Ian goes to Subway

 

With Jeff being out of town this past week for work, it was up to Sam and me to pick Ian up from gymnastics at 8:00pm.  Ian asked if we could stop at Subway (which is on the way home) and get a meatball marinara sub.  This is his new favorite item from Subway.  Ian had a small snack before class, but eats something more substantial afterwards when he gets home.

It was seriously cold out (and dark) by the time we loaded up the car and headed home.  I wanted Ian to be able to have his sub, but I didn't want to have to get Sam out of the warm car.  And I didn't feel comfortable leaving both kids in the car (with it running to keep it warm) while I ran inside to get Ian's sandwich.  My only other option was to give Ian money and send him in on his own.  These are those kind of life skills he needs to get comfortable with.

I double-parked the car right out front so I could keep an eye on Ian through the glass windows while waiting in the car with Sam.  What happened next is soon to become a classic story told time and time again in our house.

I see Ian make his way down the counter and get to the register.  I can see Ian hand the man behind the counter the $10 bill I gave him.  I see the man give Ian his change.  However, Ian keeps dropping the coins, having to bend down and pick them up.  Again and Again and Again.  They must've fallen a total of 5 times.  And each time the coins fell they scattered all over the floor.  It was hard not to laugh.  I mean the first two times I felt bad the coins fell, but after 5th time, it was getting hysterical.  Finally Ian starts putting the coins (one at a time) in his pocket until he has all the change safely secure.

Ian gets to the car and climbs inside.  I ask him how it went.  He said they were all out of meatballs.  Oh no!  So then Ian proceeds to tell me the exact conversation he has with the guy behind the counter at Subway.  Ian even does a dead-on PERFECT impression of this guy's Indian accent.

Ian:  I'd like a 6 inch meatball marinara with American cheese on Italian bread, please.

Guy Behind The Counter With Indian Accent (now referred to as: GBTCWIA):  No meatballs!  No Meatballs!  No meatballs!

Ian:  Ok, then I'll have a 6 inch Turkey, cheese, lettuce, and tomato on Italian bread, not toasted.

GBTCWIA:  You want it toasted, yeah?  You want it toasted?  Toasted?

Ian:  No!  Not toasted.

GBTCWIA:  Oh yeah, you want it toasted.

Ian:  Non toasted please!

GBTCWIA proceeds to put Ian's sub in the toaster.

Ian:  No toasting!

GBTCWIA:  We don't have shredded American cheese.

Ian:  I just want the slabs of cheese!

The rest of the sub gets made. 

GBTCWIA asks Ian if he'd like to make it a combo with a diet coke.

Ian:  No, I don't want a diet coke.  How old do you think I am?!?!?

GBTCWIA:  So you just want 21oz water?

Ian:  No, I don't want any drink.  Just this bag of chips and this sub.

GBTCWIA rings the food up and starts to give Ian his change.

GBTCWIA gets really annoyed with Ian as he keeps dropping the change everywhere.

GBTCWIA:  JUST PUT CHANGE IN YOUR POCKET!  PUT IN POCKET!

As Ian is telling me this story, the tears are running down my cheeks.  I am laughing that hard.  I was proud of Ian for not making a beeline out of there once he saw the challenges he was facing ordering and the fact they didn't have any meatballs.  Ian took the news in stride and went with his next best option. 

The next day (Thursday) Ian is chosen to have lunch with the principal of his school.  This is actually a good thing and seen as an honor.  Upon pick-up from school, Ian tells me he told his teacher and the principal the Subway story.  I ask Ian what they thought of his story and knowing Ian, he retold it complete with Indian accent.  Ian says they both asked if he did this whole thing on his own.  I am cringing as I ask Ian what he said to that.  He replied with, "I told them you didn't want to come in."  OMG, I am now mortified.  I can only imagine what they think. 

Friday morning we do kiss-n-ride at the kids' school.  It is raining and yucky weather (in fact we had a two hour delay -- yet again this week!).  As the car pulls up, an older woman whom I've never seen before comes to the kids' door and helps them out.  She is holding an umbrella and is ready to shelter them from the rain.  She sees it is Ian and looks at me and says, "Ian told me the Subway story.  It was really funny."   I quickly replied, I hope you don't think he was completely unsupervised.  I was in the car with his little sister, double parked right out front.  I had my eye on him the entire time.  She said, "It's ok.  We were impressed that he did this.  And the amount of detail he had telling his story."   My reply:  "Yes, I've been laughing quite a bit hearing Ian tell the story."

I was trying to get Ian to learn a few life skills (ordering food, handling money).  In turn, Ian got more than he bargained for and learned how to communicate with someone whose first language is not English.

Breakfast

Within the past 3 to 6 months, Ian's taste in breakfast foods have gone through the roof!  There is nothing breakfast related he doesn't like to eat.  It's been fun watching him try new foods and then go on to devour them.  He has seriously become the Champion Breakfast Eater in the Toppall house. 

We stopped at a Denny's not too long ago and Ian had the Jr. Grand Slam, which was eggs, turkey bacon, hashbrowns and orange juice.  He asked for a side of fruit with this too.

At home he alternates between Banana Walnut Muffins, A Jimmy Dean Egg-Cheese-Sausage English Muffin Sandwich, or a bagel with lox.  Sometimes he'll ask me to make him an omelet, which I will happily do.

When he is with my mom, she always makes him a big bowl of slow-cooked oatmeal with blueberries.  No one makes oatmeal like Mom-mom.  I don't even bother to try.

Every now and then I'll make pancakes on the weekend and he'll go through a small tower of those. 

Ian's newest favorite breakfast item is bacon. My dad better get faster hands if he wants a piece when Ian is around.

I love seeing Ian enjoy eating breakfast so much.  It's a great way to start the day.

Spectacularly surreal

TIME:      11:15am to 1:45pm

WHEN:    Wednesday, January 1, 2014 
WHERE:  Burke, VA, United States  (Specifically on Burke Centre Parkway)
WHO:      The Toppall Team (Jeff, Ian, Samantha and me)

We had New Year's day blissfully free of any place we needed to be.  I proposed an idea to Jeff, "Let's walk to Cafe Rio for lunch and walk back."  Despite the 35 degree weather outside, Jeff didn't find a reason to turn down my idea and it got presented to the kids.  Ian and Sam were game as long as they could use their scooters.  Heck ya!

Not once did we hear "How much longer?"  Not once did we hear "Are we there yet?".  No one complained about the cold, or being thirsty, or having to go to the bathroom, or their feet hurting, or being too hungry, or the path being too hilly, or the sun in their eyes.

For 1.85 miles in each direction we did it!  It was 2.5 hours total of being part of a bigger plan.  There was no quick escape or exit available.  The kids and Jeff did a great job of hanging in there.  I think the funniest moment came as we were walking into Cafe Rio and Sam realizes where we are about to eat lunch.  She whines LOUDLY as we're walking through the door, "AW, NOT THIS PLACE!  I DIDN'T WANT TO COME HERE TO EAT."   Come'on, you can't tell me she didn't know where we were headed.  Not only did we mention the name of the place several times as to where we were going, but she is fully aware geographically what is located in the direction we were moving.  Her whining went ignored, her hunger kicked in and Sam ate her brother's chicken taco. 

After lunch, Ian and Sam requested Sweet Frog (located at the end of the shopping center) for FroYo before heading back home.   We got our frozen treat in freezing weather and then hit the trail back home.

I loved it!  And was so proud of my family.  To the casual pedestrian or car driving by, we looked like a normal family.  One who enjoys being outside and getting fresh air.  No one knew that inside I could hear a clock ticking (quite loudly) just waiting for someone (any one of us that bears the Toppall last name) to explode and ruin this fantasy.  It never happened!! 

As we had our house in sight, I threw out the idea that since this worked so well, we could do it all the time.  I got a few glares back in return and felt I shouldn't press my luck. So I altered my thinking and said "Maybe we could just do this every New Year's day."   At which point everyone agreed in 365 days they would be up for doing it again.

I heart Jennifer Lawrence

I didn't realize what a HUGE Jennifer Lawrence fan I was until I saw the movie, "American Hustle."   She took a supporting role in the movie and stole every scene she was in. 

I didn't really know who Jennifer was before seeing her in "Hunger Games".  I was in awe of how well they took a larger-than-life story and translated it perfectly for the big screen.  The casting of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen worked brilliantly.  She played that role exactly how I envisioned it when reading the story.  I loved everything about the movie, both the first "Hunger Games" and "Catching Fire."

The next time I took notice of Jennifer was in "Silver Linings Playbook".  What a great movie!  For this role she got the Academy Award.  How cool that someone so young was awarded the top prize in Hollywood.  There is a really cool moment when after the award show, Jennifer Lawrence is getting interviewed by one of the entertainment tv shows.  While she is being asked about how it feels to win, Jack Nicholson comes up to her, interrupts and congratulates her on the win.  After Jack walks away, Jennifer has this moment on air where she is visibly star-struck by Jack's presence.  In a very real person moment, she quietly freaks out and her mouth drops open.   Not realizing that Jack hasn't fully walked away, Jack taps her on her shoulder and Jennifer turns her head and sees him right there.  It makes her jump in her seat, shocked seeing him.  This moment is so down to earth and relatable.  It makes you love her even more.

Since the Academy Awards, Jennifer Lawrence has been quoted many times about how she won't lose weight to get a role; how she wants to portray only "fit", "healthy" women and send out a positive role model to girls.  And she has been known to go head-to-head with Joan Rivers for calling women "fat".   Got to love her, right?

I admit it, I have a girl crush.

Final thoughts on trip

If you ask me if there is anything we should've done differently with our trip to Orlando, I will answer 'no'. Jeff agrees and he isn't the kind of person to look at the glass "half full".  Not that he always sees the glass on the way to being empty either, but he is definitely more cynical than me.  It went as well as if not better than we could have hoped for. 

Driving straight-thru on the way there and back was smooth sailing.  Mount St. Samantha did not blow -- not once!  It took us 13 hours when going at night and 14 hours driving back during the day.  We definitely had more stops for meals and to walk around during our return drive on Sunday.  I introduced Jeff to "South of the Border."  This is the big tourist trap that is located right in between South Carolina and North Carolina.  I have so many memories as a little girl stopping there each summer when driving up to NJ.  Boy, has that area expanded!

Having fun at South of the Border:

THE smartest thing I ever did was purchase a dual port USB charger with a 4 foot cord.  The kids could be on their iPads while they were charging.  It didn't matter their iPads were on for almost 13 hours non-stop, it never went below 100% on the battery.  Seriously, can you think of $20 better spent than that?!?!?

Jeff and I were able to see 3 movies in the 8 days we were in Orlando.  I was in movie heaven!  Each film we saw was better than the last.  "The Wolf of Wall Street", "American Hustle" and "Saving Mr. Banks" all were fantastic.  How nice to go to a movie and not have to pay for a babysitter. 

It had been a while since Jeff had been in Orlando.  We were trying to think of his last visit and we came up with my sister's wedding in October 2009. I honestly don't think he has been back down there since then.  He has seen my family lots of times in other locations, but not on their home turf.  So weird that for the last 4 years, I've gone down with just the kids and not him.  It was great having him with us. 

In lieu of Hanukkah gifts from us, Jeff and I planned a family outing to go go-karting and out to dinner.  This was a fun evening and a great way to spend time together. 

 

 

 

Dinner!

It was a great trip!  My favorite highlight was meeting my gorgeous niece, closely followed by getting to see so many awesome movies.  And I feel it necessary to mention being around my family may very well trump going to the movies.  Gosh we have a good time when we get together. 

The most bizarre part was how much we did in Orlando while we were there and then when we got back home, the kids still had an entire week off from school.  We have certainly had the best of both worlds -- a fun adventure seeing the relatives and still lots of downtime chilling at home. 

WONDER(ful) WORKS!

While in Orlando my Toppall team and I visited this place called "Wonder Works".  Located on International Drive I couldn't help but notice this building every time I drove on I-4 back and forth to one parent or another.   Why?  Because the entire building is upside down!! 



Yep, this is exactly what the building looks like. 
Ian especially likes the upside down palm trees.

I had never been before and wasn't exactly sure what the inside had to offer.  I was very intrigued and got excited when Jeff, the kids and I had a free day to spend however we wanted.  Given the location I was a little nervous that this would be a tourist trap, a waste of time and money. 

Wonder Works only has 4 locations in the U.S.:  Orlando, Myrtle Beach, Panama City and Pigeon Forge.  I just looked at their website; it appears that a new location in Syracuse has just opened too  (Which if you ask me, makes no sense when the other 4 locations are all huge tourist destinations -- Syracuse is not!!).

I am excited to report that the inside is even cooler than the outside.  This place rocks!!  And, not only did Sam fall in love with Wonder Works, but so did Ian, Jeff and me.  Every floor had us engaged no matter what age we were.  My Toppall team spent 4+ hours having fun and doing the coolest things.  Everything is hands on and interactive.  There were endless exhibits that we couldn't get enough of.   Fortunately the day we were there (December 24th), it wasn't that crowded and we could spend as much time as we wanted before moving on to the next thing.

Our favorite things:

Ian:    Baseball pitching simulator; you could pick different major league players to pitch against.

Sam:  The bubble room where you could make the biggest sized bubbles you've ever seen!

Jeff:    A room that you walked by and it had you dancing like you were in a 70s music video; complete with lights, disco music, and projecting your moves into psychedelic patterns on the big
screen.

Robyn:  The ropes course.  Very high in the ceiling was a full obstacle course that you walked around while harnessed in. 

A few moments stood out for us. There were three things that Ian wanted to do, but was scared. One was the bed of nails, where you lay on a flat surface and then thousands of nails push your body up several inches.  The other was the ropes course.  Ian talked a good game of wanting to go everywhere on this course, but once he got up there, his fear of heights kicked in.  The last thing was the roller coaster simulator.  It took a little hand-holding from Jeff and me, but we convinced Ian that he shouldn't let fear keep him from enjoying something he wanted to try.  Once Ian finally tried it he was happy he did it.  It was a great moment when Ian realized there was no reason to be scared.

What a nice surprise to have discovered such a great place.  Without hesitation we would go check out Wonder Works at one of their other locations if we were nearby. 

Sam and Ian are moving a ball with back and forth to each other with their brains.
The one who is the most relaxed will move the ball the furthest. 
Believe it or not, Sam won this challenge.

Ian laying flat on the bed of nails.

Ian getting lifted up by the nails.

Climbing to get to the ropes course.

Ian and me ready to start.

Uh-oh!  What happened to Sam's body?

Getting ready for the 4D theatre ride

Here are some fun photos that they make with you against a "green screen".



Sam had enough at this point and didn't want to cooperate any longer.

Christmas 2013

My Toppall team and I aren't normally around the family for Christmas.  Given that we are Jewish, not being near family for this holiday is ok.  More than ok.  However this year was different.  We were staying with my mom and stepfather from Tuesday, Dec. 24th to Friday, Dec. 27th.   Given that Jim is not Jewish, him and my mom do a little Christmas celebration each year.


First it gets funny...

Watching my mom and Jim exchange presents was hilarious.  The presents my mom received from Jim had already been picked out by her but wrapped by Jim.  Each time she opened a gift she gave quite a performance acting surprised. At first I was blown away by how perfect Jim's gifts were for my mom, but then I remembered she actually picked them out herself.  My mom had a variety of presents for Jim (all a surprise) but forgot what was in each box.   It was very funny watching them open the gifts.

Sam wanted to know how Santa delivered the gifts since Mom and Jim don't have a fireplace.  Ian said he came through the air vent.  Sam didn't question that as an answer, despite the air vent being very small in size.

We had a big dinner and Lori, Ben and Rachel came over to join us.  The majority of the day was spent in the kitchen cooking. It was a lot of work, but very fun and so delicious!  I made two desserts; an Apple Cheesecake Streusel Bar and a Turtle Bar. 


Then it gets ugly...

After dinner my mom wanted to take us to Celebration for their holiday celebration.  At 6pm, 7pm, 8pm, and 9pm they have it snow for 10 minutes on the hour.  And this year they offered outdoor "ice skating" until 10:00pm.  Celebration is approx. a 15 to 20 minute from my mom's house.  We followed Jim who took us a back way to get there.  Only this way wasn't faster, it took us an hour of sitting in traffic to finally get there.  At this point, Jeff is starting to lose his good mood.  Sam fell asleep in the car and it is guaranteed now that she won't go back to sleep easily when we get back to my mom's house.   We weren't getting anywhere quick and it was only getting later and later.

It took us another 20 minutes or so to find a parking spot.  We finally ended up in a condo parking lot with big signs announcing it would TOW if your car was found in this lot.  Both Jim and Jeff begrudgingly agreed to park there.  My mom and I (obviously genetics were in play here) didn't see anything wrong with these golden spots that were extremely close to all the action.  Ian kept saying he didn't feel safe (?!?!). Jeff wanted to stay by the car and keep an eye on it.  Jim at one point felt like he should go back to the parking lot and check on the car.  Basically the girls ruled and we all proceeded ahead with our plans to watch it snow and ice skate. 

Have I mentioned that Jeff is not a fan of big crowds or lots of noise?  Both of which were in full swing as the holiday music is piping through the speakers and everyone in Orlando seemed to have the same idea as us on where to go on Christmas evening. 

The snow is really just bubbles made to look like snow.  It's a novelty and everyone in the town square gets all excited to see it.  Everyone that is but Jeff.  He wasn't amused and was ready to get back in the car and make our way home to put the kids down to bed. 

After the snow fall, it is time to go ice skating.  Mind you it is not real ice, but a special kind of plastic that you can skate on.  Normally I am all about ice skating, but due to a blister on my foot, getting ice skates on my feet wasn't my idea of fun.  Jeff hates ice skating but felt like he had to do it to help the kids.  He is now comparing this whole evening to being on a beach.  With all 3 on the ice Jeff is holding on to Sam's walker more to balance himself than actually needing to help Sam skate.  He keeps glaring at me and I am pretty sure he mouthed the word "hate" when I our eyes met. 

The skate session is for 30 minutes but the kids and Jeff last about 15.  They've had enough and want to their skates off NOW!

As we make our way back to the car we stop at the Market Cafe for Ian to use the bathroom.  Mom looks at her watch and sees it is going to snow again in 10 minutes.  G-d I love her and her inability to know when to give up, but my mom proposes waiting for the snow to fall again.  It was a pretty unanimous "no" and we go to the car.


Now it gets pathetic...

We tell Jim we are not going to follow him home.  We will go our own way and put the address in the GPS.  We just know that getting on the highway will be faster than Jim's back roads.  As we make our way to I-4, the GPS has us go towards a toll road.  Jeff asks if we will actually be going on a toll road.  I say, "No, it's just the direction we are headed.  We won't come to the toll."   Well, I was wrong.  Big-time!  Before we knew it, we were at the toll booth and needed a $1.00 to go through.   I knew I didn't have any money on me and Jeff said he didn't either.  We pull over to the side of the road, right in front of the toll booth and work on counting all the change I could find at the bottom of my purse.  We make it to .89 cents.  Yep, that's the best we can do.  I am laughing at the predicament we are in.  Of course, Jeff is getting even more pissed and his mood has gone from bad to worse.   I think at this point he was wishing he was on a beach.   It is truly sad that between the both of us we don't even have a dollar on us.  As we are scrounging for any change we can find, Sam says "You should've gone to the bank earlier today."  Um, yeah!  That's for sure.

There is no option to turn-around  We have to go through the toll booth. We tell the toll booth collector we only have .89 cents.  Does he take credit cards?  He says no.  After a long moment of silence I ask what do we do then?  He gave us a card and said we had 10 days to mail in the toll.  We thanked him and continued on our way.  I did offer the .89 cents we came up with as a down payment, but he wasn't interested.


Then it got funny again...

We were certain that with our change counting delay there was no possible way we'd get home before Mom and Jim.  Surprisingly enough, we did.  At this point we are all giggling again and very surprised to have a good 5 minutes before they walked in the house. 

This will surely be a Christmas to remember.  :)