Caleb

With the new school year and my going back to teaching, Caleb started preschool and has been going full-time unlike Isaac who only went a couple days a week. Being a creature of routine, Caleb had a rough start to his year. He was very excited about going to preschool and loved picking out his backpack, lunchbox and new clothes. He marched happily off to his first few days and enjoyed having Isaac there with him his first couple days. 

Once he started going full days, though, he was not as much of a fan because he did not like the long two-hour rest time they have each afternoon. He loved the centers and the special things like Looney Dooney, bounce houses and the playground. But no matter what we said or how exciting the rest of the day was, he let the dreaded rest time color his attitude towards preschool. 

We developed a bit of a routine the first few weeks: Caleb's telling us he did not feel good at night before going to bed and then again when he woke up the next morning. Interestingly, though, he was fine on Friday and Saturday nights. He had some mornings when Paul had to have the teacher peel Caleb off of him because Caleb had a meltdown about going to school. He even had one lunch time when he refused to eat his lunch but cried the entire time because he wanted "Dad to pick him up" (pretty sure he was trying to get out of that afternoon's rest time which starts right after lunch). We started a sticker chart for him at home where he could earn a sticker each day that he did not cry on the way to school or while he was at school. 

The thing that was so frustrating to us was that he really did like preschool but was just being obstinate and very "Caleb" about the rest time. He usually was done crying by the time Paul walked out of the preschool building so we figured Caleb was trying to get his way.  

We are thankful to report that this is no longer the case. Caleb happily goes off to school each day and looks forward to what is happening in school (for the most part). He was not too excited about face painting last week and in true Caleb fashion declared (before heading to school that day) that he was NOT going to have his face painted. He came home with a spider painted on his arm so it looks like his teachers were able to reach a compromise with him. 

Standing in front of his sticker chart

Face painting is on the schedule for this week, and Caleb has already told us that he will let them paint something on his arm again. Praise the Lord for the big and small blessings!

Dress-Up Fun

 Isaac (with his first grade class) celebrated Johnny Appleseed's birthday by dressing down and raiding Mom's pan cupboard. Isaac says that Johnny would have been 238 years old this year. He loved eating apple pie (and has been asking me to make one ever since) and watching a movie about Johnny Appleseed.

The junior high recently had Decades Day as a dress-up theme. We got the 80's since I have eighth graders as my homeroom. After spraying my hair with lots and lots and lots of hairspray and blow drying it to stand out form my head, I was reminded of how thankful I am that I do not have to fix my hair that way every day. How in the world did I make it through junior high trying to get this look every day?!? Despite all the hairspray and teasing, my hair was flat by the time school started. Go figure!

Caleb was quite silly and posed for a picture on Johnny Appleseed Day as well. He was eating breakfast when I came into the kitchen all dressed up for Decades Day. He stopped mid-chew, gave me a look that was a cross between unbelief and total horror, and asked me what I was wearing.

Brad & Kara's Wedding, Part IV

And after all the week's fun, we headed to the ferry with enough time for our cars to get in line and wait for departure:

Heading onto the ferry

 We all sat up on the top deck at the front of the boat for most of the ride. Riding the ferry in daylight hours and getting to see the view was a treat!

Brother and sister

Just being silly

Some people appreciated the view more than others

Enjoying some dippin' dots from the snack bar

Whoa! It was a little bit windy.

Again, not all moments of the trip were peachy for everyone

Exiting the ferry

Three days later we drove onto the mainland after a fun-filled whirlwind "weekend" with the family. What a blessing it was to be part of Brad and Kara's celebration and with most of our family!

Brad & Kara's Wedding, Part III

The day after the wedding we spent the morning packing up before heading over to Kara's parents' house for brunch and then to the beach to enjoy the Atlantic Ocean before heading to Boston. I will let the pictures do the "telling" for this post:

All the "kids"

The nieces and nephews

Aunt Marlys with Jill and Katelyn

Brian and Gina

Playing catch with Uncle Brian

Flying a kite with Uncle Mark

The entire family

Brad & Kara's Wedding, Part II

The day of the wedding dawned bright and clear. Since it was a late afternoon wedding, we had a relaxing morning and got a chance to practice our songs for the wedding. Once the boys got to the house, we girls headed over to Kara's parents' house to get ready.

Getting ready for the wedding

This picture of Justine putting on Kara's eye make-up is one of my favorites not only because of Kara's facial expression in it but also thinking of their laughter and joy as they shared one of many moments during a wonderful day.

And then we headed over to Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary for pictures and to wait for the start of the wedding ceremony!

Random pictures of family

The women and Kara's parents arrived at the ceremony on a 1927 Mac Fire Truck:

Full wedding party waiting for the women

The fire truck was just one of many things that Kara and Brad had to make the day original and matching to who they are. They had the nieces and nephews as flower children and let all the kids come down in a group with Carter's pulling the wagon with the little ones (though Mateo chose to walk with him mom).  The "aisle" was a mowed path that meandered through the grass.

Walking down the aisle

They did a sand mixing ceremony--mixing dirt that came from Minnesota and sand from Martha's Vineyard. There were quite a few chuckles as they poured the sand since Kara's freshly collected beach sand was still a bit wet and did not pour as much as it fell out in clumps. Their program was a "wheel" that spun with all the information of the ceremony.  

Jill, Vonda and I got to sing "Love Can Build a Bridge" together which was extra special since the three of us rarely sing together. 

Practicing the morning of the wedding

After finishing family pictures after the ceremony, they left for the reception in the fire truck. 

The reception was held under a tent at Farm Neck Golf Club. (We all kept mixing up the names of the places for the ceremony and the reception since they both had neck in their names. At one point Paul even said that he thought it was taking place at Fish Neck Sanctuary...) The evening was full of fun, laughter, conversation, dancing and more laughter. We stayed until 11:00 which was a treat for our boys who were very tired by that time. (All the late nights may have played a role in their getting sick on our trip home, but I think it was worth it.)

Random pix from the reception

When we got to our car, we found Marley patiently waiting for the reception to end.

Brad & Kara's Wedding, Part I

Traveling to and from Martha's Vineyard may have had its mishaps, but the time on the island was filled with moment after moment of fun. A large chunk of our family stayed in Kara's grandma's house which is over 100 years old and full of character. The cousins (minus Katelyn) all bunked in one room upstairs, and we took our showers outside.

"Please let me out, too!"

We got the chance to see a little bit of the island in the midst of wedding excitement. Paul went sailing on the Atlantic Ocean with the guys on the black boat on the right (front one) in this picture:

The ceremony took place on Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary so we were thankful for beautiful weather the entire weekend. The rehearsal was very low-key:

The wedding party's view of the ceremony

The wedding party

Brad explaining something and Mom thinking about it

Jill and I got to walk with Dad (notice Jill's wedding binder)

Afterwards we enjoyed a lovely dinner at a pub in downtown Edgartown, and the kids enjoyed hanging out with each other, eating lots of random and very delicious appetizers, and staying up late.

Traveling--Lapka Style

...is not something many people probably ever want to do especially in light of our most recent adventures.  I realize that a lot of you have already heard our story, but I need to write it down so I do not forget how stress-filled our travels to and from (especially) Brad and Kara's wedding really was.

Leading up to Brad and Kara's wedding, we were busily preparing not only for our weekend there (packing and making sure we had everything for the wedding) but also for being away from our classrooms here. Needless to say, the days leading up to our trip were a bit busy. To make things more interesting, I was sick the two days before we left, and we also had our annual back to school night with our students' parents the night before we left.

Once we got that out of our way, we were set to enjoy the weekend ahead, but first we had to get to the island. Our early morning flight left San Diego on Wednesday morning without a hitch, and we met up with Jill and Mark and the girls in Dallas where we all took the same flight to Boston. We landed about 45 minutes later than scheduled which put us behind just a bit to make it to the ferry. We knew that the final ferry to the island left at 9:45 so we had about 2 3/4 hours to get our rental car and get to the ferry which should have been no problem.  By the time we grabbed some dinner and got our cars, we were down to about two hours to make the 1 1/2 hour drive to the ferry place. 

For regular people this would not have been an issue, but for us it was a challenge. We got lost getting out of Boston and for the life of us could not get out of the city. We ended up losing Jill and Mark who made it out without as many hitches as us. Every time we wanted to turn, it was a street on which we couldn't turn or the light would not allow it. We actually made it to the heart of Boston and saw City Hall; any other day it would have been great to see Boston but not this day.  Needless to say we were a little stressed by the time we made it on the freeway out of the city and knew that we were going to be pushing it to make that night's final ferry.  

Poor Brad. He had taken the ferry from the island to meet up with us and help us take the ferry over. We kept calling him to give him our ETA, and he kept assuring us that if we made it before they closed the doors at 9:45 and there was room, we could take that night's ferry (and avoid having to rent a hotel that evening on the mainland). To add to Brad's stress of trying to coordinate everything, we also found out from Brad that Brian, Gina, Dad, Vicki and Marlys (my aunt) had missed their connection and were flying in about the time that we headed out of Boston. (Vonda and her kids were there waiting for them since they were riding in the rental cars with them.) Poor Brad was also getting phone calls from them and Jill with questions about what we were going to do if we did not make it. 

At 9:39 we pulled into what our Garmin identified as the steamship authority, but we could not find the ferry. We could see a parking lot (mainly empty) that said "Do not Enter" but could not figure out where to go. We were on the phone with Brad and realized that we could see him across the way which was a relief since we knew we were in the right place, but we still were not on the ferry. Over the next few minutes, we flew across the parking lot to the ticket booth only to be told that we were supposed to be back over by the ferry office to get our tickets since we had a reservation. In the meantime, three mini vans pulled into the lot--they happened to be Dad's, Brian's, and Jill's vans. We all were like crazy people hopping out of vans, running into the ticket office to get our tickets and flying onto the ferry. We were the last vehicle to pull into the ferry at 9:44, and we watched the ferry folks close the door to the ferry as we turned off our car's engine. We could not have timed it any closer. (I am glad we made it because I think the stress of our arrival and departure might have been enough to put poor Brad over the top. Bless Trevor's, his best man, heart for being with him and helping him survive through all the craziness that was our family that evening.)

Proof of our time--my watch is four minutes fast

The door closing while Paul turns off the car and catches his breath

I am not sure what all the other people on the ferry thought as all four of our car's/van's car doors opened and 19 people started spilling out and yelling and greeting and hugging each other. There were a lot of tired looking people in their cars giving us the look.  That was our first day of travel. Fortunately, the rest of the weekend on the Vineyard was peaceful and full of fun times with each other.  More on that in a different post.

Let the people spill from the vehicles

The cousins upstairs in the ferry

On Saturday everybody (Brad and Kara included) headed back to Boston to stay overnight and catch all our flights the next day. We caravanned back to Boston after spending some time at the beach. We stopped in Plymouth for dinner and saw Plymouth Rock and the replica of the Mayflower. (FYI, do not make a special trip to see the rock--it is quite disappointing in the fact that it is tiny and not a gigantic outcropping of rock like I had always imagined.)

Tiny Plymouth Rock

The Mayflower (replica)

Eventually we all made it to our hotel despite the rain and the fact that one car went to the wrong hotel. Everybody got off to the airport bright and early the next day without any issues. We faced our first snafu of this leg of our trip when we found out that our flight into Newark was delayed enough that we would miss our connection. (This was after going through security, eating lunch and waiting at our gate for over an hour.) Despite trying everything, we could not get home that day. The best the airline could do was get us in the next morning. After Paul put up a fuss about this, he convinced them to put us up in a hotel near the airport which was a blessing. The boys enjoyed the pool while Paul and I made our sub plans for Monday and got them sent off to our principals. We packed up everything before bed and headed to bed at a decent time since we knew we would be up to leave for the airport at 5:00 a.m.

Calling the airline

Watching tv before dinner

 One of the other things the airline did for us was give us food vouchers. Since we had $120 to spend, we splurged at the hotel and then finished the rest of it at the airport the next day.

Isaac's partially eaten hamburger

Caleb's hotdog wouldn't stay on the bun much to his dismay

Paul and my steak dinner remains

With the oyster crackers which were the boys' favorite and our special milk

At 4:15, the fire alarms went off and an emergency was reported in the hotel so we had to evacuate. I know you are not supposed to do this, but we took all our stuff with us. I could just see our sitting out on the street for hours and missing our flight as a result and was not about to let that happen. We stood out on the street for 15 minutes and watched the firefighters going in and out of the hotel. By the time they let us go back in, we decided to just brush our teeth and head to the airport a little early. Thankfully, we did that because security was unbelievable (think LAX security--worse than that). We did get through with a little cushion of time and made our flight.

With all our stuff before leaving the hotel

In Denver as we walked off the plane, I was grabbing our booster seats that had been gate checked. I heard Isaac say, "Mom, I don't feel so good," turned around and saw his ashen face, and watched him start to puke. I was trying to catch it in my newspaper and was yelling into the plane at the flight attendants (who were thanking people as they walked off the plane) for a barf bag. There we stood on the jet way with Isaac puking into a garbage bag while everybody deplaned and walked past him. Lovely! We got some food into his system while we waited for our next flight (which was delayed, of course), and he seemed to be better. On the next flight he sat with Paul. Ten minutes into the flight our flight attendant came up and tapped me on the shoulder to tell me that my "other son was sick in the bathroom" so I headed back to the bathroom to help Paul and Isaac. 

We finally made it to San Diego about one and a half hours after we were scheduled to land. A friend picked us up in our vehicle, thankfully, since Isaac threw up one more time on the way home. Unfortunately, Caleb saw it this time which inspired him to throw up as well. 

We finally pulled into our garage at 3:45 p.m.--14 1/2 hours after the fire alarms woke us up that morning. The boys were in bed within 30 minutes and were asleep before 4:45. They slept through the night until 6:00 a.m. with no more mishaps.

We heard more than one person tell us (after hearing this story) that they would never travel with us. I agree...not so sure that I ever want to fly with us again, either.  And that is not our worst flying experience. If you are up for another saga, see this post.