Max and Mommy Day

Max has been whining for a while that he wanted a "special day" - mostly because Daniel had a day off because of his tooth extraction and Caroline had stayed home sick for a couple of days as well.  Coincidentally, his belly button (his "pee pee predictor") was hurting him and it was red and warm, so we scheduled an appointment with the doctor to check it out.

This meant that after we dropped Daniel and Caroline off at school, we had some time to kill and so we went to a Max and Mommy breakfast.  We went to the Seal Rock Inn and he ordered pancakes and hot chocolate "in a fancy glass".

(And the verdict from the doctor was just that it was skin irritation and with some ointment it went away relatively quickly.)

Will we miss each other?

In the car this morning, the kids were talking about school. "When we're six we'll be in kindergarten. And then what?"

"Then when you're seven you'll go to first grade and when you're eight you'll go to second grade and then third and fourth and fifth."

"And then high school?"

"Not quite. After fifth grade you go to middle school and that'd sixth, seventh, and eighth grade and THEN you go to high school."

"And then college. And college is the last school."

And then someone asked how long college was.  I explained that it can vary - I was in college for about four years, Uncle was in college longer.

Caroline wants to just be in college for four years.

I explained sometimes it depends what you want to do for a job after college.  If you want to be a teacher, usually you have to go to college for four or five years.  If you want to be a doctor, you might have to go for eight or nine years.  If you want to be a lawyer, you might go for seven.

Caroline decided at this point that she wants to be a teacher like me.  Max heard "lawyer" and said that's what he wants to do, though with his peculiar pronunciation, he might've been expressing a desire to follow in Steph Curry's footsteps as a "Warrior", too.

But the most interesting part was that just seconds after Max said he wanted to be a lawyer and Caroline said she wanted to be a teacher (not just a teacher, but a "Spanish teacher like Mommy"), Max asked, "Are we going to miss each other?"

I said they might, if they end up going to different colleges.  And immediately Max changed his tune.  He now thinks they should all choose the same careers, "so we don't miss each other."

And so Caroline decided they should all be teachers.  She will teach Spanish and Max will teach sign language.  Daniel said he wants to be "the kind of teacher that Uncle is, who helps the kids at school."  When it was explained to Caroline that Uncle helps the kids who have a really hard time at school, she was pretty clear she didn't want to do that job.

I plan to save this story for some point ten years from now when they absolutely cannot stand the sight of each other.

Daniel's Tooth Extraction

Daniel's second year in pre-school was difficult - he broke his arm that year and he also tripped and fell mouth-first into a bookshelf, loosening one of his front teeth.  As a result, he had to eat on the side of his mouth and it meant he gave up his pacifier because he couldn't use it on his wiggly front tooth. (Score!)  And then it was better and we didn't think about it again. 

But at his six-month check-up, the doctor noticed an abscess and told us the tooth had to go.  She said it wasn't an immediate need, but it was urgent and we should address it soon.  So I selfishly decided to wait until after the DisneyWorld trip so he wouldn't have a big gap-tooth grin in all those pictures.

This meant that we scheduled the extraction the week after we came back.  Daniel and I drove his siblings to school and then we headed off to the dentists' office.  They are a "dog-friendly" office and there are a couple of little dogs who frequent the waiting area and exam rooms.  Daniel is the least dog-friendly of the kids, but he made an effort to approach the little dog in the waiting area.

Then our name was called and we headed back into the exam room where Daniel was hooked up with a little laughing gas to relax him.

After that he got a local anesthetic injection and the dentist pulled out her gold-plated pliers and yanked the affected tooth out.  I don't know how I thought they were going to extract the tooth, but I guess I thought it would be slightly more high-tech than that, so I was startled.  After that, we held gauze to the open area for a bit, rinsed, and then headed out to visit the prize bin where Daniel chose little things for himself and for his brother and sister.

As we all know, the reward for any dental work is, of course, ICE CREAM!

We spent the rest of the day hanging out at home until it was time to collect Max and Caroline from school (and show off the gap-tooth smile, of course).  

Day 8: TIME TO GO HOME!

We got everything packed and everyone dressed and the lovely bell boy took everything down to store and we were checked out and waiting for a shuttle to Disney Springs to take us to lunch.

Because we  had dining credits to spend.

So we had a reservation.  Originally, it'd been at T-REX, but considering Daniel now hates dinosaurs, we changed them to somewhere else.  But the map of Disney Springs (which is a HUGE, HORRIBLE outdoor shopping extravaganza) didn't show where the shuttle dropped off, so obviously, we were on the opposite end of the mile of commerce from where we needed to be.

So we decided to avoid that on the return and get a taxi.  I logged onto the taxi app and ordered one, asking for it to pick us up where the hostess said they normally pick up.

Immediately when we got there, we got a phone call saying the driver had called and they couldn't pick up there, but we could go to the front of the theater.  So we went there, but there wasn't anyplace to be picked up.  So I called back and was condescended to and told I was in the wrong and I flipped out and screamed at the man on the phone and we did a forced march all the way to the other side of the mile of capitalism and found a nice man from a different cab company who loaded us into his van and was charming and got us back to the hotel with a whole 10 minutes to spare before our shuttle to the airport.

Then the shuttle guy wanted paperwork that we didn't have, even though our names were on his list.  And he made us load our own bags.

It was the least Disney of our days, to be sure.

But we made it to the airport, where we checked all our bags, got our boarding passes, and went around the corner to meet Boppy.  We hung out for a while chatting, drinking beverages that couldn't go past security, and getting in last minute purchases.

And then we had to enter the world's worst organized security line.  Eight or so lanes condense into one mass throng and then separate out again.  The kids all had their backpacks and rolling carry-ons, so they took up a bunch of space.  And we got separated.  I asked a teenaged boy who stepped between us if I could just scoot ahead so I could be with my kids because I'd gotten separated and he snorted, "Maybe you should just keep a better eye on your kids."  He continued to make faces at me and I may have threatened his life and I may have run over his flip flop-clad feet with my carry on.  But nobody can prove it, so I don't think it happened.  I assume if I'd gotten in trouble for it, a jury of my peers would've been a box filled with Mama Bears who had been separated from their cubs by a mouth-breathing adolescent, though, so I think I would've been fine.

Things were looking up on the plane, where we had in seat Direct TV and movies.  But then we had an hour wait (so the tv was comped) and turbulence (so the tv didn't work for half the flight).  Caroline threw up on herself and didn't have a change of clothe.  We were mid-turbulence and the flight crew was strapped in, but I got up and asked if they had a towel or something, as my daughter had thrown up.  They shrugged and said no, but there were some in the lavatory.  Ultimately, she took off her leggings and t-shirt and just wore her skirt and sweatshirt, complaining about the scratchy fabric on her bare legs.  She squirmed back and forth, yelling, "I can't get comfortable because they make these chairs TOO STUPID!"  Preaching to the choir, sweetheart!  We wrapped her in Uncle's sweatshirt and she fell asleep after a while.  Oh, and the flight crew never checked in to see how she was doing, either.  

Daniel was similarly pouty and changed seats a couple of times.  Max was perfect - he slept for the first few hours, then watched Wall-E and laughed his little Snoopy laugh and then deplaned like a pro.

When we finally got home, the kids were excited to be in San Francisco and to ride on the magic walkway.  Both boys were upset they had to carry their heavy backpacks and I told them that I couldn't carry them for them because I had too much to carry.  Daniel left his on the ground and walked in the opposite direction of the exit.  I told him I was just going to leave it and Caroline sighed, reached over, and hefted it onto her own shoulder, looking at me and saying, "he's just too tired."

Uncle finally corralled Daniel and we got to the curb to wait for a shuttle, piled in, got home and unloaded.

To discover that I couldn't find our house keys anywhere. So Uncle had to hitch a ride with a neighbor over to Wendy's place to retrieve his key to let us in.  It was now nearly midnight and the kids insisted on unpacking all their toys to play with.  Oh, and making a cake for Daddy's birthday the next day.  Thanks Grandma for the midnight run to Safeway for cake mix and frosting!!!

All in all, we walked over 50 miles that week, spent countless sums of money, and Caroline said her favorite part was playing in the pool at the hotel.

Of course it was!

Day 7: Back to Magic Kingdom

So this was my plan - do each park for a day, then Universal, then take a day off, and finally circle back to the Magic Kingdom to see whatever we hadn't seen the first day.

It was noon before I realized this meant I had put us, tired and ready to be home, at Magic Kingdom on Saturday of a national three-day weekend.  Smart move, Mom.

But the day started off well.  "Sheriff" was finally out from his barriers and were were able to take some photos with him.

Then we boarded the shuttle.  Daniel was excited to "find" Mickey in the flowers when we got there and insisted on a picture.

And then we boarded the train for Frontierland.  We were able to get a ride pass to go to Thunder Mountain Railroad because of Grandma's scooter, so we poked around Adventureland for a while, waiting in a mammoth line for Aladdin's flying carpets (another Dumbo-style ride) and then rushing back to ride TMR.  All the kids LOVED it, including Daniel.  This pleased me, but it also meant they all wanted to go on more roller coasters and the shortest line for any of them in the park was about 50 minutes.  Not going to happen.

We stopped for lunch in Tomorrowland and got burgers and hotdogs and goofed around.

We checked out a few more sights and then everyone decided it was time to go back to the hotel for some more time in the pool.  Grandma asked them to hold her scooter for later, which was good because they were all out of them!

After the time in the pool, Boppy joined us.  The boys were pretty much done and I got to be "that mom" dragging them to the entrance to Magic Kingdom while they cried.  We left Grandma and Boppy in our dust as we high tailed it to make it to our fast pass for Pirates of the Caribbean, which Daniel again bailed out of as soon as the line got dark.  So we waited outside with Grandma and Boppy and then everyone went together on the Jungle Cruise.

From there it was back across to the Tomorrowland Speedway, with a short stop for photos.

At the Speedway, Boppy and Grandma sat out while we sailed to the front of the line on our Fast Passes.  Daniel and I paired up for one car, Uncle and Max in a second, and Wendy and Caroline in a third.  This third was unsettling because neither "driver" has an actual license.  The kids all got to steer while the grown-ups put the pedal to the medal.  Daniel was quite a speedy driver and he LOVED it.

After this, we repaired to dinner, at which there was nothing that Caroline wanted to eat and she proceeded to pout and whine.  To distract her, I took her next door because there was next to no line to meet Anna and Elsa.  Sadly, next to no line translated into a nearly 45 minute wait, all during which Caroline whined that she would go back to  Uncle and Grandma and I could meet them for her and take lots of pictures.

Finally, we made it through and she was star struck.

It was now late and cold and everyone was tired, but Caroline was bummed she hadn't gotten to go on more rides.  Enter the merry-go-round!  The carousel to the rescue!  We got on and actually rode twice - once the kids went with Wendy and the next time with me and Uncle.  We're not entirely sure it was legal for Uncle to double up with Caroline on her pony, but nobody told us not to.

We managed to get on the final ride before the carousel closed down for the fireworks.  YAY!  Then we headed out to leave.  Caroline was still whining about being hungry so she and Uncle peeled off and got her chicken nuggets and fries back at the same restaurant we'd been to for lunch.  The rest of us got caught in the congestion outside the Castle as fireworks started so we stayed put to watch them and Uncle and Caroline stopped to watch from outside the restaurant.

And then back to the hotel to pack!