We had a great time in Omaha! Gabe and Ben love going to "Inbraksa."
Gabe and Lyndee woke up early Saturday, so we decided to let Daddy sleep and take a walk. It's a great neighborhood to walk in, and we headed down the hill. And I mean, hill! As we walked down, I wondered how I was ever going to make it back up. We walked till we got to a nice park and Gabe got down to play. He was worried that he was going to get sand in his flip flops and and I wouldn't let him take them off because of my worry of glass. So, he finally agreed that these were his "sandy shoes," and it was okay to get sand in them. He fell off the merry go round once, all because "you were supposed to stop it when I said stop Mommy!" Ooops, chalk it up to my poor mind reading ability once again!
He went up a really big slide and I said, "Be careful!"
"I know Mommy. I know to be careful, so don't say it ever again!" Little does he know that I said it again and again each time he climbed up the steps for that slide!
We were enjoying the morning when who should happen upon us but Matt's dad, out for his morning walk. "Hi Grandpa!" Gabe waved as he approached. Grandpa kept on his walk, we took a short cut and Grandpa caught up with us. We stopped to put Gabe back in the double stroller just as a very short woman came down the path with her dog. "That sure is a little lady, Mommy!"
"Quiet honey. It's not polite to point out people that are different from us."
"But I didn't point." Have I told you that my son is very literal?
Thank goodness Grandpa walked the rest of the way with us and helped me push the stroller up the big hill. We made it home in one piece!
Gabe and Ben played pretty hard in the morning, outside, inside, down the basement, you name it. In the basement they played trampoline with the spare bed and the air mattress. I didn't know what they were doing until I peeked in and Ben was sitting on the air mattress. Gabe was standing on the bed. He yelled, "Hiiiii Yahhhh!" and jumped down onto the air mattress. Ben bounced into the air, appendages flailing. I cringed, Ben giggled hysterically. Then they switched places. They're taking turns! I thought proudly. I had to interrupt the fun to tell them that lunch was ready.
They sat down at the table, red faced Gabe gulped down two glasses of milk. Then they proceeded to eat bananas and pb and j. If they ate well, then they got their chocolate muffin for dessert. Who said bribery at meal time doesn't work. Gabe had to eat one more bite of banana.
"I did it Mommy, can I be excused?"
"Don't you want your chocolate muffin?"
"Not right now."
I should have known then that something wasn't right. My son, turning down chocolate. Was it opposite day? I ate the rest of his sandwich and his banana and went to check out the new bookcase that Cheryl bought.
"Mommy?" yelled G from the kitchen. "Mommy come quick!"
Panicked, I rushed in. I found Gabe holding his tummy. "Mommy, my tummy hurts. Look how big it is."
"Uh oh, does it feel like you're going to throw up?" No sooner had the words been spoken than "Blaaaaaahhhhhhhhh......" All over the kitchen floor. Now, throw up is not my favorite thing in the world, but I have an amazing ability to close off my senses and just do what needs to be done. But Matt, well, Matt and vomit should never be in the same place. Never. Ever.
I have to say, in this instance, once his initial gag was over, Matt did an admirable job taking care of Gabe in bathroom. Other times I've had to yell at him, "Go, just go. I can't clean up after both of you!" So, I'm cleaning up and extrapolating out in my head what this means for the weekend. I imagine myself cleaning up after all three of my kids in a house that should never have anyone sick in it because it is way, way too beautiful and put together. I imagine us being sick all the way home. I imagine myself sick shortly because I did, after all, just down Gabe's sandwich and banana without a second thought. Thankfully, that was the only episode of sickness that occurred. Twenty minutes later, Gabe wanted to eat his chocolate muffin. Needless to say, I kept him in the tiled kitchen vs. the brand new eggplant colored carpet in the living room, for about two hours.
The rest of the day was fine. The Huskers crushed Nevada and Matt and I got to take a sunset drive in his parents' solstice convertible.
We went to bed and Sunday morning came quickly. It started in a hurry. About 6 am, we hear thud, scream, crying. Gabe fell out of bed and hit his head. Now my eldest son had a very low pain tolerance. If Ben had fallen out of bed, he probably wouldn't even have woken up. If he would have woken up, he would have said, "Ow," and promptly gone back to sleep. Gabe on the other hand screamed bloody murder, thereby waking Matt and me, Ben and Lyndee. After drinks, we finally got them settled again albeit in different places in the house. Matt and Ben in the end bedroom where the boys had been together and me, Gabe and Lyndee in the middle bedroom. I finally gave up trying to sleep when Lyndee and Gabe decided that 6:30 was a good time to be awake. We went for another walk, this time with Lyndee in the front snugli and Gabe walking with me. We did NOT go down the big hill. It was another exercise vs. entertainment walk. We talked about sprinklers, flags, sewers, pine trees, leafy trees, deciduous vs. coniferous, sharks vs. fish and the purpose of speed bumps. It was enlightening.
Next came church. It was very enjoyable, mostly because the boys were in the nursery. Pastor Brad talked about work, being it was Labor Day weekend. The interesting point is that we are never really away from work. Not with cell phones and virtual work space and computers. We think about how convenient it is, when in reality, it just means that when we are at home, we are still working. There used to be more of a separation between the two. We've just become such a multitasking nation, perhaps even world that oftentimes I think we always feel distracted. I know that I feel like that sometimes anyway. My advice for a day, turn off the cell phone, don't check your email, don't text anyone, go for a walk, talk with your family. You'll be surprised at how much better you can concentrate. I know that I am.
We made it successfully through breakfast at LePeep, put Ben and Matt down for nap, (just kidding honey, although he did sleep!), and then went to the zoo. I had remembered Matt's claritin, the zoo pass, some ibuprofen, juice boxes and snacks for the kids, diapers, wipes, the snugli......but not the stroller. We pulled in to the parking lot, started unloading the kids and "Oh no."
"What?"
"I forgot the stroller."
"You've got to be kidding me."
"Ummm, nope."
"Well, now what?"
"I don't know, walk I guess."
"There goes your wife of the year award."
Dejected, we started up the hill to the gate. Half way up I had an epiphany. "They must rent strollers or something!" We got there and the sign posted said, "Sorry, we are out of strollers at this time. Check back later." Well, one minute later I walked up and checked. Sure enough,they had a double stroller and the best part? The attendant let us have it for free. He must have taken one look at our load and felt pity on us. We got to see everything we had planned on, except the elephants. Gabe was pretty disappointed with that, and so were we since we had walked to the far end of the zoo to see them.
But then we went to the giraffes. We saw the male in his inside dwelling. Gabe said something that I didn't hear.
"What honey? Yeah, he does have a big mouth."
"No, not mouth Mommy. He has big balls!" Oh floor, please open up and swallow me now.
Matt looked at me apologetically and said, "Yep, you're right son, he does have big balls," and shrugged his shoulders. Boy am I in trouble when the boys get older!
When we left, Gabe said his favorite part was seeing the choo choo train. Hmmm. Ben said that his favorite was seeing the gorillas. We didn't see any gorillas. Hmmm. Makes me wonder if the zoo pass is really worth it! Just kidding, we love the zoo. My favorite part? Seeing the elephants. What?! We didn't see any elephants? Oh yeah, that'll have to wait until the next visit.
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