Friday...Counselors in the Trunk...Shabbos...It's a Party!

Friday morning, we got up bright and early to swim some more.

Yup, in the pool again at about 8:30 am!

We swam for a bit and then checked out of hotel #1 in preparation for checking in to hotel #2 for Shabbos with Team Lifeline.

When we got to the hotel, it was time for an epic hug-a-thon as Dovi reunited with his BFF Ezra. I've blogged about Ezra in the past. Ezra is Dovi's best friend from Camp Simcha Special. They are 5 weeks apart in age and both have FD. And they seem to be soul mates.

Ezra's dad ran on Team Lifeline as well, except that he ran the full marathon. Fast. In two different shoes. Not on purpose. Yikes.

It was a little insane as we pulled up at the hotel to a crowd of about 10 counselors singing and banging on our van. The only small issue with that is that Dovi has a tiny bit of PTSD from the first year he came to camp...he is terrified of "arrivals"-when you arrive at Camp Simcha Special, you are surrounded by throngs of singing, cheering counselors. Dovi is not a fan. So the guys were banging on the van and screaming...and Dovi was cowering in fear in the van. No worries, once he saw Ezra, all was well.



We dumped our stuff in our room and headed out for lunch with about 10 counselors, 2 of whom rode in the trunk of our van to the pizza store...great example for the kids, huh?

We waited in line at the pizza store for a lovely 40 minutes...gotta love Miami Beach in January!

We finally ate lunch. My kids are like puppies all over the counselors, who were all lovely sports about it. Shana seems to have an itty bitty crush on Joe (see her putting bunny ears on him? She's obsessed with bunny ears. Puts them on everyone in every picture. Drives me batty)

Then we went back to the hotel and (I know this will shock you) swam again, this time with the guys. Sorry, no pictures.

Oh yes, my awesome parking deal. Parking at the hotel was $35 A DAY. Yikes. Well, next door to the hotel (literally) was a public parking lot, which would be difficult/impossible on Shabbos because we wouldn't be able to pay the meters. Until we (and Moishe Deutsch, a clever counselor) remembered that we have a handicapped tag for Dovi (which miracle of miracles, we remembered to bring), so we didn't have to pay the meters. Yay! Free parking! Would you expect any less from me??

Then it was time for Shabbos. Of course, no pictures. Would have been nice if I took a family picture before Shabbos, but being as we were in the pool until about 25 minutes before candle lighting and had to shower 6 people in one shower...there was no time for that.

Long and short: Shabbos meals with the marathon people, Shalos Seudos by the pool with the guys. We fed them. They called me mom and sang songs of appreciation. I'm not sure what more could be said.

Saturday night was the pre-race pasta party.
Sorry, this is the only picture I have. Not very exciting.

A parent spoke really beautifully about Chai Lifeline and how the organization has impacted her family. I also met a couple (hi Shani and Chaim!) who read my blog. I felt all giddy and pseudo-celebrity-ish :)

Then Dovi tried out his jogging wheelchair (thanks Galiah!), got the tires all pumped up,
and went for a jog around the pool deck at about 11 pm. Yes, all my kids were up until after 11 pm for 4 out of the 6 nights we were on vacation.

We all went to bed (not saying anyone slept very much) by about 11:30, while the counselors, decided that, in preparation for a half marathon at 6am, a pizza run at midnight was necessary. Ahh to be young and stupid fun.

Marathon day coming up!

Florida....Day 1...Thursday

OK here we go....

Our wonderful friend Michal came with us in the car to drive the van home from the airport (c'mon ,you all know me-would I ever pay for a week of long term parking? I think not! Speaking of which, remind me to tell you all on my Friday post about our awesome Florida parking deal!)

So. Michal came with us-she squeeeezed in the back between the kids and allowed them to play Brickbreaker on her phone.

Shana insisted on changing out of her uniform in the car. "Mommy, I will NOT wear my UNIFORM on the plane"

Well now.





See them all with their stuffed animals? I allowed them ONE each. I still believe it's a minor miracle that they all came home.

After a packed flight to Florida (on Spirit Airlines, the Greyhound bus of the skies), we got to Ft. Lauderdale at 11 pm. By the time we got our rental van and got to the hotel, it was after midnight. The kids got to bed by about 12:30, and slept until 8:30.

By 8:45 we were here:





I know you're a little jealous. It's ok to cry that you were in the arctic while we were swimming (well except for you, Steph. You live in the most beautiful land of them all. I think I need to move to Miami)

We swam for a few hours and then went on our big outing, to Lion Country Safari. It was SO COOL! The kids loved it. Of course I didn't take any pictures of the safari part of it, so imagine lots of rhinos, lionesses, giraffes, zebras, and the like about 10 feet away from you and you'll get the idea.

Then we moved on to Safari Land, the park part of the place. We:



rode a ferris wheel (well not me, I'm afraid of heights...didn't know that about me, didja?)

Rode a pontoon

played mini golf




rode a carousel (oh this is such a great picture of Dovi)

checked out some flamingos

smiled like little clowns



And FED GIRAFFES! OMG it was sooooooo cool.

Jacob and Dovi refused to.

Oh well, more for us. It was one of those "once in a lifetime" moments-when else will you feed a giraffe?

Sorry it's all bright...

No worries, there's glass between them and the crocodile.

Then we went out to dinner in Boca Raton, and went back to the hotel. Benjie and I sat in the dark room by the light of the bathroom after the kids went to bed, hunched over the laptop. Ahhh the rocking life of parents.

Friday coming up later! (maybe tomorrow-I'm still getting unpacked and organized!)


And just because I love y'all...a little preview :)

So It Shall Be Written

So it shall be done.

I haven't blogged about this yet because I didn't want to talk about it until I actually committed.

But I did.

So I will blog about it.


I'm going back to school. Yes, I have a bachelor's degree. Yes, from a REAL college (Loyola). Yes, I've been out of school for seven years.

I have registered for my classes. I have committed/

My degree is in business (if you must know, I have a Bachelors of Business Administration with a Concentration in Information System and Operations Management). I finished my last class in December 2001. It took me so long to finish school because I took off two years when Dovi was born.

I've decided that if I have to sit behind a desk for the rest of my life I'll have a nervous breakdown.

So I'm going back.

I'm becoming a nurse. Well, I'm trying to become a nurse. First I need to take my science prerequisites that I'm missing and then I need to get into the program. I'm not overly concerned about getting in-it's a points system based on grades, and frankly, I'm a good student. I'm the girl in the front row, taking copious notes and reading ahead in the book. I'm the one who people borrow notes from. I'm annoying and compulsive about school. But hopefully that will serve me well in school.



The degree I'm hoping to get will be a two year associates degree in nursing and I'll take the registered nurse test. So in theory in three years I will be an RN. In theory. Hopefully. If all goes as planned.

Yikes. I'm feeling nervous. School? Huh? Sit in a classroom? Dissect a fetal pig? (OMG I have not a darned clue how I'll survive that!) I'm taking Chemistry and Biology. In the spring I'll take Anatomy. Oy.

Wish me luck!


On a side note, the fearsome threesome is seven years old today.



I cannot cope. HOW ARE THEY SO OLD? How are my babies SEVEN? What is that all about?

We took donuts to camp. I got yelled at by the Dunkin' Donuts man for ordering three dozen donuts in the drive thru. Umm it's not my fault that they don't understand English there and they couldn't comprehend that I wanted three dozen donuts, packaged 12, 12, 6, and 6. "Three dozen donuts, please. Please put them as 12,12, 6, and 6." Pretty clear, right? Then again maybe not.

Tonight we're taking them out to dinner to celebrate (we're having a debate about dinner. Shana wants to go to Main Pizza. Elisha is unsure, and Jakie wants Kens. Mommy wants Kens too so we'll see who wins this one). Dovi isn't coming because he is going to the Cubs game. And sitting in the first row. Dovi is such a scammer-how does he pull these things off? Everyone wants to take him to games!



And poor, long suffering, paint hating Benjie and I painted the den last night.


Step one of Operation Zen Den is underway. Pictures to come-my mom is coming in town tonight and we're going accessory shopping tomorrow. Yay!

Never Again. I Mean it. NEVER.

Yesterday, we made a mistake. A very, very, very enormous mistake.

We took the triplets to Great America on the last day of the reading tickets. Me and every other person who lives within two hours of Great America.( for those not in the know, Great America offers a free ticket to all kids who read for six hours during the allotted time period. For Shana and Jakie, not a problem. Elisha required some coercion and creative addition)

So the last day you could use the tickets was yesterday. I had bought two twickets for me and Benjie when we were there with Chai Lifeline, and had great plans to take the kids when Dovi was at Camp Simcha. But one Sunday was during the Nine Days, and the other was the Chai Lifeline fundraising carnival day-and Benjie was on the committee. So neither Sunday was going to work. And darn if I was going to lose out on those tickets.

We arranged to drop Dovi at my in laws, because (a) no ticket for him and (b) it was 95 and humid. We also arranged to take my friend's awesome 13 year old daughter with us. Why? Well (a) Elisha and Jacob are madly in love with her and (b) Great America built an enormous, awesome water park a few years ago and we wanted to take the kids there-and we wanted to have 1 adult per kid. I have a major fear of my kids in water. It gives me palpitations when they hold their breaths under water. Just looking at my child underwater makes me nauseous.

So after Benjie's double header softball game, we packed up some food, dropped of the boy, and off we went.

Well first I have to tell you all what he said to me. We weren't planning on telling him where we were going-we didn't want him to be sad and we knew he was thrilled to be going to Bubbe and Sabba's house. But little Miss Big Mouth Shana told him. I explained to him how the kids had reading tickets, etc. He looks at me: "Dat ok, Mommy. I so HAPPY for you!" I almost burst into tears...he's seriously such a love.

Back to our outing. Our first inkling that it was going to be terrifying should've been the sign on the Edens that gives you times to certain landmarks-well Gurnee is generally 26 minutes. It said Gurnee was 52 minutes. Gurnee is where you do two things: Outlet shop and Great America. So we were clever and took 41 and pulled into Great America from the back-it's soooo cool-you drive UNDER the Eagle. Awesome. Well...it took us only 30 minutes to park. Paid the $15 and weer about to pull into the $15 lot when the guy saw our handicapped tag and waived us into the $25 lot. So we went there. No, no, didn't park in handicapped spots. Just parked a tad closer.

Went into the park. Well first we waited in a scary, unruly line for over 10 minutes to enter the park. Then Benjie had to take Shana in to the mens' room because there was a 1/2 hour wait at the ladies' room. OMG. Then we saw the sign "Hurricane Harbor is at full capacity."

Then we saw the line to get INTO Hurricane Harbor-they were letting people in as others left. It stretched (for those of you who know Great America) down the to the Whizzer.

I am a devoted mother.

I am an insane mother.

I stood in line for over an hour to get my family into the darned Hurricane Harbor.

Benjie took Shana and Elisha onto the Whizzer and Chaya took Jakie onto the Viper while I stood in the line.

The line was terrifying. People were budging the line. People were pushing each other. Yelling at each other. Yelling at security. Benjie says I was really flustered. But he didn't experience the unruly mob that was the Hurricane Harbor line.

He only got to experience the unruly mob that was the Wave Pool.

It was madness. The waits for the slides were over an hour. The pools were PACKED.

I was really bummed. I had this vision of a lovely time with my kids and I was robbed (not literally)! Robbed I say!

It was so packed that I totally forgot to take the kids to the kiddie area with smaller slides. Oops.

We stayed for about 3 hours. Then the skies turned black as night with roiling clouds and it started to rain. We grabbed the kids and took off. Of course, about 10 minutes later, on our way out, they skies cleared and all was well. But I honestly thought we were going to get caught in a tornado.

I told Benjie that I was really upset about our day. I had really expected such a nice time. And I just felt flustered and harried.

I got to thinking about all the times that we have expectations of how thing should go and they don't work out that way. But then I also realized that yes, I was disappointed. But to Elisha, Shana, and Jakie, it was a GREAT day! Shana rode the Whizzer for the first time! Jakie went on the Viper. They had a blast in the wave pool. The went on a huge water slide. Yes, I stood in the line. Yes I was flustered by the crowds and the unruliness. But they didn't see any of that.

All they saw was a fun day with Mommy and Abba.

They saw what happened, not what they thought should've happened. So many times we "give away our fun"-we have expectations, and when those expectations don't pan out, we can't deal with it. We give away our fun experiencing what we are able to do.

Yes, it was packed. Yes, it was not as lovely as we'd hoped. Yes, the weather was not ideal.

But overall, they had a blast. They have some great memories.

And isn't that what being a parent is all about?

And next year, if I EVER say anything about going to Great America on the last day, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me not to go. Remind me of the madness that was yesterday.

Could you just eat them up?

I don't know what possessed me to look for these...maybe it's that they are turning SEVEN next week? These pictures were taken right after their third birthday.

Benjie says they are like Muppet Babies-they look exactly the same, just smaller :)




As I contemplate their upcoming birthday, I've been thinking about them, and their unique perspective on the world as Dovi's siblings.

I really do believe that they are almost lucky, if you will, to have Dovi as a brother.

Dovi teaches them tolerance, acceptance, and patience.

Yesterday, the visiting nurse from Dovi's nursing agency was doing her every-three-months home visit. Dovi was telling Ginny about his time at Camp Simcha Special. Ginny couldn't understand one specific word he said. I wasn't in the room at the time and didn't realize what was going on. So Shana went over and translated for Dovi. And she stood behind Dovi, mouthing what he was saying to Ginny in case she didn't understand another word.

My kids are more accepting of kids with challenges. I have a dear friend in New Jersey who has a son in a wheelchair. It is a very involved positioning chair. When we were in New Jersey in June for my niece's Bat Mitzvah, my friend came over to visit with her son. My kids, as all kids are, were intrigued and a little intimidated by Adam (not his real name in order to preserve his privacy)'s chair. I told me kids: "You know how Dovi needs help and he has a wheelchair? Well Adam needs help too, just more than Dovi. And Dovi has a wheelchair? Well Adam does too-but his is bigger and has more stuff because he needs a little more help than Dovi." My kids? "OK Mommy" and off they went.

What's my kids' goal when they are older? They want to be Camp Simcha counselors. Maybe it's because they see all the awesome stuff Dovi does at camp and want in on it too-the iPod he won at camp is really making Elisha jealous. (BTW Raphi-Benjie took it to the Apple Store and was able to exchange the pink iPod for a yellow one.) I'd like to think it's because they get it-how important camp is and how it's incredible for the counselors as well as the kids.

Let's be honest-of course I'd rather Dovi be healthy and not give my kids these "learning experiences". But we've got the lemons, so let's make the lemonade.

And I must say it's some pretty tasty lemonade.

Have a Good Shabbos, Everyone....

The sun is going down, its shining through the trees,

Another week's gone by, become a memory,

So throw away your hammer, there's nothing left to do,

Go on home and find the gift that's waiting there for you.

Oh, it's time to say Good Shabbos, 'cause all your work is done,

Gonna spend the day together with the Holy One,

Say a special blessing on a cup that's filled with wine,

Man and his creator it's a very special sign.

Your candles will be burning, they'll fill your home with light,

Singing sings of Shabbos, well into the night,

So throw away your hammer, there's nothing left to do,

Go on home and find the gift that's waiting there for you.

Oh, its time to say Good Shabbos, 'cause all your work is done,

Gonna spend the day together with the Holy One,

Say a special blessing on a cup that's filled with wine,

Man and his creator it's a very special sign.

You can spend time with your family, You'll study and you'll pray,

Why not wait till after Shabbos, all those nails wont run away,

So throw away your hammer, there's nothing left to do,

Go on home and find the gift that's waiting there for you.

Oh, its time to say Good Shabbos, 'cause all your work is done,

Gonna spend the day together with the Holy One,

Say a special blessing on a cup that's filled with wine,

Man and his creator its a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very special sign.

Song Credit: It's Time to Say Good Shabbos, Abie Rotenberg/Journeys

Then: Now

This past Sunday, we traveled to the small town that I lived in until I was 3 years old.

It's a small, picturesque town about 45 minutes from Chicago.

While there, we went to the zoo. Benjie says it's a cross between Lincoln Park Zoo and Indian Boundary Park.

It was very cute. And very cheap. There were about 18 animals,

yes, there were peacocks roaming the grounds. I felt like I was at Neverland or something...


a fountain, and this:

the sign kind of makes you think it's going to be some awesome, incredible place, right?
Well here it is:


Now if this isn't a small town zoo "adventure land" I don't know what is.

After the zoo/park, we went to the beach.


Dovi loves the beach. He even had a little chair. Benjie didn't love having to carry him down this huge hill to the beach from the parking...


Then we had a picnic dinner in the park.

Thanks, Shosh for the snazzy little travel grill. We need to get one of these. Or just continue to steal yours whenever needed. Leave it on your back porch and we're all good to go. And we're all stocked up with turkey dogs, thankyouverymuch (hey my lurker reader-you know who you are-that's what I was stealing buying last Sunday morning)

The kids enjoyed.


Then we drove a few miles to my old house.

Many of you who know me in real life know that I am not a huge fan of my house. Don't get me wrong. I love my home. I love what I've done to it, I love the people who live in it. I love the feeling that you get in it. But the house itself? 1950's boxy architecture leaves something to be desired, at least for me.

So I give you a comparison.

My house:
My old house:


My front porch:


My old front porch:


And just to torture myself more, my old driveway:


My driveway now:







Oh yeah, I don't have a driveway.

I seriously didn't want to leave. Actually, I wanted to knock on the door but I wimped out.


On a side note, still no decision on the oxygen. It looks like I'm going to have to give them my credit card as a "deposit" to get the oxygen delivered on Monday so we can leave on Tuesday. Don't worry, they won't charge my card the $500 deposit and $150/week until the insurance denies it.

Thanks a lot.