Pretending

You know how there is usually a suggested age range on the packaging of a toy? You know, it says "Not recommended for Children under 3" or maybe "3 yrs. +". Well, as a parent, which I know many of you are, it is easy to see that and think, "Yeah...but my kid can figure it out." ...even if they're two years below the recommended age range.

So, I've learned this the hard way....more than once. Will I ever learn? Let's hope.

When Clinton's first Christmas arrived, he was a mere 10 months old. Shopping for him was both fun and hard. Fun-- because it's just fun to shop for kids....hard-- because all the cool stuff was recommended for the older age group.

However, I came across this Cranium fort building set on the clearance rack. It was like an $80 set on clearance for $15. I originally bought it for our 3 year old niece because the packaging said "3+". But the more I thought about it, the more I thought Clinton might really like it better. So, I bought our neice something else and gave Clinton the fort building set. Hmmmm...

That first Christmas we tried building him things out of the set, but all he wanted to do was bite chunks out of the foam posts. So, after a while I gave up, boxed it up, and put it in the attic.

A few months later after he turned 1, I naively thought he was then ready. All he wanted to do was knock down my creations and tear everything apart. So, after a while I gave up, boxed it up, and put it in the attic.

When he was 2, I decided he was definitely ready. But this time he used the foam posts to try to pulverize me and threw the hard, plastic connectors at my head as he laughed his head off. So, after a while I gave up, boxed it up, and put it in the attic.

The other day we were needing something fun, exciting, and NEW to do because it was freezing outside....in April. So, thinking to myself, "He's 3....the package says 3+....surely he's ready!", I climbed into the attic and pulled out the toy once again.

I began the play time with little expectations, just hopefulness. Hopeful that he would get it. Hopeful that he would enjoy it. Hopeful that if he can't be ahead of the age recommendations, at least he's not falling behind them!

It turned out wonderful!! Even Heidi Sage loved it. She only bit a couple of chunks out of the foam pieces. Both kids loved all of the creations we put together. We built a castle, a pirate ship, a space ship, a race car, and a club house. We played pretend for at least 2 hours....both kids thoroughly entertained.

Here is our pirate ship. Clinton would yell to me, "C'mon captain! Dwive da ship!" I'd climb in and we'd set off on an adventure. We pretended HS was a big whale. Every time she got close, Clinton would scream, which would send HS into hysterical laughter and then she'd run off.

Our castle was equally fun. Clinton pretended to be the scary dragon and left HS as the frantic princess running about. Every time she would get close he would ROAR!!! and breathe fire at her. She would squeal and laugh and run off.

Clinton's favorite was the race car. One of his best friends is Lightning McQueen. He often calls Lightning on his cell phone (which is a Lightning phone). Not a days goes by that Clinton does have all 247 die cast cars from the movie out all over the floor to play with. And Clinton always screams out Lightning's name anytime the Rascall Flatt's version of "Life is a Highway" come on the radio. So, the race car was a hit. He had to drive it. He had to work on the engine. And he had to change the "fwat" tires.

After a few days of fun, I boxed it back up and put it back in the attic so it would be new and fun the next time it found its way back to the playroom!

Wondering if the days of pillow forts have passed us by,

Vail 2010

After I was able to tear myself away from my kids, Rodney and I spent the next 12 hours or so showing each other pictures of the kids we had on our phones. The further we got from them, the more desperate I felt to feel closer to them. But after we arrived in Vail and got settled in our new digs for the week, I was able to calm down a bit and enjoy.........EVERY MOMENT!

Our trip was a week of good skiing, good company, good live music, good drinks, good food (hey, anything tastes good when two kids aren't hanging off of you as you try to toss something in your mouth so that maybe you'll have 50 calories to survive the day on), and lots of laughs.

Skip and Christel are our travel buddies....and for good reason. They do all the research......they do all the planning.....they do all the booking......and we just show up with a check and a smile. That's how we roll here in the Williams' house.

And we also think they're kind of awesome.

How do you come across such great travel buddies? Well, if you've spent any time with either Rodney or Skip, you would know that either of them can talk to ANYONE.....about ANYTHING....ANYTIME. So, when they ran into each other at a golf tournament (or a bar or something) back when they were bachelors in North Carolina, well they got to talking.....and have been doing so for about 10 years now.

Truth be told, Skip and Rodney were actually travel buddies before Christel and I were in the picture. But we girls hit it off just as well as the boys did.....so we've continued the traveling tradition. So far, we've been camping in NC, traveled to NC for S&C's wedding, took a New Year's snow skiing trip to Snowshoe, spent a weekend in Gatlinburg, and now a week in Vail. We were sad to hear they went to Italy without us. :-(

We were there for 7 nights which gave us plenty of opportunity to both relax and play. We skied three days, everyone but me went snowmobiling one day, we went tubing one evening, Christel and I took an afternoon to go get massages, we did plenty of shopping.....and we ate and ate and ate. Rodney and I had to take a double take when we got home and realized how much we had spent on food and drinks.

Vail is such a beautiful place. The people were all super friendly. The place was immaculate. Our accommodations were fabulous. And the skiing was fantastic. It snowed a ton while we were there, which made for some fun powder skiing. And we found that the China Bowl was our favorite place to ski. Except Christel....she kept complaining about Pizza not mixing with Chinese....guess you had to be there. ;-)

It was a wonderful trip. One we will cherish forever. We look forward to our next FAMILY trip with the Lilly family. Our girls are the same age, and we haven't met each others' daughters. We're looking forward to meeting Miss Peyton Annabella Lilly.

Longing for a Red Lion strawberry margarita,

While We Were Out

In my 3 short years as a parent, there have already been a handful of gut wrenching things I have had to do. -- There were the 10 rounds of kidney flare ups where I stayed up all night while Clinton threw up. There was the hospital visit where I held him down FIVE times as they tried to get an IV started. There was the actual surgery where I had to let go of his hand so they could wheel him off to surgery. And there have been a number of times when I've held either of the kids down to receive their vaccines....especially, Heidi Sage...she's a bit dramatic. -- But recently I had to do something that was by choice. I had to leave them behind.

About a year or so ago, we were the proud new parents of a 2nd child. We were enjoying everything that life with two children had to offer. We were also suffering from the great exhaustion that comes with two children--one of which was a new born who didn't sleep much. So when our friends Skip and Christel called and asked if we'd be up for an adult-only vacay to Vail in February, we couldn't get the word "YES!!!" out of our mouths fast enough.

While I dreamed of a week of sleeping through the night. Eating three whole meals a day--with two hands, no less. Getting to have some real adult conversation. And spending some quality time with my one and only, I also new I would have to have everything perfectly arranged for my kids before I would even be able to think about leaving town.

Of course the hardest decision was deciding who to leave the kids with. Rodney and I both agreed my parents would GREATLY appreciate the quality time, but weren't sure they'd be up for a whole week. A whole week with someone else's kids is A WHOLE LOT TO ASK. But I have two kids who don't sleep through the night. And both contain enough energy to power a large city. So the request felt huge...

I called Mother with this proposition, "How would you and Dad feel about coming to play with the kids for a week by yourselves?" Mother's response was a very quick, "Yes! When should we be there?"

I was thrilled!! Mother and Dad offered a man on man defense for the kids, which proved to be necessary. They are also very good about following every rule I lay down--rational or not. And the kids love being spoiled by their Bebe and Hop......and boy were they!

The day finally came for us to leave. I had worried for weeks before that the kids would be screaming as we left, that Clinton would be clinging to Rodney's leg, that Heidi Sage would be screaming with arms held out for her Mommy....and that Rodney would have to drag me away.

Clinton smiled cheerily in the wee hours of the morn and said, "Bye, Mommy! Bye, Daddy!" I went in to give Heidi Sage a kiss who was snuggled up in her Bebe's arms, she turned and buried her head in Bebe's chest. Hmmm. This will be easier than I thought. Hey, wait! Why aren't my kids sad that I'm leaving? I guess they needed the break, too!

So, after we left the kids enjoyed a week of new birthday toys, fun trips to the McDonald's playground (among other fun outings), a trip to the doctor's office :-/, playing monsters through the house, and tons and tons of one on one attention.

Clinton's Birthday gift was a rather large, rather snazzy Jeep. He enjoyed helping Hop put it together. He also received his first driving lesson from Hop, which required him learning to steer and stop on command. Once these feats were achieved, Clinton was able to take on his first passenger....and she was a very excited and happy little passenger.

The kids also had a number of outings, one of which was to one of our favorite places-- The Discovery Center. Mother and Dad had a fun time trying to keep up with Clinton between the two floors. You see, some genius decided to put a swirly slide from the 2nd floor to the 1st floor....and a very quick, very agile, very sneaky 3-year-old can get out of sight in the blink of an eye. Good times.

By the time we got home, we had an 11 month old who was walking EVERYWHERE. We had a 3 year old who was riding his bike like Evil Knievel in the cul-de-sac. Two kiddos who were semi-excited to see us. And two grandparents with bags under their eyes and smiles on their faces. I think it was a good week for all.

We want to send out a huge T - H - A - N - K Y - O - U to my parents for taking a week off of work to love on our kids. This trip was much needed and greatly appreciated!! We promise to take you next time we go to Vail!!

Recharged and ready (for a little while),