Redding

The trip from CO to Redding was brutal! There just isn't a direct route between the two so we ended up on highways instead of freeways. The first day we drove for nine hours, then stopped at a hotel and swam, hoping to burn off some of the girls' energy. The second day was a marathon thirteen hours in that car. We were all dying. Why sitting in a car is exhausting, I will never understand, but I think I could run a marathon and be less tired. Anyway, we made it to Redding and Mo and the kids were already there.  Mo's Dad had open heart surgery this month and so she brought the kids over to the mainland for several weeks.

That is my parent's new dog Blaze.  He looks just like Toby but is smarter so we couldn't be happier, though he thinks he is a lap dog.  Nati and he are best friends.

Stitches or not, Em plays...and runs...too bad her skin is so fair, it is going to show all her scars so well.

We had to lube up the slide a little with some dish soap...

We got to remove Em's stitches.  M put a mask around his face and called himself Doctor M to try to get her to relax.  In the end, the iphone and the Wild Kratts worked the best.  I have to say I was quite impressed with M's abilities when it came to removing the stitches.  I had no idea he had such skills.

Stitches removed, we headed to the lake for a day at the "beach".

One of the men in my Dad's church offered to let us play with and on his boat for a few hours.  We took him up on the offer.

I know it's hard to figure out why we want to live there but use your imagination.  :-)

With all of our best parenting might, we thought it was a great idea to let Emily go on the tube.  She was having a wonderful time, until they hit a wave and she bounced too high and banged her chinny chin chin on her life vest.  Chin broken back open, we left the rest to enjoy their day and went to urgent care.  With a whopping two people ahead of us, we still waited longer in the waiting room than our entire ER visit in Colorado...California and efficiency...oxymoron.  Anyway, they couldn't stitch again on the same spot so the steri-stripped it closed and glued the edges down and ordered no water for five days.  We were feeling like superb parents when we left there!

The other kids broke out the real tube and used that for a while.

Mo had to go back to her Dad as he was being released from the hospital so we agreed to keep the boys for a couple more days and drop them off on our way back down south.  They did pretty well, you know, just Dr. M taking out splinters and the like, but then Nati got sick and he had a rough go from there...it was just a stomach bug that robs you of your energy and makes you feel nauseated, (yeah, we know because we all eventually got it) but who doesn't want Mom when they feel yucky?  Mo's Dad is doing well, by the way, and Mari was super happy to see her brothers when we dropped them off.

We made it home in eleven hours but we were tired.  Glad to have a week under my belt, a tummy back on it's happy diet, and kids getting rested, but I really need to start working out again so I can gain all my energy back!  Have a blessed day!

A Bit More CO

One of our days in Colorado, we took off to a small children's museum. It was more like a great play place than a museum, but boy was it fun for the kids! There was so much dress up stuff that they just kept changing as they went from place to place.

Em was a reindeer in a helicopter...

Parrot

Jay, I mean the big bad wolf, came to eat me.

I went to the hospital where I was helped by an adorable little blond...they just keep getting younger and younger!

Jay just kept getting more and more boo boos.

Oh, and we did finally go fishing in Colorado.  It took us a few years but we have finally joined the crowds.

Fun little science area with lights, sound, and test tubes.

And, of course, the puppet shows.

The bat making a story about the squirrel and chipmunk.

Renaissance K playing in the pretend snow.

The most eventful thing that happened for us was the evening when Em, wrapped up in her towel on the way back from the pool, tripped and as she had nothing to stop herself, went chin first into the cement.  Wouldn't be a proper trip for us if we didn't make it into at least one ER.  Only here we were checked in, admitted, waited half an hour for the anesthetic to absorb through her skin, got six stitches, checked out and paid - in an hour and a half!  Oh and this was in the middle of a shift change!  Recall we waited SEVEN hours just in the waiting room when she broke her arm.  All told, that visit was over 12 hours.  Everything was so clean!  I was soooo happy to be in Colorado.

The grandkids with Nana and Poppy

Well, we have been to the ophthalmologist again for the last time here.  We discussed all the problems with her eyes crossing and looking over the top of the glasses, so he did a thorough re-examination for us.  Ironically, the prescription he gave us was so close to the one we had prior to the pink glasses (the black ones we got after consulting at UCLA) that we have decided against a new pair and have given her her old glasses back.  Whenever we get down into LA again we will have them adjusted better to her four year old face but at least we don't have to buy another pair!

God Bless!!

A Mountain Top Experience

What is it like in Colorado? Let's see...one of the coolest parks in the world right down the street.

Playing Kanjam while the kids run up and down the slides.

Um, yes, that is the backdrop you look at while you watch your kids play.

From our porch, the views were 360.

My favorite direction.

Nana and Poppy celebrated their 42nd anniversary.  Congrats!!  That also means my parents celebrated their 42nd this week.  Here's to two couples showing everyone how it is done over the long haul.  What a blessing we have to have both sets of grandparents to look to for examples!

Of course, K couldn't have the cake so we got her some doughnuts...which she was NOT sharing with Dad.

We almost all fit around the table.

This was how we made smores, every single night.  :-)  Camping, Erickson style.

The kids were so good at playing together, we rarely had to intervene or entertain.

Jared, Heidi and I stole away one morning to try to get in one high elevation hike.  It started at Loveland Pass.

No, my jacket and pants aren't that insulated, I only wish they were...the wind was howling through there and it was cold!

We aren't actually sure what mountain we ended up at the top of or even if the trail went to another peak but we decided this was good enough and took a break to take in the views.

For those who do not know, the pile of rocks is a wind break.  Hikers make them to get out of the wind for a little while, and we were hiding as best we could.

One of our other favorite activities in Colorado is frisbee golf.  The brothers took off one afternoon to play and took our camera.  As you can see, playing in this setting is horrifying.

They may have started to get a bit goofy...altitude?

We did dinners by having each family do one meal throughout the week.  K helped out with whomever would let her.

Have a wonderful day!  God Bless!!