Grandparent Hangover

Andy and I just got back from 5 days of house hunting in Virginia in preparation for our move this summer to the Quantico Marine Corps Base.  Since last week was the West Point spring break Andy took leave and we checked out the area.  The housing on base (it is a Marine base so I will have to get used to saying base, not post) is not in our favor.  There are only 24 houses that can accommodate our family size and they are all full with no vacancies planned any time soon.  The housing representative described the waiting list as “indefinite”.  On to plan B… We looked online at a few houses but had no idea what the neighborhood, schools, area, etc. were like.  If, in the end, we need to sign a lease for a house sight-unseen we would at least know what the neighborhood was like and where it was located.  We may have found something that will suit our needs for the next year, but it is not totally perfect.  That is the nice thing about frequent Army moves… everything is temporary so you learn to live with imperfection.  If we end up hating the house or area, we will only be there for the rest of the year (staying positive is my strong suit). 

Since we had all 3 kids in tow we asked Andy’s parents to come to VA with us.  They were planning on coming to NY in April anyway and this was a much shorter distance for them to drive and we needed someone to entertain the kids while we checked out the area.  It seemed like a win-win.  We left the kids with the grandparents for two entire days while we fought Virginia traffic and looked at what felt like 100 houses (it was actually only 8), and then co-existed with the kids and grandparents for another 2 days.  This led to a HUGE grandparent hangover for our kids.  The phenomenon known to us as the ‘grandparent hangover’ is very similar to a real hangover.  You are really tired, dehydrated, have a stomach ache, just need a nap, have put junk into your body that now needs to come out one end or the other and have not bathed.  Oh yeah, and you have an entitled feeling that makes you think that you can do whatever you want.  Our kids swam in the hotel pool almost all day for two days with only a ‘rinse’ afterwards.  They ate junk food, did not nap, stayed up late, and woke up early.  While I understand that this is what grandparents do… I am left to deal with the after effects… the hangover.  Addison’s hair was so tangled that even after a leave in conditioner treatment I could barely comb through it.  Both big kids had diarrhea for two days and Allie did not sleep well for almost 4 days until she could get back on her schedule.  Drew actually started as sentence with, “But Grandma says that we can do whatever we want…”  And even though they spent half the week with us I know that they are going to come to West Point in April anyway so we get to suffer the hangover again.

We were also introduced to a new word via text from some very close friends of ours.  The word is “hangry” and I believe that the definition is: a sudden anger and general bad attitude brought on by lack of food.  Andy, of course, expanded the theme to cover being tired or pregnant as well but changed the root word for effect.  The first time he called me “titchy” you could label me as “hangry” but you have to replace hunger with husband.

In addition to swimming in the hotel pool, jumping on the beds, doing crafts we brought with us and a ton of time at the McDonalds playland, we did go to the natural history museum in DC and to the national aquarium in Baltimore.  The kids had a great time and hopefully we got a house so we don’t have to make another trip down.  Keep your fingers crossed that the home owners “approve us” to rent their house.  I don’t know why they wouldn’t… I have an almost perfect family.  I am sure my kids and dog would not ruin a thing. 

Not so perfect morning

This morning was a hectic one.  Really, it was not all that different than any other morning but stuff just kept going wrong.  As I mentioned earlier, we are not morning people.  We woke up a little late today and this started a chain reaction.  Waking up late leads to lots of rushing around, disoriented kids, yelling parents, crying kids and even more lateness… well in our house anyway.  The kids got up, ate and dressed themselves okay but after this it went downhill quick.  I went one way in the kitchen, and Drew went another and he ran right into my butt with his face.  Of course he was hurt to the point of crying by this and I had to take time to console him.  We laughed about him hitting me in the butt and he got over it.  Still late though.  Addison went into a crying fit over being told to tie her shoes.  More consoling, more lateness.  I tried to make a cup of coffee for the car ride to school and I never put a cup under the Keurig.  I made an entire cup of coffee into the drip tray!  We finally got loaded into the car and off to school.  I had to run to the store to buy some birthday cards so after I dropped off Addison the little kids and I went to the Hallmark store.  Of course it did not open until 10 and it was only 9.  K mart was right next door so we went in there.  Allie was still in pajamas but I figured that kind of thing happens in K mart all the time.  We picked out 4 cards, one for my mother in law (whose birthday was 5 days ago) one for my step mother (whose birthday is next week but I actually remembered in the card aisle) and 2 back up cards so I won’t forget next time.  I got to the check out and realized I had no wallet.  I had to load up the kids and leave empty handed.  The card is already late… what is another day?  Let’s hope the rest of the day goes a little better than this morning. 

the kid's pad

Sorry for the hiatus in the blogging.  I have been working on the West Point Women’s Club annual fundraiser, Viva Las Vegas!  Viva is a casino night with table games, bingo, a poker tournament, silent and live auctions as well as entertainment.  I was doing all the publicity for the event.  Between the meetings, emails, phone calls, documents and more meetings, it has taken up almost all of my “free” time over the last month.  After the event last Friday, I took this last week just to veg out after the event.  The West Point Women’s Club raises money, mainly through Viva Las Vegas, for our grant and scholarship programs.  Last year we gave away over $47,000! 

Andy and I had a great time at the event.  He played in the poker tournament and came in 2^nd place.  This was a $300 prize!  I spent almost all of this money on groceries last week alone.  We did buy him a pair of ice skates so he could skate with the kids during open skate at the ice rink.  The kids are thrilled that he is going to start skating with them and I am happy I did not have to spend money on groceries. 

I played craps almost the entire night.  Going into the event I had a game plan that included socializing, a round of bingo, some card games and the silent auction.  Well, I went to the craps table and never left.  Literally I think I went to the bathroom 1 time and the rest of the time was spent at the table.  It ended up paying off in the end because I won a brand new Kindle Fire.  This was one of the most coveted prizes of the night.  I was really excited to win.  When they called my number I was in disbelief for a moment but then jumped around a little bit before claiming my prize. 

The next morning Andy and I were discussing what to do with the Kindle Fire.  I already have a regular Kindle and an iPad.  Do we keep it, sell it, what?  We ultimately decided to give it to the kids.  They play a lot of games on our iPad and we decided that since the Kindle is really an iPad ‘light’ that it was the best decision.  That way if they break it, it was a free kindle, instead of a $500 iPad.  I had an internal debate with myself over giving such an expensive item to our kids.  Is this the right thing to do?  Are we spoiling them?  Is it a smart decision?  This is the 21^st century and most kids have tech gadgets.  Andy and I just decided that these gadgets are the way of the future and our kids would have one eventually, why not a free one?  They were thrilled.  They started calling it “the kids pad”.  We never even had to explain to them how to use it.  They figured it out all on their own.  I downloaded most of their apps and they jumped in with both feet.  We have to make sure they are sharing it and only using it for their allotted amount of time.  If not I think they would use it all day long. 

A few days ago I checked my email and there were some Amazon.com purchases on there; a 2 year Kindle Fire warrantee and a “Cars” DVD that we already had.  I called Andy at work to see if he ordered them.  We came to the consensus that the kids ordered them on ‘the kids pad’.  We also think it was unintentional.  There is an Amazon link on the main page of the Kindle and if you tap it the website comes up with a ‘deal of the day’.  The warrantee was one of these deals.  I am not sure about the ‘Cars” DVD but I am sure we will never really know.  I had to delete all of the links, apps and books, except for the few kid’s apps from the kindle and cancel the DVD order.  Now it is truly a ‘kid’s pad’ because the only thing that is on it are kids games.  I did keep the warrantee just in case they do decide to throw it at each other and it ends up broken.  I think Drew may have been onto something there.  In the end, we are all happy and I am happy to have my ‘free’ time back