Whew, what a day
Well, the kids have not seen their favorite playmates for over a month. First they were on vacation for 2 weeks and then before they even returned the Nanny 911 people took over the house and visitors were banned for 2 weeks and then once the Nanny people left, the house had to be re-painted (since the Nanny people had painted it inside), carpets cleaned and a professional cleaning crew come. TV people sure know how to leave a mess. So today was the day. We did double school work yesterday and took the day off. Public school started in our county today, so it was really nice - everywhere we went was basically kid-free, so no crowds.
We started our day by getting picking up Bill's birthday present I had ordered, and getting our pesky errands out of the way and then met for an early lunch at a pizza buffet, followed by the movie Madagascar. The movie was funny and the kids loved it. Then we took off for the indoor swimming pool which has a gigantic 2 ft area so that all the little kids can play and it has an even bigger humongous 3.5 foot area for the bigger kids. Everybody had a blast. I took Jacob and Carly over to the diving area and let them jump, twirl, bounce and "dive" off the boards. We swam for about 3 hours. The kids paid for the movie, swimming and their lunch out of their money they earn for doing chores, so it was a really cheap day for me. Except for Wes, who had spent all his money last week buying a new CD player for his bedroom, but since the boys all get to use that - I paid his way. What's a mom to do anyway?
One thing that was funny was while we were swimming, this lady asked Vicki how many of the kids were hers. Vicki told her she had 6 boys. The lady shuddered visibly and said now whenever she hears of someone having six boys she thinks of that poor family who was just filmed in Newburgh for the Nanny 911 show. I about fell off the side of the pool when she told me. After the crew left, the local FOX station came out to their house and did a spot in front of their house for the news - not interviewing them or anything, just telling about how they were going to be on the show. So I can just imagine what people's reaction will be after the show actually airs.
After swimming, Vicki had to head home to begin her Nanny initiated routines and we - the Nanny free kids - continued our day. We went out to eat at Sirloin Stockade and the kids behaved wonderfully. I had several people stop by and comment on how mannerly they were. I love it when that happens. They all ate till even the last half of their parfaits couldn't tempt them. Of course this was after fried chicken, roast beef, fish, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls, macaroni and cheese, more chicken, more fish, more mashed potatoes and then a sampler plate of desserts of coconut pie, bread pudding, chocolate pie, peanut butter pie (the favorite) and their ice cream which they had covered in M & Ms. I would say we got our money's worth at dinner.
So we head off to check out a new store in town, only to find out it closes at 6. It is an anchor store in the mall and it closes at 6? Too weird. So I ask if they want to go to Target and nobody wants to go. So I tell them then we will head home because it is bedtime anyway and suddenly EVERYBODY wanted to go to Target. It was a a quick trip to Target because the kids were wilting visibly. After brushing their teeth I think they were all in bed, asleep within 10 minutes of hitting the door.
Back to school tomorrow.
