Road Tripping

Excerpt from a conversation Timothy and Alexis had in the car while we were on the 210 fwy the other day:

Timothy: “Stop talking.”

Alexis: “No, you stop talking.”

Timothy: “You started talking first, so you need to stop.”

Alexis: “No, you stop talking.”

Timothy: “I need to talk last because you talked first.”

Alexis: “No, stop talking.” (followed by Timothy attempting to cover her mouth, then crying, yelling and an attempt at hairpulling)

Timothy: “If you’re going to have a sister, you’d better make it a big one, because little sisters are STUUUUUUPID!!!!!”

Oddly enough, the entire 900 miles from CO to CA went very smoothly. It’s just been in driving around LA that they’ve gotten testy. Rather like their dad.

Vacation!!!

So we’re on vacation in California. Woo-hoo! Now that we’re finally here, I think I can relax a little. Getting out of Colorado was like organizing a major troop movement and by the end I was just going through the kids’ drawers throwing anything that looked summery into their bags. I let Timothy pack his own toys and he brought along some cars, his V-Smile handheld video game and a package of instant oatmeal. He said it was for the morning, in case there was no breakfast at our hotel. The only two problems with his plan: 1) he brought no bowl or spoon. Apparently he was in survivor mode and was planning on just eating it out of the package 2) he didn’t bring any for anyone else — again in a survivor-every-man-for-himself sort of spirit, I guess, though when we stayed at the hotel, he did offer us each a bite in the morning. We opted for McDonald’s instead.

We took the kids to Disneyland yesterday — we were three kids 5 and under and four adults and I honestly don’t see how we could have done it with fewer grown-ups. As it was, I lost track of Timothy for a minute when he stopped to watch Fantasmic while we were walking. Oy. We did go on the new Toy Story ride, which was very cool. And we ended the evening on the Jungle Cruise so now Chris can tell people that he took me on a cruise for my birthday. Today, everyone is suffering a serious Disneyland hangover and will hopefully sleep for the next 36 hours. Sounds like the perfect vacation to me.

The Coffee King

Yesterday, we woke up and everyone was grumpy. The kids jumped on me and got me up for breakfast and I came downstairs with them and they complained about breakfast and complained about each other and at one point, I sent the two older ones back to their rooms so we could start all over again. So after they were fed and changed and dressed, Chris came downstairs and said, “No coffee?” and I sort of exploded.

Here’s his explanation of what he was trying to communicate: “Huh. There’s no coffee here. Usually there’s coffee here by this hour and today there’s not. Something must have happened. I wonder what. Maybe if I ask why there’s no coffee, Laura will tell me what happened.”

Here’s what I heard: “Verily and forsooth! We emerge from our royal chamber and descend the royal staircase and alas! the wench who serves us our morning brew has failed in her duties! Why is it so hard to find suitable servants in this wretched kingdom?”

So I may have yelled a bit and may or may not have called him Queen Elizabeth. Then Timothy chimed in, “Yeah, who are you? The king of coffee?!” so I stopped. It’s bad form to enlist your children in berating your spouse.