Sunday, February 6, 2011

Everywhere But Here (Otherwise Known As a Much Needed Weekend Away)

This is my friend Lisa from martial arts class, and I. We
are battle warriors. We like kung fu fighting, but then, I guess
everyone likes kung fu fighting (hu! Ha!)

I found a cute guy on the ice. He reminded me of a penguin.
I'm keeping him.

If I had some better skates, I could have done a few tricks,
but as it was my feet were on the verge of blistering when
I was done. Damn rental skates!

This was Lisa's first time ice skating. And this is how much she liked it.

Robert and I hadn't seen each other since the wedding. There
was a lot to update each other on, and for Lisa to learn
about her new circle of friends. So we settled in for some
much needed girl time.

Robert's had some rough times breaking in his new school.
We sympathized with him, and reminded him that what
counts is that he's got good friends to support him
no matter what.

He then went on to imitate someone we all know who looks
for drama absolutely everywhere they go. It really helped
to add some comedy into a tough situation. Total divas!!

We spent an evening in a lovely hotel, with a jacuzzi,
and we stayed up until 6 am. I love my friends!

I had an epic breakfast at Ihop. They have a new french
toast called Cinn-a-stax, which tastes a lot like cinnamon
rolls. Ohhh, it was good.

This is supposed to be Lisa and I demonstrating our rock-climbing
skills. Not our 'cop-a-feel' pose.

Hey, look! Two hotties! That's how we roll. Broseph!

As I was starting to climb, I heard the belayer yell that he had
a knot in the rope. I had to come back down while he worked it
out. So I really climbed that wall more than anyone else!

Lisa on her descent from reaching the very top of the rock
wall! It had to be over 20 feet.

I don't know if I've ever mentioned, but Robert loves me.

This was an awesome group! We had the best party
so far in 2011!!

After rock climbing, we went to my favorite restaurant
ever, Hu Hot. It's a Mongolian Grill. Lisa and I both
felt like it was our birthday, we'd had such fun!!

It's finally here!!! My beautiful Android tablet. And it works
amazingly! It's like a computer, phone, ipod and gameboy
all in one!!! <3>

6 comments:

Stealth Jew said...

I am in love with your Superman shirt. My older son would kill for that.

I read your story on your mum's blog Way Back When when it was still available. I have an oldest daughter as well, and because we're Orthodox Jews, we're hoping for a large family (she is four and her brothers are two and infant). We're also homeschooling.

As the oldest daughter of a large family, do you think that there is a way that I can shelter her from falling into an overly responsible, caretaker role? She obviously adores her brothers and loves to hold the baby and help me (such as it is -- four-year-olds are more play than help).

Anne said...

Yaynesss! Looks like lots of fun! I LOVE HuHot too!!

Yay for good friends ;) I wish I had more good friends around where I live!

Angel Renee said...

Stealth Jew,

Thanks! I am in love with that shirt as well. :)

When I was little, I loved to help as well. I think as long as they enjoy helping out, it won't even be considered work. In my case, I had no choice. My mom was so busy with the home business in between work, and my step dad was so obsessive about having a perfectly clean house, that the responsibility fell to me.

Some friends I grew up around developed a system where each of the older children helped the younger children for, say, the morning, while mom got much needed schooling and cleaning done. Then the kids had their personal chores, and were free to delegate their free time around that. When the kids got older, she would give them small allowances for anything they did that was more than their usual share of chores.

I guess there are a lot of ways to moniter how much responsibility is falling to the older children. I think you'll be able to tell if your daughter becomes overworked. My mom said she noticed how I lost my interest in playing, and became a very quiet child who only worked.

Good luck to you and enjoy the kids! They are at my favorite stage right now.

Stealth Jew said...

Angel, thanks for your thoughts. Right now I'm noticing that while she's happy to play with the baby, she's just as happy to run off with her friends or go play alone when he stops holding her interest -- that's probably a sign that she's not parentified as well.

I know I could never run a home business, home school, and raise a bunch of kids, even though my husband is happy to live with mess. In Orthodox Judaism, once you get to three kids, everyone expects you to get cleaning help; large families often have a full-time nanny.

Angel Renee said...

Man, I wish we could have had a cleaning lady or a nanny! We could have used them! :p

If I chose to have more than 2 or 3 kids, I think I would make them my entire career. That way I wouldn't totally overwhelm myself.

kds in south FL said...

hi, I've commented before but don't know how to get on your feed or whatever, where I'm alerted to new posts.

I really connect with your story but as a 46 year old mom, with an 11 year old only child, I think your mom is so very troubled. Email me if you want.

kds