Phantom Mommy

Hahahahahaha!  Jokes on you!  This here blog entry will have NO pictures.

I just wanna talk.

About stuff.

Weird, huh?  I know.

Now, about the title of this entry.  Phantom mommies.

I'll be in the shower and I swear that I just heard one of my kids yell out, "Moooooommmmmyyyy!"

It'll be the middle of the night.  I'm laying in bed staring at the wall.  Did one of my kids just call me?

I'm sitting here typing on the computer.  Was that......

Do you see what I mean?  I'm always thinking that my kids are calling me.  And, well, they're not.  It's just my imagination or, hmmmm, maybe paranoia.  Don't know.  Even when I had the baby monitor next to my bed, I'd wake up and stare at it because I "thought I heard something".

It's weird to think that I am incontrovertibly linked to these other humans.  It's been over 7 years of this phenomenon and I still can't get over it.  A connection so deep that I am always, consistently thinking (and worrying) about them.  Even when they are in plain sight.  Even in my sleep.

Kids.  Huh.  Amazing.

Last weekend we had a friend and his family over for dinner.  We'd met Jon back in our college days through a high school friend.  Jon's a great guy, with an equally great wife and daughter, who just moved to our area because of a new job.  It was a great time.  They even brought their dog so we could experience a little "canine ownership".

Anyways, it was the first time that we had ever met the rest of the family.  There was a bit of "get to know you" conversation.  His wife asked me what I liked to do.

I had no answer.

How much does that suck?  I was literally speechless.

I eventually came up with this:  I run/shuffle for exercise, I read, I'm busy with preschool and PTA stuff.

That's it.  I should've just said, "I am lame."

I got depressed about this after the fact.  That I had nothing of interest that I do outside of kid-centralized things.

I mean, it's not like I wanted to knock her socks off with an answer like, "Well, you see, I'm training to be an astronaut in my spare time.  Flight simulators, zero G, all that jazz.  And that's just my mornings!"

She's a stay-at-home mom too.  She knows.  But, jeez, I couldn't come up with anything.

I gotta get myself some hobbies.  Preschool administration work and PTA organization can't be all I'm about.

Can it?

Oh.  Well, I am unhealthily obsessed with Disney theme parks.  And researching vacations.  Maybe that's a hobby?  Not sure.

Feeding in from my compulsive researching of vacations, I need to share this last bit.

We've got a trip coming up in November to head to Florida for a turkey dinner with GmaC/GpaC in their new digs.

I promised Huzbend no trips to Disney for a while and so we thought we would hit Universal Studios for the first time ever and possibly throw in another day trip if time permitted.

I had the idea that SeaWorld would be great.  Katie would be SO excited.  Mikey would probably like it too.  I had been there twice in my life and both times I thought that it was amazing.  One of a kind experiences and good fun offered at every turn.  Where else can you see orca whales up close?  Where else can you feed dolphins?  Sigh.  Good times.

So, I began to research.  It's kinda what I do.  I got trip planning books from the library about Universal Studios.  What to do, where to stay, where to eat, what rides are good....that stuff.  SeaWorld always seemed to be tagged on in these books.  Like an afterthought.  There was some information, but not much detail.  I needed more.

When I finished devouring those books, I went in search of some Kindle options for more information on SeaWorld.  I did a quick search on Amazon with the keyword "SeaWorld".

Some interesting things came up.

Like this gem.

"Killer in the Pool."

The information junkie in me couldn't resist.  I read it and then got really upset.

Everyone had heard about the attack on the trainer at SeaWorld in which one of the orca's had dragged her down to the bottom of the pool to her death.  It was all over the news and the informational Orlando theme park websites that I frequent (i know, i'm weird).  This article was the back story of the whale that did that deed.

Hoooolllleeeeeeee shit.

In plain words, I learned that SeaWorld sucks.

After reading that article, I was in limbo.  Do I bring my kids to this place?  It's really just like a zoo, right?  They won't be able to see and learn about all of these sea animals anywhere else.  SeaWorld kinda has a monopoly on this shit.  Sigh.  What to do?  What to do?

I've encountered this conundrum in the past.

Been to the circus lately?  Ringling, Barnum and Bailey has the same issues with their elephants.  If you go to the circus, you are bound to see PETA people and animal lovers picketing outside the stadium.  After leaving the performance, I decided to see what this was all about.  See this link here for more information on that.  And if you REALLY want in your face ugliness, there's another link.  It's called "ringlingbeatsanimals.com".  Wow.  It doesn't hold back.  That second link has a video that plays automatically.  And it's extremely disturbing.  DO NOT LET YOUR KIDS WATCH THIS.  And if you, yourself, get disturbed by images like this.  Just stop that video. Don't go there.  Ugh.

Anyways, after processing that article for a week or so, SeaWorld had dropped from my radar as other more pressing matters (again with the preschool and PTA stuff) took center stage.  I haven't thought about SeaWorld or orcas for months.

Well, I was cruising around Bing News this week and saw a head line about a new documentary film.  It was made by a Mom film maker who had recently taken her kids to SeaWorld.  She couldn't understand how a trained intelligent and supposedly happy animal could kill.  The movie is called 'Blackfish'.

Seeing the trailer for the movie brought back all of my misgivings about SeaWorld.

As much as I would love to see the delight on Katie and Mikey's faces as they watch those majestic orca whales.......I just can't do it.

But, through my depression about the captivity of these orcas a little light shines through.....

Taking SeaWorld off the docket means I have to research other day trips.  Maybe GatorLand, JFK Space Center, LegoLand?

I like researching vacations.

I wonder what I'll dig up.

The crocs are fed human remains to save on escalating funeral fees?

JFK Space Center is harboring a cell sized amoebic alien life form that will ultimately escape and begin the zombie-pocalypse?

Lego is altering the minds of our youth with their incessant gender specifications? Boys love ninjas, firefighters, police, star fighters, dragons etc. and girls love all things pony, pink and boring?

Wait.......

Fireworks! Yay!

Hello and welcome to another phototastic blog entry!

Today, we've got ice dancing!  We've got science!  We've got parades and fireworks!
AND we've got a picture of a cake!

Sounds exciting, doesn't it?

Well, let's get right down to it!

The week after school ended, Katie attended an ice skating summer camp.

No prior skating experience was necessary.  And that was good.  Because before the camp, Katie had only been on skates twice in her life.

Not being one to shy away from trying something new and making some friends at the same time, Katie wanted to attend.  She's just awesome like that.

It's performance time!!!  Katie's the one in the purple jacket and pink helmet.....

As promised, here is a picture of a cake.

Promised to the kids in reward for one week sans binky/finger sucking.

The end of June was nice.  We did nothing.

Sometimes, nothing is good.

Okay.  Maybe not nothing.

Huzbend and I went on a date.  Yummy dinner and a movie.

Saw "Man of Steel" and it was surprisingly good.

Not sure why the critics are blasting it.

AND, the best part of the movie......Superman has CHEST HAIR.

'Bout time.

While we were out having some grown up time, the kids got to hang with their favorite (and only) babysitters in the whole wide world,

Katie and Meghan.

And then we did story time and science.

Next thing we knew, it was the Fourth of July!!

Parade time.

This time the preschool did it up right and created a "float" for the Main Parade in our town.

The kiddies got to ride in style while listening to some

rockin' tunes.

Our theme was, "Our Preschool Rocks!"

And let me tell YOU, we DID rock.

The kids (and grown ups) had a great time.

Even after the parade was over, the kids were STILL rockin' out.

And then it was time for our now annual neighborhood "Informal Hotdog/Sausage Picnic Out In The Circle" followed by the "Crazy Dad Firework Show - Sponsored by Groupon".

To say the kids were wiped at the end of the day would be an understatement.

Here's Katie looking very Goth with her runny eye makeup and red hair at about 11pm.....

I NEED SLEEP.

The day after the 4th was a bust.  The kids were cranky and on each others nerves.

And, as such, were getting on OUR nerves.

I decided to take Mikey to see his first ever movie in a movie theatre.

Katie does not like movies.  Not even on our TV at home.  I asked her to go with us multiple times, but each time she gave me an emphatic, "NO."  Sigh.  Maybe someday.....

Of course, as we entered the cinema to walk to the theatre our movie was playing in, a dad brought his screaming son out of a nearby theatre.  The kid was crying and yelling, "NO!  I DON'T WANNA GO IN!!"  Gulp.

Mikey gripped my hand a little tighter after that.  But we were okay.

We went to see 'Monsters University'.

Mikey, this is uh, Mike.

Mike, meet Mikey.  Big fan.  Loved your first movie.

According to Mikey, there were only two scary parts where he had to cover his ears and hide in my chest.  Other than that, the movie was "Awesome!".

As we were leaving the theatre he asked if we could stay and watch another movie.

Yay!  Success!!