An Iowa Mom

Iowa To Montana ... and Back!

A while back I asked for my readers to choose a topic for me to write about.  The Green 3 was the only one who responded, thank you The Green 3!!  Her request was as follows:

I'd like you write about the places you've taken your kids on vacation. Pros and Cons of the places? Would you go there again? What places are on your to-do list? I know you have a young one, so you may not be into heavy duty vacationing. My youngest is almost 7 and we just started when he was 5. We don't go by car very far, though. Horrible in the car!   Thanks!!

This past summer, we were somehow struck with the CRAZY bug that made us think driving from Iowa to Montana to visit my mother would be a fabulous idea.  Yeah, doesn't it sound like oodles of fun to place 4 children ages 8, 5, 2 and 1, into a vehicle and drive it for 25 hours.  Can't think of anything more exciting. 

I won't bore you with all the gory details.  Just use your imagination.  I will give you a run down on everything we did on our trip.

On Our Way To Montana:

• Went to the Corn Palace
• Went to Mt. Rushmore
• Went to a dinosaur park

While In Montana:

• Fish Hatchery
• Children's Museum
• Dinosaur Museum
• A Real Rodeo
• Space Experience
• Lewis and Clark Museum

On Our Way Back To Iowa:

• 1880's Train Ride
• Bear Country USA
• Drove through the Badlands
• Visited an 1880's town

So, we did quite a bit in the 10 days we were gone.  The children were wonderful ... I almost couldn't believe how good they actually were.  It was a memorable vacation and I'm so glad we did it.

I know this didn't completely answer your question ... but to be honest, we really haven't begun to "vacation" to touristy places, and won't until Smilee is a bit older.  I would just like to be able to go without having to pack diapers and wipes, milk, special foods, etc ... So, in about 2 or 3 years ... I'm all over Disney Land or more fun, the Disney Cruise, and those types of places.

The Green 3 will be vacationing in Vegas soon ... I look forward to hearing about your experiences there, as I've been 2 times without kids, and am anxious to be able to go back with the munchkins ... maybe!

What On Earth Have We Created?

Does anyone remember Sara W from a couple of season's ago on the Bachelor?  Sara W was the chick who always thought she was so beautiful and was convinced that all the other girls hated her because of being blessed with good looks and was therefore cursed, since everyone was jealous of her and out to get her.  HA!  I couldn't stand that girl.  I really couldn't.

Yesterday morning.  Our kitchen.  Princess was doing something funny.  I wish I could tell you what it was she was doing, but I can't because what happened next, completely wiped any memory I had of it.

An Iowa Mom:  "Princess, you are so silly!!"

Princess: "No I'm not!  I'm pretty!"

An Iowa Mom:  "Yes honey, you are pretty ... but right now you are being silly!"

Princess:  "Stop it Mommy!  I am beautiful, not silly!  Got it?"

An Iowa Mom to self:  Holy Shit, what in the world have we done.  We have a Sara W in the making. 

Lessons Of Life

This came in my email box recently and I wanted to share it all with you.  I completey agree with pretty much every rule and I HOPE I can teach my kids these lessons/values throughout their childhood and prepare them for "the real world" ...

Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things
they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good,
politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no
concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in
the  real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will
expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about
yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school.
You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a
boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your
Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it
opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't
whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they
are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes
and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before
you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation,
try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but
life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and
they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This
doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers
off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF.
Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually
have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

Halloween Open House

Halloween!!  The holiday full of ghosts, goblins, spiders, candy applies, cobwebs, creepy music, jack-o-lanterns and ... DECOR!  Halloween is a lot of people's favorite holiday to decorate for, and so many people brilliantly adorn their homes with perfectly placed embellishments, making it a showcase.  I, too, love to decorate for the spookiest of all days.  I do not, however, possess the talent for doing such a great job putting it all together.  Not even worthy of ranking myself as a "mediocre" decorator when it comes to Halloween, I need all the help I can get. 

As you can imagine, I was thrilled when I read that Don't Try This At Home would be hosting an open house of sorts, for people to showcase their wonderfully and frightfully decorated homes.  Though I probably shouldn't, I will be participating in this fun event, but will more importantly be visiting all the gorgeous dwellings that take part and will hopefully gain some expertise and ideas for turning my own home into a haunted haven for my friends, family and neighbors to enjoy next year.  You should join in the fun ... be sure to check it out.

Growing Up In Today's World ...

Princess is compulsive regarding her hand washing.  She will not only scrub thoroughly after each and every time she uses the potty (which is quite frequently), she will continue to cleanse her tiny little hands for approximately 10 minutes each time.  The sink will fill with tiny bubbles and she'll place her ever so already clean hands into them, then rinse, repeatedly, over and over until someone asks her to stop, or her hands are shriveled up like prunes making it difficult for her to pump more soap into them.

Recently, as Princess was executing her common routine, she was unable to dispense any Grape smelling soap from the cute little purple container so conveniently located on the bottom shelf at Bath and Body Works, directly at a little girl's eye level.

Princess exclaimed smashing the pump up and down feverishly: "Oh No!"

An Iowa Mom screams as she bolts into the bathroom preparing for a waterfall of bubbles to be pouring from the sink, onto the pastel colored footstool placed directly under Princess's feet:  "What's wrong?"

Princess, holding the empty soap bottle: "The soap is broken ... we need to get new batteries for it?"