2015 - Week 31

Monday was wonderful, as we woke up in Duluth, on vacation. AMAZING! But, it was also our only full day there, which is sad and not so amazing. We were up pretty early, and were lazy around the room for a bit. Watching some TV, eating some snacks, just hanging out together. We slowly showered and got ready, one by one, before finally heading out for the day. First up, we were off to spend some time in town, at Canal Park. We usually stay in Canal Park when we go to Duluth…right off the lake, tons of stuff to do. But, we knew the girls would love being at the waterpark, which is way cheaper, so we changed it up. No way we were missing our visit though. We went down by the lake first…skipped some rocks, took some pictures, splashed in the water. Even little Eliza got pretty brave in the big, cold lake! Next up, we bought some popcorn and fed the birds for a while. The big girls LOVE it, and Eliza was mesmerized by all of the seagulls. It was pretty funny to watch. Once we were out of popcorn and the birds were bored of us, we were off to “Grandma’s”, our usual dining spot, for lunch. YUM!!! The girls were getting pretty antsy, and driving us nuts, so we took a little walk when we finished lunch. Eliza fell asleep in the stroller right away, so that was quite a bonus. We watched some big boats go through the canal, walked along the lake, played in the fountains for a bit. So fun…so active, but so peaceful at the same time. I just love it in Duluth, seriously LOVE it! We finally packed it up, and made our way back to the hotel for the rest of the day. We hit up the waterpark right away...more slides, more lazy river, more splash pad. Exhausting! Eventually, I took Eliza back to the room so she could take a little nap. I watched some TV while she snoozed on my chest. The best, I love my baby cuddles. The rest of the family eventually came in and ruined our peace and quiet. Eliza was up and raring to go again, so….back to the pool we went. I finally indulged in a couple of super delicious vacation pina coladas…SO GOOD! We did eventually have to drag the girls out of the water, and our waterparking came to an end. So much fun, but man is that water exhausting! We got into our jammies, ordered some Chinese food, watched a movie on TV, and hung out for a while. Some much needed family time, I’ll always take that! After dinner, we all stopped into the arcade to use the tokens we had received, and played some games for a while (and, chased Eliza around like a bunch of lunatics). I was obsessed with the Wheel of Fortune game, and ended up winning a jackpot of tickets. Seriously, pretty damn exciting, let me tell you! The girls picked out a couple of squirt guns to bring home for the pool, and I was pretty much a rockstar. GO ME! We “checked out” just as the arcade was closing and made our way back to our room, to head to bed. Bedtime on the last full day of daycare is always pretty sad...we did everything we can to make it last as long as possible, but we were all beyond exhausted, and pretty much passed right out. So sad!

Tuesday was head home day. We did all sleep in a bit, which was pretty nice. We packed up, showered, got ready….loaded up the van, checked out, and hit the road. Driving away from the hotel, and out of the city, is quite depressing. Heading back to reality is no fun, that’s for sure! We stopped at a gas station to fill up and grab some road snacks, and then made the haul home. The big girls watched movies the whole way again, but this time Eliza barely slept at all. She was not a very happy camper the last stretch home. Oy! We stopped at my dad’s to visit with my stepmom for a while, and pick up the dog. He gets so spoiled at their house, but he was still pretty excited to see us. So cute! As soon as we arrived home, the big girls were right out in the pool, while Eliza and I hung out. Christian cleaned the pool, checked the gardens and did some final outside clean up from the party. Meanwhile, I unpacked all of our vacation goodies, started some laundry, and got Eliza down for a little nap. Olivia’s little BFF Bella came over to play with the girls and go swimming, and it was dinner time before we knew it. We ate, hung out for a while, end eventually started heading to bed. It was pretty late by the time we all got to bed…but since we took the girls out of daycare for the week, they didn’t have to get up early, so it wasn’t the end of the world. Christian is staying home with them tomorrow – so I was the sole family member who had to get up, and head back into reality in the morning. So not fair!

Chuy snuggled with Eliza on the ride home.

On Wednesday, I was back to work. I was exhausted, and it was just as terrible as I imagined. Christian was home with all three girls though…for I believe the first time ever (other than a Target run or something), so the thought of that made it a little bit better. LOL. I ended up driving the car so Christian would have the van, just in case, and oh man, I forgot just how bad of shape the car is in. I sure hope we can make it last a while longer, but I’m really not sure. Other than leaving my lovely can behind. It was quite wonderful to just be able to get up, get ready, and leave. JUST LEAVE!!!! No kids to drag out of bed, nobody to beg 10 times to brush their teeth, put their shoes on and grab your snack. Nobody to whine and complain while I help them get dressed and brush their hair. Nobody to force into the van, including somebody who has usually forgotten something and has to go back inside for it. Nobody to rush into daycare or sign in. Just get up, get ready, and go. It’s been a LONG time since I felt that joy! Work was crazy. Crazier than usual. Playing a lot of catchup from my time off, so the day flew by. Thankfully. I stopped at Walmart for a few groceries on my way home, and settled in for the night. Bella was over again, and the big girls were swimming. Christian and Eliza hung out, while I cleaned up the kitchen a little bit, and made dinner. Christian officially survived his day home with the girls, ALL DAY, all by himself. I would have bet money that he would have loaded them up into the van at some point and gone to his parents’ house for a break. Pretty impressed! We finally forced the girls out of the pool, and into the house, to eat and call it a night. Eliza has been fighting her sleep again this week, so it ended up being another late night for me. Oy!

Got a Birthday Card from "Auntie" Dawn in the Mail today. Lucky Girl!

Thursday was another day of chaos, another day out of our usual routine. Christian was back to work. And, while we didn’t have to get the girls READY, we still had to pack them up and get them out of the door. However, Christian was still on duty, as they were all heading to his parents’ house for the day. So, again, I had the car for the day. I’ll be happy to hand that bad boy back over to Christian tomorrow!! Christian loaded the girls up, and we were all off on our way. So, I had another fairly quiet morning – I could get used to this! After playing catchup yesterday, I spent today tackling my inbox, getting some new stuff going. SO MUCH WORK TO DO!!!!! The day I finally feel somewhat caught up, I’m totally throwing myself a party! Now that the party and vacation are behind us, I’m starting to settled back in to start posting and selling stuff around the house. I have some more miscellaneous kids’ stuff to put up, along with some DVD’s. I sold most of our DVD’s a couple years ago, when I went on our last “sell everything I can” rampage, so now it’s time to try to get the rest out. I also ordered Olivia a new, bigger bike. Now that she suddenly is riding like a pro, it’s time to get her a bike that she actually fits on! I can’t wait to surprise her with it! Christian picked the girls up from his parents’ after work, and we all met up at home for dinner. The girls were all beyond crabby…SO CRABBBBBY, I just wanted to pull my hair out. I think they’re all just so exhausted, and so out of routine, that it’s all just catching up to them. That will be one benefit to getting back into our real reality next week. The big girls were off to bed shortly after dinner, I did some quick cleaning up around the house, and then fought Eliza to go to sleep. Again. This baby is going to be the death of me, she’s so dang stubborn already! All I know is, I’m super excited tomorrow is already Friday!

My throwback this week...about 5 years ago. So crazy!

FINALLY FRIDAY! It was a bit of a chaotic day as well. For the last day of  “no daycare week”, my mom was on duty. She came over to our house to watch all 3 girls. This has been a week of firsts on that front…neither my mom, my mother-in-law nor Christian had watched all three girls, all day long before….so it was interesting. Everybody was getting a little taste of my life this week! Christian was off to work early, and the girls were all snuggled away in bed when my mom arrived. Then, Chuy and I were off on our adventure for the day. It was time. Chuy was finally getting neutered. And, my heart was breaking. Poor puppy. I made the hike down south, about 30 minutes, to drop him off at the vet. This was the vet a friend recommended to me, so I wasn’t familiar with them. They were really nice, and the fact that they seemed to be super busy brought me some comfort in their level of care. Of course, I was pretty scared all day, waiting to get word of how everything went. After drop-off, I made the long hour-long drive into work. The day was really busy, continuing to catchup from vacation and get everything going. I got word shortly after lunchtime that Chuy’s surgery went well…no issues, no concerns, perfect as can be. WHEW! I did leave work a tad early, to make sure I could get down to pick him up in time. It was a good thing to, because when I was making my way back up to our house, traffic was at a DEAD STOP going the other way…I would have been stuck in that and there is no way I would have made it in time. Traffic, UGH! He snuggled with me the entire way home, so I was happy to see he didn’t hate me for dropping him off there. He seemed really tired, and was crying a little bit, but overall he seemed to be doing really well. He was pretty excited to see the girls and my mom when we arrived home, so he seemed to be in good spirits. Tough little guy! We visited for a while before she left, and the girls and I were off to run some errands. We stopped at Walmart to make a couple of movie sales, and then were off to Toys R Us to buy a birthday present for a party tomorrow. The girls, of course, BEGGED for everything they saw. This is why I just buy –presents myself! I did let them buy a little $2 shopkins cart, which seemed to make them happy enough. We were looking at some of the new shopkins stuff, which of course Olivia was dying to get, so I told her that maybe for Christmas or her birthday she should ask for some. She told me “OK, maybe. I was going to ask Santa for a bigger bike, but maybe I’ll change my mind”, made me so happy to know that low and behold, a new, awesome bike was on its way already! She’s going to be so excited! Christian arrived home around the same time as us, so we all settled in for the night. Dinner, some playtime, some TV time. Lots of relaxing after a busy, crazy week.

Poor Chuy! I was so relieved to pick him up tonight!

Saturday was another pretty busy day. Christian didn’t have to work, which is always a welcomed surprise on a Saturday. So, we were all off to swim class together. They are supposed to have one more class, next week, but we have to be somewhere else, so today was their last class for the summer. Amelia did REALLY well – she swims better and better every week on her own. I think being in the pool on vacation really helped. We let her go without her lifejacket pretty much the entire time, so she got a lot of practice. Her instructor seemed really impressed with her progress. Since we won’t be here for their last class, we won’t get their progress reports. I’m pretty sure she would have passed, and moved up to Level 3, but we’re just going to sign her up for Level 2 one more time. It can’t hurt. Olivia is doing really well in her class as well, and did quite a bit of work on her diving this week. That will take a lot more work, but her swimming is definitely coming along really well. So proud of my big girls! Now they’ll have a little break until the end of September, which is kind of nice. After class, we all made our way home. Christian cut the grass, while I cleaned up a little and finished un-packaging Amelia’s birthday gifts – otherwise known as the worst task every known to man. We had lunch, and I got Eliza down for a nap. Then, right away, one by one, we all showered and got ready for the day. We got Eliza up and were all off to Bella’s birthday party (her birthday was on Monday, the day after Amelia). The party was at her dad’s apartment – they have an awesome patio area with grills and lots of seating area, right next to a nice big pool. We ate, the kids played at the park, we did a piñata…they did presents and cake and FINALLY, after begging us all day, the kids got to go swimming. I had made Christian bring his suit to go in with the girls, and after realizing just how ridiculously hot it was outside, I seriously rejected that decision. That pool was calling my name, for sure. We eventually had to leave, a little earlier than I had hoped, because I was getting seriously overheated…like, I started feeling kind of dizzy and sick, and I was afraid it was going to get to Eliza, if it wasn’t already. So, home we went, to relax for the rest of the night. We had a late dinner, before sending the girls off to bed. Eliza, MUCH easier than she has been, thankfully. Christian stopped over at the neighbors for a couple of beers, while I settled in with some Hulu for the night. Perfect, quiet end to a long, hot day.

Sunday arrived, way too fast as it usually does. And, we all indulged in quite a lazy, quiet day. Christian was SERIOUSLY, ANNOYINGLY lazy all day long. He slept late, he took a nap, and he was driving me insane. Meanwhile, I did laundry throughout the day, cleaned up the kitchen, and kept Eliza entertained. The big girls watched a few movies, swam in the pool for a while and played in the yard. Pretty much just a rotation between the three activities all day long. Thankfully they can keep themselves pretty busy and entertained, even when mom and dad are having off days. Chuy seems to be bouncing back from surgery really well. We haven't even had to give him any of the pain medicine they gave us. He's eating and drinking, seems more playful and pretty content. Such a relief. The evening was just as quiet…dinner, baths, some TV time. It was really a much needed day of NOTHING, which still went by way too fast. The big girls were heading back to daycare in the morning, and the rest of us were back to our usual routines (Eliza still goes to my mother-in-laws on Mondays, and my mom’s every other Friday).

Until Next Week!! XOXO