The weekend was absolutely amazing. I wish I could find a stronger word to describe it because that doesn’t even do it justice. On Friday night, my sister had a bon fire. We went over after dinner our jammies. She had a lot of other kids and friends there too. We ate so many s’mores. It was ridiculous. We had a great time and stayed over there until 9pm, which is late for us, especially on a Friday night after being at work and school all day. Emerson was extremely sleeping, so we went home. He fell asleep in the car, so I plopped him right into bed-chocolate face and all!
On Saturday, Emerson slept FOREVER. I swear, it was pushing 8am and the dude was still in bed. It was nice for me though. We didn’t really have plans for the day at that point either, so there was no set wake-up time. When he did wake up, I made breakfast (peanut butter and banana stuffed French toast), then I was able to work out, while he played. It was nice being able to do that. I’ve never tried before. He thought it was HILARIOUS watching me jump around though. We lounged around for most of the day. Finally, we made plans with my sister and nephew to take the kids to the Bic mac Museum, then an indoor jungle gym place afterwards. The Big Mac Museum is just a glorified McDonalds with an awesome play place The kids ate and played for about an hour, then we headed up to Seabase. They had a blast! I had a panic attack at one point though. Emerson climbed up into some tubes and I lost him for about 10 min. These tubes intertwine all around and it becomes extremely difficult to track, or see where the heck your kid is. I had to recruit my nephew to climb up to find him. Luckily, he was able to spot him pretty quickly. After that happened, I didn’t allow him to explore without my nephew trailing behind. I wouldn’t have been that concerned, but some of the tubes drop into slides that allow the kiddos to exit the entire play area. For all I knew, he was running around freely. Major mom moment there! After Seabase, we went home and relaxed for the remainder of the night. I let Emerson stay up until well after 8pm. Why not?
On Sunday, he slept until after 8am again. This was perfect for me. We had a big day planned at Kennywood (amusement park), so I knew he wouldn’t get a nap in at all. I got our bags packed (extra clothes, shoes, snacks, umbrella, etc), then got myself all ready. By the time he woke up, I had everything organized. It didn’t take me as long as it sounds, I swear. We had breakfast (eggs, bacon, fruit, and blueberry pancakes), then hung around the house until it was time to leave. The weather was on the chilly side with a major threat of rain, so we dressed accordingly. After a quick stop at K-mart, we headed over to pick my sister and nephew up. Everyone was so excited! We headed out to the park for a day of fun.
The lines were so short because the rain held a lot of people off. The park was closed to the public for my work picnic, so that made it even better. I was able to walk right up to a ride and put Emerson right on. We only had to wait for a few rides, and he did very well! No major meltdowns at all, which is what I feared. He isn’t the most patient kid around. The rain never came! It sputtered a few times on and off, but we never even had to break out our umbrellas. It was perfect. Emerson’s face was pure joy every time I put him on any ride. It was so cute! I’ll post a few pictures and videos for you all to see. My sister and nephew had a great time too. We did have a slight moment of panic when Emerson lost one of his brand-new shoes. I was not happy about this. We searched all over for it, then finally found it on top of a fence post. Someone must have seen it and put it up. Thank God! I just bought these shoes last week! Anyway, we had extra just in case because the rides do indicate that riders need to have shoes. I’m not sure how strict they are on that rule, but we didn’t want to find out either. We stayed for 5 hours and were completely worn out by the time we left. It was a great time and I am glad we went. Emerson conked out on the way home for a small bit, but I woke him up for a snack, bath, then bed-time.
My parents didn’t come with us to Kennywood though they were supposed to. My mom’s sister is in the hospital and in very bad shape. I honestly don’t know that she will make it through this time, but I am remaining optimistic. She has congestive heart failure from smoking. She came down with pneumonia and bronchitis, but didn’t go to the doctor. She waited so long, that she almost died at home. Anyway, she is in the hospital now on a ventilator. They are trying to slowly bring her off of it with no such luck. My mom will be down there again today, so I’m sure she will provide an update at some point. I really wish my mom would stop smoking. This has killed my gram (her mom), my aunt’s husband (the one who is in the hospital now), and now it has my aunt. I don’t know why people continue to smoke. I HATE it. My mom will not listen to me though. I told her she is going to make us go through this with her one day. Why would she want to do that to us?! I am hoping after the dust settles with my aunt, I can really discuss it with her. It isn’t appropriate right now to continue harping on her while her sister is sick. I’ll wait, but I am really just over watching her continue to have a general disregard for herself and her family. Say some extra prayers for my aunt, please. She always seems to find a way to turn these things around. She beat cancer before and has been down and out several other times too. She is far too young to lose her life and I know it would absolutely wreck my mother and my aunt’s children. (she has 7 kids and dozens upon dozens of grandchildren and great grandchildren). My mom’s sister was basically her mother growing up, so I know it feels like my mom is losing another mom. I feel so bad. I am absolutely awful with these situations though. My sister is better with the emotional stuff than I am. My mind darts to the logistics, planning, next steps, being there as support etc. I can’t help it. That is just the way that I cope with things. I am not overly showy with how I feel, especially in these instances. It’s unfortunate too because I know I come off as being insensitive when I’m not bawling my eyes out, when I am just super uncomfortable. I usually am a good shoulder though, so I try to be the strong one, so others can mourn/deal with the situation. I like being that person because it allows me to be able to disguise how I feel to put other’s feelings at the forefront. That sounds terrible, but if being the strong one and rock is the worst thing, then I’ll take it.
Alright, guys. I hope you all have a great week.
