Crazy Day

So most of my blog posts are about the highlights of my life. Not today. Today I will make a little travel journal of the trip the boys and I made to Grand Rapids. Not to say that today was terrible it was just a lot of work.

It began at 10 am with a trip to the library. We picked up some DVDs to watch in the car. Our portable DVD player is broken so I carefully placed my Mac on the seat between the boys and turned on Lady and the Tramp. Within 20 minutes Alex was out cold and Aaron was not interested in the DVD. Aaron played with the front wheel of my racing chair which was right in his face because it had to go over the back seat to fit in the car.

We got to the Fredrick Meijer Gardens, woke up Alex, and ate our picnic lunch. Then we went inside to go to the gardens. We were five feet in the door and I looked up at the price. It was $12 dollars for adults and $5 for each kid. It was a little out of our price range and the boys seemed happy with the picnic and the cool building so we got in the car and headed for the children's museum. 

Part of the reason we went to Grand Rapids was for me to check out the course of the Riverbank Run to take place on Saturday. I heard it was hilly - but Oh my goodness. I had no idea. It was insane. The hills were like a mile long. So now I know that I am going to die on Saturday.

We arrived at the children's museum with a parking spot near the building (yay) and five feet in the door I realize I don't have my museum membership card. It would have been another $20 price tag if the nice man at the desk hadn't called our local museum to confirm I was an ACM member. 

We spent two busy hours at the museum. The kids loved it. When I could, I was busy on the phone trying to get ahold of a wheelchair racer in Grand Rapids who could maybe help me with my busted racing chair. We had emailed back and forth and even though I asked twice - he never gave me his address. So I had Chris on the phone stalking this guy with all the internet skills of the universe. All the while Aaron is running from me because he had a poopy diaper and he didn't want me to find out. (little does he know I can smell it across the room) 

I had to rip the boys away from the museum, but once all the crying and screaming was done we drove to the wheelchair racer's house. Aaron fell asleep in the car and once we got to the guys house things went pretty well. I talked to this amazing guy who will be doing the riverbank run for the 25th time this year, Alex watched a movie on my laptop, and Aaron slept. The great thing about meeting with this guy was he had the exact part I needed to make my chair work again and he fixed it in two seconds. I owe him a big one. 

We got in the car to drive home and the boys were FALLING APART. They had had enough. So I said "Okay, lets find a McDonalds and you can get a Happy Meal." Which is like their big treat. So we drove and drove and 1/2 hour later no McDonalds. Finally I see a sign on the freeway so we get off then it tells us the McDonalds is 7 miles down the road. (I hate it when they do that) So we drive. We get the happy meals and look inside to see what the toy is... and its a CD of some kids singing pop songs. Alex cried. All he wanted was a little toy to hold on the way home. No toy. And to make matters worse, no fork or dressing for my salad. Then as I open my parfait to eat it Alex says "Is that for me?" I don't answer "Is that for meeeee?" Still I am thinking... do I really need this or can I give it to him? "Is that for me?" "No Alex its for me." I do actually need it.  More crying from Alex. 

It was sad, then I started to run out of gas. So I pulled over and got gas. The guys at the gas station near my house always pump my gas for me. There were no kind faces at this station. I got out and pumped it. Still mad about the salad I couldn't eat. 

We drove home. We did our best to sing songs because Alex wanted to fall asleep again but I knew I would be up all night if he did. Finally we got home and we were all in one piece. My racing chair was fixed - good. I got to see the course - yikes. And now I am blogging about it all while the kids play with legos.