This guy.

This guy had a birthday, shout horray! He wasn't supposed to be home until late Friday night but he surprised us at Chloe's little track meet at 530. Oh, what a great great surprise.

Life got right back to normal for a couple of days but now he's gone again.

Aren't they cute? Ezra has had THE craziest sickness ever. Remember the fever? Yep, it lasted for 4 days and he is now covered in a bright rash. The only sickness we've experienced in our house has been proceeded by seizures so this LONG illness was way different and so so so sad in different ways. He was just so different and not himself. Goodbye illness we are all very happy to see you go.

Over the birthday weekend Brad introduced this one to water balloons and "flying" balloons. Isn't she so cute.

The community puts on these $1 track meets on Friday. Each age group starting from 2-8 or so gets to run one lap around. They get a ribbon each week and the last week they got a trophy. It was a fun 30 minutes activity to look forward to. Plus, since her parents love running we figured she better like it, too!

A fun Wednesday

In reverse order:

We went to the fair. You remember this fair from last year? It was free to get in. The face painting was free, done by models from an agency, no doubt. I know this "model" tidbit because of the time we (me and brad circa 2003) worked at a fair and they hired models to work the Cream of Weber booths with us to promote a "healthy, youthful, goodlooking, milkdrinking image i suppose. Back to this fair though. We spent money on fair food, including my 2 overthe top amazing cookie icecream cone thing. I don't know what it's called but its Uh-mazing. Then I begged a family, really I begged, to sell me one of their 20 tickets for a dollar. I had to result to this because they would only sell a book of 10 at the counter for 10 bucks and I just didn't need 10 tickets when all we wanted to do was the carousel. Finally after 2 tries I got a taker.

EZ was there. Shortly after we got home he spiked a fever of 103. Thankfully no fever seizures, yet, with this little guy.

Chloe, happy as a clam on the Carousel. She really wanted to do the Ferris Wheel thanks to a Barbie book, but she was little short. She assured me that "when I'm 4, mom, i'll be taller and ready to ride alone".
Self timer infront of the fair. The balloon was also free
Swimming lessons. She passed her level and gets to move up to the next level, whatever that means, but she was so good this time with swimming.
She loves the diving board.
And after this 8th lesson, we went to the kiddie pool and she actually put her head under and swam with her legs for a few seconds. The big triumph of these lessons was hearing her tell her teacher thank you without being prompted by me. Does my heart good.
So, Monday Chloe split her head open. No stitches, just lots of ice, love, movies, and a donut. Tuesday, the airconditioning went out long enough for me to get really frustrated and hot hot hot, called brad, called landlord, then it started working again. Wednesday, Ezra spikes this fever after 3 days of lots of tears. Remember good fortune from the last post? She's out of town just like our Rock, B-rad. Brad incidentally, is having adventures of his own. he showed up to the place he was going to stay and in his words, "it looked like there was a drug-deal about to go down... I could've maybe showered in flip flops....they said they may have some parties while I was there...! Poor guy, he aborted that plan and is now staying in the suh-wheet Days Inn. He gets to come home for his birthday though. Don't forget, it's on August 7th.

Skunks

Brad left for Cincinnati today. He's been gone a couple of hours and I am sad but I know I can do it. We are a family of 3 for a little while and our 4th will be missed ALOT. But he is going to do great things and share who he is with others and he is off to make us proud so it's a good thing. We'll be in for some adventures around here.

The other day Starsky got sprayed by a skunk. That's a true story. The whole house smelled for a couple of days. We washed him...alot, and now I think he smells better. After is happened we immediately showed Chloe a picture of a skunk on the computer and told her if she ever saw one to run as fast a she could.

The day before the skunk incident I was playing sponge dodge ball at the church and somehow while throwing a wet sponge across a grassy field I lost m wedding ring. I noticed that it was gone and walked right over to where I was and thought there was no way I was going to find it in this giant field where I had been throwing wet things long distances. I found it within seconds. I was totally blessed and I am totally blessed. I consider my life a series of good fortunes. Love to you all.

Cream Cheese

We had a great Fourth! We went to this America tribute concert in the park. B-rad bought the kids these cute fourth of July clothes. They were so so cute that day.

This was Chloe at the same show last year.
This year. She is full of sass and imagination. Tonight she told us what her eyes were for, what her mouth was for, what her ears were for and then she says, "this is my nose and it's for (and we were expecting "to smell")...and it's for...sneezing!" She is a pure delight.

Ezra is as EZ as his name says. Just hangs out, sleeps when he gets a chance and just smiles and loves affection.

On the 3rd, these two loves slept out in the tent. Brad told me they talked and talked (I did'nt ask what about because that's daddy-daughter secrets) They ended up falling asleep and were doing good until 1130 when Bluebird had to go potty and then her legs hurt (darn those growing pains) We all ended up sleeping in our bed and got about 5 hours total.
-I went to Sam's Club and bough a big case of cream cheese because I bought a bag of bagels. 6 cream cheeses. I checked that they expire in November and felt like I'd for sure use them by then so good deal-good purchase. Well, it's been 4 days and I've used 3 of them. Yep. Italian Chicken...check, bagels with cream cheese...check, and cream cheese brownies...check.

-We've been having "festival" around our house lately. Not tea-parties but "festivals" complete with custard cakes and posters to announce the party. Thanks Strawberry shortcake. It's very cute:)

-Starsky came in a couple of nights ago leaving a bloody footprint everywhere he walked. We finally laid him down to discover that he had a huge gash in his paw and it wouldn't stop bleeding. Eventually, Brad cleaned the wound and wrapped his foot. A doctor's a doctor anytime, right?

-B-rad has been dominating his rotations. He just finished ER and got rave reviews but it didn't change his mind. He's still pro radiation-oncology all the way. That means he will work with cancer patients. He's got 3 big tests coming up. I get to act out all sorts of ailments and he gets to diagnose me and come up with an accurate plan. it's pretty fun. Remember that Seinfeld episode? He's a 4th year med student. Way to go.

-I mysteriously got strep throat 5 days ago.

-We found a snake in our backyard the other day. I pretty much freaked out while Chloe told me to not be scared and "can I please touch it?" We put a box over it so it wouldn't slither away and I'm pretty sure we just baked the poor guy instead.

-Remember by garden? It produced some goods. Tomatoes, basil, one pepper, and lots of onions. I felt like I reduced my carbon-footprint just a little. I also like to save aluminum foil and reuse. Plus, can you imagine the difference if we all used reusable grocery sacks. I usually take atleast 2 to the store and feel good about that. They carry so much more but I get ticked when the bagger doesn't totally fill it to the brim. I'm trying to save bags, people.

And..the tour de France. Gotta love those guys and that race. My crush is Cancellara. I made these shirts a while back and Brad has been sporting his.
Bring on July!

some other vacations

So here is a little slide show of 3 amazing trips we took while we were on our big trip in Utah.

SunValley, Idaho. I love it there. Been going to Sun Valley since I was born, worked there for a summer after high school, now Brad and our little family are loving it, too.

We went for a "just girls" trip for the first part of the week.
Always have to take a picture in front of the SunValley lodge with the geese who are so protective and hiss at you. Sweet Chloe. She was such a trooper. She didn't feel well and we kept her going and going until Sunday night she had a seizure and we ended up in the ER because of a high high fever.
Mmmm...Lava Cakes. For extra detail, I threw up on this long trip to Utah so many times because I ate so much good, fat, food. But who cares, it's so worth it...so, so, worth it.
The day after Sunvalley, we put out time in at the ER and then headed to Yellowstone to meet the Chamber's family. It was so fun to drive in the park for the first time and see all the people stopping to see the wildlife on the side of the road. We got extra lucky and saw tons of elk, an eagles nest and tons of buffalo walking across the road and right up by our cars. These next two pictures totally capture the excitement (of all of us!)

Chloe is so loved by her aunts.
We had some unusual things happen while at Yellowstone.

1. Pictured below are some foreigners who decided to ignore the sign that said something like "these guyser grounds are as hot as battery acid do not step over the boardwalk" and they stepped right out on the hot ground to get some good pictures. Pretty sure you're not supposed to do that.

2. We were walking along the geyser path behind old faithful and it started to hail pretty hard so we were heading for cover but physically had quite a ways to run. The next events happened so fast: Chloe got hail in her eye so we all stopped walking, turned to start walking again and the group right in front of us (like 20 feet) got struck by lightning. We heard a sickening crack and people fell. Half of our group ran to help them while the others of us ran all the way back to the lodge. I am quite sure I shrieked more than one time along that run back. It was very scary! We met back up in the lodge with somber moods and contemplated alot that moment, and tons that day and frequently throughout the rest of the trip that we were so blessed to have been held up on the path and not the ones that were hit. It was all in the papers and we witnessed it first hand. It was neat to see B-rad run straight ahead, without even thinking, to assist.
The group. I had been to Yellowstone 3 times before but all on snowmobile in the winter time, but this was the one place that made me think of Yellowstone. I am glad the sun came out for us to take our time on the walk around the magnificent sites.
We even lucked out and saw a bear.
Cute boys.
After Yellowstone, B-rad had to go home to illinois and I continued my trip with the kids. My parents took the Nelson family to Seaside Oregon. It truly is one of the prettiest places ever. I love the coast.
Ezra just chillin. This kid loved the wind in his hair and watching the sky above.
The coastline was so pretty. You had to walk out pretty far to get to the water. People were clamming the first day we got there. We found some sand dollars, too.
The pool at the condo was warm and got lots of use.
Playing in the sand. Best of cousins getting a little tired.
The girls in front of Haystack rock. Can you see one-eyed willie's treasure ship behind us??
They had this fun aquarium with sealife that was found in the water right where we were at. I would freak out if I saw this guy in real life or the octopus they had.
Can't beat the ocean sunset.
Have I mentioned I love vacations?

52 days in Utah and other mountainous beauty

What a trip!! We couldn't have had a greater time in Utah visiting family in friends. We're glad to be back home, but I am already looking for when our next trip is. I love vacations. So, here is a little update on us to be followed (by later posts) of photos from our little trips within the big trip.

Love, Mel

Me: I loved being with this guy on vacation. I love to see him enjoying doing what he wants to be doing instead of working for the man.

Me: I love these. This is a view of Mt. Olympus from my parents back door. We spent some nights just swinging on their swing, eating popsicles and looking at this site. We didn't get to hike it this year. The weather could of been a tiny bit nicer while we were in Utah, but it didn't stop us from doing all that we wanted anyway.
Me: Love this girl. She's such my little buddy.
And these two...I LOVE being their mom. I love it! Brad had to go back to Illinois two weeks before us and that was sad and a bit of an adjustment. Luckily, I was with family and that made the time go by quick for me, not so much for Brad.
Ezra: I spent most of my trip in the backpack. Thankfully, most people took a turn caring me around, even Grandma Ruthie. I'm so lucky to have so many people love me. I did really good on the plane ride. People around my mom couldn't believe that I didn't cry a bit.
Ezra: I started eating solids on this trip. I also got my first tooth. I am working on tooth number two and so I've been a little sad. Chloe and I share a room now and we're both being crazies getting to sleep and staying asleep.
Ezra: My cute face is getting more defined. I have sparkling eyes and smile at everyone. Mom is starting to ditch the carseat more and carry me in places so my time in the "seat" is getting fewer.
Chloe: When you are on vacation and eating out a lot, there aren't a lot of options for kids on the kid menu. Mac and Cheeses are not all created equal. This is the most delicious creamy mac and cheese we have ever found.
Chloe: I hiked Ensign peak in Utah. Only 20 minutes but straight up in places. I dominate hiking when it's my idea. In Astoria Oregon I climbed up the tower that had 164 stairs and didn't even complain.

** we dragged Chloe everywhere and made her try everything and talk to everyone and play with everyone. She did so good on such a long trip. Once or twice she said she wanted to "go home to Illinois". She got very sick on one of our little trips and ended up in the hospital on Memorial Day. That was not super fun. But then she was back to going everywhere and doing everything. I can't blame her is she didn't smile in EVERY single picture. She melts my heart when she says "i love you" 100 times a day and tickles my back. We shared a bed quite a bit on this trip and at other times shared a room. One night she told me "mom, i am right here if you get scared" This was followed by, "lets cuddle all night." Her cuddling is face to face. She is so sweet.
Chloe: I could live in the water. Thanks to this new lifevest Emily gave me, I can. I can float and swim and float and jump off the edge and mom doesn't even have to worry. Here I am with Grandma. We spent a lot of time at grandma Ruthie's. She tells me stories and reads to me and makes me lots and lots of Oatmeal. And she loves me even when I scowl.
And...if I wasn't in the pool I could be on the trampoline. I told mom yesterday that I thought she should buy a trampoline for our backyard in Illinois. here i am with my cousin Elsie. I loved playing with cousins. Most of my cousins are older and they loved including me in all they did. It's gonna be hard to be away from all my family and cousins. I miss them already.
And Brad: He was pretty much smiling straight the whole vacation. He enjoyed working with the family practice doc he spent time with in Utah.
Brad you are amazing.
At the top of Ensign peak.
I wish I had a picture of my face when we showed up at the airport in Portland Oregon on Saturday June 19th (51st day away) and they told me I had missed my flight. Not the finest 2 days of my life.