Whatnot Wednesday

 

 We are on another of our weekly expeditions to Houston for Ben's job.  We were a little concerned because we aren't staying at our usual hotel.  That means no duck - remember the duck.  Jack loves the duck.  But when we pulled up here Monday night, Jack said, "We're going to have lots of fun here.  I bet they have some new previews."  And they did so all is well.

Jack loves a hotel. I mean loves it. He and I have done nothing during the day.  We drag ourselves to the lobby just before 10 in the morning to get the breakfast buffet and so I can get an iced latte before the Starbucks in the lobby closes (who has heard of such??).  After that, we stay in the room all day.  Today, I was like, "Dude, you wanna go try to find a Barnes and Noble so you can look at books and movies? {and so Mom can another hit of  iced latte - her own version of crack}"  Jack was like, "Nope.  I'm going to stay right here all day again today."  Seriously, he loves hotels.

I love hotels.  And I always have the best luck at hotels.  The staff is always super friendly and helpful.  I hear horror stories from others about hotel stays, but I rarely experience any negative stuff.  For instance, today I got a text from work that my biannual background check was due by the 30th - something I wasn't aware of.  So, I call the front desk.  I can't even get my whole question out and she says, "We have a printer.  We have a computer.  We have envelopes.  We have stamps."  The whole process was easier than if I had been at work with the documents in front of me.  When I was standing at the front desk filling out the address and Jack was running in circles behind me quoting the preview for Super 8, she anticipated my needs before I had them and just kept talking about how adorable Jack was.  I was waiting on her to say, "I have a clone of you back here that can sign your name and fill this paperwork out for you.  I have a nanny that can care for your child and slip him a valium as needed."  Seriously, I love hotels.

We ate lunch with Ben's family this past Sunday.  Jack's aunt and uncle gave him an Alabama sock monkey. He loves getting new "friends" so he was happy.  He kept calling him Big Al named after Alabama's mascot, but when we got home and had the actual Big Al elephant with us it started causing some confusion.  The monkey's name continued to change throughout the day, but always somehow resembled Big Al.  I think we have finally ended up with "Bigga Bigga Bigga."  So, of course, Ben (and now Jack) spend a large part of the day singing, "Bigga, Bigga, Bigga, oh can't you see?  Somehow your words just hypnotize me."  You gotta love a little Snoop Dogg culture.

Speaking of Snoop Dogg, Tara and I had taken Piper and Jack to eat at the Japanese Steakhouse a few weeks ago.  We were getting ready to leave and Tara said, "Let's go to the hizzle my nizzle."  Jack said, "No, let's go to the Zazu!"  You gotta love a little Lion King culture too.

I posted on facebook last Sunday that I was addicted to NFL Red Zone and I am.  That's totally true.  No commercials - just the biggest plays of every game going all in one place.  It is, quite frankly, sportstastic.  One of my facebook friends commented with this tweet that I think sums the wonderfulness of it up perfectly:  “NFL Red Zone channel is so paralyzing,” read one tweet, “it took me 90 minutes to get motivated enough to order a pizza online.” 

This is the third day of our trip and I'm on my third book.  This makes me happy.  I'm just saying.

Jack hates to write and frankly, he's not very good at it.  We've been trying to practice for months now.  He really wasn't feeling it.  Then, I had an epiphany.  He LOVES to write his letters now.

This is Battle: Los Angeles - one of MANY movie titles we write in dots and Jack copies.  And sometimes, I can even get him to write this by himself as an incentive for a new movie to write.

That's his name. I'm telling you, if we get a movie buff for a Kindergarten teacher, we are gonna be soooo ahead of the game!