Field Trip

Last weekend, we had the bliss of a husband and daddy home all weekend. Actually more than all weekend - he was home from Wednesday until Tuesday. A few days of leave, a weekend, and a holiday. Yes, please!

On Sunday, Spencer wanted to show all of us his new park. See, a few weeks ago when Jessa was home with the flu, Spencer's class had a field trip. In preschool, you do not go on the field trip unless you have a parent accompany you. So I dutifully e-mailed his teacher to tell her he was not going to be able to make it. She called me the day of the field trip at 7:45 in the morning to tell me that she would be happy to be responsible for him so he would not miss all the fun. Of course, we accepted and Spencer got to experience a new park. Well, he calls the park "field trip" and don't challenge him on that. Yes, I cried all the way home because I was so so touched at his precious teacher.

He was anxious to show off this find to all of us. It was fun. We enjoyed it a lot. The kids were hysterical because Spencer was the "expert." Every time we would come to a cross roads, Jessa would ask him which way to go. Now, this child had no clue where they went. I mean, it is trails. And trees. And leaves. I was sure that he was clueless when we stopped at a big rain puddle and he explained that this was the "pond" where they discovered a frog. Plus, Jessa was not really asking him. See, she was planting the idea of which way she wanted to go in his putty-like head. He is always willing to let her lead, you know.

J: Spencer, didn't you go this way on your field trip?

S: Mom, Dad, we went this way on my field trip.

J: Spencer, did you see this tree on your field trip.

S: Mom, Dad, see that tree? We saw it on my field trip.

She did not have to work too hard. He was loving the feeling of power he had. He was the leader. He was in charge. Of course, as with most men in power positions, there was a clever woman behind the scenes pulling the strings! Ha! Just kidding, David. You decided that I needed new Polish Pottery all on your own. It was all you. You sure are handsome. How bout those Gators!?

There were discoveries made.

A woolly caterpillar.

We called it a brain. We have no idea what it was. Anyone?

Even bird houses are exciting on at the "field trip."

They had a wonderful time. We all did. It was nice to just walk.

The dogs had a great time, too. Dunken got some awesome off-leash time running around like a puppy.

And even Max has come a long way from when we first took him for a walk. He is learning. Who said you cannot teach an old dog new tricks??

We may have found a new place to hang. Spencer thinks we should go back. At least that is what Jessa told him he thought.

They like me, they really like me!

OK, maybe not everyone likes me, but thanks to the 3 of you who read my blog and also voted like 12 times each, I am a finalist in The Bump's Mommy Blog Awards in the Stay at Home Mom category! To be honest, I am just happy that my Momma voted for me enough times to make me look good. No, seriously, thanks to all of you who took the time to click on the link and register at The Bump in order to vote for me after my shameless begging. I mean it. David just admitted that he did not even get a chance to vote for me. We had a total Ray and Debra moment - You vote for your WIFE, "I don't care if my platform was anti-puppy, you have to vote for me!" Are you with me? (In David's defense, he did not vote against me, just never got around to voting for me ;P)

IF you still love me, and hey, what's not to love, please take a minute and hop on over and vote for me again. Heck, vote for me a few times! Whether you vote or not, please just keep reading about all of the adventures of the Crazy Keys.

Click on the badge at the top right of my page OR any of the Bump links I have laced this post with. I have to make it easy on you, right??

THANKS!!!!!!!!!

Where the heck is the Santa Maria?

I started this post weeks ago, just after it happened Labor Day Weekend. It got pushed to the side and now I am proud to present it as my Happy Columbus Day post:

My Daddy's secretary is awesome. She is always on the lookout for cool activities to partake in on the weekends. The week before Labor Day, she sent Daddy an e-mail about replicas of the Nina and Pinta being docked in Grafton, Illinois that weekend. This was very exciting news and something we definitely should check out, right? But the first thing I asked him was "What about the Santa Maria?" He laughed because that was apparently the first question he asked, too. A valid question, we thought. So now we had to go, if for no other reason, but to track down the missing ship in the famous trifecta.

We left at about 11 am. (OK, we meant to leave at 11, but we actually left at 11:23.) Daddy thought we should first stop for brunch. So we went to Cracker Barrel. One delicious meal and 2 beanie babies later, we were on our way. We drove up a beautiful road right along the river. The drive reminded me of driving up the Rhine when we were in Germany. It was very exciting to see all the rivers. See, apparently it is a really cool area because the Mississippi, the Illinois, and the Missouri are all hooking up about there. This is a way big deal and there are about 52 signs to makes sure you are taking in all the awesomeness and realizing the magnitude of it all.

When we finally arrived in the small town of Grafton, it was clear that Joyce must have told other people about this event because we were not alone! There were cars everywhere - in some cases, not parked, but practically abandoned!

We did have to wait in line for a while before we were allowed to board the ships. The funniest thing that Spencer said was, "Look Mommy! It is like a pirate ship!" I said, "Yes, it does remind me of a pirate ship, too." And he said, "No, it is a pirate ship - look, it has the same curtains!" I guess the sails do sort of look like curtains.

It was a lot of standing and walking, but I think it was worth it. How cool to get to see replicas of such famous ships. We paid some money and were able to meet the captain of the ships and walk around all over the ships.

Bay, Jessa, and the Captain - named Captain Morgan, I swear!

He is the one who explained the absence of the Santa Maria. Apparently, it was the smallest ship. It was unreliable and Columbus did not like it very much. So they were celebrating the best 2 ships of the 3.

My sweet sailors

Bay and Jessa - notice the Cracker Barrel Duck in her hand,

And Spencer, relaxing, clutching his Cracker Barrel stuffed animal.

Most every one's reaction was "Wow, those are smaller than we thought they would be." I must confess that I could not say that because I have never even given it a passing thought, so I had no expectations. But it was still a pretty cool day. And even if there is some question about the legacy of Columbus, I am still glad he headed over here all those years ago. . .

are you still there?

Hello, to my faithful readers (all three of you)!

It has been a crazy week! David has been in town and on leave, so we have been hanging with him. And my normal down days, where I catch up on blogging, etc. were spent just spending time with David and the kiddos. It was a perfect time for him to take leave because Jessa had a teacher work day on Friday and neither of them will have school on Monday to celebrate Columbus Day. Woo-hoo! So we are having a much needed relaxing weekend with the family all together.

So please do not give up on me. I am still here.
Stay tuned. . .

Pasta - hold the noodles

Being a mom can be hard. I am not sure if all of you are aware of this, but moms are expected to provide like 3 meals a day for their children. I know, right? Can you believe this? Now, it is easy when they are babies. All liquid diet. Just put the formula in the bottle. Voila! Food for child. Child eats. Full child. Repeat in 3 hours.

As they get older, it gets more complicated. You have to introduce new foods. They get opinions. They like some things and not others. By the time they are the age of my children it is downright difficult.

OK, so breakfast is not too bad. There is cereal. That is not tough. Oh, but only if they wil eat it. . . Which may or may not happen. Yes, I have 20 boxes of cereal in my pantry because every time they express interest in trying something, I fall for it. Seriously, look:

And FYI, this is 2 rows deep. I could not find a way to get them all in the picture. And I drew the line at lining them up on the counter just for a picture. Plus, it may be embarassing.

I must confess that my children eat cookies for breakfast on occasion. Well, they eat them sometimes. Actually it's most mornings. OK, fine, IF they eat, it is cookies. BUT, I do bake them fresh. Well, I place the sugar cookie on the cookie sheet, and then place the cookie sheet in the oven for 10 minutes. But it is a HOT breakfast. And before you judge me, the cookies have less sugar than many other more traditional breakfast foods, like children's cereal, donuts, cinnamon rolls. Stop judging me! Their tummies are somewhat full when they leave. Block checked. I said don't judge me.


Dinner is not too hard because let's face it, I cook about 37% of the time for David and me. I can just give them some of what we are having. And I am pretty sure the "law" is that I, as their mother, have to provide 3 meals a day - whether they eat what I provide or not is up to them, right? You can look it up. During the other 82% of the time, we eat out. And every restaurant must provide a form of kid-friendly chicken, i.e. tenders, fingers, nuggets, filets. Yep, it's another law. (I am an expert at obscure fictitious laws.) And they are mostly happy with a form of chicken. Block checked.

Then there is lunch. Sandwiches are pretty easy, right. And now Jessa even eats her sandwich elsewhere most days. She does not even leave a mess! But my precious, discerning (that is a nice way of saying PICKY) kids will only eat PB&J sandwiches. OK, and I got Spencer to eat a girl cheese that one time. The same sandwich over and over can get boring, right? So maybe I, as the dynamic, creative mother that I am, might try to mix it up a bit.

Enter Chef Boyardee Microwaveable meals.


I have been giving my kiddos these Chef Boyardee Pasta meals since they had teeth. They love them. And boy are they easy. There is only one problem. They love the meatballs, but they do not enjoy the pasta.

Each container has 10 meatballs. (David once told me I should work for Quality Control for the Chef because I carefully inspect their products making sure there are 10 meatballs - no more, no less.)

I place these balls of meat on toothpicks. I learned a long time ago that my children will eat most anything if it is on a toothpick. But those darn noodles will not go on a toothpick, so you see my problem. They do not eat the noodles. Maybe sometimes they will eat a spoonful or two, but they always eat the meatballs and ask for more. I have thrown away enough ABC and 123 pasta shapes to feed a small army. Maybe even a large army.

So I think that Chef Boyardee should make these meals with just meatballs. I mean, they have a variety with just Pasta and no meatballs. Isn't it only fair to have the other option, too? This may be meat discrimination. I'll have to check with Adkins people and see if I have a case.

It worked for Honey Bunches of Oats, right?

Being a mother is hard what with the children wanting to eat like three times EVERY day, and that is not even counting snacks. They even want to eat on the weekends. The least the Chef Boyardee peeps could do is try to help a mother out. I'm just saying.

Sports can be confusing.

David Key loves sports. He takes it very seriously. I find it absolutely precious. He is not just a casual fan who talks the talk. No. He walks the walk. He loves his Florida Gators, of course. But to be honest, he just loves football. He is always happy to talk to a true fan of the game, regardless of their loyalties. He even watched the UGA game with Daddy last weekend and cheered appropriately, even though I am sure it was tough. He is a nice, non-trash talking kind of fan.

So we all watch a lot of sports and he longs for the day when the kids will really "get it" and can watch with him. Besides the Gators, we are fans of all things Atlanta - Braves, Falcons, Hawks. We have already taken them to many games - since they were in the womb! And it is important to David to share this love with his children.

Well, some of our dear friends came up to visit a week or so ago. They came so we could all go to see the Braves play when they were in St. Louis. (David ended up not being able to go, of course, he was working.) We dressed the kids in matching Braves shirts, hopped on the train and went to Busch Stadium to see the Braves (most people were not there to see the Braves, but we did not mind).


We had a great time. And the Braves even won (they swept the series!). The kids were remarkably well behaved. Seriously. I had my 2 and our friends had their 2, and we all were able to sit and enjoy most of the game.


During the next week, Bay called and had seats to a Rams game. Wow! Sounds great! We told the kids all week that we were going to a football game. And when we were changing our clothes really quick after church, he chose to wear his Braves shirt. I did not have time to argue, so we went with it.

David (who was in town!! Woo-hoo!), the kids, Bay, and I all hopped the train and headed to The Edward Jones Dome for the St. Louis Rams home opener.

Train ride - on the way.

It was way more crowded than the baseball weekend. And frankly, the people at the dome were not prepared. It was miserable. The crowd was huge and they were frisking EVERY person. Yikes! That takes forever.

A lot of people - oh, and I saw my first real like cheese heads in person!

So after waiting in line for 40 minutes, we were in. And hey, it was only 30 minutes after kick-off. We headed to our seats (these were FREE tickets that the Rams organization gave to the military as a thank you, isn't that nice??). Oh, and we first stopped to get food and drinks. So we hike up to our seats (not complaining, but free seats are usually pretty high up, you know?) with our arms full of food, etc. And we have to "excuse me" across tons of people to sit down. And I for one, sighed a great sigh of relief to be situated - finally. And then Spencer looks at me with this confused and sad look on his face. I said, "What is it, buddy?" And he said in a sad voice, through a pout, "This is not a baseball game." Bless his heart! It all was pretty much the same as two weeks before: a train ride, walking, waiting to get in, buying food, finding seats, and he was shocked to not be at the baseball game when he made it to his seat and looked at the field. I guess that explains his t-shirt choice. . . There are so many sports out there, it really is confusing when you are 3.

He had fun anyway, though.

He loved watching the field through Bay's homemade monocular. You may ask what is a homemade monocular? Well, when asked, Bay said, "The other side of the binoculars quit working, so I broke it off." That's my Daddy! He's a regular MacGyver!

A monocular, what a visionary - no pun intended.

Spencer felt like a pirate with a telescope!

Arrrgh!

The bad news of the day was that Jessa did not feel so well. Of course, we did not realize this until she fell asleep in her seat. The next day, the pediatrician said she had the flu (most likely H1N1), so um, sorry 66,000 fans in the dome and countless numbers of people on the train who we exposed to Jessa's germs. Our bad.

Poor baby!

Baseball, football, whatever, we like 'em all - well, except when you are sick.

Scott AFB Air Show

I started typing this post a few days ago. I got bogged down in stories and details. After a lot of thought, I have decided to use a more list-like format with a few stories.

Highlights for Me and Bay (David was out of town, shocking, I know):
1. The static displays
You could walk into several planes and chat with the pilots. We went into a c-21. This is the plane that David usually flies on. The kids call it "Daddy's plane."

Spencer asked if it was a "real plane." I said YES.

And then he was heartbroken when we got off.

He thought if it was a real plane, we should be able to go for a quick ride!
We also went into a C-5. What a huge plane!!

2. The Army Golden Knights.

The Army Golden Knights plane.
The Army's parachute team. They are awesome. They even jumped the flags in at the beginning of the day.

This is the American Flag being brought in.

They played the National Anthem as he glided to the ground. Chills.
3. All the flight performances were cool, but my favorites were:
(a.) The Heritage Flight - where 4 planes, both vintage and current all fly together. It represents the past and present of the Air Force. I am a sucker symbolism - especially if it is military or patriotic. . . Breathtaking.

The fly-by featured a P-51, an F-4, an F-16, and an F-15.
(b.) The Canadian Forces Snowbirds - they were so awesome! It is like Canada's version of the Thunderbirds or the Blue Angels. We even got to meet them at a reception before and talk to them after. I am sort of fascinated with Canadians. They seem so nice and say cute things in cute accents, ay. I like it when they say Saskatchewan. Oh and their performance was incredible, too. AMAZING.

WOW! Hard to get a picture, but trust me, WOW!

This is the plane flown by our favorite pilot. He was super nice and gave the kids stickers at the reception the night before.
4. Daddy got us into the VIP section with free food and even beer. But I did not care about that. The part that was the most exciting was the Porta Potties. Oh. My. Real toilets. Real sinks. Running water. WOW! Oh and it was AIR CONDITIONED.

Yes, that is potpourri on the tank.

Yes, art on the walls of a PORTA POTTY.

A real sink for handwashing!

5. Funnel Cakes.
Who doesn't like a plate with a big pile of fried dough covered in powdered sugar? Right? Are you with me? Seriously, Daddy and I drooled over them all day and finally bought one on the way out.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Highlights for Jessa and Spencer:

1. Strollers.
I dragged out the umbrella strollers to save our backs. I know the M.O. of my children very well- after walking about a block, they are all tired and begging us to carry them. They were happy to sit in their strollers and take it all in. And we were more than happy to push them.

Best seats in the house.
2. Acorns.

Yes, acorns. And I definitely do not mean the community organizers. I mean the small nutty objects that fall out of oak trees and that are loved by squirrels. We passed several trees on the way to the air show and they collected them and carried them and loved them all day long. Acorns. Who knew?

3. Bounce Houses

I have a love/hate relationship with these contraptions. The kids love them/ I hate them. But they are usually gross. I never used to think about all the germs all over them, but now it is all I can think about. There are always long lines. There are always mean kids with no parents. And once my children see these germ traps, they cannot think of anything else. They cannot talk about anything else. They do not want to do anything else. I sucked it up. They had fun. I soaked them in Lysol when we got home!

The most fun play things in the world, according to the kiddos.

4. Naps
Well, Jessa, anyway. She fell asleep during the heritage flight and woke up after the Snowbirds. For real. She slept through it all. Loud music. Loud announcers. LOUD Jet engines. I guess her ear plugs worked better than I thought.

Yep, that's my girl. Napping.

5. Geico Geckos.

There were booths set up all over for companies to advertise. If Daddy and I registered to win some Geico contest (hello junk mail and spam), they got to try and win a prize. Spencer won ear plugs. Jessa won a Gecko. Spencer cried. I offered them $20 for another Gecko. They gave him one for free. Whew. Thank goodness for the understanding Geico lady. . .

Posing with their new BFFs: the Geckos.

So there you have it. We all had a fun day, even though we did not all enjoy the same things equally, there was something for everyone, I guess.

One funny story:

Before we left home, I was trying to talk Jessa into wearing the red shirt. I had red shirts laid out for all 3 of us. There are many reasons for this idea. First, I like them to be somewhat coordinated and in a bright color when we are in crowds. It really does help me to be able to spot them easier. Second, this is an Air Show at an Air Force Base, patriotic dress is a must, right? What is more patriotic than a family all dressed in red? Nothing, right? And third (and yes, maybe the most important) is they will be way cuter in pictures if they have on matching shirts, right?? So I am trying to coax Jessa into hers (she has already dressed herself in a white Hello Kitty shirt - not very patriotic). She was really pulling out all the stops. She said it smelled bad. She said it was uncomfortable. She said she did not like the pocket. She said Hello Kitty was softer. I, of course, held firm to the "it is safer if y'all are both in red so I can keep up with you in the crowd." My 5 year old, future lawyer responded, "Well, Mom, how do you know all the other kids will not have on red, too. Then you may just grab the wrong children, Did you ever think of that?" I (without grinning at all) replied, "We will cross that bridge when we come to it. Get dressed in the shirt I gave you." And as you can tell from the pictures, I won the battle. Oh, and speaking pf pictures, aren't they precious in their matching shirts!??!?

Perfect matching shirts!
Oooops, someone forgot to brief Bay. . .