11 posts tagged “vacation”
So that vacation was good, and just what we needed.
We hadn't made the reservations yet when I lost my job, and at that time I wasn't convinced we should spend the $$, but Dear Husband insisted. We needed a break, he said.
And he was right.
It was great. Exhausting and occasionally overwhelming, but overall, just what we needed.
We drove. I was terrified of how awful the drive might be, but actually the kids were wonderful little travelers. (In-Car DVD Player, I love you!!).
Littlest Brother was stressed by the travel, breaking out in hives and scratching himself raw until we hit on the right combination of oral Benedryl and Gold-Bond Anti-Itch Creme. But once we got there, he settled down and the good-time endorphins cancelled out the stress chemicals, and the hives went away. Until we started the drive home... but this time we spotted the signs and administered Benedryl right away and the problem went away.
Now the only question is, whether Eldest Son can reinsert himself into regular school life after such a hedonistic pleasure jaunt. The last few years, he's had trouble with that; incidents of the week following are what led up to our visits to the child psychologist. This year, we've tried to prepare him better and we've had a little talk about our expectations, so I'm crossing my fingers in hope that it might go better...
While we were gone, the report was mailed to us from the extensive (and expensive) neuro-psych testing Eldest Son underwent about a month ago. Welp, pretty much confirmed everything we already knew. Pretty expensive second opinion, but, on the whole, I think it's good. Shows we're on the right track. Now we know for sure what we're working with, we can make some definite plans to help him, and we've already begun to do so.
Next week we have a meeting at the school to develop a "504" plan, the first step in documenting the accomodations Eldest Son will need next year in order to achieve his full potential at school. His teacher this year has done an excellent job, whether consciously or unconsciously, in providing him much of the support he needs, so mainly we need her to identify what those were, and write them down as guidelines for his teacher next year. We also need to communicate those to the Specials teachers, who have consistently been more likely to call me with complaints about his behavior. He also may receive some pragmatic-language therapy (i.e., training in non-verbal cues that he's not catching effectively now), and maybe a "lunch-bunch" supervised by the school counselor for social-skills practice. We've also begun to explore private social-skills training playgroups for him to join over the summer. Next week we also have a meeting with a therapist who organizes and leads those groups.
So stuff's gettin' better.
And me, I feel like much less of a walking open wound than I did before this trip. Broke me out of my own negative loop. I no longer feel like my intestines are trailing around on the ground for all and sundry to step on. Instead I feel cleaned up, tucked back in, sewn up, and on intravenous antibiotics to fight infection. Still get twinges, still have to recuperate, still have to move carefully so as to avoid pulling the stitches out. But, clearly on the mend. Healing is possible. Likely, even. Resumption of normal activity levels in the foreseeable future.
So, Dear Husband was right. We needed that. (He really is a pretty great guy.)
:-)
The moon is lovely tonight, but I can't take a picture and show you, because...
The cameras are all with Daddy and the kids at Cedar Point!
Yes, indeed, I'm a 48-hour leave of absence from Mommy-dom! Woo-hoo!
So far I've...
- Had lunch out at my favorite Japanese restaurant
- Entirely ignored my job search and housework
- Taken a nap
- Read science fiction
- And worked for over 3 hours on various writing projects.
The only thing I had planned for today that I didn't accomplish was "go to Aerobics Boot Camp" but that was just because the nap went long. (Darn!)
And tomorrow morning, I'm going to swim laps at the local Rec Center. Yeah!
I can't decide whether I should go to a movie or not. I'm thinking, not, at this point. I've got some grown-up DVDs I might watch, plus there's the Olympics. And I do want to get a lot done on writing and job-search tomorrow.
You know you need a break as a mom when... you'd rather spend Saturday morning putting in more equipment on the church play-park, than go to Cedar Point with your own kids...
That was my excuse, anyway. And no, I did NOT bribe the rest of the committee to select THIS Saturday instead of NEXT Saturday to put in Phase Two of our play-park. (Benches, picnic table, and a bouncy whale.)
Cheers.
The GOOD news is, Dear Husband DID NOT keel over dead of a heart-attack at age 40 yesterday morning.
The BAD news is, he DID need to have his gall-bladder removed on a semi-emergency basis.
The GOOD news AGAIN is, he's already out of the hospital, with 4 little band-aids stuck to his bald (shaved) belly.
Gotta love that laparoscopy!
(Dear Zilla, we report ourselves much impressed with the lovely hospital in Your Fair City!)
He's going to log yesterday and today in at work as sick days, not vacation days. Figures, if he's in a hospital, it's a sick day, even IF he is doing it with a nice view of the sailboats on the Bay.
He's glad to be out; already snarfed down a double scoop of Moomers butter pecan ice cream. (Recently voted Best Family-Owned Ice Cream Parlor in America on a poll for the Good Morning America show. Yay! --Myself, I had Butter Brickle -- always been partial to toffee, I have...)
He was pretty scary there for the first couple hours yesterday morning, though. Grey and clammy and with crushing chest pain. Until the EKG and the bloodwork came back indicating his heart seemed normal, and then the pain moved down from his chest to his abdomen, and then the ultrasound showed the gall-stone and inflammation pretty clearly. At that point we relaxed, and realized that it wasn't immediately life-threatening.
Whew!
Now he can't lift anything for week, but beyond that, no restrictions on activities. Though, I don't THINK he should go swimming, personally. And then, hauling on lines on my dad's sailboat is probably too much like lifting, so we probably won't be doing that, either.
So, tomorrow we think we'll do a little mini-golfing in the morning -- the kids have never been, and want to try it -- and then maybe in the afternoon we'll hit a beach, and he'll just sit on the towel.
Back to vacation mode, like it never even happened.
Very weird.
(And 100 years ago this could well have proven fatal, had the inflamed gall-bladder become infected and then burst. And a VERY unpleasant death it would have been, too. Makes you realize how people could have believed in voodoo and the like: One minute perfectly healthy man in prime of life, next minute seized with stabbing pain for no apparent reason, that gets worse and worse until finally he keels over dead. Yeah, you'd pretty much have to believe in hostile witch-craft as an explanation for that, if you didn't have a lay-person's grounding in modern medicine.)
Needless to say, we are exceedingly grateful for this near-painless resolution to the problem. (If you feel so moved, you may say a little prayer of thanksgiving for this -- we have been and will be.)
Cheers, all.
Well, I'm off. Off for a week's stay in the pristine wilderness -- with essentially NO internet access. (Imagine!) I mean if I GET to internet at all, it'll be an unexpected treat.
I mean we're not gone YET -- Precious Princess has to graduate from Safety Town, after all -- but I'm now embarking on a frenzied packing extravaganza, and should NOT be procrastinating on the web, any longer! Should NOT.
***
Eh - applied to 3 more jobs since last update. The 6th one is a bit of a stretch, given the nature of my experience; I'm quite sure I could DO it, but not sure I can convince THEM I could do it. I'm hopeful that I could at least get a callback or an interview at any of the other 5, but not so sure about #6. But what the hey, reach for the stars, right?
Decided that 2 others that at first looked decent, aren't right for me. One of them was just -- not a good fit. Couldn't rustle up much enthusiasm for either the company or the job, and, well, that's not a good attitude to sell yourself with. I'm definitely overqualified for the other one; I could do the job that job would report to, or maybe the one above that. But, the company itself looks like an excellent fit, so I favorited them & will check back frequently to see if anything more senior opens up.
I gave them all my cellphone & will follow up with them over the next couple weeks while on vacation, and hopefully have some interviews lined up for when I get back.
Depending on how all that goes, after that I'll begin Phase 2 if necessary: Personal local networking. *shudder* You know I'm an introvert, and I hate the idea of begging my friends for jobs; but, personal networking is what really works. And if they already know me and like me, then, they can at least tell me if their employer is hiring, and who to send the resume to, and give me the skinny on the corporate culture, and put in a good word for me, and all that. Well -- time enough after vacation to tackle that.
***
Okay, cheers, everybody! Take care of yourselves, & your loved ones, & your various and sundry pets, and the world! Back with ya in a week or two!
Last week at Epcot, a surprise attraction (for me at least) was Minnie's Butterfly House. A temporary butterfly-friendly garden set up inside a kind of tent, with a big box of cocoons waiting for their inmates to mature. Then when they do, they stay inside the tent where you can see them up close and personal.
I would have spent a lot more time in there and gotten more pictures, except that it started raining. I wish I had recorded the names of these butterflies, but there's only so much you can do when you're wrassling a stroller and 3 rambunctious kids in a butterfly house!
Okay any men who like to visit here -- duck and cover! An overpowering cloud of estrogen may waft out of your monitor if you continue viewing!
Grandma and I took Precious Princess to a Princess Lunch at Epcot.
The day before, at the Magic Kingdom, I had bought her a Belle princess dress and tiara. I confess, I steered her toward Belle even though she has never seen the "Beauty and the Beast" movie, entirely because Precious Princess is a brunette and so is Belle. So I thought Belle's dress would be a good color for her.
At the Princess Lunch, as you entered the Royal Banquet Hall there was a Disney princess waiting to greet you in a lushly-decorated little alcove, and a professional photographer waiting to capture the moment. Of course, you can take your own pictures too, and I did. Later, as you eat, four other princesses come to your table and greet your little girl, and you can take pictures with them too, only not in the formal background
It was, like, the most amazingly weird coincidence, BUT, just GUESS which princess was the featured princess who greeted us as we came in???
And I must say, Belle was amazing. Our table was right near the entrance, so we were witnesses to the parade of little girls and their families who trooped past this woman over the next forty-five minutes.
And every single child she greeted as if she had been just waiting and hoping for them to show up. Every single one, including my own precious princess. Whether her feet hurt, or she was hot under that wig, I don't know, but she greeted the last child as kindly and graciously as she had the first. She never for a single moment forgot that for these few minutes, she was working magic for that child. She kept it fresh and new for each child, no matter how many countless hours and days she herself had done it.
Disney magic. They really do it well.
Precious Princess enjoyed the tableside visits from the other princesses as well, especially Cinderella -- that's her favorite movie.
All in all, I have to say, the Princess Lunch was fabulous. In every sense of the word.
I'm really glad we did that while she still believes in magic. Next time we go she might be too old.
Loved the Kennedy Space Center. I always love the space center!
I was born in the post-Apollo-11 era.
My entire life, I have known that not only could humans reach the Moon, but it was an accomplished fact, and it was our country that did it. My entire life, I have loved the thought of space, and humans in it. A human diaspora, making our way through the unknown wilds of space, and carving out our place in it.
I love going to the KSC; it literally gives me chills to see these rockets, this quaint technology that nonetheless hurled frail humans to the Moon and back, and kept them alive to tell the tale.
For the first time, I took the bus tour to the Saturn V facility and and got to experience that. They have the Apollo 11 mission control room all set up with the original banks of computers, and you stand there and they replay the last few moments of that countdown, and you hear this bone-rattling roar, hear the windows rattling behind you, just as they must have done when that mighty rocket actually fired up... and even though I knew it was make-believe, I felt a part of it. Tears stood in my eyes as I felt a part of that historic event.
Then you go out into this enormous room where they have all these displays about the Apollo program, an actual Saturn V rocket suspended overhead, a Lunar Lander, a Lunar Rover, a piece of Moon rock that you can actually touch. All kinds of things.
And I loved it, every minute of it. I'm sincerely glad we have a museum devoted to this event, and that I got to go see it.
But, as the day wore on, something else began to nag at me.
Finally I put my finger on it.
That something is this: Apollo 11 was nearly 40 years ago.
40 years, and in all that time only 12 human beings have set foot on the Moon. The last one was 30 years ago.
We haven't been back since.
Why not?
Why don't we have a Moon base for mining helium-3? It's an element rare on Earth but relatively abundant on the Moon, and would enable safe fusion for cheap power. Cheap, safe, and plentiful power for a power-thirsty world. Cheap, safe, and plentiful power to enable farther journeys into the outer reaches of our Solar system.
We needn't strip-mine the Moon; we only need enough to get us out to Saturn's atmosphere, and there we can scoop up helium-3 without ever reaching the planet's surface. Once we get the infrastructure in place...
But even more than the practical benefits of cheap, safe fusion power, we need to get humans back onto the Moon, and from there to Mars, and from there to who knows where, JUST BECAUSE.
Because we can.
Because we need frontiers, to fire the imagination, to make us proud.
How could we go there, send a dozen men up there, and then turn our backs on it? How?
I realized something during this trip to the KSC.
The Moon is for my children, not for me.
I'll never go to the Moon. I'm too old, too broken-down, and I don't have any technical skills that would be in demand on the Moon. I'll probably never be wealthy enough to afford a Moon vacation even when Virgin Lunar offers flights there to those who can pony up the dough.
I'll never go to the Moon, except in my imagination. Except vicariously, through those who have gone.
Those who will go.
And darn it, I want them to go. I'm not that old, not old enough to be satisfied that for the rest of my natural life, no human beings will set foot on the Moon.
I want them to go.
Oh, also, I DIDN'T gain any weight on this vacation! And that's an accomplishment on the Disney Dining Plan, where every meal includes dessert but not salad.
I chalk up that success to the Food Poisoning Diet: For 24 hours I did not absorb a single nutrient, and was able to eat only sparingly for another two days after that.
Yet still, a good time was had by all, even ME, even THOUGH I was the only one who...
- Got food poisoning,
(Me, an hour and a half after dinner, riding the oh-so-quaint -- and also SLOW -- boat back to my own resort from the next resort upstream: "Right now my dearest ambition in life is to get back to my own hotel room before I hurl!" And I managed it, but only just.)
- Got a shard of glass in my foot (and it's still there! Doctor's appointment this afternoon to get it out...), and
- Lost my sunglasses (Prescription ones too)
Guess it says something for the Disney magic that all that could happen to me and I STILL can't wait to go back!!
(either that or they've replaced me with a pod person -- bwa-ha-ha, you'll never know until it's too late!!!)
Miraculously, all the kids stayed 100% healthy 100% of the time. So I just kept telling myself, "Better me than them... Better me than them..." And believed it, too!
Pictures to follow, later; I haven't downloaded my camera yet.
Highlights of the trip:
- Kennedy Space Center -- I love space!! But you knew that already
- Sea World -- I love cetaceans!! But you knew that already, too
- Princess Lunch at Epcot -- with Precious Princess, of course! Adorable, utterly.
- Epcot generally -- I always love Epcot.
- Disney's Hollywood Studios -- enjoyed it way more than I expected.
- Ditto Downtown Disney -- I expected to detest it, and didn't; would even plan to go back on a future trip.
- Hanging out with friends who moved away from Ann Arbor nearly 5 years ago (Gosh! has it been that long???) and who now live in Orlando -- the husband works for Disney. So we did our bit to help him stay employed and maybe even get a profit-sharing check this year. *rolls eyes*
Little bits of this 'n' that, from vacation.
My fellow vacation-goers thought I was crazy to take these shots -- neither scenic vistas nor classic kid cuteness, but just quirky little images that appealed to me. I just found them wonderfully evocative of two weeks "at the beach" with as many as 7 little kids under the same roof (ranging in age from 2 to 8).
None of these shots was staged, I just happened upon them!
