Fader's Day

Sunday for most everyone else was Father's Day. Sunday in my house was Nate's Birthday! Eventually I'll get around to posting pics of Jack's birthday (really, can I be any busier?) but since I'm supposed to be packing for a vacation I'm leaving with the kids on in 3 hours and instead I'm blogging, I'll catch up piecemeal.

This was the first time we've separated the boy's birthdays since they're so close in June, and I'm so glad we did. Nate was so happy to have 'his day'.

Such a happy big brudda.

Nate wanted Chocolate cake. So, I found the most chocolatey cake I could...dark chocolate fudge and then I used 2 whole cans of milk chocolate icing. If you enlarge the pic, you can see there's about 2 inches of frosting in the middle there. It was awesome.

some may say this is a cake wreck. I say it's Nate's very own. He wanted blue and green writing, and one of each kind of sprinkle we had, so of course I obliged. So what if the writing is messy? I was trying to get as much on as I could!

Because we needed more guns.

I think the best part of his day was licking the bowl.

This is a machine gun that shoots foam bullets. It shoots about 25 in 8 seconds or something ridiculous like that.

This is Nate at his Nast E Cheese party. He is SO excited!

Worth every penny we spent.

Except for maybe this. THIS I submitted to cakewrecks. We had to put the boulder and Indy on ourselves but had a hard time what with all the swamp grass and all. At least it was chocolate.

Before Indy arrived.

Official Results

I found my results, and I'd like to say a: I am not 33 yet. I have 6 days of 32 left, and B: I'm shocked at the biking time, but whatever and C: I was NOT in the water for almost 14 minutes. The swim itself probably took closer to 12 and 1/2minutes, but again, that uphill running in the sand thing kills ya! Oh yah, I placed in the top half. Sweet.

Enjoy!

age:
33
gender:
F

overall place:
810 out of 1704
division place:
125 out of 242
gender place:
810 out of 1704
time:
1:44:23
pace:
0:
swim:
13:57
trans 1:
5:31 (This needs work. 5 minutes is ridiculous)
bike:
49:17
trans 2:
2:52
run:
32:47 (Not bad for that little walking I did to rehydrate! But still, I'm going to work on getting this down too.)

Officially, I've Now Done TriathlonS, (as in multiple tri's)

I'm going to start this blog by stating that the race Sunday was AWESOME!!! So much fun! And now for the deets:

I woke up around a quarter to four a.m., made a pot of coffee, and ate some toast with peanut butter on it before I headed out. I made it to the race site by 5:15 and racked up, which I wound up having to redo because I was wave 20 and racked on the wrong side of the 2 sided sign, so it looked like I was in wave 21, and then when I re-racked I was on the wrong side of the 20 again, so it looked like I was in wave 19 and at that point I said the hell with it and stayed put.

By 8:00 the sun was coming up, the air was getting warmer, and they announced the water temp was about 71 degrees, so I opted to not wear a wetsuit. The water was still cold, but manageable, and I'm interested to see my time because you had to run up a big hill of sand before you crossed the timing mat to get your swim split. So, the swim will look like it took longer than it actually did. After the swim, it was like a quarter of a mile run just to get to the bike, so I'm sure that transistion time is going to look a bit skewed as well.

The bike was incredible. I love my new bike! Thanks again mom and dad! I felt almost like I was cheating. It literally shaved 10 minutes off my time, because when I was done with the bike, I didn't feel like I couldn't move, I felt that the run was actually doable. And it was. I only walked a bit on the run, and that was at a hydration station because I wanted to get some sports drink in me (salty sweater, remember?) and I haven't yet mastered running and drinking yet. I can barely walk and chew gum, so running and doing anything is a mystery.

My overall time was about 1hr 42 or 43 minutes, I haven't gotten my official time yet. I felt awesome afterwards and even made it to book club that night. I think I did just the right amount of prerace fueling with protein bars and carbs etc., and hydrating the right way. I also burned 1330 calories in the process, so I didn't feel bad about eating all of the Chex party mix at book club that night!

I think I'm ready for my next race...who's with me?

Number:363- Wave:20 -Wave Color: Yellow -Swimming in 65 degree weather? Priceless

Tomorrow, Sunday the 14th, I will be on the road by 4 a.m., to be at my tri race by 5 a.m. My wave goes out at 8:16 and I am one of 2,000 competitors Though I may not be in tip top race form, I'm totally ready. Sort of.

It is raining and cold out. The race expo was OUTSIDE under tents today. I was so mad, as we all know how much I love being wet and cold. Today's weather has not put me in the mood to do a race tomorrow. June in general has not had me in a mood to do much of anything.

Our race director told a funny story during the course talk today. He said a few years ago, two women got to the bike part of the race and wondered what the hell they had gotten themselves into with this whole triathlon thingy and decided to just head to a local Starbucks instead of riding 13 miles and then running 3. Not a bad idea, except they still had their race chips on, which is basically your timing chip AND big brother rolled into one, so the police were literally out doing rounds looking for these women because the worst was feared. I'm not sure what the moral of this is, except if you're tired you can always cash in your chips, so to speak (ba dum dah--sorry for the pun).

So tomorrow, away I go. tonight, it's early to bed for me!

Life in a NeoPrene Torture Chamber

I'm getting geared up for the first tri of the season on Sunday the 14th, reading thru the e-mail regarding bike racking and other procedurals and I come across the line, "Because of this shit weather we've been having, the water temp is going to be in the low to mid 60's, Wets suits are highly suggested". (Okay, so it's not a direct quote, but close). They offer wetsuit rentals for about $60 (yikes!) and so I sent out a random e-mail to my church circle and lo and behold, a former triathlete is letting me borrow hers for free.

She happens to be tall and skinny, so when I took it, read the tag as being a Women's Large" and tried it on, I was hoping my being shorter than her would make up for her being skinnier than me and the dang thing would fit.

I got it on, barely, but I think it's supposed to be this way. Have you ever donned a wetsuit? It's like wearing full body panty hose, only worse because it's WAY tight and WAY rubbery, so it's more like wearing a freaking full body garden hose. I immediately hated it, but decided I also hate swimming in ridiculously cold water, so I have to vote for myself on the lesser of the two evils: neoprene torture or hypothermia?

What got interesting was when I was trying to take it off. It was glued to me because I was sweating wearing it. I had to have John pull it off my legs, and I'm quite unsure of how I'm going to get it off myself on Sunday. If anyone has any good ideas for quick removal I'd love to hear it. My friend recommended Vaseline, but I'm thinking that may be like putting butter on a burn and am going to look for alternatives....maybe cornstarch powder?

Sunday should be interesting. I'm almost race ready I suppose, but now thanks to this my transition times are going to totally blow.

Oh well, I heard the after party is totally fun! Yes!

I Have Babies!

Somehow, my garden seeds have sprouted. I think mostly the cucumbers and zucchinis are growing, which is a good thing. Enjoy my latest photos!

From my hanging basket I bought from the boyscouts. The other hanging basket.

Peeking thru.
Is this a pansy?

My herbs, my growing basil.

I used fresh rosemary Saturday when Jen and I cooked our Montreal Chicken recipe. It smelled so good, and a taste of it was awesome!

I think I'm going to try a mint julep recipe...if I can find one. Otherwise, I'm hoping it eventually warms up enough for iced tea, complete with ice and fresh mint.

The garden.

Growing tomato vine.

Baby Bell Peppers! Yay!

My protective marigold.

Maybe a framer?

So far, the bunnies have been kept at bay.

More babies!!! I THINK these are cucumbers, and I think technically I'm supposed to separate them, but my grandmother who grew up on farms told me not to disturb it. She said my Pa would do it kinda like this and then let it just grow, so I'm following the Old Folks' wisdom on this one.

Aaaand...since I'm growing a bajillion and 3 tomato plants, I'd LOVE any homemade spaghetti sauce recipes! Or any other fresh tomato sauce based recipe! Send them along!

Cooking Again!

On Saturday, my good friend Jenny and I cooked for 7 hours and made a freezerful of meals. We love doing this because in the long run it saves much time and energy, especially at the end of a day when you are too tired to even think about preparing food.

We also are "Angels in Aprons" and made extras of some of our dishes for yet another of our coworkers who have been struck with breast cancer and will be starting treatment very very soon. She has 3 young kids (the oldest is in 8th grade) and really needs our help, and your prayers!

Note the bulk box of baggies and Tylenol on the side!

My island in the kitchen along with the double oven is very conducive to our endeavors.
This is what a 10# tube of meat looks like. I kept trying to get Jen to pose provacatively with it, but she wouldn't. You should see all the food we made with that meat!

At Church on Sunday

I took the kids to Sunday school after service. Jack comes up to me and says, "Mom! Mom! Mom! Can I please have some money from your person (meaning purse) to give to the poor people?"

And I say, "Wow Jack, it's so nice you want to donate your money to the poor."

And he replies, "No mom. I don't want to give the poor people MY money, I want to give them YOUR money".

Sigh...a future in politics for sure.

John and Kate Plus My Opinion (as if it really matters)

Often I am struck with bouts of insomnia, even when I am beyond exhausted, thus fueling the fire in my caffeine addiction. Last night I was struck with such a bout, flipping the channels between "The Colbert Report" and "Chelsea Lately" (even though I don't really find her funny) and the recently uber-taloided "John and Kate Plus 8". I couldn't stand too much of any one show, but I couldn't help being slightly disturbed by the latter.

I know without a doubt that I am in the minority on this one, but I do feel a bit of sympathy for this woman. I'm a Cubs fan, I like underdogs, and in the media circus surrounding her, she is an underdog. Do not misunderstand, I do not think her an underdog with her fame and fortune and often bitchy attitude, but this woman (or the nanny) cannot even take her kids to the grocery store because her face is everywhere, as are all her faults laid bare.

Mom on the rocks (www.momontherocks.com) wrote a REALLY excellent blog post about how this couple needs marriage counseling, and, I agree. My friend Kim said she enjoyed the show when it was all "Wow, we have 8 kids and this is how loud and crazy and sucky it can be. We have 8 kids and it's hard", but she has lost interest in the whole "Wow. We have 8 kids. Look how hard it was to go on a FREE trip to Disney. Wow. We have 8 kids. Look how hard it is to go on a FREE trip to Hawaii"... and so on, and I'm kinda with her there. I just have to go one step further and offer up my empathies, sympathies, condolences, prayers, or whatever you wanna call its. This is a family in crisis, and unfortunately, being voyeuristics by human nature, we're all along for the ride as this story has found saturation in every media outlet.

Maybe it's the insomnia talking, but I truly feel this woman is being made into an ogre, maybe a bit undeservedly. Do I think she's a bit bossy? Sure-she seems to be on the extreme end of being a type A. Plus, being organized to feed, clothe and transport just 3 kids is exhausting when I think of it, I cannot imagine doing it for sextuplits and twins. I get crabby when John works from home and interrupts my flow of things...I like my routine a certain way, and who's to say Kate Gosselin doesn't need her routine as well?

Do I think she can be mean to her husband? Yah, but sometimes the man needs a little direction. Like in last nights episode, he was saying something along the lines of 'Wow. I drove to the party separately and there were bouncies and other cool things". Seems to me like he didn't even know, which means he didn't even help her plan this party. Hmm...that gives me pause. Even if you don't like your wife, you cannot keep pounding your chest and saying you're there for the kids when you don't even seemingly know any details of their birthday party. It's a massive event when planned for 6 kids at once. These two need a professional like no one's business.

I digress.

I felt a pang for her at the end too, when she had her 'mommy moment'. They had clips of all the kids' birthdays, and each year she says, "I can't believe my babies are 3, (or 4 or 5 etc). And she did get teary. Doesn't EVERY mommy do that on their babies' birthdays? She really does love her kids, I think.

In the US Weekly article last week, they compared Kate Gosselin to the Octo mom. Apparently, they are both bad moms because they like french manicures. I am not even kidding...how ridiculous is THAT?

I see her in a bit of a different light. You have 8 kids. You struggle. You get a break and a free tummy tuck. They start to get older, going to school. You finally have a bit of free time and can start reclaiming yourself, because for the past few years you have eaten, slept and breathed your kids-your kids are your identity. She finally gets to reclaim her identity. She gets a haircut and an occasional massage and writes a book. I truly fail to see how time at the spa makes her a bad mom/person. I know LOTS of mommies who do just that and I would never claim they are neglectful or irresponsible to their children because of it. Should I feel guilty every time I get my eyebrows waxed? So what if she looks good? She feels good about herself obviously, and women and mothers are so cruel to each other that we now couple looking and feeling good about oneself as the equivalent of being a bad person and mother?

This woman has a career now and does speaking engagements, which ultimately is putting food on the table and tuition money for college in the bank. Maybe the t.v. show isn't the best of choices anymore, but because of it, those 8 kids have had life adventures and opportunities my own children will never have, and how can we begrudge that to the kids? The media is making her the bad cop and the daddy the good cop, and according to his own words "It's good for the kids to see mommy and daddy together in one place" blah de blah. So, he's not even there. He has 8 kids he's doing nothing for, not even, (if he believes they shouldn't be on t.v. anymore) protecting them from exploitation.

The show has taken on a depressing note, and I'm with MOTR. They need counselling, or something like it. But as a woman, and a mommy, I cannot skewer this woman for doing what she's done. I can't help but think if it was John Gosselin doing it the tabloids would be less interested.

At any rate, I hope they figure this mess out for their kids' sakes. I don't think I can watch the show any more (unless I need help sleeping) as it has left a very bad taste in my mouth as to how condemning we are as wives and mothers. We are so strong and hold each other up without even thinking twice, and we also tear down and destroy just as easily. It is an anomaly that I will never understand.

Prayers for Friends

If you pray, or even if you don't but like to send positive vibes someone's way, please keep this family in mind:

http://www.prayersfortheschusters.blogspot.com/

They are close relatives of a dear, dear friend of mine. You may not know them well or at all, but they are asking for all God's help they can get!

Thanks!

Considering the "Muddy Buddy"

This looks fun. Now I just need a buddy....
http://www.muddybuddy.com/events.php?id=7

Why Soccer is Stupid

I used to think I wasn't a big sports fan. After yesterday, I decided, "Mmm...not so. I LOVE to sit and watch a good ballgame in the SUN and drink a nice, cold $8 beer." Baseball never makes you sit in the rain...

And after last night I decided I am not a soccer fan, but apparently, my children LOVE to play it, so I'm stuck. I will not EVER consider myself a soccer mom though...you know the moms with mini-vans and a "Go Jack" sticker on the back window, and the lawn chairs they lug to every game and practice. I've got the van and I stop there.

Jack had a game last night. In the rain. The e-mail from the commissioner of soccer actually read something like, "The fields may be wet, but we're still playing". Yah, the fields were soaked. And it was still raining until about 10 minutes before the game ended.

To top it off, the fields were not only wet, but freshly mowed. So the kids were all covered in grass and mud and sand and WET! It was Murphy's Law that I had decided to hand wash my kitchen floors to rid them of the hops and other grains that have been living there since Saturday's brewfest.

I had the kids strip naked in the garage, dusted off most of the grass, and shuffled them into the tub, before dinner. The floors are getting dirty already, but I avoided a major grass and mud situation by having naked kids running wild in the house.

In case you're wondering, Jack scored a goal and blocked a few others. He really likes soccer. Sigh.... Does that make me a soccer mom by default then?

A Memorial Day Weekend To Remember

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband of almost 9 years. I do believe this is his 15th consecutive birthday we have spent together, or something like that. Here's how the weekend went down....

I called my mom to have the kids over for a sleepover Saturday, so that John could have the day to do what he wanted and we could go out on a much needed date. Not counting my hospital stay, the last time we were out without kids was probably January or February. I took the kids to my mom's and he made beer. I went shopping at Ikea and spent my next 3 paychecks, but my new photo gallery area looks totally rockin'. We got home and went to see the new Star Trek movie...which was fine with me for 3 reasons.

1.) Eric Bana
2.) I HATE chick flicks, and though the story lines for Star Trek stuff are all kinda stupid and the same, it is at the very least entertaining.
3.) The new Captain Kirk isn't too bad either.

My hubbie is such a cheap and easy date that we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for a fancy dinner of Wings and beer and some bar trivia (at which, I totally kicked John's butt. I am a treasure chest of useless information). We went home, and here is where the evening turned slightly sour. I was SOOO excited to give him his gift, a Garmin Forerunner GPS enhanced heart rate monitor. This thing does everything, except scrub the kitchen floors. It tracks your running/biking/swimming course. It tells you how far you've gone, and how far you have left. It tracks calories and fat burned. I thought it'd be awesome since he's lost about 20 lbs since Christmas and has taken to running through the neighborhood, enjoying a 5 or 6 mile jaunt every other day or so.

He didn't like it. And I quote: "Yeah, I gotta be honest. I'm never gonna use it. You should probably send it back". Aaaaaannnnd deflate.

The next day we started staining our 3,000 square foot deck. It's still not done, but we got a huge chunk done because my mom made an executive decision to keep the kids an extra day because (and I quote again): "You can't get ANYTHING done with these kids around!" I swear, that was news to me. Some other fun quotes from my mom over the course of her weekend with the kiddos include:

"Your kids destroy things just to destroy them." Huh? I had NO idea.
"Nate can't do anything without getting messy. He's a little disaster." Mmmm, really? Have you seen my house?
"Nate tells stories. He's a liar." Uh, yah. Have you not paid attention when I told you about how he thinks he's Jesus?
"Jack is in time-out for running into Nate on purpose". He NEVER would do that at home, right?

But, the kids were having fun and the deck is mostly done, which we really couldn't have done with the kids there. I picked them up on Monday, daddy's real birthday and we made a cake and some bleu cheese flank steak, since he loves steak and bleu cheese. It was a lovely family dinner, even if it took the little ones about 45 minutes to finish their meal (every meal with them is a battle. Every. Single. One.) John got to open his birthday presents from the kids, since I took them to the dollar store to find something to give to someone else-not pick out what they would want. That was a small battle, trying to explain that "No, daddy does NOT want a remote control motorcycle or Barbie doll." John was soooo excited to open from the kids:

1.) From Jack-Garden gloves and a small shovel
2.) From Nate- a Jug of Hawaiian punch and a garden rake
3.) From Maddie- A squeaky dog toy and some Pork-n-Beans

In fact, he was so excited and happy about those gifts, that I decided next year I am getting him a few things from the dollar store myself.

But all in all, I think he had a nice birthday. He got a break from the kids. He got to make beer. He stained his deck.
Success.

My Garden Of Eden

I began planting yesterday, though I'm not sure how all this is going to work. The ground has a lot of clay and though I dug and broke up clods of dirt, and bought 3 bags of organically enriched soil and some cow manure compost, I'm thinking it may take a couple of years to get it to where I want it.

Pepper plant...I planted 3 of them, hoping at least one works.

My favorite, Mr. Tomato. Although Jack and I are the only ones who actually eat tomatoes, I'm hoping to make my own pasta sauces and freeze them, along with John's favorite fried green tomatoes. The dude hates tomatoes, and hates fried food in general, but for whatever reason enjoys fried green tomatoes. I don't care...it's all yum to me!

Of course I had to plant a row of marigold's, just like Grandpa Z taught me. It keeps the rabbits away. Now to prepare for cutworms....

I also started an herb garden in a little planter, since buying fresh herbs is somewhat expensive. My sweet basil...

Rosemary-I love how she smells.

More rosemary, and cilantro.

I also started from seed cucumbers, zucchini squash, cantaloupe and carrots, but since I'm not a very good seed grower we'll see. I also want to add to my herb garden with chives and oregano and parsley from seed, but again, we'll see. I'm also experimenting with planting my white strawberry bush (I hardly get any strawberries since the birds eat them first, but the ones I do get are SO good) and a blueberry bush.

I figure with all this I will save money at farmer's markets this year, but I have decided I will be buying those organic eggs and since we are going to be drinking less milk thru the summer, I'll be buying organic hormone free milk. I know it's expensive, but I think there's a reason all these kids are developing and growing up too early, and maybe it's our hormone laden food. Next step of course, will be our meat products, but that may have to wait until I'm working more, because that gets pricey.

Summer is off to a good start though! Wish me luck on my seedlings!!!

Well, Now I've Gone and Done It

I just officially registered for another triathlon race. This one will be held on Sunday, June 14th, and benefits ovarian cancer research. Of course, this is in addition to my Danskin tri, which helps the breastcancer cause. Because we all know I can't do something unless there isn't a CAUSE involved.

I'm sooooo not race ready, especially after taking a month of R & R thanks to my appendectomy, but I AM ready to put my sweet new bike to good use.

You can read more about this particular race here:
http://www.uswts.com/?q=index.html
and I am doing the Naperville Sprint race. Wish me luck...I will need it this time around for sure!

So, uh, mom...dad? Wanna come over after for burgers and a beer?

Happy Mother's Day to Me

My mother's day this year was spent at church, Maddie's first dance recital, and then bbq'ing at home with my family-who of course wouldn't have missed Maddie's first recital for the world.

This is Ms. M at her rehearsal the day before. I had Jenny braid her hair. See her "Madditude"? It didn't leave her. She didn't even smile in the professional photos. So like her father...not shy exactly, but really not a fan of having a lot of attention and eyes on her either. So, here she is at said recital. I'd post video, but she didn't do anything but stand there shooting darts with her eyes at her teacher in the wings. At one point, she moved her arm slightly. Sigh...I didn't expect much, really. She IS only 2...and she DID look super cute, thanks to Auntie doing her hair in a cool circle braid and accessorizing with make-up. I suppose I'm just glad that a.) she didn't run off stage screaming or stand there crying and b.) she really does enjoy ballet class. She does everything she's supposed to in her little ballet room.

The first "daddy-daughter dance"? Not a chance...check out the 'tude on the chick, saying "Yah, uh, NO dad. I don't think so".
Lastly, I got some beautiful fluers on Mom's day. I am a lucky lady.

And so, I impart my latest top 10 list in honor of Mother's Day:

TEN THINGS I HAVE LEARNED SINCE BEING A MOTHER:

1.) Poop is important. As a mother, you will discuss size, frequency, color, duration,consistency and other oddities in reference to your children's bowel movements. You will also do this with the clinical judgement and coolness of a true physician. Life is measure in poop people.

2.) I hate Caillou. I also have a serious problem with talking bunnies with no mother.

3.) Even if you try to prevent guns in your home, boys will find a way, so don't bother. They will break their hangers, bite their toast, chew their gum, and snap Lego's all into gun formations.

4.) Creative parenting is fun...like when you get to tell your child that if they touch another dead field mouse again they will be taken to the hospital for fear of "BACTERIA" and could wind up with 100's of shots and needles in their belly.

5.) Watching your child's face as you ignore a tantrum is as pricelss as a Van Gogh painting.

6.) Mom's nights out are a must, if you plan on retaining any form of sanity and maternal instinct that you care to act on.

7. That (number 6) goes double for a bottle of booze...any kind.

8.) Oma's and Opa's are a good deflector strategy when your child is talking incessantly and/or performing a behaviour they don't care about bothering mom and dad with. Start dialing Mom's mom...she puts things to rights.

9.) I now know where kids eat free and on what days. I love not having to cook, maybe once or twice a month. And I also know to avoid those places at any other given time....

10.) Toothpaste and boogers can and will stick to walls,sinks, bathtubs, toilets, doorknobs, drawerpulls and lightswitches...and they are like magic...just as you wipe it off it will somehow reappear....

We Went to Disney and Lived to Tell About It

We had SUCH an awesome Disney vacation last week! John and I are so proud that we did it all on our own and still didn't lose anyone! I took over 500 photos with my new Canon SLR camera, over 200 with my little camera, and my parents gave Jack his own nice new camera to create a "Jackumentary" with. Watching the photos on the t.v. yesterday, my dad said it was as he expected it to be...lots of pics of his face, balcony railings, random grasses and twigs, and also some legitimately good ones.

Here are just a FEW photo highlights....

First day and first time EVER at the Magic Kingdom. While our time there couldn't be beat, the kids totally enjoyed the pool and wanted to do that all day every day. We DID spend a good amount of time in our cool piratey hotel pool, but probably not as much as the kiddos wanted to!We met a TON of the characters, esp. at Hollywood Studios. We found a place where they were hidden and there were virtually NO lines. Sweet!

Nate took this one. You can hardly tell, but it's me and the evil Snow Queen. I liked her. She barked orders at the boys and they listened.

The ONLY time Maddie let any character near her without John or I holding her. Even during our princess dinings, she got a bit star struck. While it was cute, it was slightly irritating because I always had to find someone nearby to take our picture. Luckily, the characters travel with "helpers" who did a lot of snapshot shooting for me-esp. when John and the boys were doing big kid stuff.

There he is, the man, they mystery, the mouse himself!

I LOVE Mary Poppins. She's my favorite. And no, I'm not that fat. I had to still be wearing loose fitting shirts and shorts because at that point my belly button still hurt to have anything touching or pressing up against it. It still hurts a bit when I wear certain jeans...grrrrr.

I still love her.

As far as I'm concerned, I am Mrs. Incredible. We did meet Mr. Incredible too. He was fun.

The boys liked the "Star Tours" star wars ride. And the speeder.

Getting ready for a day o' fun.

Other highlights of our trip include:

-Nate getting gummy bears at every sit down character dining experience and having "Jelly Bear Wars". He had those things all lined up and doing battle. Hilarious.

-Jack telling air port security at check-in on our way to fly home that he "has a new gun packed in his suitcase, it's red, and you only need to shoot it once!" He saw our other Disney bags and laughed while John and I were slightly mortified...uh, son??? Not the guy you tell you have a gun in your suitcase to!

-Our 2 hour flight delay to get home, because the airlines entire computer systems crashed. Other than that, the logistics of our trip were all silly easy.

-Nate and Maddie having a serious discussion in the hotel room about how Minnie Mouse is a girl because she has a jinie, and Mickey is a boy with a penis.

-The boys favorite ride together being the "Tower of Terror". Sometimes, boys just rock.

-Maddie's face on "Small World". She LOVED that ride and would occassionally break out into singing the song. We also went on that ride no less than 7 times. At least.

-Nate declaring his favorite ride was the tram rides into the parks every day. Seriously. We coulda saved a lot of money buddy boy!

-Mary Poppins asking the kids their ages and then telling ME that I have my hands full. You know when Mary Poppins tells you you're a busy mama, then, well then, you are truly a superwoman!