time to play

My friend Linda is fighting stage four cancer. When I first talked to her about it she kept telling me how much fun she and her husband Brian have been having in this season of life, just as they discovered her cancer. She cared devotedly for her parents as they fought their own illnesses and now with an empty nest she said she and Brian were having so much fun together. They started taking long bike rides and found adventures. Linda was most bummed about the cancer because she's loving this season of playtime with her husband.

Rory and I play well. We dream even better, which I think is our form of play. Or more accurately, Rory dreams, I get excited and on board, Rory executes and I document. It's our best rhythm. But with little kids, life gets a little trickier. So when Linda was telling me about how much fun she's having with Brian I felt inspired to add some more playtime into my own marriage.

It was during the first polar vortex that we booked our plane tickets ($380 for both of us!) and planned this trip to Disney World without our kids. The plan was to play.

So that's what we did. We played and we people watched. And we ate and we talked. And to keep this blog totally real, we fought. But even that ended okay, because some fears were verbalized and then put to rest.

Rory is a way better (and very serious) Buzz Lightyear than I am (note that final score above), which made me glad to be his wife. In case we ever need to fight aliens by laser tag.

the sun and the moon

I'm about to start blogging about our trip to Disney. Rory and I left last Monday and had three awesome and full days together. Lots to share.

I'll start here with the first picture of many I took while flying to Florida. I've written about this once before, but I had forgotten this sweet truth: Even when the clouds are out, there is still a blue sky, sunny day above them. (and that white fleck in the blue? that's the moon!)

Our airplane busted through a dark and dreary Monday morning, right up into a glorious day. I was stunned. I had forgotten there is always blue sky shining. The clouds just cover it up some days.

It was a good reminder for me, and applicable to our lives in all sorts of awesome ways.

tropical pets for a cold winter

We added two animals to the grovestead. I am so glad for these two...they keep my home feeling warm and tropical even when it is cold and freezing outside.

Elsie loves the goldfish in her My First Words book. She points to them on each page and says proudly, "shhhh" So we thought we needed to get some fish of our own. When I had my niece, Mara, for an overnight I decided getting fish would be a "fun aunt" thing to do. And it was!

We named the orange and white one Scoobydoowhop from our favorite song lately from a favorite CD Slugs and Bugs. The orange one is named Jimmy. Long story, but Elmo's goldfish is named Dorothy, we have friends, Jim and Dorothy and when I suggested we named them Jim and Dorothy, Ivar started calling the other fish Jimmy. Jimmy stuck.

So meet Scoobydoowhop and Jimmy. A very happy addition to our home.

lots of laundry

It's pretty awesome when you take your kids to a going away party and your son throws up in the middle of the kitchen in front of everyone. Yep. Awesome.

It was a long, long night of the flu, sleeping mostly on the floor of Ivar's room hearing him moan, "Mom, I need you."

That was Monday night/Tuesday morning and we took it easy all day. Even cancelled plans for Wednesday.

Wednesday night Ivar started back up again. Apparently a relapse. The only perk of this round is that he learned my lingo and would tell me each time, "Mom, take this bowl. It's grody." His saying grody made me happy to know him.

 Not to be left out, Elsie woke up at one in the morning with the flu too. Thank God for Rory. I thought I was going to die.

We've been washing bedding all week, snuggling on the couch while watching tv, eating cinnamon toast and apple sauce. We're going to survive, but this was a doozy. (And so far, all friends with us on Monday are still feeling fine. Phew.)

a visit to Alison's

Friday night we went to Edina to visit Alison, our next door neighbor when we lived in Minneapolis. She had made the sweetest sign on her door to welcome us. Ivar said, "I,V,A,R! That's Ivar!" And then Alison explained what an exclamation mark means. "A line and a dot means I'm excited you're here!"

Alison moved shortly after we did, and sold her house this summer. We helped a bit and she showered us with gifts for stopping by. She gave Ivar his big boy bed, gave me a picnic table and all sorts of awesome wrapping paper and she gave Rory a huge plant and light set up so he can start his garden in March, down in the basement.

When we were there Ivar sang his latest favorite song for her, This Little Light of Mine. When it's time to hide it under a bush, Ivar covers my finger and I try to get it away. A silly little game. Then when we sing, "don't let Satan hoo it out" I try to blow on his little light. The forth verse we sang, "All around Alison's apartment." Usually we switch that one depending on where we are, (all around the neighborhood, all around the whole wide world, all around our little house...)

But since visiting Alison's, that's all we ever sing. "No, Mama! Sing Alison's Apartment! All around Alison's Apartment!"