Spa Baby

I was actually preparing this post for yesterday; and then Grant happened. Jacqueline had just finished a bath and we were drying her off. Since we are in a hotel, we get a certain allotment of towels. We get 6 big ones, to be exact. And Jacqui getting in the bath isn't a once-a-day event. She'll take 3 or 4 sometimes. What else are we going to do when we're here? So, she had already used and dampened one and the other kids hadn't bathed yet. So I toweled her off a bit with the damp one and then got out the hand towels. I wrapped the first one around her little body and the other around her head. They fit perfectly! It was so cute I couldn't NOT take pictures.



** p.s. Grant is feeling fine and back to his old self. Just no windowsills for him anymore. Hopefully.

Endless Excitement

*Warning: Long post ahead*

With Grant, that is definitely a fact. He provides us with more heart-pounding, nerve wracking action than one could ever imagine.

So we're (we = Spencer & me) sitting peacefully in the living room just after dinner. I walked into the kid's room to see what they were up to. The girls were working on a play they are writing, Jacqueline is thinking she's helping and Grant is, of course, climbing on the windowsill.

"Get down from there, Grant. You're going to fall." I warned for the thousandth time.

He says ok and starts to jump down; only to slip on the blanket cape that is around his neck and fall backwards into the bedside table.

Said window sill and bedside table

"Owie, Mommy. Can I have a hug?"

"Sure, come on over, Grant."

I pull him into a hug and put my hand on the back of his head to see if he's got a goose egg. I'm feeling around a bit, just half-heartedly giving him condolences. (he does this all the time, why should this time be any different?) Then he lifts his head and I look at my hand. It is dripping with blood. Great. He sees the blood and starts freaking out. (and maybe I did, too. a little.) He can handle some hard knocks, but the second he sees the blood, it's all over. He doesn't like that.

I ran him into the bathroom, grabbing a washcloth on the way and lean him over the tub. Yep, a nice gash on the back of his head. And ew, it doesn't look like something I can fix with butterfly strips. I usually resort to the strips if I can. Yeah, usually. That's a skill I never thought I'd learn to perfect. Since Grant became mobile, I don't think my first aid skills have ever gotten rusty.

We found an InstaCare center and walked on in. The ladies just stared at me like, what do you want? I had to start the conversation, as if it wasn't obvious I needed assistance. You know, the bloody washrag on his head wasn't enough. They just shook their heads and said they couldn't treat him here. They "don't do" pediatrics. They said there was a night pediatric treatment place down the road a ways. Could you put that in writing for me? I'm a little busy here with my bleeding son. I stomped out of there and started punching coordinates into Gina (our GPS) There was a different Urgent Care center just .4 miles down the road. I had Spencer run in first to see if they would treat him. They did and we went in.

We were helped right away due to the bleeding status. The nurse (male, I might add) took his vitals and started setting up a stitches kit. He left and said the Dr. would be in to assess him. Let me tell you, this Dr. had all the bedside manner of a codfish. And Nurse Wimpy was no help either. Dr. Codfish said Grant would have to lay down on his stomach, Nurse Wimpy obliged, laid him down and turned Grant's head toward the Dr. with the cut facing the pillow. The cut was on the back of his head and to the right. Hey genius, the cut is facing the PILLOW! I moved him to the foot of the bed with his left cheek on the pillow and they both go, "Oh, that's a good idea!" You think? Dr. C tells us to hold on tight and starts injecting the numbing meds into the wound. Of course Grant does not like that and starts thrashing. I was holding down legs and buttocks, Spence was in charge of torso and arms, Nurse Wimpy earned his moniker by allowing the head to jerk wildly back and forth. Dr. C warns us that he can't do that while the needle is in and I just take Grant's head and neck and suggest that Nurse Wimpy take the lower limbs. Geez.

Dr. Codfish finishes injecting and then immediately starts in with the needle. Grant starts screaming and he just acts put off saying that it shouldn't hurt. "Um, shouldn't you check it to see if it's numb?" I ask. He assures me it is and ties off the first stitch. He re-threads and starts in on the second; not as much pain-related screaming, just the "hey-I-don't-like-this-get-me-out-of-here" kind. Then Dr. C says all done and starts cleaning up. Hey, waaaiiit a minute, only two? This is a good inch long, and there's still a gaping end to wrap up. He assures me that that's enough, kids heal fast, etc. I am not pleased. I urge him again that Grant is an active boy, keeping bandages on isn't easy, etc. But he doesn't seem concerned and wanders out saying he'll get me a list of symptoms to pay attention to and to take him to an emergency room if any of them arise. And he said exactly that. Nurse Wimpy takes some gauze and wraps it limply around Grant's head, turban style, reassuring me that the stitches will hold, he'll be fine, blah-de-blah blah. Five minutes later, Dr. Codfish comes in, hands me a stack of opened and formerly sterile pads, partially stained with betadine, and the info papers, saying that the symptoms are on there and to hand the discharge paper to the nurse on your way out. Really? Yes, really, that is all he told me. I'm not paraphrasing. Fortunately, I'm no slouch when it comes to First Aid (not to toot my own horn, but *toot*) and I am not worried.

We stopped at the first Walgreens Gina found and I purchased all necessary bandaging supplies, butterfly strips, and good boy prizes. By the time we reached home, the gauze was hanging down over Grant's eyes. I trimmed the hair around the stitches (nope, they didn't do that either) applied a butterfly, re-wrapped his head and gave him a dose of Tylenol. My momma didn't raise no dummy. She's an R.N. And a piano mover, so. (no, not really a piano mover. ;) He is back to his bouncy self and we go back in a week to get the stitches out.

I know this is a somber picture, but he just looks so cute.

** I was just labeling this post and realized that all the "injuries" labels refer to Grant. Yeah, they'll be naming hospital wings after this kid. **

Watertower

Our new favorite book

We are currently in love with a new book. Having not had access to fresh libraries, we have been feasting and gorging on mountains of books. New books & old favorites (since we don't have our own stash of books) and one of the first books we looked up was recommended by my good friend, Sara. It's so good, in fact, we have bought it and added it to our collection. Do you like our huge version? They had a big book clearance and this was cheaper than the "regular size". It's great for reading aloud to all of the kids. And the huge size means everyone can see, which can be a frequent problem. Skippyjon Jones is unforgettable. Skippyjon is a little Siamese cat that wants to be a Chihuahua. Wonderful adventures ensue, I won't spoil the surprise of the story. That's the best part of reading a new book. I will say that you need a good Mexican accent to read the book, even if you're not the kind of person to "make voices". Apparently I do it even when I'm not reading books. But that's not the focus here. Go eat some frijoles and you'll be in the mood! (do I sound like a Reading Rainbow episode yet?)

What is it?

There is an actual word to describe this "phenomenon". The first part, ignore the pan to the right. To the right are some bubbling mud pots. The main focus of the video is what I'm talking about. It's in Yellowstone and never spouts water. Go!

**June 22** ---> Alright, Dad won, it's a fumarole. Here's a big pat on the back! ;)

Leaping Dolphins, Batman!

We loved the repeat dolphin show. In fact, our favorite thing about it was that most of it wasn't a repeat! Compared to the Saturday show, it was the winner! A trainer got in the water with them; more performing, less talk. One dolphin even did a "Flipper Trick", as I call it. She swam backwards on her tail.



There was more leaping, splashing and fun. Oh, and the kids thought I was the bomb when I let them sit by themselves in the "Splash Zone". The Splash Zone occupies the first four rows all the way around the arena. They warn people before the show starts that there is a "possibility" of getting wet in this area. That's a lie. There is no possibility, it's a guarantee! The dolphins swim over and splash water over the side. On purpose. And that's exactly what the kids wanted. I sat safely three row higher, well out of range. The kids were a bit disappointed that they only got their feet wet. But I reassured them that next time, we would get there in plenty of time to reserve "wet seats". For them, not me. Or my expensive camera.

A thing of beauty . . .

This picture does not need any words. But maybe an explanation. It's beautiful! Can I tell you how beautiful this package of chicken is? It's fresh. Not frozen. I decided on the spur of the moment to make chicken curry for dinner and I could. I didn't have to plan 2 days beforehand, repackage the frozen slabs to ziploc bags and defrost them in the fridge. Or, if I forgot to defrost and we HAD to have chicken, sticking each individual slab in the microwave on defrost, flip at the beeps, and still not have a defrosted piece 'o' chicken. It's boneless. Not some scrawny bird that's more bone than meat. It's cheap. Well, it was cheap before, but the quality thereof was exceedingly lacking. It was tender. Not stringy, tough, gamey or freezer burned. I had a delectable curry on the table in 25 minutes. That. Is. Beautiful.

Jellyfish

Since we have a membership to the Aquarium (and we want to get our money's worth) we went back on Monday. But we didn't go back alone, we went with a good friend of ours, Janyece (and her parents and sons). They had quite a lot further to drive than we did, but we all made it. I was amazed that I could leave the hotel parking lot at 9:50am and be parking my car at 10:04am.

We had a mission, see the jellyfish. There is so much to see, it's impossible to see in one day. We focused on that exhibit and seeing the dolphin show again. Oh, and the sharks. Mairyn is currently obsessed with them. I did not know there were that many different kinds of jellyfish. There were these fat little ones that had tentacles like a loofa sponge, others that didn't have any tentacles at all and were mostly blob. The coolest, by far, was the one in the video. Lights, camera, action!



I knew that jellyfish could do that, but seeing it in person, wow. Just the coolest! We went to the dolphin show again because we can see it for free each time we go. (because of the membership) It was kinda different from the Saturday show we saw. I was thinking it would be more mundane because it was a weekday. Nay no burrito! Even cooler. We'll find out more about that tomorrow!

Saturday in Annapolis

No, we don't have any ties to Annapolis or the Naval Academy. We just like it. A lot. I love Annapolis. The Bay and the old streets and houses. It just feels good there. We went around the Naval Academy Museum, and the campus. The weather was just perfect. Some people were complaining that it was a little warm. "A little warm"? C'mon, you're talking to a Cairo family here, we can take the heat. We finished up the day at Buddy's Crabs & Ribs. A visit to Annapolis is not complete without eating there. We hit the classic Saturday buffet. And it's not the bad kind of buffet, it's the greatest. And I was in the mood for crab legs as well. Truly, you really have to be in the right frame of mind to eat fresh crab. A lotta work for not a whole lotta meat. But it's the sweetest, buttery-est (is too a word) mouthful that will ever pass your lips. Spencer went to the other end of the spectrum and had the fall-off-the-bone ribs. Win-win situation in my book. Oh, and kids eat free. Win-win-win.

Family Pictures

Getting a family of 6 to cooperate on a group picture is not easy. Which is why I'm so happy about this latest family picture. When we went to Boise for my brother-in-law's wedding, we made sure we took the kids to see and walk around the Boise Temple. I brought my tripod since they were still dressed in their dressy clothes for church. I set it up and we got it on the first try! I took a few more to try and get a better one, but that one was a winner. Wow, surprise, surprise. I like this one below the best, but alas and alack, Jacqueline is not looking in the right direction. If I was better with Photoshop, maybe . . . .

I'd also like to start a family picture tradition. Have one posed and then let everyone do their own thing and have a crazy one. And then frame them side by side. I'll have to do that next time we have one!

I also tried to get the kids into formation and get a good one. We eventually did. Though it's a long process as you can see.

Final product, i.e. the best of the bunch, meaning no arms up or sneezing and everyone with a mostly pleasant look.


A surprising spontaneous snap

Crossing threads

We have to find ways to entertain ourselves. I'm teaching Eliza how to cross-stitch. We found the perfect learner kit at the craft store last week. She kept saying, "Can we just find a kit for 'Eliza' and stitch that?" I was just about ready to buy some aida cloth and create a pattern for her when we stumbled upon the clearance rack. And there was a little kit with a pattern for initials. So Eliza is stitching her initial, E. I remember my mom gave me a pre-printed kit that made a rose when I was about her age. Right now we're focusing on technique, then we'll learn more fundamentals. So guess who's finding the center, starting new threads and doing the "tricky parts"? Me. But she has done a majority of it on her own. She felt really inspired to learn cross-stitch after visiting Nauvoo and seeing the framed stitchery in all the old houses there and that the girls that had made them were her age. So, she's embarking on learning a new skill that I hope she'll continue to enjoy.

Having a splash!

This is the pool at the hotel. It's ok. Great that we can go downstairs between the hours of 12pm and 9pm and swim to our hears content. Just one thing . . . . it's freakin' freezing! Not heated. I asked the lifeguard if it was heated. He looked at me with a "huh?" expression on his face. *Sidenote* We think the lifeguard is Brazilian. We're not completely sure, he could be Italian, maybe even Chilean, we're just stabbing at nationalities here. And we don't think he speaks much English. I asked, "Is the pool heated?" silence and puzzled expression, me: "Warm? Is the water warm?" him: "Ah, no. No hot." Ooooo-kay. Well, we tried it out for ourselves at about 4:00pm, after the water has had the sun beating down on it all day. Yikes! Surprisingly frigid. The kids did get in because it was so hot, but we left after about a half hour. So much for lounging by the pool while the kids get their wiggles out. Oh well. That and the rain kept us away from the pool until this afternoon. We got a package that had a late-coming birthday present in it. Shark fin flippers for Grant! He'll learn how to use them. If he'll ever get in the water. It wasn't as cold today, it was a bit more comfortable, but still a shock when you slip in. Oh, and we had a new lifeguard today. And believe it or not, I don't think "Complete mastery of the English language" is on his resume either. We're thinking Hungarian this time. Though, we could be wrong

Missing: Mairyn's front tooth

Mairyn is a tooth losing machine. She lost her first tooth (her bottom left) back in March. Then last Thursday night, she comes to me and says,

"Mommy, I think this tooth is a little loose."

Pointing to the right bottom tooth, she grabs my hand with the other and shows me. It's barely hanging on. Yeah, I think it's loose Mairyn. That one practically falls out in my hand and we put it out in a cup for the Tooth Fairy. **

Then Saturday afternoon, Mairyn says again that she thinks another tooth is loose. The top tooth is quite wiggly. So we give it a couple wiggles and out comes the other one. She is now left with three holes in her mouth and a pronounced lisp. It's very cute! We kept asking her to say, "Sister Susie sitting on a thistle." She didn't get that it sounded different. Thoe thoe adorable! She has discovered that she can clench her teeth AND drink through a straw in her spaces!

**Our Method for the Tooth Fairy**
We put our teeth in a cup of water. It came from my dad. I'm still not completely sure why, but I like it. You ALWAYS have change to plunk in the glass.

Yellowstone

Firehole Falls in Yellowstone

This is just an intro to Yellowstone. After we went to my brother-in-law's wedding, Spencer and I ditched the kids and escaped to Yellowstone. It's about an hour and a half drive from where we were "based" in Idaho. It was a wonderful 3 day getaway. But I've got the summertime blahs right now and my writing is what you would call "blocked". I'm just not feeling inspired. Also, if by blocked I mean that I'm cooped up in a little 2 room hotel quarters with 4 squirrelly kids and an internet connection that has the bandwidth of a silly straw. Seriously, it's making Egypt look good. That's bad. Now if the internet goes out for no reason and I call to ask when it will be back up and the lady says, "Tomorrow, insha'allah." I may run screaming down the street and never look back.

I'm enjoying the summertime schedule; i.e. no lunches to make, buses to catch, homework to help with, club kits to put together, etc. I do like not having to wake up to an alarm and have a schedule, so in that aspect, it's nice. But keeping the kids busy, not that easy. We've got workbooks to exercise the brains, playgrounds to exercise the bodies, cartoons to give Mommy a break, but it's still hectic. So I'm going to rely heavily on the pictures I am so fond of snapping and maybe some inspiration will leak back into my dehydrated brain. How's that for a mental image! ;)


Firehole Falls

Aquarium Antics

If I could use one word to describe the National Aquarium at Baltimore, it would be: awesomeness. And a quick piece of advice, if you do go, and are in the area for long enough, just buy a membership. Because of our family's sheer numbers, we have a membership paid for in 2 visits. And, members get to show their card and walk right in. Those that just buy tickets sometimes have a 2-4 hour wait for entrance. Your ticket is stamped with an entrance time and there is no going in until that time. Also, we get to go to the dolphin show for free whenever we go. Yeah, the dolphin show. It was quite the experience. Between the sting rays, sharks, jellies and tropical fish, we were adequately overwhelmed.

We also decided to see the 4D show. What? 4D? Aren't we 3D beings? Well, with my curiosity piqued, we snagged tickets and got in line. There was this warning at the cashier and the door saying that if you or your children are startled easily or have back problems, you should not go to the movie. Wha . . ? Are we going to be doing spontaneous yoga or something? So we sat down and I noted that the upholstery of the seats was interesting, just one black button a little off center and in the lower back area. Hmmm. A foreboding of things to come? We were handed the little red 3D glasses and then the show began. 3D is very awesome. This film (about 20 minutes long) was titled "Planet Earth". And they weren't kidding when it says, "The film encompasses all of the senses." You feel the thunder roll (and the lightning strike), the wind blowing and the scent of fresh ocean. You also get sprayed in the face when a humpback whale surfaces, get poked in the back when an eel shoots out of the coral, get the backs of your legs tickled by scuttling starfish and bubbles filling the theater from a shoal of mackerel swimming at you. Plenty of screaming, squealing, laughing and "Wow, can we do that again, Mommy?" was heard. Yes, yes we can kids.

We're done

So, even though this post is late in coming, I'll do it anyway. If you didn't figure it out already, we got to D.C., stumbled through the past few days. A quick recap of the rest of our trip is as follows: Day 5 --> We drove from Columbus, OH to Linthicum, MD. As we learned previously, Gina said it would take about 6 hours and 45 minutes, we added two hours and arrived right when we were supposed to! We got in a little after 4:30 pm and just crashed. We were able to crawl back to the van for a quick jaunt out to IHOP for dinner. Btw, their strawberry crepes are to DIE for. Right as we were being seated, the clouds opened up and began dumping rain. Whew, we made it inside just in time. And right when we were paying the bill, the clouds parted and the rain ceased. Just long enough for us to get home, get inside and have the showers commence again! It kept raining the next day (Thursday) and the next (Friday) and then was a clear morning on Saturday. We took advantage of the fine weather (although it was indoors, so weather wasn't an issue) and frolicked at the Aquarium in Baltimore. ;) Pictures will follow, just not right now. A relaxing dinner (yes, you can have that with 4 kids) at Macaroni Grill rounded things out. The cross country trip is over! For now. Oh yeah, I do have to drive back. Let's just not think about that right now. Forgive me, we didn't take any exciting pictures of the trip on Wednesday. We did get one of the clouds parting after dinner. Cue the heavenly chorus! Ahhhhhhh. And the pictures from the aquarium are on the camera, which is in the car and I'm too lazy to go downstairs and get it. So, you'll have to wait!

Day . . . forget it.

I've been traveling too long. I just couldn't do it anymore (blog daily updates) after being on the road for 3 days with 4 kids through 5 states. And, ahem, those are mid-western states, not east coast teeny, tiny states. After we finished up with Nauvoo, the next morning we were on the road again. (and if anyone starts singing Willie Nelson, I. will. scream. Nothing against Willie, I just don't even want to THINK about being on the road.)

*Sidenote* before we could get "on the road" that 4th day, we made a small detour to Custom Auto Glass. I had to get the chip in my windshield fixed. Badda-bing, badda-boom, 30 minutes later, we're on our way. And then about 30 miles after beginning, we were able to stop at Carthage jail. That was not an inconvenience, it was an unexpected rest stop. I've been many times before, but the kids hadn't been.

The 4th day leg was from Keokuk, IA to Columbus, OH. That. Day. Was. Long. And it shouldn't have been. But there was road construction and a wonderful thunderstorm that followed us from about an hour outside of Indianapolis, through rush hour in the heart of the city (joy) and about 45 minutes past it. If it wasn't for Gina, the GPS, we would have been up a creek without a paddle. Literally!

We finally arrived in at Columbus, 12 hours after having left Keokuk. A trip that Mapquest, Google and Gina said would take 8 hours and 22 minutes. Now, none of them knew about the rock chip, Carthage, the insane rain, and the 4 bazillion potty stops that kids need. But in the future, I'm just going to add an extra 2 hours on top of any time travel estimation. Wait, strike that, reverse it. Travel time estimation. That would be great, time travel. Yee-haw.

Kids at Joseph & Hyrum statue, Carthage Jail in background

Raining sideways in Indianapolis traffic. At one point, wind was blowing the rain horizontally so that it was raining on the back window of the van and not even touching the windshield.

Day Three: Nauvoo

We slept in a little this morning. 7:30 am. Whoop-de-doo. Had a great nights sleep, though. For once. The breakfast was amazing, biscuits and gravy, bacon, scrambled eggs, the works. Jacqueline wasn't too excited about it all, she was fascinated by the adjacent arcade in the lobby. So I opened the door to let her in, went to grab a cinnamon bun for Grant and came back to the door to find it locked. Yep, Jacqui locked herself in the arcade. The maintenance guy wasn't in for the day yet, so the front desk ladies had a huge ring of keys and started trying each . . . individual . . . key. After about 20 minutes, we located the right one.

After that excitement, we started the day. We drove to Nauvoo , Illinois and began at the Red Brick Store. Then to Blacksmith's shop where they made a little mini horseshoe and since it was Grant's birthday, he got it!! The tinsmith's, post office, Brigham Young's house, John Taylor's house and everything in between. I took the kids to Pioneer Pastimes, a place with all sorts of period games, toys, dress-up and a little cabin to play pioneer in. They dressed up and played all afternoon.

As we drove back into Keokuk, the town we're staying in that's about 20 miles from Nauvoo, we noticed some impressive thunderheads hovering over our area. As we crossed the bridge over the Mississippi from Illinois to Iowa; big, fat drops of rain started falling. We pulled into the hotel parking lot and it really started pouring. Then, it turned into hail the size of large TicTacs. Yuck. Oh, did I mention that yesterday I got a chip in my windshield? Yeah, not fun. I was calling around to try and get it fixed, but apparently, you need sunshine to cure the resin that fills the chip. Huh?

We decided to go down to WalMart and pick up a small birthday present for Grant (since it IS his birthday today.) The rain went from pouring to sheeting. Thunder, lightning, winds and rain as heavy as if you were standing in a shower. We made a mad dash into the Wendy's to eat and we looked like drowned cats. Our clothes were as wet as if we had just pulled them out of the washer. Actually, it was probably wetter because the washer wrings most of the water out so that it's not dripping. We ate and then the thunderstorm subsided. Whew. We made it through the storm. So, it's on to Columbus, Ohio tomorrow morning. And to find somewhere to fix my rock chip.