Big Day At The Zoo - Miss Universe!

Busy morning catching up from the weekend--Father's Day! We had a great time yesterday, in honor of Daddy. Zach even called from Camp Joan, now in Florida for the week. He's doing great, having a fantastic time--and he sounds about three years older in voice and attitude. I've already mentioned I miss him, right?

So this morning, caught up on some work and house stuff, ran some errands, took the kids through the grocery store--which does not get any easier with experience, I'm finding. Even on a light run, they make me crazy by the time we get to the check out...

We had bagels w/cream cheese for lunch, supplemented with fruit from our grocery store run--no french fries! And then we went to the Zoo, which was Tiger's suggestion for today: perfect!

We spent most of the afternoon at the Zoo at the rock climb. Tiger climbed up and rang the bell at least two dozen times--the guys at the rock climb know him well. We did manage to get him off the wall for a little while to walk around and visit some of the animals. I lured him away with the promise of a Ben & Jerry's ice cream cone (B & J stand in the Zoo), which we did enjoy, but the whole time..."Can we go back to the rock climb now? Now, Mom? NOW?! I WANT TO GO BACK TO THE ROCK CLIMB!!!" The persistence of an almost-five-year-old. We went back to the rock climb, until they kicked him off at 4:30pm. Haleigh spent the last half-hour on the Carousel. Tiger was asleep in the car before we even got out of the parking lot.

It was a Big Day at the Zoo today: We saw Miss Universe touring Zoo Atlanta, with an entourage that included Wes from The Apprentice, Season 2 (a local favorite, since he's from Atlanta, GA). Wes is just as cute in person as he was on The Apprentice! Miss Universe was all right, too. Russ asked me how I knew it was Miss Universe--aside from the entourage of people and cameras and all, they actually don't leave a lot to chance in minor celebrity recognition: 1) They had her listed on the zoo schedule for the day, feeding the gorillas, photo opp by the pandas, etc.; and 2) She was wearing her bright red, sequined "Miss Universe"...what do they call those things?...the banner thing, draped over her shoulder...you know what I mean...it must be time for bed...Anyway, it was hard to miss her!

Day 21 Total = $25
($8 - Einstein's Bagels; $10 - Zoo Atlanta Unlimited Ride Passes; $7 - Ben & Jerry's)

Day 20 - TGIF!

The end of Week #4 and I only have two campers next week. (I miss Zach--I don't know how I will do it when the kids are old enough and really leave to go out on their own.)

Grammy brought the kids home. I had a chance to work on some house stuff--and get the house ready for another showing, which makes four this week--let our Buyer appear!

We rode the Jeep to McDonald's, which brings up the question:
Will my youngest child suffer irreparable damage if he survives mainly on McDonald's french fries this summer?

Yes, I do know the answer to that question.

We enjoyed the afternoon at Grammy's pool...

Day 20 Total = $10
Week 4 Total = $80!

Camp Mommy...Without The Kids!

Got the house ready to show--again.
This is really quite stressful, already dealing with three kids (now two for a week or so) and pulling off CAMP MOMMY, on top of the underlying challenges of managing house, home, and family--selling a house and moving!

It's always toughest in the NOW.

So we got the house ready to show.
We ran errands, to the post office, the library, etc.
We had lunch with Daddy, which is always fun!
I took the kids to my Mom's office for a hand-off (with Swim Bag) and an afternoon/overnight of CAMP GRAMMY!
A necessary break so that Russ and I could go look at houses!

We enjoyed the afternoon, evening, and overnight--Camp Hubby! ;-)

Day 19 Total = $0 !!!

Just Another Day in CAMP MOMMY

Got the house ready to show.
Left early with Zach packed and the Swim Bag to go pick up the Jeep--yay!--and on to the county office for vehicle registration. That all went pretty well, until the end, when the kids began the fight over who would remove/replace/hold/keep/touch/view the old license plate...

We stopped in at Dunkin' Donuts...DISASTER, as my children exploded an orange juice container all over the floor--by accident, of course!

To Aunt Joan's, to drop Zach off for Camp Joan. We stayed for a little while and went swimming. Zach already started taking on his Big Kid role to keep up with his cousin--the Big Kids are too cool to play with the "babies," thus making Tiger, and especially Haleigh, upset and combative. Lots of screaming. I took Tiger and Haleigh away early, off to McDonald's. Zach was too cool to kiss his Mommy good bye, which nearly killed me, but I tried not to make a big fuss--or cry. Despite the day-to-day chaos of three kids in constant competition--the noise, the busy energy, the arguing--I will miss him so much

We enjoyed a peaceful afternoon at home, and then the Challenges began, having nothing to do with Camp Mommy, but creating plenty of stress having to do with the house, an unrelated bank issue, and 4th of July holiday plans...

Day 18 Total = $15
($10 Dunkin' Donuts/$5 McDonald's)

Business Unusual

Short entry today--the kids (four with Zach's friend) hung out and played all morning, while I worked on house stuff. Exciting stuff going on, but no news to share yet. It got tense in that Witching Hour around lunch time, so I took them out to Chick-Fil-A for lunch, and we went to Blockbuster to rent a new Star Wars video game for Playstation 2 (okay, that's enough endorsements for today!).

Unfortunately, the Playstation broke, or they couldn't get it to work (and Mommy knows nothing about anything with power cords in this house), so they ended up playing dodge ball down in the basement--I could hear it all, right down to the screaming when the boys ganged up on Haleigh or Tiger got frustrated.

We reached MELTDOWN late afternoon--almost ended up driving the friend home (no fault of his, he's a good kid, mixed in with my three oil & water hooligans!)(and I say that affectionately), and then I would have brought my three home and put them to bed by 5pm! Tiger was very tired and cranky today, so I'm very tired and cranky tonight...We managed to work out our differences this afternoon, and we went swimming at the city pool at Piedmont Park--yet another adventure, and it was fun. We took the friend home, after two hours at the pool, and made it home by 7pm.

I tried to take the evening off, but no such luck--helped Zach pack for a week away at Camp Joan, swimming and golfing and playing tennis with his great-Aunt, while her grandson, who is just a year older than Zach, is visiting her for a couple of weeks during the summer. Both boys look forward to it every summer for the last three or four years. They have all kinds of fun, and I know he's safe and happy at Camp Joan's...but I'm going to miss my baby!

Oh! The Jeep PASSED! We are going to pick her up tomorrow morning (Daddy is driving us up there before work--no public transportation again so soon!), and then straight to the county office for registration--we'll finally be legal! And they fixed the AC, so we'll be cool, too!!

Day 17 Total = $25
($20 lunch for 5, and $5 to get in the pool - We took our smaller cooler with drinks and snacks at the pool.)