Curious

First of all, I was criticized recently.  Pretty harshly in fact.  It came at a pretty difficult time for me, a week of very little sleep and a severely sick baby.  Having 4 kids is difficult to say the least.  The criticism wasn't specifically what I am about to show you, but it did imply that I was negligent. I will admit, I am often guilty of thinking "why did so-and-so do that?!  That's crazy" but I know that everyone is trying their best, and I am pretty sure I haven't blatantly given unwarranted advice.  I don't know of anyone within my circle of friends or family who isn't trying their hardest to give their children a good and happy life, a sense of security and love.  If there is anything that I want to share it's that being a mom has ups and downs.  Most moms are fully aware of their imperfections and need no reminder from people on the outside.  Whew, there's the end of my rant for the day.

Let me tell you about curious children.  Yep, we all know one.  A child who seems to get into everything.  A lot of people jump to conclusions, oftentimes blaming the parents, or more specifically the mother.  I will totally admit my guilt to this at times, but dang.  Read a "Curious George" story sometime and try NOT blaming The Man in the Yellow Hat.  It's kind of hard, I mean, really, he only had one monkey to take care of, right?

So, we have a Curious George in our midst.  We love him to pieces, and he is a good little boy, but always....very...curious.  Curious about water, about soap, about toilet paper, and about peanut butter, just to name a few.

Where was his mother when all this happened?

Probably changing a diaper, wiping a bum, folding or moving laundry, paying bills, using the bathroom, nursing a baby, breaking up a fight between the other boys, or one of the million other things I do throughout the day.  Having a rascally kid doesn't mean the mother is negligent, just so ya know. 

In fact, just last week, he managed to flood the bathroom because of his curiosity with soap and water (someone encouraged me to get regular soap instead of the foam pump kind....yeah TERRIBLE idea with kids, going back to the foam pump for them).  All this while I was making lunch for everyone.  He plugged the stopper in the sink, used half the bottle of soap and turned on the water.  The water overflowed through the cupboard below the sink (through the overflow hole, or whatever that thing is called), destroyed the toilet paper and several other things under the sink, and started covering the bathroom floor.  This was all done in a matter of 2 or 3 minutes.  What an irresponsible mother.  Did I mention this was on a day when we would be having company in a few hours?  This set me back about an hour, which was evident whent he company arrived.  Ahhh.  The bathroom did get nice and sparkly though, which I guess I need to look on the bright side.  At least it wasn't oil or something everywhere.

So next time you come across a child being a rascal curious, don't blame the mom.  We're all trying to maintain our sanity and need more support than criticism. 

Monterey January 2013

At some point in January, we were able to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  We kind of have this tradition to visit Monterey every January.  Our anniversary is in January, and we went to Monterey on our honeymoon, and we just love that place.  It is a bit of a drive, but we did a little day trip with the kids. 
The aquarium had a homeschool day, which meant free tickets for us (whoohoo!) Another perk of homeschooling is that some places have free or discounted admission day JUST for homeschoolers.  JD took the day off because he is awesome like that, and we piled the kids in the car.

We then went out for breakfast.  Once again (as I mentioned in a previous post), we went to Hobee's (in a different city).  This particular Hobee's was on top of their game, I must say.  They sat us an immediately gave the boys not only their coloring page menus with crayons......

 ...but they also gave each of the boys a smiley face plate of fruit.  We hadn't even ordered yet.  This place is awesome.  Best service ever.

Then we were off to the Aquarium.  We had to wait in line for a bit since we were getting in for free (we had to turn in our confirmation and such).  

Not quite sure how I can explain my facial expressions.  That's just what I do, and JD happened to snap a picture and just the right moment I suppose.

 This was a little tunnel of glass that lets you feel like you're in a waterfall.

 Gentle touching of the tide pool creatures.

Ahhh, and no we enter the "Jellyfish Experience."  Nice psychedelic looks at this mesmerizing underwater friend.  Jimi Hendrix music included. 

 These drums controlled the jellyfish designs on the screen and made them move fast or slow depending on how fast they were moving.  Interactive stations are wonderful for these little boys.

 When the boys started getting hungry and anxious, we left and went to a little place to eat (lesson learned: bring lunches next time...)
We also let each boy get a smashed penny (cheapest souvenirs ever), the boys think they are great treasures.
Then we headed to the Dennis the Menace park.  If you ever go to Monterey, it is a must.  This playground is huge, and has stuff you don't often see at other parks.  The kids were so entertained that Daphne and I actually had to go back to the car while JD played with the boys (it was a freezing day).

 I LOVE this conveyor style slide.

 This picture only shows half of the park.

 Great structures for playing pretend.  The boys each took turns being the captain of this ship.

 Love this picture. 

We headed home and watched the sun go down while driving in traffic.  Some people might have fallen asleep.  It was an awesome day.