White Horse

My husband and I watched a documentary last night on demand called White Horse. I'm not a documentary kind of gal, but I can get into them from time to time. I wanted to watch this particular one because it deals with the Chernobyl Disaster from 1986.

The film follows a man, Maxim Surkov, back to his childhood home in Chernobyl for the first time in 21 years. It is a powerful film, not only to see the emotion in Maxim, but to see the ghost town Chernobyl and what terror a nuclear disaster can wreak.

I recommend taking the time to watch it. I felt like it was a good eye opener of what kind of dangers there are behind man-made energy. Yes, there is natural nuclear energy- but I'm talking about nuclear reactors inside nuclear power plants. After the earthquake and impending nuclear meltdowns in Japan I have sparked an interest in the subject.

I'm not going to go on a save-the-planet rant here, I'll save it for another day. But check out the documentary. It's only 20 minutes or so. It will give you a sense of the magnitude of what could happen in Japan.

Our Gold's Gym Experience

I thought it would be a good idea to share this in a more public light than my private Facebook notes.

My husband and I joined Gold’s Gym only about 2 weeks ago. They were having a special, so we cancelled our membership at the YMCA to join Gold’s. We had always heard great things about it from friends about it, and decided to give it a try.

At first we were put off by the rudeness and arrogance of the staff members and also turned a blind eye to the high pressure sales tactics of the recruitment staff. (We are signing up at a gym, not buying a car, right?) Well, we liked it well enough and decided we would add childcare to our membership at $14.99/month. I have a 4 year old daughter and a 2 year old son who were excited to see the ‘play area’ at our new gym.

What we found was extremely different than what we had expected. First off, there is only a sign in sheet for when you drop your kids off. There is no checking of identification or private PIN number or any sort of way to identify WHO drops off which child, or even more disturbing, WHO is able to pick them up! I spoke with a staff member about this, and she plainly told me “yeah, it’s not very secure, but once you come a few times then we get to know you and we won’t let anyone else take your kids”. Wow, very reassuring. Now, that right there should have been a red flag to just up and leave, but the kids were excited about it and were ready to play. When we came an hour and a half later to pick them up, my 2 year old son let himself OUT! There wasn’t a staff member standing by their door to ensure kids are not just leaving on their own free will. He just walked right out- luckily I was THERE. I mentioned it to the same staff person that checked us in and she replied “well, you were right there”. My husband and I left shaking our heads.

I talked that night with my girlfriend who referred us to the gym and told her about our situation. She stood by what she said and insisted that we give it another try.

Our other try was February 23, 2011. We dropped our kids off in the same manner as we had before. There were probably 20 kids running around and 2 staff people mostly “observing”. I say “observing” because there was absolutely no interaction or greeting when my children arrived. They went in to play until we returned an hour later. When we got back, my 2 year old son was wandering around in the area OUTSIDE of the ‘secure play area’, where people take off their shoes/coats. He was coming out to mom and dad, but I was absolutely flabbergasted. Nobody even noticed him leave, nobody batted an eye! A couple minutes later, my 4 year old daughter noticed us and she let herself out of the play area!!! There was NO staff member paying attention what-so-ever to this situation. There was a father and his kids also leaving at this time who exchanged glances with us. Staff didn’t intervene until yet another child let himself out of the “secure” facility. That’s when she noticed my son had escaped, but never said a word to my husband or myself.

My husband promptly went back in to talk to a manager about this situation. He was given a phone number to call and the desk manager told my husband he couldn’t talk because he was getting off work at that time and desperately needed to go. This we later found out was not true, as the same manager was hanging around the desk talking to someone else as we drove away several minutes later.

Today we have been in contact with the general manager, Chad, as well as the Kids Club manager, Minerva. Both of whom were rude and insisted NONE of this ever happened. They have given us the run-around and gone above and beyond with their general lack of caring and rude demeanor. The Kids Club manager told us that they have a lot of kids to watch and can’t keep an eye on everybody. She said “it gets crazy with all those kids”. It sounds to me like they’re critically understaffed and undertrained.

I am not typically the type to call and complain or write strongly worded email to businesses. However, I am a mother. My children are my number one priority in life. If their safety has been jeopardized and someone is at fault, I WILL let them know, and I WILL make sure others know. This can’t be happening. What if my son had wandered OUTSIDE? What if someone else’s kid wanders out and nobody notices, or someone else takes him home? Someone needs to intervene, and apparently our phone calls and concerns have not sufficed nor have they been taken seriously. Other parents in the cities need to be alerted to this situation, and either avoid Gold’s Gym, or insist that they take another look at their facility! As for us, we’re going back to the YMCA and washing our hands of this whole mess.

Two.

The boy is two years old. He is amazing. Everyday he makes me smile, raise an eyebrow, laugh, or just stare at him in awe. His name is Owen Daniel.

This boy of mine is spectacular. Every mother will tell you her boy is spectacular, but let me tell you about my Owen. He came into this world on New Year's Eve 2008. He was a darling baby who I knew had a little spark to him. Now he's two years old and that spark is still more than evident.

I thought the terrible twos were a myth. I thought this because my first born, Addison (who is now 4), was an absolute perfect baby. But not only was she the perfect baby. She was the perfect two year old. Sweet as sugar and cute as a button. This girl really is the poster child for childrearing. She is magic.

Now about that myth.

The terrible twos have hit this family like something fierce. They even came a little early, around 18 months or so, because I'm sure they were feeling bad about all that missed time with Addison. That 2 year old chimpanzee/Tasmanian devil mix sure can stir up some trouble.

I heard screaming in the early hours of the morning when no sane person is awake (really, it was only 6:15, but I had another half hour til my alarm went off, and we all know that last 1/2 hour is made of pure gold). It jolted me out of bed in a panic only mothers have had the joy of experiencing. I literally flew up the stairs. And there Owen was in his Thomas jammies, stuck in the sink, toothbrush in hand, with the HOT water running and the drain plugged!

Time out for a second... yes, the water was hot, but dude was fine. It wasn't to it's full potential in the heat department (and yes, water heater is set at 120).

So there we are. Owen absolutely soaked to the bone. Me, in my Wooddale Recreation T-shirt, hair a mess, kind of still sleeping, toweling off this wiggly toddler. And now he's upset because he wants his THOMAS PANTS ON NOW! Oh Owen. You're SO lucky you're cute.