Post Vacation First Week of School Jet Lag Fun

We got back from Michigan Monday night.  The plane ride was a disaster, but luckily there were a ton of small children on our flight so we weren't the only row screeching and kicking and bumping up and down the aisles.  We even saw an old high school friend, Steve, and his wife and two sons, also coming back from visiting family in Michigan.

Tuesday morning.  4:30am.  Roman wakes up and comes into our room.  "I want to watch TV" he says in a Homer Simpson non-whisper.  I pick him up and put him in our bed, on top of Henry, the full-length body pillow that sleeps between Mike and me so I don't wake up in so much back pain I have to call in sick.  He sits still for about 10 minutes, just long enough for me to fall asleep, and then starts thrashing around.  Not a good idea.  Mike anytime between 1-10am can be surprisingly and totally evil.  He picks Roman up roughly, so he starts screaming, and heads for the kids' room.  Now both kids are screaming.  They quiet down a bit, just long enough for me to fall asleep, before Mike huffs back into our bedroom, lays down for a split second, then says, "GODDAMN IT" and grabs his pillow and blanket and huffs away.  It's nice and quiet, just long enough for me to fall asleep, and then Roman comes back into the bedroom.  Ok.  I figure that's all the sleep I'm getting.  I put on Phinneas and Ferb in the living room and get Oliver (Mike went back to lay down in or bed).  He says "poo poo Mommy!" when I pick him up, apparently because he had stuck his hand into the back of his diaper.  Now his entire left hand and my pajama top are covered in brown.  I put him in the shower with me and scrub furiously while he screams like I am drowning him.  Finally we get out and I am brushing my teeth.  He insists he needs to brush his as well, but drops the brush, so I lean down and straighten up and WHACK my head into the corner of the glass medicine cabinet.  It hurts so bad I start crying and Oliver looks at me and then starts laughing.

The only thing I could do was pick him up, put him outside the room, and lock the bathroom door and sit down and cry for a minute.  I heard Mike come get him shortly afterwards.  The rest of the day proceeds without too many events except that I lose my jacket in the Bart parking lot.  Luckily when I get back to our station I ask at the lost and found and some kind soul has turned it in.

Anyway, the trip itself was great, except for the plane ride.  The kids were ok, I guess, and nobody died so that is a plus.  But Roman was having crying fits and Oliver was just plain loud and I had a sort of panic attack or claustrophobic episode or something that would have spun out of control until I realized WTF would Mike do with two kids and a useless wife on a 4 hour flight?

It was great to see my parents, Mike's parents, all of our remaining grandmothers and a bunch of cousins and aunts and uncles.  And Roman and Oliver got to play with their cousins Jon and Mina, which they loved (although honestly Mina was probably the most excited of the bunch).  My favorite part was hanging out with my best friend Patty--once at her house one evening after the kids were asleep, watching her pack lunches; once when the two of us went out to ethiopian and ice cream one childless friday night; and once at her enormous ranch house with both of our families plus parents, when we enjoyed a late lunch, playing on the new swing set and an honest-to-god John Deere tractor ride that was the hit of the trip.  That's more times than I usually get to hang out with Patty in a year.  Plus she's coming out to Palo Alto for work next month and I am going to try to coordinate to have dinner with her that evening.

One crazy afternoon at Grandma Kwapisz's apartment.

A bit more relaxed at Grandma Janowski's house that evening.

Now we're all back to routine, except my second accounting class started this week so I'm reading a boring textbook after work every night instead of watching Call the Midwife or Orange is the New Black.  So the house of course is a disaster.  I'm gearing up for Vegan MoFo next month but I am also kind of panicking.  I haven't blogged monthly for years, much less 5 times a week, which is my goal.  Hell, I'd be happy with 3 times that include photos.  I also haven't cooked anything worthwhile for at least a month so I'm excited about getting back to that as well.  I've saved up a few great vegan things I ate in Michigan and have been putting aside some interesting-sounding tea recipes for my Tea for Tuesday posts.