Leish and I weren’t sure if a few days in Williamsburg so soon after Christmas was such a good idea. But we just got back, and in spite of the traffic and tantrums and nearly-as-cold-as-PA weather, I’m glad we went. Dale and Brenda invited us to stay with them at their time-share. In exchange for the roof over our heads and most of our meals, they got some quality time with the grandkids and a few lessons on the Wii Fit.

On our drive down Sunday, I had the bright idea of visiting the National Museum of Natural History, which Delton seemed to enjoy so much a couple of years ago. This time Julia was old enough to take in the exhibits, and she especially liked the Hall of Mammals. It was really crowded, however, and we didn’t have the stamina to make it through every space (sorry, Hall of Geology), let alone move on to the Museum of American History as was my original plan. Guess DC deserves its own overnight trip at some point. What should have been a 2.5 hour trip from DC to Williamsburg turned into four hours on I-95. (I should make a point here to thank my lovely wife for giving up a bit of her sanity by doing most of the driving.)

I have no idea what this is.

We spent Monday morning just vegging before making a brief shopping trip to Barnes & Noble. Both kids took long naps in the afternoon, so we felt well-prepared for Busch Gardens Christmastown that evening. This was the last evening for this event, so attendance was light, which made for a much more enjoyable experience than BG on Memorial Day weekend. It’s interesting that I’ve only been to this park in weather that was below 40° and over 90°. (We found that poor Julia’s little toes were ice cold when we got back to the room.) I was impressed with all the lights and decorations, and the Sesame Street and O, Tannenbaum shows alone were probably worth the price of admission. Aleisha got her photos of the kids with the “real” Santa. Plus, being the last day, the candy shops had everything priced at 75% off. I was also happy to finally experience Curse of DarKastle without waiting an hour in line.

Note to self: crop out the stroller.

My favorite part of this evening—of all things—was the $5 I blew on six chances at the frog flipping game. I normally steer the kids away from carnival games since a) I never win and b) they cost too damn much. But, since we’d paid nothing for our tickets (thanks, Jane & Jim) and Delton had been (mostly) patient about our l-o-o-o-ng hike to the kiddie rides (seriously, Busch Gardens, your park layout sucks), I was happy to cave in this time. He got such a kick out of us all taking turns at this stupid game, it barely mattered that we didn’t win the Santa-hatted Scooby Doo. He looked so happy that the game operator even gave us an extra frog.

Speaking of frogs, on Tuesday we planned to see The Princess and the Frog. Julia was looking forward to it, but Delton convinced Ana and Pap-Pap to take him to see the new Chipmunks movie instead. I think this was probably for the best, since neither kid had the other to feed their fidgety energy to (parents of more than one preschooler know what I mean). In fact, Julia sat quietly the whole time, only occasionally flopping herself into some weird position in her booster seat (but always keeping her eyes on the screen). I sensed that she needed a break about half-way through, but a trip to get some popcorn was enough to get the ants out of her pants.

Being a Pixar guy myself, I was pleasantly surprised that the film had a well-written and well-executed story. And, while Randy Newman’s songs aren’t all that catchy, they were a perfect fit. This film has convinced me that Disney really needs to stop all its ridiculous, excessive marketing of its princess characters. It’s a shame that the character in this movie, Tiana, will get shoehorned in with the rest of the lot as the token black girl (much like Jasmine, Mulan and Pocahontas). All the princess crap out there seems to dumb these heroines down to their hair and skin color and costumes, making it all too easy to forget the stories and character traits that make them distinctive. In other words, looks trump actions—not a message I want my princess to absorb.

Tuesday night, Dale made us reservations for Shields Tavern in Colonial Williamsburg. I had the dumb idea of going a bit early, thinking there might be something to see or do while we waited. Well, what we saw was poorly lit (but nicely decorated) buildings, and what we did was freeze our asses off. Understandably, the kids were on the verge of a meltdown when our 7:15 reservation arrived. But, we persevered, and somehow enjoyed a lovely meal. The food was great, but the service was not what I expected. The waitress seemed put-off whenever we asked for something (coffee was, apparently, not part of our pre-paid meal), and the look on her face led me to believe that we would be thrown out should our kids step too far out of line.

Julia demonstrates the proper etiquette for buttering rolls.

All in all, a fun trip that gave us a new perspective on Williamsburg—a much colder one! See more photos on Facebook.

Today, as we were riding the elevator up to the preschool, it opened on the first floor of the adult daycare and a young woman got in. After she got off on her second floor, Delton turns to me and says, “Dad, I wish you were that sweet girl. She was pretty.”

Had a great time in Easton this weekend. The kids were (mostly) on their best behavior, and we were shocked to see them holding hands as they walked down the aisle as ring bearer and flower girl (although, they bore neither rings nor flowers, much to Delton’s confusion). Aleisha played the part of a gorgeous bridesmaid and I that of co-best man.

Get a Room

See lots more pics on Facebook.

Two minor snafus: Delton had to go #2 after walking down the aisle and the father of the groom was the one to take him. This meant he missed the first ten minutes of his son’s ceremony. Also, I made a hasty decision to leave the reception early in order to stave off any meltdowns. I figured once they were asleep, I’d get someone to watch them so Leish and I could return for the end of the reception (we were staying at the same hotel). Well, that didn’t go as planned, but at least Aleisha and I got to bed at a decent hour for once!

Delton amused himself during the reception by taking photos with our camera. This one is my favorite:

Julia Watching

Props to Tyler and Kaitlyn, whose toasts were much better than mine in spite of me having notes! Not sure what I actually said, but here’s what I wrote down:

When Jeremy and Erin first told us about their wedding date, I was a little leery of having one more thing to worry about in the middle of December. But today was beautiful and the bride and groom look radiant. And with Christmas only one week away, today is a perfect reminder that marriage is a gift. It comes all wrapped up in this beautiful package, but there are a lot of little pieces and putting it together will take some work. It’s one of those gifts you have to share, with each other, but in doing so you will grow closer together and that bond will bring you much joy.

Tonight, after our Christmas Party, Julia wanted to wear her tutu to put on a little show for her grandparents. We proudly present:

Delton was going to join her, but then it seems he got a little stage fright and stayed on the steps. Did you know a male ballet dancer is called a ballerino?

See some pics from the party on Facebook.

We had yet to watch the last movie we picked up from the lbirary, A Muppet Christmas Carol, so Aleisha declared tonight movie night. After supper, we helped the kids set up a snack stand on a tray in front of the TV. Delton prepared the menu board:

(Those last two are water and juice.)

As we were watching the scene where Scrooge sees his younger self and his wanna-be fiancee, who just happened to be wearing a long-sleeved dress and bonnet, Delton asked, “Are these people Amish?”

On Saturday we got together with some friends and their kids at Pam’s house. Julia spent a lot of time playing with Ashlyn’s Disney Princess make-up table. Some would say too much:

Some photos from last week’s tree trimming. Glad we picked it up when the weather was so nice.

Delton lends a hand after cutting down our tree at Hunt's Tree Farm.

Aleisha and Julia on the hay ride.

Delton got a little freaked out on my shoulders, so Julia had to take over.

The end result. Aleisha has a special gift (and the patience) for getting the lights just right.

As The Office was winding down tonight, I noticed Delton’s foot peeking behind the railing of our stairs. If he doesn’t fall asleep right away, he looks at his books for a while, then sneaks out of his room and sits on the steps. We almost always know he’s there, and a stern, “Delton, go to bed” is usually enough to send him back.

Since we already tried that once or twice tonight, I moved on to step 2, which involves marshaling him back to his bed and sometimes laying with him for a few minutes. Usually, my head + pillow = instant sleep, but since I wanted to watch 3o Rock, I tried to keep my eyes open.

Silhouetted by the dim light coming through his cracked door, I noticed he was making gestures with his hands in the air and mumbling something. I start copying him to see if I can figure out what the heck he’s doing, and this somehow morphed into an impromptu game of rock-paper-scissors.

I showed this to him and Julia some weeks ago, but in explaining the rules again tonight, I stumbled on an important lesson. Because he was waiting for me to throw first, I told him we had to make our choice at the same time: “Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose.”

As I begin to ponder the profoundness of that statement, he pulls up the covers and turns his back to me in the darkness. “Dad, let’s just go to sleep now.”

Sometimes I win.

I tried to vote with a two- and four-year old under tow this evening. It wasn’t pretty. I had to entice Delton to enter the polling place (the ambulance association at East Donegal Township’s municipal building) by showing him the basket of candy at the registration table. Then, we waited about five minutes in line, which was apparently enough time for both kids to climb up on a stool and grab a ruler from a pencil jar and pull on a string of lights decorating a bulletin board.

The cavernous ambulance bay amplified the kid’s voices, surely annoying everyone inside. I opted for the paper ballot, thinking it would be faster. All it got me was a shaky voting stand made more unstable by one child crawling underneath and another grabbing the top. In the end, my votes for school board were not accepted because one of the responses strayed outside the box. The poll worker said he could void that section or I could re-vote. Seeing as I was already about to strangle the kids, I chose to get the hell out of there. (I didn’t really know any of the school board candidates anyway, so perhaps this was God’s way of preventing me from making the wrong choices.)

Aleisha’s dad was waiting at the house when we got back. In spite of his earlier inattention, Delton somehow managed to pick up and pass on to Dale my earlier explanation about Donegal’s high school referendum. “We were voting to raise money for a new school, Pappy.” I see now that this did not pass, which is disappointing (it’s the second such referendum to levy taxes for some badly needed school construction) but not surprising. Wonder if the current school’s trailers will still be there in ten years when Delton starts?

A conversation this afternoon with Delton:

D:  “Mommy I love you!”

M:  “I love you too!”

D:  “Mommy, will you love me forever?”

M:  “Yes, Delton I will love you forever and ever and ever.”

D:  “Will you love me when you die?”

M;  “Yes, I will love you when I die”  (Very morbid at this point)

D:  “Mom, when I get older I’ll take my kids to see your grave – that will be fun”  (Lost it at that point)

M:  “I don’t think that will be fun.  Wouldn’t you be sad?”

D:  “Yes, but I still love you”

Out of the mouths of babes.