Road Trip to Utah: Day 8

More resting took place today.  Can you tell how our vacation went?  Lots of rest with a few activities thrown in? So not us, but oh well.  One thing the girls requested to do with grandma and papa was to go bowling.   I've missed bowling, so I was all for it.  So that night after everyone was off work, and we conjoled Ken to spend a little time with the family instead of working, we headed to the Holiday Lanes. 

I had forgotten to call and reserve some lanes so we all had to cram onto one lane.  It worked out okay.  The girls shared turns with the adults which helped the game keep going at a steady pace.  Lily was very involved in the game.  She wanted to be right up at the score keeping thingy the whole time.  She bounced around a lot but for the most part stayed out of everyone's way.  She also did pretty good at bowling too.  All that Wii bowling must be paying off!

Char had never been able to bowl before.  So we made sure to give her plenty of turns.  She loved watching the ball go down the lane.  She loved watching it come out of the return even more!  We had to keep a close eye on her because she almost got some smashed fingers a few times.

Becky takes such good care of her nieces.  I think she bowled with all them, but this was just too cute!  Char loved going up there with her.

Char tuckered out pretty quickly though and spent most of her time back in daddy's arms.  These two pictures are my favorites from the night.  I love to see the relationship these two have together!

Allie was there, and yes she did bowl but somehow I missed a picture of her.  It probably had something to do with the fries we ordered.  The girls saw Becky and her family eating and wanted to join in even though we had dinner.  We ordered a large fry for all of us to share.  Char and Allie parked themselves in front of that thing until they were gone.  Also, Allie was slowly getting more and more sick.  She hadn't ate much lately either and we figured we would let her eat while she could. 

I wish we could have played more than one game but again the girls just couldn't handle any more time in a public place.  We went a spent an hour or so at Becky's to cool down and then headed back to mom's for the night.

Road Trip to Utah: Day 7

When planning our vacation I specifically requested for a day that I could hit a few stores in Provo that just don't exist around us in Texas, or are too far away to be worth a visit.  We got a late start which should have clued me in on exactly how this day was going to go.  We first made a trip to Costco.  I needed my bulk Taco seasoning!  Russ was excited because Costco was handing out a ton of free samples.  Can you believe we scored FULL SIZE Creamies?!  The girls loved them!  We also had lunch there.  I was quite impressed with how much food Char wolfed down.  She really hadn't been eating lately so we were happy to see her eat.

After Costco we went to See's!  Oh, how I miss See's!  I don't know if Russ or I miss it more, but we seriously are about to start a petition for them to come to South Texas.  Mom bought our family a pound of chocolates but sadly we didn't get any milk patties because they were out :(  

Our next stop was to Archiver's.  I haven't been to a good scrapbook store in a very long time.  I really wanted to find some fun stuff for my Project Life album, but by this time I was getting stressed out.  Char wasn't doing well because she was tired but couldn't sleep in the stroller.  I couldn't bring myself to really look around when I knew my kids were suffering.  While mom finished up looking we took the kids down the hallway to this cool indoor playground.  It had dinosaur as part of it.  I don't think the kids were supposed to play on it, but everyone else's kids were sooooo we let ours :)

 I couldn't get the girls to even look at the camera by this time, but at least they all made it into the picture right?!

When mom was done we then headed down the hallway for a special treat for Char.  We had noticed that she had been carrying around Molly a lot lately.  We thought it would be a good idea for her to make her own Build-a-Bear.  I'm sad she wasn't feeling well, because I'm sure it could have been a better experience for her but oh well.  We showed a few of the bears and she instantly clung on to this dog.

In fact she didn't give it up very willingly to get it stuffed.  Daddy showed her how to step on the stuffing button though and that got her attention.

After that she was done with the whole process.  So I quickly brushed it for her and picked out some clothes.  Russ and I picked out the name Cupcake for her doggie.  We thought it was funny because of Sprinkles!  Char was so done with the whole process that she wouldn't even look at or hold Cupcake when we were done.  *Sigh* 

Grandma and Papa kindly bought all three girls some PJ's for the stuffed animals.  Allie was so excited to find some Minnie Mouse jammies.  Char and Lily's were some cute generic ones...nothing themed.  Lily was too excited about everything to hold still for a picture.

We drug around Kohl's after this and then finally told mom and dad we had to leave.  The girls were out of control and needed to be home.  We got home and found out that Char really wasn't feeling well when her Costco lunch came up on Russ. By this time we were starting to wonder if we needed to take Char back in to the doctor.  We decided to wait it out a little longer in hopes that she would get better.

Road Trip to Utah: Day 6

Our special event for today was pulling out the pool.  Daddy and papa got it out early in the morning and scrubbed it down.  They filled it up all the way to the brim with water.  The girls were super excited and wanted to jump in right away.  The combination of a cool Midway morning and the ice cold water prevented them.  Impatiently they waited until after lunch when the water and the weather had warmed up.  Grandma had bought them a super big bouncy ball to play with in the pool.  Char really didn't have too much desire to play in the water since she didn't feel well.  Normally we can't pry her away from pools and such.  Russ helped her play a little bit so I could take some pictures, then she went inside for another nap.

My favorite picture was this one.  They both were having soooo much fun!

Ugh!  Allie is my pool water drinker.  No matter how many times we talk about it she still will drink the water.

We cleaned up ourselves and rested for the afternoon.  For dinner we made a special trip to Canton City just for Russell.  We have NO Chinese food down in Texas, so every time we go back to Midway Russ requests at least one dinner at Canton City.  It really is pretty good Chinese!  Russ and I spent most of our meal passing Char back and forth so we could take turns eating.  She was really not feeling well this day and was letting everyone know it.  Allie who had been on a bit of break from her sickies started manifesting again at dinner that she was sick.  My normal happy girl was whiny, clingy, and wouldn't touch her food.  It wasn't our best trip to Canton City but at least we had good food to eat!

Road Trip to Utah: Day 4 & 5

Early Monday morning Russ called and got us an appointment for Char at a local pediatrician.  The morning was relaxed with the girls playing with all of grandma's toys from the basement.  Russ and I took off around 11:00 to take Char in.  Crazily enough the nurse practitioner who helped us recognized me from high school.  After a few minutes of talking we figured out who each other was.  Guess that is what happens when you grow up in a small town.

Unfortunately, despite how sick Char was she didn't find much wrong with her.  She did see some fluid behind her ear and said she might be coming off an ear infection or starting an ear infection.  The change in altitude could have caused some vertigo because of this and started the throwing up.  We opted to start her on antibiotics hoping to knock whatever it was out.  We took Char back to mom's and she promptly fell asleep for the rest of the afternoon.

After dinner we went over to Becky's house where Tyler did a FHE on talents.  We helped the girls write out lists of things they are good at.  It was so fun listening to them name them off.  I wish I had kept the lists to add them here.  But they got lost :(  Char seemed to be doing a bit better and wandered around and played with some of Tyler's old toy cars.  We loved visiting Becky's house considering it was air conditioned.  Apparently Texas has turned me into a wimp because I used to survive the Utah summer heat without air conditioning.  But I just couldn't do it this trip!  We also watched some of the Olympic trials at their 50 or 60 in flat screen.  That was REALLY cool to see!

Tuesday morning was another slow going morning.  Char still wasn't showing much improvement.  She would eat, curl up on Russ, throw up, then fall asleep for a few hours.  We knew she needed to rest so we let her.  She slept through lunch but we made her wake up shortly after so we could go feed the ducks. 

Feeding the ducks is an activity the girls look forward to every time we visit grandma and papa.  there was only one slight problem.  When we pulled into the parking lot we noticed the ducks were on the other side of the pond resting in the shade.  Luckily we had an awesome cousin Tyler with us who ran around the pond and chased them over to the girls.  He did get into some stinging nettle, but at least he didn't fall into the pond!  Char got into throwing the ducks some bread.  It never went far, but she enjoyed it anyway.

After the bread was all gone the kids went and played on the playground.  And by kids I'm totally including Tyler even though he is 15.  He was right there beside them going down the slide and going across the monkey bars.  The girls loved having him there to play with.  Char copped out by this time and was content in mine and Russ's arms.  Notice how ORANGE Allie's hair looks in these pictures. 

At one point Tyler and Russ started to show off what they could do on the monkey bars.  Russ challenged Tyler to see who could do the most dips.  Russ won hands down.  He did somewhere around 20 and could have done more but stopped.  Guess those 15 mins of weight lifting at work are paying off! 

Russ took the girls home and the afternoon was spent with Char taking another nap.  By this time I was starting to get concerned with how much she was sleeping.  The girls watched one of the many Disney movies that grandma has that we don't.  I went with my parents and helped them do some shopping and waited for them while they went and voted.   Grandma gave Lily her "I Voted" sticker when we got back to the house.  She was super excited.

After dinner we went over to Becky's to cool down a bit.  Again Char perked up again.  Lily and Allie went and helped Tyler with one of his chores....feeding the chickens!  They were so excited when they came back in to show us that they had found some eggs in the chickens nests.  Both girls had found one, but Allie dropped hers...oops!

We stayed until Char insisted we go home.  It had been a nice fun filled day.





blahsdfadf

Road Trip to Utah: Day 1, 2,& 3

We decided earlier in the year that a trip to Utah was in order.  It has been awhile since we made it there and some of my family haven't even met Charlotte in person.  We had planned on leaving Friday and traveling all day, and then all day on Saturday.  Thursday night Russ came home and declared he really felt it was important that he take the car in to a mechanic to check out a funny noise we had been hearing the van make.  To put it lightly I was devastated that things were getting pushed back.  We opted to act as if we would still be leaving on Friday and packed everything we could Thursday night.

Early Friday Russ took the van in to the mechanic.  For some unknown reason our tires are wearing unevenly which is making the funny noise.  We quickly loaded the van with everything, had a quick lunch and started out for Utah.  We knew we weren't going to make it in two days like planned so we took the first day pretty easy and only went to Dallas.  

We were planning on having plenty of time to enjoy ourselves there and let the girls relax, but we hit some major traffic the messed up that idea.  We sat in traffic for over an hour, with Charlotte screaming most of it.  She had a bit of cold coming on, and a few teeth coming in so I knew she was miserable.  Russ did some random turns and got us out of the traffic and pulled into the closest restaurant that he saw just to give us a break from the car.  The restaurant was a nice little bistro called La Madeline.  Russ and I got some yummy sandwiches and the girls got some mac n cheese.  Charlotte went to town on hers.  She must have been super hungry.

We got back in the car and found the hotel.  By this time it was bedtime so we put everyone to bed.  A short while later, Charlotte threw up on us.  Thankfully she mainly threw up on me and her so we took care of that mess.  She spent the rest of the night sleeping in short little bouts and crying the rest.  To say the least we did not get much sleep.  We were up early the next morning so we could make our long drive to WaKeeny, Kansas.

The girls were pretty good in the car, especially since they didn't fall back to sleep after leaving at 5:00 in the morning.  Charlotte was not good though.  She spent most of the day screaming.  Since I was sitting next to her I did my best to keep her occupied, but it was clear that she wasn't feeling good and being in a car seat was the last thing she wanted/needed.  I noticed at lunch time she wasn't really eating which concerned me, but I couldn't exactly force food down her.  I did however, try and force liquids down her.  She wouldn't take much but at least it was something.  That night we reached our Motel 8 and stepped out into the record heat of 107...at 6:00 PM!  We melted on the spot!  

We jumped back in the car after unloading our stuff and went to a local DairyQueen.  Very bad choice!  Not only is that place crazy expensive for fast food, but we proceeded to watch them MICROWAVE our hamburgers.  Charlotte got a little spunk back in her and wolfed down some food and ice cream.  Her spunk didn't last long.  Getting back to the hotel we wrestled with her to get her to sleep but she was screaming again.  Another long/sleepless night was spent at the hotel.

Bright and early we headed out on the road.  After being on the road for a couple of hours the REAL FUN began.  Charlotte starting throwing up about every 30 minutes to an hour.  I wasn't prepared the first time, so she required a clean up.  I didn't have a new shirt for her that was accessible so she went without.  I looked at her while she took a brief nap and noticed she was breathing funny.  I mentioned it to Russ but he couldn't see her, and we both figured I was just being paranoid.   Also while driving through Colorado I kept asking Russ if it looked dusty or hazy.  He thought it looked cloudy too, but we couldn't figure out why.

Around noon we pulled into the Summit Rest Area by Laramie, Wyoming.  It was a convenient place to stop and have lunch, but what really made us stop was Abe Lincoln.  While driving Lily spotted him and told us she saw Abe Lincoln.  I didn't believe her until I looked up and saw him on the mountain.  We had a nice cool lunch there since we were so high up in the mountains.  Char was still not doing well.  A few short times she got down and walked around but for the most part she clung to Russ.  After lunch we went and explored the small museum at the rest stop.  They had few interesting things there.  Like this stuffed bear...

Oh and the girls may have gotten thrown in jail there too...

And we of course went and saw Abe Lincoln.  For some reason statues like these wig me out.  Something about the eyes.  But I knew this was a rare thing to see so we took some pictures with "Creepy Abe" 

Loading into the car Allie requested a bathroom trip.  Exasperated I agreed, considering this was her THIRD trip just at this truck stop.  After that potty trip I realized Allie was probably sick too.  How great was this?!  Two sick girls on vacation and we hadn't even made it to our destination yet!  The rest of the trip to Midway was mostly uneventful.  Char threw up a couple times, but the amount of time in between was increasing.  By the time we reached Midway at 5:00pm, she had completely stopped.  Never before have we rolled in from our road trips more exhausted than we did this one.  My family took one look at Char and insisted that we get her to a Dr., but we had to wait since we couldn't find one open that late on a Sunday.  We unpacked the car and spent a few hours visiting before everyone fell into bed exhausted.

 

Happy Birthday Allie!

Allie has been counting down the days until her birthday.  She couldn't wait to turn four!  She wouldn't have known her birthday was coming except Lily helped her remember, and proceeded to remind her each day there after.  Our day started with usual opening of one present.  What do you think Allie got?

Her birthday outfit of course!  And boy was she excited that it had Minnie Mouse on it.

Most of the day was spent just like any other day.  However, I did let Allie pick out our lunch menu and movie for the day.  Before dinner I grabbed Allie and took her outside for a photo shoot.  She has been a weird kick lately and has been pulling funny faces for pictures.  At first I was annoyed but as I flipped back through these I recognized that a lot of them really show her spunky personality that not many people get to see.

These two aren't fab pictures but they show off Allie's special birthday hairdo.

And a few of cheesy grin ones that I loved.

I get this pose a lot lately when she is upset about something.  She wasn't upset here, she was just trying to hide a smile.

 My favorite photo....

Shortly after the photo shoot Russ made it home and we went out to dinner.  Allie chose McDonald's...surprise, surprise.  We enjoyed our take out and then came home for the real fun...PRESENTS!

Allie received some money and monkey jammies from Lala and Papa Joe.  Monkey's are her favorite, and she loved that the monkey was dancing.  She loves to twirl around and dance right now.

Allie also received some new moon dough, a Minnie Mouse that changes clothes, and a Barbie car, all from Mom and Dad.

So sad this picture doesn't have her in focus cause her expression on receiving this was absolutely priceless!

Her favorite gift even though you can't tell by her reaction was by far this Strawberry Movie from Charlotte and Lily.  Lily picked it out for her, and boy does she have a good sense of judgement!

After presents we gathered in the kitchen for cake and ice cream.  Allie requested a Rapunzel tower cake for her birthday.  I obliged even though I wasn't able to put much effort into since I've felt so crappy lately.  But Allie loved and was excited about it, that is what counts right?!

Allie couldn't quite get all the candles out, so daddy secretly stepped in and helped her blow them out.

Allie declared this her best birthday ever, which is always a nice thing to hear!  We are so happy to have her as part of our family.  She brings a much needed balance of quietness and spunk to our family.  Allie always has a way of getting us to smile and laugh.  We love her so much!  Happy Birthday sweet Allie!