It turned out that I did not have the opportunity to do any blogging on our trip. Last night was my first real chance, but a shitty (and I mean SHITTY) WiFi connection at the Days Inn in Hays, KS, and an insomniac child (Ava) prevented that.

We’re on the last leg of our way home today and supposed to run into a winter storm warning for pretty much the entire way. Please keep us in your thoughts that this last day of traveling goes as well as the rest of our trip has. Other than some overtiredness, the kids have done amazingly well with all of the driving, visiting, etc., and we’ve had a good time.

Best wrap this up and upload it while I still have a connection. More posts will be forthcoming once we are back home sweet home.

UPDATE 1:43 p.m.: We decided rather than risk it, we will spend another night in Kansas. We drove about 120 miles today to get to Colby, KS, where there’s an indoor swimming pool, hot tub and good WiFi at the Days Inn. We’ll stay here for the night then venture out again in the morning after the snow, ice and fog have passed.

Stumble it!

Since you all might be sick of looking at “penis” at the top of my blog, I figured I’d get a post up before Christmas - just cuz I’m nice like that. ;)

I got all of my Christmas cards in the mail (finally!) today. Hooray!

And Jody and I met with Ava’s Waldorf preschool teacher tonight for parent-teacher conferences. Who knew we’d already be in for that with a 3-year-old. The conference went very well. It was great to hear more about Ava from someone else’s perspective and how she well she’s acclimated to preschool. I may blog more about the conference another time (when I have more time to spare).

We’re packing up and heading out tomorrow morning (or afternoon based on how quickly we get our crap together) for a road trip to southern Kansas to celebrate Christmas with Jody’s side of the family. We’re only driving half-way there tomorrow, then the rest on Sunday since the thought of trying to do 9 hours of driving in one day with two small children is not my idea of a good time. ;) I think breaking up the trip will go much better for all of us.

We haven’t yet turned Julian’s rear-facing car seat around (even though he’s a year old now), because he’s stayed relatively content with riding that way and it’s much safer that way (12 mos. and 20 lbs. is actually the minimum requirement for rear-facing). However, I think we are making the switch tomorrow which will hopefully keep him riding happily longer and will also allow Jody or me (the passenger seat) to recline and move back the seat a bit more, which will hopefully keep me/Jody riding happily longer as well. ;) I’d love to keep him rear-facing longer just because it is so much safer, but with all of this driving ahead of us, for my and Jody’s comfort (neither of us like riding with our legs all scrunched up and our seat-back straight up) and for the sanity of all, I think this is a good time to make the change.

I’ll likely be blogging during the trip as Jody will have two (count them - one, two) laptops (from work) with him. (Woot!) They may not be lengthy posts, but I might upload some pictures and whatnot. Then again, I might have some great wisdom to share. Ya just never know. ;) Speaking of pictures, Jody bought a new P&S camera yesterday. It seems to be a vast improvement over our old one, though I can’t even remember at the moment what kind it is. Anyway, it’s going on the trip with us.

I must get myself to bed in the very near future so I can get up and pack our bags in the morning. Oh, and finish laundry too.

Wishing you all a safe and happy long holiday weekend. :)

Stumble it!

A weekend wrap-up with a Best Shot Monday thrown in for good measure :)

On Saturday, the fam and I drove down to Denver so that Ava and I could go see The Nutcracker Ballet (thanks to the tickets I won from Mile High Mamas).

It turns out that when they recommend that you arrive two hours before the performance, they weren’t kidding around. Traffic was a bit crazy and, since we’d never been there before, we didn’t know exactly where Jody should drop us off, etc. We got into Denver an hour before the show was to start, but by the time we figured out where we needed to go and I got to the ticket window to turn in my voucher for actual tickets, it was only 30 minutes ’til show time. Unfortunately, that meant that the really good seats were already taken. The seats they had available were for the second balcony and were honestly still quite good, but had we been earlier we could’ve had great seats. C’est la vie, live and learn, and all that jazz. ;)

Of course we hadn’t yet eaten lunch and with little time to spare, we dashed over to the nearest coffee shop and ordered a couple sandwiches which we scarfed down in record time, before a hurried walk back to the opera house. Ava and I said goodbye to Jody and Julian and headed in to get to our seats just minutes before 2 o’clock. The show ended up starting about 5 or 10 minutes late, so we had time to sit there and catch our breath before the curtain rose.

Another problem with arriving at the last minute is by the time we got to our seats they were completely out of booster seats, so Ava sat on my lap for the show. It was actually kind of sweet that it worked out that way (other than the time she tooted on my leg - doh!) since she and I were able to whisper back and forth in each other’s ears throughout the performance. She, asking me questions or making observations - during the Christmas party at the beginning: “I wish I could be down there,” - when Clara was dancing with the nutcracker doll: “I wish I could be Clara” - and me explaining parts along the way. It was also nice to have my baby girl sit in my lap for that long. It’s been a long time since we’ve had that kind of closeness for such a long period of time.

Ava enjoyed the first act tremendously, but grew a little bit restless towards the end of the second act. Overall, she did really well though and said she loved it and wants our whole family to go back next year to see it. :) She told her grandma and Aunt Carrie that her favorite part was “when they went up on their tippy-toes like this” and she did her best ballerina impression. My favorites parts were not of the show itself, but of when we went to the restroom during intermission and saw so many little girls trying to walk on their tip-toes while saying, “I’m a ballerina.” And when Ava whispered, “Mommy, I love you” to me as we watched the first act. :)

After the boys picked us up, we all went out for a tasty Italian dinner, then headed home. Jody and I got the kids ready for bed, then wrapped presents. Even though it was a bit hectic getting to the Nutcracker, it turned out to be a fun and memorable day.

On Sunday we decided to do an early Christmas celebration, which really boiled down to opening presents. Since we will be out of town for Christmas this year (we’re driving the Kansas-Oklahoma border to spend the holiday with Jody’s family), we thought it’d be nice to let the kids open most of their presents from us, and all of their presents from Grandma and Grandpa in MI, Sunday morning so we’d have the full day to just hang out and play. We’re taking a few smaller gifts with us on the trip for them to open there, and will have the bigger items from Santa (doll house and train table) ready for them when we get home. (I’ll need to blog about how we got started on saying gifts were from Santa another time because this is a first for us this year and not something I was really planning on doing. But like I said, that’s a story for another time.)

Anyway, we had a nice lazy day. We opened some presents, ate a late big breakfast, opened some more presents (Check us out above in the groovy new aprons my mom made us! Ah, the family that bakes together. By the way, I’m counting that as my Best Shot Monday pic.), and ate a late lunch. Julian had a nice nap and Ava and I stayed in our pajamas until nearly 4 o’clock. The kids played and enjoyed their new toys. Jody and Ava did a jigsaw puzzle together. Aunt Carrie came by for a visit in the evening. It was a good, leisurely day and a nice end to our weekend.

We have a busy week ahead of us - packing for our trip (we leave on Saturday), a preschool tea, parent-teacher conferences, a possible dinner with my sister AKA Aunt Carrie, baking, painting a bird house for Ava’s teacher’s present, getting my holiday cards ready to be sent (late, I’m sure, since they won’t even be here until later in the week). It’s going to be good practice for me to just breathe, slow down and, like the Tees for Change shirt I love says, “choose happiness.”

If you didn’t catch it, my Best Shot is the picture of the 4 of us above. See more best shots over at Picture This (click the button):

Stumble it!

NaBloPoMo - Day 30

Yesterday, the fam and I all ventured into Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). It was pretty dang cold, but there was a lot of beauty to behold. It’s amazing how different the park looks in the winter as opposed to in the summer when we usually visit.

Julian fell asleep in the car, but the rest of us enjoyed seeing a couple large herds of elk. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many in one spot before. There had to be a few hundred. They were slowly making their way across the road as they migrated down to a lower elevation.

And Ava, Grandma, Grandpa and I took a little walk by a stream and Sprague Lake.

We saw this tree - frozen in time - on our walk.

After RMNP, we had dinner out, then stopped at Safeway where Julian was looking so cute in the shopping cart with his lil hat on, I had to take his picture.

The kids have been enjoying getting into things here at the resort. And when I say getting into things, I mean literally climbing into things. (Well, he had a little help getting into the sink.)

We have one more day to enjoy here, then it’s back home for us. We might visit the Stanley Hotel today and do a little shopping in town. Right now I’m missing out on a rousing game of Candyland in the other room, so I’m outta here. ;)

Stumble it!

NaBloPoMo - Day 29

After packing everything but the kitchen sink (and I still forgot some things), and having an uneventful (no puking) drive, we made it into Estes Park yesterday. The wind was gusting all day and night and the temperature, with the windchill, felt like -4 degrees - proving to me that I could never live in the mountains during the winter.

The good news is that the cold temps kept us inside and gave way to some good family bonding.

With three other adults in the house to watch the kids, I figured I might sneak away into the bedroom to read “Pushed,” a book I have on loan from the library, but haven’t had time to read much yet. I read for about 5 minutes before Ava came in to ask, “How are you doing all by yourself in here?” I explained that sometimes people like to be alone, but she was not to be deterred. She was concerned that I was lonely and wanted to read with me. So we moved onto the bed and read our books together. It didn’t take long for Julian to come wandering in, requesting to join us on the bed and pretty soon it was the whole family together in bed, reading books.

Later, Ava made cookies with Grandma. And Julian was happy to partake in one.

We didn’t have the best night’s sleep last night and Jody is now coming down with the cough that Ava’s had for over 2 weeks now, but we are still enjoying ourselves (it’s so beautiful here) and have plans to stay until Saturday now instead of Friday, unless of course we continue to be unable to get some good sleep. Today we are planning a drive into Rocky Mountain National Park and perhaps dinner out at a restaurant.

That’s all for now.

Stumble it!

NaBloPoMo - Day 27

Bet you were starting to wonder if I was going to get a post in today, weren’t you? Me too, but here it is!

Yesterday we did a little day trip to Estes Park to spend some time with my parents at their timeshare resort and we all went out for a late lunch together to this great restaurant called Poppy’s. If you are in Estes Park, check it out. :)

On the drive to Estes, I remarked to Jody that I once got carsick as a child while reading books in the car on a trip. And I wondered aloud if the same thing would happen to Ava who was, at the time, “reading” in the backseat. Not 5 minutes later, she threw up all over her shirt, and then some more into a washcloth I quickly hurled under her chin, and the some more into a Taco Bell cup also hurriedly shoved into her general direction. Oops. That’s what I get for putting that thought out into the universe.

I cleaned her up as best as I could while she was buckled into her carseat. After getting off of the two-lane windy mountain road, Jody pulled over and we were able to clean her up a bit more. At this point she decided she needed to go to the bathroom too, and I was so thankful Jody had the foresight to bring along a little potty with us. So she crouched in the back of the car and took care of business, as I rinsed her shirt off outside with my water bottle, and Jody sat in Ava’s carseat (LOL) to entertain Julian who had woken up from all of the commotion. What a sight we must have been.

Of course I hadn’t packed an extra shirt for her, but my parents had a washer/dryer at their place and Grandma got her shirt clean in no time. Thankfully, it did seem to really just be a case of motion sickness and not another round of the stomach flu (which Grandma and Grandpa both had on Thanksgiving Day this year).

Note to self: no more reading in the car on windy mountain roads.

We’re heading back up to Estes tomorrow for a few days of vacation and Jody and I are hoping to sneak out for a date or two. We actually got out tonight for a “date” of sorts while Grandma and Grandpa watched the kiddos, but it was only so we could go to another parents’ night at Ava’s school.

I’ve decided that I’m going to keep on blogging while on vacation. I really don’t think it will be that big of a deal. Between my mom’s laptop and Jody’s laptop and the WiFi at the resort, I should have no connectivity issues. I can’t promise anything extraordinary (though ya never know!), but I will be popping on. Oh, and tomorrow, at long last, I’m posting Julian’s birth story. :)

I took these pics (with a new point & shoot camera from HP that I’m trying out and will be giving away on my blog in the near future - woot, woot!) while we were up in Estes yesterday. The first one is the view as you are heading into the city. And the second one is about what our view of the mountains will be from our bedroom window.

Now I need to go figure out what all I need to pack for our little vacation. It seems like we are going to have to cram an awful lot of stuff (baby gate, fan AKA white noise maker, clothes, coats, hats, boots, food, kitchen sink…) into our Forester for a three-day trip. Wish me luck and a vomit-free drive this time!

Stumble it!

Looking for Best Shot Monday? It’s the post below. :)

It was a marvelous weekend around here and it started early. Jody took Friday off of work so I could have a day to do things for myself. Woohoo! I started the day by running an errand to the post office to mail off my contest winners’ items. Then I hit up Kohl’s for their awesome end of the season clearance. Since the prices were so low, I figured I would pick up some things for the kids for next summer.

For Ava, I got 3 shirts, 1 skort, 1 dress, 1 pair of shorts and a pair of capri pants, all in size 5. (She’s wearing size 4T this summer, so I figure 5 is a safe bet.) It was the first time I’ve shopped for her in the girls’ department rather than the infant/toddler section and it was quite different. I guess once you are a girl, you want to start dressing like a little hootchie-mama. Ugh. I’m so not ready for that with a 4-year-old (which she will be next year). I managed to find some respectable things though and felt like I did all right. It just took more time to weed through the hootchie clothes.

For Julian, I got a bathing suit, 3 shirts, 1 sleeveless romper, 2 pairs of footed pajamas, 1 shorts/shirt set, and 1 long-sleeved romper all in size 24 months. I was surprised to see tons of cute little girls’ stuff left on clearance, but not nearly as much little boys’ stuff.

As I was walking up to the cash register, I thought about my own wardrobe which consists largely of green shirts this year and I decided to briefly look for some things for me. I found 1 t-shirt (in pink - woot!) and a camouflage skort.

All in all, I bought 18 items and, with my extra 15% discount coupon, it came up to a grand total of $94! Gotta love the bargains at Kohl’s. :)

After my shopping spree, I headed home to nurse Julian, then set out later in the day to do some reading (in peace and quiet). I stopped at Starbucks for a Blueberries ‘n Cream Frappuccino and found out they are having a story time, as well as a craft free of charge there on Thursday, so we might try to go to that. After I had my cool beverage, I went to Border’s to hang out in a comfy chair and read. (More on what I’m currently reading another time.)

After about an hour, I picked up pizza for dinner and headed home.

It was a lovely, relatively kid-free day, and being away from them for a few hours made me appreciate them all the more. I think Jody should take the day off more often. :)

On Saturday, I packed a picnic lunch and we drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park to do some hiking. We hiked to two lakes (Nymph and Dream). Ava rode in the backpack on Jody for part of the time and did a fair amount of hiking herself, and Julian rode in the Ergo on me the whole time.

It was a beautiful day for hiking, and apart from not remembering how much elevation gain there was on that hike (which is all the harder when you are packing a kid - boy, was I getting winded!), it was a lot of fun. Ava really enjoyed hiking on her own and did well in the pack too. Julian started getting a little fussy at the second lake so we decided to call it a day and head back to the shuttle bus which took us to our car. Both kids conked out on the drive home, and I was close to doing so myself as well. ;)

On Sunday, I tackled some of the clutter I complained about over the weekend, specifically cleaning up my “office” area. I filled an entire Vitamin Cottage bag with paper and receipts to recycle! Why I’ve saved every single receipt from the grocery store (and every other place) for the past year or so is beyond me. I’ve developed a new system and it involves only saving receipts on things I might actually need to return - not groceries. (So smart, eh?)

I should’ve taken a before and after shot, because my desk looks sooo much better now. I feel better about it too. It was good to make a dent in the huge decluttering task I have before me.

It was nice to have a relaxing, fun and productive weekend all in one. :)

Stumble it!

Hooray! Jody gets back from San Francisco today! He’s been gone AGAIN for four days this past week. This week was harder than last. I’m sure it’s because it was two weeks in a row of having him gone. Ava seems to miss him a lot more this week too and had a couple of really rough nights, though thankfully she slept well last night and is actually still snoozing. She needs the Zzzzzzs. Anyway, I’m happy to say he shouldn’t have to travel again for a few months.

We hooked up with some friends yesterday at a cafe and the kids got to play while we listened to live music and had lunch. Then we let the kids play outside in the grass for a while. Ava found a nice pile of fresh top soil and proceeded to cover herself in it. Good times. ;) It was a beautiful day - sunny and near 70 degrees.

Today is supposed to be gorgeous as well and we have plans to go to a St. Patty’s day bonfire tonight at some new friends’ house. It sounds like a really good time. They eat, drink, play instruments, sing songs and tell stories around the fire. I don’t know how late we will stay since Ava has been going to bed earlier these days (plus I’m scared of all the drunks on the roads), but I think if we bring her pjs and put her in them before driving home, we’ll be OK.

We’ve been watching a lot of YouTube around here lately. Ava loves watching old Muppet and Sesame Street skits. Here’s one we recently stumbled upon…

Happy St. Patrick’s Day from the Muppets - the Swedish chef, Animal and Beaker. :) Have fun and be safe.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCbuRA_D3KU]

Stumble it!

Each time Jody travels for work, I have a renewed appreciation for single parents.

This week was the first time he had to leave for a few days (three to be exact) since I had Julian. I wasn’t looking forward to doing it all with both kids on my own, but I’m happy to report that we managed and even did fairly well. (His being out of town was another reason why my computer time was limited this week.)

I was quite happy and proud of myself for having both kids asleep by 8:30 all three nights. That rarely happens when we are both home! I think the fact that I was able to do dinner around 5 or 5:30 then still have plenty of time for Ava to wind down before bed helped a lot. When Jody is here working, he doesn’t get home until 6 at the earliest, usually more like 6:40, so we tend to eat dinner later than most people, which results in a later bedtime for Ava. (Of course we all got up at around 6:30 this morning which was at least an hour too early for me, but c’est la vie.)

We had some friends over for a playgroup yesterday which helped break up the time a bit. It was very nice for me to get some adult interaction and Ava enjoyed playing with her friends. And the weather has been nice the past few days so we spent a good chunk of time playing in the backyard each day. (Hooray for spring!)

Even though we made it through unscathed, I’m glad Jody only has to travel about once every quarter. I wouldn’t want to do this on a regular basis. And I’m glad I’ll have the weekend with Jody back home now so I can catch up on some Zzzzzzs. ;)

Stumble it!

We had a very nice trip to MI and managed to fit quite a bit into a week and still have time to relax. The many pics below (taken with my lousy point & shoot camera since I didn’t want to risk damaging my nice one) show some of the highlights from the trip.

One thing we didn’t get any pics of though was our floating trip down the Au Sable River. My parents, Jody, Ava and I had four floaty lounge-chair type things that we tied together and floated down the river. Ava sat on daddy’s lap for most of the float, then came over to join me and baby brother for the end of it. It was a lot of fun, though got a bit chilly at the end when the wind started picking up.

I also feel bad because I didn’t get any good pics of Ava playing with her grandparents, mostly because when she was occupied with them, I was off doing something else. She had a lot of fun with them though - helping water flowers, picking vegetables in the garden, going for wagon rides around the neighborhood and reading books.

Jody got to golf a couple times with my dad, which was fun for him because he never golfs, but also made him realize how much practicing he’d need to do to be any good. ;)

It was nice to spend some time with my parents and not feel rushed to go do this, that or the other thing, which is usually how our visits go because there’s always some big function planned. They seem really happy and settled in their place in Oscoda.

On our last day in MI, we travelled back down state (since we were flying out of Detroit Airport) and stopped by my aunt, uncle and cousins’ house for lunch, then briefly saw my brother at his house before getting to the airport to catch our flight home. The flight was delayed about an hour and a half - first, waiting on the flight attendants, then, after they loaded us on the plane, waiting for the pilot (doh!). But we had a safe, uneventful flight home. :)

Click the pic to view it larger
A perfect day (though a little windy) at Lake Huron - 8/13/06:

Going swimming in the big lake - 8/13/06:

Practicing her golf swing with daddy (though after the way he golfed this week, it should’ve been grandma or grandpa helping her!) - 8/13/06:

We had s’more at a campfire in grandma and grandpa’s backyard (grandma and Aunt Carrie in the pic too) - 8/13/06:

At Foote Dam (with grandpa) - 8/14/06:

Chasing the fishies (minnows) down at “Three Pipes” on the Au Sable River - 8/15/06:

Looking for more fishies - 8/15/06:

Being a little fishy herself - 8/15/06:

Swimming with daddy - 8/15/06:

On the beach at Negwegon State Park (a beautiful secluded beach on the way to Alpena) - 8/17/06:

Rock thrower - 8/17/06:

In her own little world, exploring the beach - 8/17/06:

Walking on the beach with mommy - 8/17/06:

Stopping to check out the view (while Ava slept in the car) - 8/17/06:

Picking blueberries (she ate most of what she picked, right off the bushes) - 8/18/06:

Ava showing off a freshly-picked blueberry - 8/18/06:

Taking a break from picking to smile with grandma - 8/18/06:

Modeling the new tutu grandma and mommy made - 8/18/06:

Our family (in front of grandma and grandpa’s house) before the drive down state to the airport - 8/19/06:

Time to say good-bye to grandma and grandpa before we fly home to CO (at the airport in Detroit) - 8/19/06:

It’s good to be home (I confess I missed my bed and body pillow), though we’re not settled back into our groove yet. Ava and I went to a grape jelly canning “party” this morning at a friend’s house. I’d never canned anything myself before so it was cool to see how it’s all done and I’m excited to taste the jar of jelly we brought home. :)

I can’t believe that I’ll be 28 weeks along this week!! I’m really getting close to the end and I don’t feel ready at all. I have both a midwife appointment and acupuncturist appointment this week. I’m also going to look into seeing a chiropractor a time or two before baby boy comes to make sure I’m well-aligned. I’ve never been before, but I know it certainly can’t hurt.

In other news, my sister is all moved into her apartment just a few miles from our house. :) We’ve seen her more times in the past few days than we have in the last year I think! She goes for her school (3rd year law) orientation tomorrow.

Well, the kiddo is going down for a nap, and I have things to do, so that’s all for now.

Stumble it!