Our Trip of Wonder and Amazement.

Well, we are back home after an extremely long and exhausting week. The kids were both giddy when they saw Greg for the first time in a week. I was happy too, but not giddy. I was too darn tired to be giddy. You could have handed me a large sack of money and instead of spending it I probably would have just used it as a pillow. Yup. Tired.

So the trip to Utah with just me and the kids. It was good. So much happened that I can't tell you all without absolutely boring you to tears so I will stick to the highlights and lowlights. You can be the judge of which was which.

The trip down went better than I ever thought it would. All that worrying for nothing! Mini-Man fell asleep JUST outside of town, but woke up when he heard the Dora the Explorer theme song. The kid was absolutely exhausted but kept his eyes peeled for another 1 1/2 hours. Heaven forbid he miss a few episodes of Dora.

We stopped at a McDonald's for Happy Meals and to stretch our legs. I hate McDonald's food and apparently so do my kids. That didn't stop us from going there 4 times this week since the Happy Meal toys are from Cars, but whatever. I was judged harshly at that McDonald's and here is why:

Me: A-Boy, do not stand up on the bench. You are going to fall and hurt yourself.

A-Boy: HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!!

Me: Sit down right now, please.

A-Boy: HAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!! HAHA---SPLAT!......WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!

He fell off the bench. Two concerned parents (of well behaved children who were NOT using the eating area as their own personal jungle gym) ran over to see if he was okay.

Concerned Parents: Are you okay? Is he okay?

They look at me, probably wondering why I didn't rush right over too.

Me: I don't feel sorry for him. I TOLD him not to climb on the bench.

I am not sure I have EVER received such horrid looks in my life. And yes, after that I DID go pick the kid up off the floor. I admit that I didn't really want to though.

Despite a little road construction the rest of the trip down went pretty seamlessly.

Friday we went to the zoo for my niece AK's first birthday. We saw the rhinos. A-Boy said they were dinosaurs. They kinda look like dinosaurs. A-Boy was afraid to use the drinking fountain because he didn't want to be eaten by the lion. Uncle Jeff and Uncle Dave held his mouth open for him though. They are such tough guys.

We took ten million pictures of my mom with her grandkids. The kids did not hold still.

I have to admit something to you though. I lied in my earlier post. I DID cry during our trip, I didn't even make it a day! I think it warranted crying though. I lost my wallet at the zoo! I was in line getting ready to order lunch when I realized that I couldn't find it. I searched and searched and it was nowhere to be found. I got all panicky when I realized that I was in Utah for a week! How was I going to pay for stuff? I started freaking out and my extremely intelligent mother told me to go to lost and found. So I did, crying all the way there. They had my wallet. I was disappointed to see that there was no money in it though. There was no money in it BEFORE but I was kinda hoping that the finder of the wallet would add an extra fiver or something. You know, give a kid a break. Ha, Ha. Glad I found it though!

To celebrate I bought a double cheeseburger, french fries, nachos, a hot dog kids meal and a Diet Coke. And I pretty much ate them all myself, even the hot dog. I'm not lying. Ask my sister. I could see the sickened look in her eyes as I chowed. Ah, medicating myself with food.

That night we had a birthday party for AK. She is cute, eh?

My kids held a screamfest during dinner in honor of AK's special day. It was so wonderfully special. Apparently when they are hungry they want to eat NOW, not after the 39 seconds it takes their mother to retrieve a yogurt and a spoon. I didn't want the mess, so I spoon fed them both. And yes they are on the floor. All the chairs were being inhabited by big people. (I hesitate to call them adults though since when my family is around each other we automatically revert back to being five years old)

My nephew J, also referred to as the Carrier Monkey, infected my boys with runny noses and coughs when we got there. This is a long standing tradition he has. If he hears we are coming he spends extra time licking the toys at the church nursery and sucking on shopping cart handles so that he is SURE that he will be sick when he sees us. I think dripping snot is the way he shows his love. He loves us a lot.

The boys all had a great time together, besides the whole sickness thing.

They hid in the family room curtains.

They hung out in Uncle Jeff's truck.

They took turns pulling all the wipes out of the container. They were even polite about it. "Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you...." A-boy taught J how to jump on the couch and the beds. His aunt and uncle were extremely happy about that.

Mini-Man learned to do this while we were gone.

He hasn't stopped moving since then. It makes me tired just to watch him.

We took the boys to the petting zoo where A-Boy screamed like a wee girl every time any kind of animal would look in his direction. I made him touch a goat. He wailed and begged to go home. I was so disgusted at his lack of enthusiasm that I didn't take any pictures of him. I wish I would have though. Good blackmail for later in life. The upside is that he will probably never ask to have a pet. I pray that I am that lucky.

Mini-Man on the other hand had a ball. In the middle of dealing with A-Boy's meltdown I turned to see him sitting in his stroller surrounded by goats. They were licking his hands and toes and he was giggling. A little disgusting, but still cute. HE will probably be the one that wants a pet and if things continue in the same direction he will torture his brother with it.

The best part of the trip (besides spending time with family that I dearly love, of course) was the Kenny Chesney concert. I won't bore you with details, but I'll just say we had ROCKIN' seats and had the time of our lives. Seriously it was the best concert I have ever been to. He is a GREAT performer. I laughed, I cried, I screamed so loud I lost my voice. It was worth the no-sleep-for-a-week for that concert. It was rockin' cool. And I sound like a teenager.

When we got home real life hit again. I have two major projects going on right now that need to be completed by Wednesday night. We are leaving again Thursday for another week, this time to spend time with Greg's side of the family in the cool mountain air. I am told there are lots of mosquitoes. I am not excited about that part but I will deal. Hopefully I will get a chance to blog one more time before we go. I gotta get it in you know. We are going to be roughing it in the mountains. I hear that where we are going they only have dial-up.