From Texas to Utah

Rubin, his brother Trevor, and I survived a driving trip from Texas to Utah around the first of August. Once again I trusted Rubin way too much with the travel plans. He assured me that I would have the entire backseat of the car to relax in for the whole ride. I guess it's been a while since I've seen the Mini Cooper. I spent the better part of four days crammed in a space the size of a shoe box. Luckily, Trevor was nice enough to let me use his pillows to sleep on.

First we went to a Six Flags park, where the heat was so intense I blacked out during some of the rides. Good times.

Next we went to Carlsbad Caverns. This was my favorite part of the trip. We spent the whole day wandering around on the clearly-marked paths of the cave. The National Park Service's self-described goal is to have minimum impact on the natural cave formations. In an unrelated note, they had a restaurant, gift shop, and restrooms deep inside the cave. Hey, wait a minute...



Rubin and I having a romantic lunch in Carlsbad Caverns. The bat droppings were a nice touch.

That evening we waited in the amphitheater for the Bat Flight. This is where the bats all leave the cave at twilight to go feed. The ranger instructed everyone to be completely silent and keep all electronic devices put away so as not to frighten the bats. The rangers were pretty hardcore about this rule -- one lady was even "escorted" out because she wouldn't turn off her iPad!

Rubin, Trevor, and I waiting for the bat flight outside of the cave.

Then we had to make a quick trip to Roswell, New Mexico, to visit the alien museum. What a quirky little town Roswell is! Every store has aliens painted on the windows! For example, the furniture shop has pictures of aliens sitting on couches and the Mexican restuarant has pictures of aliens in somberos! It's a good time down there in Roswell!
 

At first, I was afraid of the aliens in Roswell.

But they're not so bad once you get to know them.

Well, the drive was long and hot and uncomfortable, but I can still say I had a good time on my trip with Rubin and Trevor. Hopefully Trevor has recovered from being subjected to a play by play (by moi) of the novel Edenbrooke, a nineteenth-century romance where Marianne Daventry falls for the dashing Philip Wyndham.

We Belong Together

Well, summer is over, and that means the summer library program is over too. Did I win anything from the weekly drawings you ask? No! Can you believe that? I had to read a book a week simply for the joy of reading! Oh well, such is life. At least I got a funny story out of the experience.

Twice a week in the summer the library has a program called Canopy Capers. Everyone brings a picnic lunch to the library and enjoys stories and puppet shows under a canopy on the lawn. In order to be the best mom ever, I decided to take the kids the very first week. Since we were coming right after swim lessons, we even arrived an hour early. I thought we could scout out a spot for our picnic blanket and check out some books with the extra time. We walked to the canopy and saw that the library had thoughtfully placed blankets under the canopy for everyone. I told the kids to pick out a blanket for our family to sit on. We walked around the many blankets, looking for the best spot. Finally we picked one we liked. I then noticed out of the corner of my eye, that a woman was looking at me with a very concerned look. That's when I put two and two together. These blankets were not thoughtfully laid out by the library! These blankets were brought by individual moms for their own families! I had to laugh at myself for not realizing this earlier! I can only imagine the horror that woman felt watching me choose which blanket to steal for my own use. But in my defense, we were an hour early and no one was actually sitting on the blankets. Who in their right mind has the time to come to the library an hour early just to stake out a spot for Canopy Capers? (except for me, of course!) It was a baptism by fire moment.

Canopy Capers about to start (which is why people are actually sitting on their blankets!)

Rubin laughed when I came home and told him the story about my Canopy Capers experience. It was quite the story in our family for a couple of weeks.

Later in the summer our sprinkler broke. Rubin ran to the Home Depot to pick up a short segment of PVC. He wandered down the plumbling aisle, but all the pipes on display were much too long. Luckily, he then found a store cart displaying various odds and ends. He started digging through hoping to find the piece he needed. And there he found it, a foot-long piece of 1/2 inch PVC! He looked up triumphantly only to catch a mortified man staring at him. At that moment, Rubin realized that this was not an odds and ends cart! This was that man's cart filled with items he intended to buy! Rubin quickly fled the scene, dropping the pipe and muttering an apology along the way.

We had a good laugh about these encounters. I guess this proves that we truly belong to each other!

Surviving Summer

So, I took two months off. I deserved it. I mean 10 posts so far this year? That’s like 8 more posts than I usually do in a year. I know there are probably some of you who wondered if something terrible had happened to me. A valid worry as it is summer and that means I have three very active, crazy boys home all the time. But not to worry, I am surviving the summer. Here are some of the things that are pulling me through these months.

Rookie Baseball

We enrolled Rubin James into Rookie Baseball this spring. It was so fun to see him learn a sport and be part of a team. His coach was a former Marine and acted like it. My favorite line from Coach B: “Rubin! If I see one more dirt mound being made over there, the whole team will do 10 push-ups!” Ha ha – classic Coach B!

Coach B no doubtedly trying to decide if Rubin James needs to do some pushups. After the first couple of games, RJ no longer needed that tee and could hit from a pitch.

After a few of the first games, Rubin James was getting discouraged that he wasn’t doing very well, so Dad did a couple of hardcore practice sessions with him and after that, Rubin James did much better! He learned a good lesson about practicing and working to achieve something. Plus it was a complete riot watching 5-year-olds play baseball. Some kids would tag a runner and say, “You’re out!” only to have us realize that they didn’t even have a ball in their glove to tag with! You want entertainment? Go to a rookie baseball game.



Our little Rookie!

Swimming Lessons

I find my kids do so much better with something to do on a regular basis. Swimming lessons have provided that outlet this summer. I have always had a fear of water, and consequently I do not swim well – or at all. Okay, maybe I freak out when my face gets wet. But, I do not want my kids to be like that. So they will take swim lessons every summer, every year, until they are not afraid. On the plus side, they love it.

The Library

So we have a pretty awesome library. They have this summer children’s reading program. If your children read every day for June and July, they get a halfway prize (which turned out to be a thrilling glow-in-the-dark plastic bug), a free book, and a ticket to a pool party. Of course, for some reason the pool party is from 8:30-10 p.m. on a Wednesday night. But we’re still going - I mean, a pool party is a pool party! And that’s not all. If your child goes to 8 library activities (storytime, crafts, etc.) they will get a ticket to Trick-or-Treat in July. Pretty great, huh? It’s been fun for the kids to keep reading and work toward something fun. By the way, I’ll have you know that we are currently only one sticker away from the July Trick-or-Treat.

Reading

Since I’ve had kids, I’ve read maybe three books a year on average. But this past Christmas Rubin gave me a Nook. It was the present I never knew I wanted. Now I have read 21 books so far this year. I forgot how much I love reading! I’ll also have you know that I am part of the adult summer reading program at the library. They have a drawing once a week and as long as you’ve read a book that week, your name gets entered. It just so happens that I’ve been entered in all of them, but have had no luck in winning the prizes. Yet. There are three weeks left and then a grand prize at the end. All I can say is that I better win something (besides the free bookbag that everyone received as long as they read 3 books).

We’ve also done many other great things this summer such as water parks, the zoo, miniature golf, Lagoon, frog catching, and taking naps (my favorite!)

Uriah having a conversation with some sort of animal (and no, it is not a kangaroo)



Rubin and Graham on the Airplanes





Graham on Bulgy the Whale

 

Frog Catching (actually turned into bug catching since we couldn't find any frogs)



Graham taking a nap at Lagoon.

I think we can all agree that the McDougal Summer of 2012 will be counted as a great success, possibly the greatest summer of all time. Only time will tell.

Why I Hate Getting Flowers

What woman doesn't enjoy getting flowers from her beloved husband? Who would be so cold-hearted that they would dread the thought of receiving this thoughtful gesture? The answer to both questions is, of course, Me. But I have my reasons.

The minor reason is that flowers are expensive, especially if you are getting them on Valentine's Day or Mother's Day. I, for one, would rather spend that money on a delightful evening out with my husband, Rubin.

But the main reason I hate getting flowers – it's too predictable! Every Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, and Wedding Anniversary, my husband brings home a very lovely, though very expected, bouquet. The flowers are often even from the same store – Albertsons, which is on the way home from Rubin's work. As a side note, I refuse to call Albertsons by their new name, which is Fresh Market, because if you look up the definition of a market, it is a place where people meet to buy and sell goods. Since I am not allowed to set up my own booth inside the Fresh "Market" store, I will continue to call them by the only name that made sense for their establishment.

Before you start judging me too harshly, you need to know a couple incidents that led me to admit this hard truth. First, there was the anniversary where we were more than a little late for a play we had tickets to and yet we "had" to stop at Albertsons because Rubin said we were out of, I'm not lying, window washer fluid. He came out of the store with several bags, replaced the fluid, and we drove on our way again. Later that evening, you can only imagine my surprise as a bouquet of roses was mysteriously produced from, yes, an Albertsons' grocery bag.

Next there was the day before Mother's Day where we had arrived home around 11 p.m. after a 3-hour drive to visit my brother. We had just finished putting the kids in their beds when Rubin announced that he needed to go get gas for the car. You can guess how much gas that car really needed! But, I let him go. And you can also guess how shocked I was the next day when flowers were presented to me by my loving family.

That being said, I don't hate the flowers, just the predictability. So, I had a talk with my husband where I requested that instead of getting flowers on these three standard days a year, he would pick three other times a year that he would get me flowers. I actually love getting flowers when I'm having a bad day or just because he is thinking of me.

When I found out my third baby was a boy, instead of the girl I was so sure of, I was a little devastated. I was still feeling sick and at the time this was very discouraging news. The next day, I discovered a beautiful bouquet of flowers on the table. These flowers from Rubin meant more to me than any of the holiday flowers.

So, to the many guys out there, who I am sure are reading a blog with a title like Training Wheel Mom, I suggest making a flowers punch card with 3 punches. Every year, you must get flowers for your wife at least 3 times. And here's a hint, for those "predictable" holidays you could think of something different *gasp* such as a card and her favorite candy.

A Cat Named Daddy

My husband's work always has a group of stray cats milling about the building. One day as the kids and I were driving away after visiting the cats, Rubin James said, "I wish we could have a kitty."

"I do too," I said, "but Daddy's allergic so having one in the house would make him sick."

"So we can never have a cat?!"

"Nope. I'm sorry honey."

He thought for a minute then said in a quiet voice, "If Daddy died we could have a kitty." 

"Um, I guess that's true," I said warily. "But we would be so sad to not have Daddy that we probably wouldn't even want a cat."

"Well we know Daddy would be happy in heaven. Hey! I know, we could name the kitty Daddy!" he said triumphantly.

Maybe I should cool it a little on the heaven-is-the-best-place-ever lessons. Luckily, my husband is a good sport who just laughed when I told him about this little conversation!