tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84488830925422625112024-02-21T04:45:54.906-06:00The LenexiconLenexa + Lexicon = The LenexiconLenexiconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17975065474448387881noreply@blogger.comBlogger558125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448883092542262511.post-3153985425316121152017-08-21T21:15:00.002-05:002017-08-21T21:15:42.357-05:00Solar Eclipse 2017<div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
I have been looking forward to the solar eclipse for over a year. I'm pretty sure it was still 2015 when I first read that there would be a total solar eclipse in the USA in 2017 and, bonus, its path of totality would go just north of us. We could totally see it! </div>
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Obviously I jumped at the chance to view the eclipse from Lake Doniphan, a campground where I spent many summer weeks growing up. We drove up Sunday afternoon, and spent the day swimming, canoeing, and exploring. They even put on a campfire for us eclipse-chasers. I have told my family so many times about campfires and how much I loved the singing and fun of them; I was thrilled that they could experience a little of that fun too. </div>
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Then Monday morning, this morning, arrived, Eclipse Day. And a huge gray storm rolled in. Lightning. Thunder. Rain. Very little chance of seeing the sun. I was devastated. How could nature do this to me? </div>
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Andrew and I talked and I fretted and we obsessively checked the weather radar. (Or tried to check; the wifi was not keeping up with the demand.) Our dear friends Christy and John and their kids left camp just before lunch in search of clear skies. Should we do that too? We decided during lunch, around 11:25, that we should leave too. It was too gray, too rainy there. But the weather radar showed we didn't have far to go to find sun. </div>
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We rushed through lunch and headed to the car. Totality was happening at 1:08, so had about an hour before it was really just too late. We drove west. We debated driving north. Just 5 or so minutes into the drive, we saw sun. We pulled over when we could and grabbed eclipse glasses from the back of the van. We let the kids out momentarily and we all peeked skyward, glasses in place.</div>
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It. Was. So. Worth it. </div>
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That first glimpse of the moon crossing the sun. Just a teeny bit, you'd never notice the sun wasn't quite as bright. But we were thrilled. Cheering and jumping. It definitely felt like we had made the right call. We were going to see it, not just wonder if it would be clear enough to see it. </div>
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But the storm still seemed close, so we drove on a bit further. When we got to Liberty, we debated going further north, like the radar indicated was a good choice. Or, I pointed out, we could just stop near there. The sun was shining and there appeared to be plenty of blue sky. </div>
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We parked in the lot of a large church. Quite a few other people were parked there watching the eclipse as well. We set up our chairs and blanket and settled in. </div>
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Christy and John texted, said they were still trying to find a clear spot but were in Liberty. We're in Liberty, I said! Come to this church, watch with us! And they did. And it was so much fun. </div>
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How lucky that they found us, that they motivated us to venture out to see the eclipse and not miss it. How lucky that though the clouds surrounded us on every horizon, the sky above stayed clear long enough to see through totality. </div>
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We had totality for just over 2 minutes. But that time flew by. I remember looking up, looking around for stars. Saw just one. Noticed the parking lot lights came on. Noticed how dark it was. Noticed how light it still was. Noticed how the horizon looked pink and orange, just like a sunset--but that the sun was still high in the sky. Tried to also notice my kids, my husband--what were they thinking and experiencing? </div>
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I took a short video. Two short videos? It's (they're) terrible. I wasn't really looking at the phone, just wanted to soak it all in. It was emotional, overwhelming. Went by way too fast. I wish I could have stopped time for a few more minutes. </div>
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And then, so quickly, it was over. Glasses back on. Saw the sun's sliver on the other side. And the clouds moved in within moments. Our timing was incredible, really. We got to see the most amazing part of the eclipse, and then before we even loaded the lawn chairs back into the van, it was raining. Unbelievable. </div>
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I feel so fortunate to have experienced this. I hope Milo and Olive will remember it. That's the downside of having a once-in-a-lifetime experience happen when you're only 5 or 7 years old. Who knows, maybe we'll travel to the 2024 eclipse. </div>
Lenexiconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17975065474448387881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448883092542262511.post-82446041264700444792017-08-14T21:59:00.005-05:002017-08-14T21:59:51.796-05:00Not a BabyOlive starts kindergarten tomorrow. <div>
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You guys, I'm sort of freaking out.</div>
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I've been looking forward to both kids heading off to school for the last three weeks. And now that it's finally happening, I'm a mess. I just keep thinking about how big she's getting, and how much I'll miss her. How can this little kid be old enough to go to school?</div>
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Olive and I spent a lot of time together, just the two of us, over the last couple of years. Milo was in school all day, and Olive only went to preschool a few mornings a week. That left lots of time for lunchtime conversations, board games, walks to the park, cake videos, art projects, and reading rainbow fairies books on the couch. She's been my little sidekick since I left my job, and I'm seriously going to miss her.</div>
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My neighbor, whose youngest child is Milo's age, told me something a couple years ago that I haven't forgotten. As we dropped off our kids (my oldest, her youngest), at kindergarten and I wiped away tears, she said, "Just wait til Olive starts kindergarten. You'll be way more emotional." I rolled my eyes, thinking that by then I'd be so ready for it. And literally until a few days ago, I still believed she was wrong. And suddenly, I know she was so very right. </div>
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Lenexiconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17975065474448387881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448883092542262511.post-19896908216841999872017-08-11T20:14:00.000-05:002017-08-11T20:14:32.102-05:00First Day of 2nd GradeBack to school today for Milo! 2nd grade this year. He actually seemed ready to go back this year. I think summer's quality time with his sister was wearing thin. (They've been fighting nonstop for the last two weeks. Except when they're getting along fabulously. But no in-between.)<br />
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Took our traditional front-porch first-day-of-school photo. See how he's grown?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2nd Grade, Age 7</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1st Grade, Age 6</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKa7Se1J670KOfl4Z1U0MP8Jmq01dX7A6xCZpz0lfLuZbI2dQMMlmJ6JLtrU0kcu2qbMcnsuTjhhrpgVzLcA0SHNRhp75nftYA7T0lskmhE2rhLrKI289a5VvVEDAEISqitK408ah76cE/s1600/IMG_20150814_073324.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKa7Se1J670KOfl4Z1U0MP8Jmq01dX7A6xCZpz0lfLuZbI2dQMMlmJ6JLtrU0kcu2qbMcnsuTjhhrpgVzLcA0SHNRhp75nftYA7T0lskmhE2rhLrKI289a5VvVEDAEISqitK408ah76cE/s320/IMG_20150814_073324.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kindergarten, Age 5</td></tr>
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Man, that kid is cute.<br />
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Andrew and I walked him to his classroom this morning. I took a couple pictures, and as I hugged him goodbye, I got all choked up. Totally surprised myself. I thought that sending Milo off to school was old hat by now. He knows what he's doing, he does well every year. What is there to be emotional about? But maybe it was just that--he's doing so well, he doesn't need me much anymore. My little boy is getting so big.<br />
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Olive starts kindergarten on Tuesday. Up until this morning, I thought I wouldn't be very emotional dropping her off either. Now I know I'm super wrong. Definitely will be a day for waterproof mascara and a ready tissue.Lenexiconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17975065474448387881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448883092542262511.post-48168053584792989032017-06-29T16:09:00.003-05:002017-06-29T16:09:57.914-05:00Take Me Out to the BallgameMilo played baseball this year. His team was made up mostly of kids from his school, first graders (now second graders), machine pitch. To my honest surprise, Milo loves it. He has a pretty good throwing arm, and has had some great hits. But you can tell he's having a great time. And it's super fun for Milo that Pop is one of his coaches and Daddy is assistant coach at nearly every game.<br />
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I thought maybe he'd find baseball sort of boring. The games are an hour and twenty minutes long, and for seven year olds, that's a long time. Plus, a lot of the time you're just sitting on the bench, either waiting for your turn at bat or waiting for the next inning so you can go back out in the field again. But while he does seem bored at times (Milo sat down in the outfield to play in the dirt a couple of times), he looks forward to his games and has already shown interest in either playing fall ball or again next spring.<br />
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I'm thrilled that he found an activity he really enjoys. He tried soccer; did not like soccer. He has done tumbling for a couple of years, which he enjoys some, but not tons. (And he hated performing in the recital. Or at least, he hated preparing/practicing for the recital.) So baseball it is. I'm pleasantly surprised to find that I enjoy watching his games. These kids are so fun, and they've all improved so much.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBDFohB-dtFc6hS7HP4nAi_KaoC9X8pf-MAkiC5hxmEIa8wOFyH6HmJy844hKyYEx0zMGLdcYTg2-lXkkclia4TnhNKA2kcyK7XtV5n_fiUrYevRPi5s3JRcpYP8WwRG339vgwXypoIjQ/s1600/Team_Kneeling_2_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="805" data-original-width="1080" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBDFohB-dtFc6hS7HP4nAi_KaoC9X8pf-MAkiC5hxmEIa8wOFyH6HmJy844hKyYEx0zMGLdcYTg2-lXkkclia4TnhNKA2kcyK7XtV5n_fiUrYevRPi5s3JRcpYP8WwRG339vgwXypoIjQ/s320/Team_Kneeling_2_.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Milo is kneeling, front row, far left.</td></tr>
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Lenexiconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17975065474448387881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448883092542262511.post-70832527183266986112017-06-26T10:00:00.000-05:002017-06-26T10:00:19.400-05:00June 19, 2017 - Day 8Not much to tell about this day, our last day of vacation. I literally took zero photos. We were just all ready to go home. Our flight wasn't until 11:20, so we got up at our usual time, ate the hotel continental breakfast, and called an Uber. Uneventful, quick drive to the airport, then the usual checking bags, going through security, etc. The kids were fighting (again) and being super whiny and emotional and angry. Then it hit me: we only ate pastries for breakfast. They're not angry, they're HANGRY. So we got terrible airport breakfast sandwiches at Burger King and within a couple of bites, they were their usual delightful selves.<br />
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Smooth flight, and we were back in KC around 4:45. Stopped for dinner at Twisted Fresh on the way home. Andrew wanted to eat at home, but I remembered how empty the fridge was and how I did NOT feel like making dinner the instant we walked through the door.<br />
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(Wow, super interesting blog post, eh?)<br />
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To sum up, we went home. Glad to be here. Even more glad we took this vacation. I love my family.Lenexiconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17975065474448387881noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448883092542262511.post-44970612045560812312017-06-25T21:00:00.003-05:002017-06-25T21:01:07.418-05:00June 18, 2017 - Day 7No rushing for us this morning. Our first big plan of the day was to go to the children's science museum, the Exploratorium. It didn't open until 10am, and since we were all up by 6:45, we had plenty of time for a good breakfast. We walked a block or so down the street to the Cable Car Cafe. Not bad. Lovely people working there, decent diner food.<br />
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After breakfast, we stopped by Union Square. Not a lot going on there at 8:30 on a Sunday morning. From there, we caught a bus over to the museum. And guess what? We still had an hour to kill until it opened! Should've watched more TV in our hotel room (or slept later. ha.).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mad because she wanted to be in the photo by herself and she asked for a photo first. (He did jump in there rather rudely.)</td></tr>
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What a long hour that turned out to be. The kids were fighting and bugging each other, which was bugging Andrew. I was surprisingly not bothered (this time) by the fighting so was trying to mellow everyone out. We separated the kids, checking out different mini-exhibits in the lobby. This hour did turn out to be a great time for extra coffee. So there's that. I also bought us all a giant cookie to share because Vacation.<br />
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When the doors opened, we barely even knew what to check out first. This place is HUGE and all very hands-on. It's open-flow, so no path to travel around or loop to make. Every exhibit is designed to be touched, manipulated, explored, and figured out. We all had a great time.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was a fun one. Andrew called this phone from down the way (see below). When Olive answered, he gave her a code to unlock the door. Inside the door was a video screen of the caller (Andrew, in this case) and he could then see a video the person who answered the phone.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipc-siB-6-iKTLEJCec-uAr5GIfCnuHcjI6P4A0v6MxcneNkFMcq31_qUmjXCnwNZwXtOeXLhDwaMMz0gQbB6C04kiakzPorKPDGvkrNJ4SykFSwUdnXdHmlHTx2-79FBUdB1ineFf7lc/s1600/IMG_20170618_100901.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipc-siB-6-iKTLEJCec-uAr5GIfCnuHcjI6P4A0v6MxcneNkFMcq31_qUmjXCnwNZwXtOeXLhDwaMMz0gQbB6C04kiakzPorKPDGvkrNJ4SykFSwUdnXdHmlHTx2-79FBUdB1ineFf7lc/s320/IMG_20170618_100901.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Intently working on my sand art.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spinning dizzy chair.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The kids chose markers, then swung the platform around until they liked the pattern it would draw. See below for our final masterpiece.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLgJXwIrLzb4CSyapVILUredIEFm3HVqDldu2_MClJt_mBi2G4PGj39JqUGV6GPoQx4c-a8tZMyzggSZvwg4hujPAQtg0GPNUBSaXmHaQBlnxGkd4FQlkFE4kZk3lRe9JljTfonA6jd7M/s1600/IMG_20170618_114539.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLgJXwIrLzb4CSyapVILUredIEFm3HVqDldu2_MClJt_mBi2G4PGj39JqUGV6GPoQx4c-a8tZMyzggSZvwg4hujPAQtg0GPNUBSaXmHaQBlnxGkd4FQlkFE4kZk3lRe9JljTfonA6jd7M/s320/IMG_20170618_114539.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxaVYAFHvZWe62qJr8UZ1quFw7OQsCE3o92QkzvObLJOP6Fj7xJW3ChTvpYrN6bS4jHDGhOfrNStUDNBa8jVr_6it5pOnk77shF8hfw-SYHMCTzHKvdh1sRi013M65NaTxI41mZddBE8Q/s1600/IMG_20170618_114837.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxaVYAFHvZWe62qJr8UZ1quFw7OQsCE3o92QkzvObLJOP6Fj7xJW3ChTvpYrN6bS4jHDGhOfrNStUDNBa8jVr_6it5pOnk77shF8hfw-SYHMCTzHKvdh1sRi013M65NaTxI41mZddBE8Q/s320/IMG_20170618_114837.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Milo was willing to try out the toilet drinking fountain.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-I4YnILXhHJIukLpHz5PemiXQgQzo6p96XiOsjAe7QVzEteMEcgyi_Qn32ViTGiE21MxZflPDgulpBDBZo9xn8CViy3U4rDzvvay-Hlr1s_qftApSXhG-huK1kjM3ISyl5_9n-Xa7LLc/s1600/IMG_20170618_115201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-I4YnILXhHJIukLpHz5PemiXQgQzo6p96XiOsjAe7QVzEteMEcgyi_Qn32ViTGiE21MxZflPDgulpBDBZo9xn8CViy3U4rDzvvay-Hlr1s_qftApSXhG-huK1kjM3ISyl5_9n-Xa7LLc/s320/IMG_20170618_115201.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Olive preferred the standard-looking drinking fountain, even though both had fresh clean water.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiPxlPCAuo_5yKQtPxv6kxIoiNCouZkUMHejqF-sVzju9vKXZiDwfRwodJvg9ud7D_6ffW_v42z21HgkUqk3WBY2eWT2xQsYRfd57ZE-i1QfUrOm0JaHNXh8gWK5gI36Z1EFy63UKP3fM/s1600/IMG_20170618_131512.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiPxlPCAuo_5yKQtPxv6kxIoiNCouZkUMHejqF-sVzju9vKXZiDwfRwodJvg9ud7D_6ffW_v42z21HgkUqk3WBY2eWT2xQsYRfd57ZE-i1QfUrOm0JaHNXh8gWK5gI36Z1EFy63UKP3fM/s320/IMG_20170618_131512.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This little room was awesome. Yellow light made everything look yellow, but when you shined a little flashlight on things in the room, you could see their colors.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU8ySQuMFfs9Jn_y9q0djYWtP5fYeSSiCn6DfgVkpNBK-VanUO7C9s5fe7NYVdEyRnSEW_ok1Is4tRp0_JlcviGSdRB2sMvbokp2SlzUq_ZI1Q4Tv7xo3ONoIsN5knKGD7tHJBh1wncRA/s1600/IMG_20170618_131637.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU8ySQuMFfs9Jn_y9q0djYWtP5fYeSSiCn6DfgVkpNBK-VanUO7C9s5fe7NYVdEyRnSEW_ok1Is4tRp0_JlcviGSdRB2sMvbokp2SlzUq_ZI1Q4Tv7xo3ONoIsN5knKGD7tHJBh1wncRA/s320/IMG_20170618_131637.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Human kaleidoscope! (And no, I do not know what face I am making.)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB1BhLii6e0vfs1In4d8xYgK01v0UeDx_w74TDKHZ4txnbjQ1pFz6exFVEKpzSZUkw4Bop1u9i_fIBFF59hD4rQHWJP9N2vcYwhZ0U9Xanx6oV_GZROyKoVYDV1piSjV2l9cz3kV_RzLw/s1600/IMG_20170618_131915.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB1BhLii6e0vfs1In4d8xYgK01v0UeDx_w74TDKHZ4txnbjQ1pFz6exFVEKpzSZUkw4Bop1u9i_fIBFF59hD4rQHWJP9N2vcYwhZ0U9Xanx6oV_GZROyKoVYDV1piSjV2l9cz3kV_RzLw/s320/IMG_20170618_131915.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This cool mirror made us all look upside down.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjycHps8v36tihaJWI-U_vOVdDx6RgbQztWQIi9enlMIOsBAqAP8Llcl51A8Dj9SWG8Rxcvfh9uO0kYJlTWS8qh7duNU-gwAR-_yCBkPMrLBibnwpXbFr1x8YceAf_FqOs_blkV0tTRSnM/s1600/IMG_20170618_131203_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjycHps8v36tihaJWI-U_vOVdDx6RgbQztWQIi9enlMIOsBAqAP8Llcl51A8Dj9SWG8Rxcvfh9uO0kYJlTWS8qh7duNU-gwAR-_yCBkPMrLBibnwpXbFr1x8YceAf_FqOs_blkV0tTRSnM/s320/IMG_20170618_131203_1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rainbow shadows!</td></tr>
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Took a break for lunch at the museum's restaurant, The Seaglass Cafe. The food was pretty high-quality, we thought, though one of our children wouldn't even eat his or her macaroni and cheese. Typical. Back into the museum after lunch, where we explored til around 2.<br />
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Our plan for the rest of the day was to head over to Golden Gate Park. We had researched the night before what route to take. Underground or bus? Uber? What would be the best option? In the end we settled on taking the bus. Our first bus was fine, then we had a transfer. And that's where we ran into trouble. We were looking for the #7 bus, but saw a stop with #7x and wrongly assumed that was the same thing. After wondering and wondering why no #7 bus was coming after 30 minutes, I started asking the drivers of other buses where to get the #7, and the two drivers I asked pointed to a spot half a block up. So we went there, and within minutes a #7 bus arrived. Coming from around a corner instead of down the street. Damn. We probably missed at least the first two buses that came by because we were staring the wrong direction. It was so hot again today. Standing there, waiting for a bus that never seemed to come, did not cool us off. (And the bus we did get on was like an oven, seriously. I've never sweated so much sitting still.)<br />
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(Side note to mention Bus Anecdotes: This morning there was a fight on the bus because a man who clearly had some mental illness really needed the windows shut and another man did not like him leaning across, trying to shut his window. On the first afternoon bus, I told the kids to take a seat, then noticed that the lady a few inches from Olive was not only super drunk, but also had her pants (and underwear) pulled down to mid-thigh. Naked butt on the seat. My takeaway: observe the area before having your kids sit. Also, SF has a big homeless/mental illness problem.)<br />
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(Side side note: Later in the evening we saw a totally nude man saunter through the crowd. He wore socks, shoes, and an extra sock to cover his twig and berries. Thankfully the kids had their backs turned and missed his little display.)<br />
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So anyway. Bus to Golden Gate Park, finally. Olive fell asleep on the bus, so Andrew carried her for a bit as we made our way over to the Conservatory of Flowers. The park was pretty, but OMG I was still so stinking hot and the sun was everywhere. We had to stand in a line to get into the conservatory. I guess it was pretty neat in there, but for the most part I was only mildly impressed. The heat does that to me. They did have one special GIANT FLOWER there that bloomed last week or something. It only blooms once a year. It was honestly about four feet tall. And there was a butterfly garden, which Olive adored. I do enjoy seeing my children enjoy things. At one point, Olive asked to feel this little waterfall. I gave her the go-ahead, and when she stuck her hand in, she exclaimed, "It isn't glass, it really is water!"<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pretending to be monkeys and pointing at the bananas.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk0k_jqolwcfcf6IQMQc1ev_96mlHFA7hSk9AdvD0SjnkdFDhD6VOhHA_zFNp-GCfu8QfIGtiH8tmZAj4XwzoF9kuescoRsgtPJo7rd3Zx9FAsOE9anmJ4jbEZv1cu7_7uskdfpajpAZE/s1600/IMG_20170618_155258.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk0k_jqolwcfcf6IQMQc1ev_96mlHFA7hSk9AdvD0SjnkdFDhD6VOhHA_zFNp-GCfu8QfIGtiH8tmZAj4XwzoF9kuescoRsgtPJo7rd3Zx9FAsOE9anmJ4jbEZv1cu7_7uskdfpajpAZE/s320/IMG_20170618_155258.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The enormous flower. Olive is Unimpressed. Or mad at her brother. One of those, though.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trying to get the butterfly to walk on her hand.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr7WwbpdnnLP9H2uHyNWjfDgMUT0pwbDse6sLinGQYtj0GK8hz97vYchupVm7mRcsa5UH6FaSrSXq_2ytdUCcTZIoqFuOszMdfMqRPVeHYwqWT09otVuv7RbXmtDEy4Ad23SUyKNGCzzc/s1600/IMG_20170618_155613.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr7WwbpdnnLP9H2uHyNWjfDgMUT0pwbDse6sLinGQYtj0GK8hz97vYchupVm7mRcsa5UH6FaSrSXq_2ytdUCcTZIoqFuOszMdfMqRPVeHYwqWT09otVuv7RbXmtDEy4Ad23SUyKNGCzzc/s320/IMG_20170618_155613.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The butterflies were her favorite.</td></tr>
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Next was the search for a bathroom, then over the the kids' playground and carousel. The carousel was closing as we got there, which I didn't mind at all. We spent quite a bit of time at the playground, though. There was this concrete slide going down a hill. The kids there grabbed pieces of cardboard from a big pile at the bottom, climbed up, then slid down on the cardboard. I was really impressed with how Milo and Olive observed the other kids, then just jumped in to try it. Olive flipped over at one point and scraped her elbow. She got bandaged up, and we were glad to see that she was willing to go slide down again (though she did hold her injured arm up for the next hour).<br />
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Andrew and I wanted to see more of the park, but I don't think the kids had it in them at this point. We left the park around 5pm and walked back east along Haight. The Entire Street Smelled Like Pot And I Am Not Even Making That Up. At times I didn't even see any people who could've been smoking, yet the pot smell was so strong it was like someone right next to me was smoking.<br />
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We got pizza for dinner (two nights in a row--hooray for pizza!), then caught the bus back to the cable car stop. And because we weren't sure what our transit options were, we stuck with the cable car. Andrew and kids watched the breakdancers there for awhile and I took line duty. Eventually we got back to our hotel. We had promised the kids ice cream earlier in the day, and since we couldn't find any at Golden Gate Park (during our very limited exploring), Andrew took the kids upstairs since they had to go potty while I went to the market across the street and got little ice cream bars for us all. Also picked up a container of raspberries since I knew Olive would eat them (girl needs nutrition!) and some beer. I was pleasantly surprised to find the store carried not only Boulevard, but perhaps my new favorite Boulevard, the tropical pale ale. We enjoyed our desserts <i>al hotel floor</i>.<br />
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This was our last night of vacation, so Andrew and I packed as much as we could, got the kids off to bed (poor exhausted Milo couldn't fall asleep til almost 9:30), drank a beer or two, and whispered together by the window in the dark. Tomorrow we go home--and we are all ready.Lenexiconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17975065474448387881noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448883092542262511.post-80645799370129346372017-06-24T19:47:00.000-05:002017-06-24T19:47:18.002-05:00June 17, 2017 - Day 6Whhhyyyyy do they wake up so early?? Kids up by 6ish today. I was soooo not ready to be awake. The hotel is unusual. No air-conditioning, but the window actually opens and there's a ceiling fan. Perhaps this is not so unusual for San Francisco? It's fairly warm in the room, and lots of city noise kept me awake for awhile last night. Took another shower this morning so I could use my good shampoo. I swear my hair still smelled like campfire as I washed it.<br />
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We ate the hotel's continental breakfast. It was just pastries. Fine and tasty, but Milo and Olive definitely need protein with their breakfasts. They act like maniacs if they don't eat protein at breakfast. Seriously. Fighting, hitting, whining. Basically little assholes. Tomorrow we'll have to splurge on a real breakfast, but for today we're hoping snacks and an early lunch will suffice.<br />
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We tried to grab a cable car to head up to crooked Lombard Street, but the first two that came by were full. We gave up and walked a block over to catch a bus. We got off the bus about 3 blocks from Lombard. Maybe poor planning on our part? We weren't sure if the bus was going to get closer or turn away from it, so we chanced it. As we walked toward Lombard, we saw another awesome playground. San Francisco Parks and Rec does it right. Kids would have stayed hours, probably, but I wanted to keep going. We had a lot planned and stopping at every playground we saw was not on my SF bucket list.<br />
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The next couple blocks we trekked were solidly uphill. Steep. Going up is much easier on my knees than going down, though, so I didn't mind. Except that I was sweating like crazy and it was only 9:00 in the morning. (Everyone EVERYONE told us it would be chilly in SF and THEY WERE WRONG. We only had pants for this leg (ha) of the trip, and it was about 80 degrees and NOT CHILLY AT ALL.)<br />
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Stopped to take some pics at the bottom of Lombard. I counted the steps as we climbed up. I think it was between 240 - 250, but of course I no longer remember for sure. From there, we got on a cable car for the last couple blocks down to the Wharf area.<br />
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First stop: Ghirardelli Square. We got some chocolate samples and saw some chocolate being made. Pro tip: if you wander through both Ghirardelli cafes, you get a sample at both places! We went in a few little shops. It was such a beautiful day. Andrew and I wished we could just sit and enjoy coffee there in the square. And then some wine later in the day.<br />
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But instead, we wandered back toward the water and sat on the concrete steps by the beach area. Got all sunscreened up and watched the swimmers. Olive desperately wanted to play in the sand and go in the water. We wisely told her she had to wait until the end of the day because we didn't want to be in wet sandy clothes all day. She insisted she'd stay dry but we're no amateurs.<br />
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We checked out Hyde Street Pier, but it wasn't too exciting. It was fun to see the boat wood being steamed, and we pulled on some ropes to demonstrate pulleys. But we were too cheap to pay to tour the boats (and not sure we'd really enjoy it that much anyway) so we didn't spend too much time here.<br />
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Continued on to Fisherman's Wharf. We wandered through the shops, which the kids actually really enjoyed. Of course, they, mostly Olive, wanted to buy everything (and we kept saying no. We're no amateurs). We saw this really cool 3D printed family portrait thing, where they take over 100 pictures simultaneously from all different angles, then make these super-realistic models of you. I was really considering doing this with the four of us, but it would have cost over $300. And we would have been wearing our dumpy vacation clothes. Not ideal. But I do wish we had this kind of thing nearby so we could get all dressed up and have a very cool memento. We also wandered through the lobby of Ripley's Believe It Or Not.<br />
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We ate lunch at a crepe place. Very yummy. (I know, I know, you're wondering why we didn't eat seafood. Well. Andrew had to go to the ER last time we ate seafood at Fisherman's Wharf, so we avoided it.) More wandering, then we got some ice cream at Ben & Jerry's. It was really hot out, so everything was kind of a drippy mess by the time we were done. #WorthIt<br />
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Went down Pier 39, which was starting to very crowded. Spent some time letting the kids play in the bubbles outside the toy store. The kids spent the last of their fun money on seashell boxes and tiny painted sea stars. We saw the sea lions. Adorable.<br />
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We had a catamaran boat tour today. It was a 90-minute ride around Alcatraz, under the Golden Gate Bridge, and back around. Just a ride, really, no guided tour. The boat had these nets up front that looked directly down into the water. The kids loved sitting up there. I took my Dramamine (the ginger-only natural kind, unfortunately) but the choppy water still got me by the end. It was incredibly windy out on the water, and actually cold (the only time we felt cold in SF). We were finally glad we'd been carrying around those jackets all day. We saw some whales out there, which was a highlight. And it was cool to see the bridge up close like that. It was a fun ride in spite of feeling yucky.<br />
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After the boat, I chilled out in the shade while Andrew took the kids on the Pier 39 carousel. Then we headed back toward the beach. We had promised Olive, after all, that we'd play in the sand later. It was a looooong walk back. So so crowded, the sun was in our eyes, and we were all exhausted. And our water bottles were empty and we couldn't find anywhere to fill them up. But we made it, and the kids loved it. They were so happy, playing in the sand and getting wet. First we took off their shoes and socks and rolled up their pants. But it was clear that wasn't going to cut it, so we had them take off their pants and just play in undies. Milo wasn't too sure about this, so he stayed in pants awhile longer than Olive. We figured we could then take off wet underwear and just have them wear pants back to the hotel. Well. Milo's pants got totally soaked before he took them off. So it was a wet bus ride back, but they survived.<br />
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It was after 6:30 by this point, so we were on the hunt for dinner. I ordered carryout pizza from the place across the street from the hotel while Andrew got the kids cleaned up. We ate pizza on the floor of our hotel room with foil plates and paper towel napkins (thank you, extra camping supplies). Despite my expression in this photo, it was lovely.<br />
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We pushed the kids hard today with activities. My watch tells me I walked close to 15,000 steps, and no doubt the kids went further. Milo and Olive are definitely troopers.<br />
<br />Lenexiconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17975065474448387881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448883092542262511.post-45094611699872665422017-06-23T17:44:00.000-05:002017-06-23T17:44:03.326-05:00June 16, 2017 - Day 5Today was our last day at a campground, so our goal this morning was to eat all the food and pack up. I'm pretty proud of my meal-planning skills. We finished off the sausage, eggs, cheese, bagels, cream cheese, and peanut butter this morning. The only things we had to throw out were four hot dogs, two brats, vegetable oil, half a tiny jar of jelly, and a few dry baby carrots. (You're welcome, future self, for so carefully documenting every last thing we ate for a few random days in June '17.)<br />
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Our drive, thankfully, was uneventful. We had to stop at a dump station to empty our wastewater, which took a bit longer than expected. But along the drive, there wasn't any terrible construction or extreme slowdowns. And the wipers didn't turn on unexpectedly even once.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The campsite with the dump station had a petting zoo! But we didn't see it until we were ready to go, so only stopped for a moment. Boo.</td></tr>
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We stopped for lunch at a fast food place called Loco Pollo. Andrew, Milo, and I thought it was very tasty (have you found the theme yet, of which one of us doesn't like food?).<br />
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We arrived back at Jucy to return the van about 1:30, just 30 minutes later than planned. I call that a success. From there, we took an Uber to our hotel in San Francisco. As it turned out, there wasn't a huge price difference in taking an Uber vs. all four of us getting BART tickets. And the car was much easier than dragging our children and bags through the public transit system.<br />
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We checked in to the Grant Hotel at 2:50. Technically 10 minutes before their check-in time of 3pm, but I was mentally high-fiving us for our great timing. Once in our room, first things first--SHOWERS FOR EVERYONE! I was extremely disappointed to find weird-smelling-bleh-in-a-wall-mounted-dispenser shampoo and wash. (And I think the shampoo, shower wash, and hand soap by the sink were all filled with the same stuff.) Not great products, but still! Clean! And hot water!<br />
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The next step was to get our clothes organized, set aside what we wanted to wear for the next few days and figure out what we needed to wash. I gathered all our laundry and set off down the block to a laundromat. It took just over an hour to wash and semi-dry my load. In that time, Andrew took the kids and got our 3-day visitor transit passes and bought some better shampoo and body wash.<br />
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With all that business taken care of, we took the cable car to Chinatown and wandered around. We ate dinner at Cathay House. The kids didn't love it, though both enjoyed the hot tea. Milo actually ate lots of chicken and even some of the potstickers. Olive chewed holes in her mu shu pancake and made a mask out of it.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pinkies up!</td></tr>
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Next we went to St. Mary's Square, which we saw across the street so the kids (and Andrew) could run and play for a bit. Then, just for fun, we rode the cable car to the end of the line and back up again. It wasn't busy at all this time of day.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Okay, okay, you caught me. I played, too.</td></tr>
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When we got back to the hotel, we put our clothes in drawers and stuffed the rest in our rather large closet. Everything smells like a campfire. Bedtime for kids, and shortly after, grown-ups. I'm beat. After just a few blocks of those San Francisco hills, my knees are killing me. Stupid osteoarthritis. Sigh.Lenexiconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17975065474448387881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448883092542262511.post-31467610189389457732017-06-22T18:15:00.000-05:002017-06-22T18:15:08.754-05:00June 15, 2017 - Day 4I woke up just before the alarm. (Yes, we set an alarm today. Wanted an early start to see as much of Yosemite as we could--and get a parking spot.) It took us about 45 minutes to drive from Hodgdon Meadow to the valley. Not too bad. And the views were incredible. Out of nowhere, it seemed, these enormous granite cliffs appeared. River far down below, waterfall in the distance. Gorgeous.<br />
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It was easy find parking. Guess that's the case when you arrive by 8:30am. First, we checked out Yosemite Village and got some (more) coffee. Then, on to the Lower Yosemite Falls trail. It was an easy hike, and not too long. Perfect for us. And ohmygosh, it was beautiful. The trail ran alongside the rushing water of the river, and everywhere you looked you saw the sparkling granite and lush woods. When we got to the base of the falls, it was incredibly windy and chilly. The water sprayed off the boulders and the mist was everywhere. So awesome.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pondering nature with John Muir.</td></tr>
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Next, we headed over to Yosemite Lodge, where we could pick up our tickets for our afternoon tram tour. It was still too early for lunch, but we didn't really have time to take the shuttle to another vicinity and explore somewhere else before needing to be back for the tour. We decided to check out a random trail we had seen that ran behind the lodge. It turned out so great. It was a beautiful, flat, easy trail with lots to see. Marshy areas, huge meadows, river, cliffs. Not far to hike to get to the bridge over the Merced River. At the bridge, we turned back toward the food court and lunch.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mule deer!</td></tr>
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Three of us had delish pizza for lunch (and Olive ate a hot dog--or rather, she asked for a hot dog then let it sit on her plate for the next 20 minutes until eventually someone else ate it). Andrew and I got beer! And it was so good.<br />
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Next was the tram tour. It was so fun. It was a two-hour tour on an open-air tram through the best of the Yosemite Valley sites. Our guide told us lots of fun stories and info. For instance: did you know that once a piece of granite the size of two football fields just straight-up fell off the side of El Capitan?!? She also got to meet President Obama after carrying a picnic table up a hill, and a secret photographer took her picture and emailed it to her later. Anyway. We saw El Capitan, Bridal Veil Falls, Half Dome, Tunnel View (and got our iconic photo op), and lots of other rocks and waterfalls that have names.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tunnel View selfie</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUbK9SsPI0nLDFIa6pt0Eh8KjrYBGoDUiZ65-njmdtEl6AO5GN8iF8ITEYZ61GuoS5gGUPdhUpehcKe4cWKnjX0fcc0C4ZqZKYFPo5dLAIWt5TAPbpOK2ErrtOuBWhZl8AbHSLFSAR4vk/s1600/IMG_20170615_143050.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUbK9SsPI0nLDFIa6pt0Eh8KjrYBGoDUiZ65-njmdtEl6AO5GN8iF8ITEYZ61GuoS5gGUPdhUpehcKe4cWKnjX0fcc0C4ZqZKYFPo5dLAIWt5TAPbpOK2ErrtOuBWhZl8AbHSLFSAR4vk/s320/IMG_20170615_143050.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Hello, do you like my hat?"</td></tr>
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After the tour, we took a break in the shade--the tour was mostly in the sun and it was sweaty and hot. Ice cream bars for the kids, drinks for the grown-ups. Running around for the kids, sitting for the grown-ups.<br />
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We weren't totally sure where to go next, so after some quick map-studying and research, we grabbed a shuttle to Happy Isles. The nature center there was closed, but we went on the short trail that crossed the raging Merced River to two small islands that had formed in the river. It was really chilly by the water, and kind of terrifying to be that close to such angry waters. But awesome all the same.<br />
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The kids were wearing out, so back to the shuttle stop. We planned to eat dinner in the valley before going back to our campsite. We got to the Valley Grill at 5:58pm. They closed at 6:00. I know. We couldn't believe it either. We were literally the last people to order for the day. But we got food, unlike the 20 people we saw arrive after us who were shocked to find a locked restaurant door at 6pm.<br />
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As we drove back to Hodgdon Meadow, we saw tons of people pulled over with cameras out. Obviously we stopped too. Yes, a bear! One lone bear in a meadow, far enough away that it wasn't scary at all, and also none of my pictures were any good. Andrew woke Olive up to see it. Not sure she cared, but I guess it beats leaving her alone in a car on the side of a highway.<br />
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We started a fire at our campsite and had some s'mores. Got the Jucy set up in record time. This was our warmest evening so far. Still wearing shorts after dark and wasn't even cold. At this point in the trip, I was definitely ready to be done camping, but loved that we were there. [Forgive my weird tense-switching. Past-blogging is haaaarrrrddd.] I'm dirty, haven't washed my hair since we were in Kansas City, and I'm definitely vaguely smelly. Tomorrow is going to be another long day of travel, but the kids are looking forward to getting to play on tablets. Ahh, the youth of today.Lenexiconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17975065474448387881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448883092542262511.post-50072919104650720902017-06-21T21:14:00.000-05:002017-06-21T21:14:26.986-05:00June 14, 2017 - Day 3This morning was lovely. We all woke up much later - must be adjusting to California time. Scrambled eggs, sausage, hash browns, and toasty bagels for breakfast. (Thank you, Christy, for talking me into the eggs. It was a good choice.) The temperature wasn't nearly as cold today, either. Only slightly frosty.<br />
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None of us felt that dirty, but since we knew there weren't any showers at our campsite in Yosemite, we all decided to take a quick shower here. Of course, it was a camp shower, so not great. But Olive and I had hot water at least.<br />
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We wanted to go on one very short hike before we left, the Three Senses Trail. Decided to pack up first, and of course it took way longer than expected. We were aiming to leave around 10am, but it was 10:00 before we were ready to go on our walk. It might have been cool, but we sort of rushed through it. Travel days are like that, I guess.<br />
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When we finally got in the van to head out to Yosemite, the windshield wipers were on and They Would Not Turn Off. Then we realized the entire dashboard wasn't working. No gas gauge, no speedometer, no blinkers. We weren't totally sure what to do. Since the car was drivable, we set out for a gas station. Figured we'd better fill up since we couldn't read the gauge (even though I was sure we still had 3/4 tank). At the gas station, Andrew and I were both on edge. Squeaky wipers going nonstop on a sunny day will do that to you, I guess. We opened the hood, like we knew something about cars. We did use the owner's manual to find the electrical parts, and pulled out the one that seemed connected to the wipers. Andrew blew on it like was an old Nintendo cartridge then put it back. Spoiler alert, that didn't fix anything.<br />
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We should have called Jucy, but were kind of afraid they'd charge us tons of money for this. So we decided to just keep driving. And thankfully, just a few more miles down the road, everything just turned back on. Our best guess is that Jucy wasn't totally honest about the amount of battery the fridge would use (or what battery), and we just ran down the car's battery. So after driving awhile, it worked again. For the record, we would NOT recommend Jucy.<br />
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Maybe 10 minutes later, we got stuck behind a line-painting truck that said Do Not Pass. We crawled along for 15 minutes. This was clearly not our day for driving.<br />
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Other notes about the drive: We stopped at a scenic vista overlooking a lake to eat our lunch -- nice, but I managed to sit in a patch of burrs. Ouch. We went through old-timey Columbia, CA. It was set up to look like an old gold-rush town, I think. We saw the quaint ice-cream parlor sign from the highway and decided to stop. Delicious ice cream and adorable atmosphere. We wandered the town for a few minutes, but nothing else compared to the ice cream. As we neared Yosemite, we had some majorly steep roads to climb. Our engine was getting hotter and hotter, so we had to pull off for a 15-minute break. Everything took forever during this drive. (And five minutes after we got going, I decided to stop for a cooler and ice--the overnight temps were not going to be cold enough to prevent our food from spoiling.)<br />
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Finally, FINALLY we arrived at our campsite, Hodgdon Meadow, around 3pm. Our site is . . . unimpressive. It's really crowded. We're right by the trash and recycling dumpsters, so campers are constantly clanging open the bear-proof carabiners and slamming in their trash. Some people even dump out their beer bottles on the ground right there. Nature! There aren't any water pumps; only water is up by the semi-dirty restrooms. (Speaking of the restrooms, they don't have any soap. Neither did Big Trees's bathroom. What is up with that?) No clear trails to meander nearby. Some fallen trees to climb on and around, but the kids quickly got bored with that. And since the main attractions in Yosemite are quite a drive away, we weren't doing those until the next day.<br />
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We got our camp set up quickly this time--we're getting good at this--then mostly we just got on each other's nerves until dinnertime. It seemed late enough to start making dinner around 5:30. Tonight's menu was brats grilled over the fire, macaroni and cheese, corn chips, and baby carrots. Pretty good. (Unfortunately, we ran out of beer. Dang.) After I washed the dishes, Andrew let me sit lazily by the fire while he took the kids out exploring. My knee was starting to hurt today and I'm limping around. I think it's all the hills. Hopefully not my boots. My rest was fairly short-lived, however, because Milo took a pretty big spill off a log and scraped up the side of his leg. This was maybe his 3rd or 4th big fall today? He's tough, that one. Man, I love that kid. Not because he's tough, but because he's just so sweet, thanking me for getting his band-aids and such.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Milo loved gathering wood for our fire. A semi-recent wildfire left this area pretty charred, so the ranger said we could burn anything we gathered. (He definitely gave me a WTF look when I asked about buying firewood.)</td></tr>
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Milo and Olive chose some souvenirs at Big Trees yesterday--small stuffed fox for Milo and three butterfly finger puppets for Olive. They've been playing these imaginative games with them nonstop, some kind of family scenario. So fun. These kids get along great when they're not fighting.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Holding hands. Awwww.</td></tr>
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As we head to bed, Andrew and I are feeling worried that we'll hate Yosemite, that it will be too crowded and crazy to enjoy anything. The older I get, the less I like crowds. But we had a plan--wake up early, quick breakfast and get dressed, get going. Gotta get a parking spot in the valley! <br />
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<br />Lenexiconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17975065474448387881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448883092542262511.post-31129506168848231062017-06-20T22:05:00.000-05:002017-06-20T22:05:51.361-05:00June 13, 2017 - Day 2Our first full day at Big Trees State Park. Milo woke up first, around 4:40am. He had to go to the bathroom, and while peeing against a tree, he asked what time it was. I reluctantly told him 4:40. He immediately said, "Oh, so it's 6:40 at home." Which meant he was up for the day, which meant Olive would hear him and be up shortly after. Sigh. My wonderful husband got up with the kids around 5:40, and I managed to doze until 6:30. Still didn't want to get up. It was cozy warm under the covers, and outside was COLD. Andrew said it took close to an hour to get the fire started because everything was damp.<br />
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We had bagels and sausage (toasted over an open fire) and bananas with peanut butter for our breakfast. Fun fact: my kids need tons of protein at breakfast or they fight.<br />
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Everything that was at all scented had to be kept in the bear-proof box. Apparently bears will eat soap and sunscreen in addition to your hot dogs and marshmallows. For that reason, we were glad it was so cold that night. All our food in the bear box was basically at fridge temperature. Our Jucy van had a little fridge drawer, but we were told when we picked up the van that it only had about 10 hours of cold before it would start to run the car battery down (incidentally, this totally contradicted what I was told by customer service a couple weeks ago, which was that the fridge ran on a totally separate battery from the car so it couldn't run it down). We didn't have a cooler or ice with us. The only ones we saw at Walmart were way too big for our limited storage space while driving, so were just hoping to make it work for a couple days by keeping food in the bear box during the cold nights and only turning the fridge on during the day.<br />
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Since we were all freezing that first morning, we decided to turn on the car's engine and run the heat full blast for a little while to A) warm us up, and B) charge the fridge. It seemed better to chance it with the bears during the daytime in a semi-busy, populated campsite than to let all our groceries rot in the bear box during the day. The heater raised everyone's spirits, so much so that I didn't even mind being the jackass who ran the engine for 20 minutes.<br />
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With groceries in the fridge, we set out to do some exploring. The kids basically ran up a mountain. We came back around down the mountain toward a trail, which ran by this beautiful clear stream. Our plan was to go to Jr. Rangers at 10am, but no such luck. Apparently Jr. Rangers meets Wednesday through Sunday in the summer, and it was Tuesday. Dang.<br />
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Our first big sight was The Big Stump. It was aptly named. Just so huge. I can't even imagine how immense the tree would have looked when it was still standing. It was starting to warm up by this point, and the gorgeous scenery and the warmth of the sunshine was so uplifting. I need more of that in my life: that temperature, that sun, that view. That feeling.<br />
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We decided we'd go back to our campsite, pack a lunch, then head out to our big(ish) hike: the North Grove trail, a 1.5-mile easy trek, which we expected to take between one-and-a-half and two hours to complete. I had printed out a guide of 26 fun facts and info for the trail that corresponded to 26 marked posts along the path. I loved it. So much history, nature facts and things I never would have noticed on my own. The kids really got into it for the first 10 posts or so, then were Over It. That didn't stop me from reading each one out loud, though!<br />
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We stopped at a bench for lunch close to halfway around. It ended up taking us close to three hours to hike the whole thing. It was all so awesome. Crazy beautiful. This was honestly one of my favorite places I've ever been. We saw so many big trees, so many that by the end of the trail, the kids didn't even seem to care anymore. <i>Yeah yeah, another sequoia redwood. So what?</i> I was still impressed. We saw a teeny baby bird peering out at us from a nest inside a hollowed out fallen tree. We saw the tree that had the tunnel carved through it that just fell over last year (and some dude mansplained it to me).<br />
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After our hike, the kids chilled out at our campsite and ran around and played. After we felt rested, we went on another short exploration. This time the kids wore their Crocs so they could play in the little stream we saw earlier. They got wet and a little muddy, but they didn't think the water was too cold. I'm fairly certain it was too cold for me, but they are much tougher than me.<br />
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After a hot-dog dinner and s'mores dessert, we played a few rounds of Skip-Bo, then with full tummies and tired bodies, we were all off to bed.Lenexiconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17975065474448387881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448883092542262511.post-18538634408081599792017-06-19T22:15:00.000-05:002017-06-19T22:15:09.561-05:00Miss Me?Hey there! We just got back from a week-long vacation to California. Oh, and I took a year-plus hiatus from my blog. Some people document their vacations on Facebook or other social media of their choice, but I am paranoid and am convinced that by advertising my out-of-town-ness, my house will be burgled. But I still want to tell you all about our adventures, so I (painstakingly) took notes at the end of each day of all the things we did. And now, over the next several days, I will post about each day as if it happened That Very Day! Remember when I did this back in 2008 when Andrew and I went to Europe?<br />
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*crickets*<br />
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Regardless, here we go.<br />
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<b>June 12, 2017 - Day 1</b><br />
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Early flight, so we were up at 5am to be at the airport by 7:15ish. The kids were great on the loooong flight. Tablets and Nintendo Switch for the win! And having a direct into Oakland was a plus too. No layovers and extra boring airports to deal with.<br />
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The basic outline of our trip was this: two nights camping in Calaveras Big Trees State Park, two nights camping in Yosemite, three nights in San Francisco. We rented a Jucy van, which is basically a minivan that has been converted to a tiny RV. It had a bed that folded out, a small camp kitchen in the back, and a pop-up on top that also had a bed, accessible via exterior ladder. Picking up our Jucy was...not a great experience. We thought we'd be able to get to it from the airport, like with the other rental car places. But no. We had to Uber there, and it took about 15 minutes for our Uber to arrive. Plenty of time for the kids to start messing with each other! Then, the Jucy people weren't ready for us, and it took lots of back-and-forth to get everything we rented and go through all the checks. We spent maybe 45 minutes there, trying to take care of business and prevent the kids from drawing with dry erase marker all over the walls.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pretty sure Andrew is saying "Uuuuuuber!!"</td></tr>
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<br />Finally on the road . . . for a half mile, to a Walmart so we could get all the groceries we needed for our four days of camping. Our plan was for Andrew to take the kids to the Walmart McDonald's while I shopped. But the McDonald's was too crowded, so all four of us maneuvered through the narrow CROWDED aisles for food. So stressful. The produce selection was meager. I was already anxious about getting all the things we needed, and the crowded, pushy, intense shoppers magnified my anxiety. (What is UP, Oakland Walmart shoppers?!?) Even the parking lot was crazy intense and aggressive. (Is my Midwest showing?)<br />
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On the road for real, and of course we hit traffic. We're so spoiled in Kansas City! The trip took over two hours in total. We found a mall to stop at for lunch, and ended up eating delicious tacos and burritos. So yum, even Olive, our picky one, ate her quesadilla. Later we made a pit stop for milkshakes and coffee. I love vacations. Endless treats.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eating fruit bars and waiting for our food to be ready.</td></tr>
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<br />Eventually we made it to Big Trees, just after 5pm. We were all cold the instant we got out of the car. It must have been about 45 degrees, and we were mostly in shorts and tees. We checked in, bought a couple firewood bundles, and got set up at our campsite. The first time we did it, it was tricky to set up our camper van beds and figure out where to put all the stuff. Got all our stuff in the bear box and started a fire. This night we cooked burgers on our van's kitchen stove. In hindsight, we should have pulled the portable one out to the picnic table. The van smelled like burgers all night. Later, s'mores over the fire.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Did I mention that the park was GORGEOUS? Seriously. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I pretty much panicked every night that she was going to accidentally fall into the fire. </td></tr>
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We were all exhausted. Still on central time, so by 7:30 the kids were really crashing. We didn't do too much exploring, just short wanderings around the vicinity of our campsite. It was amaxingly beautiful. We didn't see any of the giant GIANT trees the day we arrived, though we did have some young Sequoia redwoods near our site. Temps just kept dropping. It was the coldest face and hand-washing I've done in a long time. My Raynaud's kicked in big time and I had four numb fingers, perhaps a new record for me. But our duvet was warm, and the bed was comfy enough. I shared the bed with Olive inside the van, while Andrew and Milo braved the cold up top. Still didn't sleep particularly well, but could've been much worse.Lenexiconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17975065474448387881noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448883092542262511.post-50396445559840930022016-06-06T21:35:00.001-05:002016-06-06T21:35:34.579-05:00The Hair SituationOlive has been asking for a short haircut for several months now. Last year, in March I think, she wanted a big haircut (like Milo's). We cut her hair into a short but very feminine style. She was only three years old, and I wasn't sure she knew what she wanted. Sure enough, a few months later she wanted to be able to put it into pony tails, so we started growing it out. A couple months ago, she complained of her hair being in her face, so I tried giving her bangs to see if that made her wishes of a very short haircut to vanish. And it seemed to, for awhile. But in the last couple weeks she has mentioned repeatedly that she again wants very very short hair.<br />
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I've struggled with this. Will she really like it? Will she regret it? Will she be bothered when/if she is mistaken for a boy? But beyond all that, I struggled with whether I was okay with having a girl that looked like a boy. I consider myself really liberal about all this, and want her to be able to make her own decisions. And yet... I like the way she looks with longer hair. I like playing with it and brushing it (though she hates having it brushed). I wish it was long enough to put in a real ponytail or braids because it would be fun for me to style it.<br />
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But ultimately, I think hairstyles are something every kid needs to choose for him/herself. The best advice I got on this situation came from Emily. I fretted that she would be mistaken for a boy, and wondered if that would bother her. Emily said that maybe it would be a good thing, since I was always complaining about how differently people treated my boy and my girl, and that I wished people would quit calling Olive pretty and comment on her clothes or her dimples or whatever appearance-related thing.<br />
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Maybe people who don't know her will think she is a boy. Maybe they'll ask her about something meaningful instead of comment on her outfit. And maybe all that will add something positive to her life.<br />
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I'll miss her hair, but I think her excitement about her new style will get me excited too. She has a haircut scheduled with my stylist, Carly, tomorrow afternoon, and she couldn't be more thrilled. I found some pictures of various cuts for her to look at (a few adult actresses with pixie cuts, and a few 6-ish-year-old boys). She chose one of the boys' cuts. It's a bit of a social experiment, to see if her short haircut changes the way people treat her. We'll see.Lenexiconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17975065474448387881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448883092542262511.post-40792526085994477932016-02-18T14:54:00.000-06:002016-02-18T14:54:22.168-06:00A Good DayToday is a good day. It's the middle of February, but the sun is shining and the temps are near 70. The windows are open for crissake. I took a long walk this morning. Olive and I listened and danced to Taylor Swift during lunch. "Mommy, wipe my hands and face so I can dance!" she said. All that dancing wore her out, because she's currently taking a nap (a somewhat rare occurrence these days). I'm still feeling good after long-overdue drinks (Long Island iced teas, no less) with Stephanie last night, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow's lunch plans with Lindsay. Milo will be home from school in about 30 minutes, and I want to give that sweet kid a big hug. We'll play outside in the sunshine. Then I'm thinking yoga this evening while Andrew takes the kids to Milo's tumbling class. Yes, a good day.Lenexiconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17975065474448387881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448883092542262511.post-14936188712855763412016-02-17T10:46:00.000-06:002017-05-27T21:03:21.578-05:00PrivateAfter months of considering it (but taking no action), I finally decided to make this blog private. As of this writing, I have zero readers. If anyone notices it is private, they can request access. I'm planning to limit it to family and maybe a few close friends. Not that anyone else was reading it to begin with. But as my kids get older, I'm worried about sharing too much about them. I don't want their friends searching their names and reading about their struggles. I don't know if I want them to find this blog and read about themselves. Maybe in 10 years or so. I also have a lot on my mind that I want to get out, but I don't necessarily want the world to read it. I don't know if I want my family to read it to be honest, but I need the support, I think.<br />
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For having so little to do, my life feels awfully complex right now. I left Hallmark about a year and a half ago. While I think it was a good decision, and I'm glad to have gotten to know my kids so much better, I've been struggling lately with my situation. I'm getting bored. I'm often dissatisfied. I miss having tasks and deadlines and things to challenge me. I'm not a great housekeeper, so cleaning up and washing clothes does not give me any pleasure. I only feel stress about the clutter and dirty carpets. I try to play pretend games with Olive, but I can only act like her baby doll is sick for so long. There are things I want to do--paint a picture to put on the mantel, start a nature photography project, learn embroidery--but they all seem so insignificant, not to mention difficult to accomplish while spending my days with the kids. </div>
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I know that something needs to change. My frustrations spill out on the kids, and it's not fair to them. The problem is that I don't know how to change things. I want to spend more time with my friends and go on more dates with Andrew. I want something meaningful to do. So much easier said than done.<br />
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UPDATED: J/K. The blog is public again. Because reasons.</div>
Lenexiconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17975065474448387881noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448883092542262511.post-14102536741143857112015-10-27T13:49:00.000-05:002015-10-27T13:49:26.747-05:00Vacation!Last week, Milo had Thursday and Friday off school, so the Langfords decided to take a mini-vacation to Branson. We've traveled quite a bit with our families, and we've visited friends, but we've never taken a trip with just the four of us--something we've looked forward to doing for a long time.<br />
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The days leading up to the trip were less than promising. Everyone had been or was feeling sick. The day before, I was so ill I really didn't have the energy to pack anything or prep in any way. This is so against my personality, I had a headache and eye tick all day as a result. There was also a lot of rain in the forecast, so I was doubting our decision to go at all. But Andrew convinced me all would be well, and (spoiler alert) it was.<br />
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We stayed in a cute little cabin in an RV park. It had a great loft area where the kids slept, and they loved the ladder. Nervous about coming down the ladder the first time or two, but then they were just making random trips up and down for kicks. The RV park had a tiny playground too, with one of those double swings where the kids sit back to back. They laughed and swung for a solid 30 minutes.<br />
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<br />Since we had to pack nearly everything in the morning of our departure, we didn't arrive in Branson until about 2:30pm. We had time for a quick snack and a stop by the cabin to drop off our stuff (and kill all the wasps) before heading to Dixie Stampede.<br />
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(Oh, you want more of the wasp story? Basically, when we walked up to the front door of the cabin, I noticed a wasp inside the window. I told Andrew, asked him to try to kill it before the kids saw. Well. Turns out that wasp was not alone. All told, there were probably ten or more wasps just hanging out in the cabin. Needless to say, the kids noticed. We got wasp spray from the office, and sprayed the hell out the cabin. Then we left so the poison could dissipate, and went to our show. We didn't see another wasp the whole time.)<br />
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The kids loved Dixie Stampede. The pre-show juggling was only okay (Andrew and I thought it was cool though), but they enjoyed the horses, the costumes, the singing, and the fact that we got to eat while watching the show. Milo ate nearly his whole chicken, and Olive ate the inside "no crust" part of her biscuit.<br />
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Day 2 was our full day at Silver Dollar City. We arrived there a little before they opened, around 9:45. We stayed until they closed at 6:00pm. The kids were exhausted, and so were we, but we all had a great time. It's so fun to see the kids enjoying the rides and being so excited. Their favorite ride was the green roller coaster, a small kids coaster that they rode several times. Milo was proud because this was one where he was tall enough to ride without a grown-up. It wasn't crowded at all, so there weren't any lines, and we got to ride everything more than once. Except Fire in the Hole. The kids HATED Fire in the Hole. Passionately.<br />
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We ate delicious cinnamon rolls, potato-and-sausage hash and root beer floats (for the grown-ups), corn dogs and chicken tenders (for the kids), a cookie as big as your face, and salt water taffy. We walked about 13,000 steps. And we slept hard that night.<br />
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When we left the park, we ate dinner at this super yummy pizza place called Mr. G's. Loved it there, wish we could have stayed a little longer to enjoy the ambiance, the wine, and the Royals ALCS championship game, but the kids were exhausted and beyond ready for bed. (Royals won, BTW--on to the World Series!)<br />
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On Saturday, we went to the fish hatchery and learned about that. Kids got to feed the fish, which wasn't quite as exciting as feeding the goats or sheep at the zoo. From there, we went to Top of the Rock. We didn't have time, really, to fully explore the place or take the tours, so we just wandered a bit and had lunch at Arnie's Barn. Very tasty food, and an even better view. I'd love to go there on a grown-ups only night and enjoy some drinks on the patio next to the fireplace.<br />
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From there, we headed up to Springfield to visit our friends Katie, Eli, and their almost-three-year-old, Oliver. Kid-sized Jeeps were driven in the backyard, cats were chased, delicious food was eaten, and fun was had by all.<br />
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It was a wonderful trip. And the best parts? No one got sick and it didn't rain at all. Can't wait until we can take another vacation together.Lenexiconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17975065474448387881noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448883092542262511.post-8390439193632448282015-09-29T15:56:00.002-05:002015-09-29T15:56:48.480-05:00UnlikelyMilo's homework instructed him to draw three bears: one large bear, one medium bear, and one small bear. He read the instructions, then asked me, "Does 'B-E-A-R' spell 'bear,' or 'beer'? I'm just not sure which one that spells."<br />
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I said that it spelled "bear" and that it I didn't think his kindergarten teacher would ask him to draw pictures of beer because it's a grown-up thing. I kind of wish he hadn't asked me and just assumed it was "beer." What I wouldn't have given to be a fly on the wall as his teacher saw <i>those</i> drawings.Lenexiconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17975065474448387881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448883092542262511.post-29148090688914261132015-09-28T14:28:00.000-05:002015-09-28T14:28:24.470-05:00Super EclipseLast night we kept the kids up late to watch the lunar eclipse. But not just any lunar eclipse. This was a Super Moon Eclipse Of Wonder, meaning the moon was as close to earth as it ever gets. I think I read on Twitter that it only happens every 18 years, maybe? And the eclipse was happening from around 8:15 - 10:00, with the peak in the 9:30 range, so it wasn't obscenely late.<br />
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Of course, I was fascinated and could have stayed out all night watching the moon, but the kids were BORED. And TIRED. Milo kept whining and restlessly wiggling around. Olive sat on my lap and could barely hold her head up. Neither seemed to care much about the moon. But hey, we did our parent-y duty and showed them this awesome bit of science.<br />
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One of the highlights was seeing a shooting star right next to the moon (in our line of vision; I know it wasn't technically right next to the moon) as the eclipse was nearly full. So cool. Neither kids saw it, obviously. Another highlight was watching the whole thing at Stan and Marilyn's house. They have bats living nearby, which means hardly any mosquitoes. Plus, Marilyn made us decaf coffee with Bailey's, and that's a win in my book any day.Lenexiconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17975065474448387881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448883092542262511.post-18977274680499779632015-09-15T21:22:00.005-05:002015-09-15T21:22:56.291-05:00Sad stuffWell. Today did not go the way I expected it to. But I suppose nothing ever does, does it? Milo's in kindergarten, and Olive had preschool today, so I planned to spend my free morning sipping coffee, maybe do some gardening (ok, ok, I was going to dump out some dead plants from the pots. "Gardening" might be pushing it.), maybe read my book, maybe go for a walk. Really intense stuff, right? Instead, I got a text from my MIL. She said that her dad had contracted pneumonia, and would probably only live another day or two (he was already on hospice), and would Andrew and I be able to help her move out his furniture if he passed?<br />
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Of course, I said. And can I do anything for you now, bring you coffee or something? She and Angie, her stepmother, both accepted my offer of Starbucks, so I headed out for lattes and over to the nursing home. I had only been there a few minutes when he took his last breath. Loved ones of mine have passed away before, but I've never been there to see it. I wasn't even particularly close to John, but it's been a shock to my system to witness the death. I hope I was a comfort to Sarah and Angie, and not in the way. I'm sure they didn't expect me to be there for those last moments, either, and I felt like a bit of an outsider.<br />
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We had told the kids a couple weeks ago that John was sick, and that Nana was feeling sad about it. So today I had to explain to them that Nana's dad had died. And then spend forever discussing death, getting old, burials, cremation, and how we miss people when they die. I held it together until about the third hour of these talks, when I was trying to explain what cremation was to a five year old. Then I just sort of gave up, told them to please play outside because Mommy wasn't feeling too good and needed to lie down.<br />
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Then Daddy got home, I drank some wine, and he took the kids to the playground. My thoughts tonight are with Angie, Sarah, and the rest of the family. I wish there was more I could do than bring pumpkin spice lattes. Rest in peace, John.<br />
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<br />Lenexiconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17975065474448387881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448883092542262511.post-10473397638496715892015-09-11T14:30:00.001-05:002015-09-11T14:30:52.884-05:00So ProudLast night Milo had his first tumbling class. It's at the same studio that Olive goes to for her ballet/tumbling combo class, but his is an all-boys class. I was not at all convinced that he would like it or really wanted to be there. I thought he just asked to take tumbling because he wanted to do SOMETHING, and maybe soccer wasn't his favorite.<br />
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But after several requests and the start of the 2015-2016 session looming, I signed him up. So glad I did. He loved it. He tried everything, even when things didn't immediately come easy. Somersaults, bear walking, feet-together jumping, stretching. He listened and followed instructions. He talked nicely to the teacher and the other boys. And as I watched him, I saw his little smile, just for him. His I'm-so-proud-of-me smile. His yes-I-can-do-it smile. And I know he was proud of himself. And I know I was proud of him, too.<br />
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(Yeah, yeah, I know, it's been over a year since I blogged. Let's not make a big deal about it, eh? I know it is impossible to catch up on the stuff I missed (like Olive's entire life, basically) but since I already can't remember half the things that took place in the last year, I figured there's no time like the present to start this thing up again.)Lenexiconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17975065474448387881noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448883092542262511.post-45360689296890814572014-03-21T21:07:00.002-05:002014-03-21T21:07:57.239-05:00Glad that didn't happen the first timeI had my second eye vision-correction surgery today. Aaaannd...it was worse than the first time. I asked for more drugs, but it still didn't do much for me. When they taped my head down, it was at a really weird angle and it was making me freak out. So I asked them to fix it, and they did, but I was still a little frantic from then on. Then when he said my vision was going to fade out, it did--but only really briefly. This time I could kinda see everything happening. I saw the doctor's hand coming toward my face holding an instrument, and saw the lens slide across my eye, and it was all too clear and way too disconcerting. When it was over, I was crying. Might have been crying during the whole thing, but I'm really not sure. It was just sort of awful.<br />
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*Warning: there are some squeamish parts coming up.*<br />
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I went home and got a little rest, but all too soon it was time to go back for my follow-up check. As soon as we walked out the door to get in the car, I started feeling really sick. Very nauseous and hot. I couldn't get enough air. I was pretty sure I was going to throw up, but I really didn't want to do that because they had told me before that vomiting was bad right after surgery because of the pressure it puts on your eye. I tried very hard to stay calm.<br />
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We got there, I felt extremely shaky and sick for the five or so minutes we were in the waiting room. I made Andrew go back with me to the exam room. They did a pressure check, and within a minute the surgeon was there in the room, poking me in the eye with a sharp thingy. Basically, fluid was building up in my eye, the pressure was way too high, and it was making me sick. Must get fluid out and pressure down.<br />
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Let me just say, the eye poking was not fun. They had given me a numbing drop, but it did not seem very effective. So I tried not to throw up while also trying not to freak out about the sharp thing poking my eyeball. The sharp thing turned out not to be enough, so the doc actually hustled me upstairs to shoot a little laser in my eye to relieve the pressure. That also was not fun. I think in the end he told the nurse it took six laser holes, or something.<br />
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(Apparently they normally give people some pills to keep the pressure down, but I am allergic to those pills. Fantastic.)<br />
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My eye was clearly leaking fluid from someplace that wasn't my tear duct and it was hard to keep it open. But I was feeling less nauseous. The doctor kept asking if I felt better, because the fluid release should make me instantly feel less sick. And I kept saying no, not really, because I am freaking out here and still feeling vaguely sick and now my eye hurts like crazy. But eventually I calmed down a bit.<br />
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I got the all-clear to go home and didn't really feel a ton better until after dinner. Milo's birthday dinner, because oh hey, did you remember that it is my oldest child's birthday? More on that later. It is now time for me to go to bed.Lenexiconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17975065474448387881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448883092542262511.post-24157137676340300102014-03-01T22:07:00.000-06:002014-03-01T22:07:02.646-06:00YesterdayYesterday was my first vision-correction procedure. Everything went just the way it is supposed to. And now, 36-ish hours later, I can see just fine out of my left eye. So, so weird. In a good way.<br />
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Here's how it went down: sign a bunch of paperwork, answer some medical questions (again), pee in a cup (not pregnant!). Put on hairnet and booties. Get first of many eyedrops. Go back to surgery room, lie down. Get hooked up to blood pressure cuff, heart rate monitor, wrist monitor cuffs (also pulse?).Get clear eyepatch on non-surgery eye. Eye is slathered with iodine. A mark is made above my eyebrow to mark surgery eye (I later see it is a big black L). More eyedrops. More medical questions. More eyedrops. Take relaxation medicine that tasted gross. Get goopy eye stuff, makes my eyelid feel like it can't open but doesn't want to shut. Can't see out of my eye anymore, really. Too goopy. Try to relax. The room is freezing, request warm blanket (which has been offered twice already). Wait. Wait. Wait.<br />
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The relaxation meds don't seem to be doing much. The nurse said I might not feel like I was really there, or might feel really tired. She said I probably wouldn't remember any of this later. (I do remember it.)<br />
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After maybe 20 minutes of waiting, the bed is reclined all the way and I am wheeled into the surgery room. I get another warm blanket. An oxygen thingy is put in my nose. My head is taped down to the bed. A paper sheet thing is placed over my head and taped to my face. A hole is cut out of the sheet over my eye. Surgeon comes in.<br />
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My surgery eye is opened with the speculum. Can't feel it, really. I don't even know if my non-surgery eye is open or closed. Surgeon describes what he is doing. I am supposed to look at a bright light. More goop. He says my vision may fade out for a bit. It does, which is a little disconcerting but also super good. Tiny sparkly lights are all I can see, like multi-colored glitter on a black backdrop. At times I see bursts of swirly lights and rainbow colors. I can tell when the lens is sliding into my eye.The surgeon tells me as he positions the four corners of the lens behind my iris. This takes longer than I expect and I feel nervous.<br />
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Then it's over and time to rinse my eye. I can't feel it except when it hits the bridge of my nose a little. Cold. I don't remember the speculum coming out. The tape hurts as it is pulled off my face. That's pretty strong tape. I am wheeled back out. The blood pressure cuff and monitors are removed. I feel like crying a little bit, but I don't know why. I am vaguely dizzy.<br />
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The nurse puts my bed into the upright position and asks me to slowly swing my legs over the side. It seems too fast, I am not ready to stand yet. But I do. And it's fine. I walk out with her, there is Andrew. I can tell already that I can see better, though everything is fuzzy (I don't have my right contact in so that eye is useless, and my left is very fuzzy and numb and weird-feeling). I sit with another nurse. She gives me a bottle of water and a cookie and explains the post-op instructions. She is pointing at a sheet of paper which is utterly ridiculous to me because I can't see much.<br />
<br />
She tells me my eye is dripping a bit and hands me a wipe. It dab at my eye and the wipe comes back bloody. Oh.<br />
<br />
On the way out I stop in the restroom to put in my right contact. In the mirror I see the yellow of the iodine on my face, a slightly swollen and very dilated eye, and just a tiny crust of blood in the corner of my eye. But it doesn't look nearly as operated-on as I would have thought.<br />
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The rest of the day my eye was scratchy and dry feeling, and pretty fuzzy. My depth-perception was way off. I had a headache. I watched TV, rested, and put in lots of various eyedrops. Yesterday evening we had tickets to see the KC Symphony perform the score to The Wizard of Oz while the movie played. I wasn't sure I should go, considering my eye was still so uncomfortable. But I wanted to see the performance and we had had our tickets for months. So we went, and it was incredible. I put my lubricating drops in several times, which helped.<br />
<br />
Then overnight I wore my protective clear plastic eyepatch thing (taped to my face) for sleeping and woke up this morning feeling much better. The scratchy feeling is gone, my follow-up appointment went well, and now I can see out of my left eye with no contact lens. I keep forgetting that it's permanent, like I think, "I'll go take out my contacts now, and just relax in my glasses." But no. Can't do that. Huh. The next three weeks will be weird. Maybe I'll get used to it.<br />
<br />
So that is probably way more than you wanted to know about the phakic IOL procedure. Not quite what I expected, which I think is a good thing. Lenexiconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17975065474448387881noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448883092542262511.post-31908776274133956682014-02-27T22:54:00.001-06:002014-02-27T22:54:58.217-06:00A life-changing day<p dir="ltr">Tomorrow I am having vision correction surgery. I can't even believe it, really. Not LASIK, not PRK. I'm getting a phakic IOL. It's kind of like a permanent contact lens inside your eye.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I know you probably don't get it, exactly, why this is life changing. And you especially don't get it if you have good eyesight. See, I have terrible eyesight. (For those of you in the know, my fellow myopia people, I have -8.00 in my left eye and -6.00 in my right.) It's bad. Blurry. Like, can't read my bedside clock. Like, if he's sitting still, can't tell if my kid is in the room.</p>
<p dir="ltr">And suddenly, after a ten-minute procedure, I'll be able to see (out of one eye; they do them on separate days). I'm so nervous. That isn't even a strong enough word. I'm afraid I'm making a bad decision. Not sure why I think that. Maybe because it was hasty? Maybe because that's just how I roll, overanalyzing things?</p>
<p dir="ltr">Anyway, I honestly feel like my identity is changing. Kind of like how in high school, I played the violin. It was what I did, who I was. And then I went to college and didn't play, and suddenly I had to find another person to be. What kind of person will perfect-vision me be?</p>
<p dir="ltr">I clearly need to go to bed. Think of me tomorrow morning.</p>
Lenexiconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17975065474448387881noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448883092542262511.post-60748073425529261572014-02-11T22:08:00.001-06:002014-02-11T22:08:23.270-06:00My little girl is TWOHere we are...Olive is two years old. Before I go on and on (and on) about her, let me give you the stats from this afternoon's two-year check-up:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Weight: 27 lbs., 7 oz. (75th percentile)</li>
<li>Height: 35 inches (75th percentile)</li>
<li>Head circumference: 19 1/4 inches (80th percentile)</li>
</ul>
<br />
Our doctor said that Olive looks like she's going to be a tall girl. Kinda like her momma, eh? The doctor's visit was thankfully uneventful. Olive is healthy and developmentally right on track or even ahead. The doc asked me if Olive was talking much, and I was like, uh, yeah. Like a lot. But Olive was completely silent for most of the visit. I kept asking her questions, trying to get her to say something, anything. But she just gave me a look, like "As if, Mother. As if." Olive gave us just one nugget of speech. She was looking at a Sesame Street book, and said something like "Dat's Big Bird righ dere by Oscar da Grouch too." And the doctor said, "Yep, she can talk all right--like a four year old!" I was proud.<br />
<br />
Olive is hilarious. Just before getting in the bath, when she's stripped down to her diaper, she does a naked dance. She bobs and sways and tips her head back and forth, saying, "I'm naked, I'm naked, I'm naked!" I really really want to get it on video. But every time she sees a camera, she says "I see me?" and comes over to see the picture. So I have a lot of video of her saying that and no video of the naked dance.<br />
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Olive has officially quit using her booster seat. She sits at a regular grown-up chair. Mostly on her knees, but sometimes just on her bottom. And when she stands up, I threaten her with going back to the booster. She does still use/need a bib. She drips a lot of food and tends to be a little messy. She doesn't like being messy. Frequently while eating she'll pick up her non-finger-food food, and then get upset that her hands are messy. She insists on us wiping them midway through the meal. Then she gets them dirty again, and the cycle continues.<br />
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Her hair is getting longer (obviously) but not so long that she's had a real haircut. I've trimmed her bangs a few times, and today my hairstylist trimmed her bangs (does that count as a first haircut? I say no, because I didn't take any pictures), but that is just to keep her hair out of her eyes. Now that she's more okay with hair ties and clips, I might quit cutting bangs. Not sure.<br />
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Olive is still missing her incisor teeth. I think they're on their way in, though, and then she'll have everything. I think. I'm no tooth expert.<br />
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Olive is still into the things Milo is into, though her interests have begun to develop individually as well. When it's TV time, she requests Chuggington (Milo's train preference du jour). When she picked out a sticker at the doctor's office, she choice a Thomas sticker. They both love Fancy Nancy and books of all kinds. As for her own interests, she has gotten into Winnie the Pooh and friends. Her pronunciation is sweet: "Winnie Pooh, Plig-a-let, Kangaroo & Kangaroo, Lowl, Tigger (okay, that one's pretty normal)." She's more into baby dolls than Milo, but he's getting into pretend play and wants the babies too ("I'm the daddy and you're da mudder, Olive. And this is our baby.").<br />
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Olive likes to be carried. She loves her paci, and lately has been sneaking it out of its place in her room when we're not looking. (Contraband soothing.) She likes music in the car. She always wants to wash her hands. She likes dancing. She repeats things until we acknowledge that she has spoken.<br />
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She's not great a cleaning up. Takes a lot of urging before she joins in. It's usually the threat of losing her dance party privileges that does it.<br />
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She's getting better at letting me comb her hair. "Tangles in my hair," she says. But where she used to scrunch away from me and not let me comb, she now sits still while I work out the tangles. Sorry, sweetie, that just comes with the girl territory (at least until you're old enough to decide differently).<br />
<br />
Olive has recently starting telling me that she loves me. Swoon. Sometimes it's after I tell her I love her. "I love you too, Mommy!" Sometimes it's out of the blue, like as she leaves in the morning to go to daycare. "Byebye Mommy, I love you." Oh em gee, it is adorable. She gives random attack-hugs and kisses too. I soak them up.<br />
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My Olive is still a snuggler. When she is sleepy or overwhelmed by people, she wants me to pick her up, and she lays her head down on my shoulder. She wraps her arms around me, holding on as tight as she can. Then she pops her head up, brushing my hair away from my shoulders. She likes no hair to be in her way.<br />
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Likes: candy, monkey game on the tablet, ABCmouse, eating Mommy and Daddy's food, Chuggington, reading books, her grandparents, ice cream, taking naps, yogurt, being tickled by Daddy, her paci.<br />
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Dislikes: feeling scared (like when being chased stops being fun), being cold (after bath time, on the way to daycare, in the car, etc. etc. etc.), zippers that aren't zipped all the way up, not getting to do it herself, sharing the stool in the bathroom while brushing teeth, sleeping past 6:00am.<br />
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She's my girl, my baby, my amazing wonderful fantastic brilliant little person. I do love her so. Happy birthday, Olive.<br />
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<br />Lenexiconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17975065474448387881noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448883092542262511.post-16225711149948986202014-02-05T21:33:00.001-06:002014-02-06T09:27:41.650-06:00One of those little moments<div dir="ltr">
Earlier tonight I was feeling sort of mushy and sentimental toward my son. And when I tucked him into bed, I told him so. I said to him, "I love you so much, my heart feels full, so full it feels like it might burst with all that love<u></u>."<br />
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
He replied, "You should drink lots of fluids for that. And water. And milk."</div>
Lenexiconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17975065474448387881noreply@blogger.com1