It's all good...

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Michael's summer diary: Day 1

Monday, Day 1 - Michael's first day of summer break. AKA: reasons why I never get anything accomplished, why we don't have a babysitter, why I love school, why I drink so much diet coke, why I am so tired.

M woke up dry, peed in toilet
asked to go back to sleep
fed himself yogurt, HoH (Hand over Hand = my hand helping his hand)
put him in underwear and told him to tell me when he needs to go potty
5 minutes later he peed
put new underwear on him and told him to tell me when he needs to go potty
1/2 hour later he pooped (and I learned that underwear does not contain poop very well, especially when he "scoots" instead of "walks"
bath...with every single bath toy dumped out of the bathtub bag (he's hasn't done that before, usually on plays with a few favorites)
switch back to diapers and told him to tell me when he needs to go potty
fed himself lunch, HoH
signs "mom" and then pats the front of his diaper for "potty"; pees on the potty-YEA!
I'm making beds and I hear the toilet lid being played with downstairs, check on M and he's splashing in the toilet (eeewww!). Wash his hand thoroughly and tell him that toilets are for going potty, not playing. Shut the bathroom door to keep him out.
I'm getting dinner ready; bring M a drink and check on him. I find this:

Put diaper back on, hook the DVR back up (there was no sound)...while M sneaks upstairs to the other bathroom. I run upstairs to find him trying to get back in the bathtub to play with all the toys. "Fine. I'll help you into the empty tub to play with your toys."
While in tub, he tries lifting up the toilet lid. I tell him that toilets are not to play with only for pottying. He gives me the sign for potty. So I put him on the toilet.
It usually takes a couple of minutes for him to go, so I start putting his tub toys away. I look over to see him holding on to his firehose spraying pee everywhere but in the toilet.
Get him cleaned up, toilet and bathroom cleaned up, and myself cleaned up.
Feeds himself dinner (pre-chopped swedish meatballs/noodles/peas), probably 50-75% of the meal ALL BY HIMSELF (!!!), scooping the food by himself too. YEA!!! I have to HoH feed him his squash, he doesn't choose this on his own.
Daddy is home, play time (climbing/bouncing on daddy & sitting on his head) and movie time.
Self-feed bedtime snack, HoH.
Tries to pee before bed, but doesn't go.
Both boys and dog are in bed, while I shampoo the carpet.
Day 1 ends in exhaustion....only 77 more days until school starts

Monday, June 7, 2010

weekend getaway

A couple of weekends ago, Gary had a bowling tournament in Grand Rapids, MI. It might sound like a boring trip to look forward to, but we went alone...without the boy....for 2 whole nights and 3 whole days. We don't get much alone time, as it is tres difficult to find a sitter for a special needs kiddo. Grandma stayed at our house with Michael and he had a blast! :) Total win-win all around. Well, except for Grandma, who was so worn out...M was a handful. Let's just say we'll be lucky if we ever get out again!

On the way to GR, we stopped by FireKeepers Casino to donate money to the slot machines for an hour (the tables were too expensive to play). When we checked into our hotel room, someone else's stuff was in the room they gave us, so they upgraded us to a suite, which was....sweet!

We had dinner and drinks at Old Chicago Pizza and Bar, that is attached to the hotel. It was very yummy food and they have over 110 kinds of beer - we tried 5 different kinds that night. I had Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy (a brewery out of WI) and taste tested a Raspberry Honey, while G tried, Magic Hat #9, Dell's Oberon, and a 312.

The next morning was bowling, bowling, bowling (G's scores were: 629 and a 679!)...then we took off to explore. We found a nearby diner that was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives that we had to check out. Rosie's Diner, which was named after the Rosie in the Bounty paper towel commercials.

At first, it kind of looked old and sad, matching the gray day. But it was very happy and lively inside.

We had burgers (chipotle and western burgers) with homemade potato chips.

On the way out, the clouds had darkened a little and we could see the neon lights better. I could totally picture old chevys and muscle cars hanging out here all summer.

Next, I begged sweet talked G into going to Holland, MI famous for fields of tulips and Dutch schotchkies. The tulip festival was just 2 weeks earlier, so I thought we'd still get to see the tulips without all the crowds. I was just imagining the cool pictures I was going to take. Half an hour drive later, we arrived to find the fields....EMPTY. Turns out, they had an early warm spell and the tulips bloomed early. Gary laughed his ass off at this and gave me grief the rest of the trip about taking him to see nothing but a field of weeds. The only tulips we got to see were the bulb packets hanging on the wall, along with a lot of wooden shoes.

Let's just say Gary was a little apprehensive about the next adventure I suggested: Saugatuck Dune Rides. I have to admit, it did look a little lame on the website....having someone else drive a 5-row jeep around some sand with a bunch of old people in the back smiling and waving. B O R I N G. I am so glad that we went, because we were SO WRONG!! OMG, what a blast!! G couldn't wipe the smile off of his face and I let out a couple of screams throughout the 1/2 hour trip - especially when we went airborne. Such fun!!

We found out the driver is a local professional motorcycle driver (we saw his Monster Energy drink sponsored bike & gear behind the check-in building), hence the speed, the drifting in the sand (think Tokyo Drift) and the air-catching jumps. At the top of the tallest dune, we got out and walked around. On a clear day, you can see Lake Michigan, but the fog was rolling in off the lake, so we couldn't see much.

That night, we met some good friends for dinner (they were also bowling in the tournament).

We ate at the same restaurant and enjoyed some more beer sampling (Smithwick, Flying Dog, and another Oberon, while I stuck with the Summer Shandy)...definitely a good thing we only had to walk upstairs to our room!

Sunday morning was more bowling, bowling, bowling (G had a 620) and then we were back on the road. We found another Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives place to stop at called Joe's Gizzard City. It was out in the middle of nowhere (south of Lansing) next to a large factory and a few corn silos.

There were more bikes than cars and the bar area was bigger than the restaurant area.

They are famous for their deep-fried gizzards which we took a pass on...but also for deep frying everything. When Guy Fieri was doing the show, he said why not deep fry an entire cheeseburger, bun and all. So they did and the owner added it to the menu, the Triple D Cheeseburger. And we can tell you that it was good, a little dry, but good.

Better than the deep-fried hotdog with coney sauce. :) The deep-fried oreos satisfied my sweet tooth for sure...it was like eating warm chocolate cake (I think it would taste better with vanilla cream cookies though, but only because I'm not a chocolate cake kinda girl), but they were still good.

After all that deep-fried goodness, we should probably ask our doctor about needing zocor or something!

Our weekend was wonderfully relaxing, which was the complete opposite of Carole's weekend with Michael. He kept her hopping and was into EVERYTHING (welcome to our world)! On Saturday night, she put M to bed and like normal, a little while later she could hear him out of bed and playing around. She had a huge shock when she opened the door to check on him....he was covered in blood (from a bloody nose), along with his bed, the carpet, all of the books he took off the shelf...it was everywhere. She said that it looked like a crime scene from some gruesome movie and will haunt her forever. She got him cleaned up and he fell asleep in her bed, while she washed his bedding and cleaned the carpet - at 11pm. Too exhausted to move him back to his bed, she climbed in with him to sleep, only to be woken up a couple hours later by M peeing through his diaper wetting the bed.

We jokingly asked her if she wanted to do it again for next year's bowling tournament (in Buffalo, yes we travel to all kinds of exotic locations! Don't be hatin'). She didn't say yes, but she didn't say no either...she only laughed a little manically, said she was going home to shower and to sleep for an entire day. I think we'll wait a few months before we ask her to watch Michael again. I think this might've been our last private getaway for quite awhile.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

sister trip to Seattle - September 2009

Thought I'd share some of the 500+ pictures from my trip to visit my sister in September 2009. Geez Louise, it took me long enough to get these posted!!

First of all, it is quite a feat of coordination from loved ones to allow me to get away, so a huge thank you goes to them...I love you!! So a week before I was scheduled to leave, Michael gets sick. I take him to the doctors and it's just a cold that we need to ride out. No big deal. But then he's home all week and not getting better...all that coordination just flew out the window and now I have to ask my m-i-l and mom if they still want to watch Michael while he's sick (G couldn't take off work and he had a golf tournament that weekend). They said yes, whew! I'm good to go again. On Thursday, THE day, I was due to fly out, Michael is still not better and seems even a little worse. Quick call to the doctor who wants to see him to make sure it's not developing into something else, like pneumonia. I have my m-i-l follow us to the doctors; his appointment is at 11:00am and I need to be at the airport by 11:30am which is...30 minutes away. Needless to say, I am torn....do I leave my poor, sick little boy in the waiting room? He needs me, I can't be so selfish and leave him. My m-i-l told me that Michael would be fine and that I NEEDED to go. One of those mommy breaks you take so that you can be a better mom and wife. So I left. And I cried all the way to the airport. While boo-hooing, M's doctor left me a voice mail that said Michael was fine and she gave a prescription to grandma for antibiotics to fill if he's not better in 2-3 more days (I don't think we had to fill it). What a wonderful doctor to call and tell me that. While waiting for the plane, I called my m-i-l to see how M was doing, and I'm not lying....I heard him laughing and playing with one of his favorite toys in the background. He was fine. She was fine. Everything was fine. And that made me feel....a little better (did you think I was going to say fine?) and the "sup-sups" started to subside. I could finally breathe. And I started to relax a little and look forward to some much needed me time.

On Friday, Keni and I went on a little hike near her house and then got massages (thanks Josh!). Then we went shopping with our bday money (thanks Kita and Keni!!). You know, there's nothing better than shopping with someone that will be totally honest with you when trying on clothes - for me, my sister is that person. After shopping, we headed to The Melting Pot, in Tacoma, for happy hour....and a little bit of heaven for my taste buds. Oh yum!! Once back home, we got our gear lined up for our backpacking/overnight trip on the WA coast and then hung out in their hot tub until bed time.

On Saturday, we met Keni's friend, Noelle, bright and early at McD's and then the three of us took off for our girl adventure. We basically did an entire loop driving around the Olympic National Park. I think it's the 101, the only road that goes around the park. It rained on the way there, as well as the first part of the rainforest hike...go figure, it rained in the rainforest. :) But the rain stayed away for the rest of the hike.

We head straight to our destination: our plan is to hike the 9.2 mile Lake Ozette Loop. The hike is basically a triangle: from Lake Ozette 3 miles through a rainforest that comes out at Sand Point; then 3 miles along the rugged, rocky, log-strewn beach to Cape Alava; then 3 miles back through the rainforest to Lake Ozette.

(photo credit to random stranger)

Keni timed the hike with the tide tables so that we could hike along the coast w/o worrying about scrambling for higher ground. She also timed it so that we would finish the first rainforest leg and the entire beach leg just in time to sit on the beach, have some snackies and wine, and watch the sunset. It was perfect and so amazingly beautiful!

It threatened to rain a couple of times on the beach hike (as it often does in the pacific northwest).

There's a place along the beach trail called Wedding Rocks that showcased some very cool petroglyphs.

(photo credit to Keni or Noelle, I don't remember)

Once the sun went down, we packed up and put our headlamps on so we could hike the remaining 3 miles through the rainforest in the dark. It was crazy (but we did it safely)! Part way through the night hike, we turned off our lights and stared up at the clear night sky and gazed at the Milky Way.

(photo credit for one of those sunsets to Keni-I think one was hers, one was mine)

(photo credit to Keni)

This bridge was a little scary to cross in the dark, along with fear of being eaten by bears or cats or other fearsome creatures on the way back.

(photo credit to Keni)

I was SOOOO glad to finish the hike! :) I look exhausted while Noelle looks like she was just getting started! That is so not fair.

(photo credit to Keni)

Once we made it back to the car, we headed to our hotel in Forks. Forks used to be a logging town, but is now famously known as the home of Bella from the Twilight books. There were tons of kitschy souvenirs and tours and "No Vampires Allowed" signs throughout Forks.

For breakfast, our hotel recommended a diner in La Push (home of Jacob, the werewolf, from the Quilette tribe in the Twilight series). The diner was pretty empty, but the food and the views were uh-mazing.

Here we are at First Beach in La Push, WA (just down from the diner).

(photo credit to random passerby)

La Push is managed by the Quileute Indian tribe and we had a lovely conversation with a mom (Lummi) and daughter (Kim) selling woolen souvenirs.

(photo credit to Keni)

While Lummi knitted the earflaps onto Michael's wool hat (a bear, which means strength), we talked about what the town and the kids thought of the Twilight books.

They said that the boys are all growing their hair longer like Jacob's and they've had some craziness when the film crews were in town...bombarded by fans...they even had to set up a decoy film location. One of the actors (not Jacob or Edward) even did a seminar at their youth center for the local kids about acting.

They also pointed to an island just off shore (in the picture below, on the left) and told us that in the old days, if any enemies or unidentified people were spotted in the water, the women and children would escape/hideout on the giant sea stack/island on First Beach using secret passageways.