Wu Who?

The weather was perfect today, and begged for a walk. So the family headed out, down through the woods, in search of adventure.

The neighborhood and surrounding woods contain several large ponds. Before this neighborhood was a neighborhood, it was a family farm, and the family constructed a shelter on the largest of these ponds. In the years since the property has moved from private ownership to public domain, the shelter has become a haven for fisherman and high school kids looking for a scenic place to drink beer.

And Wu Tang Clan fans.

Wu Tang Clan fans with a sense of humor.

 Katie (not knowing Wu Tang from Wang Chung) wanted to know everything about this mysterious Wu Tang Clan. Sean and I gave her all the knowledge we had, which was very little. She was reading the graffiti out loud, and thankfully missed this one -

In honor of our walk today, I made Wu Tang Roast Chicken Breasts with Sage Brown Butter for dinner. What makes it Wu Tang, you ask? It may be the side of Old Dirty Bastard Orzo with Goat Cheese, but I think it's more likely the Raekwon Peas Out, Motha Fucka! Now if Sean would stop by and get me a Ghostface Killah Frappaccino on his way home, I would be full of Wu. Or something.

Splash!

Two HUGE thumbs up for Great Wolf Lodge - what fun we had! The kids had a blast and there was plenty of age appropriate things for each one of them. Katie wore the water slides out, and Julia had two areas where she could ride slides, spray water and have it dumped on her, and engage in general hooliganism. Even Henry had fun splashing.

I haven't been on a water slide in about 20 years. So imagine my surprise when I discovered I don't really like water slides. I am probably the only person in the world who can hurt myself repeatedly in water. The first time down, I banged up my elbows. Apparently, you're not supposed to drag your elbows alongside your body. The next time, I somehow jacked up my thumb on a mat handle. I'm guessing from clutching the handle in fear of losing my life. The last time, I banged my head on the side of the tube. Graceful I am not.

Katie's favorite ride was the "Howlin' Tornado". It's hard to explain the ride - imagine a couple of guys dropping acid, watching Willie Wonka, and then designing at water slide, and you'll be close. You start out on a raft (so I'm thinking, hey, rafts are safe, this won't be bad). After a brief ride down a gently sloping, Christmas-light lit tube, you take a sudden and shocking drop into a swirling vortex of HELL. I am generally a non-hysterical person, but this thing made me go all tent revival.

OH JESUS! OH CHRIST ALMIGHTY! OH LAWS! LAWS! SAVE ME JESUS! OH MERCY GOD BABY JESUS HELP ME!

Katie was completely embarrassed, but not so embarrassed that she didn't want to ride it again. Twice. Although she did ask me to not scream. I thought I could handle it, since I knew what was coming - but, no. It was just as terrifying the second and third time around.

Kate and I got our geek on that night and played MagiQuest. We swam the next day until 1, then had lunch and hit Concord Mills for a visit to the Lego Store (awesomeness!) and a little shopping.

We are all completely, totally, insanely exhausted. What a great time.

Busy Busy, Worky Worky

We're heading off within the hour to Great Wolf Lodge to spend the night, swim and celebrate the girls' birthdays. The trip was postponed from Monday, when Julia busted her chin. On top of the steri-strips I have 2 waterproof bandaids and a mile of waterproof tape, making her look like she has a white goatee. She thinks she looks awesome, of course.

The week has been a busy one for Katie, especially. She's involved with Odyssey of the Mind at school, and right now they're practicing two afternoons a week. It's an amazing program in which teams of kids are presented with a long term problem and must come up with the solution. Katie's team is working on the "Unhinged Structure" problem - you can read more about it on the link. It's a great way for kids to think creatively, with only very little guidance from adults. Her regional competition is March 5, and we're happy that the Grandmas and Grandpa will all be in attendance.

In addition to two OM practices, she's also had Annie rehearsal, and a piano lesson. OM is done in March as is Annie, so this is only a temporary load. She is loving it and thriving on the creativity of it all. It's awesome to see her so passionate about what she's doing.

I have pictures of the day, but will wait and post them along with ones from our little trip.

A very happy birthday to my mother in law, Erin, today. My friends always give me the raised eyebrow when I say things like "My in-laws are coming to visit for a couple of weeks, and I'm so excited!" But it's true! I'm thankful for your insight and friendship, and hope your day is perfect. Also to my sister in law, Meggen, tomorrow. The sister I never had, I miss you more than you know. Oh, crack. <3

Personal Grooming

A decade or so ago, before I had children, I had a job. This job required me to be interact with other people, many times even being in front of people speaking. Having them look at me. So it was kind of important to me that I appear at my best. Hair cut and colored, brows waxed, nails done, clothes ironed. I also had all the time in the world to spend on doing these things. I used to tweeze my bikini line, for the love of Pete (I'm saying that euphemistically, not that I tweezed my bikini line for a guy named Pete). That is a person with too much time on their hands. My disposable income was considerably more disposable, not having to buy things like diapers and piano lessons.

I now have three children and no job. And my personal grooming habits...well, they've slipped. A good day is an outfit without food on it. A good day is not getting in the car after coffee with my put together friend, looking in the mirror, and having a booger in my nose. A great day is managing to have on a decent outfit, a shower AND no booger.

Standards. I haz none.

It's not that I don't care. It's just that...okay, it's that I don't care. I have people barfing and shitting on me on almost a daily basis, I am not so concerned about my brows. Between the dead caterpillars above my eyes and my hairy upper lip, I'm looking like the love child of Frida Kahlo and Wilford Brimley. I'm a hairy armpit away from being a headliner at Lilith Fair.

The moustache bothers me. Waxing was wreaking havoc on my sensitive skin, and I never managed to remember bleach at the drug store, so I decided to just trim it at close as I could with a pair of craft scissors. DON'T PRETEND YOU'VE NEVER DONE THIS. Or at least considered it. I actually thought it was a pretty clever idea, until Sean caught me outside one day, my stubble glistening in the sunlight.

Every girl, even tired mommies covered in baby barf, wants to feel pretty. So I'm resolving this year to put more effort into my personal grooming. Tweeze regularly. Shave my legs. Both of them. At the same time.

To that end, I bought some bleach for "stubborn facial hair". The hair on my upper lip is many things - black, bristly, annoying - but I've never considered it stubborn. It figures, my moustache has an attitude problem. No wonder I have such a hard time with it.

I was going to post a picture of The Moustache, but I can't do it. Mostly because I couldn't manage to take the picture without smiling.  I'm not sure why I was smiling, I look like a cercopithecus cephus (check out my Latin! thank you, google!).

I pulled out the bleach, gave my 'stache a stern talking to, and bleached the hell out of it. I feel prettier already. 

Catching up with my photos of the day:

Monday, January 24 - Julia fell at preschool and busted her chin. They were able to glue and steri-strip it, and she is sporting her own kind of beard. I am constantly amazed at what a tough little kid she is.

Tuesday, January 25 - Due to a miscommunication with my dear husband, the delicious dinner I had planned was scrapped. Instead, I raided the fridge and found leftover chili. After a quick check of the pantry, I indulged in one of the most delicious, heartburn-inducing treats known to man. The Frito Chili Pie.

I like my Fritos on top, so they stay crunchy. Yes, that's ketchup. And a blue plastic bowl. Food snobbery abandons me on such occasions.

And a Julia and Henry conga line-