SLO Town-And the REST of the story...

I know, I know...you've all been wondering why I haven't been posting (all five of you that read this that is!). Well, I'll tell you. We just got back late last evening from a super fun weekend in one of our favorite places in the world--San Luis Obispo. Steve and I both went to Cal Poly, SLO and that is where we met and lived after we were married until our first child came into the world. It really is still like home for us although we love where we live now.

We went down this last weekend to see Rebekah Weeks, a dear family friend, graduate from SLO High. Since SLO High is only one of two high schools in the town and the other one is just a small private one, the whole town shows up and so we got to catch up with a bunch of friends and families from church. The boys survived graduation without too much trouble and even got to run around with their nerf guns a bit while the 300+ names were read. That evening we went to the Weeks' home (Rebekah's mom has mentored and loved me for almost ten years now) and had dinner. After that we left for Paso Robles to spent the night with our very special friends from Poly, the Whitacres.

Tim and Jill are expecting their first little one, a boy, in late September and they just bought a house a few weeks ago so it was so fun to go and see their new home and rub Jill's little belly. They very graciously opened their home to us--which is no small feat by the way since our family is quite large. Also, they'd only lived there for five days when we showed up on Friday evening too so, when I say it was gracious, it really was. The rest of the weekend was spent catching up with them, attending a graduation party, going to church and seeing old Poly friends for lunch on Sunday. The boys also played quite a bit at various parks, which is always fun for them.

Now all of this sounds rather tame and agreeable so I bet you're wondering what the rest of the story is. Well, I'll tell you. When I mentioned parks, I did mean that the boys got to play at the park a couple of times over the weekend but they spent the most time at Mitchell Park which is across the street from our old church and right in the heart of San Luis Obispo. We stopped there numerous times for me to nurse Josh and let the boys play. Saturday evening, when all of this hoopla happened, that is where we were. Steve had the older two boys playing and I had Josh on my lap as I was catching up with one of my old high schoolers, Kayla, who is getting married next month. The day before we had been there, right before the graduation that is, letting the boys stretch their legs and Isaac had to go potty. To Steve's dismay the men's bathroom was indisposed. I was nursing Josh so, Steve set off to find a bathroom at Grace Church, which he did just in time. All quiet on the western front. We made it with no major problems. However, the next day we were not so lucky.

It all started when Steve came running up to me with a hurried look on his face and said, "Isaac's got to go and the men's bathroom is totally disgusting. Can you take him?" No problem. I got up, Kayla took Josh and off to the bathroom we went. Isaac went off to play right after and Kayla and I were back in deep conversation. But then, I heard the whistle....the Dauphin whistle. I knew something was wrong but what? I had just taken the oldest to the bathroom and all was well. Oh no! Not Caleb...what's going on with Caleb? All of these thoughts are running through my mind at record speed while I'm trying to locate where the whistling is coming from. And then I found Steve, holding Caleb at arms length and giving me these eyes that said, "We've got a major problem here wife, we might need to call in reinforcements." I hurried over and lo and behold, Caleb had painted the slide brown and there was poop from his head to his shoes. The family who had been playing nearby quickly took their leave and Steve and I dumbfoundedly contemplated what to do next.

Don't panic, don't panic! I'm sure we can figure this out. Rang through my head as I ran off toward our car. I had promised my husband that I would be back in record speed with SOMETHING to help the situation. I wasn't sure what that something would be when I left, but I was sure I'd figure it out. I searched the car, found an extra pair of clothes, an entire package of Costco size wipes and a plastic bag. Things are looking up (as up as they can look in this type of situation) and ran back as fast as my little legs would carry me and quite pleased with myself I dare say. Meanwhile, Steve had somehow managed to spare the shoes and socks and had stripped our little two year-old down to nothing besides the poop all over his backside that is. Then I got to work on Caleb and he got to work on the slide. No shame people. No shame. I was literally wiping for what seemed like hours. Everyone's eyes in the park were on us as we cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. And they were all SO thankful it was us and not them. Pretending not to notice, I silently berated myself for allowing him to eat so much fruit that weekend (tons of watermelon, strawberries, bran muffins and the like) as I wiped and wiped and wiped. He is pretty well potty trained but I think after all that fiber, it just hit the poor kid like a ton of bricks. Steve wondered out loud if we should call Parks and Rec. We decided against that (who do you call on a Saturday evening?) and just made sure to get the slide as squeeky clean as possible.

Meanwhile, my poor little friend Kayla was standing on the sidelines watching all of this and contemplating her marriage coming up. What a dose of reality. Nevertheless, Steve and I just worked like a well-oiled machine laughing, side by side, in tandem...it's not glamorous, but children really do teach you to work together. Later we told Kayla that she sure got more than she bargained for. I think she probably wanted to act like she didn't know us during that part; if I were her, I would've wanted to fade into the background. But at least, if we're trying to find some sort of redemption in this event, we were able to show her what real family life can be like.

Poop, poop and more poop. What is it with boys and poop? I'll never know. I feel like we've got so many poop stories already and it's early people. I'm sure to have many more in the years to come. But if I've got my hubby and a big ole package of wipes, we're sure to pull out all right.

Yes, Caleb went right back to playing after that and there weren't any more incidents that weekend, thank God. And that my friends, is the rest of the story.