So last week the kids and I drove out to my parents' house in Alabama. They spent a few days with their Mamaw and Paw while I had to travel somewhere. I spent the first night at my parents' house with the kids.
Neela and Olive wanted to go outside and explore the woods. The weather felt wonderful, so of course I agreed. It started off like a regular outside adventure: picking flowers, finding giant rocks, discovering little bugs and "aminals", etc. Little did I know, we were about to discover the neatest find ever!!
As we went a little deeper into the woods behind my parents house, we found this old abandoned and weather damaged shed.
Of course, being explorers we had to check it out. I walked Olive back to the house before we started exploring. It seemed like a big kid adventure (nails, thorns, etc.). So it was just me and Neela; we were both super excited to start digging around.
(the inside of the building)
As we started to dig around, we soon discovered that this old building was full of random, neat objects from the 1980's. We dug around for awhile and found some super neat stuff, but it was all extremely weather damaged.
(We found a ton of vintage Barbie's, a Dreamhouse, and several old Barbie cars)
(Piles of old Matchbox Cars)
Digging up those old toys was super fun, but besides the Matchbox cars they were way too ruined to play with or enjoy. However, as we were walking out, Neela noticed two boxes that were sealed shut. We both freaked out from excitement. It was seriously so exciting. The neatest part was they were so heavy and we had no clue what was inside of them. So after quite a few minutes of digging and prying I was about to drag them out of the old building.
Neela wanted to open them right then, but I convinced her that we (meaning Seth) should carry (drag) them back to the house. hahaha. So we did. They were extremely heavy and super well built. Anyways, once we reached the house, Neela ran inside and got the kids for the big unveiling of what was in our two surprise treasure boxes. We hadn't even peaked inside of them until this moment, so I took a video of them being opened. (It's super short but so neat).
So fun!
I honestly can't even imagine how excited they were. I mean as an adult and finding boxes of unopened toys I was beside myself. Can you even imagine being a kid and finding wooden "treasure chests" full of vintage unopened toys?!?!
Here's close ups at some of the things we found in the boxes...
There was also an old journal (no name) with some old flyers of concerts,
some killer shades, and some 45 records.
The other neat part was the we found some real "not live" grenades at the bottom of the box. Then we noticed the box was labeled "USA DOD" and "Special Fireworks". hahahaha. Again, don't worry they are not live.
It was seriously one of my favorite events ever! We still have the boxes and are using them in Titus's room to keep his toys in. :D
The past few days I have been dealing with something that
stinks. Kidney Stones. I get calcium
stones and never really figured out why I get them (I don’t drink much soda or tea;
mostly I drink water and a cup of coffee in the morning). I have been getting
them since high school. They are extremely painful at various times until they
pass.
My last kidney stone. I didn't catch the ones I passed this time.
The kids and I went to visit with my Uncle Jim, Aunt Kim,
and my cousins Lindsey, Parker, Thomas, and William. While we were visiting, I
felt my back start to hurt. Usually, that’s the first sign they are coming on;
however, I do have back pain a lot so it’s never easy to spot. Anyways, we were
visiting and I got in the car to leave I felt it get a little more severe. By
the time I got home, I was covered in sweat, had chills, and was vomiting, so I
knew it was a stone(s). I normally just take Flomax, pain
medication, and nausea medicine until they pass. I went inside and found out I
was out of all three. I called my urologist’s office, and they agreed to see me
(even though they don’t do walk in appointments). By the time I drove to Dr.
Chiangs office (my urologist), I couldn’t stand or walk without extreme pain.
The kids were so worried and confused why dad was just laying in the parking
lot and yelling in agony. They were so sweet to help me up and assist me
walking into the dr’s office.
They are always so well behaved in places. We sat in various
waiting rooms for about 2 hours until I was seen.
They brought in some toys they got from my uncle, aunt, and cousins.
Seriously, they are so adaptable and well mannered. I couldn't be prouder.
My friend called after we had been there for quite some time, picked
up the kids, fed them dinner. It was a life saver. When I went to pick up
the kids after seeing the Dr. and I kind of collapsed in their driveway , so I hobbled into my friends’ house and just
spent the night on their couch. They helped me care for the kids and took the
best care of me that night. The next morning I was able to drive us home.
The past few days I haven't really able to do much besides
just sit on the couch or sit in the bathtub. I want to take a moment to give a
big shout-out to my older three. They were so patient and caring for dad. They
each helped make meals and helped clean up since dad wasn’t really able to do
much. Everytime, I would cringe or yell in pain, the kids would always rush to
me and kiss me on the forehead and rub my hands while saying things like “Dad,
you are doing great! We are going to take care of everything. You just go rest.” Even in that much pain, I was
really touched by their compassion. I
had an xray done and it said I had three to pass this time. So far, I’ve passed
two. Only one more to go. I’m pretty
much drinking as much water as possible trying to flush it out.
We had some old friends over and they were gracious enough
not to mention my house being dirty ;) It was fun catching up.
Their daughter Rebekah holding the tarantula :)
I’m able to walk and do some a few things, so today since
the kids had been so amazingly awesome, we did a fun treat. They love to do videos,
so I found some old poster boards used to draw pictures. They are foam boards
and very sturdy. We found some green paint and I let the kids paint their own
green screen. Then we assembled it and
mounted it in the living room. The kids each picked some shows or themes to
use as the backdrop. Then we filmed them acting silly, while I yelled out the
different shows/ games and then sang the theme songs to each. They had a blast.
The old posters we used. We just painted the backs. I never get rid of anything :)
Before painting
Finished Product.
Not perfect or professional, but the kids made it, so I love it.
Neela helping Titus get dressed for the video shoot
(I think this is the sweetest picture.)
I just finished putting it all together. So I wanted to
share the final product. Please pardon the roughness of the video. I’m still in
a lot of pain, so I couldn’t sit down for a super long time to make it perfect.
The kids absolutely loved doing this activity today and it was a good thing to
entertain them at home, while not being too strenuous on me.
This morning started off like any normal Sunday morning. We
were just kind of stirring around the house, eating breakfast, and getting
ready to go to church, when Stevie walked up to me and said “Dad, we have a
flat tire.” Little did I know at the time how much that statement would
radically alter my day. So here’s a little recap on my van and how it ties into
today.
My van is probably on its last leg. The past 6 months my
little Megow transporter has been a trooper and gotten some much needed TLC
(new battery, new radiator, new water pump, two new rear tires, and a few other
small repairs), but it’s really a balancing act of deciding how much to put
into it before I just light it on fire, make some smores, and look online for a
new car.
Crap guys. I forgot to drive to the store to buy marshmallows before I
blew up the van.
Seriously, my car has been through the ringer as of late. I
spend a lot of time with Steve (Crissy’s dad and his crew) to stop it from
overheating and pouring water out of the bottom. Well, we finally got that
those problems mostly fixed. We were out there last night for the kids to see
their grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins. It was fun and Steve helped me
fix one more thing on the van, so I was feeling really good about the current
state of my automotive vehicle. Well, this morning I found I had that super
flat tire. My plan was to put enough air in it to drive and get a new tire.
(The hole was too big to patch, but small enough I thought I could make it a
few miles to the store. I looked everywhere for my little portable air pump,
but I couldn’t find it anywhere. I texted a few people and the first one to
respond and that was available was my buddy Nicole. (She’s so clutch and
actually I mentioned her in a post recently). Funny story, I gave her this
little portable tire air pump for Christmas like 6 years ago and I honestly
think the only times she has ever used it was to drive over and pump up my
tires for me. Hahahaha. We stood around for a little while waiting for it to
fill up, but it never would fill up. After about 10 minutes, I felt around and
felt this giant gaping hole in the backside of the tire. So I would need to
change it out of for the spare.
So Nicole hung out with the kids for a minute and left,
while I tackled the spare. Is it just me or does everyone else have the hardest
time using those little crap car jacks to lift a car. It took me forever to get
that thing lifted off the ground, but I finally got it and put the spare on. I
felt so accomplished. When I was putting up the other tire in the trunk, I
noticed the other front tire has a gash in the side wall and would need to be
replaced as well. “Well that’s just great.” I thought. (The 85 degree weather
didn’t help cheer me up.)
What you ladies think about that rugged man right there?
So I loaded the kids in the hot car and then this
happened…
Yep, it wouldn’t start. It was getting power and it was a
new battery, so I figured it had to be something with the starter. So Steve
being awesome came over and helped me get it started. He explained the mechanic
problem. Pretty much it’s just a starter issue and I don’t really feel the car
is worth the investment of a new one. He showed me some redneck tricks to get
it running if that ever happens again. I’m always down for some redneck
innovation.
Megow Words of Wisdom-
If man in overalls offers you advice, it’s
probably best to take it.
Anyways, for sure we missed church. So we ate a quick lunch
and loaded up to get the front tires changed. This is where the story takes on
a whole new level of _______ (I honestly can’t think of a word to describe what
happened after this). It was around 2:15
when we left the house to go to get them changed. Well, my normal tire places
weren’t open, so I figured we would just to go Walmart because I know they
would be open and plus they have a good tread warranty. Plus there's a Walmart
everywhere, so even if you go out of town, you can still use your warranty if
you get a nail in your tire. Here’s the
timeline of our Walmart visit and the most trying few hours of my 31 years on
this earth.
2:45 Arrive at
the Walmart Tire Center. There are only two cars in the bay and it looked like
no other cars waiting. I thought this would probably take about an hour or hour
& a half tops. Well, I kept waiting for an attendant to come and talk to
me, but they just stared at me. After about 15 minutes, the guy behind me
walked up and seeing that I had four kids in tow agreed to walk around and find
someone to help. Well after about 5-10 minutes he comes back with someone to
get us in the system and our cars started soon. They lady was really nice and
said it might take up to 2 hours. I could deal with that. It would be tough but
it was possible.
3:15 We just sort
of browsed around, and I let the kids look at the toys. I thought for sure this
would be a somewhat manageable ordeal.
3:30 Neela
decides she is about to pee her pants, so we run to the bathrooms at the back
of the store. While waiting for Neela to get done, I take Olive out of the cart
to get her some water out of the water foundation. I turn around to see Stevie
and Titus playing “dogs” on the floor and about 3 workers trying to shew them
out of the way so they can bring their pallets full of merchandise out to the
store. I swipe up my “dogs” and Olive slips in a puddle of water from the water
foundation. Finally, Neela comes out of the bathroom soaking wet. I asked her
what happened. She has a blank expression and replied “It was the sink.” I just left it at that.
Me - After about one hour
3:45 We go to the
little deli and I get the kids some popcorn chicken. They rip through this food
with the intensity of a starving lion eating a young plump wildebeest.
“Dad, lions eat messy, so I need do too.
Don’t worry lions aren’t worried
about germs from food off of the floor.”
I’m starting to lose a little bit of my cool, so I sit down
to text someone and they think up and record a video scavenger hunt for me to
do with my kids. I’m not kidding, there aren’t many people in this world that
can whip up something like that with such short notice. Props off to Elizabeth
for being my rescuer today.
4:00pm We start
the scavenger hunt. We are taking pictures and sending them back to verify we
found everything that was required.
A big shout out to our scavenger hunt planners :)
7 types of Oil
Motorcycle Oil
Mystery Oil
Car Engine Oil
Olive Oil
Coconut Oil
Butter Flavored Spray Oil
Canola Oil
5 Types of Flour/Flower
Cake Flour
Spray Flour
White Flour
Fake Flower
Printed Flower
A kid in a large man’s shirt
3 types of corn
A kid in a large pair of women’s undergarments
A kid in a pair of men’s boots
Sing a song for a stranger
(The theme song to the movie Titantic was requested, but we made the decision to change it to Let it Go)
This video won't upload. It was funny and people looked at us like we were super weird.
Mission accomplished.
I added some scavenger hunt items as well…
See how much Star Wars stuff we could find.
Pretty much the entire Wal Mart was Star Wars, so this got old pretty
fast.
Find a new non-human best friend.
Neela quickly bonded with Cherry Pie the Cherry Tomato.
She’s actually
watched a movie with him when we got home.
Act like animals to strangers. They loved doing this, so I made a
little compilation video.
After this they got kind of tired of the hunt and we getting
ansty to leave.
4:45 We go back to the bathroom and Olive has a meltdown
because they have automatic toilets. I find Titus cooling off his head by
sticking it under the water stream of the drinking water fountain. Side note: I’m raising feral children. I dried his hair off and then Stevie told us a little story about the poop she just took. It was very entertaining.
5:00 I figured they are making some progress on the car, so
we do a little grocery shopping before we go to pay for the van’s tires. The
kids were super well behaved for our time at WalMart so I let them get two treats.
Chips and some honey buns. We grab some milk, yogurt, and a few other things
and check out.
5:15 We are arrive at the automotive section to find that
our car has not even been pulled into the service bay. But about 5 other cars
had been bumped ahead of us. If there was ever a moment my heart truly felt
betrayed this was it. I felt like my heart was frozen in carbonite and the
Walmart associate was Lando who sold me out.
You're as cold as ice...
Get ‘em Chewy (Neela “The Aminal”) hahaha
5:20 I walk up to
ask about the van and they assure me its next in line. (I think they forgot.
However, I wasn’t upset. They were short staffed and super friendly)
5:30 We walk over
to Gander Mountain and have a picnic of honey buns in the parking lot. The kids
were not impressed. We saw a deer decoy with a few arrows in it and my kids
freaked out and we had to leave. (I guess taking them hunting is off the table
for now)
It’s always a good time for a honey bun
5:45 We walk back
to walmart and find our car being brought into the service bay! Praise God! We
go check out the fish and do some weird stuff. By this part of the day, I’m
sort of starting to become delirious.
The kids are just kind of doing weird
things like crawling around the floor like snakes and hissing at each other or
just laying around in random bean bags or toy sofas and pretending to nap.
They also found a back massager in the automotive waiting room. I was too tired to explain how unsanitary that was. However, it was brand new and still had the tag on it, so I let them play with it and the only rule was don't stick it in your mouth or touch any open wounds. hahahaha
6:15 The Megows
head over to the automotive area to find our car is just now being lifted. The
carboniate in my heart freezes over just a little bit more. Just when I’m about
to crack, someone I have never met before walks up to us and asks “So which one
of you put the iPad in the Dishwasher?” We start talking and she introduces
herself as Kristi Hammack. Her and her husband are music ministers at a local
church and she was so kind. It was really a God thing, but I was about to crack
right before she walked up. She gave each of my kids a quarter to buy a little
toy or gum out of the vending machines. Mostly, I got to have some grown up
conversation which was fantastic. She even offered to buy my kids some dinner,
but I declined because I was confident we would be leaving any minute.
6:40
Hahahahahaha!!! Should have taken that dinner offer. Our car was still lifted
up and didn’t have any front tires. By now, my kids are completely covered in
dirt from the Walmart floor and their hair is sticky from honey buns. I had
nothing left to offer the world. I kind of just melt into the pleather futon in
the automotive waiting area while my kids are about to lose their minds from
boredom and frustration.
Titus is a trooper.
6:50 Stevie is
sitting on top of the couch with her face pressed again the glass like a pirate
seated in the crow’s nest. Finally, she screams “The van is down and they are
driving it!!!!” Titus yells “Praise Jesus!” We check out, load up, and drive
home. The kids all fall asleep on the ride home, which I think counts as a nap
for each of them.
Now, it’s currently 9:45pm and all 4 of my kids are wide
awake and acting like crows J
