sweet surprise:)

enjoying the shade

We are 'on the move' (relatively, for us, that is) around here. Big things. Lots happening. Ok, by this point I'm being sarcastic...but compared to the last 8-oxygen-dependent, breathing-treatment-filled, 7 nap-a-day, months....we are free! L has been off her night-time O2 for 2 weeks and, I will tell you, this is heaven people! So, we took advantage of the tube, sticker, generator "freeness" and got the heck out of town:). The kids and I headed to Indiana. Just so you know exactly how boring we are....here are some highlights:

1. after filling my bus (aka beloved minivan) with 654,189 kinds of "something new" for G (snacks, videos, cars, etc.), 2 pacis/child, lots of toys for L, and a multitude of snacks and diet cokes in my passenger seat for me, I took off alone for the homeland. Entrapement with 2 small children on a 6 hour trip just makes me nervous (kind of like how I would feel before beginning a marathon, if I ran marathons. just keep going, you can't turn back now, etc). My parents met us in Nashville, but not before I had to stop so Garrett could sit on his potty, I could tee-tee in an empty container (too many cokes+too many babies=sometimes unable to make it to potty), and I could change Lilah's poopy diaper and give her a feeding. ( I apologize if this is too much info, but with a newly potty trained 2 year old, potty habits seem to be all I am capable of talking about). Anyhoo, we made it.

2. We (me, mom & dad, and my brother) took the kids to the zoo. This is news worthy because sweet L has hardly gone anywhere except the doctor in the last 8 months. I am amazed how it can take every bit of 4 adults to manage 2 children at a time like the zoo. Especially when brother pees all over his clothes and tennis shoes, after telling you he has to go to the bathroom 3 times and then happening upon an Amazonian waterfall exhibit. An unfortunate coincidence. Next time, I will let him pee over the railing and into the cougar cage like he wanted. It's also nice to have extra hands when you hook your double-wide-blocking-all-other-pedestrians stroller on a 'chainlink' curtain at the entrance of the Amazon exhibit. (Out of respect for the newly renevated Evanville Zoo, I will not comment on how 'chain link' really adds authenticity to any exhibit).

3. We managed to get both kids out on my dad's pontoon boat (apparently to G, the boat belongs to Papa and Granna owns the house:). I think this is miraculous because it was a cool, overcast day and Lilah did not melt into a puddle of sugar...she actually kind of liked it! Garrett loved it, wore his lifejacket happily, and readily jumped off the back of the boat. We ended our time on the river adventure dramatically, with my mom, myself and both kids huddled under a tarp as the rain came down in sheets above us.

4. Rolling a gigantic, over-grown cucumber down a homemade ramp. That's all I have to say about that.

5. Paul and I went to see the first movie we've seen in the theatre since I was pregnant the first time! I will tell you we saw The Hangover...I have neither laughed so hard nor been so embarrassed about my amusement at anything since the '57 flood.

Obviously, P joined us the rest of the week because he just couldn't stay away:). And, bless his heart, because he was a critical team member in the journey southward...which involved 287,534 stops for diaper explosions, mexican food, "pee pee time", and so on, and so forth. More updates from the exciting life and times coming soon...

garrett and uncle jeff at the zoo

'driving' the trolley

racing himself