A crappy day, our first family road trip and a poem

5/6/13

Our first family road trip was a success...despite a crappy start!!!

Friday afternoon, after I was done with school, we packed up the girls and headed to the North Shore for a weekend with grandpa and grandma at the lake.  Though Laura successfully took Erica home to North Dakota last weekend, this was the first trip with all of us in a car!  We had planned to head up to the lake for Mother's Day weekend this coming weekend, but decided to move it up a week after seeing the forecast for the cities and realizing a weekend of showers wouldn't help us get the yard work done like we had hoped.

We planned to head out of the house around 3pm Friday afternoon.  We had hoped to quickly load the girls once I got home from school and beat the rush hour dash out of the cities on a Friday...we had hoped...

I was delayed getting out of school and ended up leaving my classroom around 3pm.  I walked in the door to Lexi's wagging tail as usual.  I got to the top of the stairs and called out for Laura.  "Oh, good, you're home...I just got sprayed!" was the response I heard from Erica's room.  I walked in to find a room full of crap!!!  Erica had indeed sprayed Laura...her arm, hand and sweatshirt was full of it.  The guard rail on the front of the changing table was pooped on, her changing pad, foot, leg, back, thighs...and every part south of the business end was brown!!!  As we started to get the next diaper out, it happened...another squirt!!!  She re-covered the changing pad before we could shield ourselves, but Laura's quick reaction had a nearby paper towel over the barrel of her poop gun and we were spared another full-scale blowout!  We waited a few seconds for any after shocks to run their course, and decided the coast was clear.  But then...yep...the rumbles started again...but luckily, it was a false alarm.  Erica either liked this near-miss for us, or found humor in the whole situation because she was smiling throughout the entire clean up process!!!  Long story short, after changing her outfit, soaking mom's sweatshirt, cleaning up the mess and packing her and Lexi up...we pulled out of the house a little before 4pm...almost an hour behind schedule!!!  Fortunately, we weren't in a rush to get anywhere...because rush hour sucked!  The Hwy 52 bridge is a mess with its construction project going on.  By the time we made it to White Bear Lake, it was 4:45 (this is typically a 20 minute drive!) we called my parents and told them not to wait dinner for us as we had originally planned. 

By Hinckley, it was time for a break.  We pulled in for a bite to eat at Taco Bell.  I ran in and ordered while Laura began feeding Erica in the car.  Lexi ate and pooped outside...I know...what a way to start a weekend?!?!  While Erica was feeding, she apparently felt the need to make room for more food, so she repeated the whole fiasco, but this time in the comfort of the front seat of Elvis (our Equinox). I tried to change her in the cargo area of the SUV, but her soaked pants didn't allow for that, so I bundled her up from the rain and raced in to Taco Bell for my first public diaper change.  Once strapped into the changing table...things went pretty well.  I threw her dirty onesie into the sink and turned the water on to pre-soak her turd-stained shirt while I began hosing her off.  After a quick change, with someone knocking on the door the whole time, I realized the sink was still running, and about to overflow because of the shirt lodged in the drain!!!  I re-wrapped Erica and left the single-stall bathroom to find some 12 year old boy waiting outside the door.  Really?!?  Really?!?!  You idiot!!!  I thought it was some 80 year old with a bad bladder needing to get in, but it was just a stupid kid...ughh!!!  So, I stumbled upon my 2nd stupid kid in 2 seconds when I asked a worker for a bag, holding Erica's wet outfit balled up in my free hand.  He proceeded to hand me a brown paper bag.  "Um...you got a plastic bag back there dude?!?!"  "Oh...eww...yea" as he made eye contact with the contents of my hands...a grunting baby and an obviously soiled outfit.  I made it to the car and we pulled out of Hinckley, some 45 minutes after we stopped.  If you know Laura and I...you're likely thinking that we'd be pissed off at how long this journey was taking us.  Typically, we make road trips in near record time with hardly any stops.  We usually make it to the lake without stopping...well, MADE it to the lake without stopping.  And we typically only stopped in Fargo for gas when heading to ND for trips home.  So this trip, now over 2 hrs old, and we were half way to Duluth...typically, a 2 hr journey in itself.

We arrived at the lake in impressively good moods for our long journey...probably because it didn't seem to take as long as it did.  My parents were excited to see us all, and proceeded to relieve us of our baby-holding duties for the night.  Lexi was thrilled to be at the lake.  She immediately raided her toy basket and pranced around the house amidst her dozen trips outside to check out her yard in the first few hours up there.  We put Erica in her pack and play inside our room and snuggled in for the night a few hours after we got up there...I should say...we snuggled in for a sleepless night.  That little girl sure is a noisy sleeper!!!  She must get it from her mom...she was full of sound effects, squirms and twitches, and an occasional fart.  We woke up for a 3am feeding and I didn't fall back asleep until after 5, though Laura was fortunately able to get back to bed sooner than that.

Saturday, dad, Laura and I headed to a gravel pit for some shooting.  Laura did awesome, as usual.  She shot my Glock and didn't like it, and didn't hit the target much.  She doesn't like the trigger pull, so she flinches and jumps before it goes off, so she doesn't like it too much.  So I asked her if she wanted to try the bigger gun, my Governor.  She was intimidated and said she would only shoot 1 shot.  I showed her how to work the revolver.  I showed her the really long and hard trigger pull, as well as the ability to cock it for a very short and light trigger pull...which she liked.  She shot the .45 revolver and hit the edge of the bullseye with the first shot from about 15 feet!!!  "That wasn't bad!" she said.  So  she shot again, doubling her expected amount of shooting she anticipated from the bigger gun.  The second shot hit dead center!!!  A few more shots of cocking it and pulling the trigger, and all 6 shots were within 4 inches of center!!!  Awesome shooting!!! I now regret showing her how to work that gun...because she is good with the biggest caliber handgun I own!!!  Dad arrived a little after we got started and then Laura took off while the boys played.  Grandma, in the meantime, enjoyed babysitting back at the lake.  The afternoon saw a visit from their neighbors, Ron and Jeannie, and sitting back and relaxing.  We had dinner and hung out for the rest of the evening.  However, before bedtime, I moved Erica's bed out of our bedroom for the night...and we slept great!!!  We were up at 2 for a feeding, and were able to get back to sleep before 3 (good timing for Erica's mid-night feedings)  Laura fed again around 5:30, and we were up around 7:30 to begin packing, feeding, and eating breakfast before heading out a little after 9am.  It was a great weekend and it was fun to have Erica up at the lake for the first time.  We'll no-doubt have many more trips up there with her in the future as she gets older.  On the way home, Erica slept the whole way.  We fed her before we walked out the door, and immediately when we walked in the door...only 3 hours between feedings...perfect timing!

Sunday afternoon, Erica and I watched the Wild's playoff game while Lexi enjoyed a beef bone on the deck and Laura hit the grocery store.  Sunday was also the first time we used the pump.  Laura did a great job feeding for Erica's first 5 weeks, so we wanted to begin getting ready for the bottles.  We have a camping trip booked in a month and we need her to be bottle-ready for that weekend.  The pump was weird for Laura, much like breast feeding itself the first few times, but she did great.  She did a bit more throughout the day today (Monday) and just moments ago, I fed Erica her first bottle.  she guzzled that first bottle. I stopped halfway through for a good burp and then let her finish the bottle.  I'll have to slow her down even more for future bottles so her tummy doesn't get as upset as it was tonight.

As the title mentioned, I have a poem to share with you.  This year in school, I've worked on the same projects as my AVID students have while they search to discover who they are as individuals.  I wrote a speech, a memoir, and now, my own, "I am" poem.  Students were given an outline of the poem with the first 2 words already given to the student, they just had to complete the sentence/line in the poem.  I shared my poem with each class after volunteers read theirs in front of their peers.  Just as I realized with the projects earlier this year...my students' life stories are always better than mine...they struggle more than I ever did, their parents were far less outstanding than mine (if they have parents), and so on.  I will forever be amazed at what kids endure at such a young age.  So, with this, I'll wrap up this post.  Thanks so much for reading my Daddy Diary and for checking in on the 3 of us.  We greatly appreciate your kind words and thoughts.  Take care!

Mr. Lemke's "I am" Poem

I am an AVID teacher
My mother would describe me as a very caring person
My friends call me when they need help or a laugh

I keep my students on their toes
I remember how my favorite teacher cared about me
I've learned to laugh if I'm going to survive each day in class
I hide my age and ninja skills to be more mysterious
I read boring history books

I shout, "Take out your Cornell Notes" and "Get ready for your binder check!"
I am an AVID teacher

I see great potential and bright futures in all of my students
I hear complaining and "that's not fair!"
I taste defeat when my students get bad grades or don't try their hardest
I feel like crying when my students cry
I think their stories will always be better than mine

I whisper, "It will be ok.  Keep your chin up!" when my students are down
I am an AVID teacher

I want all of my students to go to college and chase their dreams
I will always push my students to do their best and never settle for "good enough"
I won't ever forget any of my AVID students!
I can see myself teaching AVID forever!
I pretend it doesn't bother me when people say bad things about AVID

I sing at the top of my lungs when no one is around
I am an AVID teacher

I dream of the day when I can offer scholarships to my students
I'm afraid of some students' lack of effort
I reach for extra homework assignments often
I say I'm sorry when I'm wrong or when reality seems too harsh for a student to bear
I love my job!

I declare for the world to hear that my students are on their way to doing great things!
I am just an AVID teacher