Adventures with dad

I had the same dream over and over last night. All the kids escaped from the house while I was sleeping, and weren't in their beds. I must have woken up 10 times last night, trying to figure out if I had just been dreaming, or if the kids really had gone AWOL. At 3:34 AM, I suddenly awoke to Ella a few inches away from my face.

"Dad! Dad!"

I awake in the middle of the "kids gone missing dream," sure that Ella is going to tell me Levi and Noah were not in their beds.

"I can't find my blankie!"

Sheesh. It was tucked safely under her covers, right next to the warm spot in her bed where she had been sleeping.

After that night of rest, we woke up to the garbage man around 7 AM. After a breakfast of bagels (Ella pronounces the first syllable like "bag," not "bay." It's hilarious) we scrubbed the spots on the old couch in case we had any bites on the craigslist ad. Then we called up Aunt Gina and made plans to meet at the Children's Museum.

Anxiously awaiting Gina's arrival.


The anticipation was palpable.


Noah turning the engine crank.


Levi, Noah, and Ella on the motorcycle.


The ball room was by far their favorite. They had tons of fun putting the balls in the top of the tracks and tunnels, and watching them race down. I am frankly surprised that full scale 5 year old riots don't break out in that room, as much as those kids are all jockeying for position to put the next ball down the track...




Their next favorite activity was riding the tricycles through the tunnel and "car wash."




After the excitement of the museum, they were pooped. This doesn't bode well for the likelihood of taking actual afternoon naps.

We headed up to Grandma's house to try to squeeze in one last day of swimming. The pool was a chilly 78°, not exactly warm. But a cold pool wasn't about to chill their excitement for hitting the pool. They swam until they were shivering and couldn't take it anymore.

Then of course, skipped afternoon naps.

Later in the day, Grandma thought she would try to pull a fast one on me. She has been mumbling for a while now that our kids should play some computer game, and that maybe they should even have their own computer. I think she is afraid that we will try to keep them ignorant of the computer as long as possible (true), that they will start off Kindergarten horribly behind their classmates in computer skills, will continue to fall farther and farther behind, and will end up flipping burgers in McDonalds the rest of their lives. All because their over-protective parents wanted to limit their computer exposure.

So Grandma snuck off while I wasn't looking...


Like I am not going to figure out that she is trying to get them hooked on the game at her house, so that they will ask to play it at our house, and we will give in and let them do it. Reeeeeeally subtle mom!


Eventually Noah got bored with the computer and wandered away to stuff his face with monkeybread as fast as his little greedy hands could shovel it into his mouth.

Then we made the long trek home. All three were out cold within the first 10 minutes of the car ride. Amazingly, I managed to get them all transferred up to their beds and tucked in without any of them even opening their eyes. They all appear to be sleeping soundly now.

Tomorrow we are just planning to take it easy and work on some projects around the house.

PS: I did get one guy who seems interested in the couch. He is sending me a certified check, and then I cash it, take my payment, and send the remaining cash to the shipping company he specified so they can pick up the couch. Oh, and his son is having a kidney transplant, which is why he can't come and view the couch in person. I told him to please send the check, and I would be more than happy to pay the shipping company for him. We'll see how long I can string this scammer along for. How dumb does he think I am?