YMCA Fail

So I'm finally getting around to writing about this experience I had with YMCA after school care. This happened a week before Halloween, but I think I can finally write about it without getting fired up and angry all over again. Well here is the story about how the Y lost my 5 year old.

Let me start by giving a quick run down on how the Y works. Both my boys attend after school programs. Mikey attends the ASPIRE program which is a no cost enrichment program. Students have to be nominated for the program and it's a mix of Y counselors and teachers from his school. Joey goes to the Y after school program because ASPIRE isn't available for the kinder kids and he would need to be nominated. So I pay for the Y to watch Joey. Both programs are run on campus so the kids don't have to take a bus or be transferred to any other buildings. 

Ok, so this all happened on the Friday of the PTA Fall Festival. The festival was going take place after school, inside the cafeteria, library, and gym. Mike and I made plans to meet at the school after work so we can all participate. Now normally I'm the one who picks the boys up. Mike does the morning drop off, and I take care of the pick up. Team work. I also usually have my sister with me since we work together and carpool. Today, since I knew Mike was going to meet at the school, I actually went to Walgreens to pick up a prescription instead of going straight to the school. As I get to Walgreens I get a text from Mike letting me know he just got to the school. So I grab the prescription, jump in the car and start heading to the school with my sister. I'm waiting at a stop light near the school when my phone rings from a local unsaved number. I answer the phone and it's the assistant principal. He lets me know that he has Joey in the office with him and will keep him there till I pick him up. I thank him and let him know my husband is there and will grab him. I hang up and check what time Mike let me know he was at the school. 20 minutes had past between the text and the assistant principals call. That's when I got confused and started to realize something was wrong. I call Mike and tell him about the phone call. He thanks me, then hangs up on me. Not normal. Something's going on. 

So I rush to the school, park, and as my sister and I are reaching the front of the school, Mike and the boys walk out, and he tells me everything. He arrived to the school and all the after school kids had been moved outside to the smaller playground since the inside was being used by the PTA. He signs the kids out, locates Mikey, but Joey is no where to be found. He asked the director where he was, she scanned the playground, then gave him the LOOK. You know what LOOK. The "holy shit he's not here" LOOK. So Mike and the director freak out and start looking. The inside of the school was a MADHOUSE. The festival was in full swing and people were everywhere. The school was also fully open so the fear that he could have left was very real. They searched the library, gym, cafeteria, music room, hallways and could not find him. Just as he was about to call me and let me know, I called him and let him know the assistant principal called me. Short jog to the office later, Mike has both children. 

So we stayed at the festival, had a nice time, but it ate at me all weekend, so Monday morning I called the director of the program for the entire district and left her a voice mail. By 3pm I sent her an email. A not very nice email since I was pissed she didn't call me back sooner. She called me right after the email and did the great ass kissing tour of 2013 and I guess my relationship with Y is back to normal. In all honesty if I had other after school options, I would probably remove them from the Y and ASPIRE and go elsewhere but the Y dominates the market. I will be using other camps for winter and summer though.....

Sweet Berry Farm/My Take

So this past weekend, we took the journey to Marble Falls, TX and went to one of the best pumpkin patches. The name of the place is Sweet Berry Farm, and it’s actually a working farm. During the spring, you can head out there and pick your own fresh strawberries, and during the fall, the place transforms into an amazing pumpkin patch. So here is my review of Sweet Berry Farm. 

So back in California, we used to go to a place called Pa’s Pumpkin Patch in Long Beach. It was a nice little place. There were a couple little rides, and you can pick your pumpkin and be on your way. Kids had a nice time, and the prices were ok. Now that I’ve been to a place in the actual country, I’m going to complain about the location of the old place in LB. It was an empty street corner. 

Well, maybe I’m not “complaining” but I do need to point out the difference between the map about, and the map below of Sweet Berry Farm’s location. 

 

Big difference. One is right in the middle of the city, one is in the middle of the country. 

Ok, so let me get the negative out of the way. We decided to go on a Sunday since I had to work that Saturday. It was a really big sacrifice for the husband since it meant he would miss out on the Cowboy game. Before anyone rushes to judgment, the Cowboys were playing the Eagles and it was to determine who would be in first place of the division (Cowboys won. Yay Mike!). Well it turns out Sunday’s are a terrible time to go because the place was PACKED. Traffic started when we turned onto the highway. Not a good sign for someone like me. I am my father’s daughter and what that translates to be is that I have no patience and I hate crowds. Some crowds are tolerable, but having to stand in line with other families trying to contain their impatient children, while my boys are being equally impatient is not my idea of a good time. There really isn’t any suggestions I could give to make this process better considering the remote location and the fact that I don’t want this place to get overly commercialized.So we battled the traffic, and stood in the awful lines. More then once I wanted to bail and try again later, but I sucked it up. 

So first off, just like everything in life, nothing is free at this place except the parking and the entrance. If you want to go through the corn mazes, face painting, paint a pumpkin, hay ride, or the train, you have to pay. The good thing about this is the prices are pretty low. We’re talking $2-$4 per event/attraction. First attraction was the Sweet Berry Train. It’s very low frills. A tractor pulls a couple “cars” with children around a little track. Super cute, and the boys had tons of fun.  

 

The next stop was paint a pumpkin. For $5 the children pick a pumpkin, and paint it any way they choose. The boys LOVED this. My oldest is really big on art right now so it thrilled him to have a new art project. There were plenty of tables for the kids, and each table had its own brushes and paint so fighting over colors was pretty much non-existent. A really good part about this activity was that they had stands set up for you to put your pumpkin in the sun and let it dry so you don’t have to lug around a pumpkin with wet paint all over it to the other activities.  

Finally our last stop was face painting! I saved this for last because the year before I made the mistake of getting it done first, then by the end of the day, the paint is melting off their faces, and getting all over their clothes and my car. No Bueno. So once again they chose the same designs that they choose every year! A ghost for the youngest, and a batman mask for the oldest. I kept trying to get them to change it up, and do something different, but was shot down. I guess when you like something you stick to it. 

So over all we had a good time. The weather was perfect, the boys behaved beautifully and we spent some quality family time together. The only thing we failed to do was buy a pumpkin to carve. Since we had to park on the other side of the highway, the idea of lugging a huge pumpkin didn’t seem appealing. We can get a nice pumpkin from Walmart or HEB. So we will definitely return next year, but not on a Sunday, and we'll park nice and close so we can buy a pumpkin from them. 

Till next year!