Roadtrips and Robots

Or maybe I should say "Woad-twips and Wo-bots".  Actually,  Luke has his "R's" down pretty well.  He still struggles a bit with the "L" and the hard "C", "K", and "G" sounds.  Unfortunately, it makes it rather difficult for him to pronounce his very own name, and favorite subjects to discuss like "trains" and "cranes" sound virtually the same.


For President's Day weekend,  which typically coincides with my birthday,we decided to take a family trip to Maryland, primarily so that Pete could meet with his director.  Also, it was a quick mini-vacation and get-away.  We stayed with the Rayel family in Gaithersburg, MD, a family we met through St. John Neumann parish when we lived there.

Days ago, the Rayel's were blessed with their third son, Michael Benedict (congratulations!).  Their other two sons are right around Luke and Augustine's age.  We were grateful for the hospitality and enjoyed watching the boys interact and having some time for fellowship and prayer.  Augustine particularly enjoyed the basketball hoop.  Luke and Joseph, who is four months younger than Luke, got along pretty well for the most part playing together.  Four mobile boys under the age of 3 certainly made for an active weekend of play!

One of the days we were there, Pete was off working on his paper, so Betsy and I ventured off to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum near Dulles Airport in Virginia.  Though a little leery at first about the trip, it turned out to be the perfect outing.  Lots of planes and machines to look at.  Lots of open space and free flow traffic patterns throughout the warehouse conducive to most strollers and inquisitive almost 3 year-olds.  Aunt Kate and Uncle Andrew ventured down from Philadelphia and met us at the Museum which added another highlight and great company for our packed lunches. 



Uncle Andrew bravely offered his hand to lead the enamored entourage of exuberant elflings on an exhibition, leaving the womenfolk, and John, to talk shop. 

The rest of our visit was pretty laid back.  Hanging out with the boys who shamelessly devoured the playroom over and over again and catching up with various families and friends we met and formed relationships with at the parish and the school that I taught at.


  Well, I take that back.  I got more than a little stressed out as we ventured out as a family to meet with Pete's director, Sr. Schreiber.  Firstly, we met at a restaurant, a restaurant that we had never been to before.  And although it was a more casual dining establishment there's always an added challenge when you throw young children into the mix of new places, borrowed high chairs, wait time, cups with ice and straws, and the  expectation that they remain perfectly still and not have to use the bathroom while you carry on engaging in meaningful business oriented conversation with the other adults present. (pppp-ssshhhhhhh! No problem right?!?!?)  

Looking back on the situation I realized that 80% of the problem stemmed from placement.  Despite the "Seat Yourself" display Pete and I were approached by three different workers in a matter of 5 minutes of entering the place asking if they could help us find a seat.  We had arrived early. We were taking a moment to survey our surroundings and see if Sr. Schreiber was already seated.  The place was essentially empty with only one or two tables occupied and we were trying to decide how best to situate the boys.  Feeling rushed and pressured by the not-so-helpful staff we chose unwisely.  I ended up locked in the corner between Luke and Augustine on the booth/bench side of the table.  Pete positioned himself across the table from Luke leaving the seat next to our sweet Augustine open for his director.  The table was far too small for the over-sized plates  making it near impossible to keep certain breakables or possible messes out of the little guys' reach.  I was hardly able to choke down two bites of my own meal between attempting to keep Luke and Augustine focused and happy and listening/participating in conversation.  Augustine ignored his own platter of pasta to indulge in the sparkling, sliced strawberries that studded Sr.'s salad.  Despite her pleasant reaction and willingness to appease the child I was somewhat mortified.  Already sensitive to the reactions and comments we receive because Pete is working full-time and working on his dissertation amidst raising two  young children I imposed my own judgement of what Sr. Schreiber was surely thinking having less than an hour before shared the news of expecting #3 "Another one on the way huh?...This woman can hardly handle the two she's got!" Meanwhile my unsuspecting, usually helpful husband sat across the way, having finished his portion of antipasto, wondering when I was going to pass him my plate of pasta so that he could sample it before it cooled. 

I managed to hold it together as I carted the boys off to the bathroom for a potty break/diaper change, packed up the leftovers on the table and marched off to the van with Augustine on my hip and Luke by the hand so that I could leave the two academics behind to formulate postulates of service and catechesis.  Pete's "I love you." as I buckled my safety belt was too much to bear and the tears fell hard and fast as he closed the vehicle door and returned to the restaurant after happily securing the leftovers in his bag for dinner.  Grrrrrr............. Men!

To add insult to injury I missed the entrance ramp to get back to Gaithersburg plainly reminded of the mean, inconsiderate, wreckless Maryland/DC drivers that I don't miss one bit!

Whew!

So, besides that afternoon, I would say our trip went quite swimmingly.

Augustine and John

Hanging out in the playroom

Little bros in PJs sharing!

Fun at the rest stop

Our next adventure included celebrating Luke's 3rd birthday.  He had become a fan of WALL-E and so requested a robot cake.  I took the opportunity to utilize some of my Cricut cartridges to make valentines in addition to some invitations to the party to family/friends.  Below is just one sample as I couldn't resist affixing a variety of robots to the different cards.

The cake warranted a stop at one of my favorite stores Mr. Bulky's so that I could pick out select candy pieces to help with decorating.

We had a decent turnout with special guests great grandma and grandpa Francis and Luke's godfather Andrew who was able to come since it fit in between his work schedule.  Grandma Angie, Grandpa Steve, uncles Andy, Stevie, and Matt, Aunt Debbie and 5/7ths of the Schafer cousins were also present.  Grandma and Grandpa Schafer were off partying at the Nun Run in Arizona but supplied the handsome wardrobe of the birthday boy. I made some pulled beef and shredded chicken to put on some buns, some coleslaw and potato slices I think.  There was a minor glitch when I added cinnamon to the crock pot with the chicken instead of cumin but it still turned out alright.  Not the greatest, but alright.

honored guests

Grandma Angie and her boys

We extended Luke's birthday celebration on to the next weekend when we travelled to Cincinnati.  We spent a full day at the Cincinnati Museum Center which houses three museums under one roof.  We spent most of our time in the Duke Energy Children's Museum there after exploring the Celtic Festival in the main vestibule to play games, answer trivia, and earn half price tickets to the museum.  We stayed at a hotel -with a swimming pool- which is what Luke finds most memorable,  ate at a local Mexican restaurant where the boys provided the after dinner entertainment by displaying their version of break dancing near our table, and then went to the Circus the next morning.

We enjoyed the show immensely and were quite impressed by the costumes and choreography as there was no "dead time" minus the intermission.  The tickets weren't that expensive in my opinion but the paraphernalia and snacks at the show made up for it. We splurged on the $8 box of popcorn and tried desperately to not let a single golden kernel hit the floor ;-) We were glad that they maintained the integrity of live music throughout the show despite having added some sound equipment to amplify the tunes.  The show was a bit too much for Augustine who seemed to experience sensory overload and thus needed to take a break, and just walk around  toward the end of the second half. We were back on the road north by 1:30pm where we at some lunch and all but daddy settled in for a snooze.