Travel for the Birds

We recently made a swift journey to visit C's grandma. Due to our limited time to prepare, we opted to take the birds with us. Kawi has gone on several small road trips with us, but we weren't quite sure how Penny would handle the trip. She was an absolute, cuddly delight. She took it easy and even enjoyed a self-inflicted massage.

Kawi endeavored to look at himself the entire time, and even serenaded himself for a few minutes...

...before disintegrating into a grumpy, stressful mess, only remedied by tucking him inside of a jacket so that he could take a much needed nap. Did you know that birds get grumpy when they don't get their naps? Many a bloody cuticle will attest...

The hotel was kind enough to waive the pet fee for our little buddies, who were not so fond of their travel cage accommodations. Kawi had no problem going right to sleep the moment his cage was covered, but Penny cried so pitifully at night that we finally uncovered her cage so that she could see us. I pulled her out of her cage early the next morning when she started to cry again and let her settle in on my chest. Penny decided that the tiny space between C's back and the pillow (while sleeping on his side) was perfectly suitable, but my vision of a Penny pancake made me think otherwise.

Penny's presence did come in handy, however, cheering C's grandma by fluffing her hair and giving her some friendly cuddles.

The Pig and the Princess (and The Roman and the Jedi)

We were the coolest table at IHOP. People even told us so as we left. Wearing costumes in public definitely has its benefits. The IHOP balloon guy hooked us up with a light sabre for Obi Wan, A Roman sword for the Caesar, a bow and arrow for Arwen, and a pink wand with a white heart on top for the Southern Belle.

Obi Wan decided that his costume was a little too market-fresh and opted for some authentic distressing for a more realistic effect. The hay jump didn't require a subsequent head-roll, but Little #1 decided it was only fitting for a Jedi knight.

The corn maze was a big hit, especially for Uncle Ben. Ben kept it exciting by pretending that the corn was out to get him, and the attentive and lauding audience definitely helped his antics. We had to go through the maze twice, and according to Little #1, that just wasn't enough.

Little #1: I know Uncle Ben doesn't know some stuff, but he's really cool.

When you get that much practice being their age, you kinda can't help being cool. He's like that little big brother who will never grow up.

At least Ben's voice carries, making him rather easy to locate, so I didn't mind leaving Little #1 (who preferred the scary slide to the petting zoo) a few yards away with Uncle Ben while Little #2 and I visited the bunny pen...

...and the sheep...

...and the pigs...

...and the donkey. "His teeth are big like corn!" She exclaimed.

She even got to hold a little baby chicken. "I held it gently," she said after a cute little man eagerly relieved her of the fluffy hen.

The Trick-or-Treat wagon ride was a blast. We saw Pooh bear, 

a candy-wielding Darth Vader, Spider Man, Tigger, and a few other kiddie favorites along the way. 

Uncle Ben was just as thrilled as the rest of the kids to see his favorite characters.

Little #1 saved all of the caramels gathered from the hayride and asked me to melt them onto an apple. Uncle C accidentally ate one, but we supplemented it with a honey toffee and it turned out quite nicely. 

"I'm a Southern Belle. I'm from Southern!" Little #2 explained to one of the farm employees.

After some ice cream and dropping Uncle Ben home in time to watch Princess Diaries on Disney, we finally located How To Train Your Dragon in a nearby RedBox. Little #1 found several advantages to our movie projector, including tossing kettle corn into the air so that it showed up as a shadow on the wall, and positioning himself so that his shadow replaced Hiccup's face on the screen. I guess those are all of the things you WANT to do at a movie theater, but aren't allowed.

Sunday we woke up and got dressed and ready for church early, had some lunch, and took a quick drive up the canyon to look at the leaves. Little #1 asked if he "had" to go, but finally consented. We listened to John Schmidt's music while driving, and Little #1 kept asking me to play the Romeo and Juliet/Cold Play mix. "I think I could drive through this FOREVER!" He said, suddenly glad he'd come along. The colors were much more amazing than my photos reflect, but you may see the rest of them here.

I dropped them off that evening with the promise of braving a Monopoly game with them the next time they visit and eating at their favorite pizza joint. I miss them already.

Dragonslayer

The moment I woke up on Thursday, I knew I would survive this week; until I went to bed on Wednesday night I wasn't so sure. Some weeks are challenging, and some weeks are downright hard, but this week was a dragon. I limped through a long heavy list of to-do items, managed the loads of stress that have been building up since July, and picked one item a day to make home livable.

Sometimes the body holds onto stress until it knows that it is finally safe to let it go, and it all seemed to surface at once. Somehow, with the opening of certain wounds, there seemed to be a plenitude of salt-rubbing going around. I made it through because I had one thing to look forward to: my littles.

My littles speak like angels. I could listen to them all day. We have conversations like this about the most interesting things:

Little #1: There is a restaurant and it has been there since 1950s. Er, I can't remember if it's 1950s or 1590s.

Me: Well, probably 1950s since Indians were the only ones living around here in the 1590s.

Little #1: Yeah, the 1950s. That had to be before electricity was created!

Me: Actually, color TV came out in the 1950s. Your Nana (grandma) had the first color television in her neighborhood! When TVs first came out, they only had a few shows on, so you would turn on the TV and there was just fuzz the rest of the time.

Little #1: So which came first, color TV or more TV shows? 

Little #1: Do you have a video game console?

Me: A wha? Oh, no. I don't. I do have a video camera. Do you know what you can do with a video camera?

Little #2: Make videos!!! Yeah!!!

Little #1: And maybe we can borrow it so I can make LOTS of movies!

{Me, contemplating 'lending' a $1500.00 HD camera to a nine year old and a seven year old, and then remembering I had seen some cheap video cameras at the store recently}

Me: It sounds like that's something you might like for your birthday.

Little #1: When is YOUR birthday?

Me: In a few weeks.

Little #1: Am I invited? Am I? Am I? Maybe I will have to get you a video game console for your birthday! Or maybe a DS, so you can take it with you!

I love seeing Little #2 go down a silly slide and jump and giggle. I love watching them both squeal in delight as turkeys hastily snatch up the corn that they toss it through the fence and as goats lick the palms of their little hands. Each laugh is like a soothing balm to my heart, and each golden word is a delight to my ears. They are so good for my soul.