Author: Denise

[Interlude]

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Well, that Big Trip Energy quickly turned to anxiety. As we are standing in line to get on the plane, Wes turned to me, admitting it was exactly the wrong time, and said he felt really sick. StupendousMom (trademark pending) quickly rolled out the pepto tablets, the vomit bag, baby wipes, and her own emergency jumpstart system. As we inched up toward the plane, StupendousMom proactively asked the attendent for a Sprite. The attendent said, while giving him the Sprite, that they are not allowed to fly with sick passengers and if someone is sick, they have to take them off the plane. We were seated in 3 groups of 2s, and I sent the others away so I could sit next to Wes. Dwayne does not understand my curt, one-word explanations and pointed looks, so I text him on the group chat, which prompts Piper to say (VERY) aloud, “Why are you and Wes going to get kicked off the plane?”

My death look did not paralyze her– but I think it shut her up for a bit. She wasn’t my main concern. Kyla thought I was mad at her because I didn’t let her sit next to Wes. That wasn’t my main concern either. [Book Group this is for you. Yes, yes, I’ve no more fucks to give/ My fucks have runneth dry.]

Wes waited until most were seated before vomitting into the bag. And then another bag. All while we’re pretending it’s not happening and I’m whisper-reminded him to close up the bag to keep the smell down while rubbing his back. Once he had nothing left in him, he felt great and fell asleep, leaving me holding bags of vomit until we get through the turbulence and I can crawl over my sleeping son to dispose in the bathroom.

I am done mothering for the week.

And Piper is suspiciously cheerful for not sleeping at all on the red-eye. This does not bode well. Also, I think Wes will forgo the KFC before the next flight.

But, auspiciously, JFK was easy to navigate and we left intact.

_____________

PS: Why, why, why do both JFK and KFC have F as their middle name? I think I’ve covertly shared my opinion.

PPS: If you are over age, and not my mother, I was quoting this song.

Welcome to NYC: Let me slap you around some. You’ll like it.

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I absolutely love New York. And these are the reasons, if not the evidence.

  1. The giant inflatable rat, without irony, blocking a street on a busy Tuesday morning, just blocks from Times Square.
  2. Our NY driving actually stopped at a few red lights that I was confident were mere suggestions.
  3. Getting out at the busiest intersection we could find near Times Square and let the teens get sucker-punched by the heat, humidity, noise, noise, NOISE, honking (different from the regular NOISE), the lights, the images, and the screens, screens, SCREENS. Honestly, if I didn’t have the rat picture already on my camera, I wouldn’t have even remembered him.

Dropping our bags at a local luggage mafia, we sweltered our way to Bryant Park and the New York Public Library (want actual books? go across the street to the real book library– this one’s for tourists and libio-philes, a word that may have just been coined, but you know what it means). I loved the treasure collections, including one of the 48 remaining Gutenberg Bible and Christopher Robin’s original stuffy collection. Dwayne and I floated through the entire building when we were here eight years ago, but the youngest three only really appreciated it for the air conditioning this trip.

Ta-daddy!

Juggling was being taught right outside under Patience and Fortitude’s noses. (Fun fact, those lions were originally brainstormed to be bison or beavers. Different statues may have changed reading as we know it today.) One of Dwayne’s many, many cool features is he can juggle quite competently. Piper can almost catch a ball. Wes does minimal damage when missing and Kyla can’t even try, she’s laughing so hard.

Ta-Wes

We got our first slices of NY pizza from Joe’s, and ate it while heading to Times Square, ducking into the bestest stores (M&M and Hershey–who knew they weren’t the same company??) for AC, before walking to the Empire State Building.

By then, we had more than New Yorked enough for the day, so we got our rental, and crashed until our Blue Man Group show that night. (Okay, P & A crashed and didn’t make it to the show.) Kyla volunteered to be covered in paint by the strange blue men and it was appropriately NYWeird for all of us. It’s late– I’ll try to get a video of K’s first Broadway performance later.

Big Trip Energy

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Not having learned any lessons from any experience, I am at the airport for a red-eye to NYC with hubby, 3 bio kids, and 1 kid who is so great that her parents won’t let me adopt her. Bags are stuffed, pets are sitted, itineraries fictionalized– we are off on an adventure, and I’m oddly optimistic.

Shining Chelan

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How have we not camped here before? Luckily, we have friends who drag us to all sorts of places in our respective campers. Even better, they do a truck and trailer, so once we are set up, the kids can be dropped off at the water park and the adults can go to the cideries out in the hills. I went on walks, got to take my bike out a few times, and paddleboarded to my heart’s content–even got my annual headstand on the SUP in. We’ve already made plans for next summer in Chelan.

On the way back, we stopped again at Deception Falls, and I convinced everyone but Pipes to stretch our legs on my fav northwest-flavored loop. I liked that it went from the 90s in Chelan to refreshing and cool over the Cascades.

July-ing Should be a Verb

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Our perfect plans of hosting my OR brother’s family at the cabin for the 4th of July festivities had to be fully canceled at the last minute when Dwayne, then Wes tested positive for Covid for the first time, and the girls and I lined up for our turn. It only ruined about a week of our life, but it was doubly disappointing to not spend Independence Day at the cabin for the first time in twelve years and miss out on cousin time.

So we did our best to make up for it the rest of the month. Seriously, summer in the PNW is so lovely and I’m thankful that we are still in the summers-off school routine. I enjoyed touring WWU on the way up to camping in Blaine, meeting the Issaquah Troll, and seeing my kids very happy.