Are You Kidding Me?

Since we are down to the last few days of freedom before I have to go back to work, I planned on some fun things this past weekend. I put on the calender a few weeks ago "Theme Park". I told Josh that I didn't care what the weather was like or which theme park we went to but damn it, I want to go to a theme park. It is one of the perks that we are fortunate to enjoy living in Orlando. Not to mention that we have the HOOK UPS!!! (Minor tangent: We haven't had to pay to go to a theme park in years. My brother works at Busch Gardens so we have Sea World/Busch Garden annual passes and his girlfriend got us Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure passes for free. We also go to Disney for free with our friends who used to work there. But since they don't any more, we lost that hook up. Oh well. Thankfully, Abigail is not really into the House of Mouse)

We decided on Sea World since it was more toddler friendly and closest to us. We woke up in the morning and had a relaxing morning getting everything ready to go. I was having problems getting Abby to put her shoes on her feet by herself (because helping her would actually make her more irritated) so I told her we were going somewhere special. She looked at me inquisitively and still wouldn't put on the shoes. I simply said "Would you like to go to Sea World?" She looked up at me to make sure I wasn't joking and immediately started jumping up and down shouting "Sea World! Sea World!". The shoes got on in 3 seconds.

After Madeline's breakfast, we loaded up the double stroller, Bjorn, diaper bag, water juice and milk (because Abigail has to have one in each hand...we are teaching her double fisting early) in the car and headed for Sea World. Once we got there, unloaded the car and put a healthy dose of sunblock on everyone, we headed in. After going through the gates and the employees trying their best to corral anyone they can into a posed group shot so you can have a souvenir picture of your day at Sea World for $19.95, we walked past Sea World's newest roller coaster, Manta. I am NOT a fan of any roller coaster but since I know Josh is, I always will wait patiently for him to ride the ride...as long as the wait isn't unreasonable. We walked by Manta and the ride wait time was 20 minutes. Perfect! Usually he can get on sooner because he is a single rider. There is always at least one empty seat on the coaster. I told him to go ahead and I will wait with the girls.

As we waited under the coaster to catch Josh, Madeline started to fuss. She is not a fan of the car seat especially when she is not in motion. It is a great thing that the car seat unhooks from the car to the stroller without unbuckling but poses problems for my kid if we stop moving. So I took her out and decided to hold her while Abigail was waiting patiently for Daddy. 10 minutes...15 minutes..."Mommy, potty!". Okay, let's go. I grab the diaper bag, Madeline and Abigail and head for the bathroom. I get the potty seat out, get Abigail's pants off and lifted her on the toilet with one hand because Maddy was in the other hand. We do everything and even though it is a bit of a juggle (struggle) we head back to the coaster where we hear "Manta is experiencing temporary difficulties. Stay in line because the wait is short". Josh calls me and says he is still in line and is going to wait. Okay. We will sit and wait. I break out the snacks and Maddy decides she needs to eat. Well, there I am sitting on the curb at Sea World with the stroller in front of me and a blanket draped over Madeline so I can nurse her. Three minutes go by and Abby said "Mommy, potty!" I asked her if she can hold it because I am convinced that she doesn't really have to go but she did have a lot to drink in the car on the way over. She tells me she can't hold it and starts to walk back to the bathroom. I interrupt Maddy's mid morning snack, strap her into the Bjorn and head over to the bathroom. On the way over there, Abigail trips and starts crying. So here I am holding her, holding Madeline, holding the diaper bag and getting to the bathroom. I put her down Abby plays with everything we walk by. Ummm. Potty? I get everything out, put her on the potty and she says "No potty!" Are you kidding me? Unfortunately if she doesn't want to go, she will not go. I ask her nicely to go because, after all, I schlepped EVERYTHING over there to go. Nope. No luck. Great...we walk back to Manta and I hear "Manta is experiencing technical difficulties." Notice there wasn't any "stay in line because you are going to ride soon." Lovely. As I got back to the stroller, Josh is walking towards us because Manta was broken. The look on my face sort of said it all. In my head it said "40 minutes, 2 kids, 2 potty breaks, 5 minutes of nursing, screaming baby because she is hungry and you didn't even get to go on the damn ride...here take a kid and where can we get a beer."

I finished feeding Madeline and thankfully we had a fabulous time the rest of the day. It was also the start of their Halloween Spooktacular so we had loads of candy. I just fear the next time Josh asks if I want to go to Sea World I will simply say "Are you kidding me?"

Footnote: There were MANY opportunities for Josh to get on the coaster because every car that went by had at least one open seat. But Josh decided to wait for the front of the line since that is the best seat and the line wasn't that long. However, only FOUR people can ride in the front per car. I am down there waiting with two kids and he decides to wait in the longer line? Are you kidding me? Yup. He got an earful for that one.

Footnote 2: Don't even ask about the new Dolphins hat I got him and the chlorine.