Trippin'

Usually I try to wait a while between potty posts, but hey.  This one isn't *about* potty, so there ya go.

I'm having an unusually unhealthy snack for breakfast.  Oh man, it's good.  And no, I won't do it all the time.  Even I know it's not good for me.  But you know what? I worked my tail off on this four-layer chocolate cake, and I betcha it won't keep forever.  And it's keeping my coffee from being lonely.

As I indulge, I'm working on a packing list for a short trip.  A trip Ryan has been looking forward to since the last time we went... in July.  He's been talking about "going to the hotel" ever since.  I'm excited because it's one of what used to be our conventions.  Now it's Eric's, and we get to go along.  We originally wanted to go back to Morgan's Wonderland but they're not open right now.  Bummer.  I'm expecting, and I know Eric is too, that Ryan will remember where the exit is for "the carousel" and will let us know rather loudly.  But the kid loves hotels.  Totally loves 'em.  Walks straight in, looks out the window, takes off shoes and socks and climbs in the bed.  Loves hotels.

So what's the big deal?  Why am I so uptight about this trip?

Starting last week, Ryan's been increasingly asking about the hotel.  Last night, it ascended from asking to yelling "HOTEL!" randomly to "things are changing so I'm not gonna poop" status.  Gaaaaaah... change anything, and he notices.  This morning we were near meltdown about the hotel again as we got ready for school.  He must have asked about fifteen times before we actually dropped him off.  We've shown him, we've counted days, we've talked through the whole routine of the next two or three days, and still, I don't think he believes we're really going to take him.  Or maybe he wants it RIGHT NOW.  No, I know he wants it right now.

But seriously, it's hard to get excited about taking a kid to do something when they smack themselves and scream to try to get it faster.  And you know that, at some point or even several points in a day, the wheels are gonna fly off, and you're gonna have to be calm, keep him from hurting himself, keep him out of traffic, and generally do damage control.  People are going to stare.  And truthfully, it'll be way more work than staying home.  So why go?  Why upset the whole world's apple cart?

Life.  It goes by fast.  And I am going to continue fighting to keep our family from being so bogged down in the mundane, the routine, the "well, it's easier to keep things on an even keel" that we miss our thirty minutes. It's the same reason I took the littles to see my Mom at work at 7:30 at night and stayed till ten, letting them run around and show off their cuteness to the other night shift respiratory therapists.  It's a chance to have a slice of something we enjoy to share with the kids.  The convention will be around forever.  I betcha San Antonio will be around too. But my babies, my precious ones, will not.  They will be grown and at school or working, and won't be able to go anymore.  When they are, we'll have memories.  We'll know we took opportunities to show them some pretty fun times.

So this week, we'll cart up in the double stroller with Ryan holding my hand, and we'll walk around and take in some downtown San Antonio in our own style.  We'll ride the blue elevator at the Hyatt, we'll go get ice cream when we can, we'll play in the hotel (a LOT), we'll remind him over and over that it's too cold to go swimming, and this time we're going to work on feeing Ryan's drumming habit.  The awesome folks at Chops Percussion who held the drawing that gave us our iPad will get another thank-you visit, and we're going to visit with them about methods to get Ryan even better started on drum set.  We'll stroll around, saying hello to the folks we only get to see at convention, and we'll just generally enjoy sharing something we love from the "Eric and Crystal" days with our little family.  Whatever we do, I pray that we'll do it with thanksgiving to our Lord, who allows us to have these kids, let alone take them cool places.  We'll have our moments of frustration, but I'm praying that we'll not let those moments overshadow the delightful ones.

It's bound to be a great time.  Stay tuned!  And if you're going, we'll see you there. :-)