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Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

A Fabulous Ending to Vacay

Is it any surprise that I use my blog to vent my frustrations as well as celebrate triumphs? It really shouldn't be. If I was able to take long drives in the car alone with the radio blasting, it'd be just as cathartic as blogging when I'm feeling down. Alas, I have two small children so as a general rule, I have 2 car seats perfectly filled with squishy goodness. So I blog. It's like a free psychologist helping me work through my feelings (good & bad), thoughts and life.

I blogged the other day about my vacation being disappointing. And it was. I truly expected it to be  something different. Live & learn right? I wrote about very specific things that had bothered me. 

Now some people read a blog post  and say "what a bitch for airing her dirty laundry for all the world to see, but I had no idea she/her kids/etc felt that way. I wish she had just said something. But lets make memories with those kids" Maybe that's what they say. I don't know. Maybe they just say "I won't go down like that!" 

And still others, instead of realizing that they could be mature & discuss things like adults if something has angered them, take my post as my bashing them & send things like "You got alot of balls Jenn let me tell you. Its a good thing your going home today" Thank you NYC for allowing people that can't use language properly to teach our children proper English. (That was bashing. Just in case you needed to see the difference).

I guess some people just can't see passed their own noses to realize that my post the other day was a venting of frustrations and processing of thoughts. Not a post of me bashing anyone. My blog & life only revolve around 2 very small people. No one else. I have no room in my mind to worry that much about other people's lives to bash or judge them.

It is not bashing for me to put that Meredith was upset by something. She gets upset by a variety of things. She's entitled. We all are. It's not bashing for me to say that Meredith questions things. She does and I welcome it. It's not bashing a person for me to say that things upset, anger, frustrate or make me happy & ecstatic. Things do. I don't judge people for what they do or allow in their lives/families. But by the same token, I don't have to agree or like it. 

Back to the memory makers because I need to stay positive. I have no room for negative people or their nonsense.

 Our last day in NYC turned out to be fabulous & it has been all Meredith can possibly talk about.

We spent the day with Ema & Epa at Deno's in Coney Island. We stopped at Nathan's where I shared clams on the half shell with my mother in law and had some other Nathan's specialties. Ya know like hot dog.

Meredith went on rides, played games & lived it up while Sean took a nap. Meredith couldn't have been more excited. It was hot, but thankfully there a nice salty breeze coming off the water. I think and hope everyone else enjoyed the day as much as we did. Sean finally woke up & we enjoyed some ice cream from Denny's. What would a trip to Coney Island be without a trip to Denny's for some pistachio soft serve. Meredith changed it up and got pistachio/banana soft serve twist. Not for me, but she loved it! Even more... she loved sharing it with her g-parents. Sean had help from Ema. And thank goodness because he wasn't allowing anyone else to help him.


   

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Daddy trying to win a prize

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Epa trying to win a prize

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Epa helping Meredith win Ski Ball tix

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Ema helping Lady M play

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Ema helping Sean eat ice cream

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Yum

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After ice cream, Meredith & Sean went on some rides together & then it was time for dinner with the gparents. It was an amazing day and I'm thankful we were able to spend it together.

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The drive home was uneventful. THANK GOD!!! We got started on our way at 4:30am and the kids fell back to sleep for a few hours. We had packed food so that we didn't have to veer to far from the road or take to long to eat and it was a good thing we did. The kids travelled beautifully, napping, watching movies, chatting, complaining because of eventual boredom, but all in all.... the trip was great.

Of course when we finally arrived in North Carolina, it was all I could do not to bend down & kiss the ground. I opted to hug the sign instead.

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I am more than a tad happy about being back home. Our house guests that were staying here took very good care of the house for us. And this whole trip has taught me that us moving here was 100% the best thing we ever could've done for our family.

Unfortunately, Sean seems to have picked up a bug from somewhere. I can't imagine where. He woke up this morning and just kind of laid around like a latke. He fell asleep on the couch right after he had woken up. Totally not like him. I ran to the store for a thermometer because of course I couldn't find ours and his temp was 102. :( My poor baby. Hopefully he feels better soon.

He started out playing "hide & seek" and fell asleep while he was hiding.

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I managed to slip out & cover him so I could have a cup of coffee.

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If he's not better tomorrow I'll have to decide what to do about school open house & his speech evaluation that are both scheduled for tomorrow. To bad people are so inconsiderate that they see nothing wrong with bringing & sharing germs with other people. I just hope Meredith doesn't get it.

Edited to add: Sean's temp spiked to 104 later in the afternoon & ended up at the pedi. He has a virus and should be ok soon. We have instructions to head to the ER if he's lethargic and we're unable to pep him up with a lukewarm sponge bath, he's dehydrated (no wet diaper for 6 hours), the temp is not controlled with meds or if we feel he needs to be evaluated. His pedi said that temporal thermometers are generally off by a degree. We also need to be on the lookout for febrile seizures if his temp remains high. We also need to head back to the pedi if the temp remains for more than 3 days. 

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Do Unto Others....

As you'd have them do unto you. Everyone has heard that right? But how many people do you know who live it? I thought I knew at least a few people that did live that way or at least tried to, but it seems I was wrong.

This hasn't turned out to be the vacation I had envisioned when Rob & I first started to talk about coming back for a few weeks. It's not even the vacation I had envisioned in the days before we came. I didn't envision taking my kids alone to see just about everything we've seen & experienced. I had hoped we'd be spending time with people that we missed and that missed us. Or at least claimed to have missed us.

I didn't envision feeling like, aside from being a valuable learning experience, the trip was a waste of a vacation. Think about it. Rob could've had his surgery in NC. I could've taken the kids to all sights & activities alone in NC just like I'm doing here. We could've come up here for a weekend to enjoy the wedding we went to and gone home so Rob could work.

I did learn one more thing..... our move to NC was 100% the best decision we could've made. I no longer miss ANY part of NYC. If I want to goto the beach, I will go south & visit our friends down there. If I want or think I need help with the kids or just a break, I'll pay for it.

But what does that have to do with "Do unto others....."? Well nothing I guess except that even though I live that way and try to be considerate of what others say, feel and may want to do.... I'm realizing (like a brick wall that suddenly comes upon you) that not everyone tries to be that way. So why am I still treating people well when they're clearly not treating me well?

I am no longer making time for people who will not make time for me. I am no longer going to keep people updated (via text or calls) that don't do the same. I'm not going to ask how you're kidneys are or how your kids are doing in school if you're not doing the same. I am no longer going to invite people to hang out, go out or do things we're doing if they continually turn our invitations down. If I'm always the one making concessions and compromising.... guess what? I'm done.

Relationships are a 2 way street. I work at all my relationships and it hurts to know that I'm the only one working. It hurts to know that when I say "Hey I'd rather do something or not do something." "Hey it kind of hurts my feelings to have you say such & such.", it's ignored.

It hurts to find that most of the above.... applies to the people I feel the closest to. Or at least that I did feel closest to until just the last couple of weeks.

What also stinks is that all of the above has trickled down to Meredith. Meredith wanted nothing more than to see & spend time with the people she loved. And in the end she asked me on numerous occasions how come her cousins left her when she went to their house & how come her ema & epa weren't coming to (insert activity here)? How do I explain that? There are only so many explanations I can come up with. It hurts me most to see her hurt.

She understands that people can & don't. She understands that people can join her at the pool or beach to jump waves & choose not to. She understands that people can walk the 30 minutes it takes to get through the aquarium or zoo (we didn't goto the big one) and choose not to. Or that they can have ice cream (which she enjoys most) and choose not to.

And she questions it and gets upset when I have to tell her that people have other things to do. That she was not a priority for them even though they won't see her for a long time after she's gone home.

It's sad for Sean too, but I don't think he quite understands it the way Meredith does. So it makes me sad for him.

So I will be doing unto others as they have & are doing unto us. And I will be teaching my children the same. I'll also be teaching them that they should only give so much before they stop. Before they save what they have to give to someone or people who deserve it.

Well back to getting us packed & ready to go home. I can't wait for Monday morning :)

Sunday, August 12, 2012

A picture is worth a thousand words


   

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The diva has returned. 

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Watching the storm rolling in over Coney Island

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Aaaaaahhhhhh Hello old friend. 

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It makes my heart sing that Meredith is really enjoying the water. 

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His way of letting us know he was ready to leave. 

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Happiness is. Meredith could not have beamed brighter when she saw Jessica (Our friend, the kids' sitter, Sean's SEIT & M's first teacher)

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Yes..... asleep sitting on the dog. 

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Bushkill!! 

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Trying on Mommy & Daddy's wedding stuff. 

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Learning how to use the saw

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On our way to horseback riding. 

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How we move the newly walking kindy over when a car is coming

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"It's just like walking a big dog." I'd like to put it right out there..... It's nothing like walking a dog. 

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