Good Morning! It's almost 8 o'clock and I'm so ready to go to bed. 8 am that is. We came down to Phoenix yesterday, Saturday, to visit my dad in the hospital and hang out with my mom. We're staying at the Hampton Inn across from the street from the hospital, which is just perfect for seeing dad for the 15 minute increments. But I first just have to say that staying in a hotel with small children is not exactly what I would call a vacation. I need to remember this in the future when I get all ancy to take a vacation. One room hotel rooms are exhausting. This is how the night went.....kids are tired by 7pm. We try to get them into bed and asleep by 7:30, which of course means that the comment by Sam, "are you going to keep that light on?" translates to sitting in a dark hotel room until the kids fall asleep. THEN.....I wake up at 4:30am because it was too hot in the room and I was dreaming of a water mocassin snake coming to bite me (I always have nightmares about snakes when I'm hot). A half hour later Perrin starts wiggling and talking in her sleep ending with a statement about being too cold. I cover her up, which wakes her up, and then I hear, "ziiiiiiiiip". Polly Pockets were being pulled out in the dark and played with. It was only 5am and how she was going to play with her dolls in the dark I wasn't sure. By 5:30 the air-conditioning came on and Sam said, "What's that?" and so we were all up. Perrin started singing songs and I couldn't help but just lay there and think, "Noooooooo! I'm so tired!". In case you didn't know there is absolutely nothing on T.V. at 5:30am. So we went to breakfast at 6am and then came back to watch cartoons. I have a personal preference for what cartoons I like the kids to watch and most of them are on PBS. They actually have really good shows on PBS - like Sid the Science Kid. The only shows that were on PBS when I was a kid were Mr. Rogers and Electric Company, both of which I couldn't stand. All this to say, a vacation in a hotel room IS NOT A VACATION! If for no other reason than I know the kids are going to be fighting and tired in a couple of hours which makes it impossible to do anything fun like the Children's Museum or the park or....oh the many or's that are in Phoenix. If only we had gotten enough sleep. We'll see how it goes today.
So, about my dad. He's a sick guy. His heart is continuing to give him troubles and he is scheduled to have another ablation Monday. The doctor is hopeful that it will give him another shot at having a regular life, though we're all doubtful that he'll be able to do "normal" according to what has been his "normal". No more traveling for dad. I think at this point he'll be thankful to go to the movies and out for dinner. Traveling is incredibly difficult for him as it tires him out and it takes him out of his regular routine, which often means weight gain. We'd be happy to have him be able to come over for dinner or hang out time, but camping, ATVing, stress in general is all out. We'll take him as we can get him. He looks good and his mental state is pretty stable but I know it's hard for him to not be active. Growing up dad was my "do anything dad". He was the most adventurous man I have ever known - going places and doing things that most people wouldn't even think of. He's climbed Mt. Rainier, sky dived, traveled to every continent in the world, gone on Outward Bound. He and my mom rode their tandem across the United States in 3 months, a feat I can't even fathom in my life right now. I remember always having dad help us through difficult physical times, he would always take the extra weight in his pack or allow us to draft him on a long bike ride. Of course it happens to all of us, this move towards being less active and able, it's just sometimes hard to want to go on adventures with my dad and not be able to. But, at this point, I'm just happy to have him around.
Last night was a great example of being happy to have him around. Balin and I are trying to simplify our life and get rid of some of our material possesions and we needed an outside opinion on what we should do. We have a Suburban, truck, camping trailer and a Jetta. Every vehicle serves a purpose, but we don't need 3 vehicles. So I decided to ask my dad what he thought. We laid out our options and then he suggested we sell everything, buy his Jeep from him, get a mini-van and use his RV or Sportsmobile when we want to go camping. I thought it was brillant. Balin then went into visit him and thought getting rid of all our stuff was a great idea, but didn't buy the idea of a mini-van. He calls them Mini-man vans and just cannot fathom the idea of owning one. And I don't want an SUV so.....we'll sell everything except our Jetta. And the bonus of it all is that if we don't have the camping trailer, there's no need for Balin to buy a truck. Ah, the simplicity of it all. Just like the lesson of not vacationing with small children in a hotel room, there is a lesson to learn in that more stuff, land, house, children :) does not make one any happier. In fact it really does complicate one's life. I must remember these things!!!!
Best get going - I need to brush the fuzz off my teeth and go visit my dad. Ciao.
So, about my dad. He's a sick guy. His heart is continuing to give him troubles and he is scheduled to have another ablation Monday. The doctor is hopeful that it will give him another shot at having a regular life, though we're all doubtful that he'll be able to do "normal" according to what has been his "normal". No more traveling for dad. I think at this point he'll be thankful to go to the movies and out for dinner. Traveling is incredibly difficult for him as it tires him out and it takes him out of his regular routine, which often means weight gain. We'd be happy to have him be able to come over for dinner or hang out time, but camping, ATVing, stress in general is all out. We'll take him as we can get him. He looks good and his mental state is pretty stable but I know it's hard for him to not be active. Growing up dad was my "do anything dad". He was the most adventurous man I have ever known - going places and doing things that most people wouldn't even think of. He's climbed Mt. Rainier, sky dived, traveled to every continent in the world, gone on Outward Bound. He and my mom rode their tandem across the United States in 3 months, a feat I can't even fathom in my life right now. I remember always having dad help us through difficult physical times, he would always take the extra weight in his pack or allow us to draft him on a long bike ride. Of course it happens to all of us, this move towards being less active and able, it's just sometimes hard to want to go on adventures with my dad and not be able to. But, at this point, I'm just happy to have him around.
Last night was a great example of being happy to have him around. Balin and I are trying to simplify our life and get rid of some of our material possesions and we needed an outside opinion on what we should do. We have a Suburban, truck, camping trailer and a Jetta. Every vehicle serves a purpose, but we don't need 3 vehicles. So I decided to ask my dad what he thought. We laid out our options and then he suggested we sell everything, buy his Jeep from him, get a mini-van and use his RV or Sportsmobile when we want to go camping. I thought it was brillant. Balin then went into visit him and thought getting rid of all our stuff was a great idea, but didn't buy the idea of a mini-van. He calls them Mini-man vans and just cannot fathom the idea of owning one. And I don't want an SUV so.....we'll sell everything except our Jetta. And the bonus of it all is that if we don't have the camping trailer, there's no need for Balin to buy a truck. Ah, the simplicity of it all. Just like the lesson of not vacationing with small children in a hotel room, there is a lesson to learn in that more stuff, land, house, children :) does not make one any happier. In fact it really does complicate one's life. I must remember these things!!!!
Best get going - I need to brush the fuzz off my teeth and go visit my dad. Ciao.
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