Monday, May 12, 2014

Gatorade and camping just don't mix

After our initial plan of backpacking to Kolob Arch with the kids was dashed to pieces by the very unhelpful ranger who told us that no campsites were available we went to plan B and headed up to Pine Valley. We decided against backpacking as it was getting pretty late, Tyler put on his Army pants, and we crossed our fingers that we could find an unoccupied campsite. Tyler had a place in mind that he used to camp at as a wee child and he thought he could probably find it. After a few wrong turns, one where we found a beautiful spot that I didn't dare camp at because I am so scared of breaking the rules, and one where we nearly drove into a ditch and a couple of trucks looking for their ward campout tried to follow us on a road that was not really a road, we found the spot of his childhood. It even had the remnants of the wooden tables made out of electrical spools that a family friend had brought up years ago.
 

Ty and Max set up the tent and then we enjoyed a rustic dinner of Jimmy Johns. After that Tyler took Max and Tessa on a hike that lasted until dark, but they had their headlamps on so all was well. They got back from their hike and Tessa proceeded to drink an entire gatorade, unbeknownst to me. I got the kids in their PJs where I learned that Tessa had peed her pants on the aforementioned hike. Luckily I had a whole package of wet wipes to clean her up with, and soon all six of us (Mitzi included) settled into our three person tent. We turned on Peter and the Shadow Thief, and listened until we had all fallen asleep.

Around 1 AM Tessa woke me up to tell me she had to go potty, so we crawled out of the tent where I learned that she had slightly peed in her PJs while in her sleeping bag. But since it was freezing cold, and I had no extra PJs for her, I decided she'd just have to live with it and I'd wash her sleeping bag when we got home. She went potty and we crawled back into the tent where I stayed awake for the next hour and a half dead sure that coyotes were right outside our tent. 

Finally I couldn't take it any longer and I tried to wake up Tyler to tell him my fears. I even had Tessa shake him, since she woke up when I was yelling across the tent to him, but still he wouldn't wake up. Finally after a desperate, and slightly unkind, scream from me he woke up in a panic. He quickly calmed my fears and then proceeded to not be able to sleep, just like me. So we lay there and listened to the coyote howls that were close, but not scratching at the tent like I had originally thought. 

Around 3 Tessa woke up to tell us that she had, in fact, peed her pants for the third time that night. Aaannd...this time it was not just a little. We threw her sleeping bag and PJs in a garbage bag, did another wipedown with wet wipes, found some pants of Max's that we rolled up about 5 times, and finally settled back into the tent, Tessa sharing a sleeping bag with Tyler. 

As Tyler was preparing to drift off to sleep he jokingly said, "Tessa, don't you dare pee in my sleeping bag." And Tessa said, "Do you think I should just go potty now then?" It turns out she had another full bladder. So Tyler, oh-so-happily, took her out again. 

At this point I had the giggles, and Ty couldn't sleep, so we listened to Peter and the Shadowthief for an hour. It turns out that the humor in it is even better at 3 AM, and we had some good laughs as we were listening. Finally, we all fell asleep and the remaining few hours of the night were accident free. 

In the morning we had breakfast, I went on a very slow run while the kids did another hike, the kids climbed in trees, and then we packed up and headed home. All in all it was a grand adventure and I was grateful that we had a car with lots of supplies in it to deal with our little Tessa girl. Oh, and we discovered later that Mitzi got a tick in her ear from camping. Next time we will bring a flea and tick collar for her, and leave behind the gatorade for Tessa. 




Friday, September 28, 2012

Birthday celebration...

Presents... Medieval Times... Friends, Pizza, and Cake... 

 Beyblades...Max's current obsession. There is even a cartoon to help fuel it. The best is when I walk by his room as he's getting ready to launch his beyblades into the stadium and I hear him say, "Let 'er rip!". (Just like the cartoon) 
 I was 100% certain that these shoes were too big, but threw them in a bag anyway so he could open another present. They fit perfectly...it breaks my heart.
 If you look past the blatant merchandising of Medieval Times (no harm in trying to make a little money, right?) you find one of the most magical places for a little boy of 7. Max was literally (said Chris Traeger style)jumping up and down from excitement as he was watching the show.  

The champion knight got to pick one person out of the audience to be the "Queen of Love and Beauty". And...he picked Tessa. My friend Ariel, who has a small obsession with Medieval Times or, more specifically, the knights in Medieval Times said, "Of course he picked her, that girl is magical." There was a bit of jealousy there. :)  
 So...while this is Max's birthday we ended up with picture of Tessa and knight. Of course, Max didn't mind at all and thought it was great that he came out of the arena and right over to us! 
 After getting back from Medieval Times we quickly got ready for a small party at our house. 
Bad pictures (I say that all the time), but I think it's safe to say it was a pretty great day for Max!

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Sunshine


Tessa has a bit of quicksilver in her. Her moods change quickly, from sunshine to darkness and back again. My goal in parenting Tessa is to just keep her in that sunshine as much as possible. And when she is, she is simply radiant. 

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Ziplines

Occasionally Max will notice the yarn in the linen cupboard and soon the living room will become filled with ziplines large and small. Playmobil pirates and knights make the perfect heroes in this game.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Maddi comes for a visit

Around the middle of June Maddi came to visit for a week. The kids, and Mitzie, were in heaven having her here. There was snuggling, and baseball games, and running (but only a few times so as to not overtax ourselves), and making messes (not Maddi, just the kids), and swimming at a city pool and getting bored really fast and being grateful that thunder ended our time early, and Dallas World Aquarium, and Hurricane Harbor (and lots of anticipation for our Hurricane Harbor day), and talking about eating healthy but not eating healthy at all, and shopping (while placating the kids with the little quarter rides), and just being happy that my sister was here for an entire week! And here are some of the pictures taken, put in no particular order. 
















Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Choices

I saw this delightful scene outside and knew I had to get a picture of it. Should I use my phone camera or my Rebel? I chose the phone. Poor choice, Cass, poor choice. But my kids' choices for rain gear--well, that was right on. 



Thursday, May 31, 2012

Finishing up Kindergarten

Last year around this time I started to have a few too many emotional breakdowns. I finally figured out that most of my freak-outs were due to the fact that Max would be starting kindergarten. Max was perfectly fine, but I certainly was not. Of course all my worry proved unnecessary and Max had a great experience (but we sure missed him at home). He loved his teacher, Mr. Jenks, made lots of great friends, and sailed through academically. A friend of Max was talking to his mom and said, "Max is such a good kid. He ALWAYS does the right thing." Seriously, could there be a better compliment?
Here are a few of the End-of-Year events:


MOHAWK K-3 TALENT SHOW
Initially Max said he didn't want to play his cello in his school's talent show. As it came closer Max heard that a bunch of kids in his class were performing and he began to think that maybe he should. He talked to Mr. Jenks about it and Mr. Jenks told him that he would love to hear him play at the talent show. So Max got a permission slip for me to sign from Mr. Jenks, walked to his desk, then decided against it and brought the permission slip back to Mr. Jenks. Poor kid, deep down he wanted to play but was just too nervous to commit. With a little encouragement from me, Tyler, and Mr. Jenks he decided to play. He was pretty calm about it, but did get a little shy and tried to hide his face in his cello which caused a few wrong notes as his face pushed against the strings. I also forgot his endpin stop and ended up awkwardly holding it for him. But Max was great, and word spread through the school about the kindergartner who was amazing at the cello. The best part of the whole thing was when his friend stood up with his fists raised in the air to cheer after Max was done. It was EXACTLY what Tyler told Max would happen.  

KINDERGARTEN PICNIC
 Max and Yuto. Yuto is from Japan and speaks with an accent. When Max quotes Yuto he also speaks with a Japanese accent. It's pretty funny. 
 It was pretty hot (big surprise) so after everyone was done eating they gave each of the kindergartners a spray bottle so they could run around and spray each other. Definitely a success.

SUMMER BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
 All the poor kids who have summer birthdays and never got a special day at school got to celebrate. The mom's brought cupcakes for the kids. From the looks of the floor after it was all over only a small portion of the said cupcakes ended up in the kids' mouths. 

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL
Had I been thinking I would have taken of picture of Max with Mr. Jenks or at least some of his little buddies. I was in a rush to get Max to his cello lessons though. (Wow, I could not be more lame if I tried!)  Luckily, Mr. Jenks sent a picture home with him and Max. I'm just too lazy to scan it at the moment.