live!

After driving 2 hours from Los Angeles to San Diego, we arrived at a hotel which we had booked online. Our jaws dropped open when we pulled in the parking lot and saw what they called a pool. The fellow taking the pictures for the El Cajon Rodeway Inn website must be an award-winning photographer because he made their pool--which was the size of a hot tub--look like an olympic sized swimming pool. We're talking MAJOR photo shop job!
Christopher spent the next 1 1/2 hours trying to get a new hotel for our family. It was time well-spent because we ended up with a fantastic place, with a nice clean BIG pool.

Lil' Ladybug Ride

Click this link to watch one of the first videos from our trip...

More pictures...

LOST

No, folks not the tv show. The reality show LOST: AUDREY. Hopefully this was the only episode and the season ended.

We were at our hotel by Disneyland, and waiting for the extremely crowded elevators. I think we got there when it was check-in time, because everyone and their entire extended family--luggage included--were all waiting for the elevators as well.

But let me digress and correct something: I wrote elevatorS plural when I should've written elevatoR singular. Only ONE of the FOUR were in working order. Outrageous.

Well, Ethan and Audrey were in the stroller and the big kids were in front of us, ready to push and elbow their way into the elevator when one opened up. (That was me who was gonna make them do the dirty work) I turned around and told Audrey something about not letting her blanket drag on the ground, and that was the last time I saw her until 19 minutes later.

Once the bell dinged, we crammed our way on like a New York subway and we rode up to our 8th floor room, stopping at several floors to let people off. We got out and halfway down the hall, Christopher says, "WHERE'S AUDREY??!?!?" I thought he was joking until I saw his face as white as a sheet. He tore down 8 flights of stairs thinking maybe she was at the bottom and had never gotten on.

The scariest part was that we didn't know at what point we had lost her. None of us ever saw her get out of the stroller. None of us saw if someone took her out of the stroller.

I waited at the 8th floor elevator, pressing the call button so the doors would open at our floor every time. What the guests saw when the doors opened was a sobbing, panic-stricken mother screaming "HAVE YOU SEEN MY BABY?? WE LOST OUR BABY!!" People said no, and quietly let the doors shut.

I'll fast forward to the end.

It turns out that Audrey was downstairs, outside, in the circular drop-off area playing with a child from another family. The father had just gotten up to go inside to find the parent of this awfully friendly, mysterious toddler when he ran (literally) into Christopher.

For any of you who have lost or almost lost your kids, you don't know whether to spank them or hug them tight. I know which one Christopher chose.

When the doors opened on the 8th floor one more time, I saw father and child embracing. Father sobbing, child just saying, "I'm sorry Daddy" over and over.

The Daytons Do Disney!

We are here and having a great time "making memories". That's what my mom said to remember when things got a little...rough. Taking 4 kids of various ages on vacation is amazingly stressful, yet the joys are like a magic eraser.

The day we arrived in Los Angeles, we went to Disneyland and was it HOT. I mean a blistering, sweltering, heat wave. Christopher and I kept looking at each other like, "What were we thinking??" The kids all were great sports about waiting in tremendous lines, melting in the heat, and not getting every overpriced treat they wanted. I mean REALLY good sports. We had another family we know meet us there, which made it possible for Christopher and I to go on a couple rides together. THEY WERE SCARY. One shot you up in the air 90 feet while you were going like 100 mph then stopped and let you dangle at the top. I started screaming even before the ride took off, in anticipation of how scary it was going to be. The other ride was the Bullet Rollercoaster. That name is self-explanatory.

Overall, our favorite ride was It's a Small World. Hands down, we all loved it. The ride was empty when we went (the 2nd night) so they let us go around two times. Worked out perfect because the nightly fireworks show had just started and Ethan and Audrey were totally scared of the noise. So we went into a Happy Place instead. Audrey got to go on a bunch of kiddie rides, and the sheer thrill and happiness that showed on her face was worth a million bucks. (We spent close to that on water bottles at the park. TOTAL PRICE GOUGING!!)

The hotel we stayed at was right across the street from Disney which was cool, but it was a mob scene all the time. Just to get on the elevators took 15 minutes waiting our turn. (See next posting on how we lost Audrey during this time) The area reminded me of the Las Vegas Strip, with massive amounts of tourists from different parts of the country and world, all waiting in line to eat at the Disneyland Denny's. ugh. Not my cup of tea, but I remembered it was all part of makin' memories!!

The next leg of our journey is here in San Diego. I remember taking a fantastic vacation here with my family as a youth, and it is still just as beautiful. We have gone to a few of the historic districts, and plan to go to the beach, Sea World, and the zoo in the next few days. Oh--this hotel is ten times better than the last one, by the way! With 6 of us staying in one room, these things really count.

Well I want to get this posted, so I'll throw in a few pictures and say good night!