Our Vacation Post #2

I hope everyone will excuse me while I spend a few days recording the memories of our family vacation (since this is basically my virtual scrapbook).

Friday, July 18, 2008

We had such a great drive to Lafayette, LA. We had all week to get everything organized and ready, and we got on the road by 9:30 a.m. We stopped at the Visitor’s Center after crossing the LA border, and Emily saw an alligator warning sign. She became very afraid that an alli-gay-lor is going to try to eat her. She was NOT happy here (because of the alli-gay-lors) and had to be bribed to stand here long enough for Mommy to take a picture.



She was somewhat confused as to why we didn’t immediately get on a big boat when we were in Louisiana. I have been trying to explain to her for weeks about how we are going to stay in one hotel in Lafayette, then go to New Orleans and stay in another hotel 2 nights. Then, we will wake up and get on the big boat. I have tried every way I can think of to help illustrate this to her, but nothing has worked. Oh, well, I guess she’ll understand when it happens ☺

This is Dee with the kids at the LA welcome center. It was not exactly gorgeous lighting, but I had to record E & T's first steps in Sportsman's Paradise! Can I give the welcome center props for having a Family Restroom?



Our hotel, Courtyard by Marriot, was perfect. They had a pack-n-play, heated indoor pool, breakfast buffet (kids were free). They also referred us to a yummy restaurant, Lafayette's. We ate a delicious seafood dinner. I had blackened redfish covered in their award-winning crawfish etouffee sauce. It was served over garlic-parmesan roasted potatoes. YUM!

When we returned to the hotel after dinner, we took the kids for a quick swim to wear them out and proceeded to try to get everyone to sleep. This did not go well until we came up with the idea to put Ty to sleep in the pack-n-play in the bathroom. Surely we can not be the first family to put the baby or toddler to sleep in the bathroom when they can’t fall asleep in the hotel room with everyone else! It worked nicely, but we had to use the bathroom by the exercise room which fortunately, was not very far down the hall.

Now if only the rest of our little trip had been this smooth (I am closing with a teaser, so that you will be wondering day and night until my next post, what exactly happened once the Trckas got to New Orleans).

Our Vacation Post #1

Well, many of my future posts are already typed up due to journaling while on the trip. However, the pictures are not edited yet to go with them. I will start with a post from the night before we left since there is no photo.

And yes, we did have to ride on a bus from Mobile, AL to New Orleans, LA...at noon...with the kids...who had not had lunch...not in a car seat...but thank you LORD they slept

Thursday, July 17, 2008

When I went to check on Emily around 10:45 p.m., I noticed a bunch of “stuff” on her bed. After taking a closer look, I realized that it was ALL of the clothes out of her drawers. Some were packed in her princess backpack, some were packed in her baby doll diaper bags, and the rest were just piled on top of her. Furthermore, she had removed her pajamas and was wearing her nice, dry clean only, silk dupioni dress that she wore to a wedding last fall.

I tried to take off the dress and put on her PJs without waking her, but I was unsuccessful. While I was changing her, Dee was putting her clothes up. She was very distressed and started to cry and become very annoyed. Here is the conversation that followed:

Me: Why are you crying?

E: Daddy, I need those clothes. Stop putting them up.

Me: Why do you need those clothes?

E: I need to take them to the ho-tay-ul (hotel). I will need something to wear when we are on bay-cation (vacation).

Me: Emily, I have already packed your clothes.

E (sobbing): No, you didn’t Mommy. Daddy, don’t put those up. We need to take them with us.

Me: Emily, don’t you remember the special red dress, red skirt, blue dress, blue skirt that we bought for you to wear on the big boat? I have packed all of it into your purple suitcase, and I promise you will have clothes to wear on our trip. We need to leave these at home.

Emily was so tired, she gave up the fight and went back to bed. I think it was pretty obvious that she was extremely excited about our trip! So were we. This is why I had packed her clothes on Monday, so the poor baby had probably forgotten by Thursday and was worried that she wouldn't have any clothes to wear on our trip.

More to come as I get pictures edited.

I am too tired to think of a title

If you want to know why we got off of our ship at 11:00 a.m. Saturday and didn't get home until 2:05 a.m. Sunday, click here.

4th of July Finally

Before we leave for our trip, I needed to get caught up on blogging. The main thing I needed to post were pictures from our time at Dee's sister's house over July 4. I had so much fun relaxing by the pool, shopping, and of course, taking pictures. Since I am posting a ridiculous amount of pictures, I will stop writing and let you look!

Mr. Ty had so much fun in the pool.



Here he is showing off what he learned in swimming lessons. He is holding onto the side all by himself.





My niece is such a ham anytime I get my camera out!



And this niece is too!



We went to the park across the street (literally 20 yds from the house) and popped poppers. Emily was concentrating very hard on this.



Ty was helping to sweep up everyone's mess.



With so many cousins around, someone is always looking after Ty.



The girls had so much fun on the swings.







Ty just had fun exploring the playground. But a scary thing--I was distracted for a minute taking the above swinging pictures, and I looked up and saw him standing at the top of the slide. He had climbed up there in no time. I did not stop to take a picture. I rushed to be there to spot him in case he fell. But he didn't--his cousin helped him slide down. But I have a serious climber on my hands. This is new territory for me as Emily did not climb too much.



Isn't she precious?



Dee and Ty had fun learning about basketball. I want to point something out that you may not notice otherwise. The blurry figure sitting and watching on the bench in the background is Dee's dad. I love that he is watching his son play with his grandson.



Unfortunately, after this lesson, he now tries to throw balls or other round objects into garbage cans, toilets, or any other open container.



This is the oldest cousin on Dee's side. She just got her permit!



My husband playing basketball--I HAD to document this.


I am in love with these pictures of my FIL with his dog Abigail.




And even more in love with this one!


These were all taken the next day when my nieces begged me to take more pictures of them (it did not take much convincing). So I dressed them all up and took them back to the park. I knew better than to tell the 3 girls to look at me and smile or say cheese. I just let them sit and talk while I "got the camera ready."











Then it was time for individuals. This is one of my favorites that I have of Emily ever!






As the girls were getting restless, but the lighting was still beautiful, I stole some flowers from SIL's kitchen table. This re-energized the bunch, and I love the results.




I have been dying to get a photo that shows of Em's long lashes. Finally!


Now it's time to go!




Thanks for looking. The next post will be vacation related :-)

Out on the Town

Friday night, I got a much needed break from the usual. I got to go to Austin to celebrate my college roomie's 30th Bday. We had quite the night out on the town. Here is the bday girl, the old fart. If you knew her at HU, you would not believe how hot she looks now. A girl can say that about another girl, right? Our old khaki-wearing, chem lab living Darla was showing off her amazing legs and having a blast. I got onto her for not meeting me earlier (before the sun went down) because I needed to "shoot" her. She looked AMAZING. She was definitely not within Harding's dress code ;-) Somehow I managed to get this fab candid even though it was taken in some lounge/restaurant/bar place. I'm not sure the technical name for the establishment, but it was really dark in there.



Happy Birthday to an amazing woman, mommy, and friend.

And to all of the other mommies out there, I hope that you get to take a night off every so often. I have obviously been away from my kids overnight, and Dee and I have gone away together, but I have never left the kids overnight for just me to go do something purely frivolous. It was divine!!!

An Interesting Conversation

I know I don't normally post this often, but I am trying to keep myself awake right now. I just took a Vicodin, and I am home w/ Ty who is pigging out on a hamburger, fries, and nilla wafers. The reason for the Vicodin is the lovely kidney stone that I was diagnosed with this afternoon. What a fun day! I am seriously about to fall asleep, so I am standing up and typing. Dee should be back with Emily soon. He took her to rent some movies in case I need some "babysitting" tomorrow.

So here's the conversation I had with Emily today. She was riding around on Ty's red ride-on car. She had a toy cell phone and a green maraca in the trunk of the car. The cell phone made sense to me, but I asked her why she needed this as I held up the maraca. Her reply was "Put that back, Mommy, there's blood in there."

*Insert mild panic attack by me wondering what kind of warped child I have raised*

Me: Why is there blood in there?

Emily: It's princess blood

Me: Where did you get it? (hoping for a non-violent answer)

Emily: (said very matter-of-factly) From Target--I got the princess blood at Target

I left it at that. She played with the princess blood all morning.

Then she proceeded to fill our entry way with pillows, blankets, books, and pajamas. I asked her why she was getting all of this stuff out of her room.

Emily: I am getting ready for my friends to spend the night with me.

Me: Oh, really. When are they going to be here?

Emily: In a few minutes. They are on the road right now.

On the road? Where did she learn that?

Me: Who is coming?

Emily: Kylie, Macey (both her cousins), Makenna (church friend), Emma, Izabella (daycare friends), Kelsey (baby at church), Kel-sell-ee (no idea), and Landry (baby at church)

She welcomed each and every friend to her home. Then she played with them for about 30 minutes. It was really cute. So any of those girls' mommies who may be reading this, your girls had a great time in our entryway this morning. Even the babies. Just thought you'd want to know ;-)

So this is Emily Monday night with all of her loot from Chuck E Cheese. She had over 300 tickets that her Daddy won for her. Well, let me give credit where credit is due--she probably won 15 of them herself. I thought she'd go for the magic wand or lipstick pen with pad of paper compact. But she wanted the Fun Dip. Nasty. I never liked it. It took about 10 minutes for me and the prize lady to convince her that she can have the Fun Dip AND lots of other stuff, too. The Fun Dip only cost about 40 tickets. The prize lady finally laid a bunch of girly prizes out and said pick what else you want until she had reached her limit. She got a ponytail holder, 2 rings, fake ear rings, and a bracelet. She wanted to wear all of it and eat her Fun Dip. I made her eat it outside.





And this is Emily's pedicure. When we were in Allen, my SILs and MIL and I took the 3 youngest girl cousins to get pedicures. The mommies got full spa pedicures including hot stones. The little girls got their toe nails painted. Emily and I got flowers on our big toes, so we could "match." She is very proud of her toes.



I am seriously about to drop. I think I hear my hubby pulling up. Yay! It seems that every post lately includes some type of health problem. I don't know what the deal is. We are normally a healthy family. Here's hoping that things get back to normal really soon!

Milestones

We're back! I just needed to pat myself on the back for being gone for 10 days with my kiddos. We all survived and had a wonderful time. After getting a chest xray and a good report from Ty's doctor, we headed off to Arkansas. By we, I mean Emily, Ty, and me. By ourselves. In the car. From Temple, TX to Searcy, AR.

I normally try not to write fragments, but I wanted you to understand the drama in the above statement.

We stayed there for 7 days visiting with my 2 sisters and 1 brother, their spouses, and most importantly, my niece and nephew. And Grammy was there visiting as well! On our way home, we stopped in Allen at Dee's sister's house. Dee met up with us at that point, and we enjoyed being with his side of the family over the 4th weekend.

Did I mention I got to meet, hold, and squeeze my scrumptious new baby niece for the first time?

One major milestone that was met were my adorable children visiting the Harding campus. It was actually Emily's 2nd time on campus, but the 1st time, it was too cold for us to go out and explore. She was also 9 months old then. Emily and Ty did something very important while on campus. And no, I do not mean that they declared a major (although Emily did say that she was going to go to college to learn how to be a princess). They got to play on the "front lawn" and swing in the Harding swings. Em called them the "little white swings." Ty simply enjoyed the wide open spaces as well as the vast array of sticks and leaves that were perfect toys. I never realized until last week that my children are deprived of such joys being that we live in a relatively new subdivision where the trees are too young to drop sticks in the grass!

I should also mention that one afternoon we took Carter to McDonald's for the first time. This just so happened to be the McDonald's where I worked my senior year. Ah, the memories... He also took a bunch of steps to none other than his good ole Aunt Melissa! At that moment, it was the most he had taken in a row, but I am sure he has surpassed that by now.

So, like I said, we saw many milestones while we were in Searcy-Land. Wanna see some pics?

Here is the future princess-ology student enjoying the "little white swing."


And don't let stick boy fool you; he enjoyed swinging as well.


So this is my favorite picture in the world right now. LOVE him!


Grammy and baby Claira are enjoying some swing time, too!


It was not easy to take a picture of Grammy with a baby and 3 wiggly ones.


This was Emily's first ride in a golf cart. Her Mama's never even ridden in a golf cart. I am surprised that this phone isn't permanently fused to my bro's ear. He is the director of Uplift at Harding, so he has been eating, breathing, and sleeping Uplift for the past few weeks.


I couldn't decide which picture I liked best, so here are 2 of Ty and Carter on the swing.




The boys are playing in the toddler area of McDonald's. I should mention that my sister and I like to torture the boys by dressing them similarly. They were supposed to be born about 5 days apart, but it ended up being more like 5 weeks since Ty was early and Carter was late. They matched at least 3 times besides the similar clothes they are wearing here. They're going to kill us when they're older :-)


This is Carter staring at all of the big kids playing on the slides. Isn't he adorable?


There is so much more I could say about our trip. There are many more amazing photos. And I haven't even talked about our time with Dee's family yet. I wonder if I will be able to get caught up on everything before we leave for our cruise...

By the way, Ty does still have pneumonia. He is much better, and the chest xray showed a 40% reduction in the amount of "gunk" in his right lung. And that was in just one week. He no longer as any restrictions on activities, so my life is easier now that we can go swimming, go to the park, etc. We don't have to go back until after the cruise unless his symptoms worsen.

That's finally all, folks. Thanks for reading!