The One Where I Overschedule Our Day

You might wonder how many things can a family with four kids do in the course of one day. A good answer is probably one, considering the fact that we have two special little guys who need a lot more help than so called "typical" children. In typical ME fashion, though, I scheduled to run my first 5k ever early in the morning and then attend a Special Needs Egg hunt down in Norcross, followed by the family picnic held by that group.
So first I made my family get out of bed at 6 am on a Saturday to go do this thing with me.

I did a fairly shit job. I'm okay with that. I also never did one before and I'm with acknowledging that I'm not good at this whole running thing - yet. I don't need to be told I'm doing better than the people who didn't even show up. I may or may not be doing better than them, I don't know their story. What I know for real is that I'm a beginner at this and I wasn't counting on doing well, I was counting on finishing. So I made my family get up and watch me do a shit job but achieve a goal - I finished a 5k.
After that we went to Krystal and I ate like I had never had food before in my entire life.

It was possibly the best breakfast I ever consumed - which is completely untrue but you might have thought otherwise had you been there.

The special needs Easter Egg hunt was probably one of the best things ever for our special little guys. They held it in an enclosed baseball field - this helps out the parents with runners - and there were an amazing amount of eggs.

Charlie's MO was to run around and stuff as much candy in his mouth right there on the spot. Louis was charged with helping him actually get some into the basket.

Miles understood the drill more, he remembered, but he didn't really want to pick them up. He just wanted to step on them. To each his own, I supposed.

Julia however racked it up. Even with all three of my little kids getting FULL buckets (Louis is of course too big for such things, he says - although jumped right in to help Charlie) there was a ton of candy and eggs left on the field. The organizers REALLY out did themselves this year. Some years I've been to events where some kids got huge heaping buckets of eggs and other kids got about 6. This wasn't like that - there was MORE than enough for everyone which was so incredibly generous. I know it really meant a lot to the parents like me, the ones whose little guys normally "don't get as much" just because they don't quite understand or aren't able to participate at the same level as other children.

It's just candy and it's NOT important yet - the gesture was massive.

Afterward we went up to the shelter to enjoy the family picnic.

This pic makes me laugh - probably bcse Claire took it and couldn't see what she was shooting. She ALMOST got us!

Hot dogs and chips and wee tiny cupcakes were served and there was great rejoicing. I have to admit, by this time we'd all been up for hours and it was showing. We were getting tired. I considered suggesting the playground to the husband, did suggest it and then he looked at me like I'd lost my mind. We didn't suggest it to the children but beat a retreat to the car after we ate.

We started the drive home - and then Rita's happened. The car is still jacked up from the accident and we haven't been able to get the air conditioning fixed because everything is taking forever. So we were hot. And the car was hot. And the air was hot in the world. And Rita's was on the way home so...

Eventually we got home, and I collapsed asleep like the dead.

I don't think I was ever that tired in my entire life.

Doing lots of things sucks.

But it was totally awesome.

The One Where I Overschedule Our Day

You might wonder how many things can a family with four kids do in the course of one day. A good answer is probably one, considering the fact that we have two special little guys who need a lot more help than so called "typical" children. In typical ME fashion, though, I scheduled to run my first 5k ever early in the morning and then attend a Special Needs Egg hunt down in Norcross, followed by the family picnic held by that group.
So first I made my family get out of bed at 6 am on a Saturday to go do this thing with me.

I did a fairly shit job. I'm okay with that. I also never did one before and I'm with acknowledging that I'm not good at this whole running thing - yet. I don't need to be told I'm doing better than the people who didn't even show up. I may or may not be doing better than them, I don't know their story. What I know for real is that I'm a beginner at this and I wasn't counting on doing well, I was counting on finishing. So I made my family get up and watch me do a shit job but achieve a goal - I finished a 5k.
After that we went to Krystal and I ate like I had never had food before in my entire life.

It was possibly the best breakfast I ever consumed - which is completely untrue but you might have thought otherwise had you been there.

The special needs Easter Egg hunt was probably one of the best things ever for our special little guys. They held it in an enclosed baseball field - this helps out the parents with runners - and there were an amazing amount of eggs.

Charlie's MO was to run around and stuff as much candy in his mouth right there on the spot. Louis was charged with helping him actually get some into the basket.

Miles understood the drill more, he remembered, but he didn't really want to pick them up. He just wanted to step on them. To each his own, I supposed.

Julia however racked it up. Even with all three of my little kids getting FULL buckets (Louis is of course too big for such things, he says - although jumped right in to help Charlie) there was a ton of candy and eggs left on the field. The organizers REALLY out did themselves this year. Some years I've been to events where some kids got huge heaping buckets of eggs and other kids got about 6. This wasn't like that - there was MORE than enough for everyone which was so incredibly generous. I know it really meant a lot to the parents like me, the ones whose little guys normally "don't get as much" just because they don't quite understand or aren't able to participate at the same level as other children.

It's just candy and it's NOT important yet - the gesture was massive.

Afterward we went up to the shelter to enjoy the family picnic.

This pic makes me laugh - probably bcse Claire took it and couldn't see what she was shooting. She ALMOST got us!

Hot dogs and chips and wee tiny cupcakes were served and there was great rejoicing. I have to admit, by this time we'd all been up for hours and it was showing. We were getting tired. I considered suggesting the playground to the husband, did suggest it and then he looked at me like I'd lost my mind. We didn't suggest it to the children but beat a retreat to the car after we ate.

We started the drive home - and then Rita's happened. The car is still jacked up from the accident and we haven't been able to get the air conditioning fixed because everything is taking forever. So we were hot. And the car was hot. And the air was hot in the world. And Rita's was on the way home so...

Eventually we got home, and I collapsed asleep like the dead.

I don't think I was ever that tired in my entire life.

Doing lots of things sucks.

But it was totally awesome.

Easter Egg Hunts You Can't Find On GPS

Our day was nearly ruined. It started with rain. No back that up. It started last night when the girl said "I can't wait to see my Easter dress" and I responded "Well we're going to a farm, so I thought you'd just wear your cute flowered overalls."

Oh dear. No. That was the wrong answer. Luckily the husband had run to Walmart and I sent an emergency ACQUIRE SOME SORT OF DRESS text. He shot back some photos and I picked one and we were set.

Then Saturday arrived. The husband was full blown sick, switching places with me as the most deathly ill person in the house. He came to bed freezing and shivering and chilling, and wasn't much better when it was time to go. I loaded up the address in my phone as this Easter Egg hunt farm is up in the mountains and I didn't really remember where it was.

That was the first problem. Most places in our mountains can't seem to be properly GPS'd. I find this to be problematic. I know that there are people who crave spots the GPS doesn't know but I am not one of these. I WANT TO HAVE EVERY INCH OF THE EARTH MAPPED AND PINGING A DAMN SATTELITE. So we made a turn we didn't recognize and ended up rolling up a mountain, eventually onto a one lane road.

We'd laughed about the "last gas for 20 miles" sign except when we were halfway up the mountain with no sign of it ending and our gas light came on. The time was ticking and we were losing. We asked one then two locals. With no signal we were stuck trusting their directions - none of which were QUITE right it seemed as they kept us going mountain-ward. Eventually we circumnavigated an entire lake community, a mountain or two and our gas gauge was dropping further and further below the line.

(Photo credit - things I saw while lost)

Suddenly - I GOT SIGNAL. I made a frantic phone call to some really nice people at the farm who, despite me having no signs or landmarks for a minute or two were able to piece together where I was from the sign at a church - AND GOT US THERE right on time. Low on gas, nerves frazzles, but ON TIME.

We lined up and got ready...to GET SOME EGGS.

Miles has to wear his hood up like a Sith. I don't know why.

Louis had to help Charlie, but he didn't seem to mind, and even though he's "too big" for all of this I think he kind of likes participating. Don't tell anyone.

The hunt itself went quickly, as they do. It's a nice big field and no one seems to mind the twins, even though they're kind of big for it. I am sort of thinking maybe we'll just end up filling eggs or something ourself next year - Julia is still little enough but Miles and Charlie won't understand why they are too big. It's hard being a great big little guy.

They dont conceive of being 11. They're just little tiny guys in their own minds.

Charlie looks drunk. He is not drunk. I promise.

It's a very nice spot, however, for egg hunting and even better than that, there are other things to do there. Like, take a train ride. We may officially be getting too big to get on these little trains together.

With my husband feeling worse and worse we crammed into a little train car for a tour of the farm. It began to rain, but we were in the covered caboose with no worries, except that we were crammed into a little train car.

The oldest boy suffered the indignity of the whole thing rather well I felt.

After that we headed into the gem mine to pan for gems, and buy pretty rocks, and just look at stuff in general.

We got to swing a bit and play before it was time to head home and get Daddy to bed where he so desperately needed to be.

The twins love to swing so much, I wonder sometimes how much it would be to put in a REALLY sturdy wooden swing set like this that THEY could use for a long time. They would love it.

All this being said, we had our Easter egg hunt and the fun of the Hillside Farm once again. We survived being lost in the mountains, almost running out of gas and a rain storm that threatened our day. Eggs were obtained, joy was had, and really that was the point of it.

I've got my husband tucked back into bed sick as hell, and my kids are doing random things and I'm just relaxing and thinking about how much my mom would've liked the photos of the kids today. We would've talked about all of them, and laughed at Charlie's silly swing face, and his silly drunk face. I miss having her to share these moments with, but I'm glad I'm still making these memories with my little people.

I asked Julia what was her favorite part of the day.

She said "Everything."

I'll take it.
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Easter Egg Hunts You Can't Find On GPS

Our day was nearly ruined. It started with rain. No back that up. It started last night when the girl said "I can't wait to see my Easter dress" and I responded "Well we're going to a farm, so I thought you'd just wear your cute flowered overalls."

Oh dear. No. That was the wrong answer. Luckily the husband had run to Walmart and I sent an emergency ACQUIRE SOME SORT OF DRESS text. He shot back some photos and I picked one and we were set.

Then Saturday arrived. The husband was full blown sick, switching places with me as the most deathly ill person in the house. He came to bed freezing and shivering and chilling, and wasn't much better when it was time to go. I loaded up the address in my phone as this Easter Egg hunt farm is up in the mountains and I didn't really remember where it was.

That was the first problem. Most places in our mountains can't seem to be properly GPS'd. I find this to be problematic. I know that there are people who crave spots the GPS doesn't know but I am not one of these. I WANT TO HAVE EVERY INCH OF THE EARTH MAPPED AND PINGING A DAMN SATTELITE. So we made a turn we didn't recognize and ended up rolling up a mountain, eventually onto a one lane road.

We'd laughed about the "last gas for 20 miles" sign except when we were halfway up the mountain with no sign of it ending and our gas light came on. The time was ticking and we were losing. We asked one then two locals. With no signal we were stuck trusting their directions - none of which were QUITE right it seemed as they kept us going mountain-ward. Eventually we circumnavigated an entire lake community, a mountain or two and our gas gauge was dropping further and further below the line.

(Photo credit - things I saw while lost)

Suddenly - I GOT SIGNAL. I made a frantic phone call to some really nice people at the farm who, despite me having no signs or landmarks for a minute or two were able to piece together where I was from the sign at a church - AND GOT US THERE right on time. Low on gas, nerves frazzles, but ON TIME.

We lined up and got ready...to GET SOME EGGS.

Miles has to wear his hood up like a Sith. I don't know why.

Louis had to help Charlie, but he didn't seem to mind, and even though he's "too big" for all of this I think he kind of likes participating. Don't tell anyone.

The hunt itself went quickly, as they do. It's a nice big field and no one seems to mind the twins, even though they're kind of big for it. I am sort of thinking maybe we'll just end up filling eggs or something ourself next year - Julia is still little enough but Miles and Charlie won't understand why they are too big. It's hard being a great big little guy.

They dont conceive of being 11. They're just little tiny guys in their own minds.

Charlie looks drunk. He is not drunk. I promise.

It's a very nice spot, however, for egg hunting and even better than that, there are other things to do there. Like, take a train ride. We may officially be getting too big to get on these little trains together.

With my husband feeling worse and worse we crammed into a little train car for a tour of the farm. It began to rain, but we were in the covered caboose with no worries, except that we were crammed into a little train car.

The oldest boy suffered the indignity of the whole thing rather well I felt.

After that we headed into the gem mine to pan for gems, and buy pretty rocks, and just look at stuff in general.

We got to swing a bit and play before it was time to head home and get Daddy to bed where he so desperately needed to be.

The twins love to swing so much, I wonder sometimes how much it would be to put in a REALLY sturdy wooden swing set like this that THEY could use for a long time. They would love it.

All this being said, we had our Easter egg hunt and the fun of the Hillside Farm once again. We survived being lost in the mountains, almost running out of gas and a rain storm that threatened our day. Eggs were obtained, joy was had, and really that was the point of it.

I've got my husband tucked back into bed sick as hell, and my kids are doing random things and I'm just relaxing and thinking about how much my mom would've liked the photos of the kids today. We would've talked about all of them, and laughed at Charlie's silly swing face, and his silly drunk face. I miss having her to share these moments with, but I'm glad I'm still making these memories with my little people.

I asked Julia what was her favorite part of the day.

She said "Everything."

I'll take it.
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Easter Eggs, Goats, And Dead Yankee Jelly

Finding a place to take our big guys who are really little guys to do an Easter Egg hunt becomes more of a challenge every year. Obviously mentally they aren't 10 years old, they need to do the hunt with the little kids who need help.They won't be running around knocking kids down and grabbing all the eggs. But explaining this to the throngs of parents encouraging their kids to GET EVERY SINGLE EGG POSSIBLE is exhausting. Also, we prescribe to the Auntie Mame philosophy that enough is as good as a feast and so we do NOT encourage that behavior. We found an egg hunt up north in the mountains (practically spitting distance of Tennessee) and I admit we were really delighted.

There was a hayride, and goats to feed,and a country store and a cafe. Country people do not have a proper understanding of what a "lot" of people are. The guy next to me told me there would be a lot of people. It ended up being about 100 kids for 6000 eggs. Seriously, that was like a DREAM. It was a calm wonderful experience out there in their plowed under corn maze. It made me really happy to be there it was so positive and friendly.

There was also a gem mine and all the kids chose rocks (ok I chose some rocks too, I can't lie) and Louis panned for gems but alas we didn't find any. But it was fun regardless. And we got some cider and jellies for treats, plus some yummy fresh breads.

For lunch we went to a classic roadside attraction that I've ALWAYS wanted to go to - GOATS ON THE ROOF . It was everything I expected. A small diner with a limited menu but the food was REALLY tasty. But the real fun was to be had outside - MORE GOATS!

I am pretty sure the kids favorite part of the place was feeding the goats, you ride a bike that powers a chain to deliver your cone full of goatfeed up to the waiting goats on the roof. It was fairly ridiculous yet awesome in the way that this family loves. The twins thought it was a riot. There were other roadside attraction kind of things to sit on and ride and do there also. 

The panning pics are from the orchard. Sloppy editing Gidge! 

We decided we hadn't had enough activity, so we stopped at Tallulah Gorge on our way home. This is possibly one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in my life. I'd like to go actually without my kids, as I spent most of my time making sure they weren't plummeting to their deaths. 

None of my photos do it justice at all. It was awe inspiring. I hear you can Kayak down it once a year - I would kind of like to do that. I've been kayaking and my experience is that I'm not that good at it. So we should make that "learn to kayak and then do it." 

One small source of stress while we were there (besides the possibility of plummeting to one's death, was that there were tons of dogs. Miles has recently developed an insane and uncontrollable fear of dogs. He shrieks and screams hysterically and literally climbs up me. Dog owners look at us like we're a bit nuts. We're considering our course of action on how we get him over this - some sort of therapy obviously, but it splits the air with my child's shrieks of terror and makes it hard to relax and enjoy places sometimes. We'll get through it, just another autism hurdle to cross.

I'm kind of excited about trying the jellies we purchased, mostly the Scuppernong jelly. We bought the two because we weren't sure what the flavors were so hey why not, but that word was in my mind like I should know it.

Obviously the scuppernong arbor is where Scarlet buries the dead Yankee she shoots in GWTW. Thank goodness Laura and Melissa remembered it and told me on FB!

So, that really just makes this dead Yankee jelly now doesn't it? 

Obviously it does.