The first talk about girls

We've been diligently, but frustratingly, dealing with Will and discipline issues at school. The problem? In his words, "Just because they are the teachers doesn't mean I want to do what they say. I want to do what I want to do, not what they think I should be doing." He summarized all the problems, now we just have to keep at it so that eventually (hopefully sooner than later) he understands what we expect. He has been in in-school-suspension several times already in the three and a half weeks he has been in kindergarten, but yesterday they may have gotten his attention because he had to miss some of his favorite classes: PE and music.

Yesterday afternoon he sat in my lap and told me he had some questions. As we cuddled, he asked me how he could get a girl friend. I took a deep breath just to give myself a few seconds to think, then asked him if he knew what a girl friend was. Giving me the DUH-look, he explained to me, since I was too dumb to know, that it is a girl who is a friend who is more special than the other girls because [he] likes her more. Taking another contemplative breath, I added the gulp because he explained it too well for a five year old. Seriously? A girl friend? I didn't go into much detail for a few reasons: 1. I had to share this fun with Allen (much better than replaying it later,) 2. I wanted us to think through it before answering, and 3. I needed to get in the right mind-set (as in, don't giggle, he's serious). I realized that how we answered these somewhat simple questions and handled the subsequent discussion would have a huge impact on our approachability as Will got older and the questions got tougher. So, we talked for a little bit and I explained that I never had to worry about getting a girl friend, but Daddy was pretty good at it so we could all talk about it at dinner with the expert.

Dinner came way to fast, and the question came up again, but directed at Daddy. Since I had time to warn him about it, we had time to get our plan together and Allen explained that to get a girl friend, Will would need to be kind and respectful to her, her friends, her classmates, and her teacher. Nice touch, huh? The day before, Will was in in-school-suspension for spitting on another girl -- Not MY son, Will, the other one who lives with us sometimes. After we discussed the reasons that respect is so important, Will boasted that he already knew what the next step was. My mind was racing. . . "The next step to what, dear?" "To getting a girlfriend." Allen's eyebrows went up and he asked Will what the next step was. Will blushed. . . hid his face behind his hands. . . giggled. . . hid under the table. . . I forget what else. He somehow drew it into a ten-minute display of embarrassment and told us he couldn't tell us because we would laugh. When we showed him we were, in fact, serious, he continued the show so we said we could talk about it when he was ready and there was no pressure. When we tried to change the subject, he squeaked from under the table, "You can't laugh if I tell you." "Ok. We won't laugh." "Promise?" "Yes."

"I know the second step is a kiss!" he whispered as he turned a deeper shade of red, covered his face, and put his head under the table -- again. Ok. Deep breath. WHAT WOULD YOU DO??? If there is even a smirk on your face at this point in the story, there is no way I should feel guilty. . . but I couldn't help myself. . . the snicker escaped. I tried so HARD to stay serious, but he was UNDER the table!! He quickly sat up, pouted, and his eyes got puddles at the bottom as he glared at me and accused, "SEEEE?? I knew you would laugh at me. WAH!!!"

Allen saved me and we quickly explained that were weren't laughing at what he said, but the fact that he was hiding. It didn't take much to calm him down, he sat up and stated, "That's okay. I know I can trust you." Allen explained that the kiss came much later, and that was mostly the end of the conversation . . . until the kids were in bed and Allen and I could replay it. I felt horrible. I messed up. I know it. I just hope it is forgiven and doesn't cause bumps later.

When we tucked Will in that night and prayed with him like we do each night, he added an extra request to God. "God? Please, please help me get a girl friend. Amen."

Renewing Rains

The other day I wrote how the little kids and I were finding a comfortable routine. The same day I was thinking how peaceful it is at home even with three kids running around. Today, I threw all that out the window, put those kids out in the back yard and double-locked the door. I've calmed down since, but I was ready to box them up and mail them to their grandparents where I know there is always enough love to go around. By the end of the day, I was not feeling very loving toward the three youngest.

The day started as normal. . . the kids were fed, we waved goodbye to Daddy and Will, we came inside and got them dressed, just to get naked a few minutes later when they went outside to play. Remember: I'm okay with that -- that means I'm not spending hours getting mud stains out of clothes. So with the "please stay out of the muddy water" request, I set about to dealing with the loads of laundry that have been piling up while I've been getting consignable clothes cleaned. While I was changing a load, they (SURPRISE!) got muddy. By the time they are even a little bit muddy, it doesn't matter. They'll need a bath to get a little mud off, so why fight it? They played outside until lunchtime, I fed them at the picnic table, then I took them inside for a leisurely bath. We followed bath time with nap time. As I mentioned: the day started like any other day.

Then nap time came. Several times, I found three children in one bed. After a few scoldings and spankings, I went into their room and Ben had finally fallen asleep. Maddie and Jon, on the other hand, were back in the same bed, naked, and had rolled up their diapers and were seeing how far they could throw them. Scolding, spanking, start over. Not but a few minutes later, I heard the thud. . . thud . . . hehehe. . . .hehehehe again. Again, throwing the diapers at the door. Again, bare-butt spank. Again, diaper toss. Again, bare-butt spank. By then I was beyond angry, and Ben hadn't slept very long before he was awakened. Not a happy afternoon at that point.

As I finished up my tasks, those three little squirts who were supposedly playing in the adjacent playroom slipped past me and went downstairs. I heard a crash and went running to see what they were up to. Those three teamed up to get a snack, but managed to dump a nearly new can of Parmesan cheese on the dog's head. I am supposing at this point because there was a mountain of cheese on the floor and a big white cloud of it on the back of Shadow's neck. The rest was on the dog's tongue, on the kids' feet, or in the many, many little footprints all over the kitchen. I made Ben, Maddie, and Jon sit and watch me vacuum and clean all the other bottles of condiments that made it to the floor. And, of course, there was a full stick of frozen butter that had been gnawed on, but I promise the butter Ben chewed in July was thrown in the trash and this was a different one. Needless to say, I was pretty peeved when I loaded them in the car to go get Will from school, and when I returned, I was even more frustrated because I listened to Jon scream and squeal the entire 20 minutes we were gone. He actually needs a nap, whether he takes one or not.

I tried being a pleasant Mama. I spent some time going through Will's school folder letting him tell me about his projects from the day, and I found a paper about soccer. Suddenly remembering I wanted to call about karate, I rushed upstairs to google the phone number and am gone only a few moments. I came back downstairs to make the phone call, and as I'm descending, a strong smell hits me. . . hard. The weird thing was that it was a strangely fresh, clean scent. I walked a few steps and saw three sets of eyes peeking at me and heard a chorus of uh-oh's coming from the laundry room. As I approach, three pairs of legs scrambled to safety but ended up slipping and sliding through more than a gallon of bright orange "renewing rain" scented Tide liquid detergent. Um. Yeah. I cried and screamed for at least ten minutes, realized my neighbor wasn't home, so I called Allen for help. I had to leave him a message and I later found out he thought one of our pets died because of my desperate sobbing. For safety reasons, I put the three kids in the bath for the second cleaning of the day, but I didn't need soap this time since they were covered in it. I had to be careful not to get it in their eyes because they had already rubbed the orange goop into their hair. After that bath, they smelled like renewed rain, and still had a bit of a slick to their skin. Allen called as I was drying them off, I explained the situation, and he told me to put them out in the backyard and lock the door. Before you go thinking we are bad parents for doing that, please remember 1.) they get muddy and don't think anything of walking through an unlocked door to sit on the couch, 2.) I wouldn't be at the door to clean them up if I was cleaning the soap up, 3.) it had been a rough day. So from the tub to the porch they went -- nope, I didn't dry them first. Nope, I didn't dress them. Nope, not even a diaper -- Why? They just strip outside anyway.

I helplessly threw a dozen towels on the mess and still needed another couple dozen towels to clean the rest up. While I did that I called the Tide helpline for advice. . . how do I get it all cleaned up without staining things orange? How do I keep it from being sticky or slimy without filling the house with bubbles? How many towels can I wash with all the soap in it? After all, I was sopping up 60 loads-worth of soap. In the end, the "professionals" were clueless -- most people don't make such a big mess, and if they did, they certainly would not admit it. Keep in mind, this isn't a big-mouthed bottle. The kids had to push a button to slowly drain it, or they had to remove the lid and slowly pour all of it out. I'm guessing it was all of the above since it was all over the washer, all over the door, all over the cats' crate, all over the wall, all over the floor, and as you know, all over the kids. We got more towels, and more, and more. As I saturated the towels, Allen and Will took them to the driveway, hosed them off, then wrung them out. I took some of the damp towels and cleaned the floor some more, took them back out, they rinsed them. We repeated this for two hours while the triplets played in the backyard. Eventually, it started pouring rain -- real rain with the "renewing rain." Will and Allen used some soapy towels to clean the car, I used some to mop some more of the hallway, kitchen, and laundry room, then I used my Hoover Floor-mate and cleanser to vacuum and mop the soaped and cheesed places. Whew. Almost done.

Wrong. Those rascals were using the flowing downspouts in the backyard to fill up all the vessels they could find -- the Frisbee, the toy teacups, the Tonka truck, the toilet bowl. What were they doing with all the water? I had to know, so I stopped and just watched. Hmmm. Nice. Dumping it on their heads or sipping it. Lovely. Lovely. I was glad I had cleaned the potty chair and disinfected it after lunch. I don't think they used it since, but I couldn't be sure, either, so I only did cheek-kisses at bedtime. Yuck.

I also observed as they painted each other with wet chalk and dipped their heads in the mud puddle. When Ben soaked his head in the mud, he also stopped to show off to Jon and Maddie that he could blow bubbles in it. I think at that point I was in the blank-stare mode. Allen had to poke me to see if I was awake.

Thankfully, Allen was there. Thankfully, he bathed them for the THIRD time in six hours. And thankfully, I snapped pictures of some of the adventure because I'm sure one day I might just laugh at this disastrous day. While I went to pick up dinner (I wasn't about to cook after all that), Allen got a picture of the bathtub AFTER the third bath. Disgusting, but mostly purple chalk-paint with a bit of mud. At dinner, Allen mentioned that there was a bit of "lemonade" to the events. My mind turned and turned trying to figure out what he was talking about. I kept thinking that "lemonade" was a code-word for "urine" and was trying to decipher the hidden meanings to what he couldn't mention in front of the kids at dinnertime. It turned out that he meant that "we took our lemons and made lemonade" but I was such a pessimist by that point of the day. Our "lemonade" was that the car and floors got cleaned. The downsides -- the neighbors thought we were doing our laundry by hand with the hose in the driveway. My throat hurts a little bit more than it did this morning, but I'm not sure if its from the yelling and crying or if I'm getting the kids' cold. We ended up with many, many, many loads of towels that thankfully still had a little soap in them since our bottle of soap that was supposed to last 60 loads is empty. At this rate, though, we may end up with 60 loads of towels, in which case, the ad was right.

I went out for coffee with a friend tonight and was glad to get away. We still had rain showers off and on this evening, but I chuckled when I got out of the car when I got home. It turns out our driveway still has the distinct smell of "renewing rain" and I think it's probably the prettiest smelling driveway in the neighborhood.

In case you are wondering what it takes to clean up 150 ounces of liquid detergent, . . . two adults, one 5-year old, two-and-a-half-hours, 25 large bath and beach towels, 4 loads of laundry each on double rinse-and-spin cycles. Thank you so much, Allen, for coming home, doing all the laundry, and letting me get out for a few hours. I am so blessed to have you as my husband!

First Tea Party

Today was Maddie's day with me. She started out a little upset that she couldn't "stay with Mrs. Rankin," and I couldn't believe she said all that so clearly. We stopped by a jewelry store to have my ring repaired and then I asked if she wanted to go to the library or go have a tea party. Her face lit up and she asked if it could be a Princess Tea Party. When I said it could be a princess tea party, she asked if we could go get the purple princess shoes for the party, but I explained that the pink ones she already had would be perfect, so she was content. We stopped by the grocery store to pick up the "princess-perfect" lunch items and she convinced me we needed some flowers for the party, too.
When we got home, she got her pink princess shoes on, dragged the stool to the counter and watched me wash berries and cut princess-perfect circle sandwiches. She picked out blueberry-flavored tea and put the teabags in our cups. I put the kids' little table in the sunbeam in the kitchen and she set up the chairs. I pulled out a table cloth that she helped me spread, then she set the table and found a place for the flowers. As it all came together, her eyes lit up in excitement. I showed her how to put a little bit of milk and sugar in her tea and she loved that her blueberry tea turned a pretty lavender. I snapped a few pictures and we sat down and enjoyed our lovely princess tea party.
She pointed out that the tea party was only for girls and Mommy and Maddie are the girls and since it was a princess tea party, we were actually princess girls. She loved the way the spoon clinked against the teacup and the way it sang a but as she set the cup in the saucer. Each time she took a sip, she wanted to stir the spoon in the cup. We had a delightful time and I am so excited to teach her about tea parties. Next time, we might have to pull our fancy hats and beaded necklaces, as proper princesses would.

Oh, Lovely Mud. . . and they jumped in it!

Story #1: Guess What Jon: Hey, Mama! Guess what?!
Me: What, hon?
Jon: Guess what?!!
Me: What?
Jon: Hey, Mama, guess what?
Me: Jon, you actually have to tell me the "what."
Jon: What!

Story #2: The Carjacking
Yesterday the four kids were playing pretty well together. Will decided to be the "mom" and walked around with a purse and a funny (high) voice. He gathered his three "kids" to take them shopping. As hie put them in their carseats (the couch), he carefully buckled each one in and told them to sit "criss-cross applesauce." He quickly got frustrated. Although Jon and Maddie each followed his instructions, Ben was being stubborn and not sitting cross-legged like Will wanted him to. After begging, pleading, fussing, and whining, Will did what any kid would do in that situation -- came crying to me. As he was complaining, Maddie and Jon just looked at him, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ben. . . his eyes got really big, and with an excitement only that child can contain, he jumped out of his "car seat" and hopped in the "drivers seat." When Will noticed that Ben was in HIS seat, he ran at him yelling, and Ben leaned back and with all his might pushed down on the pretend gas-pedal and squealled. I wish you could have been there to see a two year old burning rubber and screeching the tires to high-tail it out of there before his "mom" got to him. At that point Will was REALLY mad because I was laughing so hard I was crying. To see the way Ben leaned back as if his "car" (the couch) was really speeding was hilarious.

Story #3: The ShovelLast evening, at dinnertime, Ben was rudely scooping food off his plate and shoving it in his mouth. Allen corrected him several times, but once I remember vividly. Allen said, "Ben, use your fork. Please don't shovel food into your mouth." With a confused look, Ben piped up "Daddy, the shovel is outside in the sandbox."

Story #4: The Shoe-loverLast Thursday was Ben's day out with me while Maddie and Jon went to Mother's Day out. On our shopping and errand-running expedition, I let him pick out a toy and he chose a small Tonka backhoe (but he calls it a tractor). On Saturday, I took Maddie and Jon to choose a toy for themselves. Jon picked a fire-engine, and Maddie chose pink Disney Princess high heels. Sunday, Maddie came to me and asked for her purple princess shoes, and I told her she chose the pink ones, not the purple ones. She confidently proclaimed, "Well, I need the purple shoes, too." That was the end of that conversations, but she made it clear she likes shoes like her mama does. This photo looks a lot like me, too -- notice how she's smiling, but trying hard not to drop the two babies.
Story #5: The Toystore
Sunday, I took Will shopping to pick out some new tennis shoes and a toy for himself (they were using gift money, I don't usually spoil my kids with toys.) As we wandered through the store, he spotted a squirt gun that claimed it would "Shoot water over 35 feet!!" As he caressed the packaging, I could see the gears in his mind moving, then he read it to me. "Wow! That's as high as our house," I told him. His eyes got big and his face lit up, "Mama! That means I could stand of the porch and shoot the babies on the swingset!" I patted his shoulder, "Yes, Will, you could, and that's why you aren't getting it." He was bummed for a few seconds until he saw the next neat thing. In the end, he chose Incredible Hulk hands and mask. Story #6: Present Day
We got through another week, but I'm not sure if we'll make it all the way through this one. We are still trying to deal with the kindergarten mood-swings after school, but the little ones and I have found a nice rhythm. They play outside all morning and I do dishes, laundry, or work on the consignment sale stuff -- all things I can do at the kitchen table while I watch them play. I talked with Will's teacher twice on the phone this week about his behavior at school, and today I was not too thrilled to get the call from the vice-principal, too. Story #7: Oh, Lovely Mud
I talked to a friend on the phone this morning, and that made the day a little more fun. While we chatted, I watched out the window as Ben, Maddie, and Jon played. . . and as they bathed themselves and each other . . . with mud. I decided a few days ago that life is easier when I don't spend my morning chasing them to make sure they stay clean. It takes much less energy to bathe them than to keep them clean. Here are some photos of our morning.
See? They shampood with mud!!
At least they took their clothes off before they got muddy. I thought "bare-back riding" meant no saddle, but Jon had another idea. . . I filled and emptied the tub three times -- three baths for EACH of the kids -- just to get all that dirt off. Now, I need to scrub the tub, too.
Right now, I am frustrated and in over my head. I don't know how to deal with Will's behavior at home or at school. Two of the triplets didn't nap today, and they woke the third, so I have four very grouchy kids right now, and that makes for a frustrated mama. Just when I felt like I had my act together, another day knocked me on my butt. It's quite discouraging, but I think I'll be okay if I can just make it to bedtime without loosing my mind. Tomorrow is another day, and we will all get to try it all again. If you pray, we could use help praying for health, wisdom, patience, and perseverence.

The first week of school

I hate going way back in my memory trying to recall all the fun, frustrating, or otherwise memorable events from the last week, but this time I kept notes. Since it’s been challenging to find time to get them on the blog, I’ve just kept a little card in the kitchen and when something happens I want to remember, I scribble it on there. So, digging way back in time to last Sunday, August 23. . . .

We got home from my parents’ house and tried to leave enough time to get a few things accomplished before school started for Will on Monday. When we got home, we found an invitation to a neighborhood scavenger hunt to say good-bye to summer, and Will and I decided to go. Allen offered to take Jon to the grocery store to pick up a few things, and Ben and Will decided they were going to go, too. Maddie got upset until I told her I would paint her toes while the guys were gone – she got excited. Allen told Ben he could only go if he put on shoes, and that was too much trouble. The next thing I knew, Ben and Will decided to stay home, but I still had promised Maddie a pedicure (a challenge with boys around who don’t understand why they can’t have pink toenails.) When Allen and Jon got home, Maddie proudly showed off her freshly painted toes and fingers then came to me and sweetly said, “Mama, thank you for pinking my toes.”

Will and I went to the scavenger hunt and I had a blast. On the way, we passed a few kids cleaning up from a lemonade-seashell stand. Will asked me when he could have a lemonade stand, and I told him when he was a little older and could be by the street. We proceeded to have a conversation about how many years of school he had and he counted them off “Kindergarten, First grade, Second grade, Third. . . Eleventh grade, Twelfth grade, and then I go to college, right?” Right. “So, Mama, when I’m done with college, will you let me sell lemonade, then?”

There are few things as fun as running with a handful of kindergarteners and their moms all the way to the other end of the neighborhood to snap some photos of a blue crayon, a book with a bear on it, and a banana. Somehow, the kindergarten team got back first and won, so that made it even more fun for Will. While we were on vacation, Will started showering every night on his own. He’s had enough of little kid bath-time. On our way home that evening, we were talking about what time he would shower and be in bed. He told me, “Since I shower everyday by myself like you and Daddy, you need to get me shave cream and some ‘odorant.” (Sigh) I’m really not ready for him to grow up so quickly. I explained that I would get him a shaving kit when he had a mustache. After dinner, books, and a shower, Allen and I tucked Will in to bed, but he got up many times. The last time I said, “Honey, I know you are excited about school, but you need sleep.” His response? “I’m not excited. I’m anxious.”

Last week, the first week of school, was different for us. The first few mornings, Ben, Maddie, and Jon were upset that Will was going to school. Jon had several pouting tantrums demanding, “Jon wants school now, too!” The little ones enjoyed waving good-bye from the porch as Allen drove Will to school. I am pretty sure Will is enjoying school, but he doesn’t like to talk about it. Our few glimpses of what his day is like have happened in the evenings when he lines the little ones up on the couch or floor and pretends he is the teacher or coach. We can tell from the things he says and does as the “teacher” what is going on at school, and he seems to like it a lot. The afternoons have been challenging because I’ve had to wake the little ones up to go pick Will up. They have been confused as to where Daddy was. They saw him take Will to school and can’t understand why we aren’t picking him up from school, too. Everyday last week, Will came home and had one long tantrum. Screaming, kicking, wailing, hitting, whatever. The things that set him off? EVERYTHING, but the two I remember most, “WAHHHH!! Ben is breathing too loud!!!” and “YOU JUST DON”T ACT LIKE YOU LOVE ME ANYMORE WHEN YOU TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!!” I think he is still adjusting from Allen and me being away, he is adjusting to a new schedule, and he keeps his act together at school so long, that when he gets to the comfortable zone (home) he loses control. It’s a lot for a little guy to deal with and I have bit my tongue and maintained a cool temper, but it has been a challenge. Hopefully, with time, things will calm down.

On Thursday, there was a kindergarten parent-teacher meeting. Not the one-on-one kind, but the type of meeting where the teachers go over what they plan to do with the kids and lessons and what they need from parents. His teacher also went over the list of sight words the kids are supposed to learn this year, with 10-15 words per six-week period. Allen and I gulped audibly when we saw the lists "a, an, the, . . . first, second, third." Afterward we waited and talked to her about the list and explained that Will is now reading levels-1, 2, and 3 chapter books to himself before bed each night, and we were concerned he would be bored with the sight words. When I was reading a Magic Treehouse book the other night and couldn't stop coughing, I handed the book to Will and he kept reading, not even slowing down to sound out words anymore. She was excited to learn about his reading and promised to work with us to keep him challenged with different word lists. I left the meeting confident that she would do her best to make sure he enjoyed learning.

Here we are at Tuesday of week two, and yesterday afternoon was less stressful for all of us. The little ones and I are finding a groove, of sorts. When Daddy and Will leave in the morning, we all stand on the porch waving and shouting "good-bye" loud enough to wake any neighbors that haven't already risen. We go back inside to finish breakfast and get dressed then we play school at the table -- reading, coloring, playing with toys. When I say we are "playing school" they are so excited to do what Will is doing that I don't think they notice it is what we always did. This week the weather has been beautiful, and they've spent the last two mornings outside until lunchtime. I've worked on things in the kitchen, keeping an eye on them while I fold laundry, do dishes, work on dinner, or tag things for the consignment sale this month. We've moved lunch from noon to 11:30 so they can eat and get a full nap in before it is time to go get Will. Now that we have a smooth running operation, tomorrow we throw in the first change -- MOPS ever other Wednesday and lunch with Daddy. Thursday, we start the mother's day out program for two kids each week. This week Ben will spend the day with me while Maddie and Jon get to go to "school." In a few weeks, we will add Tuesday morning Bible study to the schedule and see how that goes.

Vacation notes - Part 1

I have been going through my journal trying to decide what to type and what to just keep tucked away in case I ever want to read more. Not that there are a lot of personal things, but I scribbled away as the tour guide taught us all about history, art, politics, and more. I plan to create a scrapbook of our vacation, but this is my first attempt at narrowing down 2,637 photos and 93 pages of my travel-journal to something a bit more digestible and much less overwhelming. I am leaving a lot of the history of the places out of my text and linking to additional information in case you are interested.

ON OUR WAY:

We left the kids with my parents and Aunt Ann on Saturday, August 8th, and headed to the Dallas. After a quick lunch with Allen's parents, his dad dropped us off at the airport and we began the long flight.

Our first leg of the flight was from Dallas to Frankfurt, Germany, and was about 13 hours. We had a four hour layover, then another few hours on a plane to Athens. This is the Greece coastline as we approach Athens. Yes, I was getting VERY excited at this point.

We were thrilled to find all our luggage arrived with us -- an oddity for us. We got to our hotel around 6:30 pm (10:30 am, Texas-time). I told Allen I wanted to shower and lay down for just a few minutes before we found dinner. We woke up in time for our tour the next morning.

Monday, August 10th, we ate breakfast on the roof of our hotel, then set out to find the starting point for our first tour: a half day tour of Athens. Look how awake I am at 8:00 am!The bus tour was partly a drive-by-and-look-fast type tour, but we did get out to explore at a few key spots. The first stop was the Olympic stadium. This was built for the modern-day Olympics in 1895, is made completely of marble, and seats 67,000 people. It was used for the archery competition in the 2004 Olympics.

Our second stop was at the Temple of Zeus, another wonder that seems to have been plopped down in the middle of the huge metropolis of Athens. It is amazing that small parks surround the ruins all over the city, but modern marvels spring from the ground just outside the gates. Our next stop was to the Acropolis. It was packed with tourists, but no less awesome than I imagined. The Parthenon was built to be awesome, and it didn't disappoint us. Since it is under constant reconstruction, we couldn't get many pictures without the scaffolding. This is a photo taken from the Acropolis looking north over Athens. The mountain is Lycabettus and is the highest point in the city. The hotel we were staying in is on the side of the mountain. Yes, we walked. . . a lot!The tour ended at the Acropolis and we had the option of riding the bus down to the center of the city or staying to do our own thing. We chose the latter, but I was sorry I forgot my pedometer that day. . . and more importantly, my city map. Luckily we were staying at the base of the mountain, so we just made sure we headed uphill until we found our hotel.

Allen and I strolled down the Acropolis hill, passing the city walls, strolling through a bit of a forested area, and snapping photos the whole way. We found our way to a small cafe and enjoyed gyros with a view of the Acropolis. We strolled through the city happening upon small treasures. We stopped at Hadrian's Library (in ruins, but with beautiful mosaic floors partially intact.) We found the ancient agora and I was awestruck. Although the Parthenon was neat, this was the first time, Allen had to remind me to shut my mouth as my chin kept dropping. I don't completely know what it was. . . was it that in my high school Latin classes, we always studied the ancient Greek cities and looked at maps just like this place? Was it the grandeur of the reconstructed stoa with brilliant white columns and a lovely garden at the end? Was it the view from the stoa, looking out at the ancient ruins knowing that the everyday people used to live life here and seeing the beauty of the trees that are hard to find everywhere else? Was it the close up look at the statues that were displayed? Maybe it was that I could stand in one spot, see many ancient buildings and the Parthenon beyond them, everything old; then, I could pivot about 180-degrees, literally and figuratively. I would watch "old" in one direction, then turn around when I heard the metro train rushing by. Watching the modern train, I could look beyond it and see graffiti, cranes, and multi-level glass office buildings, apartments, hotels, cafes, cars and buses. . . Everything except old. I still can't identify the one thing that amazed me about the agora, but it held the "favorite spot" title for me for a few days.After we explored the agora for a good part of the afternoon, we headed toward our hotel -- uphill, all the way, remember? Along the way we went though the central market where vendors were starting to close up for the afternoon. We saw lots of fruits, nuts, olives and spices for sale. Then for some weird reason, I took the street of the meat market. What a sight -- and, I can't say I enjoyed it. Unlike our grocery stores where the meat is behind clean glass in a refrigerator, the beef, chicken, and lamb were on shelves and the butcher was in front of it with hacking away at the meats on a big bloody chopping block. Since, I watch too much TV and read too many suspense novels, this was sort of spooky to me. It didn't help that I had to hold my breath so I wouldn't smell the stench of old blood, and I had to watch where I was walking so I didn't slip on some stray raw organ. We walked about two blocks through the covered alley searching for a way out. We could've gone back the way we came, but we had already seen that, so we walked the other way. Full carcasses were hanging from hooks, but nothing was a creepy to me as the skinned lamb staring at me through dead eyes. I walked a lot faster after that. When we got to the end of that labyrinth, I breathed the clean air and burst out laughing when Allen pointed out the sign at the entrance: "Please to meet you and Meat to please you!"

As we zig-zagged though the streets, we found a place we passed on the bus tour and I was glad to revisit it for some photos. When we got up close to the neoclassical university building, we found beautiful paintings on the front that we couldn't see from the bus.Just next door, at the Academy building, we found intricate sculptures peeking down at us.

We kept climbing uphill meandering through the streets and found a pretty church and took some pictures. If you aren't aware, I love photographing churches on our travels -- the pictures have been my favorite souvenirs since I started snapping them when I was 18. This church wasn't too far from our hotel and is named for Athens' patron saint, Saint Dionysios. Just like on other churches and buildings we had seen, the paintings on the outside entryway, and the intricate details of the carvings were awesome. We made it back to the hotel and were exhausted. We probably walked over 10 miles, and since we had walked only one way, it was mostly uphill. We cleaned up, and I enjoyed coffee on our balcony while I updated my journal. We had a delightful, yet late (for us) dinner at a nearby restaurant, then went to the rooftop of the hotel to try to get photos of the acropolis at night. When we went to bed that evening, Allen commented that it was weird to be going to sleep before the markets even closed (CNN was one of the few English-speaking channels we found.)

That was our first full day in Athens. Soon I'll post photos and details about the second day, but I have to go deal with present-day life now. Since DAY 1 took me two days to write up, I hope to have the trip completely summarized by the end of September.

Eventually . . . stay tuned

What a whirlwind our life is right now. Not chaotic (yet) just busy and different. Allen and I got back to central time zone Friday evening, drove to Waco, spent the weekend re-adjusting to CST and parenting on jetlag (with the help of my parents.) We got home on Sunday afternoon and found a bit of calm that evening after Will and I ran throughout the neighborhood -- yes, we RAN since it was a speedy scavenger hunt for all the back-to-school kids. Yesterday (Monday) was Will's first day of big-kid, all-day school and I'm trying to keep things normal for Ben, Maddie, and Jon as I struggle to fill the fridge, plan menus, empty suitcases and do things to make them think they are in school, too. Luckily, Allen had one more vacation day to help the transition to reality a little easier. When Will went to school this morning, I had three sobbing toddlers -- upset that they couldn't go to school, too. So we played school. Now, I have a few quick moments to update the blog. I have a journal full of adventures in Greece and Turkey, and several quotes from the last few days when Will seems to have grown up overnight. I can't wait to share, but I'll have to. Three barking "puppies" are tired of playing GeoTrax and I'm off to play dogcatcher.