Spring Break Part 2 (Catching Up)

I know, I am a slacker. I have been extremely overwhelmed and busy the past couple weeks and so my little bloggy blog has suffered. One more day and I would have been interrogated on the terms of neglect. So here I am finally adding one of the many posts I have jumbled in my head for my faithful readers (p.s. i love you guys).

So the last few days of Spring Break were spent trying to fast forward the days. I mean I love my kids, but momma needs a vacation, that's all I'm saying. Moms like me, who stay at home and whose sole job consists of being a balanced partner, raising children, actively participating in that parenting role (because just "being" a parent is not where the work is), and maintaining all its scheduling and spontaneity deserves paid leave on a biannual basis...for reals! Lately, I have felt like packing a bag and heading to a bed and breakfast somewhere in Amsterdam. But, enough about my woes...when I have to really vent, you'll know!

Thursday of the "Break" the kids and I headed to the zoo and the German Mall. I am officially courting the mall like it's my new boyfriend. The shiny floors, the stair-less escalators, the Present Store, H&M, the jumping water fountain....it's enough to make you wanna be thankful for Icelandic ash and the fact that we were trapped here.

Back to the zoo. The kids had a blast.

I think we stared at the baboons for about 30 min even though the smell was worse than George's socks post an all night softball tourney. They were fascinating. The booty picking, the baby carrying, the multiple humping incidents, the brawls between siblings, the old ass elder who just pushed everyone out of his stoney circle...the list goes on. Saige had to drag me and the boys away.

(you have no idea what was going on there...naughty business)

The only thing that was weird was that they had wild animals roaming around while we were walking. Like the deer...or pigs...or ponies...or weird looking birds (I am not a fan of random birds, they are way too unpredictable for me...and their beaks are straight-up weapons...I can't). Teage and JD had fun racing to cage after cage all day,

while Saige and her friend acted like they were on a photo shoot for a magazine that could be titled "Girl Meets Dirty Farm Animals"...wait, that just sounds all wrong. Maybe "National Saige-o-graphic". That's better. But seriously, how many pictures of the side of your face can one person take?? I have enough uploaded on my computer to make one of those mosaic portraits Ive always wanted (hmmmm......note to self).

After the zoo, we went to the mall. The one place I was trying to zone in on was the TK Maxx. Let me break it down....T -(abcdefghij) K -Maxx.

HA....you Americans can apparently only handle up to J. You gotta roll to Europe to gain that extra letter...it's a privilege, I know it. Seriously, what gives on the weird name change, TJ Maxx? Do the Ks outrank the Js in the German alpha? All I know is it looked just like a TJ Maxx inside (the wannabe label-whore loving clothes section, the random chaotic toy area, mismatched home decor, and useless electronics)...so what comes first?...the J or the K? I must inquire about this later in the future. I am losing sleep over it.

To wrap up the weekend, we went to Gartenshau Park for their 10th Anniversary celebration to see the tulips and the dino statues.

We encountered some German ladies dressed up in modern ball gowns and others in old century wear. I had no idea why this was occurring, but it was fun to watch them prance around with their digital cameras and beer steins :o)

The park is a boy's slice of heaven...mini-golf, dinosaur creatures, creeks, waterfall, playgrounds, and a labyrinth. Saige was unamused, until we hit the bratwurst stand. She was a trooper though and really made the most out of it with her brothers.

Gotta love a well manicured park.

Once Spring Break finally came to a close I found myself thinking, I didn't want them to go back to school. We had a blast...as always!!

Spring Break...Part 1 (Holiday Park)

The week has seriously dragged on. Spring Break that is...

I don't know if it was because George didn't take leave (hmmmm, how'd he finagle that anyhow?)

Or maybe that our Disney trip thwarted high expectations for us meaning anything after paled in comparison?

Ooooh, maybe it was that fact that every night I didn't go to bed until at least 2am catching up those "snarky" housewives of NY?

Long winded or not, I am a Spring Break planning junkie and I love planning activities to keep these chil'ren of mine busy. Otherwise, they would be happy with just sitting around...bothering me.

So we used one of the days this week to head to Holiday Park and meet up with my geographical counterpart...Farrah and her lil chil'ren, Lennon :o)

Holiday Park was completely desolate. Which I liked. We practically had the whole park to ourselves....which also meant I didn't really have to have my Teage goggles on as I do in any normal crowd. Plus, it made for some quality girl talk in between rides.

Holiday Park can only be described as a broke man's Disneyworld. It's very mom and pop....which again, I like. The mascot was Holly the parrot along with his sidekick Dolly the ..."Squirrel". (I am using the Dug voice from UP when I say squirrel, I don't think I will ever be able to say the word normal again)

There were several rides, some intense...like the Lighthouse Tower that no one dared step up to, except JD. He wanted to go on (he had never done the one at Disney and rightfully so)...who wants to drop from the sky like that surrounded by a casing of steel, really? He went up alone...well, he sat with three other girls and I'm sure flashed them his million dollar smile :o) As soon as he went in, I started to panic. I thought this could go really good, or this could end in disaster. He doesn't do anxiety well, so until he came off, I could only picture him making it all the way to the top and then saying "Nevermind, I wanna get down".

JD is on the far left

But he didn't...he just screamed his head off as they dropped (all...the...way...down). What a trooper. He walked towards me at the exit screaming..."I SURVIVED!!"

Teage decided early on that he would be Lennon's personal caregiver. He was really sweet with him...it almost made me want another...PSYCHE, I'm crazy but not insane. However, he really took to Lennon...and it was adorable.

(I didn't mention it then, but I LOVE the cherry blossom diaper bag, don't you?)

I could tell Saige was starting to wonder when we were leaving this joint...so I threw her in some photo ops (which always grabs her attention).



She did have fun on a few rides with JD...



OK, so this next part of the story is something I was debating putting out there...but, I gotta keep it real.

Almost as soon as we arrived to the park...I was clicking away on my camera when suddenly I heard my son utter these words...

"Mom look, it's an angry dwarf (insert tween chuckle)"

I snapped my head over to him so fast...I knew I had given myself whiplash. Then, I spot-checked the surroundings and saw a little person whizzing away on a razor scooter. You know...a little person. Farrah and I cut our eyes to one another and I almost fell out. WTH? So I calmly called JD over and asked "Why did you say that?", he replied, "WHAT?" My parenting skills instantly became put on front street. It went something like this...

"You know he's not angry right?"

"I'm sorry"

"And do you know he is not to be called a dwarf, he is a little person?"

"Sorry MOM, but he's just like from Bedtime Stories"

(sigh)

"Would you yell out, WOW that guy has brown skin?"

"Well, No"

"So you shouldn't say things about how a person looks...it's mean. AND, it might hurt someone's feelings. I don't think you would like it if someone said something about how you looked, would you?"

"No, I said I'm sorry"

"Oh and again...Bedtime Stories is a MOVIE...not real life"

"I know Mom"

Now, I must say to you that Mr. Scooter worked at the park. He was most likely a guide or assistant to the mascots, because he followed them throughout the park all day. Later on, we ran into him again and my son walked right up to him and said "Hi", with a warm smile ear to ear, ended with a glance my way for approval. Good start I guess. Mr Scooter ended up being in the parade later and he totally posed for my camera...there is nothing angry about this guy...just sayin'.


What a fun day...and I enjoyed spending it with Farrah and Lennon, too. Here are some other pics.



Next up, the Zoo and Gartenshau Park...stay tuned.


Thanks for looking,

Spring Break...the end!

Well, the time has come that all little children must go back to receiving their education. WOOT WOOT!! I love them of course, but DANG it can be hard to please/entertain a 13 year old a 2 year old at the same time. But we did it and had a fun week all around. Saige got in her sleepovers here and at her friend's, while Teage fulfilled his eagerness to have outdoor play every single day. JD is so easygoing...except when he complains that he's missing out on his lego fix. So, the previous post was all about the first few days of Break and this will cover the latter part.

We had a few more stops on our week adventures and one of them was Shuri Castle. The oldest child has already been here on a field trip for school, but it holds a lot of history about Okinawa (specifically the Battle of Okinawa which destroyed most of the castle in 1945) so I thought it was a must that we go as a familia. It was fun and I could feel the historic energy as we sashayed the halls of the biggest Okinawan castle. There were several areas where we could not take pictures and had to walk barefoot, mostly because of the ancient artifacts and conserving the restoration. JD was hilarious...he kept asking the whole way..."Where is the KING?" Of course this was the home to many of the Ryukyu kings centuries ago. But, we finally found the throne, the crown, and the quarters where the royal families lived. It was very regal....
The random tour guide practically cut off Teage's head in this pic...poor baby :o)


There was a nice mini display of what the castle would have looked like in its day....notice the king...hiding away!



Along the way through the castle, there were podiums where you could get your map stamped and if you received all the stamps you got a reward...JD took that as a mission. He was excited to see that the reward was stickers of all the stamps. So all the kids got their stickering on...

...map complete!!

Our next stop was Kokusai Street. This reminds me a little of NYC where there are just tons of shops/restaurants lining the street complete with the usual peddlers, starving artists, and your occasional photo cutout spot. We all had a blast...Saige brought a friend to this one!! "You gotta have a shopping buddy", she said!! She's pretty much right!!

JD ran up and put his cutie face in this one so I immediately snapped and then sissy says..."I'm not putting my head in that slaughtering pig thing". I didn't even notice. That is all wrong!!


Ok I had to do it....


Lastly, "One of these things just doesn't belong here" LOL LOL LOL!!!


We picked the sunniest day of the whole break (thank goodness we had one) and high-tailed it up to Okuma Beach Resort. We have been there before, but it has some great amenities that we wanted to do again. Gotta love a beach day...


This is all Teagie wanted to do...throw rocks in the ocean!! He wasn't too big on getting sand all over him...it was cute! And of course we had to go pod racing...

In addition to all the out of school fun...we celebrated Easter on a very low key this year. We did the good old egg hunt (well two of them did...the other one was telling herself she was too big to hunt LOL), ate Thai food and went shopping before heading in early to prepare for a school night's sleep.

It was a very relaxing day and I have to say the whole week was a fabulous one.

Now, I have some news that just got brought to our attention today at lunch (yes I said at lunch where George and I were minding our business...when a co worker of his walked in and burst my bubble). Our extension to stay here has been officially disapproved!! It made my stomach turn. Not just because it means I have to think about once again packing up my whole life and changing locations...that is part of the job. But mostly because of the kids' education. It is so hard to make the kids move and ask them to make all new friends and adjust to a new school. It hurts, but I know they will be ok no matter what happens. I am not sure of what will happen now....since it is still so fresh! We have some other options (maybe Tampa...that would be awesome, or Germany would be ideal choices). I just hope we can lock in a location before we are TOLD and placed and in some jacked up state. Let the anxiety begin....

I'll keep you all posted as I learn new information! Please keep us in your prayers for a good assignment...

Hope everyone else had a great Spring Break, too!!! Love Ya!!