Trip update and return....
First of all, I forgot to mention what we did with our day in Missoula/Jellystone. Before it reached the nearly unbearable 95 degrees... we went to the Farmer's Market. We bought fresh mixed salad leaves, fingerling carrots, yummy strawberries, a cookie for hungry Caleb, and fresh squeezed before your very eyes lemonade. All very good. Also, since the Farmer's Market was so close, we walked over to the Historic Carousel and we all got on for a little ride. This was followed up with a little work out the wiggles time at a big playground called "Dragon's Hollow".
Then it was back to Jellystone for naps for Joshy, during which time, Caleb and Daddy were able to sneak away and play mini-golf and try to find the Elk Foundation. After all that, when the air conditioner couldn't keep up with the heat, Daddy came back and we all went out. I found the Elk Foundation which was a big treat for Daddy.
Second, on the catch up. Caleb had a really good time at the city waterslides, although most were a little "big" for him.. and there was a conspicuously absent hot tub.
Ok, that was catch up.
We spent Tuesday morning again in the pools at the campground in Moses Lake. Joshy was truly enamored with the mini-waterslides. He couldn't run up to the top again fast enough for another ride. The pools/waterslides almost made up for the lack of privacy, trees, and fire pit at the actual campsite. After we got out of the pools, it was time for a little wiggle work out on the playground before we jumped in the truck and headed for home.
We made it home safe and uneventfully. We chatted with Grammy Dahl, Papa Dahl and Charlotte when we stopped at the club to get my car.
I'm downloading pictures as I type... they are coming soon. The hard part will be selecting which to post.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
"The beginning of the return" Update on the trip
Friday, we left West Yellowstone on our way to Missoula. We left in good time and arrived rather uneventfully at Jellystone. The only event was the planned event, a stop in Virginia city's "ghost town" Aka "old cowboy town" (Caleb didn't grasp and I didn't try to explain ghosts.) He really wanted to touch and play with the old town displays. However, there was basically a plaque and the peeking through the windows. Rather anti-hands on. Caleb really was showing interest in everything and I thought there would be more chance to interact with the old items. Unfortunately for Caleb, that was not the case. It really would have brought history to life if he could have touched the displays. As it was, the Candy Shoppe was the best highlight at Virginia city. Caleb and Joshy got to choose and sample candy.
We arrived at Jellystone and lets just say it was over advertised. But since Caleb and Joshy don't read advertisments, they thought it was GREAT! It had a park and a pool, and a miniature golf course, and Yogi bear cut outs EVERYWHERE, and a statue of Yogi and Booboo. But we were a little let down to not experience a visit from Yogi, wagon rides, or the ice cream social... Again, the kids didn't know what they couldn't read about.
Saturday we stayed at Jellystone. The boys thought the pool and park were very fun. Daddy thought that the Elk Foundation Museum was amazing. Mommy thought that the Target Coke flavor Icee was great (how can a town so HOT at 95 degrees, not have a 7-11?!)
Sunday morning we got on the road again for Mose Lake. Again we arrived without problem. This park has great pools for the kids and mini water slides which are perfect for the kids. The pools deepest is 3'-4' or so all the way down to 1.5' which gave Joshy alot of confidence to play around it. The water slides were alot of fun, though one of us always had to catch Joshy at the end of them. The water was a little cold, so we ended up going back and forth between the water slides and the hot tub but that is typical fare for the boys. The rest of the evening was pretty mellow. Being still on Mountain time, Joshy actually asked for his bed at 8:30, and Mommy wasn't far behind feelig not so great.
Monday, we awoke still in Moses Lake (of course). Mommy is sick.. flu/cold. Daddy and the boys went to breakfast and played at the playground. Caleb spent part of the day also sick, a bit of the fever too and napped to get better. Joshy and Daddy went to play. Then we all napped and then Caleb and Daddy went to the big city run water slides while Mommy watched Joshy play in our little inflatable pool next to the trailer and watched Veggie Tales and Night at the Museum. I tried to get a little cleaned up so that there won't be such a huge chore when we get home on Tuesday, but I can't do much feeling feverish, sniffly, and a weight on my chest and achy. Joshy colored and was a easy to manage sweety. So that is where we are right now. Just me and Joshy. Caleb and Daddy will be back soon, and I hope they will have tales of fun to tell.
More will be updated when we get back, and of course, all the pictures a person could want to see.
Friday, we left West Yellowstone on our way to Missoula. We left in good time and arrived rather uneventfully at Jellystone. The only event was the planned event, a stop in Virginia city's "ghost town" Aka "old cowboy town" (Caleb didn't grasp and I didn't try to explain ghosts.) He really wanted to touch and play with the old town displays. However, there was basically a plaque and the peeking through the windows. Rather anti-hands on. Caleb really was showing interest in everything and I thought there would be more chance to interact with the old items. Unfortunately for Caleb, that was not the case. It really would have brought history to life if he could have touched the displays. As it was, the Candy Shoppe was the best highlight at Virginia city. Caleb and Joshy got to choose and sample candy.
We arrived at Jellystone and lets just say it was over advertised. But since Caleb and Joshy don't read advertisments, they thought it was GREAT! It had a park and a pool, and a miniature golf course, and Yogi bear cut outs EVERYWHERE, and a statue of Yogi and Booboo. But we were a little let down to not experience a visit from Yogi, wagon rides, or the ice cream social... Again, the kids didn't know what they couldn't read about.
Saturday we stayed at Jellystone. The boys thought the pool and park were very fun. Daddy thought that the Elk Foundation Museum was amazing. Mommy thought that the Target Coke flavor Icee was great (how can a town so HOT at 95 degrees, not have a 7-11?!)
Sunday morning we got on the road again for Mose Lake. Again we arrived without problem. This park has great pools for the kids and mini water slides which are perfect for the kids. The pools deepest is 3'-4' or so all the way down to 1.5' which gave Joshy alot of confidence to play around it. The water slides were alot of fun, though one of us always had to catch Joshy at the end of them. The water was a little cold, so we ended up going back and forth between the water slides and the hot tub but that is typical fare for the boys. The rest of the evening was pretty mellow. Being still on Mountain time, Joshy actually asked for his bed at 8:30, and Mommy wasn't far behind feelig not so great.
Monday, we awoke still in Moses Lake (of course). Mommy is sick.. flu/cold. Daddy and the boys went to breakfast and played at the playground. Caleb spent part of the day also sick, a bit of the fever too and napped to get better. Joshy and Daddy went to play. Then we all napped and then Caleb and Daddy went to the big city run water slides while Mommy watched Joshy play in our little inflatable pool next to the trailer and watched Veggie Tales and Night at the Museum. I tried to get a little cleaned up so that there won't be such a huge chore when we get home on Tuesday, but I can't do much feeling feverish, sniffly, and a weight on my chest and achy. Joshy colored and was a easy to manage sweety. So that is where we are right now. Just me and Joshy. Caleb and Daddy will be back soon, and I hope they will have tales of fun to tell.
More will be updated when we get back, and of course, all the pictures a person could want to see.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
More vacation update "BEING THERE" Days 4-6. Not for the faint of heart or lightweight stomach.
Day 4. Tuesday. We got going and into Yellowstone park. THIS is what e came here for after all! We cruise in and saw Elk and Buffalo, and Eagles, and MORE Buffalo, and MORE Buffalo, and Elk and More ELK. The kids were enthralled, and we snapped dozens of pictures. We saw gorgeous landscape. We visited the theraml area called Paint pots in the upper Geyser Basin. We visited Old Faithful and saw it shoot up. We had the most delightful treat of Huckberry (and separately, strawberry cheesecake) ice cream on the veranda of the Old Faithful Inn on the hot day.
From here on out the kids had a great day, but with all the driving, they kept asking if there were there yet... as if to think with all this driving shouldn't we be there yet?
Somewhere after Craigs Pass I started getting sick. But we kept on. Until I actually got sick... on the side of the road. Up came the ice cream. But we kept on. We saw Yellowstone Hotel, we saw Yellowstone Lake and the gorgeous mountains across the water. We stopped on got a smal lunch. I ate one pickle slice and 4 sips of Sprite. Then we got back in the car and began again... only to stop and see a herd of Elk... and toss up the pickle and sprite. Then we kept going and came upon the mud volcanos. (and I lost the water I'd been drinking.) Then we kept on to Fishing Bridge and saw White Pelicans. Mike walked the boys through the amazing bird museum and down to the beach. We kept on and went up to the "Grand Canyon" of Yellowstone. I figured it was a once in a lifetime chance we better get to it. Let's just say, the Canyon was beautiful and awing.... and one of the stones on the path is a bit more yellow than before after being painted with my stomach's contents. All the while I was at it, Caleb kept saying "mommy, stop that, stop that mommy, people are looking at you".
And by now, my back is starting to hurt.
So we finally decide to head back... it's about 56 miles. We made a few "emergency" stops were I left more stomach DNA markers. The kids were anxious to get home and get out of the truck. They wanted to play on the playground, watch their movie and eat. Mike made dinner. I crawled to bed in pain. I was having strong unidentifiable pain, and not just in my back, I was shaking, nauseas and peeing with a strong content of blood. I took some pain killers, prayed and basically said good bye to the kids. (I wish I was just being melodramatic. The pain was strong and not just in it's usual places, coupled with blood, and vomitting, I was very concerned). I told the kids I loved them, was proud of them. I told them that I loved Jesus, if I ever left I'd go to Heaven and would watch from there and my biggest desire was that they always love Jesus too. And to be happy because God created joy for a reason. Then it was bed time... but because of the pain killers I couldn't actually find rest.
Day 5, Wednesday.... Pain woke me up, so I stayed in bed and let everyone else sleep. I was feeling too sick still to even attempt taking medicine.. I did't want to just puke it up. A couple hours later everyone else was up. I barely kept down some food, took pain killers. Passed a couple tiny kidney stones (although not the big'uns I'm expecting) and got the kids breakfast and we headed into the park again. We did the upper loop, Mammoth area etc. I took pain killers like clockwork. The kids liked seeing more animals, but they ached to get out of the car. At Mammoth, Caleb took the out of the car time to the extreme... and rolled in the grass/weeds (although we didn't know it at the time). 20 minutes later, he says he is itchy. So we actually take our eyes off the mammoth hot springs and Liberty Cap and look at him... he's covered in hives! Huge welts 2-3 inches across, all over his torso. We strip his shirt off and head to the Mammoth General store. We get Cortaid and Calamie and a new shirt for him. We lotion him up all over and dress him in a new shirt (the old was very obviously covered in spine/pollen). We hope that this is enough to solve the problem. And we continue on. We head over to the tower area, then down to Canyon Village and back home again several hours later. We fewer animals on this loop, except at mammoth and the ever present Buffalo. We arrive home with time to let the kids play on the playground, Mike grilled up drumsticks, we hosed ourselves down with DEET again and ate outside. BBQ sauce and kids don't work well inside the trailer. When it was time to shut it down for the night. Mike took Caleb over to get a shower and get all the pollen off of his body. 20 minutes after they were back, Caleb was Hiving up again, welts everywhere including near his eye. We didn't know what he rolled in that would come back (and Mike thought his own hands were beginning to itch, so what would also be contagious?) I gave him a Claratine. We ended up stripping Caleb down and Mike stood him in the bathtub and rubbed his entire body down with Cortaid and Calamie, we wrapped Caleb in a towel and put him to bed that way with a whole bunch of prayer.
In the middle of the night. Joshy ended up waking with an attempt to cry. His throat was so sore he couldn't really cry, and his nose was running, and he was raspy. He was crying and couldn't tell me why. I was scared that he was having an allergy to something too and he would stop breathing. So I prayed over him alot. I didn't get much sleep because I would jump up just to check on him to make sure he still was breathing. Being in pain still didn't help either.
I actually prayed Lord, keep up from having a fire, that's the only thing that hasn't happened to us yet.
Day 6 Thursday. A little better today. However, about what a prayed against last night... fire. Well, Mike was trying to fix a fuse that had blown (the one that connects the water/sewer tank indicators), and it started throwing current and arcing. I actually saw blue zapping current shoot out, and I'm sure Mike felt it. Have you ever wanted to just toss up your hands and let Murphy's law take over and let God take you home. Well, that did get resolved, without actual use/need of a fire extinguisher.
Caleb's rash was gone complete (although we haven't washed the Calamine off YET). He woke up with a dried coating of Calamine lotion that makes him look very pale, almost humorously so.
Joshy is still sporting a runny nose. But he isn't coughing anymore nor complaining of a sore throat.
We headed over to the Grizzly Wolf/bear center. It was a great time, and as it turns out our only opportunity to see bears and wolves. They were doing some unusual "container" testing, letting the bears do their worst trying to get into various containers to see which are really bear-proof. They fed them while we were there too. The kids really liked the playground there too.
Then we walked a little in town and then headed back into the park for some off the beated path roads. We made it as far as Old Faithful again before we headed back for more time in town, more time on the playground, a movie at the trailer and dinner. A way more relaxing day, without stomach fireworks and well managed pain.
The kids are looking forward to Jellystone tomorrow. And I think they will enjoy the pool there too. I'm looking forward to a more relaxing pace for the last leg of our trip.
I'll post pictures and update more later. Hope you're all doing fine.
Day 4. Tuesday. We got going and into Yellowstone park. THIS is what e came here for after all! We cruise in and saw Elk and Buffalo, and Eagles, and MORE Buffalo, and MORE Buffalo, and Elk and More ELK. The kids were enthralled, and we snapped dozens of pictures. We saw gorgeous landscape. We visited the theraml area called Paint pots in the upper Geyser Basin. We visited Old Faithful and saw it shoot up. We had the most delightful treat of Huckberry (and separately, strawberry cheesecake) ice cream on the veranda of the Old Faithful Inn on the hot day.
From here on out the kids had a great day, but with all the driving, they kept asking if there were there yet... as if to think with all this driving shouldn't we be there yet?
Somewhere after Craigs Pass I started getting sick. But we kept on. Until I actually got sick... on the side of the road. Up came the ice cream. But we kept on. We saw Yellowstone Hotel, we saw Yellowstone Lake and the gorgeous mountains across the water. We stopped on got a smal lunch. I ate one pickle slice and 4 sips of Sprite. Then we got back in the car and began again... only to stop and see a herd of Elk... and toss up the pickle and sprite. Then we kept going and came upon the mud volcanos. (and I lost the water I'd been drinking.) Then we kept on to Fishing Bridge and saw White Pelicans. Mike walked the boys through the amazing bird museum and down to the beach. We kept on and went up to the "Grand Canyon" of Yellowstone. I figured it was a once in a lifetime chance we better get to it. Let's just say, the Canyon was beautiful and awing.... and one of the stones on the path is a bit more yellow than before after being painted with my stomach's contents. All the while I was at it, Caleb kept saying "mommy, stop that, stop that mommy, people are looking at you".
And by now, my back is starting to hurt.
So we finally decide to head back... it's about 56 miles. We made a few "emergency" stops were I left more stomach DNA markers. The kids were anxious to get home and get out of the truck. They wanted to play on the playground, watch their movie and eat. Mike made dinner. I crawled to bed in pain. I was having strong unidentifiable pain, and not just in my back, I was shaking, nauseas and peeing with a strong content of blood. I took some pain killers, prayed and basically said good bye to the kids. (I wish I was just being melodramatic. The pain was strong and not just in it's usual places, coupled with blood, and vomitting, I was very concerned). I told the kids I loved them, was proud of them. I told them that I loved Jesus, if I ever left I'd go to Heaven and would watch from there and my biggest desire was that they always love Jesus too. And to be happy because God created joy for a reason. Then it was bed time... but because of the pain killers I couldn't actually find rest.
Day 5, Wednesday.... Pain woke me up, so I stayed in bed and let everyone else sleep. I was feeling too sick still to even attempt taking medicine.. I did't want to just puke it up. A couple hours later everyone else was up. I barely kept down some food, took pain killers. Passed a couple tiny kidney stones (although not the big'uns I'm expecting) and got the kids breakfast and we headed into the park again. We did the upper loop, Mammoth area etc. I took pain killers like clockwork. The kids liked seeing more animals, but they ached to get out of the car. At Mammoth, Caleb took the out of the car time to the extreme... and rolled in the grass/weeds (although we didn't know it at the time). 20 minutes later, he says he is itchy. So we actually take our eyes off the mammoth hot springs and Liberty Cap and look at him... he's covered in hives! Huge welts 2-3 inches across, all over his torso. We strip his shirt off and head to the Mammoth General store. We get Cortaid and Calamie and a new shirt for him. We lotion him up all over and dress him in a new shirt (the old was very obviously covered in spine/pollen). We hope that this is enough to solve the problem. And we continue on. We head over to the tower area, then down to Canyon Village and back home again several hours later. We fewer animals on this loop, except at mammoth and the ever present Buffalo. We arrive home with time to let the kids play on the playground, Mike grilled up drumsticks, we hosed ourselves down with DEET again and ate outside. BBQ sauce and kids don't work well inside the trailer. When it was time to shut it down for the night. Mike took Caleb over to get a shower and get all the pollen off of his body. 20 minutes after they were back, Caleb was Hiving up again, welts everywhere including near his eye. We didn't know what he rolled in that would come back (and Mike thought his own hands were beginning to itch, so what would also be contagious?) I gave him a Claratine. We ended up stripping Caleb down and Mike stood him in the bathtub and rubbed his entire body down with Cortaid and Calamie, we wrapped Caleb in a towel and put him to bed that way with a whole bunch of prayer.
In the middle of the night. Joshy ended up waking with an attempt to cry. His throat was so sore he couldn't really cry, and his nose was running, and he was raspy. He was crying and couldn't tell me why. I was scared that he was having an allergy to something too and he would stop breathing. So I prayed over him alot. I didn't get much sleep because I would jump up just to check on him to make sure he still was breathing. Being in pain still didn't help either.
I actually prayed Lord, keep up from having a fire, that's the only thing that hasn't happened to us yet.
Day 6 Thursday. A little better today. However, about what a prayed against last night... fire. Well, Mike was trying to fix a fuse that had blown (the one that connects the water/sewer tank indicators), and it started throwing current and arcing. I actually saw blue zapping current shoot out, and I'm sure Mike felt it. Have you ever wanted to just toss up your hands and let Murphy's law take over and let God take you home. Well, that did get resolved, without actual use/need of a fire extinguisher.
Caleb's rash was gone complete (although we haven't washed the Calamine off YET). He woke up with a dried coating of Calamine lotion that makes him look very pale, almost humorously so.
Joshy is still sporting a runny nose. But he isn't coughing anymore nor complaining of a sore throat.
We headed over to the Grizzly Wolf/bear center. It was a great time, and as it turns out our only opportunity to see bears and wolves. They were doing some unusual "container" testing, letting the bears do their worst trying to get into various containers to see which are really bear-proof. They fed them while we were there too. The kids really liked the playground there too.
Then we walked a little in town and then headed back into the park for some off the beated path roads. We made it as far as Old Faithful again before we headed back for more time in town, more time on the playground, a movie at the trailer and dinner. A way more relaxing day, without stomach fireworks and well managed pain.
The kids are looking forward to Jellystone tomorrow. And I think they will enjoy the pool there too. I'm looking forward to a more relaxing pace for the last leg of our trip.
I'll post pictures and update more later. Hope you're all doing fine.
Mid-vacation update.... "GETTING THERE" Day's 1-3. It's a long story.
DAY 1.....
We left Saturday and intended to reach Post Falls, ID. BUT... we didn't. The boys were mostly terrific during the following tale. We were just past Ellensburg when the brake controller started to read an error message. Mike pulled over quickly at the rest area (which was conveinently right there). But even with a quick pull over the tire, rim, etc were scorching hot, melting the plastic "hub cab" and the brakes were smoking. This was around 3 PM. With few other choices, the boys and I tried to enjoy the shade, explore the rest area's information about windmills and electricity, viewed/chased the chipmunks, discovered a birds nest, and hover in the shade. Mike figured out that the magnets in the brake had locked up and then wore through, melted, fried the electric brake. We un-hooked the trailer, drove to Vantage (the next "turn around" spot) and then headed back to Ellensburg. First we went to the RV sales/service location, but they couldn't help us (***note critical issue happened here, to be described later)... so we headed to Les Schwab, who nicely prepared a new electric brake etc and bearing ($131.). We drove back to the rest area and thought we would install it, hook up and be on the go again. NOOOO. We got there and the brake went on ok.... but the bearing was not the right size. So we had to get on the highway again, this time making an illegal turn around at one of those paved connector roads between East and West bound to save us 30-40 miles of extra driving, and headed back to the RV Sales/service center, because they had called Les Schwab previously and told them Mike had dropped the bearing and pieces by accident. Well they were closed when we got there. So then we went to Les Schwab to get the correct bearing... they were closed. So THEN we went to an Auto Zone and got the salespersons best guess to which bearing will fit and a random washer that he also hoped fit. Then we drove BACK to the rest area. This bearing did fit, BUT the washer did not.... Mike decided to assemble it all and get on the road without the washer. We were FINALLY on the road at 8:15pm, 5 hours behind schedule... which means we had to say good bye to viewing the Cabela's and eating in the deli, rather we'd just be happy to get there and stay in the parking lot for free over night. But hey, we're moving.
We checked at a rest stop to make sure the bearing/brake were still ok, and they were, so we checked again at another little side city/road, again ok.
Suddenly, 9:15-9:30pm, BOOM. We pulled over fast and discovered. Our tire had blow up and peeled tread. (picture to follow). It was not only undriveable, but also destroyed the utility box lid, sheared off the cable hook up, dented and black streaked the side of the trailer and ripped the molding right out of the frame about 14 inches worth. Well, with nothing else to do. Mike put the spare on, it was a little low on air, but hey it got us moving again, but there was a shimmy in the tire side to side because we still didn't have a proper washer. I stood on the road during the tire change with a flashlight to provide light and a little signal to the oncoming cars that we were there, don't hit us. During this entire time, the boys were blissfully unaware and watched "Barnyard" on Daddy's laptop. So by the time the tire was on, it was fully dark and nearing 10:00pm. As I mentioned to Papa Bill, our confidence in our trailer/tires/equipment was probably the most damaged of all, even though the trailer damage is the more tangible. Anyway, we regrettably had to call and wake up Papa Dahl and ask for the directions to where to stay in Ritzville and we limped in there at a little after 10pm, no where near the Idaho location we were aiming for at the beginning of the trip. Day 1's positive report: we were safe, parked not on the side of the road, and Mike got a shower.
DAY 2 ... HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, we're in Ritzville, on a Holiday SUNDAY with a problem in a po-dunk town for ammenities. But Mike found a hardware store and after three trips, 2-3 different washers, and a purchase of a dremel tool kit (needed to fashion his own drilled to fit washer).... and a stop at the gas station for air, we were on the road again. It was about 1:30pm, well behind schedule with Butte, MT as this day's goal if we were to stay on schedule.
We stopped in Spokane, we figured that we would be fools to proceed without a spare tire. But on a Father's Day Sunday, NOTHING was open save Wal-mart and Costco, neither of which carry this particular tire; we did succed in wasting time looking for and open location however. So we proceeded on because it was either get into Montana on this day or turn and head home. We are stubborn so we continued east; we headed out of Spokane at 5:30 and anticipated dragging ourselves wearily into Butte at 11-12Am.
We got out of Spokane and Washington, through Idaho and into Montana. We pasted Missoula and we thought we were nearly there. Just 80 Miles to Butte to go when BOOOOM. Another tired blew. Here we are between two of the smalled towns in the world with a flat, no spare, at 11:15pm. Oh, no, wait a minute, we hit a time zone, it's 12:15AM. So Thank the LORD and Papa Dahl who bought Road Side assistance for us for this trip... we called them up. Sure they will TRY to reach someone who has the special equipment needed to tow us. (It took some effort to communicate to the person exactly what kind of equipment was needed. sigh.) So we get a call back, they will be there in about 1 and 1/2 hours... so we wait. The boys are blessedly asleep, although Jockey got upset and had to sit on my lap during the wait. Mike napped too, but I couldn't sleep... my eyes kept thinking they saw buffalo or elk (no I really was awake, but it was just THAT dark). So the tow gut finally gets there at nearly 2AM. And it takes 45 minutes to get all the equipment settled (it would have been shorter, but the guy's tow dolly.... had a flat.) And the second dolly was low on air, so the decision was make to drive at a snails pace to Drummond (previously mentioned smallest town in the world) to the gas station there and fill the dolly tire with air.... would have been great, except... it was shut down for the night including the compressor. So Mike and the guy proceed to pull the two good tires from the two different dollies and make one working unit. All this while, the kids are munching on the only available food in the truck... swedish pancakes I had previously made&frozen and had used as "cooler ice "during the day, and we listened to the cows. So then we were set to get back on the road again and head for the "Nearest service center that can handle our vehicle's needs".... Missoula. So at a snails pace not to exceed 45 MPH we drive from Drummond to Missoula. Mike was exhausted and starting to nod off. I was tired too, but decided to try to keep Mike awake rather than call roadside assistance again upside down from a ditch, I'd do my best to keep Mike up. Which means I was cruel at turning the heat off, made ridiculous jokes about music, the composers and the lyrics, and general odd ball comments. We watched the dawn arrive at 4:22AM in Montana. We rolled into Les Schwab at a little after 5AM. We slept until Les Schwab opened, then set them to work. We decided to blow a little of the savings account and invest in our safety and 5 new tires ($587, but hey, it's that was savings is meant for, emergencies. I'd say stranded on the side of the road two states away from home in the middle of BFno-where in the middle of the night with kids IS an emergency!) Day 2's positive report: I did see 20 deer, Mike was remembered with cards/gifts on Father's Day, and we were safe.
DAY 3 Monday. We have our tires and an official washer from Les Schwab, although the guys were thoroughly impressed with Mike at his gumption to fashion his own washer for the bearing. So we leave at 9:30 AM... and by leaving this early (we hadn't planned on leaving Butte until 11ish) we were actually right on schedule, even if we've only had 2 hours of sleep.
This is the offical start of the normal part of our vacation (or so we thought at the time, more on this later).
We decided to continue with the plans to go to the Lewis and Clark caverns. It was tempting to just head for West Yellowstone and "just get there"... but I pushed for going to the caverns because we aren't coming this way again and there's nothing like this in Washington. The Caverns were VERY interesting and well worth it. The kids liked it. They got to see fossils embedded into the rock and they got to go inside caves/caverns AND use flashlights. It was a bit of a hike 2 miles in the heat, and they got a little concerned when they learned to becareful of snakes... and later the "sleeping bats" that were in the caves, but over all they had a good time. Although, by nap time, Jockey was in the cavern on Daddy's shoulders screaming that he wanted down and out! It was a great experience, and I'll post pictures later. We did the best we could with our cameras, learning the settings for such dark environs.
So we left the caves and onward towards West Yellowstone. We saw Pronghorn on the way, and I can't remember if we saw anything else that day... I think we spotted a few Elk.
We got to Grizzly RV park and PROMPTLY hosed ourselves down with bug spray. I got 4 bites in as many minutes. Mike halted me during the backing up process and had me spray down before any more had their chance at me. We parked, Caleb got to the playground, we ate, we calmed down. That's it.
Day 3's positive report: We made it, we're safe.
The boys did have their moments (are we there yet, and fighting over toys, dropping their toys out of reach, I'm hungry, I'm thirsty) don't get me wrong.... BUT, in the light of the 'tradgey of woes', they did great and handled things as if this was the normal course of a road trip. They seemed to accept that we have a flat and we are trying to get help. Which is great, I guess I should understand why asking the question "where are we going?" 80 thousand times IS important when it changes with every tire explosion. Sigh. The kids are in great spirits and can't wait to see animals... us too.
DAY 1.....
We left Saturday and intended to reach Post Falls, ID. BUT... we didn't. The boys were mostly terrific during the following tale. We were just past Ellensburg when the brake controller started to read an error message. Mike pulled over quickly at the rest area (which was conveinently right there). But even with a quick pull over the tire, rim, etc were scorching hot, melting the plastic "hub cab" and the brakes were smoking. This was around 3 PM. With few other choices, the boys and I tried to enjoy the shade, explore the rest area's information about windmills and electricity, viewed/chased the chipmunks, discovered a birds nest, and hover in the shade. Mike figured out that the magnets in the brake had locked up and then wore through, melted, fried the electric brake. We un-hooked the trailer, drove to Vantage (the next "turn around" spot) and then headed back to Ellensburg. First we went to the RV sales/service location, but they couldn't help us (***note critical issue happened here, to be described later)... so we headed to Les Schwab, who nicely prepared a new electric brake etc and bearing ($131.). We drove back to the rest area and thought we would install it, hook up and be on the go again. NOOOO. We got there and the brake went on ok.... but the bearing was not the right size. So we had to get on the highway again, this time making an illegal turn around at one of those paved connector roads between East and West bound to save us 30-40 miles of extra driving, and headed back to the RV Sales/service center, because they had called Les Schwab previously and told them Mike had dropped the bearing and pieces by accident. Well they were closed when we got there. So then we went to Les Schwab to get the correct bearing... they were closed. So THEN we went to an Auto Zone and got the salespersons best guess to which bearing will fit and a random washer that he also hoped fit. Then we drove BACK to the rest area. This bearing did fit, BUT the washer did not.... Mike decided to assemble it all and get on the road without the washer. We were FINALLY on the road at 8:15pm, 5 hours behind schedule... which means we had to say good bye to viewing the Cabela's and eating in the deli, rather we'd just be happy to get there and stay in the parking lot for free over night. But hey, we're moving.
We checked at a rest stop to make sure the bearing/brake were still ok, and they were, so we checked again at another little side city/road, again ok.
Suddenly, 9:15-9:30pm, BOOM. We pulled over fast and discovered. Our tire had blow up and peeled tread. (picture to follow). It was not only undriveable, but also destroyed the utility box lid, sheared off the cable hook up, dented and black streaked the side of the trailer and ripped the molding right out of the frame about 14 inches worth. Well, with nothing else to do. Mike put the spare on, it was a little low on air, but hey it got us moving again, but there was a shimmy in the tire side to side because we still didn't have a proper washer. I stood on the road during the tire change with a flashlight to provide light and a little signal to the oncoming cars that we were there, don't hit us. During this entire time, the boys were blissfully unaware and watched "Barnyard" on Daddy's laptop. So by the time the tire was on, it was fully dark and nearing 10:00pm. As I mentioned to Papa Bill, our confidence in our trailer/tires/equipment was probably the most damaged of all, even though the trailer damage is the more tangible. Anyway, we regrettably had to call and wake up Papa Dahl and ask for the directions to where to stay in Ritzville and we limped in there at a little after 10pm, no where near the Idaho location we were aiming for at the beginning of the trip. Day 1's positive report: we were safe, parked not on the side of the road, and Mike got a shower.
DAY 2 ... HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, we're in Ritzville, on a Holiday SUNDAY with a problem in a po-dunk town for ammenities. But Mike found a hardware store and after three trips, 2-3 different washers, and a purchase of a dremel tool kit (needed to fashion his own drilled to fit washer).... and a stop at the gas station for air, we were on the road again. It was about 1:30pm, well behind schedule with Butte, MT as this day's goal if we were to stay on schedule.
We stopped in Spokane, we figured that we would be fools to proceed without a spare tire. But on a Father's Day Sunday, NOTHING was open save Wal-mart and Costco, neither of which carry this particular tire; we did succed in wasting time looking for and open location however. So we proceeded on because it was either get into Montana on this day or turn and head home. We are stubborn so we continued east; we headed out of Spokane at 5:30 and anticipated dragging ourselves wearily into Butte at 11-12Am.
We got out of Spokane and Washington, through Idaho and into Montana. We pasted Missoula and we thought we were nearly there. Just 80 Miles to Butte to go when BOOOOM. Another tired blew. Here we are between two of the smalled towns in the world with a flat, no spare, at 11:15pm. Oh, no, wait a minute, we hit a time zone, it's 12:15AM. So Thank the LORD and Papa Dahl who bought Road Side assistance for us for this trip... we called them up. Sure they will TRY to reach someone who has the special equipment needed to tow us. (It took some effort to communicate to the person exactly what kind of equipment was needed. sigh.) So we get a call back, they will be there in about 1 and 1/2 hours... so we wait. The boys are blessedly asleep, although Jockey got upset and had to sit on my lap during the wait. Mike napped too, but I couldn't sleep... my eyes kept thinking they saw buffalo or elk (no I really was awake, but it was just THAT dark). So the tow gut finally gets there at nearly 2AM. And it takes 45 minutes to get all the equipment settled (it would have been shorter, but the guy's tow dolly.... had a flat.) And the second dolly was low on air, so the decision was make to drive at a snails pace to Drummond (previously mentioned smallest town in the world) to the gas station there and fill the dolly tire with air.... would have been great, except... it was shut down for the night including the compressor. So Mike and the guy proceed to pull the two good tires from the two different dollies and make one working unit. All this while, the kids are munching on the only available food in the truck... swedish pancakes I had previously made&frozen and had used as "cooler ice "during the day, and we listened to the cows. So then we were set to get back on the road again and head for the "Nearest service center that can handle our vehicle's needs".... Missoula. So at a snails pace not to exceed 45 MPH we drive from Drummond to Missoula. Mike was exhausted and starting to nod off. I was tired too, but decided to try to keep Mike awake rather than call roadside assistance again upside down from a ditch, I'd do my best to keep Mike up. Which means I was cruel at turning the heat off, made ridiculous jokes about music, the composers and the lyrics, and general odd ball comments. We watched the dawn arrive at 4:22AM in Montana. We rolled into Les Schwab at a little after 5AM. We slept until Les Schwab opened, then set them to work. We decided to blow a little of the savings account and invest in our safety and 5 new tires ($587, but hey, it's that was savings is meant for, emergencies. I'd say stranded on the side of the road two states away from home in the middle of BFno-where in the middle of the night with kids IS an emergency!) Day 2's positive report: I did see 20 deer, Mike was remembered with cards/gifts on Father's Day, and we were safe.
DAY 3 Monday. We have our tires and an official washer from Les Schwab, although the guys were thoroughly impressed with Mike at his gumption to fashion his own washer for the bearing. So we leave at 9:30 AM... and by leaving this early (we hadn't planned on leaving Butte until 11ish) we were actually right on schedule, even if we've only had 2 hours of sleep.
This is the offical start of the normal part of our vacation (or so we thought at the time, more on this later).
We decided to continue with the plans to go to the Lewis and Clark caverns. It was tempting to just head for West Yellowstone and "just get there"... but I pushed for going to the caverns because we aren't coming this way again and there's nothing like this in Washington. The Caverns were VERY interesting and well worth it. The kids liked it. They got to see fossils embedded into the rock and they got to go inside caves/caverns AND use flashlights. It was a bit of a hike 2 miles in the heat, and they got a little concerned when they learned to becareful of snakes... and later the "sleeping bats" that were in the caves, but over all they had a good time. Although, by nap time, Jockey was in the cavern on Daddy's shoulders screaming that he wanted down and out! It was a great experience, and I'll post pictures later. We did the best we could with our cameras, learning the settings for such dark environs.
So we left the caves and onward towards West Yellowstone. We saw Pronghorn on the way, and I can't remember if we saw anything else that day... I think we spotted a few Elk.
We got to Grizzly RV park and PROMPTLY hosed ourselves down with bug spray. I got 4 bites in as many minutes. Mike halted me during the backing up process and had me spray down before any more had their chance at me. We parked, Caleb got to the playground, we ate, we calmed down. That's it.
Day 3's positive report: We made it, we're safe.
The boys did have their moments (are we there yet, and fighting over toys, dropping their toys out of reach, I'm hungry, I'm thirsty) don't get me wrong.... BUT, in the light of the 'tradgey of woes', they did great and handled things as if this was the normal course of a road trip. They seemed to accept that we have a flat and we are trying to get help. Which is great, I guess I should understand why asking the question "where are we going?" 80 thousand times IS important when it changes with every tire explosion. Sigh. The kids are in great spirits and can't wait to see animals... us too.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Well, this is it. The Weekend and our vacation is eminent.
98% packed. Just a few errands. The kids are SOOO ready to get going, of course in their minds they are leaving today. I don't know if they understand that we actually leave tomorrow... tonight we will just be at the club in the trailer.
Well, they are excited that's all that matters.
Itinerary:
Sat: Leave mid-day, stay overnight for FREE at Cabela's in Post Falls, ID. (daddy is VERY excited about this stop)
Sun: Arrive in Butte KOA, they have a playground and pool which will be long overdue wiggle time for the kids.
Mon: Arrive at West Yellowstone, but not before a pit stop/exploration stop of the Lewis and Clark Caverns in the L&C state park. We hope to get to West Yellowstone at 3ish with enough time to park and get into Yellowstone park itself &/or to the Wolf Haven place right in town.
Tue-Thurs: general park exploration, geyser watching, animal spotting, etc.
Fri: Leave West Yellowstone head towards Missoula for Yogi Bear's JELLYSTONE Rv Park, with a stop at Virginia/Nevada Cities Ghost towns.
Sat: Exploring the park of the "not the average bear"
Sun: Leave Missoula in the direction of Moses Lake.
Mon: a quiet day at Moses lake, the park at the camp ground, lake, MAYBE the waterslides.
Tues: Leave Moses Lake and get home with time to unload without a mad dash frantic unpacking (crossing my fingers, because I want to end on a calm note, not a crash from labor intensive unpacking.)
So that's it. Everyone has the highlights that they are looking forward to. Daddy: Cabela's, Elk and Yellowstone itself. Boys: Jellystone and maybe animals. Mommy: I've packed 6 or more books (all that driving you know) and good sleeping (again all that driving), really all I want is PEACE and CALM, and we did indulge in getting a couple nice and tasty cheeses just to be decadent. (Geesh, I could have stayed home for peace, calm and cheese?! maybe I could have scrapbooked too? SHHHH, that's a treasonous statement against yellowstone. )
So, have a great time yourselves in the interim. I don't know if I'll be updating while we are gone, wireless capabilities are unknown. I can only hope.
Until then. Stay safe and positive.
98% packed. Just a few errands. The kids are SOOO ready to get going, of course in their minds they are leaving today. I don't know if they understand that we actually leave tomorrow... tonight we will just be at the club in the trailer.
Well, they are excited that's all that matters.
Itinerary:
Sat: Leave mid-day, stay overnight for FREE at Cabela's in Post Falls, ID. (daddy is VERY excited about this stop)
Sun: Arrive in Butte KOA, they have a playground and pool which will be long overdue wiggle time for the kids.
Mon: Arrive at West Yellowstone, but not before a pit stop/exploration stop of the Lewis and Clark Caverns in the L&C state park. We hope to get to West Yellowstone at 3ish with enough time to park and get into Yellowstone park itself &/or to the Wolf Haven place right in town.
Tue-Thurs: general park exploration, geyser watching, animal spotting, etc.
Fri: Leave West Yellowstone head towards Missoula for Yogi Bear's JELLYSTONE Rv Park, with a stop at Virginia/Nevada Cities Ghost towns.
Sat: Exploring the park of the "not the average bear"
Sun: Leave Missoula in the direction of Moses Lake.
Mon: a quiet day at Moses lake, the park at the camp ground, lake, MAYBE the waterslides.
Tues: Leave Moses Lake and get home with time to unload without a mad dash frantic unpacking (crossing my fingers, because I want to end on a calm note, not a crash from labor intensive unpacking.)
So that's it. Everyone has the highlights that they are looking forward to. Daddy: Cabela's, Elk and Yellowstone itself. Boys: Jellystone and maybe animals. Mommy: I've packed 6 or more books (all that driving you know) and good sleeping (again all that driving), really all I want is PEACE and CALM, and we did indulge in getting a couple nice and tasty cheeses just to be decadent. (Geesh, I could have stayed home for peace, calm and cheese?! maybe I could have scrapbooked too? SHHHH, that's a treasonous statement against yellowstone. )
So, have a great time yourselves in the interim. I don't know if I'll be updating while we are gone, wireless capabilities are unknown. I can only hope.
Until then. Stay safe and positive.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Today is packing day!
Lots to do.
Then it's the preschool playdate at the picnic.
Tomorrow is last minute packing, errands, and overnight at the club.
Saturday, very last minute errands, and GO!
I'll update if I can as we go. But it is going to very busy and I won't be at the house from mid-Friday on.
Lots to do.
Then it's the preschool playdate at the picnic.
Tomorrow is last minute packing, errands, and overnight at the club.
Saturday, very last minute errands, and GO!
I'll update if I can as we go. But it is going to very busy and I won't be at the house from mid-Friday on.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The school year is almost over and Yellowstone is a blink away.
Today is the last day of school AT the school. It is pajama day. Caleb is very excited about it. Of course, he has chosen footed pajamas which mean I'll have to carry him in because it's raining. (Unless I can convince him to change, or wear boots) Tomorrow is a Picnic at the park... I wonder what we do if it is totally raining? I'd hate to see the last official day bummed out by rain.
And we leave town officially for Yellowstone Saturday night. However, I think the kids and I will get some errands done on Friday and then stay Friday night at the club. The thought was to keep them away until we start on our way to maximize the "nap time" into some quiet driving... we'll see. They are very excited. The Yogi bear Dvd came from Blockbuster and they are loving yogi bear (and all his friends). Jellystone still is a big highlight they are talking about and looking forward to. It was a bit of a "splurge" idea to stay there, not one but two nights, but it is turning out to be a big highlight, as much as the elk and camping itself.
There is so much to do to get ready. It's not just throw in food and clothes and go. It's making sure we have pacifiers, back up pacifiers. The toys that will keep them occupied and interested. It's remembering the phone chargers, the CAMERA! All those little details that will make life "work" and will be a pain if we forget. I have had to do loads and loads of laundry trying to give everyone the best selection to choose from. Overnight lows are in the mid-30's... I don't know about the day times. Which means I have to have lots of warms stuff as well as Summer clothes. Crossing my fingers we'll have space for it all.
So that's it for now, lots of getting ready, planning, buying food, cleaning, pulling out, packing. Yikes. By the time I'm loaded, I'll be ready for a vacation. (and then what do I come back to, sigh, unloading, cleaning, putting away... is there another vacation to recover from the vacation clean up?)
Today is the last day of school AT the school. It is pajama day. Caleb is very excited about it. Of course, he has chosen footed pajamas which mean I'll have to carry him in because it's raining. (Unless I can convince him to change, or wear boots) Tomorrow is a Picnic at the park... I wonder what we do if it is totally raining? I'd hate to see the last official day bummed out by rain.
And we leave town officially for Yellowstone Saturday night. However, I think the kids and I will get some errands done on Friday and then stay Friday night at the club. The thought was to keep them away until we start on our way to maximize the "nap time" into some quiet driving... we'll see. They are very excited. The Yogi bear Dvd came from Blockbuster and they are loving yogi bear (and all his friends). Jellystone still is a big highlight they are talking about and looking forward to. It was a bit of a "splurge" idea to stay there, not one but two nights, but it is turning out to be a big highlight, as much as the elk and camping itself.
There is so much to do to get ready. It's not just throw in food and clothes and go. It's making sure we have pacifiers, back up pacifiers. The toys that will keep them occupied and interested. It's remembering the phone chargers, the CAMERA! All those little details that will make life "work" and will be a pain if we forget. I have had to do loads and loads of laundry trying to give everyone the best selection to choose from. Overnight lows are in the mid-30's... I don't know about the day times. Which means I have to have lots of warms stuff as well as Summer clothes. Crossing my fingers we'll have space for it all.
So that's it for now, lots of getting ready, planning, buying food, cleaning, pulling out, packing. Yikes. By the time I'm loaded, I'll be ready for a vacation. (and then what do I come back to, sigh, unloading, cleaning, putting away... is there another vacation to recover from the vacation clean up?)
Thursday, June 05, 2008
The Post-Dentist report.
Well, the positive side is that Caleb is 1 down and 2 treatments to go. He feels cool about it all. Caleb came home with a couple cool necklaces, a bouncy ball, and a plastic tooth container with his pulled tooth in it. Daddy bought his "FIRST TOOTH" for $5.00, not wanting to be a proponent of the tooth fairy myth. Daddy pays better than the tooth fairy, a little too much perhaps, but oh well. Besides, Daddy can pay whatever he wants because Daddy was the one who had to see Caleb through it all, and I'm sure there is an emotional value in there somewhere.
So the nitty gritty. Caleb liked the Strawberry scented laughing gas. (Did they have scented laughing gas when you were growing up? Not me, I wish. ) They spent a generous 8 minutes numbing EVERYTHING. Per Daddy, there were a couple tears, mostly when he felt a little trapped with the "dam" and all that set up and he had to wait while holding still. The "wiggle" (aka, actual tooth pulling) was brief. And Daddy was close enough to have to lay in the chair with Caleb and get hit and sprayed with tooth fragments (etc) during the crown process. Caleb had enough novocaine that he looked "like a stroke victim", per Daddy's words. But he came through it great! Though, he is half way towards looking like a gangsta with a grill. ;) (I guess the garish necklace with a huge blood red "ruby" stone went a long way towards that overall persona/get up.) Maybe I'll take a picture.
Caleb had lunch with Papa Dahl as kind of a reward for good behavior. He missed school because he wasn't feeling quite perky enough. I might give him some tylenol because he mentioned it hurt a tiny bit. Maybe pudding (psychological medicine, you know).
I've been a nervous wreck all day. I had to go grocery shopping just to get my mind off of it all. It worked, what a battle to get all the discounts the register was suppose to take off automatically... and then I got all the way home and realized that I forgot the TP under the cart, had to drive all the way back and anticipate a fight for my $4.00 TP, which would have creamed the budget if I would have had to buy it again. (run on sentences are the defining symptom of my anxious mind.) But it all worked out ok. But I'm still feeling bad about Caleb, especially when he tries to say Soccer, Thread, and a few other words. I'm trying to be positive ("easier to drink through straws now, huh?") but that's all a facade... which from my instructions from the dentist (via Daddy) it is really important I don't lead him into any negativity. Typically, kids get it from "Moms" mostly, per the Dentist; I don't want to give Caleb my creeps about the dentist, so I'm trying hard. Really hard. (Especially since my own teeth hurt and I'm trying to grin and bear it and ignore it, happy in denial.)
We look forward this weekend to Daddy being home for a long weekend. Not plans yet set in stone. And we haven't looked into the weather even. The current rain is quite convincing though. Ok, that's it for now. Have a great weekend yourselves.
Well, the positive side is that Caleb is 1 down and 2 treatments to go. He feels cool about it all. Caleb came home with a couple cool necklaces, a bouncy ball, and a plastic tooth container with his pulled tooth in it. Daddy bought his "FIRST TOOTH" for $5.00, not wanting to be a proponent of the tooth fairy myth. Daddy pays better than the tooth fairy, a little too much perhaps, but oh well. Besides, Daddy can pay whatever he wants because Daddy was the one who had to see Caleb through it all, and I'm sure there is an emotional value in there somewhere.
So the nitty gritty. Caleb liked the Strawberry scented laughing gas. (Did they have scented laughing gas when you were growing up? Not me, I wish. ) They spent a generous 8 minutes numbing EVERYTHING. Per Daddy, there were a couple tears, mostly when he felt a little trapped with the "dam" and all that set up and he had to wait while holding still. The "wiggle" (aka, actual tooth pulling) was brief. And Daddy was close enough to have to lay in the chair with Caleb and get hit and sprayed with tooth fragments (etc) during the crown process. Caleb had enough novocaine that he looked "like a stroke victim", per Daddy's words. But he came through it great! Though, he is half way towards looking like a gangsta with a grill. ;) (I guess the garish necklace with a huge blood red "ruby" stone went a long way towards that overall persona/get up.) Maybe I'll take a picture.
Caleb had lunch with Papa Dahl as kind of a reward for good behavior. He missed school because he wasn't feeling quite perky enough. I might give him some tylenol because he mentioned it hurt a tiny bit. Maybe pudding (psychological medicine, you know).
I've been a nervous wreck all day. I had to go grocery shopping just to get my mind off of it all. It worked, what a battle to get all the discounts the register was suppose to take off automatically... and then I got all the way home and realized that I forgot the TP under the cart, had to drive all the way back and anticipate a fight for my $4.00 TP, which would have creamed the budget if I would have had to buy it again. (run on sentences are the defining symptom of my anxious mind.) But it all worked out ok. But I'm still feeling bad about Caleb, especially when he tries to say Soccer, Thread, and a few other words. I'm trying to be positive ("easier to drink through straws now, huh?") but that's all a facade... which from my instructions from the dentist (via Daddy) it is really important I don't lead him into any negativity. Typically, kids get it from "Moms" mostly, per the Dentist; I don't want to give Caleb my creeps about the dentist, so I'm trying hard. Really hard. (Especially since my own teeth hurt and I'm trying to grin and bear it and ignore it, happy in denial.)
We look forward this weekend to Daddy being home for a long weekend. Not plans yet set in stone. And we haven't looked into the weather even. The current rain is quite convincing though. Ok, that's it for now. Have a great weekend yourselves.
Edited to add pictures:
Before:
After: 
Off to the Dentist.
Caleb just left with Daddy to go to the dentist. I'm entirely, completely, totally nervous. Caleb's fine. He specifically wanted to wear his Batman shirt to show the dentist, he's looking forward to the trinkets he'll get, and he's excited about the castles, arcade games, and movies they've got. I'm very very concerned aobut him. I feel like I've shipped him off to his doom and social ostracization... He'll be coming home without a tooth. He's looking forward to the Toothfairy, of whom he learned about from a boy at preschool. I guess it is a VERY good thing I don't have to take him. I think I would have had to take a tranquilizer just to cope. Caleb would be happy wiht a milkshake.
Also, Caleb has his new short, summer hair cut. He was really excited about it. Hopefully, I won't have to trim it for a couple months and it will be cooler for him to wear when it is hot. I'll have to post pictures later.
Well, off to bargin grocery shop. I'll update on the dentist later.
Caleb just left with Daddy to go to the dentist. I'm entirely, completely, totally nervous. Caleb's fine. He specifically wanted to wear his Batman shirt to show the dentist, he's looking forward to the trinkets he'll get, and he's excited about the castles, arcade games, and movies they've got. I'm very very concerned aobut him. I feel like I've shipped him off to his doom and social ostracization... He'll be coming home without a tooth. He's looking forward to the Toothfairy, of whom he learned about from a boy at preschool. I guess it is a VERY good thing I don't have to take him. I think I would have had to take a tranquilizer just to cope. Caleb would be happy wiht a milkshake.
Also, Caleb has his new short, summer hair cut. He was really excited about it. Hopefully, I won't have to trim it for a couple months and it will be cooler for him to wear when it is hot. I'll have to post pictures later.
Well, off to bargin grocery shop. I'll update on the dentist later.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Caleb's Big 5 yr Party...
It was a huge hit with all the buddies and family that came. Yes, it could have been a little warmer, but at least it didn't rain, which was all I prayed for. We were able to put the jumpy house out; and upon reflection, I don't know where or what I would have done with all the boys/activity if it was inside. We were able to chat, munch, have the very special ice cream cake (ok, I could have chosen a warmer cake for an overcast day, but that's what Caleb wanted), open presents and watch the flurry of boys running here and there. The kids loved the swing set and the bean bag tossing too. Caleb very happy to have his friends over. All the kids played nicely with each other, even including the siblings who are 2 years younger. Tessa was even brave to play with 5 boys. For family: GG Dahl, the Surfaces, Papa Bill and Grandma Judy all came. For friends: Hunter and Hayden (and mom), Hunter R (and mom), Alan (and sis, Mom and Dad). The yard looked good, and I couldn't imagine having a smaller yard. It went great. It was alot of work to get ready for, and alot of work to host and clean up from, but Caleb's joy was very worth it. I don't have to think about it again for another 350 days either. (wink)
So here are a few pictures, hopefully you'll get the idea.
So Caleb has played with all his toys and loves them all. The Leapster is a reoccurring favorite that he has played with every day for over an hour each... Dad and I even had to have to conversation togther and with Caleb about watching how much energy and time engrossed is too much. Caleb's worn his spiderman and batman shirts to school already. Jocky and Caleb have taken the Mario RC car for a spin. We've banned Jockey from all transformers, because Caleb cries when Jockey is too rough. And we have carefully packed away the fishing pole from Papa Bill until it is time for actual fishing, because it is a tool for a hobby, not a toy, another conversation that we had to have with Caleb. Thanks to everyone for being there and making Caleb's event so memorable.
Friday, May 30, 2008
I love summer, and it is just around the corner!
Caleb and Josh are spending so much more time outside having a great time. We spend last weekend making the backyard habitable, and the boys are making the best of it. Yesterday, Caleb and Josh were playing "Jellystone" in the backyard and pretending they were camping and carrying firewood to their camp. It's hilarious and makes me smile to see them playing in such an interesting, imaginative, non-messy, cooperative way. Also, it is nice to see their excitement build about the upcoming trip. It was a long hard decision to decide to spend time at the Jellystone (Yogi bear) park on the way back (cost and extra days) but I'm sooo glad that we are going to do it. It's something that I want to share from when I was a kid and camping. I wouldn't even know about it except for when I was little. Of course it dawned on me that the kids had no point of reference as to who Yogi bear was; daddy helped out with pulling some clips up on You Tube for them. Now they are in a camping/yogi bear/jellystone frenzy.
The boys are now outside with blankets in the sun relaxing and attempting to built forts. I like it when they play so peaceful with each other. I live for the quiet play that doesn't include mess after mess after mess in the house.
Joshy is in love with the swing in the backyard. He even likes to be upside down, and he is reaching for new heights and skills as he watches big brother.
This Sunday is Caleb's party... and I'm happy to say that Caleb is going to most likely have the Jumpy house out, which means I get to have and outside (thank God) party for all the little boys coming. Caleb was a little sad to say good bye to his friends on Thursday, but it really lifted his spirits to know they were coming to a party at his house. It will be a highlight of his year, I'm sure.
Well, have a great weekend. I'm sure we will, and I'll have pictures of the party too by next week.
Caleb and Josh are spending so much more time outside having a great time. We spend last weekend making the backyard habitable, and the boys are making the best of it. Yesterday, Caleb and Josh were playing "Jellystone" in the backyard and pretending they were camping and carrying firewood to their camp. It's hilarious and makes me smile to see them playing in such an interesting, imaginative, non-messy, cooperative way. Also, it is nice to see their excitement build about the upcoming trip. It was a long hard decision to decide to spend time at the Jellystone (Yogi bear) park on the way back (cost and extra days) but I'm sooo glad that we are going to do it. It's something that I want to share from when I was a kid and camping. I wouldn't even know about it except for when I was little. Of course it dawned on me that the kids had no point of reference as to who Yogi bear was; daddy helped out with pulling some clips up on You Tube for them. Now they are in a camping/yogi bear/jellystone frenzy.
The boys are now outside with blankets in the sun relaxing and attempting to built forts. I like it when they play so peaceful with each other. I live for the quiet play that doesn't include mess after mess after mess in the house.
Joshy is in love with the swing in the backyard. He even likes to be upside down, and he is reaching for new heights and skills as he watches big brother.
This Sunday is Caleb's party... and I'm happy to say that Caleb is going to most likely have the Jumpy house out, which means I get to have and outside (thank God) party for all the little boys coming. Caleb was a little sad to say good bye to his friends on Thursday, but it really lifted his spirits to know they were coming to a party at his house. It will be a highlight of his year, I'm sure.
Well, have a great weekend. I'm sure we will, and I'll have pictures of the party too by next week.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Memorial Day Weekend! And Caleb's Birthday.
It was so nice to have Daddy home all weekend, and we were actually at home and productive.
We got all the backyard picked up. Things tossed out, reorganized, put back. Sand added to the yard to hopefully absorb the soggy ground and actually expand the usable areas of our yard. It is cleaned up and looking great. (Just in time for next weekend's party.) It was a lot of work for Daddy and Mommy (I worked on the front yard and ripped out a bunch of periwinkle, weeded and added bark, so the front yard is looking decent too.)
Mommy worked Friday, and then went out in the evening.
Saturday, Daddy had to help Uncle Brian all day with a project.
Sunday, we worked in the yard. And then Daddy went out with Uncle Brain for a little R&R.
Monday.... CALEB'S BIRTHDAY!!! We took him to Baskin Robbins and let him choose ANY ice cream in the whole store, AND put sprinkles on it. He chose something called "rock'n'swirl"... which looked like a camoflauge Barney on a cone. Purple and Swamp Green with little bits of candy in it. With Sprinkles on top. Can we say: food coloring. Captial F for Food coloring for the rest of the day. sigh. But the actual exercise of letting him choose ANYthing he wanted was a visual delight in that he was dazzled by the selection and we could watch the joy. And most likely, this won't be repeated until next year, I go back to mentioning food coloring.
We also let him choose a toy (with guidance) from the store and we decided on a rather reasonably priced on-sale $7.20 "Jazz" transformer. He's thrilled. We ended the day with picnic chicken and swimming with Grammy and Papa Dahl; Caleb loves to swim and he is getting better all the time. They surprised Caleb with HIS choice of carseat. (One we were totally on board with but had a hard time finding a way to afford). He was SO excited when Daddy was putting it together. The thing has lights for at night. It had two arm rests like adult chairs, it had dual cup holders with dual "stuff" holders. Caleb was very excited, and it was immediately put into the fleet today.
Caleb's party will be coming up and we are praying for good weather. But regardless, it appears to be a tame event that I better get on the ball and start planning/preping for. As well as finish the scrapbooking project for him.
The rest of the week is business as usual with two exceptions: Caleb has his annual pictures to be taken tomorrow. And Thursday, I work. Other than that, we are all normal here.
So that's all for now. More later.
It was so nice to have Daddy home all weekend, and we were actually at home and productive.
We got all the backyard picked up. Things tossed out, reorganized, put back. Sand added to the yard to hopefully absorb the soggy ground and actually expand the usable areas of our yard. It is cleaned up and looking great. (Just in time for next weekend's party.) It was a lot of work for Daddy and Mommy (I worked on the front yard and ripped out a bunch of periwinkle, weeded and added bark, so the front yard is looking decent too.)
Mommy worked Friday, and then went out in the evening.
Saturday, Daddy had to help Uncle Brian all day with a project.
Sunday, we worked in the yard. And then Daddy went out with Uncle Brain for a little R&R.
Monday.... CALEB'S BIRTHDAY!!! We took him to Baskin Robbins and let him choose ANY ice cream in the whole store, AND put sprinkles on it. He chose something called "rock'n'swirl"... which looked like a camoflauge Barney on a cone. Purple and Swamp Green with little bits of candy in it. With Sprinkles on top. Can we say: food coloring. Captial F for Food coloring for the rest of the day. sigh. But the actual exercise of letting him choose ANYthing he wanted was a visual delight in that he was dazzled by the selection and we could watch the joy. And most likely, this won't be repeated until next year, I go back to mentioning food coloring.
We also let him choose a toy (with guidance) from the store and we decided on a rather reasonably priced on-sale $7.20 "Jazz" transformer. He's thrilled. We ended the day with picnic chicken and swimming with Grammy and Papa Dahl; Caleb loves to swim and he is getting better all the time. They surprised Caleb with HIS choice of carseat. (One we were totally on board with but had a hard time finding a way to afford). He was SO excited when Daddy was putting it together. The thing has lights for at night. It had two arm rests like adult chairs, it had dual cup holders with dual "stuff" holders. Caleb was very excited, and it was immediately put into the fleet today.
Caleb's party will be coming up and we are praying for good weather. But regardless, it appears to be a tame event that I better get on the ball and start planning/preping for. As well as finish the scrapbooking project for him.
The rest of the week is business as usual with two exceptions: Caleb has his annual pictures to be taken tomorrow. And Thursday, I work. Other than that, we are all normal here.
So that's all for now. More later.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Happy Friday. TGIF right! And a Long weekend too!
The report on Caleb's Parent-teacher conference is: First, Caleb drew a self portrait last fall that looked something like a full page catapillar (eyes questionable, if even in exsistence) but this spring he actually drew a stick figure with eyes, nose and a mouth... and a head of his best friend "sam" (his best friend changes daily). A marked and incredible improvement. Last fall he knew 1-4 and now he can recite 1-18 before skipping around. Last fall he knew a few letters, now he knows all of them and most of the sounds. (at home he's sounding out 3-letter words and writing them) His gross motor skills are phenomenal and his fine motor skills are drastically improved. He still needs help cutting on a line. He is "Very very social" and "extremely busy", but "easily re-focused" which is good because he has to be refocused alot. He is very bright despite his distracted behavior. Miss Cheryl and I talked about what he needs to work on to be ready for kindergarten, her primary suggestion is trying to give him activities at a table where he will then have to sit at for 20 minutes (and increase slowly the amount of time) because that's what they have to do in Kindergarten... more sitting less walking around to new activities. So we are going to add that to learning more numbers and lower case letters.
Overall a great report and Miss Cheryl said that the kids like Caleb grow up to be some of the most interesting people...
Speaking of interesting. Caleb announced to Daddy and I yesterday: "My weiner is so strong, it can break toilet paper!" (Daddy is horrified that I'm sharing this, I guess I could have waiting to share it at his wedding.) Then, Caleb then proceeded to climb the inside of the door casing until he could reach the ceiling. I guess I need to teach him how to jump and fall if he's going to take himself to new heights.
**** Jockey peed in the potty yesterday morning!**** We tried for over ten minutes when I finally said I was going to give him privacy and left. He tried to follow and asked for a doughnut. I told him he could have one if he peed in the potty. 20 seconds later, SUCCESS!! Great, now I know it's a matter of his will, and the proper motivation!
So that's all for now. I'm off to work and then the weekend is set aside to get projects done and the house clean for next weekend's company.
Have a great weeknd yourselves!
The report on Caleb's Parent-teacher conference is: First, Caleb drew a self portrait last fall that looked something like a full page catapillar (eyes questionable, if even in exsistence) but this spring he actually drew a stick figure with eyes, nose and a mouth... and a head of his best friend "sam" (his best friend changes daily). A marked and incredible improvement. Last fall he knew 1-4 and now he can recite 1-18 before skipping around. Last fall he knew a few letters, now he knows all of them and most of the sounds. (at home he's sounding out 3-letter words and writing them) His gross motor skills are phenomenal and his fine motor skills are drastically improved. He still needs help cutting on a line. He is "Very very social" and "extremely busy", but "easily re-focused" which is good because he has to be refocused alot. He is very bright despite his distracted behavior. Miss Cheryl and I talked about what he needs to work on to be ready for kindergarten, her primary suggestion is trying to give him activities at a table where he will then have to sit at for 20 minutes (and increase slowly the amount of time) because that's what they have to do in Kindergarten... more sitting less walking around to new activities. So we are going to add that to learning more numbers and lower case letters.
Overall a great report and Miss Cheryl said that the kids like Caleb grow up to be some of the most interesting people...
Speaking of interesting. Caleb announced to Daddy and I yesterday: "My weiner is so strong, it can break toilet paper!" (Daddy is horrified that I'm sharing this, I guess I could have waiting to share it at his wedding.) Then, Caleb then proceeded to climb the inside of the door casing until he could reach the ceiling. I guess I need to teach him how to jump and fall if he's going to take himself to new heights.
**** Jockey peed in the potty yesterday morning!**** We tried for over ten minutes when I finally said I was going to give him privacy and left. He tried to follow and asked for a doughnut. I told him he could have one if he peed in the potty. 20 seconds later, SUCCESS!! Great, now I know it's a matter of his will, and the proper motivation!
So that's all for now. I'm off to work and then the weekend is set aside to get projects done and the house clean for next weekend's company.
Have a great weeknd yourselves!
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
So how is your week going?
Ours is pretty calm. We enjoyed the weekend for all it's sunshine. As the week has progressed more and more rain has come... which is fine for the freshly planted flowers/plants.
We would have gone for a long walk to the big park, but Caleb disobeyed and procrastinated for over 2 hours to pick up his toys, which backed us into lunch and then nap time Monday... I was sad because I was hoping to get exercise in the lingering dry weather of the week. But there are consequences to not obeying.
Tuesday was school for Caleb which of course he LOVES to see and play with his friends. And he and got a chance to chat. (I even got to peek over and see Brittany and baby Emily, a rare occurrence.)
Grammy Dahl came out and got Joshy for a little one-on-one time and he excelled and was joyful about that. He of course loves his Grammy and knows that she loves him. Most nights I tell Joshy I love him, and Jesus loves him. But occassionally I ask him who loves him... Without fail Grammy is in the top 5 (which is always a jumbled order, no favorites). I should also make a side note that Tessa makes the top 5 too, with a "Tessa love me Lots!". Anyway, Grammy pulled an amazing rabbit out of the hat and came back with the report of Joshy #2's in the potty!!! This is fantastic! Great!! Preschool might actually happen for Joshy in the fall! Thank you Grammy, because we've tried and he's told us over and over that he's "too big for the potty". Maybe Grammy's potty is the just the right size for our little goldilocks boy. They finished off their day with a swim with Daddy and Papa Dahl too. During which, Josh has gotten bold enough to dive under at will for 4-5 seconds on his own. This is spectacular; a stellar result of one-on-one time.
Today is more school, grocery shopping and the mundane on this overcast drizzly day.
Tomorrow, I work, and I have Caleb's parent-teacher conference to attend to. I'm looking forward to see what he's accomplished when his parents aren't around to "focus" him. And I am hoping to hear positive feedback on his readiness for Kindergarten. Although, Miss Cheryl is wonderful and accessible for conversation and comment just about all the time, so I'm not expecting any surprises really.
With the long memorial Day weekend, I have "jobs" to do outside of the home and massive cleaning to get done inside in preparation for Caleb's party. School buddies and a Dinosaur theme. Caleb's didn't pick the theme, although he is ok with it, but rather the $-store product availablity picked it. Should be fun though. But this will be my first "drop the kids off" type of party. At least that is what I think the other parents are thinking... I didn't know that when I sent out invitations. I didn't realize that that was the "phase" we are in suddenly. But I guess we are there, and trial by boy's dinosaur party... please, pray for nice weather so we can set up the bouncy house and feed them outside! Otherwise, I'll be tempted to coat my house in saran-wrap for protection.
So that's it for now. Happy Mid-week. We're almost there to the weekend.
Ours is pretty calm. We enjoyed the weekend for all it's sunshine. As the week has progressed more and more rain has come... which is fine for the freshly planted flowers/plants.
We would have gone for a long walk to the big park, but Caleb disobeyed and procrastinated for over 2 hours to pick up his toys, which backed us into lunch and then nap time Monday... I was sad because I was hoping to get exercise in the lingering dry weather of the week. But there are consequences to not obeying.
Tuesday was school for Caleb which of course he LOVES to see and play with his friends. And he and got a chance to chat. (I even got to peek over and see Brittany and baby Emily, a rare occurrence.)
Grammy Dahl came out and got Joshy for a little one-on-one time and he excelled and was joyful about that. He of course loves his Grammy and knows that she loves him. Most nights I tell Joshy I love him, and Jesus loves him. But occassionally I ask him who loves him... Without fail Grammy is in the top 5 (which is always a jumbled order, no favorites). I should also make a side note that Tessa makes the top 5 too, with a "Tessa love me Lots!". Anyway, Grammy pulled an amazing rabbit out of the hat and came back with the report of Joshy #2's in the potty!!! This is fantastic! Great!! Preschool might actually happen for Joshy in the fall! Thank you Grammy, because we've tried and he's told us over and over that he's "too big for the potty". Maybe Grammy's potty is the just the right size for our little goldilocks boy. They finished off their day with a swim with Daddy and Papa Dahl too. During which, Josh has gotten bold enough to dive under at will for 4-5 seconds on his own. This is spectacular; a stellar result of one-on-one time.
Today is more school, grocery shopping and the mundane on this overcast drizzly day.
Tomorrow, I work, and I have Caleb's parent-teacher conference to attend to. I'm looking forward to see what he's accomplished when his parents aren't around to "focus" him. And I am hoping to hear positive feedback on his readiness for Kindergarten. Although, Miss Cheryl is wonderful and accessible for conversation and comment just about all the time, so I'm not expecting any surprises really.
With the long memorial Day weekend, I have "jobs" to do outside of the home and massive cleaning to get done inside in preparation for Caleb's party. School buddies and a Dinosaur theme. Caleb's didn't pick the theme, although he is ok with it, but rather the $-store product availablity picked it. Should be fun though. But this will be my first "drop the kids off" type of party. At least that is what I think the other parents are thinking... I didn't know that when I sent out invitations. I didn't realize that that was the "phase" we are in suddenly. But I guess we are there, and trial by boy's dinosaur party... please, pray for nice weather so we can set up the bouncy house and feed them outside! Otherwise, I'll be tempted to coat my house in saran-wrap for protection.
So that's it for now. Happy Mid-week. We're almost there to the weekend.
So how is your week going?
Ours is pretty calm. We enjoyed the weekend for all it's sunshine. As the week has progressed more and more rain has come... which is fine for the freshly planted flowers/plants.
We would have gone for a long walk to the big park, but Caleb disobeyed and procrastinated for over 2 hours to pick up his toys, which backed us into lunch and then nap time Monday... I was sad because I was hoping to get exercise in the lingering dry weather of the week. But there are consequences to not obeying.
Tuesday was school for Caleb which of course he LOVES to see and play with his friends.
Grammy Dahl came out and got Joshy for a little one-on-one time and he
Ours is pretty calm. We enjoyed the weekend for all it's sunshine. As the week has progressed more and more rain has come... which is fine for the freshly planted flowers/plants.
We would have gone for a long walk to the big park, but Caleb disobeyed and procrastinated for over 2 hours to pick up his toys, which backed us into lunch and then nap time Monday... I was sad because I was hoping to get exercise in the lingering dry weather of the week. But there are consequences to not obeying.
Tuesday was school for Caleb which of course he LOVES to see and play with his friends.
Grammy Dahl came out and got Joshy for a little one-on-one time and he
Friday, May 16, 2008
Happy Weekend! And what a great forecast. Over 80 here in Monroe! WOW.
And what do we do with such nice weather... yardwork. Mike mowed. Which means that the Bouncy house could make an appearance. It's so nice to have such a great "toy" available to the kids. I feel great being able to provide something so exotic (in the kids world).
We also went and got a few plants... I told myself after thinking about this for weeks... $20, we could do that.
God is good. And after walking out of Coast to Coast with nothing (not even the raspberries, which they didn't have, but that I owe to Papa Bill and Grandma Judy from Christmas) because they had a high price on plants, but the two I wanted would have come to $20. We went to Fred Meyers. Hostas were on SALE, $3.99 (Coast to Coast, $9.99)!!! And, while we were picking out and looking at the Bleeding Heart bushes, the sales lady came by and told us that there were a few in the clearance section and told us where to find them! $9.99 at Coast to Coast, $7.99 at Fred Meyer, marked down to $4.04! WOW! I got two for less than the price of one at Coast to Coast. So I just finished planting and watering, and praying, because once they are in the ground they are on their own. But I move the fuschia, and moved some of the lily of the valley. Not all of it because, they came from my Grandma Severson, and they are doing wonderful and even blooming a charming pale pink... and I would be extremely sad if it died in the process of transplant. So they will stay where they are until very hardy and be the carpet beneath the vibrant bleeding heart bush and riotous clematis vines.
It is such great weather, I've tried to get the boys out on their bikes, which ended up as a visit to the park trip. They are jumping on the bouncy house and will into the late evening. Tomorrow, if I'm brave (two boys and a garage sale???) to get the garage sale going, we'll see. Probably a trip to the big Fryelands Park tomorrow. I don't know. If it is breezy enough, I have a kite waiting for Caleb.... all possibilities. I'm just rolling with the punches and taking my allergy meds in the mean time.
So that's the plan. Now that we have a plan for Caleb's birthday party, we have determined to get things done in the yard/house.... I have hope to complete a lot of it. But I've already started on it so I have HOPE. I'm also 75% done with the scrapbooking pages that I always do for the boys year birthday. So I'm even feeling optimistic about that.
On the down side. I COMPLETE forgot about my last MOPS. :( I looked at the clock and then the date and repeated that and then my heart kind of fell. I hope that I can still network with the moms and keep in touch over the summer. Again, I'm choosing to have hope.
Have a great weekend all.
And what do we do with such nice weather... yardwork. Mike mowed. Which means that the Bouncy house could make an appearance. It's so nice to have such a great "toy" available to the kids. I feel great being able to provide something so exotic (in the kids world).
We also went and got a few plants... I told myself after thinking about this for weeks... $20, we could do that.
God is good. And after walking out of Coast to Coast with nothing (not even the raspberries, which they didn't have, but that I owe to Papa Bill and Grandma Judy from Christmas) because they had a high price on plants, but the two I wanted would have come to $20. We went to Fred Meyers. Hostas were on SALE, $3.99 (Coast to Coast, $9.99)!!! And, while we were picking out and looking at the Bleeding Heart bushes, the sales lady came by and told us that there were a few in the clearance section and told us where to find them! $9.99 at Coast to Coast, $7.99 at Fred Meyer, marked down to $4.04! WOW! I got two for less than the price of one at Coast to Coast. So I just finished planting and watering, and praying, because once they are in the ground they are on their own. But I move the fuschia, and moved some of the lily of the valley. Not all of it because, they came from my Grandma Severson, and they are doing wonderful and even blooming a charming pale pink... and I would be extremely sad if it died in the process of transplant. So they will stay where they are until very hardy and be the carpet beneath the vibrant bleeding heart bush and riotous clematis vines.
It is such great weather, I've tried to get the boys out on their bikes, which ended up as a visit to the park trip. They are jumping on the bouncy house and will into the late evening. Tomorrow, if I'm brave (two boys and a garage sale???) to get the garage sale going, we'll see. Probably a trip to the big Fryelands Park tomorrow. I don't know. If it is breezy enough, I have a kite waiting for Caleb.... all possibilities. I'm just rolling with the punches and taking my allergy meds in the mean time.
So that's the plan. Now that we have a plan for Caleb's birthday party, we have determined to get things done in the yard/house.... I have hope to complete a lot of it. But I've already started on it so I have HOPE. I'm also 75% done with the scrapbooking pages that I always do for the boys year birthday. So I'm even feeling optimistic about that.
On the down side. I COMPLETE forgot about my last MOPS. :( I looked at the clock and then the date and repeated that and then my heart kind of fell. I hope that I can still network with the moms and keep in touch over the summer. Again, I'm choosing to have hope.
Have a great weekend all.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Just a little catch up:
Mother's Day Tea. It was lovely in that they took the time to buy fresh flowers, match the plates to the flowers, made little recipe booklets, made little finger sandwiches, fruit and devonshire cream etc. The kids sang songs and presented their moms with gifts. "Thumbody loves you" was the theme. My child of course did not participate. He hid behind his neighbor, jumped up and down and stuck his tongue out... and then initiated a game with his neighbor. He was the only one not participating in the group (until he distracted his neighbor and that made two.) Then Caleb complained that we had to depart so that we could relieve Daddy's babysitting of Jockey, so that he could get to work.
At Awana, Caleb graduated from his second year of Cubbies. He was a little whirlwind, barely contained. He ran/stomped accross the stage to receive his certificate and then he talked from the stage to me and whinned that he couldn't take his bear out of the wrapper. He again, did not sing and participate with his group. Then when I was trying to register for next year, Caleb wouldn't stay where I asked, but at least he wasn't doing as Jockey did, which was crawl under all the seats up to 20-30 feet away from me. I was determined to stay in line and be the third registered, NOT the 90th! The faster I registered, the faster I could get out of there.
Pictures to follow.
We had a very nice stay over at Papa Bill's campsite at Lake Conner. Upon arrival, there were two deer bedded down in his site. We saw several more of the course of the next 24 hours. 7 in the space of 5 minutes! We toured the park, Papa Bill and Grandma Judy brought fried chicken out for dinner and we had a campfire... much to the boys insistence. Joshy asked for permission for each and every miniscule twig or weed he wanted to throw into the fire. Caleb chose to poke at it a while and then headed off to attempt to burn a hold in some canvas (luckily we stopped the little pyro in time.)
We opted to pack up and go home on Saturday evening, rather than be rushed and try to cram it all in on Sunday. And were glad we did, it poured Sunday morning at the time we would have been hooking up and unloading.
Sunday, Mother's Day, it was up and at-em' with the kids. They wanted milk, they wanted bananas, Jockey declared himself soggy. They demanded, and demanded, etc.
Mid-day, we left to go to West Seattle to see Tessa, Auntie Kristina, Uncle Ryan, GG, Grammy and Papa Dahl. The weather turned out to be beautiful sunny in between clouds, enough to enjoy the swingset and the back deck. The food was yummy and in overwhelming quanities. Though, like always, it felt too short before we had to head home.
Big news for Mother's Day. Jockey used the Potty!!!!!! (I'll be honest and admit he started then stopped on the floor) But he was placed on the potty and he used it! I hope that this bodes well for the future. We offered him a lot of praise and encouragement.
Monday, was a blessedly quiet day. Grammy was wonderful and came to take the boys for the day. They were excited and were piling hugs on her before they even got their shoes on. She took them to the club for a little running and swimming fun. A lunch visit from Papa Dahl and Daddy, Grilled Cheese lunch and naps were the afternoon. Then Daddy took them swimming again and then brought them home. It was a great day for them, they got to see their grandparents, and I got even farther along on the scrapbooking project for Caleb's birthday. Only 4 more to go... close, but with only a little over two weeks before the deadline.... I'll have to take a couple evenings and hide out in the office/scrapbook room and really get to it.
Today we are back into the routine of preschool and grocery shopping. And time to get to it. See ya soon.
Mother's Day Tea. It was lovely in that they took the time to buy fresh flowers, match the plates to the flowers, made little recipe booklets, made little finger sandwiches, fruit and devonshire cream etc. The kids sang songs and presented their moms with gifts. "Thumbody loves you" was the theme. My child of course did not participate. He hid behind his neighbor, jumped up and down and stuck his tongue out... and then initiated a game with his neighbor. He was the only one not participating in the group (until he distracted his neighbor and that made two.) Then Caleb complained that we had to depart so that we could relieve Daddy's babysitting of Jockey, so that he could get to work.
At Awana, Caleb graduated from his second year of Cubbies. He was a little whirlwind, barely contained. He ran/stomped accross the stage to receive his certificate and then he talked from the stage to me and whinned that he couldn't take his bear out of the wrapper. He again, did not sing and participate with his group. Then when I was trying to register for next year, Caleb wouldn't stay where I asked, but at least he wasn't doing as Jockey did, which was crawl under all the seats up to 20-30 feet away from me. I was determined to stay in line and be the third registered, NOT the 90th! The faster I registered, the faster I could get out of there.
Pictures to follow.
We had a very nice stay over at Papa Bill's campsite at Lake Conner. Upon arrival, there were two deer bedded down in his site. We saw several more of the course of the next 24 hours. 7 in the space of 5 minutes! We toured the park, Papa Bill and Grandma Judy brought fried chicken out for dinner and we had a campfire... much to the boys insistence. Joshy asked for permission for each and every miniscule twig or weed he wanted to throw into the fire. Caleb chose to poke at it a while and then headed off to attempt to burn a hold in some canvas (luckily we stopped the little pyro in time.)
We opted to pack up and go home on Saturday evening, rather than be rushed and try to cram it all in on Sunday. And were glad we did, it poured Sunday morning at the time we would have been hooking up and unloading.
Sunday, Mother's Day, it was up and at-em' with the kids. They wanted milk, they wanted bananas, Jockey declared himself soggy. They demanded, and demanded, etc.
Mid-day, we left to go to West Seattle to see Tessa, Auntie Kristina, Uncle Ryan, GG, Grammy and Papa Dahl. The weather turned out to be beautiful sunny in between clouds, enough to enjoy the swingset and the back deck. The food was yummy and in overwhelming quanities. Though, like always, it felt too short before we had to head home.
Big news for Mother's Day. Jockey used the Potty!!!!!! (I'll be honest and admit he started then stopped on the floor) But he was placed on the potty and he used it! I hope that this bodes well for the future. We offered him a lot of praise and encouragement.
Monday, was a blessedly quiet day. Grammy was wonderful and came to take the boys for the day. They were excited and were piling hugs on her before they even got their shoes on. She took them to the club for a little running and swimming fun. A lunch visit from Papa Dahl and Daddy, Grilled Cheese lunch and naps were the afternoon. Then Daddy took them swimming again and then brought them home. It was a great day for them, they got to see their grandparents, and I got even farther along on the scrapbooking project for Caleb's birthday. Only 4 more to go... close, but with only a little over two weeks before the deadline.... I'll have to take a couple evenings and hide out in the office/scrapbook room and really get to it.
Today we are back into the routine of preschool and grocery shopping. And time to get to it. See ya soon.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Howdy.
I finally signed Jockey up for Preschool... put the $ down on it. Now I'm under the gun to really get him potty trained! Yikes. I feel like I'm racing a train to the crossing.
Caleb will be a Spark in Awana next year. And I'm trying to get a straight answer from him about which church he wants to go to. So far the best he can say is he wants to go where they will play games... like putting a ball inside a plunger and running around a circle without dropping it... HUH? Well, if that's the only criteria, why is this such a hard decision? I will have to find out costs of course. But the MAIN difference is the day they meet on; one location it's a Wednesday thing and the other it's a Thursday thing. The Wednesday place is a way smaller group, and might mean less social chances for Caleb and less Awana wide programs. But they are more low key, personable, and didn't require parent participation every month. The Thursday place is most likely more expensive, but more structure and participates/provides more activities for the Awana club, and will require me to be a parent helper. And if I put Caleb in Sparks, I'm going to be putting Jockey in the Cubbies... which means a break a break when I DON'T have to parent assist, but it could also mean I have to parent assist twice as much as I did this year (which was NEVER NEVER fun. I like my own kids most of the time, stranger's kids, not so much.) Big decisions. Jockey's excited though. And I told him that they want him potty trained too for him to go to Cubbies. It's 3 yr old blackmail, that's what it is. Potty training scheme #99b.
Tomorrow is the Mother's Day Tea for Caleb's school. He is still singing the song from last year, so we'll see what they come up with for this year. Should be good, and I'll try to remember the camera.
On a personal note. A little pat on my own back. Went grocery shopping today (in addition to yesterday's trip... savings of over $30). I went to the Albertsons today and bought $74(at the regular prices) worth of food for just $24. A $49 SAVINGS!!!! Thank you GOD, thank you special grouping discounts, thank you sales, thank you coupons, and thank you to Club Card discounts. A little happy success for Mommy and her tasks she's commissioned with for the household!
Ok, time to get on with everything else. Dinner, clutter pick up, laundry etc. Have a great night.
I finally signed Jockey up for Preschool... put the $ down on it. Now I'm under the gun to really get him potty trained! Yikes. I feel like I'm racing a train to the crossing.
Caleb will be a Spark in Awana next year. And I'm trying to get a straight answer from him about which church he wants to go to. So far the best he can say is he wants to go where they will play games... like putting a ball inside a plunger and running around a circle without dropping it... HUH? Well, if that's the only criteria, why is this such a hard decision? I will have to find out costs of course. But the MAIN difference is the day they meet on; one location it's a Wednesday thing and the other it's a Thursday thing. The Wednesday place is a way smaller group, and might mean less social chances for Caleb and less Awana wide programs. But they are more low key, personable, and didn't require parent participation every month. The Thursday place is most likely more expensive, but more structure and participates/provides more activities for the Awana club, and will require me to be a parent helper. And if I put Caleb in Sparks, I'm going to be putting Jockey in the Cubbies... which means a break a break when I DON'T have to parent assist, but it could also mean I have to parent assist twice as much as I did this year (which was NEVER NEVER fun. I like my own kids most of the time, stranger's kids, not so much.) Big decisions. Jockey's excited though. And I told him that they want him potty trained too for him to go to Cubbies. It's 3 yr old blackmail, that's what it is. Potty training scheme #99b.
Tomorrow is the Mother's Day Tea for Caleb's school. He is still singing the song from last year, so we'll see what they come up with for this year. Should be good, and I'll try to remember the camera.
On a personal note. A little pat on my own back. Went grocery shopping today (in addition to yesterday's trip... savings of over $30). I went to the Albertsons today and bought $74(at the regular prices) worth of food for just $24. A $49 SAVINGS!!!! Thank you GOD, thank you special grouping discounts, thank you sales, thank you coupons, and thank you to Club Card discounts. A little happy success for Mommy and her tasks she's commissioned with for the household!
Ok, time to get on with everything else. Dinner, clutter pick up, laundry etc. Have a great night.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Welcome back from the weekend. Hope it was good for you.
We drove up Hwy 2 and checked out a couple campgrounds that might be great alternatives to driving so far that Gas becomes cost prohibitive. I think we have some great prospects just 30 miles up the highway! (Kristina, you would probably like them too, we'll talk more on Sunday about this I'm sure.) I'm excited to have found a closer, cheaper (gas) and cheaper site fee location. Although nothing will 100% replace Anacortes, this is great for variety. And on the drive we saw deer, what more could we want?!
Caleb told me today that "Mommy, my dream is to have a dog that vaccums". I said "Yeah, that's my dream too". It was so funny, I posted it on the MOPS forum, to which one lady responded she'd also like a cat that dusts.
Caleb's Awana Awards night is this Thursday at 6:30pm. If anyone cares to join Jockey and myself in attending. I can't believe that the end of the "school" year has snuck up on my so fast!
The bouncy house has made it's spring/summer debut today. I gave Caleb a choice of going to the park or setting up the bouncy house and he promptly chose the bouncy house. So much for socialization, but at least the boys are happy. They enjoyed a lunch al fresco and everything.
And after the MOPS a few weeks ago, I have been feeling guilty of the using the paper plates because they cause waste and use trees. Until today, I looked at the package and the ones we have (and typically buy) are made from recycled materials and made to be biodegradable in a home compost (so no plastic coating/treatment). Of course we don't compost it, but at least where ever they ship it off to, it will decompose. So my guilt is assuaged on this today, because we are just not a house to give up the paper plates completely. Some days, using a paper plate is priceless compared to ugly looking, labor intensive appearance of another full sink of dirty dishes. When 3 of us eat at home 3 times a day and a fourth person for dinner, plus all the prep and cooking ware/utensils, dirty dishes can get out of hand fast.
I'm looking forward to this summer. There is so much to do. And I'm going to sincerely TRY to get out of Monroe on the bus and take the kids places. I really don't want the lack of economy in gas to cave us into the 5-6 mile square radius of our city. So perhaps on the free day for the Children's Museum, we can bus our hinnys out to Everett. Or even the zoo, although, I have to think that through with packing ever scrap of food, diapers, and we still have napping boys, how that will all work. I'm going to try.
Praise report because God is so good: Our microwave broke... However, we were happy to receive a $50 rebate check we didn't remember was coming; AND while cleaning off the broken microwave, I found a promotional flyer through our phone company that said we would get $40 off our phone bill if we just made a phone call (and allow them the chance at upselling). So I made the call, and yes, we will get $10 off then next 4 MONTHs bills! So our replacement microwave cost us $7 and change! That's God's provision for you!
Well, that's all for now.
We drove up Hwy 2 and checked out a couple campgrounds that might be great alternatives to driving so far that Gas becomes cost prohibitive. I think we have some great prospects just 30 miles up the highway! (Kristina, you would probably like them too, we'll talk more on Sunday about this I'm sure.) I'm excited to have found a closer, cheaper (gas) and cheaper site fee location. Although nothing will 100% replace Anacortes, this is great for variety. And on the drive we saw deer, what more could we want?!
Caleb told me today that "Mommy, my dream is to have a dog that vaccums". I said "Yeah, that's my dream too". It was so funny, I posted it on the MOPS forum, to which one lady responded she'd also like a cat that dusts.
Caleb's Awana Awards night is this Thursday at 6:30pm. If anyone cares to join Jockey and myself in attending. I can't believe that the end of the "school" year has snuck up on my so fast!
The bouncy house has made it's spring/summer debut today. I gave Caleb a choice of going to the park or setting up the bouncy house and he promptly chose the bouncy house. So much for socialization, but at least the boys are happy. They enjoyed a lunch al fresco and everything.
And after the MOPS a few weeks ago, I have been feeling guilty of the using the paper plates because they cause waste and use trees. Until today, I looked at the package and the ones we have (and typically buy) are made from recycled materials and made to be biodegradable in a home compost (so no plastic coating/treatment). Of course we don't compost it, but at least where ever they ship it off to, it will decompose. So my guilt is assuaged on this today, because we are just not a house to give up the paper plates completely. Some days, using a paper plate is priceless compared to ugly looking, labor intensive appearance of another full sink of dirty dishes. When 3 of us eat at home 3 times a day and a fourth person for dinner, plus all the prep and cooking ware/utensils, dirty dishes can get out of hand fast.
I'm looking forward to this summer. There is so much to do. And I'm going to sincerely TRY to get out of Monroe on the bus and take the kids places. I really don't want the lack of economy in gas to cave us into the 5-6 mile square radius of our city. So perhaps on the free day for the Children's Museum, we can bus our hinnys out to Everett. Or even the zoo, although, I have to think that through with packing ever scrap of food, diapers, and we still have napping boys, how that will all work. I'm going to try.
Praise report because God is so good: Our microwave broke... However, we were happy to receive a $50 rebate check we didn't remember was coming; AND while cleaning off the broken microwave, I found a promotional flyer through our phone company that said we would get $40 off our phone bill if we just made a phone call (and allow them the chance at upselling). So I made the call, and yes, we will get $10 off then next 4 MONTHs bills! So our replacement microwave cost us $7 and change! That's God's provision for you!
Well, that's all for now.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Dentist report.
We've got good news, and.... bad news.
Good news: Caleb is like the model patient. GREAT says the dentist. The Dentist is phenonminal, wonderful, enthusastic, positive, nothing is too much to over come, the location is a really fun place, kid movies in the lobby, free arcade game in the lobby, Caleb came away from it with a positive attitude bragging about all the toys/toothpaste/brushes he got. And there is a treatment plan, AND ****does NOT(yeah!!!) include putting him under general anaesthia!!!*** (I was starting to get really scared about that, it would be fine for me, but he's just too little, we don't know enough about his little body, and hello, I'd have to be awake for it.)
Bad News: I don't know all the details, it was hard to hear on the phone, and I did reach an overwhelmed point where I just couldn't take in anymore. (Did I mention I hate the general idea of going to or being at the dentist?) But, Caleb has several cavities, gingivitis, and his front tooth which has a major cavity is not just also chipped (from when he slipped getting out of the bathtub) but also dead/dying. It will take 4 separate appointments to treat him. I am not sure what caps are, but that word was mentioned. And the dying tooth will have to be pulled to prevent infection from spreading in his mouth. (I'm horrified at having him look like a jack-o-lantern until his adult tooth comes in!!!! I worry about this socially for him going into a new school in the fall etc.) And when it is all said and done, it will be roughly $1000.
His first appointment is June 5th... Daddy will take him, and I'll stay home and cry. Somethings are gratefully just a Daddy's lot in life. I breatfed and got bit and suck on into agony, Daddy has to go to the dentist.
I feel such immense guilt, self condemnation and embarrassment. At least I didn't kill the tooth myself, but why wasn't I closer when he slipped.... etc etc. I'm not in a good emotional state right now, I have to beg everyone not to make comments that might add to my self-loathing at this time. Wait until I'm over it and can just be flippant and sarcastic back, instead of morbidly crushed.
I'm going to bury myself in a hole somewhere. Caleb on the other hand is thrilled to have new things from the dentist office to take to show and tell at preschool.
On the brighter side of things, the sun is out and it didn't hail today.
I got all the cookies baked that I was requested to bring to Awana.
Joshy is cute and is taking a nap on Daddy (also sleeping) chest.
And it's almost time to get Caleb from preschool.
And Mops is tomorrow. (Maybe there I'll find some fellow compatriots to console me about the teeth issue. )
Have a great weekend.
We've got good news, and.... bad news.
Good news: Caleb is like the model patient. GREAT says the dentist. The Dentist is phenonminal, wonderful, enthusastic, positive, nothing is too much to over come, the location is a really fun place, kid movies in the lobby, free arcade game in the lobby, Caleb came away from it with a positive attitude bragging about all the toys/toothpaste/brushes he got. And there is a treatment plan, AND ****does NOT(yeah!!!) include putting him under general anaesthia!!!*** (I was starting to get really scared about that, it would be fine for me, but he's just too little, we don't know enough about his little body, and hello, I'd have to be awake for it.)
Bad News: I don't know all the details, it was hard to hear on the phone, and I did reach an overwhelmed point where I just couldn't take in anymore. (Did I mention I hate the general idea of going to or being at the dentist?) But, Caleb has several cavities, gingivitis, and his front tooth which has a major cavity is not just also chipped (from when he slipped getting out of the bathtub) but also dead/dying. It will take 4 separate appointments to treat him. I am not sure what caps are, but that word was mentioned. And the dying tooth will have to be pulled to prevent infection from spreading in his mouth. (I'm horrified at having him look like a jack-o-lantern until his adult tooth comes in!!!! I worry about this socially for him going into a new school in the fall etc.) And when it is all said and done, it will be roughly $1000.
His first appointment is June 5th... Daddy will take him, and I'll stay home and cry. Somethings are gratefully just a Daddy's lot in life. I breatfed and got bit and suck on into agony, Daddy has to go to the dentist.
I feel such immense guilt, self condemnation and embarrassment. At least I didn't kill the tooth myself, but why wasn't I closer when he slipped.... etc etc. I'm not in a good emotional state right now, I have to beg everyone not to make comments that might add to my self-loathing at this time. Wait until I'm over it and can just be flippant and sarcastic back, instead of morbidly crushed.
I'm going to bury myself in a hole somewhere. Caleb on the other hand is thrilled to have new things from the dentist office to take to show and tell at preschool.
On the brighter side of things, the sun is out and it didn't hail today.
I got all the cookies baked that I was requested to bring to Awana.
Joshy is cute and is taking a nap on Daddy (also sleeping) chest.
And it's almost time to get Caleb from preschool.
And Mops is tomorrow. (Maybe there I'll find some fellow compatriots to console me about the teeth issue. )
Have a great weekend.
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