The Glazer Children's Museum

(Note: This blog was almost titled "To Hell and Back...."
But, I digress....

This place is amazing! Their slogan is "It will grow your mind!" It features so many "Hands On/Please Touch Me" rooms that we lost count! The best news is that the first Tuesday of every month from 4-8 pm is FREE to Everyone! That sounds great, right? Amazing, right? Especially since it is located mere blocks from my school. So, a couple of Tuesdays ago ( I've tried to erase the exact date from memory), a coworker and I took our sons to the museum for everybody-gets-in-free-Tuesday!

James loved playing and splashing in the water/beach exhibit!
All of the rooms were high-interest, child-friendly exhibits and James literally ran with glee from room to room! He was in awe of all of the people and things to explore! I loved seeing him having fun and exploring the world around him! If I only knew that it would soon, bite me in the arse!

This "room" was a three-story, multi-level contraption of nets and platforms that represented the water cycle. It was HUGE! James was pretty intimidated at first and it took him a good five minutes to get used to going from platform to platform. After he gained confidence (didn't take long for my little daredevil), he explored from the bottom to the very top of the water cycle. I took pictures of him waaayyyy up at the top, but he was so far away and the lighting quality wasn't great, so those pics were not post-worthy. Sorry!

Another thing he loved was the rock wall. He mad it all the way up to the top!

Other favorite "rooms" were the Fire Station, complete with a simulator fire truck, a two-story fire house and a pole to slide down on ! As nerve-wracking as it was to chase him around a huge facility PACKED with hundreds upon hundreds of people, it was no comparison to the fun we had leaving.
Yes, two hours of fun at the museum was enough for mommy. But, clearly, it was not enough fun for James. I tried every "trick of the trade." I gave him the five minute warning. Then, a two minute warning. Then, a one minute warning. Then, I caved and gave him ten extra minutes. I would go one way, he would run to the other. I would block one pathway, he would dash to another. He ran through the maze of strollers, laughing because he knew I couldn't reach him. Then, he took off up the stairs and I had to literally plow OVER people to reach him and drag him back down the stairs. He tried an exit door. Then he tried another play room. My son is fast, if not determined. And, he was determined to stay in that museum all night long!
Finally, I was sweating, embarrased and exhausted. But, I picked James up with both hands and tried walking out. At this point, he knew he was fighting a loosing battle, but he was determined to win the war. He bucked his head. Kicked and screamed. Reared his head back some more. We finally made it out of the building, walking past the hundreds of families still in line waiting to get into "Free Family Fun Night" and I am carrying out a screaming, head-bucking banshee. Not only was he screaming and I was dripping with sweat, but as a last resort, he BIT ME on the shoulder. Never before has he bit another child, much less ME!
He was super over-stimulated and just could not calm himself down. It was a tantrum to beat all other tantrums. After five minutes of screaming in the car, he literally took a deep breath in and said, "Okay Mommy. I stop crying! I feel all better now!"
Wow. Just like that, I had my son back.
So moms, what was your worst, over-stimulated, tantrum-inducing experience?
No really, please share and let me know that I'm not the only one!
Please... please!

New Bloggin' Buddy!!!

A good friend of mine (self-described Air Force wife, homeschooling mother of 5 and runner) has FINALLY joined the World Wide World of Blogging! Does that make sense? Not really, but my post school-day, pre-grad class brain is fried right now, so bear with me!

Anyway, she has decided to share her trials and tribulations of barefoot running with the rest of us! She is such a strong person who is DETERMINED to find a way to pursue her passion for running. After being plagued with injury after letdown after injury, she traded in her running shoes for the freedom of bare feet. Every time I hear about one of her runs, I literally dream of running down the streets of my own neighborhood with no shoes on! Maybe you will be inspired too! And now, without further ado.... MamaRunsBarefoot!

Better Late than Never

Well, when it comes to my blogging lately....

Everything else is rolling along like clockwork. Grad school assignments, lesson planning, meetings, conferences, doggie groomer appointments, etc....

However, we carved our pumpkin almost two weeks ago, it is already rotting away on our front porch from the hot, humid, Florida weather and I STILL haven't posted the much anticipated (humor me, will ya?) pictures.

So, without further ado.... Here you go!

Mom and Son, busily working on their pumpkins!

Don't worry, I had the knife, he had the marker.

One more quick pose with our finished products!

And here are our pumpkins proudly displayed on the front porch. Can you tell which one is the actual carved-by-me pumpkin and which one is a store-bought plastic, pre-lit pumpkin?

Well, now you can. It's the one with rotten insides, caving in from the October humidity. Oh well, gotta love Florida!

Tomorrow, James' preschool is having a costume parade around the playground! Luckily, his school is located directly behind my school so I can walk over! Yes, pictures of my "Bat Man" will follow shortly!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Nature vs. Nurture

I, by nature, am not a gardener. I have no green thumb and have routinely killed most green things that have the unfortunate experience of inhabiting our home. However, I can nurture an entire classroom of 8 year olds and motivate their minds through the wonderful world of reading and writing. How does this relate to James, you may ask?

On Friday, I picked James up from preschool and he proudly showed off his latest class project, a green bean sprouting from a paper cup. The mature adult in us would think, "yeah, yeah... so what?" But, to the mind of a three year old, it's "This is the coolest thing ever! You start with something hard and tiny and then this green leafy thing grows up and up and up! Amazing!" Yep, those were pretty much James' thoughts verbatim. And, he was determined to take very good care of his plant! For example, he wisely rolled down the car window and held it out in the sun on the way home because "plants need sunlight, mommy." Then, I caught him trying to pour water out of his sippy cup into the plant cup because "plants need water, mommy." And if that's not enough to convince of you of my child's green thumb, he later informed me that "plants need seeds." Mind you, he was telling me this as he tearing apart the sprouted bean plant in search of seeds to put back into the dirt. So, he got the right concept, but his execution needs some work. Hmmm..... maybe he does take after me in the Nature department after all!

On the homefront, we had a very relaxing and productive weekend. Can you really have both, you ask? Why, yes you can!

Friday night we hit up the clubhouse for sunset happy hour. We got a sitter for James and really enjoyed getting to have real conversation for the first time all week. It makes for a happy mommy and daddy!

Saturday was chore day. Grocery shopping, cleaning house, laundry. You know, the fun stuff! Then we got to enjoy the rest of the afternoon by the pool. Dinner was grilled shrimp and chicken, followed by more family pool and hot tub time. After we got James to bed, it was movie night complements of Netflix (best thing ever!)

Sunday was more laundry and then tackling our garage. We had TONS of stuff to clean out, but I think we are now able to definitely fit one vehicle in there and maybe two if we're lucky!

Before:

After:

While cleaning out said garage, I found two pictures that I had bought over two months ago with the intentions of hanging, and well... you see where they ended up. After much discussion and searching around the house, we decided that the back hallway could use some brightening up. Success!

My Week

My Week was....
~A full week of teaching, which included mentoring my level 3 intern
~Monday: Grad class until 9 PM! The class is on Epistemology, so we have to complete all of these fascinating (not!) readings by Descartes, Stroud and Moore, who were basically a bunch of men with PLENTY of time on their hands to sit around a ponder/discuss/reflect/argue the essential questions like, "How do you prove that two human hands exist?" Seriously????
~ Tuesday: after teaching all day, I came home, made dinner, cleaned up the kitchen, started laundry and promptly fell asleep at 8:00 pm.
~ Wednesday: Grad class until 9 PM! (again!) This class is on Cross Cultural Diversity. Here, two white, male principals attempt to teach Diversity to a class of all white females. Anyone else see the irony here?
~ Thursday: Gym time after school, then home for dinner, playing with James, bath time, books and bedtime.
~ Friday: oh! Glorious friday! Here at last! Here at last! I came home from school with a migraine, so Will took over with James for a while (maybe a hour). After we got James to bed, we got to enjoy Movie date night compliments of Netflix. Bring on the True Blood extravaganza!
~ Saturday: School work in the morning, followed by a trip to Sweetbay for some groceries. Then, Will and I are heading over to some coworkers of his for a "housewarming" party/cookout. I'm looking forward to the downtime!
~ Sunday: A day of rest????? I hope so!

As I'm typing this, James is running in circles around the house "like a rocket!" This boy has SO much energy. He is literally running in a circle, while twirling around in circles. Last night, he insisted that we call him "puppy" as he was no longer "James." Then, he proceeded to try and lick our faces and only responded to us in barks. Yes, we think he's highly talented and gifted, too. (insert sarcastic laugh here)
Either way, I'm looking forward to my weekend with my "three" dogs and the hubs! Hope all of you out there are having a great weekend!

The irony

So I'm sitting here, watching a Netflix movie on the couch with James (Fly Me to the Moon) and thinking of the irony of my Life.
Let me explain....
Last week, there was a certain event that I had planned for and looked forward to ALL summer long. It was to be FUN, relaxing, romantic, entertaining and inspiring. (I don't expect much, do I?)
And, it turned out to be the exact opposite. Oh well. Sometimes Life deals you a raw deal. I'll live, right?
Then, late Friday night, I throw together some plans with a fellow teacher/friend from grad school. Plans included meeting up with some people, boating out to a nearby island and partying for the day. Turns out... it was one of the best days the hubs and I have had in a while. Our favorite sitter was available for the entire day, I packed the cooler with drinks, water and Publix sandwiches. I applied a heavy dose of 50 sunblock, we donned our bathing suits and drove ten minutes to the boat ramp.
Our saturday included...
-waiting for an hour and a half for everyone else to show up at the boat lift (we chose to stay in the air conditioned car, open up a few drinks and enjoyed having conversation with no interruptions for juice, potty, trains, etc.)
-yummy pina coladas
-bright sunshine
-a boat ride
-fun picture-posing with drift wood along the beach
-cuddling in the warm Gulf water
-a walk around the island, complete with hand-holding and smooching
-lots and lots of laughs at stuff that I can't really remember right now
-a "private" acoustic guitar concert from our new friend Pablo featuring the ever-romantic music of Tenacious D
-roasted hot dogs on the fire
-making new friends
-a relaxing day filled with fun, friends and each other!

I hope everyone else is enjoying their impromptu Labor Day plans!

Summer Reflections....

Since today was the first day of school, I guess I have to admit that my summer is officially O-V-E-R. See, I can't even say it! I guess it's because I feel I didn't have much of a summer. For the Hayman Household, Summer was....

* Too short (I think you got that hint already!)

*Five weeks of grad-school HE!! (I was SO stressed out and uptight, just glad hubs didn't divorce me!)

*Spending some quality time with Peggy, aka Nana (Will's mom)

*Family trips to the clubhouse pool

*Lazy weekends around the house in our PJ's

*Grilling poolside and watching James jump in the pool over and over again during dinner

*Spending quality time with Grandpa (my dad)

*Planning and savoring our ONE crappy dive trip of the season (after last summer's dive season, this one was just a let down. We just didn't have/make the time for diving and we both missed it dearly, but there's always next year!)

*Homemade Sushi Night (with the Sushezi, it's perfect sushi made easy!)

*Too short (oh wait, I think I mentioned that one already!)

But you get the jist!

Here are some quick pics to recap!

James totally inherited my sweet tooth! "Will run for cupcakes!"

(Are these the cheesiest, most innocent-looking smiles or what!?!)