Williamsburg....

We arrived yesterday. So the day before we were to leave my ears felt like I was listening to life through a conch shell. I was so freaked out about the pressure change during landing that I took a Clariton, two Dayquil, some Benedryl and some Afrin. That combined with getting up at 3AM (yes, I just typed AM) I slept most of the flight and thankfully my ears were fine on landing. We arrived in DC about 1 and met my brother for lunch.

My cuties....who actually allowed me to dress them alike...okay under the threat of death.
Jose and Jason checking out the GPS

Then we piled into the rental and drove the three hours to Williamsburg. We caught a quick bite to eat and then went to Ripley's It was pretty cool and the kids really enjoyed it. We went to the 4D movie. I think it's 4D because it's completely interactive --- like having water sprayed at you during the ocean scenes as well as being 3D. It was worth the trip but if you do go don't buy your tickets online months in advance, ours didn't work. They did honor them though, so A+ on customer service.

I don't know why I thought this was a cool game, but you are supposed to say the color of the word, not read the word and it's a lot harder to do because you really really want to just read the word and not pay attention to the color. I actually had an easier time of it then Jason......

Tomorrow, I'll post Old Colonial Williamsburg, but it's late and I'm tired....but it was pretty cool, we spent 12 hours walking around...

Tomorrow....AHHHHHHHHH

Soooo, I'm doing my pre-travel panic. I mean it is amazing that my husband and I are still married, he has to deal with this every.time.we.travel. I panic, freak, clean, organize to the point of compulsion, write lists, check the baggage three or four because I pack so early....

I'm insane...and it's only gotten worse since we've had children.

That and I'm nervous, so we end up at the airport, like 6 hours early (I'm only slightly exaggerating).

Anyhow, once I get on the plane, settle the kiddos with their gameboys/DS/Leapster whatever gaming handheld machine they have and the plane takes off and there's NOTHING I CAN CONTROL ANYMORE....I can relax....

Until it's time to get the luggage.

But, I do plan on keeping up with the blog in a travel diary kind of way with pictures, should you choose to stop by! But right now, sorry I haven't been keeping up with my fave blogs, I've been having a momentary freak out!

WW -- 4 more days woo hoo

Colonial Williamsburg

Some more things I never thought I'd say

"Stop spitting in your brother's mouth!"

This said as I rounded the corner and spotted the youngest sitting on the elder, pinning Jake's shoulders to the floor and trying to make him laugh or scream so that Isaac could spit in Jake's mouth.

And, Jake thought it was funny too.

EWEEWEEW!

We have like a million dollars worth of toys in the house, a huge play structure in the back, tons of sports equipment and this, this is what they come up with to entertain themselves.

Email Forwards....

First off remember the contest, There are some pretty good suggestions out there and can't wait to see whatever else comes up.

Secondly, here's my little lesson on email-forward-etiquette. If you forward one of those factual ones and not just the funny ones, then please, please, look it up on Snopes. Because if you don't I will and I'll "reply-all" with the facts. So, guys, Obama is not a Muslim, Target is not a French company, McCain did indeed say the "Democratic Party is a fine party", and that Peggy what's her name is not missing. Seriously, if you haven't already, check out Snopes --- especially before you forward (um...yes Colleen and Shaina, I just got a forward from our fave forwarder)!

Okay, off my soap box. The following forward will give you guys from, in, want to be in Colorado a good laugh. Everyone else will either think we Coloradoans are crazy or so want to come live here too. And no, I did not look this up on Snopes, because it's just a funny one:


( It was only a matter of time before Jeff Foxworthy took a couple of shots at Colorado !)

You are a Coloradan if ............

1. You switch from 'Heat' to 'A/C' in one day.

2. You know what the ' Peoples Republic of Boulder ' means.
3. Your sense of direction is: towards the mountains and away from the mountains.

4. You're a meat-eating vegetarian.
5. The bike on your car is worth more than your car and you have your own special bike lane.

6. You're able to drive 65 miles per hour through 13 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without even flinching.

7. You take your out-of-town guests to Casa Bonita even though you would never go there otherwise.

8. You think your major food groups are granola bars, tofu and Fat Tire Beer.

9. You design your kid's Halloween costumes to fit over a snowsuit.

10 You think that sexy lingerie is wool socks and flannel PJs.

11. You know all 4 seasons 'almost winter, winter, still winter and spring blizzards

12. You've been tear gassed in a riot to celebrate a CU/CSU victory.
13. You can never figure out why your out-of-town guests faint from altitude sickness on a picnic to the mountains.

14. You can drive over a 12,000-foot pass in 4 feet of snow, but can't get to work if there are 4 inches of snow.

15. You know the 'correct' pronunciation of Buena Vista .

16. When you visit friends at sea level, you can drink a case of beer and not get a buzz.

17. Your car insurance costs more than your car.

18. You have surge protectors on every outlet.

19. April showers bring May blizzards.

20. 'Timberline' is someplace you have actually been.

21. You know what a 'Chinook' is

22. You know what a ' Rocky Mountain Oyster' is.

23 You know what a 'fourteener' is.

24. .But you don't know what a 'turn signal' is.

25. A bear on your front porch doesn't bother you nearly as much as a Democrat in Congress does.

26. Your golf bag has a 9-iron, a 3-wood and a lightning rod.

27. People from out of state breathe 5 times as often as you do.

28. Having a Senator named Nighthorse doesn't seem strange.

29. Thunder has set off your car alarm.

30. You have an $800 stereo in your $300 truck.

31. You think a red light means 3 more cars can go.

32. Where we're going, we don't need roads!!

33. You know where the real ' South Park ' is.

34. You can recognize the license plates of all 50 states on sight.

35 Driving directions usually include 'Go over_________ Pass. '

36. You've 'checked for ticks.

37. You've dressed in shorts, sandals, and a parka with a hood.

38. You've gone snow skiing in July and........

39. You've played golf in January and.......

40. They were in the same year!

41. You've urinated on the Continental Divide just so it could run into both oceans.
42. You know what a down slope and an up slope weather pattern is.

43. And the most important: You get a certain feeling of satisfaction from knowing that California and Texas are both down stream.

44. You actually understand these jokes and send them to your Colorado friends

Notes/links:

Casa Bonita
14'rs
Nighthorse
Continental Divide
Chinook Wind
Rocky Mountain Oysters -- seriously seriously nasty

WW-look who turned 9 last week

Rainy, Lazy, Sunday Afternoon

We had quite the down-pour Sunday afternoon.

Jason worked on the never ending project that is our master bath (behind him, he's building the closet for the washer and drier, it used to be the shower)

Hannah, just hanging out, checking out the rain (yup that's missing tile, seriously this is a fixer-upper house)

Jake watched cartoons in our room, Isaac got into his PJ's (mix-matched and the top from Christmas--what a get-up) and played video games in the family room.

The rain was coming down in sheets. It didn't last very long, not even an hour of heavy rain and then drizzling here and there, sometimes through the sun for the rest of the evening...typical July afternoon storm in the front range.

Happy 4th!

We're going to work on the master bath project...woo hoo do we know how to celebrate.

......

The best conversations happen in the car....

Jake: Sometimes I want to be a girl (what every mom wants to hear)

Isaac: hahahahahahahaha, no you don't

Jake: Seriously, girls have great toys, sometimes I want to play with them.

Me: Well, what toys?

Jake: Like polly pockets

Me: We can get you a polly pocket, you don't have to be a girl to like that.

Jake: No, I'd be too embarrassed...

Isaac: I play with polly pockets and Caity and Abi's house...I pick them up and I CRUSH them

I think I'm more worried about Isaac's response...

Have a great fourth, stay safe and don't eat too much BBQ

A Contest....

OK...here's my contest...I need a title and a day to do email forwards...I plan on just picking the one I get that week (from the thousands that seem to come across my email) that makes me laugh, think or even really disgusted...so send me your suggestions for title and day (not on Wednesdays because that's wordless Wednesday...not that I'm ever wordless). And the prize will be......A book, but this book will be chosen based on the winner's blog. I'm going to read the blog and try and guess what kind of book that person would like to read and then buy it for them and mail it.

Sorry, Scott, all my very perfect lovely female friends are married and too old for you....

So, I'll give it two weeks then I'll pick a winner....

yay, my very first contest...I'm so excited.

Email Forwards...and other randomness oh, and a contest

I love email forwards. Not the ones that say something horrible will befall you if you don't pray to St. (insert fave Catholic name here) like your whole face being waxed (oh wait, that DID happen to me). I love the email forwards that make you laugh; or the pictures like that freaky restaurant in China where you have to climb a really scary mountain to get there...or that restaurant in Japan that's on top of a crane (or something, you know the ones, you've probably have gotten those emails yourself); and those emails that make you think. I do try and look up the more questionable ones, or the political ones on Snopes.com (great resource if you do get sick of some of those email forwards). Anyhow, I though I'd share one of those email forwards I got and liked... So here you go, I'm forwarding one on my blog:

Just try this. It is from an orthopedic surgeon............ This will boggle your mind (of course, I’m easily boggled) and you will keep trying over and over again to see if you can outsmart your foot, but, you can't. It's preprogrammed in your brain!

1. While sitting where you are at your desk in front of your computer, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles.

2. Now, while doing this, draw the number '6' in the air with your right Hand. Your foot will change direction. I told you so!!! And there's nothing you can do about it! You and I both know how stupid it is, but before the day is done you are going to try it again, if you've not already done so.

I don't actually know if this is from an orthopedic surgeon, but it so works....try it.
Maybe I'll make this a regular thing on my blog...I need a title for it, Oh hey, I will do a contest, the prize will be determined later...what should I call it and what day should I do it....let me know in the comments section.

OK, on to some randomness

So Jason was hemming and hawing about going to the ER last Saturday (where does that phrase come from, hemming and hawing, is that farmer talk?). So I said (not very patiently, I might add)..."Fine, you're worth more dead anyway"

Jason: (in his I'm an engineer and have a superior sense of logic voice) You have to take into consideration that I'm young (I did gaffaw at this point) and have quite a few more years of working.

Me: (did the math for him, because since he is an engineer he has to see the numbers)...See, I'd be one rich widow, so by my making you go to the ER proves that I love you, now get in the damn car.

Him: (silence for awhile..but he did get in the car) I love you too, honey.

And I do love him dearly, it's why I fuss about him. He's my rock.

more randomness...my parents' bid was accepted and they will be new home owners in the next month or so, here in Colorado...great news for me because I haven't lived in the same city as my mother since I was nine.

glad to be wrong

It's interesting how when you're in nursing school you see disease and injury lurking behind every ache and pain....normally I can laugh it off....like when Jason asks why my back hurts, I answer cavalierly "end stage renal failure" ...it makes him laugh. I don't normally diagnose my family and friends (well as far as they know...I keep it to myself, like when a friend who was hoarse the other day said it could be allergies, but my thought was hmmm, maybe it's a thoracic aneurysm...I kept that thought to myself, because I'd like to keep my friends) Any how...yesterday, Jason complained a bit, and only after some prodding on my part because frankly he's been a bit of a pill the last couple of days, about some abdominal pain....lower right quadrant abdominal pain. I palpated and he had rebound tenderness a bit lower then McBurny's point (how techie do I sound?)...BUT he didn't have a fever and he didn't have any of the other GI symptoms...BUT not everyone has the other symptoms which makes appendicitis so tricky.

So, much to his chagrin, I made him go to the ER.
We were upfront that this was most likely me, student nurse, being too paranoid. I was assured that I had about two more years of being overly careful and then I'll swing to, 'You have to be dieing to get sympathy or treatment from me" They patted Jason on the back and gave him lots of kudos to sticking with me during these 'crazy' years.....But he did have that rebound tenderness, and some iffy blood work (but about his kidneys not about his appendix) So they did a CT scan, and gave him some IV fluids and we sat and sat and sat, played some scrabble on Jason's PDA and sat AND thankfully I was wrong.

woo hoo
Anyhow, he just has to go get his kidney function levels checked with his regular doctor this week. And of course if he spikes a fever or the pain gets worse then we go back. They said they had no idea what the pain was, maybe scarring (Jason gave his mom a kidney 9 years ago and as time goes on scarring can accumulate), it could just be a mild upset that will work itself out, WHO KNOWS....but for now he's okay and NOW HE CAN GET BACK TO REMODELLING THE BATHROOM!

WW --youth day at the Rockies Game

Home run? Nope, just a crazy five year old!

andrew cotton candy tongue

The boys and cousin Bridget

What's a ball game without cotton candy?

Walking the field..Jake's on the White Sox team and Isaac on the Marlins

Jake and team mates, Andrew and Jake C.

FYI -- Rockies lost 3-1 to the Mets

1955 Housewife....was it really this way, or did some wishful thinking guy write this?

you'll probably have to click on the above image to enlarge...it's so worth the laugh!

WW -- Good bye Papa Irving

Jason's grandfather passed away last week. He would have been 98 on the 16th. It was a blessing, he was ready to go, had been ready for awhile. He'll be able to be with his wife who passed 6 years ago. He was a quiet, studious and observant man with a quiet humor. He brought forth a family of two children, three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

He will be missed.

Father's Day Pool Fun..or, Yes, Martha, I've finally taken some pictures, so stop nagging....

Chip and Lauren (little girl in Isaac's class, her brother is on Jake's baseball team and also named Jake....love living in this neighborhood!)
Jason, throwing Abi into the air...
Hmmmm....maybe Isaac's going to be a plumber? Hey, it was the plumber sitting next to me that mentioned it....


Jake, Caity and Miles playing around in the water....it was hard to get Miles, he tried to duck when he saw me coming, yelling, "another mom with a camera!"

Some lounging was going on...Ms. Martha, giving Mr. Chang some alone time....Kevin (of Casa de Colleeno) talkin' on the phone and Kendra, another neighbor, (a non-blogger) trying to get some color.

Some of the neighborhood daddies...Kevin and Abi, Chip and Lauren (who belong to Kendra)

Adult swim...so the kiddos are trying to splash Colleeno...who is most likely taunting them about being able to be in the pool while they can't be....
Trying to keep from getting wet? in the pool? hahaha, okay, I know, no one likes to be splashed in the face....

AWWWWW, I LOVE these guys!

The Big 4-0

Today's the day....at 0010 Eastern Standard Time...I turned the big FOUR OH.....

as in: OH MY GOSH I'M FORTY!

Ms. Martha gave me a fantastic party, ms colleen and another non-blogging buddy, katrina made perfect party favors (I'll take pictures later...very clever, crafty ladies) and yes, they made me wear a grass skirt and a plastic coconut bra (it was a luau theme). Mojitos were served, the company was fantastic... even Danielle made her presence known from down-under (sitting in silence from my list of fave blogs below) with a jar of Vegemite via Dodi....pictures, most likely to follow shortly (or already, I need to go look) via Martha's blog. Thank you so much my dear friends! I love you and I feel very blessed to have you in my life!

I've been a horrible blogger-buddy lately...I'll get back into the game next week!

Oh, yeah and happy father's day to all the dads out there!