It's maybe getting a little closer to spring....

Juanito just asked me, "Do you want your heated blanket?" and weirdly enough, i think i'm warm enough without it. I mean, i'm still wearing a sweatshirt and warm socks and sitting under a blanket, so it's not like it's WARM here, but i'm not shivering and trying to get the feeling back into my fingers either. It makes a nice change.

I have been told (and i 100% believe) that this was the coldest February - and the second coldest month - in history in Michigan. I do know that there were several times that it was colder here than it was at the north pole, so...it was cold last month. Yes, it was.

I, for one, am very, extremely ready for spring.

Sunday, bloody Sunday

Last night, i told Houston that he could stay up a little bit later because it was his birthday. He wanted to be by me while i was reading, and i was going to lay by the heater, so he curled up under the blanket on one side and Emma curled up under the blanket on the other side...and we all fell completely asleep almost immediately. Meanwhile, Juanito fell asleep on Zane's bed while tucking him in, so our entire family was sleeping (mostly in random places) by 9:15. We all eventually woke up and went to our own beds by about midnight, but we've obviously been somewhat sleep-deprived hereabouts!

I was tickling Katrina today, and she accidentally kneed me in the nose really hard. Half an hour later, i totally got a nosebleed, which i can hardly believe is related, except that i haven't had a nosebleed since i was pregnant 9 years ago, so...maybe? And now i have a giant headache that i'm almost certain is a result of said nose-smashing. I think that the moral of the story is that i have to keep my head farther away from her knees when i tickle her from now on.

Happy Birthday, Houstonion!

Dear Houston,

You are now a teenager. I'm not sure how that happened. For years i've been threatening to tie a heavy stack of books onto your head to keep you from growing, and yet somehow you are still getting taller and older and turning into a person rather than a kid. I would like to press the pause button now. Any moment, i fear, you are going to discover that you have a whole world out there, and you're going to spread your wings and be gone. Not gone completely, but not as completely here anymore either. And that's a good thing. You should grow up and leave us eventually. I'm just really not ready for that yet. Not even a little bit.

But truly, you are the coolest 13-year-old i know. You're still happy to be hugged and cuddled - even in public! - and you even admit willingly that Dad and i are smart. You want to spend time with me - playing games or just going to the store or reading next to each other. I am going to hang on to those bits of your childhood for as long as i can.

Granted, you've only been a teenager for a day, but i have hopes that you'll get through these teen years without TOO much drama. You seem to know who you are, and - even more unusually - you really like who you are. (You should like who you are! I really like who you are too. Who you are is awesome.)

You embrace the things that you are geeky about: Doctor Who, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, chickens.... You love the things that you love, and you don't care who knows it. In fact, if they are not already fans, you're likely to turn them into fans, because you know that those things are just that awesome.

You devour books of all types. In fact, this year for your birthday, you got one book about the history of the chicken, one about Greek mythology, and one called "What if" that's all random scientific questions and their answers. And you're so excited about all of them that you can't choose which one to read first. I don't know many other people who would be excited to learn about all of those things. You have a thirst for knowledge and a desire to share that knowledge with others, and i love that about you.

This year, you've expanded your interests to music. You took a song, wrote all new lyrics for it, sang most of the parts yourself, recorded it, did all of the editing for it, AND made a music video for it. And it was AWESOME. I proudly showed everyone i was nearby, and they all thought it was amazing as well. You are talented, and you're willing to try new things - AND you're persistent enough to see things through rather than getting distracted and giving up. That's such a great combination!

You are so loving and kind. The obvious example is that you grab hold and give giant hugs when you've missed someone (which is often after a short time, like a day at school), but it's also the way that you curl up on the couch next to me to watch a movie, or include Katrina or Zane even if you'd rather not. You're genuinely interested in other people, and you want them to be around you. You make people feel special. You're friends with people who aren't necessarily the "coolest" kids, but they're kids who you've taken the time to get to know when others didn't, and they're such great friends. I'm so proud of the way you treat others.

You are such a joy. I'm so lucky to have you as a son! I love you. 

Three days.

I missed two days of blogging, first because my laptop kept crashing and Juanito wasn't around to fix it, and then because by the time i got home at midnight, i could hardly keep my eyes open. So i have three days of blogging to do here. So.

March 4:



Beth's aunt's boyfriend Larry works at Universal, and because he is an incredibly generous soul, he gave each of us 2 free days at Universal, which is INSANE and made us all completely freak out with joy when we were told. We got emails with our confirmation numbers, and when we got to the park yesterday, we entered our numbers and the machine spit out two tickets. We tucked one safely away and used the other one. Perfect!

Except that then when we went back on Wednesday, we handed our tickets to the guy at the gate, and he was all, "Nope. These can only be used on the day they're issued. Go talk to Guest Services, and they'll sort it out easily!" We went to Guest Services, and the guy was all, "Nope. Nothing i can do. You can ask him to re-send them, but it can take 24 hours. Sorry," in a totally bratty, non-sympathetic way. Beth's ticket had been issued differently and worked fine, plus her niece Emily was with us, so they were already in the park. They came back out and we re-grouped and went back to talk to a different Guest Services person. She was much more sympathetic, but basically told us the same thing...except that it usually gets re-issued in about 10 minutes, not 24 hours. Much more hopeful!

So at this point, our options were:
1 - Hope and pray that we could get ahold of Larry and that he could fix it.
2 - Just pay and go. (Bearing in mind that it's $150 for a one-day pass)
3 - Go home.

Obviously, option 1 was the best, so Beth called and left messages and texts, and eventually got ahold of her aunt, who drove over to Larry's house to drag him and his computer back to her house (for the internet) to sort it out. And after 2 very stressful hours, we were in! YAY!!!! It was not the best start to the day.

BUT! Once we were in the park, we went straight to the biggest, most terrifying roller coaster, where we screamed our heads off. And it was all good from then on.

Emily hadn't been to the Diagon Alley side of Harry Potter world at all, so we "had to" go back through everything so that she could see it. That meant re-riding the Escape from Gringotts, which ... awesome. We ate at the Leaky Cauldron. (Beth and i are supremely un-adventurous and got the fish and chips to split again. And they were delicious again.) We basically soaked it all in and looked for all the little bits that we might possibly have missed the last time.

But then we also went to all of the other parts of the parks as well. We did the rides in Springfield (my favorite part was when Maggie used us as a pacifier) and Despicable Me, and we walked through the other areas and took pictures and had fun.

By the end of the day, we were all exhausted. I'd have felt REALLY OLD, except that Emily was with us, and she's only 18, and her feet hurt as bad as the rest of us. Whew!

March 5:



Last day in Florida!

We went to breakfast with Beth's family in "Celebration," a town created by Disney to look like "everytown." Cute. But weird.

And then we relaxed. Beth and i went to the big pool for a bit. She stayed to get burned, i went back to the house to sit in the shade by the house pool. We sat in the hot tub and swam in the pool and went back a forth a few times. I read for the first time all week. We took a short walk, ate ice cream, talked and talked and talked.

And then i had to leave. Sniff.

On the plane, the guy sitting next to me sat quietly for about an hour and then asked, "So what are you reading?"
Me: "It's called, 'Quiet - The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking."
Him: "That sounds really boring!"
Me: "Actually, it's really interesting!"
Him: "Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk....." For the next 2 hours. Sigh.

Juanito and Emma picked me up from the airport. Emma was completely beside herself with glee at seeing me. She thought i was gone forever.

March 6:

Emma comes with us to drop the kids off at school every day. Most days this is not a problem. Today, i was holding her collar, and she totally backed out of it and took off out the door as the kids were piling out at the curb. I parked as fast as i could and ran to catch her. She was gleefully running from person to person, saying hello and then dashing off to see who else was around. And, of course, nobody could catch her because she wasn't wearing her collar. Grrr. I had a treat in my pocket (Yay for treats!) and caught her attention with it. She came over, and the kids converged around her to make a tight circle while i hooked her collar back on. And then a dozen kids came over to ask to pet her. (On the bright side, nobody seemed the least bit upset or worried. So THAT'S good.)

I came home and took a nap until i had to get up to go cover lunch in Zane's room. Vacationing is exhausting.

So almost the first thing Zane said to me today was, "It's funny that you went to Florida and you came home without any tan at all!" You're SUPPOSED to say, "Wow! Look how lovely and tan you look," child! Geez.

Tonight i started reading the last book of Harry Potter with Katrina. The LAST BOOK! And then i helped Houston get Facebook all set up, because he'll be 13 tomorrow. They're both getting so old! Sniff!

Relaxing

Last night we got home from Harry Potter world, went to our own rooms, and all immediately fell asleep while trying to do other things. I was trying to post pictures and fell asleep mid-way through. I woke up briefly, put my computer on the ground, and then i don't think i moved again until i heard Beth's uncle leaving the house this morning. 

We all woke up this morning and realized that we are old, because ... So! Achy! It's what comes from standing on a hard surface all day, i think. We went to the hot tub first thing this morning, and by afternoon i felt fine again. 

Today was a "Relax and just hang out" kind of day. We went shopping. We had a party for Beth's niece's birthday. We swam. 

Keren and i were both saying tonight that it's amazing how very little we have read while we've been here. We've been too busy doing stuff (or talking) to read during the day, and by night i'm falling asleep immediately. Tomorrow we go to Universal again. More Harry Potter world! Yay!!!

Florida - Day 3! Harry Potter World!!!!

We spent the entire day at Universal, and almost the entire time in one of the two worlds of Harry Potter, and it was amazing. AMAZING.

We started out in the newer of the two parks - Diagon Alley - and i was almost immediately overwhelmed with how incredible everything was. They did SUCH a good job of making everything PERFECT. It's a testament to how good of a job they did that someone who knows the books really, really well can walk around all day and not come across anything that i thought, "Hm. Well, that's not right." There were all of the things from the movies, but then there were details that people wouldn't even know if they'd only seen the movies. It was so happy-making. And everyone who worked there seemed to be really happy.

We rode the Escape from Gringotts ride, and it was fantastic. It was the first thing we did, and i'm guessing that every other ride will pale in comparison. We walked through all of the shops and looked at every detail and i took 745 pictures in the course of the day, many of them little details. Keren got a butterbeer, which she let us try. Beth got an ice cream cone from Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor (where Harry used to sit every day to do his homework, while Florean would bring him free ice cream every hour before third year). We ate at the Three Broomsticks. (Beth and i shared fish and chips, and they were delicious!) We rode the Hogwarts Express - twice. Keren bought an interactive wand, so she walked around finding the little places to do magic and making things move and sing and do random things.

My pants completely ripped right in the butt about an hour after we got there (apparently that's another good reason not to wear old clothes?), so i spent the entire day trying to hide my butt with my purse. Keren and Beth insist that i did an admirable job and nobody could tell...except when we couldn't take our bags onto a ride with us, and then i just ... flashed my underwear at everyone, i guess. It was...not ideal. On the bright side, it was my butt, so at least it didn't show up in pictures!

Florida! Day 2!

This morning, my mom and dad and Keren and Beth and i all piled into my parents' truck and headed to Downtown Disney, a little shopping center-type-place that's all Disney themed and fun. My dad was all, "We'll only want to be there for an hour," before we left, but we ended up being there for about 3 hours and totally could have stayed longer. We just walked around and went into the shops that interested us and took lots and lots of pictures and laughed a lot and had so much fun.

And then, after we had dropped Beth off back at home so that she could attend a shower for her cousin, the rest of us headed to "Sweet Tomatoes," which is the best buffet i've ever been to maybe. It was so, so good.

And eventually we finished, and my parents had to leave to go back to their own condo a couple of hours away. Sad. I'm so truly happy that they came up to visit with us. It was so much fun having them hang out with us for the weekend!

So when they were gone, Keren and i went down to the pool. It was just cool enough that neither of us really wanted to go in the big pool, so we sat and read and enjoyed the sunshine and the warmth for a while, and then we went into the hot tub before heading back home.

So! It was a really great day. Yay!