It's Gobbles Time!: Lots in a weekend - eyes, friends, pool, and bikes

This past weekend (I can still say that even though it's Thursday, right?), we were planning on laying low because hubs had quarter close and we just had lots of stuff to get done. So Friday morning (one of the first Fridays in awhile I've had NO work to do), the kids and I woke up with an easy errand list to accomplish: make cookie dough for an upcoming party, make pizza dough for the nights' dinner, head to Gobbles' eye dr appointment, pick up our fence permit, go grocery shopping, and come home and make pizza for dinner.

We finished up the kitchen prep pretty quickly after breakfast, giving the us a chance to play "netball" on the sunporch as the kids named it and build a fort in the family room. After lunch we trekked down to the hospital for the anxiety-inducing semi-annual event that is Gobbles' eye exam. I could tell they were hopping busy because the Dr. didn't even come in for the prior to dilation part, so they took down our recent changes and ran Gobbles through the steps of reading letters off the wall. This time, the Lobster whispered her corrections to his missed letters in my ear as he misread. He took his drops like a champ and we were sent back out to the waiting room for his pupils to grow.

An hour later we were called back in for the moment of truth, but were forced to wait a little (45 minutes) longer in the tiny exam room. The kids passed the time by practicing directions along the colored tiles, turning right and left as I instructed. When that got old we played good old-fashioned whisper down the lane, where despite only having three people and loud whispers we still managed to mangle the sayings. The doctor finally came in to exam my boy and gave us the first sigh of relief- not a significant change. So the super expensive prescription swim goggles and rec specs we have for our activities can remain, while Gobbles will surely get another pair of regular glasses anyway since they're pretty beat up.

Then came the discussion that returned that old lump to my throat and tears to the back of my eyes. The doctor reminded me that next appointment, we'll have to schedule an additional specialist to discuss visual aids for future schooling. Examples she brought up were a magnifying glass for desk work and a compact little telescope (like a pirate??) for auditorium gatherings. My heart sank as I was once again hit with the reality that he won't just get to be a regular kid in class. Not that I mind him sitting in the front of the room all the time, but having tools? I can hear the jeers of future classmates now, stupid mean kids. Anyway, I'm projecting again.

The kids begged to play at the hospital playground when we left, and armed with my giant sunglasses to protect his light-sensitive dilated eyes, Gobbles was set. While we were out there I got a text from a daycare mom saying she'd given her kids a home day today but now they were driving her nuts, so we agreed to meet up at a park closer to my house. I dragged the kids off the playground with the promise of another playground, this time with friends, and home we drove. At the new park, the kids ran and played and the mom and I chatted. Surprisingly, the older two (Gobbles and the one we always call his girlfriend) were not feeling each other and got into a little tiff which the mom and I were cracking up at. A few Gatorades later everyone was happy and we were making plans to go back to our house for pizza, the rest of our errand list put off to another day.

When we got home the dogs ran around excitedly at the unexpected company, I threw the pizza crust I'd made in the freezer (the other ingredients were still on the grocery list) and met the delivery guy in the driveway with some fresh hot ones just as the dad was walking up the driveway with a case of beer. We all hung out on the sunporch eating pizza, drinking beers (or capri suns), and playing. I gave myself a secret pat on the back for being spontaneous and not worrying about the state of the house before having company over, though I knew the busy mom with me probably didn't even notice.

The next day, with hubs off to work after arriving home pretty late the night before, my sister came to the pool with the kids and I. They showed off their swimming skills (jumping in skills?) while she did me a favor by watching them for a half hour while I swam laps. Gobbles tried and tried to dive off the diving board, but each time jumped at the last minute. He and the Lobster demanded I show them how I dive (and a cannonball) so I did just that to the entertainment of the lifeguards. After a few hours my sister was off to the shore and the kids and I got a text from hubs that he was on his way home - YIPPIE!

We swung home to pick up hubs because we decided to hit up the bike race and associated festivities since he was now free. There was a free kids' race to kick of the day, and we wanted to make it in time to register the kids. I'm so thankful that hubs made it because I didn't realize they'd be in two different age groups at the start line, and waiting for the race to start took at least a half hour. Hubs stuck with Gobbles while I hung out with the Lobster, who was not confident in her regular bicycle abilities so she opted to use a plasma bike instead.

As soon as they said GO, my daughter transformed into something I've never seen before. My always silly, bubbly, not a care in the world kid turned into this serious and determined racing machine. At one point I told her to smile because her look was so intense I was afraid she'd pop a blood vessel. When I showed a coworker the video later she said "oh wow, that's exactly how you are when you race". Even though this woman has never seen me race, I think she's right, the Lobster took it so seriously and just had her eyes on the finish line, I'm so proud.

We managed to get her medal and get situated at a spot beyond the finish line before Gobbles came down the road. He held his own among a lot of kids that were bigger than him and was so proud of himself for "passing two kids" out of his 6 person group. He did later emphasize that he really wants to try without the training wheels, and we will soon. Things like that are number 1 on my working-mom guilt list. Though he's worlds ahead on socialization and school type things, he's behind his non-daycare peers on things that he just doesn't have the time to do every day because he's just never home. He'll get there though.

Gobbles got his medal and the kids paraded around with their new bling proudly. First we got a shaved ice to celebrate and then the kids made their way up and down the street to all of the usual town vendor booths, adding to our collection swag with more frisbees, flashlights, beach balls, and hand sanitizers, as if we didn't have enough. We watched the adult tricycle competition before stopping into Iron Hill to see what kind of wait they had for dinner. Shockingly, it was only 20 minutes (probably due to the outdoor beer garden and all of the festivities still going on) so we had a yummy dinner with custom bike race beers and the lobster eating half of my mussels after deciding she loved them.

We came out shortly after the professional women's race began and managed to find a decent spot to watch a few laps. As the kids got antsy we made our way closer to the finish line where we saw a fantastic finish with a 49 year old woman threading the needle at the last minute to pull off a win. After the victory speech we made our way further down the road to watch the men's race begin. It was amazing to see the start of the race as the field gets chopped when a biker gets lapped. For the first few it was just a streak of bicycles providing a legitimate breeze each time they whirred by. With 55 laps to go and the kids getting droopy eyed, we headed home with a stop for ice cream on the way (per the Lobster's request). Pretty soon we were all in bed, ready for a lazy Sunday that consisted of grocery shopping, dog walking, and more bike riding.