John and Ben were at the Hands On Museum on Saturday while I took my quiz. John texted me this picture with “Working on a tough orgo problem set.” (made me really laugh out loud)
2. Saturday morning. On the laptop in his diaper. Concentrating hard.
3. Tonight I finally hung our pictures in our living room and Ben was my little helper. I was holding a nail in my mouth while hammering and when Ben noticed the nail, this was our exchange.
Ben: “No Mommy, don’t do that. That will be a timeout.”
Me: “You’re right, I shouldn’t hold a nail in my mouth.” (trying to hold down laughter)
Ben: “Ok Mommy. 1-2-3.” (We count during his timeouts.) Then after a pause: “Mommy, why did you get a timeout?” (We always ask him this question when the timeout ends.)
Me: “I was doing something dangerous.”
Ben: “That’s right. Don’t do it again.”
4. On a walk this weekend, Ben and Daddy stopped at a construction site at a park near our house to watch the work going on. Ben was so excited but he was sad and upset when the work stopped for a minute while the dump truck unloaded. Apparently, after Ben analyzed the situation to figure out who was to blame for the work stopping, he pointed to one of the workers and said, “And he’snot doing his job.”
Well tomorrow is our first day of class for M2 year. We begin our 3-week cardio sequence first. I am mourning the loss of summer, but getting excited to see everyone again and turn my brain on again. I also realized that this will be my last first day of school (I assume) ever. Weird. Sad.
We spent the weekend at a friend’s wedding in Pittsburgh, which was a blast. But we missed the little man quite a bit (though he probably totally forgot us while he was in TOYLAND at Grammy’s). To get our Benjamin fix we stole away a few moments to watch this random video from a few weeks ago once again…
We headed up to The Homestead on Sunday, the resort in Glen Arbor, MI where we got engaged. We were excited for a few days of relaxation…wineries, a brewery, dinner at Nonna’s (the dinner before the proposal eight years ago), some beach time, etc. etc.
When we arrived we couldn’t check in because they were behind schedule cleaning up room. No problem! We took a nice walk on the beach, past the spot where John proposed at sunset. We noticed the clouds were starting to look ominous and the trees and grass were a bit too still. Where were the waves? We booked it back to the car and made it just in time before a fierce downpour, followed by some deadly hail, and some seriously scary winds. So we waited it out in the car:
All good and fun still, right!?
When things finally settle, we surveyed the aftermath and realized we were trapped in the parking lot because the gate lost power and wouldn’t go up. Someone tried to break it to no avail. Someone else called the front desk. After awhile a guy from the front desk (who was clearly having the worst day ever) came and bent, pulled, yanked, and finally broke off the gate. Then he threw it in the wind as far as he could (which wasn’t far). It was like a farse. We would have paid a lot to have that on tape!
All shits and giggles still, right!?
Then we get to the reception center. No power. No biggie. We presumed as much with the gate problem and all. So we check into with the front desk and get a key. We go on a hunt through the monsoon, downed trees, rivers of water and mud, through the sprawling resort to find our room. Luckily we had two lanterns from camping in the car, so we are surviving and feeling optimistic. We crack open a few beers, pull out Powergrid (our favorite game, but an ironic choice for the weekend, right?):
Before we start playing we realized we need to make a beeline for a hot shower (we had just been camping and hadn’t showered in days…. we needed that precious water before all the hot water is gone from the resort!). Not much later we get a call from the front desk: RATION THE WATER!
I think it was around this time we started to question things… we are the kind of go-with-the-flow people who can have fun with almost anything…but were we really going to pay this much dough for a room and resort with no electricity. We head to the front desk to see if there’s an estimate of the expected duration of the power outage.
This is when fun started to die.
We find out (from the keyed up motley crew in the lobby) that all roads out of the resort are blocked indefinitely by downed wires and trees. Three tornadoes have touched down. The whole town of Glen Arbor is out of power and shut down. And there is no expectation of power anytime soon.
This is when we started plotting our escape.
Hours later when we finally start getting reports of some roads opening up, we pack up and head our sorry butts home. The last bit of drama occurs when we realize we only have 30 miles of gas left and all gas stations in the area are likely to be closed with no power. …Luckily, we find the ONE gas station reportedly open (it had just re-opened in the hour before we arrived), and gas up, with just 7 miles to go:
We made it back to safety of the in-laws late that night.
scrubs & sippy cups 
