Tradition

It has become a tradition in our family to take a trip to Door County, WI every Memorial Day. It originally started as an anniversary trip for Frink and I but we have continued it with our children. I love the idea of having our spot, our trip, something special just for our family. I want the kids to say "do you remember the time Bunny got two holes in one at mini-golf?" or "how about the time Lion tried to ride a goat."

In the four years we have been going with Bunny, the tradition has become so ingrained that we do the same things. Every year, the same thing:

Friday - fish fry at Sister Bay Bowl and swimming
Saturday - the Mai Fest parade in Jacksonport and lunch at PC Junction then swimming
Sunday - brunch in Rowley's Bay, biking in Peninsula St. Park and shopping in Fish Creek (with a stop at the candy and fudge stores)
Monday - a trip to The Farm (a petting zoo/ farm museum) and the ride home

Every year, the same thing.

But this year was different, sort of. This year we had the Lion cub with us. It also rained on Saturday morning so the parade was out. Instead we went to a hands on art studio (called, ironically enough Hands On Art Studio). You could make mosaics, paint your own pottery, fuse glass, or play in the metal and jewelry studios. Bunny and I were in heaven. We chose to paint (a plate for me and a unicorn for Bunny). But what is good for an artistically minded 5 year old and her mom, is not necessarily good for a very excitable 2 year old. Let's just say paint got everywhere.

Luckily for Lion, the day was redeemed by a trip to PC Junction for lunch. I think his little brain exploded after we were seated and he saw a train running around the bar. A train that brought your food to you. "Choo choo! Choo choo food! Choo choo food!" over and over again. To say he loved it would be an understatement. He had to be forcibly removed, screaming "No bye bye. Lion choo choo. No choo choo bye bye. Choo choo food!!!!!!!" He still talks about choo choo food today.

The last change to our routine involved us scrapping the bike ride. Neither Frink or I had the desire to pull two kids in a trailer. And I am fairly certain they would have killed eachother. Instead we drove into the park and played at the beach. The day was warm so the kids ran in and out of the water (which was insanely cold). We also built a castle fortress with a working moat. Awesome.

Here is a glimpse at some of the beautiful memories we created.

24

What would you do if you had 24 hours away from your children?

The following is a chronicle of the 100% child-free hours between 1:00 p.m. Saturday May 14, 2011 and 1:00 p.m. Sunday May 15, 2011.

1:00 p.m. - Hooray! They are gone! Much joy and dancing ensue.

1:10 p.m. - Lets pack our bags and get the heck out of Dodge.

1:30 p.m. - The car backs out of the driveway. We are headed to Chicago.

1:30 - 2:15 p.m. - I 94 eastbound.

2:15 p.m. - We are hungry. Hey there's a Wendy's at the next exit. Spicy chicken and french fries.

2:45 p.m. - I 94 eastbound

3:00 p.m. - "Honey do you mind if I sleep for a while?"

3:20 p.m. - I 94 eastbound. Hey it's raining.

3:35 p.m. - I 94 eastbound. Man there's a ton of traffic. I don't think we'll make it in time to visit the Art Institute before it closes at 5.

4:15 p.m. - The Hyatt Regency in downtown Chicago.

4:30 p.m. - It's still raining. "What do you want to do now?" "I guess we could walk on Michigan Ave. In the rain."

4:45 p.m. - Um it's really cold. And wet. Hey a Starbucks! Hot beverages for everyone.

5:00 p.m. - Nordstrom's shoe department. A heavenly choir sings in the back ground. I pick up shoe after shoe and cry a little bit when I see the price. "Honey I don't want to have a ton of money. I just want to be able to buy some pretty shoes regardless of the price." "Someday, honey. Someday."

5:30 p.m. - "What do you want to do now? Do you want to shop some more?" "Um no it's cold and raining and my ratty old shoes are wet. Let's go back to the hotel."

5:45 - 7:00 p.m. - Hanging out in the hotel room and getting ready to go out.

7:00 p.m. - Head to the car. In the rain. And the cold. "Uh oh!" "What uh oh?" "I forgot the parking ticket. It's in the room." "You go get it. I'm going to wait in the car. With the heat."

7:20 p.m. - Frink gets the ticket and we head out of the parking lot.

7:40 p.m. - "I'll drop you off and find a place to park."

7:45 p.m. - Happy Birthday Michelle!

7:55 p.m. - The phone rings. "I'm lost. Where is the bar again?" I hand the phone to Michelle and she gives him directions.

8:00 - 10:00 p.m. - Fun and friends. And birthday cake.

10:00 p.m. - "I'm kind of hungry. Are you hungry? It's been a long time since Wendy's." Get directions to a restaurant nearby. Walk in the rain.

10:45 p.m. - Dinner arrives. Yum.

11:20 p.m. - It's still raining. "You go get the car. I'll wait here where it's warm and dry."

11:40 p.m. - Back at the hotel.

Midnight - Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

8:45 a.m. - Wake up. Wonder when the last time you woke up this late. Decide it was probably 5 years ago.

10:00 a.m. - Breakfast. Decide to skip eating in the hotel in favor of a walk to West Egg cafe. In the rain.

10:45 a.m. - Walk back to the hotel. In the rain. Check out.

11:00 a.m. - Wheels up. Time to drive home. In the rain.

12:10 p.m. - Welcome to Wisconsin. "Hey it stopped raining."

1:00 p.m. - Moooooooooommmmmmmmyyyyyyyyy!

Once Upon A Time

Once Upon A Time, there was a family of three. There was a momma, a daddy and a little girl. The family loved each other very much.

Every year they would take a trip together to celebrate their being a family. The family lived in a state shaped like a hand. They would take their trip to the thumb of the hand and it was good.

Every year they did the same thing. They stayed at the same hotel. They went to the same parade

and they went to the same restaurant where a train brought your food

and it was good.

They also took the same bike ride through the same park


and it was not good. Although the park had many beaches to explore, the little girl would have rather played with her legos in the hotel room or swam in the pool. She voiced her displeasure with the bike ride very vociferously "I'm the little girl", she cried. "You are the parents and you have to do what I say."

The parents tried to tell the little girl that was not the case, but she would not listen. The bike ride was ruined and the parents resolved never to do that again.

However, peace was restored in the land for the hotel had a pool. The little girl loved the pool and all was right with the world.

The little girl also loved animals so the parents took her to a farm. At the farm she was free to interact with all number of creatures. There were goats

and kittens.

And it was good.

The family loved their vacation.

They promised to take another vacation next year with Lion, their newest member. The little girl promised not to feed her brother to the cows and all was good.

Virtual Vacations

I want to go on vacation this year. I could really use a relaxing week lounging by the beach just letting go. Or maybe I could take a trip to a city exploring all that city has to offer.

Or maybe I'll just go to the bookstore and flip through the pages of a travel magazine staring longingly at all the places I could go. If only the economy didn't suck and my cars didn't breakdown all at once. If only.

But then it hit me, I could take a virtual vacation. We all could go together. In fact we could visit eachother through our blogs.

The way it could work is each of us could post a travelogue of sorts about our town or our favorite vacation spot. We could share pictures of all the places we would go if we were there with you. And we would be there, virtually.

So what do you think? Does it sound like fun? Would you want to do it? Am I completely off my rocker? Wait, on second thought, don't answer that last one.

What I Did On My Vacation

Friday

Do we have everything? Well they have stores there, whatever we've forgotten we could buy. But how could we have forgotten anything? The car is packed to the gills and we'll only be gone 4 days and 3 nights.

Lets hit the road.

"Where's Door County, momma?"
Its 4 hours away honey.
4 hours?! I thought it was 2 and 1/2.
No, its 4. Maybe 3 1/2 at the best.
Oh boy.
"Let's watch Diego, momma."
Don't you want to sleep?
"No sleep. Diego!"

3 and 1/2 hours later we arrive after multiple viewings of Diego and "Where's Door County, momma?" "Is this Door County, momma?" Not yet, sweetie.

Swimming!!!!!



Saturday

Breakfast of pancakes, strawberries and whip cream. Or should I say whip cream with strawberries and pancakes. "Momma! Look! There are goats on the roof! Goats on the roof!" Oh, yes Bunny this restaraunt is famous for having goats on its grass roof. "They live on the roof?" During the day, yes. "Goats!"

Parade time. The actual parade is kind of silly, but . . . "Candy! Momma, they are throwing candy! I love candy." Yes, sweetie, they throw candy to all the boys and girls. "I love candy." I know sweetie.



Lunch time. "Momma, look at the train. The train is bringing food to people." Yes, the toy train runs around the bar and delivers food to all the people. "The train is so neat, momma. I love trains." I know honey, that's why we (and hundreds of others) are here.

Swimming!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday

Bike ride in the park. How long is it? 10 miles. 10 miles?! That's kind of long right? Not on a bike, come on it'll be fun. Bunny would you like to ride in the little tent? You can have your toys and a snack back there. "Are we going to the candy store?" After the bike ride sweetie. "I love candy." We are going to stop at the beach. "Okay, I like the beach."




Huff. Puff. This isn't so bad. It is fun.

Candy store!!!!!! Gummi Worms!!!!!!

Swimming!!!!!!!

Oh, yeah Happy Anniversary, honey.

Monday

We're going to a farm. "A farm? With animals?" Yes sweetie, all sorts of animals you can pet. "I like animals." I know honey.

"Momma, goats. Can I feed the goats?" Yes. "Are these the same goats from the roof?" No these are baby goats. "They are so cute. Ooh lambs." The animals are fed corn and drink milk from a bottle. "They are so soft, momma. Oooh baby kittens. Oooh baby pigs."



Want to go see the geese and ducks? "Yes." Geese eat grass from Bunny's hand. Let's go see the cows. Giant cows open their mouths, stick out their tounges and wait for you to throw corn into their mouths. Its kinda gross.

"Look at the baby pony, momma." Yes, sweetie. The farmer said he was only two days old. "He's so cute." I know. Do you want to see the birds? "Yes." "Ooh look a peacock egg."

"Bunnies. I wanna feed the bunnies." The bunnies take dandelions out of Bunny's hand. "They are so cute momma. I want one." Um, no. The cats wouldn't like a bunny. "Ok." "Look at the giant horse. Can I feed him?" Be very, very careful. The last thing we need is for a 2600 pound horse to bite your finger on the last day.

Time to go home. "I don't want to go home. I want to stay here forever. I love Door County." We are coming back next year. "Next week?" No, next year. "Soon?" Yeah, soon.

3 hours and 10 minutes later, Bunny falls asleep. 20 minutes later, we are home. Thank goodness. Now I need a vacation.

Hotel!

This past weekend was the much hyped, much anticipated family trip to the hotel.

I could care less about staying in a hotel. To me a hotel is a means to an end. Staying in a hotel means you get to go somewhere, hopefully somewhere cool. A room is a room. It doesn't need to be fancy. In fact I've stayed in a hotel where you could close the door and flush the toliet from the bed. But it was in London so it didn't matter.

But this trip was all about the hotel because the hotel has a pool and Bunny is all about the pool. We had a trip to a children's museum planned the first day. It was a very cool museum, a lot nicer than the one in our city. But of course it didn't have a pool so we didn't stay too long before we were off to the hotel.

The first thing Bunny did when we got to our room (before we'd even put the bags down) was take off all of her clothes. She proceded to dance around (naked) and sing a little song about the pool. Well all right, I guess its time to go to the pool (with her bathing suit on of course). Since I am not quite ready to be seen in public in a bathing suit, I took a few pictures of the swimming and then hit the workout room (working out sort of made up for the vacation cheeseburgers but not really).




Now Bunny could have stayed in the pool all day. But her fingers were getting pruny and Bubs was getting tired so it was time to go. This is where the problem with the mini vacation came in. There was nothing really for us to do. It was grey, cool and rainy. Not exactly the weather you want to explore the city in. And other than the aforementioned children's museum, there wasn't a whole lot of stuff for kids to do.

If it had been just Bubs and I, we would have found a local establishment and drank up some of the culture. But that is not appropriate with a toddler in tow. So we sat in the hotel room watching TV. Fun! We had a movie set up for Bunny on her portable DVD player and we watched baseball. More fun!

After dinner we all watched Bolt together. I loved it. Bubs loved it. Bunny liked it I think. It was hard to tell. All I could here was "Can we go to the Pooooool?"

Finally it was time for bed. I shared a bed with Bunny. Well sharing isn't really the right word. There was a small spot for me. I could lay on my back or side. But there was no room to manouver because Bunny had decided to lay perpendicular to me. She had plenty of room. Me, not so much. So I spent the night trying not to get pushed off the bed when she decided to throw her hands over her head. FUN!

All and all it was a nice trip. Not fun, not enjoyable but nice. For Bunny.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Well maybe it was actually in the Forum Shops or in the Forum Casino, I don't know. In the city of constant sensory overload, I found peace. Amidst the ringing of the slot machines and the flashing lights my mind was still. I was able to let go of everything and just be present.

As far as vacations go, it was brilliant.

• I hit the spa for a facial and a massage (my birthday present to myself).
• I had a manicure and a pedicure (another treat for myself).
• I lounged by the pool.
• I shopped and shopped and shopped but didn't buy anything even though I had money burning a hole in my pocket.
• I won then lost money gambling.
• I slipped some singles to a fine bunch of ladies at the Lucky Chen drag show.
• I had a meal to die for at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill.
• I walked until I thought my feet were going to fall off.
• I spent time with family.
• I watched two people pledge their lives and love to eachother. I wish them a lifetime filled with joy and happiness.
• I missed my daughter but was glad to be with adults for 4 straight days.
• I enjoyed carrying a small purse with just the essentials not a small piece of luggage filled with diapers, dinosaurs, crayons, coloring books, crushed pretzles and random crasins.

Like all good things the vacation had to end. Unfortunately so did the peace and the stillness. When the plane landed in Milwaukee it was almost as if a switch was flipped in my head and my thoughts were back to running 1 million miles an hour. But I am going to try and hold on to that feeling if I can.

What Happens If You Don't Blog For Almost A Week?

Would anyone miss you? Would anyone care?

Well I don't know the answer to those questions, but I'm back to let you know what I should have told you earlier. I'm in the midst of a semi-hiatus. Things have been a bit crazy in the But Why Mommy world.

Last weekend we had our best friends in the whole wide world visit us from New York. You see Bubs' best friend from college, M, met my best friend from law school, MamaCarter, at our wedding and they got married. They also have a little girl Monkey who is just a few months younger than Bunny. They are now best friends too. They shared toys, books and even colds. Check out a recap of the weekend here.

After we recovered from their visit, we had to start packing because Bubs and I are going to Las Vegas today for a long overdue vacation. Bubs' cousin decided to get married in Vegas over my birthday weekend so we are going to celebrate the wedding and my 39th birthday. Although it will be a lot of fun, I'm sad about leaving Bunny for that long. I know she'll have fun with my parents.

So I'll be incommunicado for most of the weekend. I may Tweet occasionally. And I will also post my BFL picks on Friday live from the Caesars Palace Sports Book, just like a real live gambler.

Speaking of the BFL, for all my smack talking I pretty much laid an egg. I probably finished dead freaking last with a mediocre 7-8. Bubs kicked my arse with an impressive 11-4 record. But there is always this week.

I need a vacation from my vacation

We just returned from our long weekend in Door County, WI. If you have not been to Door County, I highly recommend going, its beautiful (for those not familiar, Door County is the thumb of Wisconsin). However, if you are driving, you may not want to bring a two year old. Bunny asked for an hour "where's Door County?" (I thought they didn't do "are we there yet?" until much older)

When you go on vacation with a two year old, its not really a vacation. Its more like everyday life only in a different location. Not very relaxing at all.

We did the typical vacation stuff and had fun. But I think there is one thing that will be etched in Bunny's mind forever. Our hotel had a pool which meant she could go swimming everyday. Swimming was not limited to once a week lessons. She was in heaven. She has gotten so comfortable with the water that she has no fear. This is a good thing to be encouraged, you don't want a child to be afraid of the water. But it is also a bad thing because it means you have to watch them like a hawk. She would think nothing of jumping into the pool by herself and going under water, except she can't really swim. So that is bad.

Mommy was not allowed to go to the pool. Because Bubs takes her to swim class, I was told "Mommy no swim" so Mommy no swim. The pool was filled with lots of other children and Bunny made instant friends with a few of the older girls (ages 5 to 7). She is fascinated by older kids and wants to do what they do.

The first night she came back to the room in tears. I looked to Bubs for an explanation, apparently the crying began when her little friend left the pool. Bunny looked at me, sobbing, and said "I miss my best friend." I tell you my heart broke for her because she was truly sad. Of course some of her saddness was explained in the next breath when she said "somebody's tired." So true.

Sleeping was another problem we had. We had rented a two bedroom condo and were going to put Bunny's pack and play in the spare room. She hasn't really slept in one but we weren't worried. But you see Bunny can climb out of the pack and play and did so repeatedly. So each night we had to let her lay on the big bed until she fell asleep at which point we could transfer her to the pack and play. Of course she didn't want to stay in the big bed so one of us had to lay with her until she fell asleep. Fun.

So all in all Bunny had fun on vacation. Bubs and I are planning our anniversary vacation without her so we can have fun.