So that's where all the trash goes!

We attempted to go to the landfill on Monday. We made it about a block from the house before Levi harfed all over my back seat. Today everyone was feeling much better, so we loaded up and headed to check out where the wonderful garbage man takes all our trash...

When I told them that the big hill we were standing on was all garbage, they were thrilled by the very idea. "We are standing on a big mountain of garbage! There is garbage under our feet!"


A big giant hole in the ground. When Noah saw it, he said "It's beauuuuuuuuu-tiful." He had a sense of awe in his voice normally heard when someone sees, ohhhhhh, the Grand Canyon for the first time... not a giant plastic lined hole. I need to take that kid out hiking or something.


Where appliances go to die. Well, I suppose they are already dead by the time they get here.


Noah swore he saw a fox. "I'm not lying dad, it was a fox!" We turned around, and instead found this skinny old dump dog.


They were in their glory watching all the garbage trucks push the trash out of their rears...


And the giant bulldozer was awesome too...


Gotta love it when your kids best weekend entertainment in a long time is a trip to the stinky ol' landfill! And it was even free (Dad loves that part!)

The best medicine

is a Sonic slushie...

I got a text from Paige Sunday night while I was at nursery. It said something like "Come home ASAP. I need to throw up." And that is exactly what she did, all night long. We thought maybe she got some bad food for lunch. We could only be so lucky...

The next morning, after being awoken by the garbage man, I thought I would feed the obsession and take the older three to the landfill on my sick day to check out where the trash all goes. That way Paige could stay home with just Luke and try to recover. So we headed first to McDonalds for a healthy dad lunch of nuggets, fries, and Sprite. Then played in the playground for a while. Then back into the car, and head off to the landfill. We made it about 5 minutes down the road when Levi says...

"My tummy doesn't feel good..."

Uh oh.

I had approximately 3.1 seconds to turn around, ask him exactly what he meant, only to see the garden hose turn on and him fill his lap, his car seat, and the back seat of my car with his lunch. Whip it into a parking lot and head for home. By that evening, Ella and Noah had joined him. Paige and I (Ok, ok... mostly Paige) spent the entire night holding them over buckets as they dry heaved. Poor kids. I spent most of the night thinking I was going to join them, but my infamous iron gut held out and I never did. Luke somehow escaped the whole ordeal, possibly because he is already on antibiotics for an ear infection.

So after too much information about what happened at our house this weekend...

We spent the entire last two days curled up on the floor watching movies. Tonight they all felt better, so we thought this would be appropriate for rehydration...

 

 

And obviously we are fairly confident that the rainbow of fruit colors they consumed will be staying down...

It lurks in the darkness

Valentine's in Tucson

(standard post warning after a long weekend event... lots of pictures! Maybe only the Michigan outlaws will want to see all of them...)

For Valentine's Day we headed down to Tucson to visit Great-Grandma Walcott. We left Saturday morning, after a rough start and meltdown at Dunkin Donuts. Once we arrived, Uncle Bobby and Aunt Sarah watched our munchkins so we could go on a proper date, which involved lunch, gelato, and visiting Ron in the hospital. Romantic, I know!

When we arrived back at Grandma's, Uncle Bobby (it drives Paige nuts that a full grown man is called "Bobby," but that is who he is) was in the midst of getting our kids completely wound up before bedtime. He was doing this when I was 5 years old, and not much has changed since then!

They finally wore him out...


Luke just enjoyed watching...



The next morning we emptied an entire bottle of bubbles


Notice anything unusual about this photo? I didn't until after I took it...


Aunt Ruth thought huge amounts of chocolate would be appropriate just before bedtime (notice a theme here with aunts / uncles and bedtimes?)



After a day and a half of our kids, Grandma and Aunt Marge were completely worn out (Sorry Grandma, but this picture is too funny not to post!)


The next morning we headed to the Tucson Zoo




They got way closer to this giant pigeon than I was willing to!


Ever wonder how people get eaten by the animals at the zoo? I must have said "Do not climb the fences" about 100 times. Good thing there were only zebras in this enclosure...


Luke chillin' in the stroller


The wildlife wasn't only behind the bars. This guy's beard was rockin'


We of course had to stop and examine every pipe, tube, and drain along the way...




Hatching from an egg..


The fam. Well, minus me and Luke...


I think they had more fun sliding down this cement block than looking at the animals. From the polish on the surface, it was obvious that they weren't the first to think of this...



And no trip to the zoo would be complete without ice cream



When we drove up to the zoo, even Paige noticed that "green" vehicles has reserved parking spots at the front of the lot (don't get me started.) But apparently Tucsonians have a different definition of green. When we left the zoo, these were parked in the "special" parking.


And then there was this parked next to our van...


As I was taking the picture and commenting about "what kind of genius would ruin a nice car by painting it such a hideous color," the owners walked up to their car. Whoops!

We drove back to Phoenix Monday night, watching a Wonderpets movie most of the way. We made the traditional stop at Carls Jr on the way. The kids were hungry, Noah stating that he just wanted a "handful" of fries. Ella got some chicken stars, which she wanted ketchup with. When we told her that there was no where to put it in the car, she thought for a second and said:

"Well, here's what we can do..."

Then she sang, to the Wonderpets tune...

"We can put some ketch-up onnnnnnnnnnnn... a nap-kin!"

Paige and I were rolling on the floor. I wish I could have recorded it so you could hear it...

No atheists in foxholes

It is 1:27 AM. I am out in the living room trying to finish Quicken, so that I can finish TurboTax. I just finished tucking Levi back into bed after a good 45 minute meltdown.

He woke up and wanted a drink of water.

Something was not to his satisfaction. Weeping and gnashing of teeth ensued. Paige told him if he didn't calm down, he would have to go downstairs and sleep. He didn't, so downstairs he went. Paige went back to bed and told me he was my job.

Levi was downstairs yelling for mommy, for daddy, that he was scared, that it was too dark, that he didn't want to be downstairs. He came out of the room. I put him back in. Three times.

I was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for the fourth time. We are now going on something like 20 minutes of screaming. He was again reciting his litany of complaints. He paused, as if thinking of something profound. From the darkness of the bedroom, I heard him shout (his exact words:)

"DEAR GOD. PLEASE GET ME OUT OF HERE! I'M TOO SCARED DOWN HERE!"

"GOD! PLEASE GO GET MY DADDY AND TELL HIM TO COME DOWN AND GET ME!"

I was trying to be firm in my discipline... but that one got me. I went into the room, and he calmed down, said he wanted a hug. I asked him if he was ready to stop throwing a fit and go back to his room where he wouldn't be scared. He said yes.

As I carried him upstairs, I told him that I heard him praying to God.

"Well" he says, "I told him to go tell you to come down and get me."

"And did I come down?" I said.

"Well" Levi said, "I guess Jesus really is God! And he heard me!"



Funny how we sometimes don't seem to grow up much from the age of three. We rant and rave against the world, scream, yell, try to get out on our own, only to get thrown back into the darkness, half terrified, but still knowing it is the punishment we really deserve. And only when we have exhausted all our other options, when nothing we tried has worked, when we don't know what else to do, do we cry out:

"JESUS! PLEASE GET ME OUT OF HERE! I'M TOO SCARED DOWN HERE! PLEASE GO GET MY DADDY AND TELL HIM TO COME DOWN AND GET ME!"

And then we (re)discover that Jesus really is God... and he does hear us.

Cousin Ron is a funny dude

Paige and I got a good laugh from these last night. Maybe they are funny just because he is my cousin though...

George Washington and the cherry tree

Paige went outside this morning while the kids were playing in the back yard. Outside our tool shed, she found that the kids had taken out the axe. And she looks a little closer, and noticed that one of them had been chopping at the palm tree. After intense questioning, Levi admitted that he had been playing with the axe.

Our three and half year old, already playing with sharp implements and attempting to chop down a tree.


----------------------------

Paige called me at work the other day to tell me that Noah had been examining one of his toys very closely. As with all toys these days, this one is powered by batteries. Noah was peering through a ventilation slot in the outside, and relaying his discoveries to Paige:

"I see some little wires in there!"

Long pause...

"I just want to snip one and see what it does!"





I suppose I am getting just what I deserve with these two...