Way back in February two special Grandmas took three special kids and a chauffeur/map reader/sanity keeper on a very special trip to St. Augustine where we traveled through time to Colonial America.
While the Spanish conquest of Florida was treacherous, ours contained almost as much excitement. It started with Zuma, our sheep, going into labor the very morning we were to leave. I called a friend and our neighbor and asked them to check on the progress and call me with updates.
With an oddly convenient stop to Randy who had locked his keys in the car, 2 wrong exits and a massive truck fire that blocked us for miles, we were a touch later arriving than we expected. We checked into our hotel, got tourist train passes, listened to the kids blow those infernal train whistles for what seemed like hours and then finally landed in the old city.
And I got a call that 2 baby lambs were born, both breathing, both had nursed and all seemed fine.
And another call beeped in: our foster care license (that we had been told to not expect until April) was in and they had a placement for us.
"I know you only wanted 1 child, but this is a sibling group of a 1 yr old girl and a newborn baby boy who's likely on drugs. No one can take the newborn so we're desperate."
"Ok. Um. Wow. 5 kids 5 and under. Um. Try to find someone else and I'll talk to my husband and call you back later." Phone call ended. I catch up to the rest of the crew, share the news and find another alcove to place a call to my superhero.
He said, "Ok. I'm game if you are. The bulk of the work is on you." I also briefly mentioned the lambs.
Then my phone battery died.
The rest of the day I was pretty zoned. Honestly, I don't even remember much, especially now that it's July. All I could think about was keeping my head above water with 5 kids 5 and under. And a drug baby. But I also hated thinking of them getting split up. So I stewed. All. Day.
We went to our hotel, I plugged in the phone and felt certain that the children had been placed elsewhere. I called. Nope. They still needed us. I said yes. I already felt exhausted. I tucked the Grandmas and the kids into bed. They were all very excited to sleep in their new sleeping bags... well, the kids at least. I gave strict orders they were to not talk. I then promptly went to the lobby where I could keep my phone charging, make calls and have a full-fledged nervous breakdown. I'll spare the gory details, but suffice to say I kept getting confused with the various people I was talking to about if we were talking about the girl and boy KIDS or the girl and boy LAMBS. Sign #1 that my head was thoroughly messed up. We left it with that I didn't need to rush home, but that the girl child would be delivered to our house the following afternoon and I would pick up the boy child upon his release from the hospital.
I came back to the room to learn that the kids entertained the Grandmas with their own renditions of hymns and songs, Gloria insisting she just COULDN"T sleep without singing herself to sleep. Oddly enough, the Grandmas didn't mind.
The next morning the stupor continued. Only it was accompanied by something else... and desperate need to treasure my children. After all, how much time would I get with them after that day? I walked with each one of them separately, talking to them about what they could expect and doing my best to assure them of their value and place in my heart. We took in the old fort, witnessed an nationalization ceremony and I pretty much cried the whole time. Then I got a call.
"The placement committee decided this would be too much on you for your first placement. They decided to keep shaking the trees and seeing who else can take them."
You cannot imagine my relief. I suddenly started enjoying our trip. And I remember what we did! Here's Aaron walking with the Grandmas. He's so sweet. While the other kids run ahead or play, Aaron's favorite place is to be walking beside a loved one, hand-in-hand. Sometimes he'll run ahead. Sometimes he's silly. But usually, this is his preferred place. Again, the Grandmas didn't mind
And here's Gloria and Nathan, hamming it up and scouting for Spanish invaders.
.
We did lots of sight seeing. The oldest schoolhouse, the oldest residence in Florida, a fancy house with the first indoor pool which is now a set of shops, and of course lots of train rides. It was great fun. And all along, Aaron kept asking for blue ice cream. Where did he get that??? I don't know, but I said we would try to get ice cream before the day was over. The evening was setting in and kids were tired. We loaded up and headed out of St. Augustine. Kids were quickly asleep. We drove the bulk of the way home before they woke up. I found a Cold Stone and felt sure they would certainly NOT have blue ice cream, but I figured he'd be appeased by anything sweet and creamy. Well, guess what... they had BLUE ice cream. Aaron never knew the oddity he was asking for.
Nathan's tongue entertained us all quite well.
Gloria enjoyed her pink ice cream too, of course. We went home, nuzzled the new lambs and crashed into bed.
And even decided to do it all again next year.
