The Golden Ticket

Remember Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? Not the one with Johnny Depp, but the old one with Gene Wilder. Remember Charlie's anticipation on the quest for the Golden Ticket-the ticket that would allow the children to fulfill their wildest fantasy of visiting the factory? In my house we had a quest this summer as well. It was not a golden ticket, but a blue ticket. And it was 100% fun delivered almost daily.



On the last day of school for the past two years, the boys have brought home a blue ticket from school. On the ticket reads a notice that students may bowl one free game of bowling each day of summer vacation.

I remember the first time I received this card; my instinct told me that there must be "a catch." Nothing is free anymore. Yet, this truly was free.

Bowling this summer became our perfect segue between events. It took Andrew and Brendan only about 20 minutes to bowl, so we would squeeze it in between library or sports. Often the bowling alley was a destination that we rode our bikes to.

Our local alley is nothing special. Rude's personifies good-old small town fun. A distinct smell of smoke lingers even in the mornings. The "regulars" are always perched on their stools by the bar, watching TV and chatting with the workers. The carpet is a faded red that may have once been burgundy. The alleys were all replaced this year so the look of the lanes was fresh.

None of this mattered to the boys.

What mattered to them was who won the game. Throughout the summer I would watch each child take a triumphant turn as the winner while the other boy looked dejected and pouted all the way home. Losing is hard.

The blue ticket represented at least $125 in money I did not have to spend; we used it 25 times. They felt like I was giving them a treat when we went there and it was FREE. Yesterday we bowled for the last time on the ticket. The boys pleaded, and I relented. I was so amazed at how much better they have gotten this summer.

The blue ticket was vital to our summer. Unlike the Chocolate Factory, however, there were no heirs to the bowling alley determined by the blue ticket-- just a whole summer full of fun.

Withdrawal

For the past week we have been fortunate enough to have Chris' parents in town visiting. The boys love it. They get pampered and spoiled for a week solid. Therefore, when Chris' parents left today. The boys were perplexed. They gaped at us after an hour like "What are we going to go? I want to do something great."

You could almost hear their little minds working:

Boys: Can't it be like Tuesday when we played tennis at the school, bowling at the alley, swimming and soccer?

Us: Um. . . No

Boys: Maybe today can be like Wednesday when we drove to Chuck E Cheese and played and ate galore. Then, we went bowling afterwards.

Us: Um . .. No

Boys: Possibly could it be like Thursday when we got to see Wall-E again? We love that movie. We could even follow that with Culver's for dinner.

Us: Um . . . No

Boys: Fine. At least let today be like Friday when we went bowling then to the Mackenzie Center to see the animals. Yet, we also need to include McDonald's for lunch. No skimping on the fries, mom.

Us: Um. . . No

Boys: Can we have donuts tomorrow at least?

Us: No

I suppose they quickly realized that they were stuck with us. We may not pamper and spoil at that scale on a daily basis, but we sure love them a lot. Thanks for Grandma and Grandpa for visiting. We ALL miss you already. It was a great visit.

Friday Photo Fiesta: Soaking Wet!

Hello Candid Carrie visitors! Thanks for playing along today!

This is an old picture of my youngest son who is now four. He was only one in this picture. I like this picture for the hilarious story it represents.

If you look in the background, you can see two sets of legs in the bathtub. My older two boys were taking their evening bath, and I wasn't ready for Evan to partake quite yet. So, he was playing with a tissue and talking to the boys. I watched as Evan precariously perched on the precipice of the tub. I, as any good mother does, incessantly warned, "You are going to fall in. Don't lean so far."

Being a curious one year old, he continued to lean and laugh with his brothers. I walked into the kitchen and heard a giant splash. I raced back to the tub and saw Evan dripping with water. What did I do next? The appropriate answer would be that I hurried to the tub and immediately extracted my drenched toddler. Yet, I can't confess to that. What I did was race back to the kitchen for my camera because I was so entertained by the contrite look on his face. This picture was the result.

Thanks for playing with me! I hope you enjoyed. Here is link back to Carrie's!

Ev's Birthday

Evan had been looking forward to his 4th birthday for a long time. He had told me specifically all the components necessary for him to have a good time. We didn't disappoint him.

On Monday Evan turned four years old. For his birthday he wanted a Spiderman cake. Now, he didn't want the "red Spiderman." He wanted the black Spiderman from the last movie. Luckily for me, Chris' mom was in town and assisted me (did it all!) in making a beautiful Spider man cake. Evan's reaction: "It's perfect!"

We let him have Grandma Compan's presents in the morning that she had mailed. He just couldn't wait to start the "opening." He has been toting that backpack and wearing those glasses ever since!

His birthday dinner, all my boys can dictate the menu on birthday night, consisted of pizza and juice boxes! (I added a few extra treats for the adults.) After dinner, a few of his friends came over. His babysitter from last year, Gina, and her husband and kids came. Evan's preschool friend, Gabriel, and his family came over. The kids all played in the yard and ate cake together.

His favorite new possession is the driver that Chris and I bought him. Now, he can golf like the big boys! I will send pictures of that later.

At the end of the night, Evan was content. I asked him before he went to sleep if he had a good time, and he just grinned. He had a great day.

Four Years Old

Four years ago today, I was calmly sitting in a delivery room, waiting on my epidural. Yes, I was calm. It was the third time around, and I knew what I was doing. A little after noon, Evan Robert announced himself to our world, and things have never been the same.

Cuddling and rocking like a pro, I enjoyed Evan's infant hood more than the others. I wasn't nervous. I had gone through the same motions two other times in the past four years. I can remember just blissfully holding Evan as an infant and feeling so content.

As he started growing into a toddler, I could see that Ev had a certain flair to him. He was my only child to do the "baby babble." Learning to talk was an adventure. He would just ramble in nonsensical syllables to himself for hours. My other boys only spoke what they knew. Evan wanted to forge new paths.

He continued that trend of being different as he continued to grow. Evan always wanted -- and still does-- to be like his brothers. Fighting the nap at the young age of two, Evan would often collapse exhausted anyplace he found at night.
Today, Evan continues to be unique and unlike the boys in so many ways. He is a free spirit and is currently testing the waters of my patience as well. I love hearing his creative approach to life, and I wanted to share a few of "the things Evan says."

* When he turns 14, he can be Spiderman. Because only teenagers can be superheroes.

* He speaks Shakespearean. He will say "Where it is?" or " where they are?" For some reason, he turns the verb and subject around.

* He has a collection of stuffed animals he has recently collected: Charlie -- the dog, Chuck -- the dog, Billy Bob Joe Bison- from our trip, and Super Pika- from our trip. (There are many more. Those are just the favorites.)

* His belly has strong feelings. He will always say, "My belly wants to play a game. My belly needs a snack. My belly doesn't want to go to bed."

Many actions and words can give an image of Evan, yet I have found that he is truly indescribable. I am so grateful that my life has been blessed with Evan. I feel more complete having him in my life. Happy Fourth Birthday, Evan!

Blindsided

A female's emotions are so close to the surface, waiting for an eruption of many kinds: happiness, jealousy, sadness, anger, etc. As a mother of three rambunctious boys, I see this to be so true for myself. Therefore, I am not sure why I was so blindsided the other day when I did the simple act of getting the mail.

I walked out to my mailbox on a stifling weekday and saw that there was a package in there. Most packages this week come to Evan as it will be his 4th birthday on Monday, so when I looked at the name on the package, I was startled to see it was addressed to me. The name in the return address corner was one of my best friends from when I lived in Cleveland, Tyna. (Here we are on the night before I left town!)

In my kitchen I started the open the package. I could already feel my throat tightening and tears beginning to come to my eyes at the thought of my friend. She had sent me a "Back to School" teacher package chock full of pens, pencils, stickers-- the works! At this moment, I sobbed. Tears were just streaming down my face. I was blindsided by my emotions. I realized just how much I miss my friend.

Tyna and I met when our oldest children were just six weeks old at a Baby Gymboree class. The babies did not get a lot of enrichment from that class, but I know that both Tyna and I did. That class started a friendship that became so important to my years of staying at home. At first, we had a playgroup with all the mommies in the class, but eventually it dwindled down to just Tyna and me.

Our routine consisted of occasional zoo trips because I lived so close to the Cleveland Zoo. Mostly, we would gather on Friday mornings at Tyna's house to let the five children play (my three kids and her two.) At about 11:30 the chicken nugget cooking would commence, and then Tyna and I would feast on BBQ Chicken Pizzas and frosty Sprites.

The most important part of these gatherings would be our chatter. We would laugh about the latest TV shows we shared in common. We would gossip about the latest news from our friends and families. We would commiserate about the hardships of being a mom and rejoice about the delights of motherhood as well.

When I knew I was moving to Wisconsin, we acknowledged it then didn't discuss my move until about two weeks before I went. I vividly remember the tears that would linger in my eyes during those conversations. We would just say, "Let's not talk about it yet."

It is easy to see why I was blindsided by her package. In an instant I remembered how much I miss her friendship and daily chatter. How much I miss just hanging out with our kids together. How much I missed just being her friend. My emotions betrayed me again, yet they reminded my of my remarkable friend Tyna. I miss yoU!

Friday Photo Fiesta: The Animals Cometh!

Welcome Candid Carrie visitors for a showcase of animal sightings from my vacation I just arrived home from. Feel free to browse my last few blog entries. There are some amazing pictures of the Tetons, Yellowstone and the Badlands lurking at every corner.

While buffalo are not the most beautiful animals, they are amazing in their power. We ran into buffalo at each National Park, sometimes we almost literally ran into them as they sat in the middle of the road! We actually saw them being herded at Custer State Park

Chris took this next amazing picture at Yellowstone near sunrise. The water is not as turbulent as it appears. I love this picture!

We also were fortunate to see a few bald eagles along the way. This eagle proudly sat by the river at Yellowstone.

We happened to be driving by a river at Yellowstone when we saw these full-grown elks just drinking and eating. We watched them for awhile and just marvelled at how HUGE they were.

When we hiked up Mount Washburn in Yellowstone, these Bighorn Sheep literally crossed our path. They actually came a little too close for comfort.
We had a rare black bear sighting at Yellowstone as well. We accidentally stumbled on this bear ambling near a creek. The bear proceeded to meander wherever he chose and eventually crossed the road in front of a pack of gawkers snapping pictures.

Our favorite animal sighting occurred at the Grand Tetons. We all wanted to see a moose! On the final day, we saw four moose! The two pictures here were taken at a pond where we happened upon a moose eating. All I can say is "WOW!"
Thanks for taking an animal safari with me today! If you want to reconnect to Candid Carrie's website, click here.