The trip to see Grandma in Cali was great. All of the kids, including L were great on the plane. We got lots of comments from fellow passengers on our immensely adorable and well-mannered children. Each row of passengers probably sighed with relief when we passed their row, three kids in tow, one with a boogery nose, toting as many carry ons as the airline would allow filled with bags of chicken, pre-made peanut butter sandwiches, tubs of yogurt, diapers, milk... You know, all of the traveling essentials. L either slept or ran up and down the aisles of the plane. The big kids did homework and other quiet activities with no complaint. The first flight, the pilots even invited the kids to come into the cockpit and move some important looking lever. I kept waiting for the Leslie Nielsen character look-alike from Airplane to say, "Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?"

Palm Desert was temperate and perfect weather in my opinion. We visited the Living Desert (a great zoo/nature perserve of desert animals and plants), swam every day in Grandma's pool and even spent a day at the beach. E shouted "this is FANTASTIC!" after playing in the waves. Besides the baby experiencing jet lag and waking at 4 AM on a day when everyone else slept in until 11, it was an ideal vacation. E burst into tears in the airport shuttle on the way back home, stating "I'm gonna' miss the palm trees!"

Last weekend J and I took the big kids to a huge water park/resort in Ohio called Kalahari. L spent the night with Mim and Grandpa. She started out under-napped and congested and apparently stayed pretty high maintenance in our absence. Sleep is still sucky even on our best nights. I gave the big kids a big speech prior to falling asleep in the hotel that night that one of the things that I most was looking forward to about our vacation was one night of uninterrupted sleep - the first in over a year. They were given express instructions only to wake me only in case of emergency. After a night of fitful sleep, I was awakened at 8 AM by a repeated and incrementally louder "Mom!" Oh well, it was not to be. I wonder how long I would even be able to sleep anymore if given the opportunity. I never thought it would come to this. My suddenly no longer having the ability to sleep at will is akin to J becoming a vegetarian.

Anyway, the water park was super fun, almost too fun. E was bouncing off of the walls. The package we got included not only entrance to the water park with all kinds of great slides and water fun including a surfing/bodyboarding ride, but 40 arcade tokens, four games of putt putt golf, pizza, pop and an in-room movie. The kids must have thought that our bodies had been taken over by much less frugal and nutritionally controlling alien beings. The kids stayed up until midnight watching the same movie repeatedly and swigging 24 ounce bottles of pop. Highlights included watching both kids "surfing" and observing the pure joy and excitement in the kids eyes the whole weekend. D won 100 tickets to be traded in for cheap crap at the Deal or No Deal video game. We saw glimpses of gambling addiction as she fearlessly wagered her tickets in pursuit of the big win. E preferred multiple rounds of "Whack a Mole" where he exuberantly danced in place and shouted "pow, pow!" each time he whacked the moles. In the end, both kids were absolutely ecstatic about the prizes earned from the tickets that spit out of the machines. Their jaded parents had to remind themselves not to start a discussion with them about how they had just used 40 dollars in tokens for prizes with the cumulative cash value of about fifty cents. They were in heaven with their lip gloss and rubber bracelets and ninja figurines.

Will post next time a photo of our whole family dressed for Halloween as characters from the Captain Underpants series of children's books. E is Captain Underpants, D is the Turbo toilet 2000, I am Wicked Wedgie Woman, J is Professor Pippy P. Poopypants and L is Diaper Dog. In the spirit of my family tradition of Halloween costume competitiveness, both big kids won prizes in a costume contest this evening. E won "Funniest Costume" and D won "Most Original" Her toilet especially was a big hit during the downtown trick or treating. We estimated that she received at least twice as much candy as every other kid for the same amount of stops. People seemed to really enjoy throwing the candy right into the toilet bowl. She can't sit down in it. It's made out of a styrofoam cooler and a lampshade. She can't really relax her arms. Ahhh, it brings back such fond memories of my own childhood suffering for the sake of the glory of the great costume