Wish I had a camera

Our weekend visiting Paul in Austin could only be explained with photos. But because I am that mom who is really lame at taking photo’s (I even brought both cameras with me!) I will just try to explain all the fantastic and truly embarrassing things that happened to us in the car, at the hotel and out to eat to you here. There was no free Internet at the hotel, and I don’t pay for it on vacation. That’s how we roll. So here we go in no particular order:

• The kids and I successfully colored 15 pages for presents in the car on the way to Austin. You will be getting yours soon.
• Texas only believes in outdoor pools since its always hot here. Expect right now. So we swam in the Luke warm/old bath water hot tub. Awesome. Lu kept trying to drink it. Gross.
• Looking at the bubbles, Caleb says, “This is like the sea mom. Remember, (and he stands up at this point) And Jesus calmed the stormed!” Sure small bubbles in a hot tub is just like a raging storm at sea. I can believe that. (For some reason this is currently Caleb’s favorite Bible story. We have to read it every night after whatever other story we read. If you could shed some light on this, that would be helpful.)
• There was a woman wearing panda bear slippers on Sat. night standing outside the ballroom where the event was taking place. Already past her bedtime, Lu walked up to this woman wearing her snugly blue sleeper that was once my brothers. She bent down with her little butt sticking up and gave each bear a kiss. She then got down on all fours and gave each bear a hug. With that still not being enough she then proceeded to lay down and snuggle the bears. Holding each bear in a hand and resting her head in between them. This continued for 15 min. I’m not kidding. Kissing, hugging, snuggling. There were at least 7 people who got out their cameras and phones and documented the cuteness that was happening in that moment. I just couldn’t bear to leave to take a photo. Maybe someone will post one. The funniest part maybe where I did a play by play reenactment in my hotel room for my friend on the bed. That was probably a bad decision and glad no one had a camera for that.
• Caleb met a friend in the nasty bath water hot tub. He called him his buddy. When I said, Caleb what is your friend’s name, he simply replied, “Buddy.” He continued to call him this for the next 20 min. When buddy left, Caleb didn’t notice, and then screamed, “Mom, where is my buddy?” Clearly we need to work on Caleb’s relationship skills. I think he left because he was hurt no one cared to know his name. I also didn’t ask, but found myself referring to him as Caleb’s buddy.
• At the beginning of my session in front of 100 students, I asked everyone why they were in the session. Noah raised his hand and said, “For you mom. I want to spend time with you.” Nice. I didn’t pay him to say that. Then we were talking about love. Noah raised his hand again. Yes Noah. “Sometimes we don’t love each other…. I mean, we always love each other, but sometimes we don’t like each other right mom? You know, cause of the angry face?” Now I need to pay him to be quiet. And just so you all know, Noah has the angry face. But I guess he did learn it from somewhere. Ooops.
• During Paul’s concert on Saturday night, the kids were standing in the back watching their dad rock the stage with his guitar. Caleb was on someone’s shoulders in awe of the music. Noah was standing on a chair clapping the awkward’s kid’s clap. Seriously, he has almost no rhythm. It’s embarrassing. Andrew from Captive Free came over to dance with Noah, who they had just met, and they went crazy. Hand banging, flaying arms, booty swaying. Just craziness. The best part was Caleb’s face starring over at Noah and Andrew in complete and utter amazement. Or was it judgment? Maybe it was confusion at never seeing dance moves quite like these before. He looked speechless. He couldn’t even focus on the music he was so enthralled with what was happening next to him. I wish I had a picture of that face and those five minutes of a brother’s judgment on another brothers dance of choice.
• Noah and Caleb made some friends at the event and hosted a dance party in the back of the ballroom with glow sticks. I’m pretty sure they had no idea it was worship. They just wanted to dance in their pj’s with glow sticks to their dad’s music. Going to bed that night was a bit difficult.
* Out at a restaurant where they have a tank of live lobster, my son shouts, "Look mom they have Lobsters! They are just like sharks!" No. Not really. Who is teaching you kid?
• A teething baby doesn’t just cry because her mouth is bothering her. After hearing Lu cry for 10 min because she didn’t want a bottle, she didn’t want crackers, she didn’t want a toy, so we gave her an apple to naw on to help her teeth. Once we stopped at the gas station, Jan pulled her from car to let her walk a little. That is when we realized that Lu was trying to communicate something else to us. Let’s just say, it took both Jan and I to change her diaper, clean up the car seat and put her in Noah’s shirt since everything else was packed. And if you ever thought Lu looked like Caleb, sitting next to her while she while she wore Noah’s shirt cleared up any question I have. For a moment I was transported in time and saw my first born sitting there in the car seat. It was amazing. Big blue eyes, gorgeous long lashes on a sweet round face. And for what my daughter had to sit in for an hour, I win the worst mom in the world award. Just sayin.

The weekend was full of wonderful moments. These are just the highlights. I feel blessed that we got to take a road trip with my in-laws down to see my husband perform. My kids were great troopers on the trip down and back. We got to stay in a hotel, see old friends, and make new ones.

Now we look forward to a week at the in-laws and all the adventure that means. Then this weekend I get to speak in Dallas at a youth event about Hope. So many fun things ahead.