Happy Birthday Gunner

What you should wear

Abs got a good night sleep last night.  Thank goodness.  Maybe it had something to do with what she wore?

Three pairs of tights.
One pair of socks.
Three pairs of underwear.
1 bathing suit
Two tshirts.

Hey, if it works, she can wear as much as she wants, it's not like I don't do laundry all day every day.

Found a place for swim lessons for the kiddos.

Went to The Displaced Dutchican's dentist today and loved him!  I get to go back next Thursday too.  Good thing I like them so much.

It's hailing....again....

I asked Ab's teacher about coming to observe and she told me I had to go through the principal.  That sounds insane to me, but I will do it, and just observe more than originally planned.  She is begging to go back to Montessori, so I need to figure out what is going on.  They did lose two students, so they are down to 28 students...for now!

I went to the Arc today.  I need to stay away.  I found the cutest creamer though....some books I NEEDED....a few odds and ends I couldn't live without and a small table for all my school books this semester and all the semesters to come since I can't seem to stop attending school.  

Guess Where!

Gunner is turning the big 3-9 on Friday! 

I was looking for something special to do and scored big.

Where do you think we are going?

They have a specatcular military special going on right now. 

Weekend Trip--Focus on the Family

The kids and I had already been to Focus on the Family, but since it was raining today, it was a good place to get out, not spend any money, and let the kids have fun.  Everything is entirely free(except for food, but it was on sale today)!  They also had the Sheriff, Army, Fire Department and more with their vehicles for the kids to explore.

They collected sheriff badges, coloring books, stickers, crayons, coupons from Chick-fil-A, and they even made them personalized dog tags!

Inside is decorated like the Adventures in Odyssey type setting.

Junior climbing on the airplane.  He was too small to go down the several story slide with the girls.  (We thought that the climb to get to the top of the slide would wear them out--they are still going strong)

 

 Junior loved the touch screen coloring game.  (BTW I put that jacket to the side for my nephew since Junior has outgrown it, but he was fixated on it today.  At least he took the hood off inside.)

 

 Family pictures...

 There's a stage with costumes so Junior and Em put on a short play.  Abs was not into pictures today.

A puppet stage...

Toddler playground.  This is going to be great in the winter!

A frog on the log in the bog...

They also have a radio station where the older kids can sign up to do their own radio show.  They have a script, practice, and record the show with some of the parts taped already so it is just like an Adventure in Odyssey radio show.  They had a great time, and they gave us a copy of the show too.  It's a really cute story and the girls did a great job!

Hot dogs and ice cream to finish it off. 

They gave Gunner a freebie too.  I can't wait to read it!

 

Tomorrow there's a free kid friendly moving showing with popcorn and drinks.

I better search the paper tomorrow for next week's activities.

Electricity & Bananas

We lost power at 1 this morning.  Thankfully we still haven't unpacked our alarm clock--I'm starting to wonder if it made the trip--so we had our phones set to wake us up.  We got dressed in the dark and everyone went to school.  Junior's school was in the dark too.

I went to the gym, and since the power was out, I lifted weights for about half an hour.  The lights came on and I fit in a 4 mile tempo run.  I figured the lights must be on at home, but I returned home to a dark house.

I showered in the dark.  I couldn't do my homework so I decided to head to the thrift store.  I scored on a brand new scrabble deluxe for cheap, cheap, cheap--dictionary included.  I found one of those 400 piece lego sets of a UFO for cheaper, cheaper, cheaper.  A couple of books, some vintage tupperware, a gigantic coffee mug, and I called Gunner.

He agreed that I should stop off and get Thai food just in case the power was still out.  It was still out.  It came on briefly and then was out again.  I got the kids, stopped by the office to find out that they had no clue when we would have power. 

Finally the electric company agreed to take the power from the command and give it to housing over the weekend.  Come Monday morning if the problem isn't fixed, we will be powerless again.  I was not made to be a pioneer woman!  Especially when I have a paper to write and need to do some research.

Tonight at the community center they had a banana party.  They had a decorating party and contest.  Our entries:

 

And what happens to the groom after the wedding?  (Or after Junior sneaks away with the groom)

The bride went into mourning per her creator Em.

They had banana splits too, so how could we say no to that?

I better get started on my paper before we lose power again.

Please let this day be over....

and let no one else get sick.

Abs was off from school today, so I figured I would have plenty of time with her.  I got Em off to school and then Junior woke up screaming....that should have been a sign.

Abs was in a mood this morning too.  I manage to get them both dressed and out the door after Abs overflows the toilet.  We headed over to Em's school to get her, so that we could go to their dentist appointments--bless the person who came up with the clinic where all three can be seen at once.

We arrive at Em's school and I start going through the process of getting Emily out for her appointment.  I was holding Junior's hand, and then Abs decides to start throwing up....in the lobby. 

Abs has anxiety and is terrified of the dentist, which lead to the nervousness I suppose, and the barfing.  I drop Junior's hand and try to help Abs move to the area that isn't carpeted.  If I thought I was bad at barf, the office staff was worse.  I turn around to find Junior climbing over the balcony.  I run and grab him before he jumps, give him the iPhone to entertain him, and get back to Abs.  I finally get someone to give me tissues and a trashcan.  Then someone tracks down some plastic walm@rt bags to keep on hand.

Em finally shows up.  (Moms that have multiple children under the age of 10, I don't know how you do it!)

Em grabs Junior's hand, I get Abs, and we head to the car.  Abs reveals that she's nervous about the dentist.  I assured her that telling me and talking about it would be far more effective than throwing up.  We get to the dentist and I warn them of Ab's fears.  Thankfully they (the staff) were great.  They were very patient with all of them. 

Junior loved it and wanted to show everyone his teeth.  Abs finally got to the point where she would let them work on her, thanks to the iPhone.

Em was so dramatic, beyond dramatic.  She just had her teeth cleaned, nothing major done.  She needs sealants done, which we tried before and she was so dramatic about the pain those caused (yes, I know they aren't painful in the least) that we only had one done and were unable to complete the rest. 

Em needs braces too.  Woohoo?  She can barely stand her teeth getting cleaned.  Hopefully Junior will love the dentist as much as me.

So we leave the dentist armed with flossers, toothpaste and toothbrushes.  (Note to dental people--make sure if you give one child a bag with a coloring book, give my kids each one!  If one gets a sticker, give them all one!)  We get Em dropped off at school, and I race to Andrew's school.  We arrive there and he had pooped in his pants.

Change cute baby boy, drop him off in time for lunch, head home to deal with Abs and do school work. 

The electricity goes out.  Call housing and they said it was a planned outage that no one told them about.  So it finally comes on and my computer wouldn't work.  I give up and Abs and I head out to lunch.  We have a nice lunch, until she tells me her tummy hurts again.  We race home, and she was lying on the ottoman and moaning.  I finally turned the tv on, and she seems to be feeling better all of the sudden. 

So hopefully it was just Ab's nerves.  Hopefully Junior stays dry.  Off to locate an orthodontist for Emily, an eye doctor for all of us, print off some stuff for school, get some work done, write some papers, clean the house, toss in a few loads of laundry, and a few other things.  It's no wonder I live on Monsters. 

Vulture Day at the Zoo

I had a ton of school work to do on Saturday, so Gunner headed off to the zoo with the kids. I had forgotten it was vulture day, but the kids were excited and got to see what the stomach contents of a vulture looked like, flight feathers, and lots more. The kids loved it, and Gunner loves the zoo, so it worked out.


They found eggs, and had to try out each part.

Hanging out with the bronze animals.

A gigantic chair.

Another egg view.

We thought it would wear them out, but it didn't seem to phase Abs. Em went off to the balloon festival with a friend, and we put the little kids to bed. Abs snuck out and grabbed Chris' iPhone. He stood outside her room, and she cried out in disbelief "How did this get in here?". No idea Abs. Then I checked my email and she had requested me to be in Gunner's mafia on the phone. She cracks me up.

The Story of Grandpa's Hair

To you it might look like a simple dandelion.

To Junior, it is his Grandpa's hair.

My dad had white, white, white, hair as long as I can remember. We used to joke that he was the only gray haired man at Kindergarten graduation.

My dad also had a love for his Triumph--a convertible of course. My sister used to say when the saw white stuff floating in the air, that our dad was driving with his top down.

Fast forward to Junior.

He never met my dad, but Abs assures me that my dad was rocking his little soul in heaven before he was born.

The girls told him the story about Grandpa's hair flying in the air, and Junior who is in love with anything Grandpa, latched on to it.

Every time we see a fluff of dandelion floating in the air, Junior runs to it, grabs it, and calls it "My Grandpa". It breaks my heart because he never met him, but makes me smile because I know my dad would get a kick out of it.

Junior will carry around his "Grandpa", taking special care that it doesn't fly away. Sometimes he hauls it inside and wants to keep it in his room so he and his "Grandpa" can read stories together at bedtime.

Maybe Junior knows something we don't, but in the meantime he is constantly on the look for his "Grandpa".

COG railway pictures

Cute GI I found.

Me headed up. My hair wasn't down for long!

Similar to the other picture. We weren't all the way to the top yet.

If you had asked me yesterday, I wouldn't have done it again unless someone new was along. Today, I would probably do it again. It definitely gave me a workout, and you couldn't beat the view!

4 day weekends

I really need to finish and make sure I upload my posts when I write them.

(Thursday) I love 4 day weekends. Tomorrow morning I will hopefully be sleeping away while Gunner is getting ready to get the kids off to school. Weird thing is that Abs has a 4 day weekend from school too, and is off Tuesday, but Em has school. They do things so differently up here!

All the controversy about the Obama speech that is going to be broadcast to the schools, and we got an email about it. Since Abs won't be in school it's not an issue. For middle school students they are broadcasting it in several different areas of the school during their study hall, and the students have the choice of attending. If it is going to be watched as part of a class, then teachers have to have signed permission slips from the parents. Then they went on to update that, so the next letter read that if a teacher was going to use it as a lesson, she needed to provide the specific state standards that it was going to meet. Guess with all the controversy they want to make sure they are covered.

Abs was selected to be on the school Senate. I was reading the paper and it said that she might be elgible for the Presidential Volunteer Award or something like that. I was impressed, but she wasn't. She said she didn't want anything from that guy. I explained to her why it was important, and she finally just said "OK", probably to get me to be quiet about it.

Speaking of Abs, this morning I had her go make her breakfast. I walked in a few moments later and she was spreading jelly on one piece of bread and she had another piece of bread covered in honey.

Me: What are you making Abs?
Abs: A sandwich.
Me: You can't have a jelly and honey sandwich.
Abs: Can I have jelly and honey on toast?
Me: Point made, hurry up.

Abs is also joining choir. I wonder what she will do if the uniform they have to wear is not green. We went through all the stores before buying school clothes and she swore up and down she would wear everything. I think she has worn the same 4 or 5 green shirts every single day. They're probably thinking that we can't afford any clothes.

Junior is finally making some progress in potty training. He's been dry the last two days to include pooping in the potty. Please let the end be in sight!

Gunner and I decided that one mile straight up would probably be hard on the kiddos, so we made the trip by ourselves on Friday. It is 2,744 old railroad ties to climb up. It was ridiculously hard. There's a trail on the other side of the mountain and so we did a trail run down. I used to think that trail running was not for me, and of course we were going straight down, but something about jumping over tree roots, watching your step, and all that was fun! I'm sure I would be singing a much different tune if it was uphill!
We opted not to take the steps down, but they had people running down them. I'd be sure to fall as they were steep and uneven!

*For some reason the other picture wouldn't upload.

Working Wednesday

I should be cleaning the house.

Instead:

I went to the commissary.

Interviewed a bigwig for a class assignment. I got so much information from her, and I am overwhelmed with all I want to learn about the subject. Maybe I'll get a PhD after all?

Tore through the commissary, and had to make 5 repeat trips down the same aisle because I kept forgetting stuff. Mental note--put your shopping list in order next time.

Em is staying late to play softball at school and will take the late bus home. I love the late bus.

Gunner managed to attend orientation at daycare since I couldn't make it due to my phone interview for my project.

The part for the dryer finally came! Of course Gunner was gone by then and while he tried to explain to me how to hook it up, I think he was vague on his directions so I wouldn't attempt it. I'll be doing laundry all night.

I did more homework.

I think I need a nap.

Thoughts about everything...

The Mrs. is having a giveaway over at her blog for a military alphabet book! Check it out and leave a comment so you can be signed up for it. She's due any day now, and I missed the bet on her having Dash-3 share my birthday, so she'll hopefully shoot for Dash-4 to share my big day?

Abs was all over her homework this afternoon. Go figure. Some days she loves it, other days, it's a lost cause.

Em is under the impression that because she has a new friend that lives about 10 minutes from us, that she can go over there whenever she wants. Maybe if she lived closer and I didn't have to drive. Tonight she wanted to eat dinner, load everyone up, drive her to her friends house so that they could "do homework" and then pick her up later. We don't eat till 6, so I can't imagine that schedule would work well. She seemed shocked that I didn't think that it was a good idea since she would supposedly be working over there.

Ran 4 miles today and walked half a mile to cool down. Tomorrow it's the bike, arms, and abs.

I cranked out a ton of homework tonight. We have a group project that is due next week too that we need to get started on. I got the conversation going about it, so now I just need to see if the other people contribute. I am hoping that they will, but will do it all myself if I have to. It's almost easier that way, actually.

......Wednesday. Gunner went on a run this morning and it was similar to our Koko Crater experience in Hawaii. He took pictures and we are doing it this weekend! I can't wait, I love stuff like this. It's a bunch of old railroad ties up the side of a mountain! I'm not sure the kids will love it, but we'll strap Junior on our backs (in a pullup with extra diapers and wipes packed this time) and go. I won't even think about all the whining that will occur.

I've taken up cooking. I pretty much suck at it, but am determined to get better so my kids don't just remember me as the mother who microwaves everything. So far only Em has even eaten anything that I have cooked. Maybe I should resort back to steamed chicken and veggies every night.

Afternoon tea today is peanut butter and jelly muffins if I can find the muffin pan.

I'm craving herring salad.

Abs did not sleep last night. She was up to go to the bathroom and then I heard her get up at 5:30. She was so sweet this morning, maybe she needs to get up early every morning? Of course if she is not up on her tems, all bets are off.

Em saw some bears the other morning on her way to school. (she was on the bus) The mama bear was growling at her cub who was running around in circles. I can sympathize as she must have an Abs bear.

Best Birthday Ever

I was kind of bummed today about my birthday. I treated myself to a pedicure, read, took a nap, and then waited for the kids to come home.

Abs was in rare form. She had one worksheet of homework to do. It had been over an hour and she sharpened her pencil a dozen times (pencil sharpener is now gone), had a snack (kitchen is off limits), whined, told me the answer to every question, but yet she refused to write down the answer. Apparently in Ab's world, she shouldn't have to do homework on my birthday.

Junior followed me down to the basement and then peed all over himself. Of course the one time he had his shoes on. Now we have wet shoes and no way to dry them. I can't find the hairdryer. I'm hoping by some miracle they dry by tomorrow.....but I know they won't! I don't know what we will do. I did wash some clothes and we have them on coat hangers all over the house. These are what memories are made of.

Abs finally finished her homework and then Gunner showed up. He brought an ice cream cake--who can turn down ice cream cake! My mom had sent me a present but I wasn't allowed to open it till everyone was around. I shook it. I felt it. It was....


My first book! My mom had all of my blogs bound into a book from 2007! I LOVE IT!!!!! I was totally shocked and I know how much time and energy it must have taken her to get it done. It was funny to look back on how everything started. I've come a long way baby! I read a couple of them to the girls and showed them the pictures. One day they can read them all. It's absolutely one of the best gifts I have ever gotten!!!

My mom just got back from Thailand and I also got this in the box.

The picture doesn't do it justice, it's beautiful! It's freshwater pearls strung on Thai silk. I love it! Em spent over an hour tonight telling me how perfectly it would go with her outfit for school tomorrow, lol. Maybe some day Em!

I got tons of birthday wishes from my friends, phone calls, and a quiet day at home. You can't ask for more, but the book......priceless. Thanks Mom!

Maybe 37 won't be so bad after all. We'll see how these old bones feel after the gym tomorrow and a long run...

Ch...Ch...Changes

Dear Abs is wearing deoderant. She started smelling a little musty. I asked her if she ever noticed any bad smells, and she told me her armpits smelled like burritos sometimes.

I went off to buy her deoderant. She has wiped mine or her sister's deoderant on the wall, carved in it, broken it, destroyed it, created art with it. I was relieved to find......roll on!

So far it's been a week and she hasn't managed to get the ball out of the container. She puts it on every morning and evening--guess she feels like she needs it--and then she walks around with her arms sticking out to give it ample time to dry. I can't imagine Abs growing up, but I guess in this way she is! Unfortunately I was hoping that the whining and trail of destruction would disappear first.

I went and got a pedicure today and got my eyebrows done. Even if I am unemployed, I need to look nice, right?

I've got a pile of books that I want to read and a pile of books that I have to read. Where to start.....

Another weekend

No traveling this weekend. My friend Dave came in Saturday and bought us Pei Wei for dinner. I think I am addicted and it's so much cheaper than PF Chang's!

Junior started his antibiotics. His eczema is gone......I mean everything is gone. Not a sore. Not a spot, not a mark. We see the BRILLIANT dermatologist on Thursday and then begin bleach baths to help keep everything going the way it is. (The bleach is minimal and he said it's like chlorine in the pool.) For the first time in over three years, my son is not scratching his skin off, being miserable, or being coated in anything other than aquaphor. He walks around telling everyone "My eczema all better!". I sure hope we are done, done, done with this crap.

Army Wives--I think they would have escorted Pamela out, but I can't wait to see what next week holds.

Our dryer stopped working. Luckily we managed to figure out what it was, but no parts were available here, and the store that did have it in stock was closed on Sunday. Are we living in Germany? I found the part online for cheaper and hopefully it will be here in the next few days. No dryer while potty training Junior, is a mess. Abs offered to construct a clothes line in the backyard, but it rains every day here, so I can't imagine the clothes would get very dry, but I appreciate the thought.

Abs story--my friend Dave got up this morning and heard Abs say "hi". He couldn't find her anywhere. He went into the kitchen and found the tub of cookie dough on the floor, open, and Abs had gone the other direction and crawled into his bed on the couch. He picked up the cookie dough, closed it, and put it on the counter. Gunner asked her if she was eating cookie dough, and she said nope, and then looked at Dave like he was the guilty party.

No big plans tomorrow other than a pedicure at least. I've got my readings all printed out, and ready to be highlighted, marked on, and summarized. I downloaded Perrla and am ready to have an easier time with all the APA formatting. I was killing myself trying to do it all on my own, and my friends assure me that this is a lifesaver!

I didn't run all weekend, time to get back in the groove this week. Can't wait for the 4 day weekend this weekend, I better start planning!

Tired

I ran.

I studied.

I played with the kids.

We cleaned the house.

Got Junior's prescription.

Em is having a sleepover and apparently used her cell phone to call my sister to figure out who belonged to that number. Thankfully my sister has a great sense of humor!

We hit Whole Foods and picked up a supply of probiotics for Junior. Pizza for dinner. Scones and Devonshire cream for breakfast.

Em's going to a parade tomorrow with her friend. Abs didn't want to go (not big on crowds or noise, even though she is the loudest person I know!). It was fine with me since potty training Junior in a slew of dirty port-a-potties sounded less than appealing.

Gunner has to work the parade, but I'm hoping he gets off early so we can do something fun, or I can finish my work for the week. I have a timeline I need to submit on the development of the idea of intelligence. Fun stuff. I'm thankful I kept my Educational Psych book since I need the additional resources.

My bed is calling my name once I get two big girls to go to sleep so they aren't grumps tomorrow!

Abs is back

Besides the overflowing toilet the first night she was home, Abs has been pretty much steering clear of her usual antics.

The other night I went to get her out of the bath, and the floor was soaked. I asked her to get out and went to put a towel on top of the toilet. It was covered with liquid soap--the entire toilet--gobs of it. She really took the time to get it into every nook and cranny. Apparently she thought it was dirty, but I had just cleaned it with my friend Clorox.

Her mini blinds got mysteriously cut.

We have to keep all the flashlights together and accounted for so that she doesn't sneak one for a little nighttime reading aka we won't be able to find them i\f the power goes out!

I talked to her teacher last night--there are 30 kids in her class now--and she told me that Abs collects EVERYTHING.

Lady, I moved about 100 pounds of rocks, some wrapped carefully in an entire roll of toilet paper, from Texas to Colorado. I understand. She did talk to me about volunteering in the class because there are so many students, so I think I will try to work out a schedule to make that happen.

I'm going to start a rock collection jar in the laundry room since there's never any money. Junior has jumped on the bandwagon and every time I ask him why he is carrying rocks, sticks, or anything else, and he always says "It's for my science experiment!".

Got a 5 mile run in this morning after getting the kids off to school. Em missed her bus the other day, so she was out there super early this morning.

Em has open housee tomorrow night, FRG meeting coming up (still not sure if I will go to that one, but I might give it another chance), and still deciding what to do this weekend! Never a dull moment! Fill it in with potty training (still), cleaning, homework, kids, running, biking, swimming, studying, and trying to grow grass in the backyard, and we manage to keep busy. Gunner's mom might come in for Labor Day weekend with her brother who doesn't speak a lick of English, but it will be nice to see him again, and I'll practice my meager German.

Beer Fest is next month, and I'll get to see my sister!

First Days

The girls started school last week, but all seems to be going well. Not really sure what is going on in Ab's classroom of the masses, but I'll stop in this week hopefully to check it out. I have to go to a volunteer class tomorrow anyway, so it might be the perfect time.

Junior started daycare today. The whole center here is wonderful. It's so calm, the front desk people are happy to be there, and the teachers were wonderful. Junior had a great day! They said he peed a lot, ate a lot, and jumped right into the thick of it like he had been there all along. Whew. It's a peanut and egg free zone, so he should be safe, and he has his epi pen there just in case. Let's hope it's not needed. I'd much rather replace it because it is expired.

I hit the fitness center here, and I am dropping my membership to Gold's. It was up on the 31st of this month, but the equipment and everything is pretty much the same. I do need to hunt down the sauna! We used the pool there yesterday, before I took a bike ride. Today it was running and weights. And there won't be any excuses since it is about 2 minutes from my house. I'll have that water bottle in no time!

My classes started to day. To say I am overwhelmed, is an understatement. I didn't have my books, so I have those on order. It will put me a few days behind, but there is plenty to keep me busy. I think that these classes will transfer back to the program I was in, in TX, at least some of them. I need to go pick up an APA manual this week too or get one on order. I should have checked the bookstore while I was there, but I forgot. APA makes me want to scream sometimes!!! My professors are great though, and I know I will learn a lot this semester. I definitely won't have any free time!

I have a ton of stuff to get framed, and I am thinking about taking the framing class here. It has to be cheaper than the coupons at Michael's. Gunner stumbled on a bunch of old WWII prints that he wants to get framed as well while we were at the Arc one day. I think I will institute a new rule that every time I go I need to take in two bags worth of crap. That should be easy once I finally sort through all my clothes that don't fit, and goodness knows I need to purge Gunner's clothes because he will continue wearing every ratty tshirt that he can get his hands on. Sound familiar Tia?

The hungry lions are roaring for dinner...

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument

While at REI one day, we picked up a book with the top 50 hikes in Colorado Springs. I wonder if I can return it.

We started out, gung-ho, and Gunner took the kids to the PX to pick up child size camelbaks for the kids, so there would be no complaining. No "I don't want to drink after her" or "She's drinking all the water and there's not going to be any left for me" and the best of all "Are you trying to kill us by only having one source of water?". So off to get camelbaks he went.

He returned home with 4 new camelbaks (Junior's held 32 oz, and the other 3 held 50 oz). We filled them, packed snacks, located directions, and headed off.

Junior should be a walking advertisement for Camelback.
He loved that Camelbak and wore it the entire time. Unlike someone else....but I digress.....

Our first stop was the bathroom. We ran into a really nice Ranger who reprimanded us (nicely) when while giving us directions, Junior shows up with flowers that he found and picked.
It was the 40th anniversary today, so everything was free, saving us a whopping $6.

This area is known for all of its petrified stumps. The girls picked up the Junior Ranger books at the gift shop, and had to complete a certain number of assignments, as well as fun pages in order to get a badge or a patch.
It was beautiful out there. We headed out to walk to the Boulder Trail, where the Ranger told us that there were huge boulders that formed caves and you could crawl all over them. He said we were more likely to see wildlife going that route as well. But.....there's always a but with this crew......Abs and Em wanted to go see the Homestead first since it was one of the things that was on the Junior Ranger checklist.



We started walking. Abs got rocks in her shoes. Abs didn't want her Camelbak. Junior didn't want to walk.

I asked Abs to open her eyes and smile when I counted to 3. I got this.



We kept on walking. If there was supposed to be any wildlife, we weren't about to see it with the amount of noise we were making.

Junior polished off his water the first mile. We finally saw the Homestead in the distance......it was right off the main road. Everyone else got back in their cars and drove to it, which was really looking good at this point.

I tried to get a picture of Junior, but he was too busy sucking down water.


Em didn't mind posing for once.


We keep on walking, and by the time we get there.....the homestead was closed.


We had a snack. We discussed walking back along the road since it would be much faster, but we figured we came to hike, and we could still try to salvage this trip.

Em was less than enthusiastic about taking a longer route back. But there was a bridge...




Then we discovered that Junior pooped. Gunner was still carrying him on his shoulders and finally the smell got to him, so we stopped, removed the pullup that we thankfully that we had put on him. We had no wipes and no more pullups. Not too smart. So we used water from the camelback and I know Gunner now unconditionally loves his son as he washed his little bottom out in the forest with his bare hand. Ewwwww!

We got everything cleaned up as well as we could, and luckily Junior had underwear on over his pullup, so he didn't have to go commando. Maybe even luckier because when he pooped again, while on Gunner's shoulders, it didn't just explode all over my poor husband. And then the boy fell asleep....
At that point, the girls figured it wasn't worth complaining anymore because they thankfully didn't have a poopy boy sitting on their shoulders.

We finished our walk, never made it to the boulders, and hit the road, having walked almost 5 miles. The girls turned in their Junior Ranger work and were able to earn their award.

Looking back on it now, it doesn't seem as bad as it did at the time. We did see a bunch of chipmunks, birds, scat, and beautiful scenery. Next time we will be better prepared though!

We ended the day with Mexican food, a stop at the Arc, and the find of a chicken soup bowl, so the day ended on a good note. Now all the kids are tucked into bed and we are right behind them.

The update

We got up early--let's be real, we were up, but we had to get dressed, in order to head out to the doctor this morning for Junior. After yesterday's mess with the doctor calling his scratching and itching a psychological problem, I was hoping for a better outcome.

What a change! The dermatologist we saw was WONDERFUL! He was friendly, understanding, liked kids or at least pretended too, and listened to everything I had to say. I asked him if he thought that the problem could be psychological based on what the doctor yesterday had said, and he was floored. He started to go off--has he ever had eczema? He assured me that there was nothing wrong psychologically with my son, and that it was obvious he was miserable. He cultured several of the areas to make sure there wasn't something more going on.

He prescribed a new course of treatment with two baths a day for 10 minutes, a new cream slathered all over him, and then being put in his pajamas. This should do wonders for his potty training too, right? We still have to put his pajamas on backwards too. Fun times!

I called to check on my classes getting paid for through the My CAA program. I signed up for one class that I shouldn't have, so the voucher was wrong. After a 30 minute phone call to military onesource I was able to correct the problem and I think we are squared away. Good thing since they start Monday!

We took all of Junior's paperwork into daycare and he is squared away to start on Monday. Whew. We talked about the egg allergy and they said to bring in his epi pen and the benadryl, and then I found out that his pediatrician is the doctor for the center. They also made a special note about his eczema so as the lady said "we don't want him being sent home for rashes when it is just eczema". THANK YOU!!! If only his last daycare felt the same way! They also don't serve eggs or any peanut products, so we are good to go.

We hit the playground this afternoon where Junior and Abs collected sticks, picked flowers, ran amok, and pointed out every plane, glider and skydiver that we saw. It was wonderful, and while they played I was able to read part of Julie & Julia. I heard the movie is great, and I can't wait to finish the book and see it.

My sister introduced me to pesto chicken sandwiches with fresh mozzarella. I don't think she planned for me to eat them every meal. I'm in heaven.....

Junior dressed and ready to go to the playground...

Screaming Kid

I won't publish the other post I wrote about the crappy doctor we saw today.

I have a screaming kid in his room. He is miserable about everything. We are in the throws of the terrible 3's.

I wish he still napped.

We did manage to get an appointment for the dermatologist tomorrow through the above crappy doctor, so hopefully we can make some progress on Junior's skin issues. The crappy doctor told me that it is probably psychological on Junior's part. Seriously? The kid can't figure out how to pee or poop in the potty, I doubt he sits around planning to itch all day.

When Junior gets mad he calls people bacon.

I don't know what I am making for dinner, but I do have dessert baked and ready to serve--yogurt marmalade cake. I have priorities.

Thank goodness today is family time, I need a break.

Still need to get my run in today, but it sounds like a perfect escape. Not much longer....