This was taken at Busch Gardens in Tampa. I absolutely LOVE just sitting and watching these guys! Beautiful creatures! Moreso then the dumbass people who come up to the glass and either start scratching their armpits or trying to make monkey noises. I wonder what the gorillas think of them! LOL

Go to Wordless Wednesday to see more participants or to join in on the fun.

Went to Busch Gardens yesterday with the kids and my brother. Caelie (2nd from left), my daughter, is riding Kumba for the very 1st time when this picture was taken. LOVE her expression! And Tristan, (1st one on right) – his expression is just as priceless – especially considering that wasn’t his 1st time on that ride. Oh and yes, that’s me in between Tristan and Caelie.

Go to Wordless Wednesday to see more participants or to join in on the fun.

I took this at Busch Gardens when Caelie and I went on our “Cool Mom Day 2″ adventure. (I took her out of school for the day and we went to Busch Gardens). Love this picture. They’re both eyeing each other up! Lucky there’s a piece of really thick glass in between them!

Go to Wordless Wednesday to see more participants or to join in on the fun.

1. Soccer tryouts almost over – 2 more nights. Been up there every night this week since Tuesday night!

2. A “last lunch” with friends today (kind of like a “last supper”) since school gets out next Wednesday.

3. My mom calling and saying she’s coming next week for a few days and then will be taking one of the kids back with her for their “week with Nana and Pop”.

4. Once soccer tryouts are done and we have the meetings next week we will be done with soccer (and even tennis) until the end of July!!!! Looking forward to a much needed break!

5. Being able to spend those days alone with each kid last week at Busch Gardens. It meant alot to each of them I know and it meant alot to me too.

So in all the craziness the past week has brought me I forgot to write about my “cool mom” day number 3. Which was a fun day with my youngest – Kieran!

We ended up at Busch Gardens (3rd time for me in 3 days and although I love it there I was getting tired of the fried chicken fingers!!!!). Just getting into the park though was crazy – it took us an hour! Took 30 minutes between parking, getting the tram and getting to the front gates and then another 30 minutes just to get through the front gates. That has never happened to me before – then again I don’t think I’ve ever been the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend when alot of people take off from work for an extended weekend holiday. Plus there were bus loads galore from schools on fields trips.

We finally got in and went right to the Scorpion roller coaster which we rode twice. Then it was off to Cheetah Chase and after that the carousel. By now it was time for lunch. After lunch though was the best time ever – Kieran decided then he wanted to go and watch the 3D Elmo show. He’s 8 years old remember – but still a young kid at heart! So we went (with me having to promise not to tell Caelie or Kieran for fear they would make fun of him). And he loved it. He was so cute giggling and laughing throughout the show. The end choked me up though because I forgot how at the end of each Elmo show Elmo would say “Elmo loves you”. That made me cry! I miss those days of watching those shows with my kids.

After the show we took a ride on the Sky Ride and then it was time to come home.

I’m so glad I took those 3 days to spend time with each kid individually. They grow up way too quickly and soon enough, won’t want to spend time with mommy.

I posted yesterday about my “cool mom” day one and today was day 2! Today was Caelie’s day and she chose to go to Busch Gardens (I am tried of eating the chicken platter 2 days in a row now – lol – we get it because it’s huge there so we can share – therefor saving money).

She had alot of fun and we did different rides today then I did yesterday with Tristan. (I brought her over to Montu to show her what it was like and she decided she’s not ready for it just yet – plus we had just eaten lunch – not a good idea!) Today we rode Scorpion twice, the carousel, Cheetah Chase, Sky Ride and Wild Surge. It was nice to have a day with just her.

We talked alot and laughed alot and so far when I asked both Tristan and Caelie at the end of our days together what their favorite part of the day was, there answer was – “being with you mommy”. That’s all I need to hear!

So I was dubbed today by my oldest as a “cool mom” because I let him play hooky from school so we could spend some time at Busch Gardens. I had told him after Christmas break that if he kept his grades up and wasn’t absent too much that at the end of the year he’d get rewarded. And all year he’s had AWESOME grades and wasn’t sick that much at all.

We had a blast! Got on 2 rides (which I knew wouldn’t hurt my herniated disc) – Sheikra and Montu (rode Montu twice because there was no line). Rode the Sky Ride as well and had lunch at the Crown Colony Restaurant. We also saw some of the animals and it looked like the lions had a feast on a bird – there were white feathers all throughout their den. Glad we didn’t see that!!!!!

We were only there for 3 hours but it was still nice to spend some alone time with my oldest! We don’t get to do that often enough. Tomorrow is Caelie’s turn – not sure what she wants to do or where she wants to go just yet.

I grew up knowing how to play the guitar since 3rd grade. That Christmas my parents bought me a Yamaha Guitar and once a week my dad would teach me how to play. So, I’ve been trying to keep that tradition going with my kids. Two birthdays ago Tristan got a Baby Martin Guitar for his birthday. But we haven’t been able to keep a weekly teaching lesson going. I’m hoping once soccer dies down we can start it up and then keep it going.

The other day though, while at Busch Gardens we were watching a show where one of the guys was playing on stainless steel drums and Tristan seemed to take a real interest. So when we came home that night he got out Kieran’s bongo drums and started playing on them. This house is WAY too small for someone to have a drum set! It would drive us (and our neighbors since our houses are so close together) crazy! I wonder if there’s a way though for him to learn how to play them at school? Something to look into.

And I’m not sure why. The kids spring break started last Friday and we’ve been on the go ever since. We had a great Easter morning here at home and then went over to my brothers for Easter dinner where my parents were there too. Then this week was Busch Gardens one day, the pool at my brothers another and then yesterday mini golf and the beach in Madeira Beach followed by a great dinner at St. Johns Pass. So we’re having a great spring break, but there’s something missing and something additional I wish wasn’t there.

Sean and I haven’t had time alone since I started working and it’s starting to really get to me. Weekend nights, before working, we’d hang out in the den or on the back porch just sitting and talking. We can’t do that anymore because of my new job. We don’t even sleep in the same room anymore because when I work say 7-11 or even 7-1 I have to have complete silence in the bedroom and since he snores he sleeps out on the couch. And waking him up at 1am when he has to be up for work at 4:30am doesn’t work too well. So this new job has put a serious damper on alot of things. Not to mention whenever we are out, we have to be home in time for me to work so that also puts a huge damper on any weekend plans. And I don’t know if I can keep this up. I haven’t had a job in 13 years – haven’t had to go by anyone elses’s schedule but the kids and well…..the families in general. And my kids are still at the ages where they WANT me in their lives and they want me to be at everything. I don’t want to look back at these years and realize how miserable I was in a job that was keeping me away from doing the very things I live for. I don’t care if we’re just getting by – I’m not one to get manicures and pedicures all the time, or eat out or even get my hair cut (lucky if I do that once a year) so I know how to cut back.

Yet I don’t know how to quit. Every time I go to either make the phone call or write down what I need to say I start crying. I feel like a failure. I keep thinking maybe I need to wait until my 90 day trial period is up and when I can then request days off, etc. And that’s only 3 weeks away. But last night I got into such a tizzy, I’m surprised I didn’t quit right then and there. My sleeping habits have always been horrible but this job doesn’t help. And I’m so tired of being crabby on the days after I work until 1am – to the point where my kids give me these looks like I’m such a monster. There’s no way I can do this job and be a substitute teacher (something I’ve signed up for and taken the class for). Yet it could take a few weeks until I get into the system to be able to sub. And THAT job has THE perfect schedule for me. So much so I’m now looking into getting my teachers certificate.

We just got our taxes back which helped us out alot money wise. Some bills are paid off or are now up to date. But I don’t see this extra income meaning anything if I’m miserable and everyone else in this family is too. And all of this weighing on my mind is putting me into a serious funk.

I don’t know what I’m going to do.

since I’ve blogged. Not having any computer of any kind lately has seriously sucked. Laptop was dead and the other 2 computers in my house were so slow it took me an hour to print up concert tickets the other day! You don’t know HOW frustrating that was. (And, in the end…the concert was postponed so I didn’t even need to print them up yet).

But, just this past Saturday my brother was here (to help celebrate Caelie’s 9th birthday) and being the computer guru he is, he scrubbed my one computer and it now works wonderfully! Yay!!!! Problem still is sitting at it too long hurts the herniated disc in my neck. But I can’t complain – it’s better then nothing!

Sean came home last Thursday from North Dakota and we all had a really great weekend. And it actually went by nice and slow. As soon as I picked him up from the airport on Thursday we had to go right to the fields since all 3 kids were at soccer practice (my parents took them thankfully). And Thursday night he and I stayed up until about 2:30 or so. Mostly talking about…..c’mon…….guess…….soccer! He’s now wishing we had gone with my 1st instinct 2 months ago which was to pull all 3 kids and go to another club completely. It’s still not too late to do it. I seriously hate it up there! And Sean used to think it was just because of what happened with Tristan. He finally listened to me Thursday night and realizes what I meant back then.

Friday was Caelie’s 9th Birthday so we went to Busch Gardens with Charlie, Syndi and Nana and Pop and had an awesome day!

Saturday they all came here and we celebrated with an awesome meal (we tried 3 or 4 new recipes which I will type up on here). Our neighbors son came over for cake and around midnight Charlie and my parents left. We sent our neighbors son home around 2am and then the two of us ended up out on the back porch until 3:30. It was one of those weekends you don’t want to go to bed because you don’t want it to end.

Sunday, Sean and I were supposed to go to the Coldplay concert but it got postponed due to medical reasons. So now we’re just waiting to see when the new date will be and hoping we’ll be able to go. If not, I better be able to get my money back! Instead of the concert we went to Chili’s (alone) for dinner and had a nice couple of hours alone.

Today Tristan left with Nana and Pop to go back to Jax and have his week alone up there and the younger two and I took Sean to the airport so he could go back to work in North Dakota for another month and a half. He keeps saying he could be home the beginning of September but I seriously wish he wouldn’t tell me that. It only gets my hopes up and when it doesn’t happen it sucks!

Kieran’s flag football practice for tonight got cancelled (YAY) so I think we’ll have breakfast for dinner and maybe watch a movie! Now that both the competitive soccer season and the flag football have started we’re up at the fields 4 nights a week plus Saturdays for the flag football games. So tonight, being it’s a “freebie” we’re going to take advantage of it!