California Adventure

Disney has a fairly new park, CA Adventure. It had our favorite ride, Soarin' Over California. You sit in a chair that lifts off the ground and moves and swoops to a video on a 180 foot screen. It had a hang-gliding effect. Trinity loved it, she just made the height requirement.

There were a lot of bigger rides here so we only spent half a day. We saw Playhouse Disney, Live on Stage. Trinity adventured through Redwood Creek Challenge Trail where you pretend you are Brother Bear as you scramble across rope bridges, slid down hollow logs and climb rock walls.

Our favorite part of the trip was lunch in Ariel's Grotto where we all met Ariel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Belle and Cinderella. Check out Trinity's poses.


Bye Mickey...

Disneyland

We're Here!!!!! This was surely the highlight of our trip. There was much anticipation and excitement surrounding getting here. It was worth it all. Everyone had a *super duper* great time. Trinity was in heaven. She got to meet mostly all the princesses with the exception of Mulan and Pocahontas which we didn't see. Her favorite rides: The Peter Pan Ride, The Teacups, Winnie the Pooh Ride, The Dumbo Ride, Buzz Lightyear's Ride and Soarin' Over California in the new California Adventure Park. Everett went on all the rides we did that did not have any height requirement which were quite a bit. He really enjoyed looking around seeing all the cool stuff.

We thought it would be chilly in Anaheim and even brought coats for nighttime. Little did we anticipate, Anaheim had the highest temperature in the country on Wednesday. It reached 105 which really meant about 108 inside Disneyland due to the hot asphalt reflecting on you. Despite being stinky, we powered through and had a wonderful ... and magical time.

Trying to stay awake through the parade.

Wild Animal Zoo

We spent a day at the Phoenix Wild Animal Park. It much like a small zoo except that you get *very* close to the animals. You were able to feed all the birds, flamingos, monkeys and giraffes in the zoo. It was great. My only anxiety came from the tiger exhibit. One tiger in particular kept pacing the fence and licking his chops while staring Trinity down. I was certain he was going to eat her. The fence seemed pretty secure until I looked several feet down from the "exhibit area fence" and saw that the only think separating us from him was chain link. I then demanded we move onto the giraffes.

We took a train ride, a ski lift ride through the park and avoided being bit or eaten by anything.


Everett just chilled in his stroller until he got tired and cranky. I realized we had lost his pacifier in the zoo somewhere. He won't sleep without out, especially in a stroller. Of course, I had no extra and the zoo doesn't sell them. My eagle eyes of a step-mom found it in the dirt...right in front of the hungry tiger.

On Vacation

The kids did amazing for the 3.5 hour flight to Arizona. Everett even took a nap in my arms which was much needed. Trinity had a great time hanging out watching videos, coloring and seeing God's creation from above. Despite making myself physically ill because I was so nervous to fly, the plane ride was very smooth and quite enjoyable. Surprisingly we were only a bit late getting into AZ and early coming home. We flew Ted which even gave us a movie to watch to and from. The airlines will be gone soon but they have not cut service as I was afraid of. Everyone and everything was wonderful.

What's For Dinner?

County Line Orchard

Before our vacation we entertained a quick stop in Hobart, IN to go apple picking with my moms' group. I was going more for the experience since we were leaving for vacation 4 days later and had no interest in eating 4lbs. of apples before then. I joke that the pictures captured and the memories I will lay out in our family scrapbook will look more like an enjoyable experience that reality. We had a great time, however, apple picking was the quickest in history due to the mosquitoes that were roughly the size of birds. The kids were getting eaten alive mostly because I rejected the use of the 30%+ deet bug spray offered by the orchard. We did get apples and some quick pictures and then we were outta there.

After lunch in a very crowded dining area, we headed to the kid's farm where Trinity was able to feed miniature horses, some goats and look at some bunnies. Then the rain started and we high-tailed it home.

Portrait

Trinity drew this and said it was me when I was little. Complete with the glasses.

Happy Birthday Everett!

Everett is one today!! We had a super fun, messy and loud party for him with our friends who are more like family.

Highlights: chocolate faux hawk; custom Cub shirts and Eddie's Wrigley Field food presentation.

1st Haircut

We needed to get a little trim before his big party so I wouldn't have to photoshop his growing mullet and rat tail.

after. looking dapper

Happy Birthday to Me!

It's been a little busy around here. It seems like it has been some time since my birthday actually happened but I guess it is just last week (16th). Eddie and I celebrated our birthdays together with a date to Sushi Samba on the Friday before. I had a great need to indulge in sushi before I get pregnant again. It lived up to my expectations...the food anyway, the service was a bit lacking but I wasn't going to let it run my sushi dinner.

We took the kids to Ed Debevics on my actual birthday. I thought Trinity was get a kick out of the "silly" wait staff and their entertainment. We had to fill her in before entering to make sure she understood that the waitress was going to be extra silly. She understood pretty clear since she cracked up everytime the waitress called her a weirdo. She thought it extra silly when they sang and danced on the counter. It was fun.

Eddie and I dropped off the kids with the sitter and went to Navy Pier to see Batman on the Imax. It was so intense. I might never see a movie on a regular size movie theater screen again.

Visits to ER

Waiting patiently in the ER

No, not to the set of the long running NBC show, but the actual Children's Memorial Hospital emergency room. Everett had, what I would consider, a minor fall this past Sunday. He barely cried so I patted his butt and sent him on his way. Instead of taking off playing he sat on the floor and whined. So, I brought him upstairs to feed him breakfast thinking that was the problem. He wouldn't eat. I put him down for a nap shortly thereafter and he slept great for several hours. When he woke up I noticed he wasn't crawling. Every time he tried to move he cried. I began to think he had something wrong with a leg or hip. I squeezed, pushed, pulled but he didn't complain. hmmm?


He ate lunch and took another nap. After his nap he still wouldn't crawl. It was now 4PM and he hadn't moved since 6AM but he would now eat, play and use all his extremities. I then realized that when he put his right arm down to crawl, he would lift it up and cry. So, I packed up the diaper bag and headed to Children's. They weren't much help. Nothing showed up on an X-Ray and I spent 3 hours there to have no answer.

The next day he wasn't any better but worse. About 11:30 AM I was ringing my pediatrician to get a second opinion when the hospital called me on the other line. The attending radiologist looks over all the X-Rays in the morning and when he did just that he saw a tiny, tiny fracture in Everett's ulna bone in his wrist. They think it happened from some twisting movement as he fell on it. I headed back to the ER to sit for 3 hours.

He is now in a splint that is held on by Velcro. We have to tape it all the way around since Everett figured out how to take it off in 2.2 seconds. zip, zip, zip, throw on the floor.

He sees an Orthopedic Doctor on Wednesday where X-Rays will be taken again and hopefully it is all healed. We anticipate a 2 week healing time total. It is amazing how fast little ones heal.I update this on Wednesday after seeing the Ortho dr. He has to wear the cast for another 10 days then he is done. We will remove it in the warm AZ air where we will be in 10 days.

It took about 3 days to sleep okay with it on and actually get around. Now, he doesn't even realize it is on anymore. He can eat, pick things on and even crawl on his hands with it on. Thank the Lord, it was a rough couple days in the beginning there.


Still waiting after 2+ hours in the ER. At least here we are in a room with a view and a TV!

post splint / cast

Everett

Everett, shockingly, will be 1 at the end of the month. He has become a different little man over the last 2 weeks. He thinks he is so grown up!
He is standing and spends his time mostly vertical these days.
He has become super fast at crawling. (He finally figured out how to crawl on his hands and knees opposed the the wounded soldier crawl he was sporting for 2 months.)
He gives hugs and kisses. Trinity get the majority of the kisses.
He says Daddy all day long and I think it is his word when saying Daddy, Mama, Trinity and Thank You. However, Mama has taken form.
His *loves* playing Peek-a-Boo and "Sooooo Big"!
He has 6 teeth.
He has quickly realized that he can climb stairs but not crawl down.
His hair has turned a nice shade of strawberry blond as did Trinity's at this age.
hmmmm.

Kooza Part Deux

I think of our night at Cirque's Kooza show every time I put these pj's on Everett. Yesterday I found a hat in bag of stuff I picked up at a garage sale last year that completes the look.

Adios Bisabuela!

Eddie's grandmother was here visiting from Venezuela this past week. We spent time with her over Labor Day at the Campins' House. We did a nice afternoon brunch at Brazzaz. We had Chicago Pizza at Eddie's sister's house and said our goodbyes in the pouring rain on Wednesday.

It was the first time she was here since our wedding in May of 2002. So, it was the first time she met the kids and got to cuddle them. Those were very sweet moments. Trinity made a big picture of Grandma for her to take home complete with 2 big eyes, one much larger than the other. (FYI, Grandma's eyes are the same size in person as you can see.)



Amongst a busy week, Eddie was getting over an illness from his birthday and Everett got it so he was pretty miserable.

We are all healthy now and missing Grandma, and Venezuela.

Six Flags G.A.

We took advantage of the MERC/CBOT night at Great America since I was not pregnant this August as I usually am. We left Everett home since he is obviously too small for anything, even a funnel cake and took Trinity to her first amusement park. She reluctantly rode on a kiddy coaster and on a hand full of other rides. She might have been a bit more daring if we didn't take her on the spinning, dipping, twirling octopus ride that was way too big for her and way to swirly for me. She almost immediately wanted the ride to be over yet we were stuck on it for another minute which seemed like an hour when you are getting spun too fast and your little girl is terrified out of her mind. She recovered quickly and had a great time in Wiggles' World. I was going to leave her with Eddie's mom and go on Raging Bull but she got really freaked at the thought of her mama going on such a big roller coaster. I declined while Eddie and gang had a blast. She then swiftly fell asleep in her stroller at 10PM and I took advantage and ran to the Batman coaster and Superman. My aged body and post baby brain came to a full strain as I was upside down on the Superman "flying" head first toward the ground at 60mph. Terrifying yet freakishly fun! Since our trip to GA, or "Looney Tunes" as Trin calls it, she has pretended to be Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and Sylvester. She has even gone to far as introduced herself as a Looney character to strangers.

Happy Birthday Eddie!

Eddie celebrated his birthday this year with friends, cupcakes, cookies, his family (us) and a fever in bed. Dinner reservations for Sushi Samba were canceled. Boo Hoo! Since my birthday is 19 days later, we will do a combo dinner soon. Also, because my birthday is 19 days later and we were born in the same year (in the same hospital) I won't tell you how old he is.

I thank the Lord for creating him _ _ years ago!!

I wrote this post and drafted it until I downloaded pictures off my camera. I quickly realized that I put his age, and mine, on the cupcakes. Darn it!! The cat is out of the bag.

Farewell Beijing

I am sad the Olympics are over. The last 17 days have been filled with many tears, anticipation and screams of joy and heartache. I meant from me, not the athletes, although I am sure their emotional response was far greater. HA!

China did an *amazing* job as host nation. I have never seen such a display of artistry. (I am starting to sound like a NBC commentator.)

If you have children and sat them in front of the TV for the last 17 days like me and sacrificed sleep to stay up and watch the games until midnight logging in over 100 hours of Olympic coverage...or, you didn't have time to watch or weren't that interested...you need to watch this video. It highlights the heartbreaks and the highs of the games including many world records that were smashed.

Enjoy.

Olympics 2008: Highlights

Only 3 years and 364 days until London 2012!!

P.S. Trinity looked at the TV the other day and said "Hey, that's Michael Phelps!" Thatta girl!!!

"We've Got the Whole Wide World in Our Yard to Explooore....!"

I took Trinity on a special date to the Backyardigans show this week. If you aren't familiar with them, it is a cute little kids show on Nick Jr. where Pablo, Tyrone, Uniqua, Tasha and Austin go on pretend adventures in their backyard. It is right up Trinity's alley. Although she isn't interested in the show anymore, she still embraces the imagination aspect of it and, like her mama, is always thrilled to see a musical.

It was a cute little musical. I was impressed by the costumes, stage, props, etc.