adventures
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Glass Half Empty
I sometimes wonder if it is the curse of the first-born child to be cautious and a worrier, because as first time parents we tend to hover and be over-protective (where the second child is the adventurous free-spirit, because either we’ve gained confidence or we’re too worn out to care.) When my kiddo shows signs of anxiousness about something, I have to wonder how much is nature and how much is nurture – although, either way, it would come down to me anyway. That said, we do our best to control the things that might cause unnecessary anxiety for a child with a very active imagination and a glass half…
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Visiting San Antonio: The Alamo and More!
We spent our Spring Break exploring San Antonio. In my last post, I talked about the many attractions in the area around the Alamo. Our second day in San Antonio was all about the Alamo and other historical sites! My kids are really interested in history and I think presenting it interactively is always more fun than just reading it in a book (and I am a bookworm, so that is saying a lot!) One of the fourth grade teachers at the kidlings’ elementary school recommended that we watch the IMAX film “Alamo – The Price of Freedom” before we walked the actual site, particularly since the city now surrounds what…
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Visiting San Antonio: The Rainy Day Tourist Edition
When we woke up on our first morning of our spring break visit to San Antonio, it was to a steady rain – not the best for sightseeing, to be honest. Looking over the checklist of things everyone wanted to see and do, we quickly decided that it would be a good day for silliness and exploration, indoors. After a workout in the hotel gym by the menfolk, and a lazy breakfast we headed out to the Buckhorn Saloon and Museum and the Texas Ranger museum. I honestly didn’t know what to expect, and if you told me “tons of taxidermy” I might have rolled my eyes, but it turned out to…
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That Time I Didn’t Climb the Statue of Liberty
When I was younger, my family – my parents, younger sister and brother and I – road tripped to New York on vacation. While some points are blurry (making me wonder if I really need to stress out so much about planning memorable trips when I can only remember the weird/scary/highlights myself), two things stand out: stopping to ask a Jersey cop how we could get to the hotel my mother booked in East Orange, New Jersey (answer: “just keep driving, you really don’t want to go there”) and (nearly) climbing the Statue of Liberty. Let me explain. I may be a bit claustrophobic and I’m not a fan of stairs. Oh, the…
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Exploring the Perot Museum
The countdown for all parents is on! You know…that countdown to when our wonderful, darling kids go back to school. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I love having them home, and we have had a lot of fun over the past two weeks playing board games and hanging out once the unpacking was complete! But as more cold rain fell and the bickering amped up this morning, we knew that, despite the weather, it was time to get out of our pjs and out of the house. Thankfully, I had in hand four tickets to the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, courtesy of a giveaway by Courtney from My Crazy Savings. It…
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Funny or Not, Dayton, Here I Come
One of the first hardcover books I remember truly loving (that wasn’t a children’s classic) was an Erma Bombeck lifted from my mother’s bookshelf. I was about 10 years old when I read the book – yes, I was a very mature child – but there was something about the dry wit in Erma Bombeck’s writing that I just “got”. I was ten, so it wasn’t that I was necessarily relating to the content, particularly when her mentality towards housework was such was a direct opposite of my mother’s own style; I mean, for a child whose early morning directive was “you can be late for school before you leave…
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I’m Sailing….Sailing Away
Today is the day. The day that has got me through this dreadful winter. Through 70+ inches of snow and who knows how days of many sub-zero weather. (Ok, Tom Skilling from WGN probably knows, but whatever.) Through the down coat, the pale, dry winter skin and hair electrified by static. I’m in Florida. Port Canaveral to be exact. And I’m boarding the Disney Fantasy. For seven days, I won’t be cooking, washing dishes, scrubbing toilets or folding clothes. I won’t be making beds. I will be kicking back, reading my book, splashing in the pool, trying not to eat too much fattening stuff, and generally turning off my brain.…
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Conquering Fears
I am not a very strong public speaker. Let me rephrase that. The thought of standing in front of a group of people and speaking makes my gut churn. I fear saying something stupid and embarrassing myself. So when my son’s teacher asked me to talk to his class about blogging, I died just a little inside and then agreed. You can imagine how my anxiety level rose when, a few days later, he pushed back the talk time by 30 minutes – so I’d be talking right after they spent 45 minutes in the gym on bouncy castles (as a reading reward). He assured me that he would calm…
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I’m Dreaming in Sherwin Williams Jetstream Blue
I’ve been dreaming about color swatches. Yes, color swatches. And faucets, knobs and backsplash tile. Pendant lights. Basement playroom organization (and if any of you have suggestions for organizing toys so that it doesn’t look like a little kids’ playroom, drop me a line…) I’ve become a bit codependent on my iPad, and my relationship with Houzz, Pinterest and Craigslist is a bit stalkerish and fanatical. Pea and I have been happily yard-saleing, and my to-be-DIY’d pile is growing. You see, the countdown is on….two weeks from today, we get back our house, which we have been renting out while we were living in the UK. Four years. Three families…
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Feed My Starving Children
No, I didn’t take the day off. Recently I was given a reminder to be grateful for all the food we have (and not just the secret Oreo stash in the back of the cupboard…) when I had the opportunity to chaperone on a third grade field trip to Feed My Starving Children’s (FMSC) Libertyville packing center. We were there to hand pack a life-saving food mixture which would be delivered to one of the 70 countries to which they distribute food. This food mixture, which they have named “Manna”, was developed by a team of food scientists to provide a meal that could be transported easily and safely prepared with…
