Whinypaluza Wednesday: Our First Trip!

Hello everyone, happy Winey Palooza Wednesday!

On a Wednesday, it's a Winey Palooza Wednesday. Grab some wine and join us on the Winey Palooza Wednesday with the Green Family.

Cha-cha-chicken!

We finally get to do it together.

It's finally— we're back to Wednesdays, everyone, our regularly scheduled time. Thank you for bearing with us us through May and the crazy soccer schedule.

Manic May.

And I hope and think we're back to Wednesdays.

We are back to Wednesdays.

Can you read my glen— oops, how do I do this?

There you go.

I can't do this.

Seth, in the glass. How much wine have you already had?

Like 2 sips.

Sure.

Can you come closer? It says, it says, it's my birthday month. Yeah, happy June.

We're celebrating all June here the greenhouse. She's had more than 2 sips, ladies and gentlemen.

I can't turn it the right way.

You're not used to holding things backwards in a camera.

I'm holding it backwards in a camera. So we're going to talk about our rough weekend in our first post-COVID trip. We're going to talk about our first trip this year, um, in over a year. Yes. And it was a really— it was a rough weekend. And because of my rough weekend and because of my birthday— I think more because it's my birthday month— um, a present showed up at my door and cheered me up. Was it yesterday, Seth?

Yes.

So, um, huge thank you to my wonderful friend Jen for cheering me up and giving me the most appropriate glass for this month. I will use it every Wednesday, and, and I will use it every day. Every day we're celebrating day of June at least. And you know I'll use it more than that. I love it, and that was so thoughtful of you. And we're kicking off my birthday month. Um, we also want to thank Miss Jamie for showing up with roses for Ella— rose bushes for Ella— and she made her day and put a huge smile on her face.

Were they rose bushes or roses?

There's little— two little rose bushes that Ella— that Jamie said Ella and I can plant together.

We're gonna grow our own.

We're gonna grow our own roses. We're gonna plant at the rose bushes. And if she could have seen the smile on Ella's face, um, she brought joy to Ella and I that we needed. So thank you, Jen and Jamie. We have wonderful friends, and, um, friends like them help get you through the weekend. That is time to talk about— so we were very excited. Uh, we haven't been on a trip since well before COVID I can't even tell you when our last trip was. And we were so excited. We play— Max had a soccer tournament in Pennsylvania.

And Rebecca said, let's make it a fun family vacation.

I said, it's Memorial Day weekend. Let's all go. Let's get a cool hotel. I'm like, we can stay at Splash Lagoon or we can stay at a cool hotel and let's go have a fun time together. And I want to go see the soccer games. So Seth is such a good sport and he looked at so many hotels for me and was so patient and he found the perfect hotel. Because he's wonderful.

You say that now.

You were very patient and I appreciate you. And I went on, I was very stressed out about leaving my pets because my pets have been with me in particular every single day for over a year. So I was like, how are our two cats and dog gonna do without me? Oh, I'm sorry, Lily.

Can I go?

Yeah.

I was gonna say that when you said that you were excited, I was excited too because I was excited to just like be out of the house.

He was excited to go to the hotel.

Well, we hadn't been in a hotel forever, so just the luxury of being in a hotel was so exciting to our girls. And so I was like, do I leave Tanner at a daycare? He hasn't been at a daycare in over a year. That's my fault. My advice to you is that we need to get our dogs at daycare like once a week so that they're used to going before we leave them there for the weekend. So I'm going to work on that. However, we hired a wonderful lady through Rover and she was fabulous and she took great care. She stayed at our house and she took great care of our cats and dog. So I stressed about it, but a lot, but it worked out perfectly. And once I met her and saw her with our pets, I was like, I'm good.

If you have pets, what do you do with them when you, when and if you go away?

Yes, I have heard from so many people, different scenarios, and the question is, I mean, our dogs can't talk to us, our cats can't talk to us. They, I mean, the cats, we leave here, we're not going to take the cats to daycare, but Tanner can't say, well, Mom, I would rather go to daycare. So let's move on from the pets. Can we talk about the birds for a second?

Oh my God, this freaking bird. So if you know me and follow me on Facebook, you know she's a big sap.

A bird made a nest over our garage and laid eggs. And I stopped parking in the garage.

We couldn't use the garage anymore. We couldn't disturb the birds.

I said, let them be. Let them be. So I didn't use the garage. I didn't really need to. The birds hatched, the eggs hatched, and I watched them feed their birds.

They grew up.

And the mom and dad were taking turns feeding the bird. And I watched the whole process and I watched them watch their nest from different places all over the place. And I just loved the whole process. And I was like, we're leaving and I'm not gonna see the end. And guess what? We came back and my birds are gone.

They left. They did not wait to say goodbye to honorary Aunt Becca.

So I'm very sad. So my mom said that she thinks that malt— that that's going to be a spot every year. So I will hope that another bird decides to lay eggs on top of my—

so we can go through this fabulous experience again. That's great.

So we have this trip planned, we're all excited, she doesn't want to leave the little birdies, and I, and I'm nervous to leave my pets and I don't want to leave my birds. And then my brother calls and says that he's coming in for the weekend.

We said we're leaving.

And, and my mom and my sister-in-law were like, well, leave the girls, they can play with the cousins, and you and Seth take Max.

And that's what we should have done.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. So first of all, they could have dealt with it. I am so thankful that I didn't do that.

Thank you.

And number two, I was like, well, no, we were excited to go on a— this is our first family trip in forever, our exciting trip to Pennsylvania.

First time in forever.

So we have this cool hotel.

Why is it cool?

It has the coolest—

has like a water park, a little water park.

It has like a little water park with a water slide and water features and a hot tub. And we were so happy when we saw it. The room was nice, the beds were nice. We were so happy. We— I forgot that I sleep like crap in a hotel. But we get there, we go to bed. Ella seems a little stuffy. I don't think anything of it. So the bottom— the bottom line is that Ella got the stomach bug.

This is my cue to go.

You can leave. You can come back.

Over— careful.

Come back, come back, come closer to me, honey bunny. So, so, so Ella got the stomach bug. Lily started the month of May with the stomach bug. Ella ended the month of May with the stomach bug. Adiós, May. I'm done with May. So I will tell you that I loved hybrid because no one was sick the whole year. There was social distancing.

No germs.

No, like, no germs, no illness. And then they go back full-time, and that's my month of full-time school. So before you jump the gun, no COVID. Lily got tested when she was sick, she didn't have COVID. Ella got tested, she didn't have COVID. I was a little stuffy, I got tested, I don't have COVID.

Nobody's got COVID.

Nobody has COVID. My mom's like, you have allergies, everyone has allergies right now, the cottonwood is falling. I knew she was right, but It's made up.

I don't have any cottonwood allergy.

Okay, well, people are telling me that they don't normally get allergies and that this year has been rougher for allergies.

You don't randomly get them one year and not the next. You're either allergic to something or you're not. It's not like I'm a little allergic to peanut butter this year, but next year I'll be okay.

No, environmental factors. Why don't you look it up before you spew things like that? We're gonna look it up.

We're gonna look it up. I, I feel a little pollen allergy coming on just for a week.

Okay, if you're a doctor and you're listening to this, are outside allergies worse this year or is this being made up?

Is that not really an allergy, right? Isn't an allergy like if I get near the peanut butter I'm gonna like die or something?

No, stop it. People have environmental allergies, like grass bothers them, um, pollen, right?

But you have it. It's not like I don't normally have it and it just happened this year.

Maybe I have always had it and don't know.

You've been secretly tormented with it.

Oh my God. Anyways, next. Anyways, so, um, Ella randomly pukes all the time. I'm gonna be honest, not all the time, no, but she will get overwhelmed and get this look of total exhaustion and just puke and be fine.

Hi, Molly.

And, um, So when she randomly puked, she was like, I'm just congested, it's nothing. And I was like, yeah, she's right. She's probably right. Well, we pull up to the game and thank you, Ella, for doing it in the car and not on the field.

Yeah, where hundreds of parents would have freaked out.

Oh my God, that would have been so bad. So the stomach bug is going around her school. The school nurse did confirm that with me. And, um, you still have to get tested to go back to school no matter what your symptom is.

You still gotta get it.

'You still gotta get tested.' So Ella and I sat in the car and watched the soccer game that Seth livestreamed.

They watched it on their phone.

And I was like, 'I'm here. I'm in Pennsylvania.

I'm in the car.' I'm within 20 yards, 50 yards of the game.

I'm like, 'Max, I'm really here.' The parents of Max's team probably don't even know who his mother is because you haven't made a game yet. I haven't.

Have you made a game all season? You came with like 2 indoor games. Yes, I don't think you've made an outdoor one because they're all far away.

Uh, so this weekend coming up, hopefully I can go, but we'll get to that.

Yes.

So we go back to the hotel. Daddy and Lily have an adorable swim date.

Yes.

And upstairs you can see the pool by the hotel room, so I took pictures.

There's a second floor, you can look down on the pool.

So that was adorable.

Thank you.

Thank you for—

I had a nice Lily date.

Thank you for the Lily date.

You're welcome. My pleasure. I had a lot of Lily dates. Lily came to the first game with me and sat in the under-the-weather pod and then went to sleep while I cheered for the game.

Lily and Mommy.

First game was freezing cold, raining, freezing cold. I'm so glad I got the little pods to sit in.

Thank you.

Tell them— what did you tell them what it is?

Uh, it's like a little blue— it's like a plastic tent and, uh, you sit in it and it protects you from the rain and the snow and the wind, and it's like 20 degrees warmer than outside because you're protected. And it's clear plastic, like you can see out the front. I had to zip it, unzip it a little bit so I could livestream and get a good picture, but Lily just had hers all sealed up and was under a blanket.

I mean, you have to pack for cold, hot, rain. Somebody agrees and loves the weather.

Yes, click the StreamYard link so we know who you are.

Well, you can find out for me. Okay, he's gonna go on a hunt to find out who that is.

Yes, thank you for the comment. More comments.

We— but we agree, I think that was an awesome buy by Seth. So thank you, Seth, again.

You're welcome.

He's swimming with Lily, he's streaming the game. The grandparents aren't there, so they get to see the game. And, um, I— Lily and I watched the second game in the hotel.

Lily did not want to go. She said I had enough of that one.

So I'm so thankful that Seth could livestream the games because all the grandparents watched. And hi, Joette. So Joette's back because we're on Wednesdays. Yes, we threw everyone off for the month of May. And I'm so happy to be back on Wednesday. So anyways, second game done. Lily and I are stuck in the hotel. I called it hotel jail. And then I realized I needed to change my perspective.

Yes, you did.

So when I say negative things like that, I changed my perspective. And I was like, okay, Ella's sick. And I'm stuck in this hotel. And Lily's driving me nuts. And I didn't bring any games here. I packed for hours and hours and hours and thought I remembered everything.

I'm telling you, playing cards, no board games.

We didn't have a deck of cards. Bring something to your hotel. So my friend Kristen is like, go ask the desk if they have a deck of cards, but they were all sold out.

Um, so bring a game with you when you travel because we also did not anticipate the other problem was the crappy hotel Wi-Fi that hundreds and hundreds of people were using at the same time, which made it very difficult for Lily or you or anybody to get on their iPhones or iPads.

Oh my God, it was so stressful. I reloaded that game because she kept texting me, it's freezing, it's freezing, and I'm like I wasn't—

it's not me.

I was trying to ignore you because I knew— I, I was like, it's either the wind or it's the hotel.

And I think it's not affected. I figured it was the hotel, so I was having trouble watching because I had a bunch of the parents come up and ask me for the link so they— their wives who weren't on the field could also watch.

So we thought Ella was all better the second day, and Seth leaves for the first game, and Lily decides to stay with me and wants to drive me nuts again. I love you. Love you. And oh, so I didn't tell you about changing my perspective because that's really important. So I was calling it— I told Seth I was in hotel jail. And then I was like, listen, you have no dishes. You have no laundry. You have no meals to cook. You have no errands to run. I was like, you're always running and doing stuff. Just chill out. Take care of your daughter. Be present with Ella and just chill out. So I changed my perspective and that really, really helped me. I was so sad that I didn't, I didn't get to go to one game.

The weather pod was Kim Truman.

Oh yes. Hi Kim. I was there in Pennsylvania and didn't get to go to one game.

But you got closer.

So thank you, Gramps and Patty, for coming to a game.

Yep. They drove up.

Thank you, grandparents, for watching all the games. Yeah, Max comes back from his game, there's no one in the pool. Lily and Max have a wonderful pool date. Pool date.

It was totally empty. They turned on the water park for— we were like, is it closed? They said, no, we turn off all the water slides in the hot tub when no one's here. Nobody's here. They said, well, my kids want to come swim, can you turn it on for them? So Max was going down the slide with Lily and throwing her in the pool, and they had a blast.

So Seth told me, find the moments. Yes, it was such a good line, and I wanted to share that with you. He said you have to find the happy moments. And I would say that my favorite, um, times were watching you swim with Lily and watching Max swim with Lily.

5 years from now, we will not remember Ella being sick. I will remember watching Max toss— throw Lily up in the air into the pool. Do you really think we're not gonna The two emotional scars, they all blur together.

You know, when, when Ella gets hit with a stomach bug, man, does she get hit like so much harder than Max and Lily do. Moving on.

Yes.

So were those your favorite moments?

Yes, I did enjoy watching my son play. Please don't—

Max had some wonderful saves.

Yeah, he had some— he had, he had some of some awesome— he had 49 saves over 4 games. He had some awesome plays.

So we— so Max's team won 2 games and lost 2 games.

Yeah, we got eliminated in the semifinal.

So when he lost the second game on the second day, we did not need to stay till the third day. So Ella was like, I want to go home, and I was like, I want to go home. And we paid for the pet sitter to stay Sunday night We paid for two. We had two hotels.

We made it to the finals on Monday.

It was so— it— I don't even know. What do you do? Do you wait? Maybe you wait, Seth, and try—

they were sold out. We wouldn't have gotten a room for another. I mean, there were people complaining they were going to be homeless.

I mean, yeah, but maybe we would get a hotel room for the third. Maybe we would have found a hotel somewhere else and had to move. I just don't know.

Last minute on Memorial Day weekend on a tournament the night before, right?

So we, so we probably should have stayed.

It's okay. I don't care about the money.

So we're thinking Ella's all better. We're packing up the car. We're ready to go home. We're so excited to get home and get out of hotel jail.

So you've totally reframed that.

I did pretty well. Yes, I really did.

And you're a saint.

Ella starts puking again in the car just in time to leave. And we had everything packed up and I was like, let's go, let's go, going home. I'm like, I'm sorry, Max and Lily, we're— I'm like, Max, sit in the front with Daddy away from Ella. Lily, sit as far back as you can and I will deal with Ella the whole trip. So that was a fun night. Um, I think staying in the hotel would have actually been easier for me because you know how many times I had to run down the hall all night.

Yeah.

Um, so we want to tell you a tip that we have discovered with Ella in particular. I told you when Ella gets a stomach bug, she gets hit hard, and it's like at least one— it's usually once a year minimum. And we saved our baby monitor.

So we have gotten rid of pretty much everything I'm sure in terms of baby stuff, I'm sure I can accept all the clothes you saved in the basement.

No, I—

sorry, honey, I have a bunch of clothes I do need to get rid of, but we have gotten rid of a ton of stuff. But we saved our baby monitor and we put it on, and so I know if Ella needs me down the hall. Um, her door is closed and we keep her door closed. She doesn't want the cats in her room while she's sleeping. So I can— I, I'm thankful for that baby monitor, and I'm never giving it up. In fact, they probably have much better ones.

They do, but I have not suggested that because— so no ideas.

So, um, I'm trying to remember Monday. It's a blur, but I think it ended.

Yes.

Um, we are hopefully— I think we're over the hump.

Yeah.

And as much as we— as much as there are negatives to this school year, I want to tell you something really wonderful. And I should— I, in fact, I'm going to email administration and tell them this. Ella is not 100% at all. I mean, she is and she isn't. She's all stuffy. She didn't want to wear a mask all day. She didn't want to blow her nose all day. Nobody wants her to do that at school. So, she did virtual school all day today. And being able to not feel the best and how— I mean, I'm sure people are abusing the system, and please don't ruin it for people like Ella who are actually using it for the correct reasons. Um, it was a lifesaver today, and she said if she's still totally stuffy tomorrow, she's staying home so she doesn't have to miss school. Yes, and she can hop on and be home and blow her nose all day at home. The teachers don't want her blowing her nose all day at school. And how do you wear a mask all day when you're stuffy, right? I have never even thought of that. Do you remember me trying to breastfeed the kids when they were stuffy? That's what it made me think of.

Oh joy.

So let's talk about our lessons, honey.

Yes.

Okay, so do you want to talk about yours or you want me to just jump into mine?

Go for it, ladies first.

Okay. It reminded me to be flexible, reminded me to go with the flow, reminded me that when you have children, stuff is gonna happen, reminded me to keep my monitor, my baby monitor. What else, Seth?

Find the joy where you can.

Oh, yes, you did say that to me. I was—

joy in the chaos.

I was able to really be present with Ella. You know, when my kids are sick and I'm home, there's usually a lot of stuff going on. And I was in a hotel room with her. And Seth really took care of pretty much everything else, and I just took care of Ella. So I was able to be present with Ella. Um, I was taught that I need to bring games with when I travel, so I want to recommend that.

Back up plans in case the internet doesn't work.

I am so thankful for technology because livestream is better than no stream. Yes. And, um, I'm so thankful Ella's better and she doesn't have COVID.

Yes.

You said treasure the happy memories, find the happy memories. Things don't always work out the way you expected them. Laugh. Oh my God, I, I was trying to load the game, the soccer game, yes, over and over and over. There were some curse words, maybe, and then I just started laughing. I'm like, this is hysterical. Like, this whole weekend, um, I will admit I cried.

Yeah.

And I think it's important to get it out.

Yes.

So get out your feelings. Laugh, cry, get it out. I vented to my supports. I vented to Seth. I vented to my mother. I vented to my friends. Use your support. I, I— you know what, Lily, you were an amazing support. Do you know that? Do you know how much I appreciate you? And you did your best to get through that weekend and to stay positive and to tell me it was okay and to smile. And when you were dancing to Descendants, you brought me so much joy in the hotel room and you helped lift my spirits. So I need to say thank you to you. I really appreciate you. And I appreciate that you were stuck in a hotel and you made the best of it. So thank you for— when Seth left for the second game on the second day, he said, Lily, please be good for your mother. And she played by herself the whole time, and I might have bribed her. I watched the game, and there will be more soccer. I kept telling myself, this isn't his last soccer game. Knock on wood, there will be games this weekend. And what does Rivki say? God willing. Yes, God willing, there will be games this weekend and I will be able to go and actually sit. I'm going to sit on the soccer field and I'm going to treasure it in a way that I have never treasured it.

New appreciation.

New appreciation. And hopefully you will see me posting pictures that I am actually at the soccer game and watching in person, not on your phone. So that was our crazy weekend. See, I'm crying. I'm so emotional. So emotional, and Ella was so sick. And, um, I never ever thought it was COVID. Um, if I thought it was COVID, I would have—

lose your mind.

I don't know, I wouldn't have let Seth, Max, Lily go anywhere. Um, I knew the stomach bug was going around. I knew it was like exactly the same thing that Lily had, and I just had to confirm it. So because the school makes you, right? Okay, go ahead and we're gonna end.

So one thing I said when you said that you were grateful, I was really grateful to have you on my side because we had a lot of fun just like sitting in the hotel room when we watched Friends, and it was fun sitting with you and playing with you.

Lily started the Friends reunion with me.

Did you ever— we didn't finish that, but did you finish it on your own? I'm assuming you did.

We can watch it again.

No, I don't know.

I'm good. You know I'm gonna watch it again.

Did it ever turn into a show, or was it just them talking?

Okay, so talk to us about the Friends reunion. So I'm watching the Friends, I'm like so excited. I'm like, I'm stuck in this hotel room, but there's a Friends reunion that I can watch, and this is gonna bring me so much joy. And I loved seeing them all together, and I was so excited. And they're interviewing them, and they're talking to them, and I'm like are they gonna do a show? And I'm waiting and I'm waiting and I'm like, they're really just gonna talk to them this whole time? There was no show.

Okay, so it was good then.

It was just bringing them all right back together, right, and reminiscing, right? So tell me what you thought of the Friends reunion. I want to hear from you. Tell us what you thought and tell us any topic requests that you have. And I wish that I would have— I really wanted to check before I got on here. My goal is to get into the pattern of checking who my podcast is on Friday before I get on here. I will try to get into the habit. I think it might be Tashi this Friday. I think it might possibly be episode number 50. Don't quote me because I forgot to check. But if it's not 50, I'm almost to 50, and I'm super excited about that.

Last thing. Yeah, I want to thank my mom for being there for my sister for all the throat time and stuff. And I want to thank my dad for driving, and I wasn't cold at all.

Oh, well, you're welcome. My pleasure, sweetie.

Yeah, you took good care of her, and thank God that you drove because There was no way I was driving, but you didn't want to deal with Ella, so there is no way I would have held the pot.

So no, I drove and cranked my earphones up as loud as I could and still hear other cars so that I did not listen to the sounds.

So Max and Lily and Ella— Max and Lily and Ella, she, she's the best. She's a wonderful role.

She has wonderful role models. You are talking about you.

They're talking about you. Oh, so sweet, Lily. You are the best. Um, so Max and Lily and Seth have headphones in and are just like tuning out what's going on in the center of the car. Yeah, and I am totally tuned into Ella and dealt with Ella the entire time. Okay, so see, at least I can laugh. It was not the first trip that we had planned.

Laughing is the best part.

I think that we need to plan another trip and everybody needs to stay healthy.

That would be wonderful.

Yes, that would be.

So, um, thank you for joining us. I'm so happy to be back on Wednesday. Um, thank you for reading my blog and thank you for listening to my podcast. It's, um, released every Friday morning. And the vlog is released on my podcast every Wednesday because some people just prefer to listen to a podcast, and I totally understand. And some of you like to watch us.

We appreciate it.

So for those of you listening to the podcast, we are live on Facebook and YouTube every— YouTube too, correct, Seth? Yes, every Wednesday at 9 PM.

Yes, now that we're back on track.

And I also have a Whiny Palooza Mom group that I'm really enjoying, and I think other people are. I'm just finding it so loving and supportive and just a care— I wanted just a caring environment for all of us. And we're doing a June challenge, the I Am Enough Challenge. So please come join us, join the group on Facebook and join the challenge. And anything else, honey?

What's the prize for the challenge?

Well, if you're local, so I start— I, I try to think about how do I want to take care of you, what do I want to do for you, and I started to think about sitting in the salt cave, and it, it's just, it's so relaxing and beautiful, and it's a wonderful place, and I need to put Lily to bed, so that you will win a gift certificate to the Aura Salt Cave which is local. Now, if you're away, we could always find a salt cave near you. And if you win and you're out of town, I can always find a salt cave near you, or I will just give you the cash value. So, um, thank you for watching. And, um, Lily, can you close us out?

Yes, I will. Thank you for watching Money Clues Wednesday with the Green Family. Cha-cha chicken! Bye everyone, hope you enjoyed it.