Caught in the rain

To start my return to being a stay at home mom off on good note I decided to take the girls to the zoo. I checked the weather and had my stepdad check the radar. It was a 40% chance of rain and looked to be just briefly passing through. I decided to stick to the plan and continue on to the zoo. If my mom was ok with the possibility of getting a little wet than we would go. She was fine with it and the thought of a little bit of sprinkling on a hot day sounded quite lovely. Also because of the call for rain the zoo would most likely not be crowded. Sounds like a great family day to me, a zoo trip to a crowd less zoo with a light drizzle and plenty of puddles to jump in. Well the day did not go that way. On the way to the zoo it started to rain and we got lost in all the construction on the interstate. Not that big of deal to me or my mom who are directionally challenged. This happens to us often.

She is horrible with directions and when I get to talking I don't pay attention to where I'm going, I just drive. When we finally got to the zoo the rain had stopped and now the humidity was in full swing. How is it that I've lived in Tennessee for the majority of my life now and I still don't think about the humidity? We make our way into the zoo and go straight to look at the sea horses. Miss Kylie has her zoo adventure planned out from the sea horses to the flamingos. After the sea horses we had to feed the birds. Kylie and I argued for about 10 minutes over me calling the birds lorikeets. 

Me: Kylie do you want to feed the lorikeets?

Kylie: the birds MOM! 

Me: yes the birds are called lorikeets 

Kylie: I want to feed the birds not the keets!!!!

Me: lorikeets are the birds. That's the kind of bird they are.

Kylie: I want to feed the birds!!!

And so on. We went into the room and bought the nectar. I let my mom hold it not realizing she was afraid of birds. Oops! Hahaha! Three lorikeets landed on her, two on her arm who started fighting over the nectar and one on her shoulder who was extremely interested in her hair. Kylie insisted on holding the nectar. A bird landed on her arm and she instantly dropped her arm as if someone dropped a 50 pound brick on it. The bird started acting like it was going to bite her. She panicked, I panicked. 

Me: are you ok Kylie?

Kylie: I think so. I want to get out of here.

So we exited the lorikeet exhibit. I read that there was going to be an animal encounter at the historic house. Sounded like fun. Ends up they cancelled it, which should have been a sign. We walked to the beautiful garden they have behind the house. It was kind of nice walking around in the light rain, felt like we were back in the old time. The rain started to get harder and now the wind was kicking in. The nice light rain had turned into hard cold rain and the light breeze was now freezing us. I opened our umbrella to try to keep Ellie dry until we could make it to the car. My mom, the three girls and I only make it half way out of the historical farm and the bottom falls out of the sky. The dark clouds roll in along with the thunder and lightning. Well there goes the umbrella, it's no longer safe to use. We decide we will stand under a covering until the rain let up. Not the best idea, the wind picked up even more. With all five of us soaked from the rain, that wind was almost unbearable. Along with the stronger wind came harder rain and more thunder. My mom and I decided to just suck it up and make it to the car which was a good 10-15 minute walk away. The rain was coming down so hard it felt like little needles hitting our skin. All three girls were screaming. Poor Ellie was having a hard time catching her breath. I was trying my hardest to cover her up and run without slipping. Miss Kylie is screaming "the storm is coming! It's getting closer!" Lila is crying "I cold!" 

We finally make it out of the zoo and into the parking lot which is now covered in about 4 inches of water that has it's own current. We are having to run up hill, against the rushing water, against the wind and rain. My mom is trying to push the stroller against the force of the rushing water. I'm trying to cover Ellie from the rain and dragging Kylie behind me. I'm wearing two different color flip flops (the girls hide my shoes and these were the only pair I could find) which were now slinging water up the back of my legs. We have to cross over a grass median that both the stroller and one of my shoes got sucked into. So now I'm running with only one shoe on and I can't see anything cause my glasses are completely covered in water. I look over at my mom and we just die laughing. I'm laughing so hard I am having to try my hardest to not pee myself. We go to walk across a cross walk and a zoo van comes speeding out of the back gate almost hitting Kylie, Ellie and I going about 30. Thankfully I stopped to look both ways and was holding Kylie's hand. Finally we are at the car and I find my keys. We get the girls in the van. I push the button to close the back hatch and run to get in the front seat. The back hatch hit the stroller and opened back up. I run back out into the pouring rain to close it. Climb back into my seat. I look over at my mom. She is dripping wet and looks exhausted. I look in the mirror. My hair is stuck to my forehead, I have water dripping from my chin and my glasses are covered in water and fogged up. We hear Lila from the back seat, "POTTY NOW!" Mom and I look at eachother and we lose it. We laughed so hard we were both crying. 

What started as a nice day at the zoo changed into the worse zoo experience ever, yet a memory we will all cherish forever. I would not change our zoo day at all. We were given a chance to show the girls that things may not always go as planned but you can always find the joy and humor in it. 

Just another potty adventure

Went and picked more strawberries with the girls and my mom yesterday. So as we pull in both girls see the porta potty. I don't know about everyone else but my kids are obsessed with the bathroom everywhere we go. There are so many potties to explore. Just one of the many joys of motherhood, helping your toddler hover over a huge variety of toilets and diseases. So the sight of this big orange porta potty just screamed adventure. As soon as I put the van in park the intense urge to go potty hit. The chanting started from the back seat, "potty potty potty! I have to go potty!" "Me too! Me too!" As you can imagine I was thrilled at the fact that I had to take two little girls into a tiny germ infested box. Thankfully my mom came along to pick strawberries with us and stayed at the car with Ellie while we went on our newest potty adventure. We come up to this disgusting cube of feces and I open the door, "wow! How cool!" Umm?! I think not crazy child! They both walk in and I prop the heaviest string loaded door open with my back. This way we don't die of heat exhaustion and air pollution. Lila was first, but let me tell you she was not the first of the day. You get an amazing view when you are leaned over holding a child over the hole that is this toilet. It's a front row seat the the beautiful view and smell. Now it is Kylie's turn I have her proped up in the seat and I'm fighting with Lila to stop touching the urinal that is in there. Why is there a urinal in there? I have no idea. So I reach up to get some hand sanitizer with one hand and I'm holding on to Kylie with the other. As I go to push the despenser a wasp comes bulting out and attached itself to my arm. I of course freak out let go of Kylie and start slapping my arm to try to detach this angry little monster. It gets a few shots in before shouting out the door. Thankfully I had proped the door open. Can you imagine if I had closed and locked the door? That angry wasp would have been trapped in that tiny container with me and my two girls. Also Kylie thankfully had great balance. Which is not a normal characteristic of hers. God was watching out for us and she did not fall down into the hole of death. As my arm began to swell I had so much to be thankful for. This crazy potty experience could have gone so much worse. Thank goodness my mom had Ellie, I proped the door open and Kylie had amazing balance. 

Teddy will you sing with me?

Teddy? Teddy, I'm scared! Teddy, shhh daddy might hear you. Please don't let him hurt me again. Teddy, I'm scared, why is daddy so angry? Why does he yell at me? I don't want him to hurt my mommy. Teddy please say he won't. We are so happy in the morning, like mommy  said to be. Teddy I don't understand! When daddy comes in the house smells gross. Mommy says it's sweat, dirt and alcohol. Mommy says if you smell it, go to your room and go right to bed. Mommy says daddy smells like that when he's had a bad day. She says be very quit. Teddy I try but daddy still comes in. Teddy, I'm scared! Teddy I don't like daddy like this. Teddy shh! Daddy is coming! I'm scared. Teddy will you sing with me? Sing with me please teddy sing.

Will the circle be unbroken by and by lord by and by. There's a better home awaiting in the sky lord in the sky. 

I wrote this when I was in high school as a drama assignment. Many didn't know this was actually a memory from my childhood. This old dirty teddy bear helped me through some of the hardest times in my life. 

I was discussing my future with my Aunt over the weekend. She asked if I had thought about writing a book. The thought is intimidating. I would love to share my story with people who need to hear it. People need to know that you can move on and forward with life. I fear that writing a book about my life will bring up a lot of emotions and painful memories. But I am really considering doing it.