Wisconsin June 2013

WHY HAS IT TAKEN YOU SO LONG TO BLOG ABOUT WISCONSIN? First of all, how dare you.  Second of all, I think I've been in significant mourning until now.  What a magic trip!
We went out on the boat, ate elk, did some archery, did some skinny dipping (just the kids, thank you very much), and spent a lot of time sitting, talking, staring, breathing, regrouping. 
There was crafting, coloring, eating, drinking, running, biking, mosquito slapping, and fun.
And to be there with Nana, Papa, Mom, Dad, Heather, Sadie, Rosie and us Hunts?  Too perfect. 

 

ALL NEW THINGS!

We love Disneyland.
Some people can't stand it: the crowds, the money, the screaming children, the sweaty tourists. . . .   . . . but we love it! We love to zip over there for a few hours and go on some rides, watch a show or two, and go home. We are fair weather Disneyland folks though, and if it seems like it will be too crowded, we stay home and eat potato salad.   Recently we've felt like we have been in a Disney rut, ie. doing the same things over and over again so the last couple of times that we have gone, we decided to have an ALL NEW THINGS rule.  We decided to eat all new things, ride all new things, and watch all new shows.  It has been so fun re-inventing the park with the kids . . . even if that means I have to ride the ferris wheel (YIKES!)
Our new things included:

Yes, this last picture is of the parking lot. I just thought it was so cute. Henry saw these painted lines and gasped, "Look! It says my name!" So good.  

Oh the Places You'll Go!

Miss Lucy graduated from her Transitional Kindergarten class.  We were all sort of joking about the concept of "graduation" from Transitional Kindergarten.  I mean, really? REALLY? What, is there a valedictorian? Will there be speeches?  Will they move their tiny tassels with their tiny hands? 
And then of course we wept through the whole thing. 
Because we are leaving one chapter and moving to another. And mama hates change. 
But we were so proud of our Lucy girl. Who braved new friends, navigated new teachers, built, created, and dreamed . . . and grew up a little more. 

Camp Fox

This weekend Simon and Lucy packed their bags and their courage and marched off for their Spring Indian Princess campout weekend on Catalina Island at Camp Fox. 
Lucy was having some weird and persistent stomach issues and there was a moment there when I thought we might have to cancel. But after some tears and hugs and tough love and drug store meds they hopped the boat and headed off into the unknown.

The camp has amazing facilities and activities. The cabins were open air canvas tents that had a roof and no sides. They were located about 10 feet from the water.  There was archery, rock climbing, hiking, snorkeling, tide pooling,  kayaking, and sports available to all.   There were songs about ravioli and skits and as much hot chocolate as you could drink. 

Since her return, Lucy has tried to persuade us to move there, or at least go back for a year.

Lucy tried fishing for the first time. She was bewildered when the fish weren't biting and the realization slowly set in that all fishing really was was just sitting there.  She then moved on to archery, which was much more instantly gratifying.  Plus, she got to pretend she was Merida so that was a win win.

She then moved on to rock climbing which she loved.  

I think the highlight for both Simon and Lucy, though, was when they went snorkeling. The other girls were less into it, so Simon and Lucy ended up going on their own. The two of them made their way out into the bay and, after some learning how to breathe through the snorkel, they just floated there, face down, in their wet suits, holding hands. Simon would occasionally point something out to Lucy or swim under her an give her a "thumbs up" like, "are you ok?" He said Lucy, motionless, would slowly extend her tiny thumb, and together they would continue to float. 

I asked Simon what it was like and he said it was like and he said, "heaven."

What's that? You want to see a picture? Yeah . . .me too.  They didn't exactly take any of the snorkeling.  Eh HEM. But anyway. It was a weekend they'll never forget!

P.S. Henry and I spend the weekend watching Charlotte's Web, eating Chik Fil A, and shopping at Marshall's. Thanks for asking.

Peanut Poison

My son is allergic to peanuts.  This has been a hard, slow, gradual process of understanding and accepting.   It sounds so trivial yet it has really impacted our life .  . . learning to navigate childhood without peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? No bag of peanuts at the ballgame? No Drumsticks? No CrackerJacks? No Reese's on Halloween? What? We've been lucky to have very few issues with reactions until now, but recently he received something edible that had been tainted with peanuts at school. (Still not sure exactly what it was.)   But whatever.  Little guy ate it.  Body broke out in hives.  Throat started to close up.  Henry got to take an ambulance ride by himself to the ER. 

Finding him at the ER looking like this was . . . terrifying. But the doctors were so great. They immediately epi-penned him twice, Benadryl, steroids, the works.

So now I am the mom at the birthday party who says, "I'm so sorry, but   . . . what is in this cupcake?" And I'm the mom who tells Lucy she can't have a peanut butter sandwich in the same house as Henry anymore.  And now I carry a peanut allergy kit.  I had this brilliant woman on ETSY make a peanut allergy bag for me to leave with babysitters, church, etc.  Here's what's inside. 

Clorox wipes for wiping down surfaces  Wal-Dryl single serving allergy meds (Benadryl won't make it anymore . . for some reason) And . . .the Epi Pen, obviously PS- The woman who made the pouch did awesome work: www.elliemarshallsews.etsy.com Just taking it one peanut-free day at a time.  *sigh*   *Have you had a similar experience? *Any advice? *Thoughts?

Cousin Collection

We had quite the cousin collection here  at the house a while back.  Ron and Heather fled to Sonoma for some R & R   and we got to have Rosie and Sadie for the weekend.
What do you do when you have 4 kids under the age of 6 at your house? I'm so glad you asked.  Because I have several ideas. Go ahead and grab a pen.
I'll wait here.  Ok. 
First, you quickly buy a pretend swimming pool.

Next, you get lots of popsicles, and have the kids go ahead and eat those popsicles. 

Then, take them on a hike, and if possible, add goats.

Then come back home and force persuade you husband to dress up as a jovial and lovable Popsicle salesman who travels door to door selling Popsicles to good little boys and girls. 

And when all else fails?  Watermelon.

 

Excuse me, Miss? Your life is showing . . . .

Blogging. 

Ok.

Here's what I'm going to do.

I'm going to start where I am now.

I've got some nice stories to tell you from the past few months, but I'm going to start here and now. 

And I'm not going to beat myself up about it.

And I bought my blog a pretty new dress to wear to jazz her up! 

Easter was wonderful! Sharon and Terry came
 to spread some Easter cheer!

Sharon, Lucy, and I went to the Pantages theater to see
"Beauty and the Beast" for Sharon's birthday.

 Dyeing Easter eggs has always been a tradition at our house so  I was surprised to find out that it is not a tradition in the UK- in fact Terry and Sharon had never done it before. So we boiled up some eggs and took our time coloring them just right. We felt generally pleased with ourselves and congratulated each other on our color choices and went inside and left them on the table to dry and cool. . . .

and the dog ate every. single. egg. 

Oh, and also? I don't really want to go into details, but in a moment of Easter delirium, this happened:

We decided to head to Palm Desert. The allure of swimming pools, sunshine, fruity drinks, and barbecue by the golf course was too much to resist. Lucy has really started to be obsessed with love swimming, so we thought this would be be a perfect opportunity for her to swim her adorable face off. 

Thanks for indulging my "flash back" to Easter. 
We had so much fun!