Day 12 - Star Wars

A busy day of running around: errands, appointments, business. Haleigh went to the office with Daddy, and the boys rode along with me all day. They were great--we got through with Gameboys, the portable DVD player in the car, and blatant bribery and rewards. Hey--you do what you gotta do...

To bribe and reward my sons today, I was more than happy to have Wendy's/Taco Bell for lunch and buy Darth Vader masks at Party City (to go along with the light sabers we bought yesterday, of course!).

Our busy day culminated in a big treat tonight, though, with Family Movie Night to see Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith. Wow. I am not a big Star Wars fan, although I have seen all of them, and we have the DVDs. That's as far as it goes--I've never dressed up as Princess Leia; I can't recall all the plot intricacies or quote from the movie; I don't presume to know (or care) what color light saber any of the characters have...although I now know that Yoda's light saber is bright green, color coordinated to his skin--cute!

Still, as Star Wars-ignorant as I am, I thought Star Wars III was *fabulous*. I was amazed how it all came together, and the seeds were planted for the first three movies, which were actually the second three in the series, that came out more than twenty years ago, when I was the same age as my oldest child...and you wonder why I can't keep all this straight?!

The performances were brilliant--even Hayden Christensen, who was so disappointing in Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones. (Let's be honest--he didn't act, he whined and sulked through the whole movie!). In Episode III: He's HOT. Well, until he gets his legs chopped off and he burns up in the lava flows...shhhh! (sorry!)

I was very glad we did not take our almost-five-year-old to see Star Wars III, even though he has seen most of the other Star Wars on DVD, and he's all about Darth Vader and light saber battles. This one was too much for younger children. I would say 8 & up--at least. Revenge of the Sith is complicated and dark; violent and gory. There were grown-ups crying behind us--loud sniffles at several points, but I can't tell you when or why, because I don't want to ruin the movie...

Day 12 Total = $10 - Lunch at Wendy's/Taco Bell
(I confess to the Taco Bell--that was all Mommy on a Taco Bell fix!)
(I didn't count the $4 Darth Vader masks I bought as a reward for really great behavior, when they were waiting for me in the doctor's office. Family Movie Night doesn't come out of our Camp Mommy budget--anytime we can get Daddy to pay, we save our budget, which is really for Monday thru Friday, 9AM - 6PM. Outside of that, it's not CAMP MOMMY!)

Day 11 - Grocery Challenge

We are really learning the importance of getting OUT OF THE HOUSE for a while, sooner or later, everyday--usually later, which works out great. There is a fine line, though, between everything going along fine all morning...and then suddenly, typically around lunch time, the natives begin to get restless--and annoying as hell, if you try to ignore them or ride it out (there is always one more phone call to make, something else you wanted to accomplish, but know when to say when and GET OUT!).

We have encountered our first major CAMP MOMMY challenge: grocery shopping. I have no desire to go to the grocery store with three kids in tow--I'm not that good. Yet. And, after spending all day, every day on CAMP MOMMY, I'm too exhausted to make the Publix run on my own after Daddy gets home from work. I discovered over the weekend the absolute LUXURY of not leaving the house once, after running around all week--it was fabulous! Even better, when Daddy took one or more kids out and about on errands and adventures, and I had the house to myself. I guess that would have been the time to get out to the grocery store--not likely! (I would have had to get dressed!)

So it's been two weeks, and we have no groceries. Which kind of makes it hard to economize with peanut butter & jelly sandwiches and picnic lunches when we are all out of bread, and peanut butter, and jelly, not to mention everything else. Daddy has been great, stopping by the grocery on his way home from work a couple of times for the absolute essentials: milk, Diet Coke, rum, etc, but sooner or later we are going to have to run a re-supply mission.

We were going to today, but we didn't make it. We ended up going into Target, which is right next to Publix, and by the time we were done in Target...we were too tired to go through the grocery store. It was time to swim! (Much more fun, anyway.) So we went to Grammy's pool, and it was great!

Day #11 Total = $35
($15 lunch and shakes at Arby's; $20 at Target on light sabers*)

* We have been getting ready to go see Star Wars in the theatre--big Family Date Night tomorrow night. Tiger is going to friends, since he is not into movies in general, and he is too young for Star Wars, anyway. Over the weekend, we had Family Movie Night (home theatre) and watched Star Wars Episode I and II on DVD with Zach & Haleigh to get ready for Revenge of the Sith. Tiger camped out in our bedroom and watched Looney Toons. He didn't see any of the Star Wars movies, but he still wanted a light saber--and they've all had a great time dueling today! They opted to spend some of the weekly budget on the light sabers and eat PBJ for the rest of the week...we really have to go grocery shopping tomorrow!

Back To Basics - Checklists

Summer Essentials

CAMP MOMMY would not be a complete summer camp experience without official camp CHECKLISTS for planning, packing, and organization! Three weeks into our experience, here's what's working for us:

Essentials To Keep In The Car:

• Sunscreen
• Bug Spray
• ALTERNATE: Bug n Sun
• Basic First Aid Kit
• Travel Wipes
• Park/Picnic Blanket
• Tennis Balls/Football/Frisbee

Note: If Daddy is meeting up after work, be sure to keep in the car:
Dad's Basics:

• Tshirt/Shorts
• Swimsuit/Towel
• Sandals

Essentials For The Swim Bag:

• Sunglasses
• Hats
• Swimsuits/Towels
• Goggles
• Sinkers/Dive Toys
• Water Ball
• Plastic Cups
• Sunscreen (can never have enough!)
• Faces Stick (for noses & cheeks)
• Very small first aid kit (band aids/antiseptic wipes)
• Quarters & Dollar Bills for snack/soda machine
• Pool Pass, Key, or ID Cards - keep them in the Swim Bag!

Small Cooler:

• Ice/Freezer Packs
• Drinks/Water
• Snacks - Keep it simple, with Mom's Surprise Snack of The Day!
  Suggestions: cookies, chips, nuts, fruit, vegies (baby carrots), cheese snacks, raisins, fruit rollups or gummies.

And On Saturday...CAMP MOMMY is CLOSED!

Absolutely exhausted.

I slept in until 10am, which is really unusual for me--I'm a 5am girl, oftentimes earlier than that, if I'm stressing out about something. Those early morning hours are the best Thinking Time, when everything is dark and quiet and the world is asleep. I just snoozed through five hours of Thinking Time--and it feels great! The house is quiet, everybody else is up and out playing, Daddy is in charge. I might just stay back here in the bed all day...

CAMP MOMMY: 2 Weeks Down/10 Weeks to Go!

Zoo Days

So many things to see and do at the zoo, we decided to go back earlier today, with Zach's friend, who is staying overnight. CAMP MOMMY adult-to-child ratio: 1 to 4, which is my max. Fortunately, with 10-year-old boys, it actually makes it a bit easier with a friend.

Haleigh went to work with Daddy for a couple of hours this morning, and then they met us at the zoo for lunch at the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Stand. We sat outside and watched the train go by (the kids put pennies on the tracks, and it actually squished them--for free!). This is all very small-scale, remember, so no danger of being dragged under on the tracks by a freight train or anything. In fact, we were kind of nervous that the four pennies on the train track might cause a derailment, but no worries--

Daddy bought lunch (hot dogs & french fries for 2 adults & 4 kids w/member discount for $30), so we didn't completely blow the weekly $100 budget (saved again!). He enjoyed lunch with us and then went back to the office, leaving us at the zoo.

Zoo Atlanta, on Friday, is definitely more crowded than late Thursday afternoon, with tourists, Zoo Camp, and Friday field trips--lots of buses and school vans in the parking lot and troops of children wearing matching shirts all around the zoo. Still, no big crushing crowds or long lines to wait for anything. Well, except for at the hot dog stand--that took a LONG time, and some people got worked up about it, but we just hung out. Go with the flow.

I bought the 4 "Unlimited Ride Passes," ($20) to ride the few Attractions as many times as they wanted--the train around the zoo, the carousel, and the new rock climb, which was a HUGE hit. We definitely got our money's worth on the passes, since all of the kids--even the big boys--rode everything several times, and had a great time.

We brought along our little $18 pair of walk-about radios and let the boys go off and explore on their own, while Haleigh, Tiger, and I stayed together. Zoo Atlanta is an enclosed, safe environment, in not a huge area, with a lot of people all over. I was comfortable with the boys going off on their own, with the radio, and it worked out very well. Fortunately, they are old enough, and good kids, that they follow the rules and know how to behave. Still, I felt compelled to remind them of the rules and expectations, and told them if I got a call on the radio that they were in the zoo office for any kind of trouble...I'd take them both straight to jail, or put kid-leashes on them like the toddlers. They were great, and checked in quite frequently. It all worked out to be another really great CAMP MOMMY afternoon.

With Tiger and Haleigh, I barely got past the rock climb. I sat on a bench and watched and took pictures and talked to the other Moms--I even got a little bit of work done, reading, and taking down some notes. Tiger, who is almost 5, spent about 2 straight hours climbing the rock wall, at least a dozen times up and down. By the end, he was zooming up to the very top and hitting the timer button within a couple of minutes. The wall is about 25 - 30 feet up, and they are safely harnessed and anchored, so that when they let go, they ride the rope safely to the ground. We never even made it to the kid's playground area. We did manage to get him off the wall long enough for a train ride, a short walk about, and a trip through the petting zoo, but he got the money's worth on the rock wall until 4:30pm when they closed it down and kicked him out. Good thing, or we would have never seen anything else! We walked the last hour, and watched the otters playing, the monkeys chasing each other, the gorillas hanging out, and we hung out in the Living Tree House (another half-hour of very nice on-the-bench/work time for Mommy).

We met up with the boys at the front gate and ambled out with the zoo workers at quitting time, and it was another near-perfect day. A very successful close to the first two weeks of CAMP MOMMY!

Day #10 Total = $30 for Attraction Passes & Concessions
We actually went over our $100 Weekly Budget by $5 this week, but we had an extra kid at the zoo. We'll take it out next week. We were close!