Are We There Yet?

Our (Expensive) Family Fun Night...

Guess it's that I'm a nurse now. When Meggie had surgery (when she was 13 months old and again when she was 5 years old, long before I went to nursing school), I was nervous. But it was NOTHING like this! I'm nearly paralyzed by thoughts of things that can go wrong tomorrow morning. I had every intention of being productive yesterday...doing laundry, organizing projects to work on at Molly's bedside this week, packing...I did NONE of it.

Because Meggie can see how nervous I've been (it never ceases to amaze me how much that kid GETS me!), she spent her spring break cleaning our house from top to bottom and insisted we have a Family Fun Night last night. We decided to head to the Aquarium in a nearby city. Daddy and the Littles have never been there and Meggie was in early elementary school when I accompanied her class to a field trip there. Could be fun!

As we walked in, we were immediately ushered in front of a large fake shark and asked to pose. You know what I'm talking about...those annoying shots where you get a ticket to view your pictures later. I normally smile and move on, never thinking twice.

Well, this time was different. I was feeling very anxious and just wanted to make this trip as perfect as possible. So when Daddy took Molly and Carson to pet the sharks (which neither of them would do, by the way), Meggie and I went to see the pics they took. And I bought them. They WERE good shots, in my defense...
...but you'll have to wait until Wacky Wednesday to see the other one. I had forgotten my camera (see, I told you, I'm not myself) and Meggie took a couple with her camera...but it will take her months to get those pics uploaded onto the computer for me. I didn't occur to me until we were heading out of the building that my phone takes pics. Duh!

As soon as we entered the Aquarium, Carson started obsessing about seeing sharks. See the turtles? I wanna see sharks! Carson, check out those slimy frogs! I wanna see SHARKS!

Molly wasn't much better. She was a bit frightened -- and is still insisting she had no fun -- and just wanted to see penguins. Molly, look, it's a fish like Nemo! Where are the penguins? Aren't the jellyfish pretty? Where are the PENGUINS?!

Since I was in anxious mode and trying to make our evening perfect -- and since the Aquarium route forces you through the Gift Shop before you leave -- we found the perfect (overpriced) "loveys" for Carson and Molly...
...and I took a pretty awful picture of Carson's shark and Molly's penguin. (There are better ones later.) Carson named the shark Hero Shark and Molly named her penguin Address. Address?! Gee...wonder what they're learning in preschool...

After a quick picture of my lovely girls...
...we headed to Johnny Rockets for dinner. Having never been to Johnny Rockets, we chose it because it seemed like a Family Fun place for dinner. After we sat down and saw the prices, maybe we should have just left and gone to McDonalds. But I wanted the night to be perfect...

As we waited for dinner, I kept the kids busy taking a bunch of goofy pics...
...of Meggie and Carson...
...of Address sitting on Molly's head...
...of Molly shooting her straw wrapper at Carson...
...of Molly scolding me about something...
...of Carson enjoying his "juicy" orange pop...
...of Meggie after I busted her checking her Facebook on her Blackberry...
...and of the ketchup art our waitress gave us. Is it weird that I took a picture of that?
Molly thinks so, apparently! Right before the food arrived, I tried to get better pictures of the "loveys"...
...then I ended the photo experience with the obligatory...
...Big-Sister-choking-annoying-Little-Brother shot.

While Meggie was right -- I am a nervous wreck and Family Fun Night actually helped keep my mind off of all things medical for a few hours -- I'm irritated with myself for spending all that money! What was I thinking?! It didn't make the night perfect, it just added to my anxiety.

Looking forward to Monday evening, when I get my "normal" brain back...