Hanging at the Bird

July 17, 2008

We once again made our annual pilgrimage up to Snowbird. This time we convinced some of our family members to come up with us. When we all arrived on Saturday we took my sister and her family on a tour of Snowbird.

Our first stop was at the fish pond where we fed the fish.
After the fish pond we headed over to the new playground. We let the kids play there for awhile until it was time for dinner. After a wonderful meal we headed out for a nightime swim.
Since the kids couldn't touch they just hung out in their inflatables. The swimming pools up at Snowbird are pretty cool beacuse they are salt water. It makes floating really easy. After swimming we cleaned up the kids and let them watch a movie. Everyone finally went to bed about 10:00 pm.
The next day we started off our day with a hike. About half way through the hike the kids started to get tired. To keep them motivated Greg would race ahead and have them all hide.When my sister and I would come by they would jump out and scare us. At the end of the hike the kids found a really neat hut that someone had made. They spent a lot of time trying to fix it back up. After the hike we pawned all the kids off on my mother-in-law until it was time for my sister to go.
After my sister headed home we had a treasure hunt and then went swimming again. When my sister came back she brought Jeff and Ann up to have some fun with us. The next morning we had a wonderful breakfast and then started our day.
Forrest favorite was the Alpine slide.
Eliza loved the bungy trampoline. She did it so many times that the operaters knew her by sight and would start setting up the bungy cords before she would even get on.

On the bungy trampoline everyone was doing cool tricks. Jeff could do a triple, Greg could do a front flip and a back flip and Forrest even learned how to do a flip all by himself. After a fun filled day Valerie and the rest of the family headed home.

On Tuesday the kids slept until 10:00 am. Obviously we are starting to wear them out. Once every was up my mother-in-law took the kids on a scavenger hunt and then Forrest went fishing. He was very disappointed that he didn't catch anything, but since it was a catch and release pond I figured it would be pretty difficult. We had plans for the rest of the afternoon, but we could tell the kids were tired. After packing up we headed home. Of course on the way down the mountain Forrest started asking when we can go again.

Our Country's Birthday

July 16, 2008

Our 4th of July started late. We didn't have a our usual breakfast to go to so we were able to sleep in and enjoy the holiday. We started off our day with a parade. We decided to join my sister at her parade so that the kids would have someone they could hang with.
The kids were bouncy off the wall they were so excited. The parade started nice and slow with our armed forces. Everyone one stood up and cheered as the military vehicles carry our troops rolled by.
Do you see that white line in front of the kids. That is where we told the kids they could stand.
If you notice in the next picture that didn't last very long. For most of the parade we stood in the middle of the street. Once the military vehicles had passed we started in on the floats. This is when the candy started to be thrown. Kids were diving every which way for the candy. When the candy would stop the kids would start chanting, "Candy, Candy, Candy" It was start out of a horror show. At one point one of the floats even tossed out stuffed animals. Both my sister and I ended up wrestling with some teenagers to get our kids one stuffed animals. It was total madness. It was very easy to be swept into the moment and try to get the most candy and prizes. At the end of the parade they had a water parade. Forrest was in seventh heaven getting soaked from head to foot. When we finally told him it was time to go he was very upset with me because I didn't bring anything for him to change into. I had to tell him that I thought this was a just a water fight with water guns. I didn't realize that they would have full size water trucks that would hose done everything in its path. I promised him next time we went that I would be better prepared. Of course I don't know it there will be a next time. Even if we have to wake up early I would much rather go to our 4th of July breakfast then be stuck out on a hot street with candy being thrown at our heads and little kids pushing every which way to just get a small piece of taffy.
After the parade we headed up to my parents house to welcome home Anne. We were all very excited to see her. It has been a long 18 months with out her. At the Parents we set up a slip and slide and pool for the kids.
The kids had a great time swimming and Eliza even went down the slip and slide all by herself. This is a huge improvement for her because she usually doesn't like water in her face.
After our big meal we headed up front for some fireworks. Unfortunately Eliza was burned with one of the sparkles. We were lucky that Fred had some burn cream that took the sting right out of it. Once all the painkillers kicked in Eliza enjoyed the rest of the show.
Forrest of course loved watching everything burn. He wants to know when we can do it again. I told him it would take about a year for me to recover so he could plan on us doing it again in exactly one year on July 4th.

Yeah, I am Back

July 15, 2008

After more than a week I finally have the internet back. You never really know how much you use it until it is gone. Poor Valerie has gotten a lot of calls from me this past week. I felt completely out of the loop. Of course while we were without the internet a bunch of fun things happen. Rather then trying to put it all into one post I am going to break it up so that it is easier to read. Hopefully none of you will get bored reading about things that happened two weeks ago. Well I guess more bored then you normally are when you read my posts.

Clarification

July 4, 2008

The doctor says Forrest has probably had this for awhile. It is just by some quark that we found it. When we talked to her she didn't seem very concerned about it. She just felt that it was a good idea to get it taken care of before he actually started showing symptoms. I asked her if he was contagious and she said no. Not unless he starts showing signs of being sick. That is the funny thing about this whole thing. They really haven't been that sick. Neither of them have had a fever and they only complain about mouth pain when the are eating something. Also to clarify the bug can also cause a sinus infection they are in the same family so he is just as likely to just show up with a sinus infection. I hope I didn't scare anyone. I checked and double checked with the doctor to make sure it was okay to take them out in public and she told me not to worry. I just need to watch and make sure they are not showing any signs they are getting sick.

A Little Scar To Liven Up Our Week

July 3, 2008

As you all know both of my kids are sick. When Forrest first started complaining about his mouth hurting I was worried that it might be strep. I made an appointment and then hauled him into the doctor. After talking to the doctor she felt that it was more likely the herpes virus then strep, but we did a strep test anyways. I was relieved when the rapid strep came back negative and was still hopeful that it was a minor cold. Those hopes were all dashed when he showed up with cankers on his tongue. Luckily for us it has not been as bad as the first time the kids got it. Both kids are doing great and really only complain about pain when the eat.

Today we got a call from the doctor about the throat culture. I think of the throat culture as just a back up encase the rapid strep didn't work. I didn't realize that they were also testing for other bugs. When the doctor called she broke the bad news to us that Forrest has the bug for meningitis. This totally blew us away. It seems that it is lying dormant right now, but could cause him to become very sick any day now. We are going to start him on a course of antibiotics as soon as he is done with his drugs that he is on for his herpes.

As of right now he isn't considered contagious. He is only contagious if he starts showing symptoms. I am constantly taking his temperature to make sure that he is okay to take somewhere. So far he is doing great. Now we are worried about Eliza. I dragged her into the doctor to have a throat culture done just to make sure she is okay. The doctor didn't think this was necessary since she wasn't showing any symptoms, but I pointed out that Forrest didn't have any symptoms either. The doctor agreed to the throat culture and we should find out on Sunday whether Eliza has the same bug or not. Hopefully she has missed out on this lovely bug. It seems that whenever Eliza gets sick she gets really sick and I hate when my kids are sick.

Will This Ever End

July 2, 2008

This past winter was great in the regards to illness. My kids were never sick. It seemed everyone else was getting sick, but my kids stayed healthy. That was until the middle of May when my kids got the stomach flu and fevers. After we were done with that bought, both kids came down with colds that lasted several weeks. It finally seemed as if things were turning around, but no we get hit again and this time it is not good. For the last couple of days the kids have been grumpy and whiny. Neither of them was acting sick they were just not their pleasant self, but then this morning both kids woke up with ulcers in their mouth. I talked to my doctor and it looks like they both have the dreaded herpes virus again. Luckily it looks like we caught it early enough that the medicine should kick in pretty fast so that all our plans for this weekend won't be ruined. I am just hoping this is the end of it. It is no fun being sick in the summer.

My Vegetable Garden

July 1, 2008

As many of you know I am attempting to grow a vegetable garden this year. In years past we have grown some tomato plants in planters, but this year we decided to go all out. Greg built me my wonderful garden box and the kids helped me plant everything. Everytime we are outside we eagerly check out the plants to see how they are going.
Except for one little problem everything is perfect. Can you pick out the problem. Let me take you in a little closer.
If you guessed my tomato plants, you guessed right. My tomato plants are shading my other plants, and if you notice the tomatoes are planted at the front of the garden which does not help the poor plants that are all planted behind them. When I originally planned where to put everything I was going to put all four tomato plants at the very front of the garden. Luckily for me Greg talked me in to this configuration. Unfortunately a lot of plants are still being shaded by the tomato plants. The good news is this year is all about experimentation. The only vegetable I really have my heart set on is the tomatoes. Anything else that grows here will just be gravy. Lucky for us the tomato plants seem to be doing really well.
Forrest was able to spot our first tomato on Saturday, hopefully it is the first of many.