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What a crazy weekend, full of ups and downs!

Friday:  Ohhhhh the parties and parades and costume fashion shows!  Aryanna has a morning session pre-school class she goes to and then a Pre-kindergarten session she goes to the other half of the day.  So, inevitably I wind up having to do things for 2 different classes, in addition to whatever my son needs for his 1st grade class.  My son Jordyn had a “Book Fair Parade”, but somehow I missed the note that got sent home and had NO idea.  How embarrassing.  I know I’m forgetful, but for events like that I put the papers up on the fridge so I won’t forget the event.  I must have forgot to put the paper up, so this was doomed from get go!!   Anyway, I had to go to Aryanna’s Halloween party at school at 11 and then try to make it back home to make lunch because my husband and I promised to have lunch at school with my son.

The party was great!  I love Halloween…the kids are always so cute.  Her class sang the parents a song and then they had a fashion show to show off their costumes.  Then they let the gorging begin!  Cupcakes, candies, cookies, cakes, pies…oh and some fruit somewhere in there.  When we picked up Aryanna from school in the afternoon she complained and complained about how she felt sick.  I explained to her that she ate wayyy to much sugar and that she can’t eat like that all at once.  (The same thing happened last year at her pre-school party) How quickly they forget!

We were a little late but my husband and I made it for lunch with our son.  He was so happy to see us.  There’s nothing like that moment when they just are soooo evidently happy to see you.  I love that.  It let’s me know that surviving all those moments of them throwing fits and misbehaving are for something.  All that running around that day didn’t annoy me which surprised me.  I was happy to do it and excited.  I felt lucky and privilaged to be a SAHM who could make it to all these events and spend these special moments with them.

So alllll that and then we still had to do our trick or treating that night.  I think it was the best of all the years so far.  Jordyn was Iron Man and Aryanna was a black cat.  We went over to our friend’s house that lives here in the same neighborhood and all went trick or treating as a group.  It was great…the kids had company and so did the adults.

When the night was over I loaded the kids in the car because we were going to my mom’s house in Orlando to visit with her for the weekend and go to a park called Discovery Cove.  Thank God my brother works for Disney AND Sea World because I get in free to all their parks!  :)  I’d be broke if I had to pay for all those tickets because they are NOT cheap! This is where the weekend took a turn for the worse. 

My mom found out that a very close friend of hers passed away last Wednesday, so when we arrived she was visibly upset. I put the kids to sleep pretty quickly since it was so late and then I went to hang out with her in the kitchen.  We chatted and I told her about my extremely busy day and all the running around.  She looked at me and said, in only that voice mothers have and pointed that finger only mothers can point, “If you whine and DARE say how annoyed you were by the running around I will slap you!”  I believed her…hell I would have slapped myself.   I said “No….actually quite the opposite.  I felt like I was doing “mom” work and it felt great to be wanted and I had a lot of fun.”  And I meant it.  Shortly after that we got stuff ready for our outing on Saturday and finally went to sleep.

While I was talking to my mom my mind quickly reminded me that my mother is probably THE strongest person I’ve met. She has made SO many sacrifices for my little brother and I. I can only hope to be half the mother she was and is.

Saturday:  We went to Discovery Cove.  That was great!!  Food is included so we ate all day in between all the swimming, petting and snorkling.  The staff was super friendly…I mean EVERYONE.  There is a dolphin encounter where you can swim and pet the dolphins and have a 1 on 1 experience with them.  You have to pay extra for that.  We didn’t get that option, but the kids were walking in the shallow end of the beach near one of the trainers with a dolphin and the trainer came up to the kids, who were with my mom, and she asked my mom if she had paid for the dolphin encounter.  My mom was honest and said no.  I thought the trainer was going to kick them out, but instead she told them to come closer and saw me with the camera and told me to come take some pictures of them.  She let them pet the dolphin and had the dolphin pose with them for the camera.  They were so thrilled.

The low-light of the day was when we went to the Aviary.  The Aviary itself is awesome.  You are given an unlimited amount of little bowls of food for the birds and they just fly over to you like that scene in Mary Poppins where the woman is in front of the bank and is surrounded by birds.  They have 3 different sections you can go into and there are birds of all sizes.  In one of the sections there are really small birds…a hit with kids.  We went into one of the other sections where the birds are almost as tall as the kids and one of them went to grab the leaflet they give you with pictures of all the birds so you can identify them.  Instead of getting the leaflet, the bird got Aryanna’s finger and snipped so hard that it drew blood…..let the drama begin!! 

She FREAKS out that the bird bit her and she has to go to first aid.  So we go to first aid and they were awesome with her.  Since the bird drew blood we had to fill out an incident report which satisfied Aryanna to no end….as if we were tattling on the mean birdie.  Even though we explained a million times it wasn’t trying to bite her, she didn’t care…all she knows is that she “almost lost a finger”.<—- Her words. 

This would not have been so bad if it happened later in the day but it was the first stop we made so it set the tone for all the other animals.  After that she thought all the animals at this place were out to get her.  I was quite shocked she didn’t think the dolphin was gonna try to get her.  She accused the sting rays of swimming by her to touch her.  She wouldn’t go in the snorkling area.  When we went back to the Aviary she wouldn’t go anywhere, but to the small birdies area where it was “safe”.  She’s normally the adventurous one so it was weird to see her like that.  My son was the opposite.  He went into the snorkeling area with me and looked at all the fish and huge sting rays.  He really surprised me.  I was very proud of him for trying.

Incidently this place is not cheap to get in.  It’s almost $200.00 per person.  That can add up very quickly.  I’m not sure I would go if I didn’t have to pay for it.  If I did, it would be to go once, just to say I did it.  Remember, if you want to swim with the dolphins, as I mentioned earlier, you woudl have to pay additional for that.  You are truly paying for the ambiance and the experience of having some close interactions with these creatures in a safe and controlled environment…with the exception of some rogue birds. :)  I’m not so sure I would go snorkling in the real ocean and this let me experience that without all the fears.  Another good thing about this place is that they only let a certain amount of people in per day.  In fact you have to call ahead to reserve your spot.  There were NO lines for anything…NOTHING.  We were walking in and out of everything.  The food was awesome.  It wasn’t just grilled burgers….I’m talking about grilled salmon with roasted potatoes and garlic steamed vegetables.  Tons of choices of great food.  Breakfast, lunch and dinner if you want to eat at 3 for an early dinner.  All in all it was really great.  I just think the entrance fee is a little pricey.

Sunday:  We took it easy.  We hung out at Mima’s (what the kids call their grandmother) for the first half of the day.  Then we drove back home and went out for some dinner with my husband.  That’s it….just good old fashioned family time.  :)  I told you it was an interesting weekend!