Meet Me in St. Louis (Or Not)

Six weeks ago I had to go to St. Louis for a work meeting. I usually enjoy the trip after getting over the guilt of leaving Art and Alex and the butterflies in my stomach over flying. I get to stay in a nice hotel, learn new things, see old friends and eat good food. This trip was more of a mixed bag.

I decided the weekend before I left that I should spend extra time with Alex to make it up to him. (It was only a 3 day trip.) Alex gave a wonderful performance the afternoon before I left. He teared up and everything, sniffling when I offered to bring him a surprise, "All I want is you!" Art said it was all an act. I told him that I'd take him to school in the morning like normal and that Art would pick him up. "You won't even know I'm gone until the afternoon!" "I'll know!" he wailed. Sigh. Nothing like a load of guilt to lighten your carry-on case.

The trip out was uneventful other than a minor delay in Atlanta, which is always to be expected. It worked out in my favor, anyway. Instead of coming in an hour or so before anyone else I got there at about the same time as one of the women from Greenville, so we shared a ride into town from the airport. I'd been trying to decide if I wanted to brave the Metro or shell out for a cab. The car service was a much better choice.

Our hotel was beautiful, downtown, just a block from the Arch. (The picture of half the Arch was from my window on the 8th floor.) It was also across the street from the Dred Scott Courthouse and on the Lewis & Clark Greenway. After checking out my room, the lobby and the Starbucks inside, we headed over to the Arch. I'd been before but I picked up a few souvenirs for the guys and we contemplated the little tram that takes people up to the top of the Arch. I am not riding that high up in a tiny tin can to see a view of the city. I was quite pleased with my view from the hotel. My co-workers decided to take the tour the next morning, while I slept in.

The second night was when things went south. After a full day of cramming our heads full of information, they took us for a nice dinner at a restaurant near the hotel. Our group stopped in front of the Arch for a picture on the way. We made it back to the hotel a little after 8. I was still living on Eastern time zone hours, so I got into my PJs, got my book and proceeded to watch what I wanted to watch on TV. (Doesn't happen that often at home.)

At several places in the hallway there were signs saying that 9 pm to 8 am were "quiet time" and that guests should respect others and be quiet. Sometime around 9 I started hearing a commotion at the end of the hall. I really didn't pay that much attention. Then, a few minutes later, someone started knocking on the doors in the hall and calling out "Housekeeping!" I could not figure out what was happening, so I went to check it out. Turns out a sprinkler head had let loose and there was a wave of water about 4-6 inches high rolling down the hall towards me. I went back in my room and shut the door. Housekeeping shoved a towel in front of the door to keep the water out. I ignored them. By 9:30 I was curious enough to look out the peephole again. The people across the hall were moving out. I opened the door and asked if we had to move. The lady said no, but they would be cleaning up for hours. I went back in the room.

I looked around. All my stuff was laid out for the next day. I'd already ironed and just thought it would be an awful lot of trouble to get dressed, get packed and move. I called the front desk. I told them where I was and asked if I had to move. The girl at the front desk said if I didn't have water in the room I didn't have to, but they would move me if I wanted to. I asked how late and how loud the clean-up was going to be. She told me it might take a few hours but that it shouldn't be any louder than it was now. LIAR!!!

Here is the point at which I could have escaped and gotten an actual good night's sleep. I compare this to the moment in August 1996 when I was listening to the news while driving down the LBJ in Dallas. How long could it possibly take to remove a fallen electrical line from the highway? Stupid, stupid, stupid. If I'd just gotten off then I wouldn't have sat in 100+ degree heat until the car overheated, forcing me to drive up the shoulder (following many other idiots) and off the highway on the grass until I could get to a full-service gas station.

Anyway, I missed this opportunity as well. The clean-up and roar of wet/day vacs went out until 2:30 am. I probably could have stood the machines but the walkie-talkies, guys yelling down the hall PLUS the vacuums did me in. And, yes, I could have moved, but I just kept thinking, they'll be done any time now, or I'll be able to sleep through it any minute. Sigh. So, the next morning the buses picked us up in the lobby at 6:45 am. Yes, 6:45 am, so we could be there for our 7:15 am breakfast meeting. I was the walking dead. The only reason I made it through the noon end of our meeting was the awesome snack tables. I have no idea how much caffeine and sugar I ingested in those 5 hours. I stopped counting the cans of coke. They put out bowls of Skittles, M&Ms and Reese's Pieces and I just popped them continuously. I told the person next to me to pinch me if I nodded off during the presentations. When we finally finished I slept in the van on the way to the airport, at the airport and on the plane. Every leg of the trip out and back was crowded until the last plane from Atlanta to Greenville. For that it was a big plane and it was less than half full. I had two seats to my self and covered up with my sweater and passed out.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Art got to drop off Alex at school for the first time. Fifth graders make up a safety patrol that opens the car door for riders and helps them out if necessary. They take their job extremely seriously. I think it has something to do with the neon yellow vests they get to wear. (They have matching umbrellas, too.) It took us a while but Alex and I have the routine down. The 15 or so cars pull up in front of the school, stop, unload children, get a business-like "Have a nice day!" from the safety patrol, then move on for the next batch of cars. Art did not know this procedure. When he stopped, Alex couldn't get out of his seatbelt, so Art is turned around in his seat, trying to help. He said he heard this thunking noise against the side of the Jeep. It's the safety patrol trying to open the door, which is still locked. Art unlocks the door which is then wrenched open, and goes back to trying to free Alex. The 5th grader is glaring at them by now. Alex gets free, gets his backpack and announces to the 5th grader, "This is my dad. He's never done this before and he doesn't know how to do anything." Nothing like an ego boost first thing in the morning.

So, I didn't get the rest that I'd hoped for. I did get a cool Arch snow globe for Alex. Art probably had way more going on than he wanted. I did get a sort of reward for my hotel misery. Our great regional team sent me a massive golf umbrella (sprinkler leak - umbrella, cute, no?) and a gift certificate for a nice restaurant. I think I'll make the guys take me out for my birthday in a couple of weeks.

Mom, can the entire first grade come over?

Alex's class went along with all of the first grades on a field trip Friday. They went over to Clemson's campus to see a play. He was really excited about riding on the bus, going to the play, etc. When they left the school they turned in the same direction we go to get home. He told his teacher, "We're just one wrong turn away from my house!" I had this flash of coming home to find all of the first grade in our backyard, playing on the adventure treehouse. I mean, this is the kid who invited everyone he met between the ages of 3 and 4 to come over. Thankfully, this did not happen.

Word of the Day

Blearily - that's going to be my word for today. A combination of the time change, Monday-ness and my effort to give up soft drinks. Again. Keep your fingers crossed for me, please!

I checked the definition just to make sure I did know what it means. Indistinct, dimmed or blurred due to lack of sleep or weariness. Here's hoping that it passes and all of you have a clearer, well-rested view than me.

Hawaii, Arizona and Us

The junior member of our household (like Hawaii & Arizona) refuses to recognize the time change. I have hopes that he will over time but the past two mornings haven't been fun.

5:17 AM, Sunday - Alex is up, comes to our room. Since he is incapable of remaining still while awake, he has to leave the bed within a couple of minutes. Here he encounters another problem. When Art goes to bed at night, he puts the TV on Cartoon Network so Alex just has to turn it on when he gets up. This buys us precious minutes of sleep we would otherwise spend blearily trying to find the "right" channel in the early morning hours. Well, before 6 AM Cartoon Network is not for kids. So, I crawled out to start his Scooby Doo DVD for him. (Thank you, library, for finding a movie for him that we haven't already seen a million times!) By 9 AM he was under the covers on the couch, but he successfully resisted napping throughout the day.

5:46 AM, Monday - I hear the familiar, thump, thud, thud, thud, pad, pad, pad (hardwood to carpet). Alex climbs in on my side. "Mom, is this a day off?" "No." "Awwww." I completely understand, especially before 6 AM on a Monday morning.

At least it is Hat Day at school. This is the Spirit of Giving Week leading up to Thanksgiving. They've got big plans. It's a kind of a combination of spirit week and a food drive. Tomorrow is Crazy Sock Day (Alex has red and black argyles), then they move on to favorite sports team shirt day, Veterans Day is red, white and blue, and then Clemson orange, purple and white day for a visit by the football team. While exciting, it also means that I must actually pay attention to what TWO people wear all week. (Alex and I are the only ones I really worry about though I reserve the right to make snarky comments about Art's clothing choices and exercise occasional veto power over said choices.)

Oh, Hat Day? He's wearing a brown foam cowboy hat. Not to my taste but it was his first choice and if he loses it, it cost less than $3!

My theory: if you can drink blue Gatorade, you're not that sick.

The Curse of Captain Hook

Well, we've just wrapped up another successful Halloween season at the Holbrooks' household. For the first time in many years we decided to consolidate the two annual fetes into one. Instead of having pumpkin carving (and lasagna) one weekend, and costumes, games and a bonfire the next, we sort of jammed it all into one day. Now that the older cousins are driving, dating, etc., it's harder to corral everyone once a month much less twice. When you have to throw in their various sports schedules, dates, the Clemson football schedule, school and church events, it gets crazy. We still had a lot of fun. The weekend before Halloween 25 or so of us gathered at Art's parents'. We started at 3 with our pumpkin carving. I think I counted 12 that were sacrificed for pagan decorations. The designs ranged from traditional (ours), cartoons (Thomas for Will, Ariel for Gracie), to the way complicated skulls, cats, trees and witches. Every year I expect to hear, "You know what? I'm tired of wasting all this time with these way too detailed stencils. I'm going with triangle eyes and nose and a crooked mouth." But it never happens.

First we had a costume parade so that the kids who were so inclined could show off their suits. I brought some of the supplies for our old standby games but the gutting and carving of 12 pumpkins is really all you can in an afternoon. After our lasagna dinner and dessert overload Art made a nice bonfire for those who wanted to char some marshmallows. The cows and donkeys were intrigued at all the activity near the fence. Davy the dog was concerned and barked at the fire repeatedly before running away. The one game that we did do was the Guess the Candy jar. We now know how many candy corn will fit in a wide-mouthed quart jar. SPOILER ALERT: 337. Jenna, who is 8 and a candy connoisseur, carefully considered the jar and guessed 320. She was the closest by far. Alex guessed 1 billion. Most of the others were more in line but Jenna did very well and was happy to take home the candy.

I'm very proud of the costume. Alex was set on "pirate" more than a month ago, so I'd been planning. I bought a pattern to make the whole thing but after reviewing it I came up with a few shortcuts. Other than inspiration and measurements I really didn't use the pattern. (Anybody need a pattern for child and adult pirate costumes?) We started with a base of black pants and a white shirt. Normally I don't buy Alex anything that is white. Case in point: he wore the pirate shirt twice before staining it with something that I haven't been able to get out. Luckily the pirate vest covers it up. I decided we could sacrifice this one. Maybe I'll get him a nice sweater vest for Christmas. I'm sure that's on his list!

Anyway, as I cut out the pattern pieces for the vest and looked at the instructions I decided that this could be easier. I went to Target and bought a $3 man's red t-shirt and took the pinking shears to it. I cut off the sleeves and the collar, then cut it open down the front. After Alex tried it on I cut a few inches off the length and took up the shoulder and side seams so it was small enough. The black boots were a concern. All we had were yellow rubber rain boots (aka "superhero boots" from last year). I couldn't find any plain black ones at a price I was willing to pay. Black duck tape to the rescue! Art thoughtfully covered the boots with it and they look very authentic. The gold satin-ish sash came from leftover superhero cape fabric. Since accessories do make the pirate we finished the outfit off with his red bandanna, a pirate hat from Target and a $3 set from Wal-mart that included a plastic gold earring, an eyepatch and a sword. Oh, and the all-important hook, we picked that up at a SC Children's Theatre performance of Peter Pan. I swear, selling those in the lobby at intermission was genius. They probably made back half the cost of the play with those things.

At school Friday the kids dressed as their Favorite Storybook Character. Alex chose Captain Hook from Peter Pan. He was a little bummed about not getting to wear the whole costume - I made him leave the hat, earring, sword and boots at home - but I had visions of him leaving some critical costume component in his cubby, locked up for the weekend. For our official Halloween Day, we went to the church's Trunk or Treat. We enjoyed seeing how the cars were decorated. Alex collected another pumpkin full of loot to go with what he already had from the previous week's party and school. After we got home we waited for it to get a little darker, then went to a few neighbors' houses. Our neighborhood usually doesn't get very many trick-or-treaters. I think Alex and I were the first to show up. Our wonderful new neighbors, Mike and Raquel, were celebrating their first Halloween as newlyweds and went all out, carving pumpkins, toasting pumpkin seeds and making hot chocolate. (Alex sampled the hot chocolate. I think he was most impressed that it was made in a tea kettle that whistled.) In a move that was repeated at several houses, they decided they might not have many kids come by and gave Alex a handful of candy. Silly us! Last night marked the most trick-or-treaters we have ever had - 30! We barely made it through before scraping the bottom of the candy bucket. I told Art if we had to, we could dip into Alex's buckets. You'd have thought I offered to sell his teddy bear! Luckily, it did not come to that. We shut the light off at 8 with a couple of Kit Kats left. My neighborhood award for best costume goes to Finn from around the corner. He's 3-ish, and was a shop vac. He had a black sort of hoop skirt/R2D2 container thing on with a vacuum hose sticking out. I thought it was genius. They did write "Shop Vac" on one side for those who lacked the imagination to see their vision. Very cool.

On to the Captain's Curse - Alex is off school today and tomorrow for teacher development day. I'm taking today off to stay with him, and Art is hanging out with him tomorrow. We've all been cruddy for a few days with allergy stuff. The usual hacking, coughing and runny noses. Alex had a stomach bug a week or so ago but seemed to bounce back, until today, our day off. The day of errands and haircuts. I was pretty sure it was allergy junk but Art briefly considered Halloween overindulgence. Until we took an inventory of yesterday's menu for Alex:

Breakfast - muffin, milk
(One nibble of a bite sized Twix that he 'fessed up to and surrendered)
Lunch - part of a chicken strip, some fries, chocolate milk
Snack at Mama Sue's - brownie, milk
Snack at Trunk or Treat - Capri Sun
While trick or treating - a few sips of hot chocolate, 5 candy corn
Dinner - butter beans, macaroni, cornbread
Dessert - one Reese's peanut butter cup

So much for gorging himself on candy. He is Art's child, after all. Well, I'm off to play cards with him. He's been up since 6, watching TV and coloring. Now we are going to play War, a teacher-recommended game to reinforce numbers and math. It probably will do my math skills some good as well!