Back from Back East

We're back from Erie and still have most of the family still talking to us so - SUCCESS! It was beautiful there, I'd forgotten how green and blue and flowery everything is there right on the lake. My kids swam in Lake Erie, saw Perry's Monument and walked around the public dock. My kids rode the Comet at Waldameer, the same roller coaster I rode when I was a kid, my parents rode as kids and my grandparents rode as kids and that's pretty darn cool. New this year, the park added a new roller coaster to mimic one that existed when the park opened in 1896. It crosses over the road that goes out to the peninsula. As a kid I never went out to the peninsula without being reminded of the coaster that used to go over the road, neither did my parents, and neither did their parents. My great grandparents rode that roller coaster when they were kids.

After Erie we drove out to see Niagara Falls. The kids were impressed by the falls, loved the Maid of the Mist and had a great time visiting with their cousins while there. We saw an amazing rainbow when the setting sun hit the mist of the horseshoe falls just right, won $140 in the Casino when we traded some babysitting with my sister, and walked in the warm summer rain by the falls at night where Brian was able to make a giant shadow puppet on the face of the falls (or so he says.) And the best part for me were the notes Gwen wrote on the plane ride home. This one is a picture of the snow globe she chose as a souvenir.

Reunions...

We leave tomorrow for our trip to Erie, Pa to attend our O'Hara family reunion. My parents are going. My sister with her husband and kids are going. Almost all my aunts and uncles and cousins are going. And I get to see my Grandma Mary and my Great Aunt Marge. Who knows who less we may get to see? There may even be nuns involved. Party, party, party!

Afterward, my sister and I (with our immediate family firmly attached) will be heading to Niagara Falls for a little extended family detox session and a ride on the Maid of the Mist. Whoo hoo!

It's bound to be an exciting week, but cross your fingers though. With a family like mine there's no telling what might happen. If we all make it back without being disowned I'll rate it as a success, and trust me, we've come back before having failed in that particular endeavor. Wish us luck!

Old Friends

I knew a girl when I was 13 who was obsessed with Indiana Jones. Not to be confused with the actor Harrison Ford, but seriously hung up on the character Indiana Jones. She also thought Macaroni and Cheese was Satanic and often dreamed of Indiana Jones saving her from heaping vats of creamy orange elbow noodles. OK, She was more than a little wierd, but she was 16 when I was 13. She actually talked to me and everything and I thought she just totally rocked. When I heard about the new Indiana Jones movie coming out I couldn't help but think of her doing a happy dance somewhere. She's probably way over her Indy obsession, but I bet she couldn't help but buy a ticket and go.

Whaaa!

Early Wednesday morning, and by early I mean 3am, I woke from a horrible nightmare. This in itself is nothing new. I typically expect a 3am insomniac wake up call about once or twice a month. I think its just stress, but this particular Wednesday was just a little bit extra freaky.

The dream wasn't really all that scary. In it, I walked into one of my 3rd grade classes to teach music but the teach informed me I was late. I came at the wrong time. I couldn't make up the class and in the dream, she was pissed off. In the dream, the shock of it slammed into my gut - I let my kids down. The ones who hate school and look forward to the little tiny bit of music they get each week. Oh, the looks on their faces.......I woke up in a cold sweat, panting like I'd run a race.

Then I laughed because seriously, I would never let these kids down. I know my schedule, and the teacher...she's the nicest and the sweetest of all 8 classes I teach in. Really, she would understand and let me reschedule. So I lay in bed and waited until 5:30am for sleep to come.

In the morning, I told my kids about my funny scary dream and how it woke me up as I dropped them off at school. We laughed about it and I forgot all about it.

Until that afternoon when I walked into that classroom and lived out the reality. Oh my God, it was exactly the same!! The icy teacher stare, the sad little kid faces, the impossibility of rescheduling....I showed up at the end time instead of the start time. No class today! Stupid, stupid!!

And it slammed into me like a load of bricks. Why didn't I double check the time?? Did I just dream this would happen this morning?? Why didn't I take it more seriously??

But really, how many of your dreams come true?? Definitely not mine - thank god - as I occasionally have some seriously scary freaky dreams that wake me at 3am. What are the chances really that this one would come true?? And now on top of feeling like the lowest worm for letting my kids down, I feel like a total nut job too.

What's up with me....

I think I've gone completely mental. I seem to misplace everything.

I currently teach 8 classes a week for the music for minors program and I've to date forget ten something in every class, but one: my sunglasses, my purse, my keys, my jacket, my lyrics chart, one maraca, and my CDs. It's gotten to where the ladies in the school office just give me all the lost and found items as they're almost always mine. And today the school secretary gave me this.....

And if it would actually work, I'd do it myself. Has anyone seen my brain??

Back to it, 2008.

Well, the holidays are over and Drew and Gwen went back to school today. Waaa! I loved having them home and sleeping in and lazing around with the rain pounding on the house. I played a lot of Wii, read a lot of books, and danced my kids around to Supercalifragulisticexpealidocious . But now I'm dancing a different tune and I'm back to Wakeupgetdressedhomeworktimegetyourshoeson. Blech! It would normally make me want to crawl under the covers and never come out until Spring Break except I do have two exciting things coming up in January, our family ski weekend and the start of this year's school play - "The Made Adventures of Mr. Toad." Yeehaw! Let's do this thing.