We got home from fall break last Sunday. I have spent the last week recovering from my vacation, getting back in the groove and doing a shit ton of laundry. First, the cruise. We had an amazing time, and the only negative thing I can say is that Charlie and I were hoping for a little more time to ourselves but the girls didn't like the kids' club quite at much as we did. It's not that the kids' club was bad, they had a ton of activities, it's just that the girls would have rather been with us. So, most of the time we let them. Sigh. However, the food was great, the service was excellent and the shows were amazing. Disney does not disappoint. They have "wave phones" in all the rooms which are cell phones that work on their network so you can talk and text on them. Two to a room. So we gave Andy one and just let him go wherever he wanted on the ship. It was a little nerve wracking at first but he loved it and he had a blast. We barely saw him the whole week. The girls weren't quite old enough to be able to want to do that, but we were able to sneak away for and adults only dinner one night and an adults brunch another day. Amazing!
Overall, it was an amazing trip. They had characters out and about all day long, there was a pirate party and a Halloween party with shows and characters (and fireworks one night) and the customer service was over the top. Sarah lost a tooth on board and I went up the the service desk to ask if they did anything. Mainly I wanted to see if they had any of those plastic tooth necklaces like they give out at school for the kids to put the tooth in, because she has been dying for one of those. They didn't, but instead they gave us a pin/button that said "I lost a tooth", which several of the cast members then asked her about, and a certificate that had her name on it commemorating that she lost a tooth aboard the ship. So cool! It's the little things that makes Disney so special.
We got in on Friday and as a bonus the kids got to spend two days with Charlie's mom while I drove up to the Orlando area for a quick visit with April from Florida then we headed home early Sunday morning. From the moment we got home until late Wednesday night the washer and dryer ran non-stop. I am not kidding. Between the three outfits per day we wore on the cruise and all the stuff we had bagged but not yet washed from our lice incident before we left, we were working those machines overtime. I finally thought we were done until Charlie pointed out two bags in the basement yesterday afternoon. I think those might sit for a few more days.
So we're home, back on schedule, and in the end I didn't gain any weight despite drinking wine and eating dessert every night (but also working out everyday on the ship). Now if I can just get Charlie to do it again next year...
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Rock Concert
On Monday the third grade had a rock concert. You know, a concert where they sing about...rocks. Catchy, huh? Sarah was so excited about it and they practiced the songs for weeks. They sang as an entire group and then each class sang a different song, all about rocks (and volcanos). Well, one song was "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend", which is pretty outdated by now, and another song was an instrumental with recorders and xylophones, but the rest were in line with the title of the concert.
Overall it was very cute and the kids loved it. I joked to Charlie that years from now in a high school geology exam Sarah will be singing the songs to herself so she can answer the questions, kind of like Potsy in that Happy Days episode when he's trying to remember all the bones of the body. Whatever it takes!
Overall it was very cute and the kids loved it. I joked to Charlie that years from now in a high school geology exam Sarah will be singing the songs to herself so she can answer the questions, kind of like Potsy in that Happy Days episode when he's trying to remember all the bones of the body. Whatever it takes!
Monday, October 6, 2014
Unwanted Visitors
All I wanted to do this weekend was get ready for fall break. We leave this Friday and Charlie is out of town all week so I wanted to get some of it done while he was here and make sure we weren't running around crazy at the last minute like we do before every trip. I finally convinced him after about 10 years that we should go on a Disney Cruise and now it's here.
We got up like we do on most Saturdays and went to Andy's flag football game. Afterwards I took the girls to swim class and then came home to clean up a little because some friends were coming over for dinner. Our final errand was to get the girls' haircut. That's when our weekend got derailed.
I was settling Amanda and myself into the big cushy couch at the hair salon while Sarah was back getting her hair washed when the stylist came up to me. She said something like, "I'm sorry to break this to you, but I'm not going to be able to cut her hair today because she has lice." WHAT?!? Yep, she took me back and showed me Sarah's head and you could see all the little dudes crawling around her scalp. Yuck. Then she checked Amanda and she had it too, although not as advanced as Sarah.
We left the salon with Sarah bawling at an incredible volume and headed to Walgreen's to pick up some RIT. We proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon not doing laundry for our impending vacation but cleaning all the sheets on the kids' and our beds. On top of bagging their stuffed animals, which each girl has about 20 on each of their beds, we vacuumed the couches, bagged up pillows and comforters and blankets and anything else made of cloth they could have touched.
I checked Andy when we got home and he had a slight case as well. So we had to do medicated shampoo on all three kids and then sit for hours going through their hair with a fine tooth comb to get all the eggs out. My friend Theresa is totally a keeper because she actually helped by going through Amanda's hair. Not many people would help their friends by picking lice eggs out of their kid's hair.
The next day we had to do it all again. We didn't wash all the sheets but we had to strip the beds and put everything in the dryer on hot for 30-40 minutes then make all the beds again. Then re-shampoo the kids hair and go through them again with the special comb. This morning before they went to school I did a quick check and did a more thorough one this evening before bed. This has become my life.
Best of all, Theresa checked my head today and found a few eggs so I had to do the medicated shampoo on myself this evening. With Charlie out of town I did the best with the comb but am positive I didn't get it all. Luckily I also have a very slight case at this point.
I don't ever remember having this as a kid and am very thankful for that. I know tons of kids get it, but I was kind of smug thinking that we wouldn't be one of them. Wrong again Mommy. When people used to tell me how much it sucked to get lice I definitely commiserated with them, but you really don't know how horrible and time consuming it is until it happens to you. Kind of like having a kid, you don't truly know what it's like until you've experienced it yourself. Except having a kid has a lot of rewards, while having lice just sucks.
I really hope we are done with this before we get on the plane on Friday, but most of the stuff I read says it's a 2-3 week process to rid yourself of lice. So we'll get a clean as we can before we go and bring our combs along with us. I am not going to let this ruin our amazing vacation. Stupid lice!
We got up like we do on most Saturdays and went to Andy's flag football game. Afterwards I took the girls to swim class and then came home to clean up a little because some friends were coming over for dinner. Our final errand was to get the girls' haircut. That's when our weekend got derailed.
I was settling Amanda and myself into the big cushy couch at the hair salon while Sarah was back getting her hair washed when the stylist came up to me. She said something like, "I'm sorry to break this to you, but I'm not going to be able to cut her hair today because she has lice." WHAT?!? Yep, she took me back and showed me Sarah's head and you could see all the little dudes crawling around her scalp. Yuck. Then she checked Amanda and she had it too, although not as advanced as Sarah.
We left the salon with Sarah bawling at an incredible volume and headed to Walgreen's to pick up some RIT. We proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon not doing laundry for our impending vacation but cleaning all the sheets on the kids' and our beds. On top of bagging their stuffed animals, which each girl has about 20 on each of their beds, we vacuumed the couches, bagged up pillows and comforters and blankets and anything else made of cloth they could have touched.
I checked Andy when we got home and he had a slight case as well. So we had to do medicated shampoo on all three kids and then sit for hours going through their hair with a fine tooth comb to get all the eggs out. My friend Theresa is totally a keeper because she actually helped by going through Amanda's hair. Not many people would help their friends by picking lice eggs out of their kid's hair.
The next day we had to do it all again. We didn't wash all the sheets but we had to strip the beds and put everything in the dryer on hot for 30-40 minutes then make all the beds again. Then re-shampoo the kids hair and go through them again with the special comb. This morning before they went to school I did a quick check and did a more thorough one this evening before bed. This has become my life.
Best of all, Theresa checked my head today and found a few eggs so I had to do the medicated shampoo on myself this evening. With Charlie out of town I did the best with the comb but am positive I didn't get it all. Luckily I also have a very slight case at this point.
I don't ever remember having this as a kid and am very thankful for that. I know tons of kids get it, but I was kind of smug thinking that we wouldn't be one of them. Wrong again Mommy. When people used to tell me how much it sucked to get lice I definitely commiserated with them, but you really don't know how horrible and time consuming it is until it happens to you. Kind of like having a kid, you don't truly know what it's like until you've experienced it yourself. Except having a kid has a lot of rewards, while having lice just sucks.
I really hope we are done with this before we get on the plane on Friday, but most of the stuff I read says it's a 2-3 week process to rid yourself of lice. So we'll get a clean as we can before we go and bring our combs along with us. I am not going to let this ruin our amazing vacation. Stupid lice!
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Kid Quote of the Day
"I hate nature."
-Amanda, after she fell and scraped her knee and had enough of hiking.
-Amanda, after she fell and scraped her knee and had enough of hiking.
Staycation
We've lived in Colorado for over two years and every time the kids get a break from school we go somewhere out of state. I think it's a result of working for the airline for so long and also living in Texas, because despite how much we liked it there we also wanted to leave as much as possible. We're starting to realize that Colorado is an incredibly beautiful state and there are lots of amazing places to visit right here, so when the kids had Friday off we decided to go on our first in state trip.
We have friends that have been all over Colorado so took some suggestions from them, and then Charlie did a little research and realized that besides the ski lifts, not much is running after Labor Day. Apparently there is tons to do from Memorial Day to Labor Day, but a lot of places shut down as soon as summer is over.
Charlie found a great two bedroom condo in Vail and we made that our home base. We spent Friday and Saturday night there and during the day on Saturday we went to Glenwood Springs. We did a one mile completely uphill through rocks and streams hike to Hanging Lake, which was breathtaking, and then hit the hot springs in the evening. It took us about an hour and 45 minutes to get up the mountain, which was no easy feat. The girls were super gung ho and excited for most of the journey and Andy went along for the ride because he was forced to. It was a lot steeper than I thought it was going to be and more rock climbing that walking along a path, but a great adventure. The lake at the top of the mountain was beautiful and totally worth the trip. The girls did great until the final 1/4 mile on the descent and then Amanda finally lost it when she fell and scraped her knee. I ended up carrying her on my back for about 1/8 of a mile which was a little bit of a challenge but we finally made it down the mountain.
After we got some food in the kids we went to the hot springs. You actually don't get to go directly into the springs, instead they pump the water into a huge swimming pool. Well, two pools, one that is around 105 degrees and another that is around 93 degrees. It had a slight sulfur smell and you more hung out in the water than really swam, but the kids enjoyed it and I found it pretty relaxing.
The next morning after a great buffet breakfast we walked around Vail Village and there was even a little market going on. It was fun to spend some time in the outdoors as a family with no rushing or needing to be anywhere and to know that we were just two hours away from home by car. No airport needed.
We have friends that have been all over Colorado so took some suggestions from them, and then Charlie did a little research and realized that besides the ski lifts, not much is running after Labor Day. Apparently there is tons to do from Memorial Day to Labor Day, but a lot of places shut down as soon as summer is over.
Charlie found a great two bedroom condo in Vail and we made that our home base. We spent Friday and Saturday night there and during the day on Saturday we went to Glenwood Springs. We did a one mile completely uphill through rocks and streams hike to Hanging Lake, which was breathtaking, and then hit the hot springs in the evening. It took us about an hour and 45 minutes to get up the mountain, which was no easy feat. The girls were super gung ho and excited for most of the journey and Andy went along for the ride because he was forced to. It was a lot steeper than I thought it was going to be and more rock climbing that walking along a path, but a great adventure. The lake at the top of the mountain was beautiful and totally worth the trip. The girls did great until the final 1/4 mile on the descent and then Amanda finally lost it when she fell and scraped her knee. I ended up carrying her on my back for about 1/8 of a mile which was a little bit of a challenge but we finally made it down the mountain.
After we got some food in the kids we went to the hot springs. You actually don't get to go directly into the springs, instead they pump the water into a huge swimming pool. Well, two pools, one that is around 105 degrees and another that is around 93 degrees. It had a slight sulfur smell and you more hung out in the water than really swam, but the kids enjoyed it and I found it pretty relaxing.
The next morning after a great buffet breakfast we walked around Vail Village and there was even a little market going on. It was fun to spend some time in the outdoors as a family with no rushing or needing to be anywhere and to know that we were just two hours away from home by car. No airport needed.
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