The Wilsons and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week

the BLUF (military speak for bottom line up front):Thomas working 16-hour days, root canal, major tantrum and a disappointing Saturday culminating with a car accident.

Thomas was recently assigned to a civilian personnel law case as co-counsel. The case has been on-going for the past year, with depositions scheduled for this week. He had approximately one week to get up to speed on a case with thousands of pages of documents. Then, he had to prep for the depositions and then actually be in the depositions. In order to do all this, he has been working long hours. Excluding the weekend, the kids haven't seen him in two weeks because he goes in before they wake up and is home long after they are in bed.  It hasn't been fun. He is going to miss Kara's first-grade performance tomorrow, which both Kara and Thomas are very sad about. He is also going to miss Jack and Kara's first machine-pitch baseball game. Fortunately, it is only temporary and his normal work schedule should resume next week. It reminds me of when he deployed and makes me thankful that we are no longer in the military.

On Saturday, we had great, fun plans. Anna had a soccer game at 11, then we were going to go straight to Six Flags. However, Anna got in trouble that morning and refused to go to her soccer game. There was a HUGE tantrum involved, the likes of which we haven't seen in quite a while. Obviously, that meant no Six Flags for her. Initially, I was still going to take Jack and Kara but we decided to forgo the trip and just have fun at home. Anna spent the day in her room. We gave her some alternative punishment options if she wanted to gain her freedom, but she refused. That afernoon I decided to take Jack and Kara out for ice cream. On our way, we got rear-ended. I was driving Thomas' car. You know, the one we bought to replace the car that was totaled in a rear-end collision a few months ago? The car only has 3000 miles on it. I am not positive, but I am guessing the girl who hit me was on her phone. She was very young (a teenager I think, maybe young 20s). We were stopped at a light with cars in front, behind and on all sides. The light turned green, I started forward and was just whacked from behind. Somehow, she hit us twice, the poor kids were scared! They both cried out to ask what was happening. 

Our car is going to need a new trunk and bumper. There is also damage underneath. The initial estimate was 6-7k! But, it may change after they put it up on the rack and see underneath (hopefully, for the better). It has been a hassle dealing with her insurance, but I am thankful she took full responsibility. They verbally told me I would get a rental car, but when I went to drop it off, the rental wasn't approved. I don't want to use our insurance, so I have to rely on hers. It wouldn't be such a big deal, but we had to change car seats and do car swaps to make it work since I obviously need the minivan and Thomas is too swamped to be able to deal with any of this.

In the grand scheme of things, it's not a huge deal. Insurance will pay for the damage. No one was hurt, although Jack had a nice mark on his neck from the seatbelt. It is just a pain and a bit sad to see our brand new car looking mangled. 

In the midst of this, I got a root canal on Monday. It went as well as a root canal can go. The worst part was footing the bill. $764 with insurance! Plus, I need to get a crown to top it off next week and that will probably be another $700. I really need a job. 

A few more complaints, because why not? 

-I twisted my knee. It hurts.

-We had some issues with our backsplash. When the guy came out to fix it, he just put new grout on top of the whole thing, but it is a different color than the old grout. It looks terrible! I imagine to fix it, they will have to remove it all and start over. However, I am not sure if the installers will do that willingly or try to say that they see no problem. 

See how the grout on the bottom is a different color than the grout on top?

-Our neighbors just put their house up for sale. We moved in days apart and they have been great neighbors. We have an understanding that Thomas shovels their sidewalk (they are an older couple) and they bake us cookies. I am going to miss them!

-We bought a new computer and it doesn't work. After an hour on the phone with Dell support it finally booted up, but it still doesn't seem quite right.  Our old computer forced us into a Windows 10 update, but doesn't have enough memory to effectively run the program. It has been very frustrating.

This concludes my airing of grievances for the week. Next time, I will try and make a post about all the positives.

Speech and Theme Parks

Luke had his evaluation with Infants and Toddlers this morning. The short is that he is completely normal and is not eligible for any services. I am glad that he is developmentally on target, but I was surprised when she said his language is where it should be for a 2-year-old. Regardless, it is good news. Although, I am sad that he won't get the point that would help him get a spot in public Pre-K (the only benefit I can see of having a child who is not quite where they should be).

In other news, we are theme park season pass holders again! But, not for Kings Dominion. 2015 was the Summer of Kings Dominion. 2016 will be the Season of Six Flags. We decided it would be good to change things up a bit. I was afraid we would get sick of KD if we spent another summer visiting. But, we still wanted another fun option when looking for summer activities. Six Flags fit the bill. This year they are having a Christmas event so we figure we will easily be able to go enough times get our money's worth.

We had our first visit over the weekend. The good thing about low expectations is they are easy to exceed. Granted, I don't think many visits can top this one. The weather was slightly cold, which meant the park was virtually empty. We didn't have to wait in line for any rides. Everything was clean and appeared well-maintained and the employees were friendly and helpful. What more can you ask for? Well, running rides would be nice. Three of the main roller coasters were closed due to "wind". However, it was not at all windy while we were there, under 5mph according to weather.com. Fortunately, the kid rides were all working and the little ones had a great time.

Thomas and I rode one of their big coasters, the Batwing (separately, we didn't leave the kids unattended). Jack was going to ride but changed his mind when he saw that they lay you flat on your back. Thank goodness he did! At points during the ride you are on your back and then you flip to your stomach to give you the sensation of flying. But, you are relying completely on your restraint to support you. It was very unnerving. I felt like I was sloshing all over the place and I am a giant compared to Jack! I would have spent the entire ride terrified he was going to fly out. It was good to experience, but I doubt I will ride again. Thomas felt the same way.

Thomas and Jack went on the two wooden coasters and said they were really good. They said both felt more intense than the wooden coasters at KD. KD has 4 wooden coasters and 5 metal. Six Flags has 2 wooden and 5 metal. So, fairly comparable in the area.

While off riding coasters with his dad, Jack ran into these guys.

Six Flags has two kids areas and I would guess about the same number of kid rides (probably 20) as KD, but not as many that Luke could ride. He got a little frustrated at some of the things he wasn't allowed on. Maybe he will reach 36" by the time the season ends, which would open up a lot of things for him. Six Flags also had 2 play areas. One was really cool; it was fully enclosed and had lots of soft balls and shooters. It also had slides and other activities. I think the kids could have spent hours in there. Although, maybe it wouldn't be so fun if it was crowded.

Of course there was a carousel.

The kids loved the giant water slide. We didn't get wet, but we sure got dizzy. I rode once and Thomas rode once. Next time, we're sending the kids alone.

Our sweet, sweet boys.

And, the lovely girls.

This was one of those rides where Luke didn't understand why he couldn't go too.

Anna using the force to make the balls stay in the air.

Finally, the kiddy coaster. Right up Kara's alley. The first time it went around, she held on tight, the next time, she put her hands in the air. The third time she called out to us, "can we do it again?"

Here are what I see as the pros: SF is closer, it took us just over an hour to get there and the drive was pretty pleasant.  Also, it was cheaper. We got season passes with the food plan for about $200 less than it would have cost at KD. And, the food plan includes unlimited soft drinks and a snack in addition to lunch and dinner.

The cons: I worry what it will be like when it is crowded. It is much smaller (area wise) than KD. Also, apparently there is a problem with line-jumpers. There are notices everywhere and I was asked to fill out a survey on how they handled said jumpers (not an issue when we were there since the crowds were so light). It is Prince George's County, which doesn't have the greatest reputation for safety, although the park itself seemed to be in a very nice area.

All in all, I am confident we will go enough to get our money's worth. The kids all thought it was great and worst case scenario is that we stay away in late June, July and August and appreciate KD more next year.

Oh, one other benefit is that there are 4 different times when we can bring a friend free. On those days, we can get in up to 5 people for free. So, if you have any interest in checking it out--let me know! Priority will be given to anyone who actually reads my blog ;)

And, in closing, a picture of Luke's feet. By Luke.

Back to the Routine

We have been home from our Spring Break vacation for almost 2 weeks. The peaceful rest, limited scheduling, and togetherness has given way to work, school, pink eye, soccer and baseball.

Let's start with Luke. He had his two-year check-up last Thursday (3/31). He is very healthy. His weight was 50th percentile and height was 85th. I don't believe the height though, because they measured him much taller than we do (and the ride operators and Legoland and Busch Gardens did). I asked the doctor about his speech and it is behind. We have an appointment with Infants and Toddlers on Tuesday for an evaulation. He talks A LOT, but most of it is not understandable, which is frustrating for both him and us. By 2, a stranger should be able to understand 50% of what he says and he is not there. However, he is advanced with his motor skills (the doctor said, "this one is going to be an athlete" after watching him jump across the room) and is otherwise developmentally on target, even advanced in some areas. So, I am not worried. I am hoping that infants and toddlers will work with him, so he can get a point for public pre-K. :) While at his visit, we learned he had an ear infection, which might be why he was so cranky in Florida. We opted for a wait-and-see approach since it didn't appear to be affecting him. Then, on Saturday, he had weepy eyes and I learned pink eye can come with an ear infection. It never occurred with any of my other kids, although they rarely, if ever, had ear infections. Hopefully, this was his first and last. The crusty eyes lasted a few days and then turned into a very runny nose. But, his mood has been good and I am hoping this is the end. It's been another long week of forced isolation.

In Anna news, we had an appointment at school to discuss a 504 plan. We had her evaluated and learned that she has a gifted IQ (yay!) accompanied by ADHD and learning disabilities, which might be attributed to the ADHD (boo!). So, we are working with her school to come up with a plan for success. They have been great to deal with and let me just say again that I love her teacher. The difference a good teacher makes is incalculable and we have been very lucky! During the meeting, I got to hear such nice things about both her and Jack that it made my day. (I am sure I would hear the same about Kara, but she is in a different grade with a different team of people that know her).  She has also started playing soccer.  She has practice on Mondays and Wednesdays and even though it is only her second week, she is already making great improvements. She has a good attitude and a learning spirit, so I am sure she will only get better. She even scored some goals during practice. Her first game was cancelled for rain, so we will see what happens on Saturday.

Kara and Jack started machine pitch. They have practice on Wednesdays and Fridays. Thomas is an assistant coach and I think it is going well. Since I don't get to see their practices, I don't have as much information. Kara is still doing her gymnastics/dance class on Fridays, so she only gets to go to baseball once a week. According to Thomas, Kara has a great attitude and is enjoying practice. Jack is a little iffier. School is still going well for both of them. Unfortunately, Jack broke his 2-month streak of "clipping up" at school and had to clip down for talking in the hall. He was slightly bitter and insists that someone else was talking to him. The newest thing for Jack is to engage in giant light saber battles with the boys in the neighborhood. It is pretty hilarious when they "force push" each other, which means one of them holds up a hand in another person's direction and that person has to fall back as if The Force has moved him.

Luke decided to join in one afternoon. This is a small group. Yesterday, we had 8 out there with lightsabers!

Work has been rough for Thomas. He is extremely busy and it is causing a fair amount of stress. It makes me glad I am at home! Sports will make home life busy for the next few months, taking up 4 days out of every week with practices and games.