We've Been to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo... How About You, You, You?

Okay, so I have a crazy "Little People" song stuck in my head right now. But it's true... we HAVE been to the zoo, and we're going back tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, and the next one after that. Jasmine had her first day of Zoo Penguin Camp today. The Penguins are the youngest group of kids, who will all be in Kindergarten next year. Jazz had a blast. The kids got to see butterflies and elephants, among other creatures and critters. They also had story time with snacks and an art project. The art involved paint, so of course, Jasmine loved it. Every child also got a red Penguin Camp T-shirt (to wear every day), which they get to keep. Jasmine is just so excited about it all.

We had a crazy weekend, what with my brother's family staying with us on Saturday and all. They have three kids, so it was quite a housefull. We even went to the zoo with them. Jasmine could go a bazillion times, and still not be sick of it. I'm sure glad we have that annual zoo pass. Whew. ANYway, it's sure nice to have a quite house once again. I got my fill of company for a LONG time. I can now happily go back to my reclusive ways once more... at least, for a while.

Tyler is still not asleep right now, and it's 10:53. He keeps climbing out of bed and coming out into the front room. I tried closing the door all the way, but then he just banged on it and started screaming. I DO NOT want him waking Jasmine up. I guess I'm paying the price for that late nap that he took. Shuttling Jasmine to and from the zoo today messed up Tyler's sleeping schedule. He'd fall asleep in the car, only to be woken up when I had to take him out. Grr. It's gonna be crazy all week with this zoo camp thing. I think it'll be a little better tomorrow, though, cuz I'm going to start riding the MAX train to and from the zoo. There's no way that Tyler will fall asleep on that thing. Even if he does, at least he'll be in his stroller where I can KEEP him. Still, there's nothing quite like sleeping in your own bed, even when you're just a 19 month old bubba. It'll be nice to have things settled down after this week.... for EVERYONE.

Well, I'm off to try, one more time, to get him to bed. Hopefully, I'll be more successful this time, it being like the FIFTH time we've attempted it. Goodnight.

A Long Overdue Entry...

This past week has been very hectic. We had our first big Oregon family reunion since 1997. Last Tuesday, my parents, my grandpa, and my sister Ellen all came to visit my apartment. (That meant I had to spend all of Monday cleaning up.) That was the first time any of them had been here, and everything went well. My parents and sis were here from Idaho Falls for the reunion, and they were staying with my grandpa. Right when they were about to leave, I got a call from my brother's wife.... they were on the way to my apartment, but completely lost. After guiding them back on track, I said goodbye to my current visitors. We figured that it would be best if everyone wasn't there at the same time since the apartment is so small. ANYway, my brother's family arrived a short time later, and the kids had a blast. My brother zonked out for a few hours on the couch, and his wife ended up falling asleep on my bed. They had driven all night, so they were obviously pooped. We played games, went swimming, and had Papa Murphy's pizza while they were here. They spent the night, then were out of here by 8:00 the next morning to head to the coast, where the family reunion was going to be held. They booked their campsite one night earlier than everybody else.

Thursday, we packed up and headed out to the coast. We ended up going the LONG way, taking over 3 hours to get there! Yuck-o! We packed enough stuff for one night, since we were all planning to come back on Friday evening (the reunion ran until Sunday). My hubby had a Code Camp in Vancouver on Saturday that he needed to present at. After we got there, and found out there was a quicker way to drive (that took only two hours), we decided that Hubby would leave on Friday and come back either late Saturday night or early Sunday morning. I had my husband contact the primary president to let her know I wouldn't be abel to play the piano on Sunday. I was able to do laundry at the beach house my aunt and uncle had rented, and everybody was more than willing to help me out with food, etc. Since the dinners were already planned out (different groups of the family were in charge of dinner for everybody each evening), that left breakfast and lunch. My aunt and uncle invited me over to their RV for lunch on Friday and Saturday. It worked out great.

ANYway, Thursday evening we had a dinner at the big yurt. I got to see some relatives that I hadn't seen in quite a while. We also spent a bunch of time down on the beach, even though the tide was coming in quite fast. My hubby got some great pics of the sunset on the ocean. I'll have to post them eventually. We all had fun sitting around the campfire that night. I'd have to say that THAT is my favorite part about camping. That night was rather uncomfortable sleeping, since we didn't bring mattress pads. Jasmine spent the night in my brother's tent with his kids, so at least it wasn't too crowded in our teeny tent.

Tyler woke up early every morning because of the bazillilon blasted crows squawking and cawing. He had a ton of energy that needed to be burned off, so I was constantly chasing after him. Friday, he took a three hour nap, which was rather nice. Daddy left around noon or so, and I just rested a little while Jasmine was playing with her cousins. That afternoon, we all drove like 8 miles up the coast to the hotel where my parents and one of my aunts and uncles were staying. That's when I got to do the laundry. I spent the entire time in my swimisuit. Oh, joy. We played a bunch down on the beach, and everybody participated in building a big ol' sand castle structure. Tyler got momentarily gulped up by a wave (which about gave me a heart attack.... I scooped him up a second later) but other than a sputter, he didn't complain. He absolutely LOVED the cold ocean water. After that little incident, I took him higher up to dry sand where some of my cousins and their babies were playing. There, he was content to play with sand toys for the next half hour or so. Jasmine soon joined us. On the walk back up to the beach house, my cousin's husband was kind enough to carry Tyler up the 100 steps. I tried to, but pooped out very quickly. That's what I get for being pregnant and out of shape. When we got back up there, we made pizza. I got my first taste of anchovies --on a piece of pizza my uncle made-- and just about barfed. I don't think I'll ever try them again. Ew. Just thinking about it makes me squeemish. That night, one of my cousins lent me her mattress pad, so I slept much better. Jasmine was in my brother's tent once again.

Saturday, a bunch of people went deep sea fishing on a charter boat that my grandpa paid for. Individuals just had to pay for their own lisences. Out of the twenty people on board, over half got really sick (including my dad, my brother, and his two kids). They had some pretty nasty barf stories to share when they got back. All in all, 29 fish were caught. So, at least they had something to show for their seasickness. I am sure glad that I didn't go. Instead, I stayed at the campground with a few of my other relatives and all of the little kids. There are six little munchkins, including Tyler, that are within one year of each other... one and two year olds. We spent a bunch of time in my aunt and uncle's RV in the morning, cuz it had rained the night before and was kind of icky outside for a while. After it warmed up, we went for a walk with the kids and pooped out the babies for naptimes. Ty only slept for an hour and a half or so. That was long enough for me to eat and take a shower, though. I didn' see much of Jasmine that day... she was spending all her time with one of my cousins, whom she absolutely adores.

That evening, we were supposed to have dinner with a bonfire down on the beach. However, it was way too cold and windy. Instead, we just built the big fire up at the campsite, and roasted hotdogs and ate smores. The one big plus about this is that we were able to keep the fire going until almost midnight (where we wouldn't have been able to had it been down on the beach). Everyone went to bed pretty early except for my brother's wife and me. She stayed up with me by the fire while I waited for my husband to arrive. Within five minutes after puting out the fire and taking a potty trip, he pulled into the campsite. We didn't sleep very well that night. I had borrowed an air mattress from yet another cousin on this night, and it barely fit into the tent. Jasmine had also decided that she wanted to sleep in our tent that night. I made a makeshift mattress out of a spare sleeping bag for Tyler, so Jasmine, Daddy and I all slept on the air mattress together. The little valve thingy popped open during the night, so a bunch of the air had squeezed out. Limp air mattresses SUCK!

Sunday morning, my husband woke up at 6:00 to fix breakfast. After eating, we cleaned up and packed up. We said goodbye to everybody, then left by 11:00 or so. We made several stops to take pictures, got caught in some heavy traffic, and got home shortly after 2:00. Man, it was so freakin' hot coming back into the valley. I am so glad we stayed at the coast, where the high over the weekend was around 80 degrees or so. It was over 100 degrees at home. I'm just really glad that we left the a/c on all weekend long. There had to be like a 25 degree difference between outside and the inside of our apartment.

I still haven't unpacked or cleaned up our camping junk yet. I've just been so blasted tired since we got back. I need to get everything cleaned up within the next few days, though, because my brother and his family will be spending the weekend with us before they head back to Idaho. We'll be going to the zoo on Saturday, among other things. Fun, fun, fun.....

Well, I can't think of much else to write right now. I'd just better get this blasted thing posted and hope that Blogger doesn't give me any crap. Here goes...

A fun idea...

Dawnyel posted this thing-a-ma-jig on her blog, so I thought I'd play along. The rules: Copy this letter to my comments and fill in the blanks. Then copy the blank letter to your blog with your name after "Dear," and I will come and fill one out for you....


Dear Carrie,
I _____ you. You have a nice ______. You make me _______. You should _______. Someday I will ______. You + me = ________. If I saw you now I'd __________. I would build a _______ just for you. If I could sing you any song it would be _________. We could __________ under the stars.
Love, _______________
(P.S. ______________.)

Now I'm curious as to what in the heck my whole two, maybe sometimes three, readers will put. Have fun.

Blogger did it again... GRR!

Well, after a week off from blogging, I am greeted by nothing less than... MORE BLOGGER PROBLEMS! My whole blog entry just disappeared again. Here's a quick summary of what I wrote...

Tyler had his 18 month doctor appointment last week. He received 3 immunizations, and was rather cranky for several days after. Some of the crankiness might have also been because we just got back from our trip to Idaho. Everybody's schedule was thrown off. Tylenol seemed to help it, whatever it was from. He now weighs 26.5 lbs, and (if I remember right) is almost 32 inches tall. That puts him in the 50th percentile for his weight and the 90th for his height. He's a tall little boy. People are constatntly surprised when I tell them he's only 18 months old... he's so tall for his age.

I had my 16 week doctor appointment on Friday. I've got a low blood pressure problem, and if I don't drink at least 80 ounces of fluid each day, I get dizzy and light-headed. I also get a tingling sensation in my hands. Dehydration can cause those problems with low blood pressure. I finally heard the baby's heartbeat with the heart monitor. It was the first time they didn't have to roll out the ultrasound machine. That was good. I also got to schedule my actual BIG ultrasound, which will be on August 7th. We have opted NOT to find out the gender this time around. We figured that, since we already have one boy and one girl, it really doesn't matter what we have next, so long as it's healthy. Plus, there are so few surprises in life that are this big, so let's be surprised! Jasmine is convinced she's having a baby sister, but I'm sure she'll be just as happy with another little brother.

Dang, I'm so flippin' tired right now. I can't remember what else I wrote about in that blasted blog that got erased! Oh- One more thing, Dawnyel... I haven't forgotten your Elementary School memory tag thing-a-ma-doodle. I just can't remember much all at once. I've got the blog entry saved as a draft, and it's a work in progress. You'll see it when you see it, and that's about the only guarantee I can give. Just know that I haven't forgotten it or chosen not to do it. Okay, I'm gonna post this sucker, then go take a little nap. That is, if Tyler will go down. I only feel safe sleeping if HE is asleep. I don't worry too much about Jasmine, though. As long as she has stuff to do, she'll be okay. I'd better go dig out her Little People farm animals. She wants to play with them since she's watching Home on the Range right now. Oh, fun!

I'm So Flippin' Glad to be HOME!

The past several days have been long, tiring, and hectic. I am sure glad they are over, and that I am back home. Here's what went down:

Friday, 4:00 pm--Pick up hubby from work in downtown Portland.
4:30 (or thereabouts)-- Get onto intersate with SLOW-going traffic. Drive ALL night long, with frequent stopping along the way (dinner, potty, switching drivers, etc...). During all of his waking hours Friday evening, Tyler did NOT want to be in his car seat. He was very cranky. Jasmine was a good girl. The only sleep I got was between Blackfoot and Rigby, and my hubby slept between Rigby and Rexburg... we were both awake the rest of the drive.
6:50-- Pull into the Teton Lakes golf course for like two minutes so my hubby can see one of his old friends.
7:00-- We get to his parents house. By this time, the kids have been awake for a little over an hour, but they have been quiet and happy. They are VERY happy when they get out of the car and run around at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We relax and visit for a brief time, then hurry up and get ready for my hubby's little brother Cameron's baptism. After the baptism, we go to the park with another one of his brothers (and wife and kids), then I go to a baby shower with my female in-laws while Hubby goes and plays golf with his brothers, uncles, and cousins. The next day, we go to church with my husband's family (their ward doesn't start till 1:30... YUCK!), then have a big family shindig at the house. This is a great time for us to see my husband's ailing grandparents. We get lots of pictures, a bunch of which I will post later. Tyler goes from happy to grumpy, back and forth, all weekend because of his screwed up schedule. He might have been a little unsure from all the strange people, too. ANYhoo...
Sunday night-- Jasmine spends the night at her cousins' house, and Monday morning, my husband goes golfing with his brothers one more time. After we say goodbye to everybody, we pack up the car and leave. It's shortly after noon by this time.
Around 1:00-- we make a surprise visit to my parents' house. We stay for a little over an hour, and are consciously aware of the hot, dry icky air as we visit with my mom in the backyard. I have gotten used to western Oregon's humid heat, and in my opion, it's better.
At around 2:30-- We leave. We stop by Fiesta Ole' to get some lunch. They don't have Fiesta Ole's here, so we are excited about getting some of their food. That was one of our favorite places to eat when we lived in Idaho. We then drive all the way to Ontario, which is about an hour west of Boise. Tyler, of course, has to scream a bunch of the way.
8:30-- We get a hotel with a cold indoor swimming pool. We had a quick, refreshing swim, then ordered pizza while we watched Madagascar on HBO.
The next morning, after a free contintental breakfast, we're out the door by 10:00. Well, make that 9:00, cuz just outside of Ontario, the time switches back an hour. YIPEE! We drive and drive and drive, abpt 375 miles. We make frequent stops to switch drivers and pull out our leftover pizza for lunch. Fortunately, tyler takes like a three and a half hour nap (after crying and screaming for just a little while). This makes travel much easier than the day before. Somewhere along the way, we pick up a voice mail message from my husband's sister. It turns out that she's about two months pregnant, but she didn't want to tell us till after her doctor appointment (which was Monday afternoon after we left Rexburg). Yay for her! We're all excited, and it looks like my hubby's side fo the family is going to be bombarded with grandbabies (one in August, one in December, and now one in February).
3:30-- We're FINALLY HOME!

I was so freakin' tired by the time we got home, that I didn't want to do anything. However, we did run a few more errands after unloading all of our junk. We picked up a stuffed penguin at the Zoo gift shop for Jasmine (for being such a good girl on the trip), then we went to the mall and got dinner in the food court. That meant NO COOKING for me, so I was pretty happy. Being the Fourth of July and all, Jasmine was pretty excited about seeing the fireworks. I bummed out, though, cuz I was so tired. Tyler was also pretty crabby. I put him to bed, then crashed myself, and Jasmine went with Daddy to the park up the hill to watch what little fireworks could be seen from that point.

I don't know when the next time will be that we can visit Idaho. There were lots of people there who I would have LOVED to see, but we just didn't have the time. We didn't spend too much time with my family, cuz they're all going to be driving out here in two weeks anyway for our big ol' family reunion. There are a few friends I would have loved to see, but time just didn't permit. This trip was even more tiring than our Thanksgiving trip, and with a new baby coming in five months, I KNOW we won't be making that drive again for a long while. I am very grateful that we got to see Cam get baptized. I am also grateful that my husband and I got to see his grandparents one last time. I know we won't be able to make it out for any funeral that may very well happen within the next year, and this will most likely be the last time we see either of them alive. I'm glad we made the trip, but I sure as heck don't wanna do it again for a LONG time. Whew. I'm still tired, and my house is now trashed. I really hate unpacking after a trip. I'd better go start cleaning up, as well as get dinner ready. Plus, I've got a cranky baby who just got three shots at the doctor's office today. He wants my attention. Adios for now.