Is This Normal?
The chaos that is the KerbersArchive for March, 2009
Back to the grind
Our first day back at work and daycare, and we survived it! Truthfully, I was kind of ready to go back. Vacation was great, but we all do so much better with a routine and a schedule. The kids were very excited to go play with their friends at Danielle’s. I said to Emma, “we get to go to Danielle’s today” when she woke up, and she said, “Ali…AJ…’Nell” (which is ‘Danielle’ in Emma speak) and had a big smile on her face. Ben even cracked a smile through his crabbiness at being woken up when I told him it was a ‘Danielle Day’. He was especially excited to give Ali her shell and Danielle her shark’s tooth that we found on the beach. It was a tiny little gesture for each, but it was huge to him.
We all struggled a little bit getting going this morning, but it was a good day. Hopefully the memories of our trip will last until the warm weather hits.
Home again, home again, jiggity jig
Well, we made it home in one piece and again the trip was remarkably smooth. Although we drove through rain a lot of the way, it wasn’t too bad, and it was way better than driving through snow like I’ve done in previous years! The kids were again so cooperative and well-behaved on the trip it was unbelievable. I’m not sure how we got so fortunate, but we were sure thankful for it.
We took off about 6:30 eastern time. Just like the trip down, we had already stopped for a potty break (and ice) within the first hour. And again, just like the trip down, I thought, “Oh man…this is a bad sign.” But luckily I was wrong again. After watching a movie we were about halfway into the second one when both kids fell asleep. I think they were both so exhausted from the busy week that they barely woke up even when we stopped for gas! It was awesome. Dave and I had to switch driving a little more often than we did on the first trip, but overall it went well. I would have to say the only glitch was while we were going through Nashville. It was about 2:00 in the morning, and I was driving. It was absolutely pouring down rain and with all of the lights and traffic it was really difficult to see the lanes of the highway. Add to that the semis flying past us and the occasional hydroplane, and it was a bit hairy. I have to admit that I was more than happy and relieved to be leaving the city. My knuckles were white and my heart was pounding!
Other than that, though, the trip was pretty uneventful. We got home about 2:00 our time. The one thing we didn’t think of…even though we were exhausted and completely worn out, we still had to be in charge of the kids, who were absolutely hyper from being kept in the car for so long. How did we miss that tiny little detail? Let’s just say that it was a long afternoon and evening, but now, finally, all is quiet and Dave and I are looking forward to falling into our own bed.
Even after a wonderful trip, it’s always good to be home.
The last day…sniff
Our last day in Florida was bittersweet. On one hand, Brad, Jamie and Lauren had come down to Venice and we got to spend some more fun time with them. On the other, we’re leaving at 6:00 p.m. 
The day started as usual with a trip down to Aunt Lois’s house for morning coffee. Of course the kids don’t drink coffee, but they still love to go to Aunt Lois’s. I’m not sure why…it could be the unlimited supply of attention, TV, and peanut M&Ms. Or it could be the fact that Lois is truly one of the most genuinely kind-hearted and loving people on the face of the planet. Whatever the reason, it’s a popular place.
I think the highlight of the morning, though, was when Jamie caught a lizard for Ben. 
He had been chasing them most of the week, and Grandpa kept telling him, “Just wait until Jamie gets here…she’s really good at catching them!” And, true to her reputation, she got one for him! He loved it, and Aunt Lois had a little clear container for him to keep his temporary pet.
Once everyone came back to G & G’s condo, we all headed to the pool.
Dave and I didn’t want to go to the beach today, even though we really wanted to, because there is always such a mess from the beach, and the thought of cleaning that up while trying to get ready to take off wasn’t very appealing. The pool was fun, though. Again, it’s just so much better when there’s more family there.
After lunch Emma and Dave both stayed at the condo to take a nap whi
le the rest of us headed back to the Waterford (Chuck & Rita’s subdivision) pool. Ben kept up with the bigger kids pretty well, and even Emma joined us for one last swim after her nap.
Sadly, the story ends here. After swimming at Waterford, we all came back to Grandma & Grandpa’s, got cleaned up, packed up, loaded the van, and we’re headed north. Wish us luck on a successful trip home!
The best day
Today was by far the best day of Spring Break. It started with a visit to my Aunt Rita and Uncle Chuck’s house to go swimming with my cousin Paula and her kids. I really haven’t mentioned swimming at Grandma & Grandpa’s pool much so far, but we were there almost every day. I’ll post some pictures soon. When we got to Chuck and Rita’s, the kids were out fishing, so Grandpa and Ben joined them. 
Ben didn’t have much luck in the way of catching a fish, but he did have a lot of fun. It’s pretty convenient that they live on a pond that’s a perfect fishing hole!
After fishing for a bit, we all headed to their subdivision pool. We had a bit of a meltdown from Ben, as lunch time was approaching much quicker than we realized. So after a very brief swim, we headed back to Grandma & Grandpa’s house for lunch and their nap. This was a schedule that we had perfected by this point of the trip. We usually swam in the morning, took a nice nap, and then went to the beach in the afternoon. Today was no different, except for the fact that Rita, Paula, Darby(9), Nolan(7), and Campbell(4) came to the beach as well. Words cannot hardly describe what fun we had at the beach. First of all, 5 kids playing together is much more fun than just two. 
They were digging a big hole and trying to fill it with water. Back and forth to the Gulf they all went, filling bucket after bucket and pouring them in trying to build up the water. 
Of course they never made much progress, but they sure had a blast. They dug that hole big enough that almost all of them could get in it at some point or another.
After being at the beach for a couple of hours and having so much fun playing, all of our appetites had built up. We hauled all of our snacks to a picnic table and the grandmas and Grandpa went to the snack shop to get some burgers and dogs. It was an awesome picnic, even if it was pretty impromptu. 
It’s really great at the beach in the later afternoon. The sun is getting lower and the light is softer, it’s cooler and the breeze generally calms down, you don’t have to be quite so worried about the danger of the sun, and it’s just generally a pleasant time. All of us grown-ups were shocked at how much energy the kids still had. After they ate they were all running around the table playing tag. I wish I had half of their energy!
Once we were all finished, we went over to the playground. Again, the kids amazed us all. We were beat, but they were still running around playing and swinging. Neither of our kids were ready to go when we tried rounding them up. They were so tired that both of them melted a little bit. Finally, we got them wrangled into the van and headed back to Grandma & Grandpa’s. When we got back, we stripped them both down outside, redneck style, because they were both covered in sand from head to toe. Seriously, I don’t even know how Emma could have gotten sand in some of the places she had it! 
That’s by far the worst part about going to the beach, but it is a very small price to pay for so much fun.
Seriously, this day was so awesome. I hope I never forget how much fun we all had together.
The beach!
Finally, some real Florida weather hit! This morning we were able to swim at the pool for awhile. It was still a bit chilly, being in the low seventies, but it was pretty nice, and Ben certainly didn’t mind being a tad bit cold. After some lunch and a nap for both kids, all of us Kerbers and Grandma headed to the beach. Ben was so excited that he could hardly stand it. Even though he didn’t really know what the beach was, it was a very exciting concept!
It was much warmer in the afternoon, so the weather at the beach was absolutely perfect. Both of the kids loved it there. Emma instantly started digging in the sand and shells, and she was covered in sand in no time. Ben loved the water, and even thought the Gulf is only about 60˚, he walked right in and didn’t want to get out. In fact, Dave had to get in as well…just to make sure that Ben wouldn’t go out too far. It was like the waves and the shifti
ng sand wasn’t even affecting him at all. He just loved it. We all had a really great time, but after about an hour, we were ready to head home. It’s funny how I could spend hours at the beach with adults, yet even I was ready to go after about an hour there with the kids. It’s just a very different experience chasing and playing with kids there. I have to admit that it’s a bit stressful constantly watching the kids to make sure that they didn’t wander away or even worse wander into the water. It was nice having Grandma to help.
On the way home from the beach, we stopped at Nokomis Groves for ice cream. This has been a tradition in Venice for years. I truly wish I could describe this ice cream to you…there is nothing else like it on Earth, I swear. I guess the best way to describe it is like soft serve sherbet ice cream. They have vanilla, chocolate, orange, pineapple, and lime. You can get any flavor stacked on top of each other, but they also have vanilla/chocolate, orange/pineapple, and lime/chocolate twist. Ben and Emma both loved it. Emma kept saying, “mo, peese” as Grandma gave her bites from the bowl. Then, Ben got “finished” with his cone, so Emma got to have the rest. There was a little left on top, but there was the whole cone part, too. She absolutely dove in, and devoured that thing! It was just too cute.
After getting home and cleaned up, Dave and I again went out to dinner. We went to Sharkey’s, which is right on the beach and has this long pier out over the water. Of course it was an hour and a half wait, but we had drinks, watched the sunset, and thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company all before we sat down to dinner. 
Overall, it was a pretty nice evening after a very fun day.
Rain, rain, go away
This is not the weather we ordered! It was in the low 60s and rainy today. While the kids hung out with Grandma and Grandpa at home, Dave and I got out and ran a few errands. We had to find a beach hat for Ben. We know that the weather will straighten up eventually, and when we’re at the beach we want a floppy hat for him to wear. So we headed to downtown Venice (the island) to comb the souvenir shops. It’s so fun to browse through all the touristy crap. We had a lot of fun, actually. We got some lunch on the island and headed back to G & G’s house.After dinner, we headed up to Sarasota to see my cousin Connie’s new house. Well, it’s not really that new, but none of us had ever seen it. It was great to see her family and although Grandpa and Dave had to take the kids home relatively early, Grandma and I stayed and had a nice visit with Connie. One of the best things about coming down here is catching up with so much family.
Softball fun
Today we piled back in the car and drove another hour and a half to Bartow, FL. I know it may seem crazy to do that, but we had the chance to see the Florida Athertons because Lauren had a softball tournament there. Although it was a long drive, it was great to see them and to watch Lauren play softball.
Unfortunately, we missed about half of the first game, which they won, and had to suffer through a tough loss for the second game. The kids were troopers again, and really held it together pretty well…even in the hot sun with nothing much to do between games. Emma finally fell asleep on Grandma’s lap, and that made life a little easier for her. Being in Florida is exhausting!After Lauren’s second game, we headed back to Venice. The kids stayed with Grandma & Grandpa while Dave and I got out for our first chance to go get some seafood. We went to an oyster bar, had some yummy dinner, and called it a night. Thankfully the kids have been so tired both nights since we got here, that neither one of them has had any trouble sleeping.
We made it!
We’re in Venice, and believe it or not the trip went flawlessly! I never imagined it would go as well as it did. We left Normal at 6:03 pm; almost exactly on schedule. After filling up with gas, we popped in a movie, and we were off.
In Champaign we hit I-57 and headed south. Of course we had not even gotten to Tuscola when we heard a frantic “I have to go potty!” from the backseat. “Oh, boy”, I thought, “Here we go”. Ben was a bit panicky because he didn’t think he could hold it, so we just told him to go in his pants. This was the exact reason we put him in a Pull-Up. So we stopped in Tuscola, got him changed, and piled back in. This time I got in the back seat to lay down and sleep. The kids’ movie lasted about a half hour more, and then we turned on some music to try to help them get some sleep. It worked for all of us. The next thing I knew, it was after ten o’clock. Dave was still feeling good, so I went back to sleep and he continued on.
At about midnight, we stopped someplace in Kentucky. We needed gas and Dave was tired of driving, so it was my turn. The kids were both still sleeping, but both of them work up when we stopped. We took Ben in to go potty, changed Emma, and we were back on the road. I have to say that I do enjoy driving at night. The traffic is lighter, and it’s just kind of fun. I drove through all the big cities…Nashville, Chattanooga, and Atlanta before we switched back at 5:20 am. Man, was I tired by then. But Dave had gotten a lot of sleep, so he was good to go. Both kids woke up again, but this time, since they had been sleeping most of the night, they stayed awake. That didn’t really help me get sleep, but it was so bad. I got a little bit of rest at least. Again, we put in a movie for them and they were perfectly content to cruise along.
We were hoping that we could make it to the Florida Welcome Center,
just over the Florida/Georgia border, before we stopped again. The kids were so great…even Emma, who was getting a little restless, could be pacified with a song or a simple game of peek-a-boo. We stopped at the rest area, ran around a little bit, a
te some cereal for breakfast, and then piled back into the van. We were so pleasantly surprised that neither Ben or Emma ever complained once. They just sat patiently while getting buckled in, and we were so grateful for that.
We had just one more gas stop in Northern Florida. We broke out some snacks again instead of stopping for lunch. And again, neither of the kids complained at all. Dave and I switched again, and one and a half movies later we were pulling into my parents’ place in Venice. Our official arrival time was 4:30 pm eastern time. It was 75˚ and sunny.
As I type, it’s 7:00 and I’m about ready to drop. The kids and Dave spent a little time in the pool already, but I took a shower and was just ready to veg out a little bit. I’m now headed to bed so I can try to catch up on sleep and be prepared for an awesome week a head.
We’re off!
Well, as I type right now, we’re packing up the van to take off on the big Spring Break adventure. I won’t be blogging this week since Grandma & Grandpa don’t have an Internet connection, but I plan on writing while I’m there, so I can post my blog entries and retro-date them for the actual days that I wrote them.
Wish us luck on our travels, and I can’t wait to update you all in a week.
Happy Spring Break, y’all!
Just bringing clothes
Grandma Judy is all over preparations for us to come to her house. She’s borrowed a pack ‘n play, a high chair, a booster seat, and a stroller from people in her complex! It’s awesome that we don’t have to worry about packing up and hauling any of those things. In her words, all we need is to “just bring some clothes and you’re all set!”
It sounds good in theory, but the reality is I’ve been working almost all week on getting us organized enough to leave tomorrow. Tuesday night I organized all the toys and what I affectionately refer to as crap that we’re taking for on the road entertainment. Wednesday night it was shopping for and preparing snacks. You may not think that would take up a whole evening, but trust me…we’re taking a LOT of snacks. Then tonight was finishing up laundry and packing our clothes.
As I look at everything sitting in our kitchen and dining area waiting to be loaded into the van, I can’t believe how much we’re taking. Thank goodness Grandma is hooking us up with all the big stuff…otherwise I’m not sure there would be room for both kids back there!!
