Free Fridays

My first summer working for the school district, they did a test run of a special summer schedule in order to save on energy costs - four 10 hour days (Monday-Thursday 7-6). I guess it must have saved some money, because two years later we're still doing that schedule.

Fridays off, you say? That sounds awesome right? Well, it's not.

Maybe for those people that don't have kids it's nice. Maybe for the people who can go straight from home to work and back. Maybe when your day doesn't start at 5:30 and end at 7:30 instead of 7 and 6. Maybe if it doesn't mean your normally strict schedule gets totally screwed up and your kids have meltdowns in the morning and fall asleep on the way home and sleep crazy late on the days they don't have to get up early. Actually, I'm pretty sure it's not awesome even if those things aren't true. No one I work with LOVES this schedule.

There is exactly one good thing about this schedule, and that good thing is:

FRIDAYS OFF!

The last two years I've been jealous of the girls at work who had kids in daycare because it meant that on Friday, they were able to drop their kids off like it was a normal weekday and have the day to do whatever they liked. Normally it meant catching up on stuff that had been slacked off on during the week so they had the weekends free to spend time with their families. I had big plans for the same. Each Friday off has brought something fun and exciting.

Friday #1 I dropped the kids off at school, came home and had a nice relaxing breakfast. Then I spent some time cleaning the most under-cleaned rooms in the house - the kids rooms! After that I took a little walk to the pool and read for awhile, had a nice chat with an old high school friend, and did some very rare solo shopping! I picked the kids up early and we spent the rest of the afternoon with some fun in the sun.

Friday #2 A fun filled trip to the zoo with Nana and Grandpa!

Grandpa and Nate

Nana, Daddy and Mia

Friday #3 We dropped the kids off at daycare and I cleaned the bathrooms! I mean a good, deep clean. Then we picked the kids up after nap-time and headed over to Peter's parent's house to spend time with his family. We took their boat to a restaurant called T-Bones that lets you dock and eat. Good times.

Friday #4 I cleaned our bedroom, then had a fun friend-date with my work buddy Shannon. We went to lunch, then to see the movie The Heat. It was kind of funny because the two leads were named Sarah and Shannon!

Friday #5 I dropped the kids at school, then had a pretty relaxing day cleaning the floors. Then I finally got to enjoy my Christmas present - a trip to a local vegetarian restaurant. Peter went off to work and I headed back home, folded some laundry and took a short nap before picking up the kids. On the way home from picking them up we got into a little fender bender, but it was very minor and no one was hurt, so I'll count us all lucky. Though, even the smallest of accidents can be a major pain in the butt!

This is pretty much the extent of the damage. That, and the alignment seems a little off. Could be much worse though!

Friday #6 was spent driving fourteen and a half hours to New Jersey. But it was worth it for some great Fisher fun!

We didn't let him play with his iPod the whole time, but it definitely came in handy on occasion.

 Today, Friday #7, is the last free Friday until next year. I started it by dropping off the kids at daycare, then heading to Target to take advantage of the last NC Tax Free weekend. Now I think I'll do a little bit of cleaning, some YouTube Pilates, pick up the kids early and head to the pool!

I'll miss the Fridays, but the rest of the week will make up for it. I think. Check back with me next Friday.

Goodbye California

All good things must come to an end, right? Well after 10 fun days in sunny California we had to put our coats back on and say goodbye.

Bye Nonna! We love you!

The first flight wasn't too bad. We had packed sandwiches and used them to keep the kids busy for a chunk of the flight.

Mia really fought falling sleep on that first flight.
She fell asleep in this position just as we were landing.
Natch.

As we were getting off of the plane Nate saw the pilots and asked them if he could go into the cockpit.
They let him sit in the seat, hold the steering wheel and even press a button!
I don't know what it is meant for, but it made everything start shaking. Scary fun!

Remember how on the flight out we were told we were going to have a three hour delay that ended up being only 30 minutes? Well on the second flight we were not told of any delays, but after they already started loading people on the plane they decided that we needed a new one and we ended up having that three hour delay after all! This was on top of a two hour layover. When booking the tickets I chose between a 40 minute layover and a two hour layover. If you've ever traveled with two kids you probably know that 40 minutes is kind of pushing it... So I chose the two hour option figuring it would give us all the time we needed for going to the bathroom, changing diapers, getting food and finding our gate. I should have chosen 40. : / We kept them busy with food (again) and walking, or strolling, in circles around the terminal. Nate also made some friends who were delayed with us and played a rousing game of duck-duck-goose! At least he made the best of it.

Crashing in the terminal

Poor Nate started not feeling well on Saturday night. He had a very high fever and was complaining about his throat, head and belly hurting. So he was very happy to just take naps, listen to his iPod and watch movies for both of the flights. It ended up being strep. Again.

Mia fought sleep again on the second flight, but at least it was only two hours. We got home just after one o'clock in the morning and we were all ready to crash. And since Peter and I both had to be at work bright and early the next morning (or, no, THAT morning), we had to wake them up earlier than they would have liked, so they were ready for bed at NC time that night! Yay!

Goodbye California - we'll miss you until next time!

California - Days 9 & 10 - Easter!

It is rare that we get to spend a holiday with my side of the family, so we take advantage!

First up - dying Easter eggs. I let Nate do this while Mia was napping...

Bad vegan mom!

Then an Easter Egg Hunt led by my mom and Jerry's church.

This makes a good hat!

Mia's first hunt!  

When they let the "big kids" go Nate ran all the way to the end of the  lawn.
He had it to himself for awhile, but was too interested in what was
in the eggs to get too many of them

YAY eggs!

Checking out their loot

After this trip, I have decided that it is probably a good thing that, unless Peter switches industries, we will never be able to travel for Christmas. Luckily we don't go crazy with Easter baskets so everything we took fit in our suitcase, but what would we do at Christmas? Order stuff online and send it before us? Then how do we get it back? Order two and send one to our house and one to our destination? Try to ship it all back home? I don't know. For now I don't need to think about it!

Deconstructed Easter basket!
I couldn't' find my camera when I was filling the Easter baskets.
Books, sunglasses, socks, sippy cups, utensils, snack bowls...
Nate got a lot of Lion King stuff, Mia's was kind of random.

Easter breakfast!

Good morning!

 We left my mom and Jerry and went to a Catholic church for the Easter service. We went to a church named after St. Francis of Assisi. It was packed! Easter Catholics and the fact that the new pope chose to name himself after this Saint (who, PS, is one of my favorites!) so we ended up sitting in the fellowship hall or something with a kind of secondary service. Weird.

After church we went home and started cooking up a storm for the arrival of the rest of the family for our Easter feast!

Mia sharing with Nonna

The Shipman crew

Cousins! Kat, Mia, Sydney and Nate

Kat checks out what is inside her eggs

Fisher-Starr family - Katie, Kat and Walker

Easter fun! Nate and his "new friend" Sydney

Geez is it hard to get them both looking good at the same time!

Silly boys!

Happy Easter from the Morris family!

Calfirnia - Days 5-8

After the fast pace of the first few days of our trip, most of the rest of the time was just spent hanging roaming Bakersfield, shopping, eating all of the CA food that we miss and spending time with family.

Hanging out at Nonna's

My little adventurer

Cousins! Nate asked to play with her every single day!
But once she was there they were usually fighting. Hmm.

John's Incredible Pizza

This was train ride #2 of 3 for that day.

Ski Ball

Bust a move!

Peter taking over

Feeding the ducks

Reid Taco Night! The fake meat was fine, but the vegan cheese left something to be desired.

I went to see TWO movies with my sister (Oz: The Great and Powerful and The Host), got to sample her new favorite vegan market/lunch spot and share vegan meals at some of our old favorite restaurants.

YUMMY desserts made with love by my favorite sister

Nerds!

Peter and I went on a date night. We had sushi and I saw another movie (Admissions). Sadly, I didn't get any pics of that.

We went to CALM (California Animal Living Museum) where Nate and Kat got to ride on a real-life Dinosaur Train!

Snack time!

Daddy daughter time

Dinosaur Train, the dinosaur train...

Gonna ride, ride, ride, ride, RIDE. The dinosaur train!

Time tunnel! Time tunnel approaching!

And, of course, we can't go to California without some In'n'Out!

He got a 3x3.

Boogers aren't my favorite.

Yummy! This girl can eat!

Because he was just so excited! It had been awhile.

California - Day 4

On Saturday night, Peter went to LA with his friend Collin to spend a little time with his family and get some much needed friend time. He even got a tour of Disney on Monday, and that is where we had to pick him up.

Disney HQ

Since we were there anyway we decided to make a day of it with a trip to the La Brea Tar pits. Nate didn't like it as much as we'd hoped, I guess because the bones weren't actually "dinosaurs" just other very old things. I found it pretty ineresting though. Maybe next time we should go to the Museum of Natural History that is right next door.

Before heading inside we picked up some Baja Fresh and chowed
down on the picnic tables. What a great view of the pits!

She wants to get out!

Pretty little "park"

Looking down on the atrium

Pretty much all Peter did was chase Miss Mia around

Yay Prehistoric animals!

After hitting up the Tar Pits we went to BabyCakes NYC for some vegan treats! I think Peter saying "I couldn't even tell it was vegan!" goes a long way to tell you how good they were. He got a cookie sandwich and Nate and I split some red velvet and lemon cupcakes!

YUM!