The Self-Imploding Van and the Hematologist
In April (yes, I'm trying to catch up on past blog posts never written), Ryan went to a hematologist for some examination. He is going to have his tonsils and adenoid removed in July and some blood work came back out of range.
On the way to pick up Ryan for his appointment, my van's A/C died. On the way to the doctor's, my van self-imploded. Still no A/C, now the O/D light started blinking, then the transmission seemed got funny, jerking from 1st to 2nd gear. Then, I noticed a teeny bit of smoke coming out of the engine. I checked the engine temperature, and it was at 'cold' - weird. But I was a few miles from Baptist Hospital & our appointment, so I chugged on.
Well, the smoke got thicker and thicker - I called Rene to see if there was a good chance of the van catching on fire. "Is the smoke black or white?" "White." "You should be okay." IT DOESN'T LOOK OKAY. All the while, I'm calculating the cost of fixing the A/C + transmission + whatever the heck else was going all wacky. I figured that maybe Mazda vans are hard-wired to self-destruct after 110,000 miles. As I pulled in to the hospital parking - not caring what side of the hospital I needed to park at (I picked the opposite side, of course.) - the van was billowing smoke. People were staring. And pointing - as if I couldn't FREAKING see the smoke.
Thankfully, we made it the appointment with enough time to watch the Bolt DVD menu play over and over and a bit of the movie itself, once we got the receptionist to turn it on. Ryan was a champ during the appointment. The doctor's assistant (his wife, I'm guessing, or a relative - same last name, anyway) was so nice and even let me take pictures of the exam, which I felt awkward doing. I'm so glad I took them - awkward or not.
Ryan was also a champ for the couple of hours we had to wait for Rene to rescue us from the hospital. I wasn't driving that clunker anywhere. Ryan's favorite games were running along the side of the lake, hiding behind the tree, and shoving grass down my pants while I read a book on my Kindle (sorry, no pictures of THAT game). He was hoping I would fart, so he could see if it made the grass move. A true scientist, that kid.
This part of the exam tickled Ryan.
A lot.
Waiting for his Dad to rescue us...
I’m Lovin’ It.
Lovin' my kids these days. Lovin' the age they are at. Lovin' their independence and their dependence, and how it fluctuates each the minute of the day. Lovin' their evolving talents and personalities. Lovin' that there is a month left until school ends and a month left until both of them turn a year older.
I took this picture of the moon last month. I laughed at how pathetically small the moon was in the shot. Then, I decided to use that to my advantage. I love that the immense moon is small enough to be a period in this sentence. I love how that adds to the story of just how far the moon is and how much I love my kidlets. The quote is, of course, from this classic: Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney.
Ryan, I really do love you that much!
Isabel, you too!
Our Girl Scout Trip to Savannah + Charleston
This past March, my family and I went on a road trip with our Girl Scout troop. We went to Savannah GA, to learn about the Girl Scout founder: Juliette Gordon Low. We visited to her birth house and the nearby neighborhood, which was beautiful. She is truly inspiring, so I recommend reading more about her here: http://www.girlscouts.org/who_we_are/history/low_biography/
(View the entire gallery of photos here.)
We drove up to Georgia on Friday afternoon and spent the night there. We got up early to visit the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace in Savannah. First, was a scavenger hunt, then a picnic lunch at a park and a trip to the local popular ice cream shop.
One activity Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace provided for the girls was a scavenger hunt around two neighboring parks. As part of that, the girls were supposed to run around the Tomo Chi Chi rock three times screaming, "Whatcha doin' Tomo Chi Chi?" Then, they were supposed to write down 'what it said.' (Get it? I didn't.) They did this about 30 times before a smart mom told us to write down on the paper "what it said." Oh... Dang riddles.
After that, the girls did some crafts back at the birthplace and the adults + boys walked around the town. And enjoyed a delicious and refreshing adult beverage. Ryan is holding the magic key he found. In case you were wondering.
(The boys did a lot of waiting around for the girls on Saturday. That's Ryan playing on his dad's phone.)
In the late afternoon, we drove on to Charleston, South Carolina, where we found our 5-star hotel: The USS Yorktown.
It was REALLY cold at night - they had the A/C set to about 65 degrees and I neglected to bring blankies. Isabel is sleeping with a jacket on, and one of my t-shirts as a sleeping bag over her legs.
We woke up very early after a rough night on barely-beds to go to Fort Sumter. The girls and other boy/girl scouts got to participate in raising the flags.
The flag Girl Scout Troop 252 raised.
I love this photo of Ryan & Rene.
Ryan enjoyed reading the signs. I'm really surprised that you can't see mosquitoes in this pictures. They were huge and lethal!
Yes, cannons ARE perfectly acceptable photo props.
Back on the ship - it was really windy on the flight deck!
My friend, Gehisa, had this cool idea of shooting down a fuel injection tube thingy, but wasn't QUITE tall enough to execute it. This is her son.
Fort Moultrie was much less exciting than Fort Sumter, but I did see this wall and immediately want to play with it. (And the kids got their Junior Ranger badges there.)
This trip reminded me how much you can do in a weekend, if you set out to do it (and have a DVD player in the van - with many sets of headphones). I'm hoping for more road trips this year.
Afternoon at Bark Park
I took Midnight to the dog park today; there she could use up some of that crazy energy, and I could read. The gate to the lake shore area is always locked, but there are always dogs playing in the lake. I never could figure out how they got there - until today. And man, did Midnight love it!
She wasn't interested in swimming, or even getting to the stick first. But she loved chasing the other dogs, as they chased the stick. Shallow water is her favorite.
FIU v. Miami Marlins
The game took place the night before my family left me and went to Panama. It wasn't great timing, but it was definitely nice to get out together. My parents joined us in the van, but bought their tickets separately - on the opposite side of the stadium.
We got to the new stadium 30 minutes after the game started. Traffic was SO BAD.
The new stadium is really nice - it's got a retractable roof. And we'll never go back because traffic was SO BAD.
Isabel was not committed to the chicken dance. But she couldn't resist in the end.
Ryan was dying to get into this bag by the 7th inning (when I told him he could). "Why?" you ask?
Nintendo DSi. That's why. He was tired and grumpy that night - after a long day at school, which included Field Day.
Thanks, Aurora!!!
My dear friend, Aurora, gave the kids some gift cards for Target - as thanks for being stellar photography models. Completely unnecessary and uncalled for. This is one of those gifts that ONLY benefits the kids. Thankfully, I had a camera to keep me entertained as the kids combed each toy aisle, and spent some time in the accessories section (for Isabel), then went BACK to the toys.
Ryan seemed pretty attached to that skateboard ramp set. Then, he kind of wanted The Penguin Sub. Then, he decided on a Shake 'N Go car + Zing Shot. And hours later, when the Zing Shot proved difficult to learn (though he eventually got it), I rocked him in my arms for 10 minutes, as he cried/whimpered that he made a mistake and wanted the submarine, after all.
The poor kid was overwhelmed with choices - he looked at everything and, pretty much, wanted everything. He's back to loving his picks - I have to be careful not to get hit with a Zing ball!
Isabel, on the other hand, looked around... a lot, but knew exactly when she found what she wanted - 3 inflatable pool floats (that she knows she will have to share).
Thank you so much, Aurora!! Really!! My kids felt so special and have been begging me to take them to Target for the past two weeks. Love you!
Gramps turns 70
We don't actually call him "Gramps," but I think we SHOULD, now that he's seventy! We had a low key birthday dinner for Grandpa's 70th birthday. Our long-time family friend, Eva, came over to my parents' house. My sister came down from Boston with her two kids (the light ones), and my parents picked my kids up from school early, so they could play together longer.
The grandkids read Dr. Seuss's book, Happy Birthday to You to their Grandpa.
The book always makes me teary-eyed. And always makes me wonder when it's going to end, about 75% of the way through. But the kids really enjoyed reading it. And my nephew made us all proud with his reading - he's learning so fast!
I got my dad the PERFECT gift. (Well, it is in MY opinion!) A geocaching kit! ...complete with GPS, geocache travel bugs, a magnifying glass (cuz he's 70), Moleskin log books, and permanent non-bleeding Sharpee pens (I want some!). All in their own brightly colored bag (so he can find it - cuz he's 70!). I even included a bag of his favorite Starbucks coffee beans - to keep him awake (cuz he's 70).
Happy Birthday, Dad!!! We love you tons!
Camp Mahachee
Two months? Really? Well, sorry for neglecting my audience of six people for so long! I have just been resting and RELAXING. But enough is enough, right??
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I started writing this post a week ago - then got distracted by a 100 other things. This post is about our Girl Scouts campout two weekends ago - at Camp Mahachee. Yes, we slept in cabins, but the mattresses were miserable, so it counts as camping. And if only had a freezing shower because I couldn't figure out how to make the water warm, well, it was still a freezing shower!
The most notable difference from last year's campout was a significantly smaller number of peacocks... and moms, in attendance. The absence of peacocks I was grateful for at 5 in the morning. The absence of moms left me a bit lonely. I'm glad I went. I got to know the other attending moms even better. I got to spend time with the girls and see them in a new way - somehow, they act differently without their moms around. And I had a great time. It's also interesting watching Isabel interacting with her friends. This time, she managed to stay out of the drama, and she made a new friend.
I told Isabel, "I don't know if you like me there, or not, but I really like going with you to these campouts... and I think I'll keep going." "I like you there, Mommy." (At least, for now - and I'll take it!)
Boy Scout Troop 811 came on Saturday and taught the girls some valuable survival skills: navigating with a compass, making a shelter with a stick some twine and a poncho, building a fire, and learning knots. Her favorite was definitely the knot making, and she even applied what she learned to help build our evening campfire.
Sunday, after the campout, our troop went across the street to Fairchild Tropical Gardens... it was Isabel and my third weekend straight going there, but it never gets old! It was fun riding the tram for the first time. We had to leave early to work on her literature project and get Ryan's HW/project done, too. I really relished the time spent with Isabel, though - I think we both needed it!
Tennis with Grandpa
Just about every Wednesday, my Dad picks up the kids early from school. He takes them different places, to the park, to the playground at Burger King during inclement weather. But many Wednesdays, he takes them to play tennis. This Wednesday, I joined them to capture some shots of the event.
View my photos here: http://playgroundphoto.smugmug.com/Lifestyle/My-Family/Tennis-with-Grandpa-2011-12/
Girls’ Weekend @ Islands of Adventure – Day One
Welcome, visitors from Karen Russell's blog! Thanks for clicking my link!
View more pictures from our trip to Universal's Islands of Adventure here: My Islands of Adventure Photos. View my Project 365 photos here: http://mariloujaen.com/365/
I have a confession to make. I spoil my kids. Mostly, I spoil the little one with affection, and the older one with time. I also have a weakness for Harry Potter. I just read all the books this summer, and I secretly want to read them again. Don't tell my husband because he will kill me if I read them again. (I had some pretty late nights because of those books!)
My daughter is also a huge Harry fan. And a theme park fan. And that makes two of us in this house. You need this back story to forgive me for taking ONLY my daughter to Islands of Adventure. Also, I wanted to take pictures - lots of them. And no one likes their pictures taken more than Isabel. But really, we wanted butterbeer.
And so we went, just the girls, to Islands of Adventure this weekend. And we named it Girls' Weekend instead of Harry Potter weekend (because Girls' Weekend is more cool). And we stayed in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter as long as we wanted. Which was pretty much two whole days, minus the two short hours we took to ride the Jurassic Park River Adventure, Spider-Man something or other, and Pteranodon Flyers, only to realize we really were just interested in our buddy, Mr. Harry Potter.
On Saturday, Isabel had some birthday money to burn (thanks, Tia Angie and Tio Ruben!), so she did some shopping...
At Zonko's, the toy store... She considered the Extendible Ear and decided it was too expensive. Good girl.
But the sky was the limit at Honeyduke's, the candy shop. She spent more on candy than that ear would have cost! (It's HER birthday money, Grandma!)
As much as she can carry... That's how much candy she wants!
She also got a Pin Set. It included five pins, one for each house and a Hogwarts pin. Those will decorate her pin collecting neck strap.
And her final purchase, a 'time turner' necklace (collectible, with case) from Dervish and Banges. She is in love with it. (In case you are wondering, the necklace stayed in that little bag, its styrofoam packaging keeping it nice and safe.)
On the Pteranodon Flyers, a 45 minute wait for a 1 minute ride. All worth it for this picture.
Back to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter for another cup of BUTTERBEER!
And this evening shot, which are among a few that all melt my little heart (click the photo for more).
Followed by some wand shopping (maybe some candy purchase regrets? Never!)
After this, we rode the Hogwart's ride - Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey - for a second time. This time, instead of an hour-long wait, it was only a 20 minute wait. Much better. We were the second to last pair of the night to ride it, which I found pretty cool. For the record, I think the last couple deliberately walked too slowly, so they'd have the last bench honors to themselves. Punks.
Did you see Isabel in that last shot? Completely accidental. She could have been on the ride for all I was noticing. (Whoops!)
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