The Nest Half Full

Mia The Superstar!

2011-12-12T13:13:00.000-08:00

Oh, the connections made through CrossFit! A friend of mine works at the local news station and approached us about doing a story on Mia and her conditions. They filmed in October and it aired in November. We did it because we wanted to raise awareness about allergies and Eosinophilic diseases, and I think it worked. We also wanted to give other families dealing with these conditions some hope, and that was successful as well. I got several emails from families that have been dealing with the ordeal that is diagnosing Eos, some have been fighting for it for years and their kids are still sick. It gave them hope to see how awful Mia looked and felt yet how healthy she looks now. Here is a link to the video:

http://www.krdo.com/video/29801459/index.html

What we've been up to

2011-10-09T19:57:00.000-07:00

First Day of First Grade!

2011-08-18T20:17:00.000-07:00

Her first day of first grade went very well. She loves her teacher and seems to like her classmates just fine. They will be doing a lot of "testing" in non stressful ways to determine where they will actually begin their main lessons. She comes home pretty well worn out because they seem to get a lot more outside time than the other school!

It's that time of year....again.

2011-05-22T11:58:00.001-07:00

Poor little bird doesn't feel well. She was coughing and wretching for a large portion of the night. I think it's definitely allergies because she has been fighting a very runny nose, which makes her cough, which makes her sick! Time to break out the Flonase again. We opted to stay home from church today and I think it was a good move because she really needs the rest.

We had our new family orientation on Tuesday, to show us around her school for the Fall. She is very excited and so are we. She is doing well in the school she is in now, but she needs more to do. She will either finish quickly and then get in trouble for talking or get bored with what they are doing. She needs more challenging work in some areas. The great thing about the school she will be attending is that they will move the kids ahead in their gifted areas only, so you don't have to worry about developmental and social impacts of having kids skip grades. If Mia is only advanced in reading, she'll study ahead in that area and meet back with her peers for sciences and social studies etc. We know a few people who send their kids there and I'm friends with someone who teaches at the school so I have a very good feeling about it.

Mia's last day of school is friday, and then we're off to Breckenridge for Memorial Day. We might be able to ski at A-Basin, we'll have to see. I hear that they are trying to stay open through July 4th, because the weather has been colder and wetter than usual. It has barely felt like Spring this month and the wind has been super obnoxious. We haven't even bothered planting much in our garden other than some blackberry bushes that we picked up on Mothers Day.

Gary ran a 5K at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo yesterday morning. It isn't your average 5K, because most of it is uphill and I believe we read that the average grade was 8%! That's a lot of uphill! Relief didn't come until he got to the top and turned around for the final mile of it, but he didn't stop running at all and we're very proud of him. I'll try to find the drive that has the photos of him stretching with Mia soon.

Mia does Crossfit!

2011-05-20T18:22:00.000-07:00

Yoga in the Yard!

2011-05-05T17:30:00.000-07:00

Spring Break in Texas

2011-04-12T15:46:00.000-07:00

We spent our Springs Break visiting my family in Texas. While we were there we visited a few of the sites around Baytown and Houston.

Battleship Texas in Baytown

Galveston Beach

Space Center Houston

My Godfather works in Mission Control, so he took us on a great tour of the old and present control rooms. We were even invited to sit in on a plaque hanging ceremony for the last mission of the space shuttle Discovery and meet the crew. That was an honor!

Commemorative plaques from the Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia missions

This is a mistaken photo, from the battleship. I didn't feel like starting all over with the post!

Mia doodling at my uncles Ground Control desk

Making a phone call from Mission Control

The final crew of the space shuttle Discovery

El Capitan Area

2010-09-06T10:33:00.000-07:00

The little woodsprite hiding in the tree

Walking around the base area of Bridal Falls

Half Dome in the background

Yosemite Chapel

Yosemite Falls

2010-08-13T16:20:00.000-07:00

We found a few rocks to play on along the way

There was a little wooded area at the base of the falls away from all of the other tourists

I told her to show her teeth when she smiled!

Giddyap little...tree?

No idea what these sparticus poses are for!

George gets a climbing harness

Yosemite Falls

In front of El Capitan

Bridal Veil Falls

Inside Yosemite

2010-07-26T13:17:00.000-07:00

Tuolomne Meadows

She was trying her very hardest to stay offended!

Our campsite, AKA- ShangriLa

We had a lovely little creek running next to us

We slept in the big tent and had Mia's toys and books in the green one, so she had an escape from the bugs...and the adults :)

The camper before us was very hard core-- he left his lean-to, his boots and a shirt to prove it!

The land where this old homestead sits is for sale, and I WANT IT!

Taking a look at O'Shaughnessy Dam and Hetch Hetchy Reservoir

The very cool breeze coming up from the bottom was quite strong!

Mia was very excited to see a real cowboy!

Tired little bird

She helped Daddy gather and stack firewood

Night sky from our campground

Welcome to Nevada...the strangest place...

2010-07-21T12:53:00.000-07:00

Nevada was a long drive on very straight roads with very little as far as scenery! Once we got onto the Extraterrestrial Highway we saw a few odd things, but mostly I read a book to Gary as he drove.

Joshua Tree

King of the Road!

There were some very aggressive biting flies, though I don't know how they survived in that heat.

Finally made it into California

We found a flat spot by a lake, set up our tent and played in the dirt.

Such a lovely place to wake up!

I think I've figure out that he's a Yellow Headed Blackbird. Gary worked very hard to get a good picture of him! He and his buddies chatted very loudly!

There was a very scenic overlook just outside of Yosemite

A Snowman in June!

Entering Yosemite, where we ended up buying a year pass that would get us into all federal parks. By the end of the trip we had already made some of our money back!

Vacation 2010, part 1

2010-07-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

We started out on Saturday, June 26 around 9AM. We had the car packed as efficiently as possible, realising that it would not stay that way! We went through Monarch Pass and through Utah first.

There was a rest stop in Utah that had such a nice view and the lighting was specitacular! The lone tree was very interesting with it's twists.

We found a tent and RV park to stay at for the night.

Mia, being a big help to Daddy, making sure he constructs the tent properly

On the next morning's drive, headed towards Nevada

Before and After Pics of Mia's Haircut

2010-06-25T19:49:00.000-07:00

He was still sleeping off jetlag in this photo

Another hailstorm, this time we got my plants under the eaves of the house!

Not letting him out of her sight

Jessie and Clint brought noisy gifts

Checking out her new do

Take a hike!

2010-06-21T09:44:00.001-07:00

It was a nice day to go for a hike, so we went to Cheyenne Mountain State Park. It's pretty much in our back yard. We hiked somewhere between 4-5 miles. Mia wasn't as into it as we were so she was on Gary's shoulders for quite a bit of the trek.

Gary's Homecoming

2010-06-09T16:06:00.001-07:00

Working very hard on Daddy's welcome home sign!

The vans just dropped them off outside

Making sure he doesn't succumb to jetlag!

Attempting to revive my hail-beaten marigolds

So glad to have her buddy back

Our too brief visit to Ga

2010-05-22T14:15:00.000-07:00

We had to fly to Georgia for my best friend's wedding in May. The weather was threatening to be bad but luckily the rain stopped for the wedding and didn't get cruddy again until after my annual BBQ! When we arrived, Jessie picked us up and took us to Athens where Chris and Angie left the kids to go house hunting. The kids had a great time playing together, Mia was looking forward to seeing her cousins.
The wedding was lovely even though Mia was an insubordinate flower girl! She tried to go up the stairs behind the preacher, she sat down on the floor when she was supposed to be standing and she didn't stay behind with the bridesmaids when I had to go up the stairs to hold Heather's train and bouquet. She inched her way to the place where Mom and Dad were sitting and was quickly pushed out to the isle when it was time for us to exit. She was super tired and had some bad allergies going on so I guess it's as good as I could have expected out of her!

Rebecca and Mia playing in the yard

Our little Jedis

Playing catch with Great-Grandmamma Sams

Using The Force on Uncle Chris

Why did someone insist that we face into the sun for this picture??

The Annual Feeding of the Friends, minus a few that were late!

Weasleing a guitar lesson out of Chase

And another out of Clint!

Pouty little Flower Girl

Primping the dress for photos

I am smarter than a dress train...

Most of the bridesmaids

Mimmy and Mia at the rehearsal dinner

Flowergirl and her Bride

Little Doll

Dancing with Mommy to pass the time

Cranky little cupcake

Swiffering Great-Grandmommy's floor

Feeding the ducks at Memorial Park

Just a few hours before we had to get on the plane to come home :(

More of Mia's Creations!

2010-04-19T09:50:00.000-07:00

To go into kindergarten, they are supposed to be able to write their names

I'm not sure who it is, but I made the mistake of saying that it was neat that she drew them flying. She corrected me saying they were just walking really high! She has drawn a few pictures like this.

I think this is Bolt and Mittens, but I can't say for certain!

Easter and Ice Skating

2010-04-10T06:16:00.001-07:00

Hamming it up before hitting the ice

She's a tough one to catch, she's pretty fast!

Lil' bit of power food

Easter Morning, she got another chirping bird so she ran upstairs to get the one she already had so they could "be friends". She had a lot of stickers and some reading tools.

Indoor egg hunt at church, comparing loot!

The eggs had no candy, just things like stickers and bouncy balls!

Valentines through Today

2010-03-22T16:01:00.000-07:00

I ventured over to the Microsoft side just to update these photos!

Mia made her valentine box for preschool and came home with her crown

This is what it took to get out the door! I ran two miles that day though, so it must have worked!

Taking advantage of the beautiful weather today! Digging in the dirt=goodtimes!

Our Cruddy Week

2010-03-08T16:29:00.000-08:00

There will be no pictures for this post, as we are on a loaner laptop while our CPU is at "The Computer Hospital" thanks to a nasty spyware virus thing. Not exactly sure what it was but it was malicious and aggravating! Some friends from church brought over an extra laptop they had and after Gary helped me via telephone figure out that I had to restart the modem, we have internet again.

Last week started with a trip to Denver on Monday to have a glucose breath test, which was positive, as was the lactose breath test on Wednesday.
I managed to screw up my psychology course by not checking to make sure a major paper was submitted. I now have a zero for that grade and even with all of the possible extra credit I'm resigned to a B now. Saturday morning we awoke to find that Mia's pet fish, Sushi, had kicked the bucket. That was a bit traumatic, since this is her first real experience with death. That made us late for her first ice skating lesson!
She did great at her first session and even had a little friend she knew from ballet in the same class. She can actually start gliding, after one lesson. We get free public sessions with the class fee so we'll go by the rink tomorrow evening to see if she retained anything! She had a blast until the last few minutes when she collided with someone and whacked her hand on a skate.
From there we went to our yoga class, where we were the only pair to show up so we pretty much had a personal session! Her listening ears were not on very well.
After yoga we had to go by David's Bridal to pick up my bridesmaids dress that finally came in, and WOW what a madhouse! We had to practically park in Canada and hike to the storefront. The dress is a bit big, not fitting at all the way the one I tried on did, so I'm taking it to my lady at the drycleaner that does such a good job with my pants. Mia's flower girl dress also needs to be cinched in, since she isn't growing as fast as we thought she would.

What a day, then we came home to the virus on the computer. I immediately called my Daddy and when they got home from their dinner date, he remote accessed my computer through the Linux side and was able to retrieve a paper I needed to turn in for my online psychology course. He really saved the day on that one! This morning we were up bright and early, mostly because my little bird thinks she has to get up with the first sounds of day and come into my room to tell me about them. So we took the CPU in, and it's going to be a pretty penny to get the virus out but it isn't like I really have a choice. However, I'm TOTALLY learning Linux now! I'm so over Microsoft, it isn't even funny. I sense hands-on Linux Learning Sessions with Dad in the near future!

I finally got to talk to Gary this morning, we were both having a rough week from the sounds of it. He helped me get the borrowed laptop hooked up to the internet and I filled him in on the events.

As for the fishy, I googled about what could kill betas and from the sounds of it we had the water temperature too low and he basically froze to death. Isn't that horrible? So before we go for another, I'm talking to the store folks about maybe a little heater pad to put on the tank, but now I'm afraid of boiling one to death. After the treefrog snafu....

Mia's Ever Evolving Art

2010-02-27T06:43:00.000-08:00

You can see where she practices making eyes, they look like artist sketches.

She always portrays me with a crewcut or a mohawk... She has discovered that she can make expressions, here the tongue is hanging out and the eyes aren't straight forward!

Apparently this one is a Chimera!

I call this one "Startled and Confused"

Growing little gal!

2010-02-06T11:36:00.000-08:00

Mia is becoming such an independent little person! As a mother it has been difficult to WANT to let her exercise her autonomy! She has been doing things like dressing herself, cleaning her room and brushing her teeth on her own for a while. We know she has shown keen interest in participating in her food prep. She loves to help make muffins and pancakes and cuts her own food (albeit roughly). She is now tall enough that a stool is putting her at the perfect height to help with these things. Her interest has spread to rinsing dishes and putting them in the washer and using the microwave (under very close supervision!). She'll bring her stool to the counter, open the microwave and put her dish inside and knows that to heat her leftover rice she needs to push "3", "0" and "start" (it's the same for her pancake if you're wondering). Each time she uses we talk about what goes in the microwave and what cannot, so she's well aware that she only uses her dish and removes the silverware. She's very good about asking first.

We had our parent-teacher conference with the post preschool on Monday. She is definitely ready for kindergarten, it's unanimous! She knows all of her letters in their capital and lowercase form (she knew most of them by the first conference), she can identify numbers up into the 30's and can count consistently to 22 (although she has a serious grudge against 15, not sure why!) and she knows all of her colors including Grey (which is often "silver"). At the first conference one of the things she needed to work on was not interrupting people during circle or story time. She had a hard time with that and unfortunately she comes by it honestly as I know I have the tendency! On Monday her teacher was excited to report that she has improved and can now wait until it's either her turn to talk or raises her hand to wait until someone is finished. Her teacher was also very impressed with her sharing, saying she never turns a friend down when they want a turn with a toy. Sometimes the bike is difficult to share when they go outside but she's generally pretty good.
I had the opportunity to see just how wonderful she is at sharing when we were the parent helpers at Ruth Washburn yesterday. There was a squabble over something, stuffed animals and what to do with them I believe, and I heard Mia pipe up, "Hey guys! We don't need to fight we need to do TEAMWORK!" It was so rewarding to hear her be the problem solver! I thought her choice of words, especially since we don't see much of the Wonder Pets! Wonder Pets is a TV show on Nick Jr or Noggin, one of those preschooler tv channels. The three pets routinely save baby animals from various predicaments and their theme song says, "Whats going to work? TEEEEEAM WORK!" and she saw it frequently as a young toddler but not so much recently. Either way, it was just great!

Mia is a good pet owner. She never forgets that Sushi needs food! It bothers her that we don't feed him every day, "Doesn't he get hungry Mommy??" The gal at the pet store said that these particular Beta's were fed every other day and so far he's thriving on that schedule. She is very conscientious about reminding me that he needs clean water. She still very much wants a kitty. When we were at Chris and Angie's house we saw a couple of episodes of the show, "Cats 101" I think it was called. They featured a couple of breeds that were touted to be less offensive to allergic people. Well, I looked them up online and they are nearly $1000!!!! Sorry, but she can save her allowance :) Angie suggested keeping my eyes peeled on rescue sites. I guess when cats are too old or don't win shows anymore they are abandoned so you can find purebred cats at specific rescues. I've also seen data that says pure white cats do not have as much of the offensive dander. They know there is a certain protein in the dander that tends to bother people and certain breeds of cats and white cats appear to lack that protein. So let me know if you run across a white cat!

In other news we're dealing with another cold. The poor thing has a super runny nose and a cough that won't leave her alone. The good news is that Tylenol makes a dye-free cough and cold syrup that doesn't contain corn ingredients! So far it's doing okay, I'm not noticing a marked improvement but then again the child doesn't absorb everything. We're staying home this weekend, no yoga or church because she needs to rest and we really don't want to share the funk!

Sharing her water with Starsong

Mia and her friend Sushi

You can see him better in this picture, nevermind the silly look on Mia's face! She also had a bit of a breakout going on.

Hide your blueberries!!!!

2010-02-02T10:06:00.000-08:00

IT'S THE BLUEBERRY VAMPIRE!!!

I promised Phyllis I'd post pictures of my finished doily shirt!

Mia took the pictures, not bad for a 4-year-old eh?

Mia the Muffin Baker

2010-01-18T08:32:00.000-08:00

One of Mia's Christmas presents was a cupcake baking set. Since we can't have cupcakes we renamed it the Muffing baking set! She did most of the work as usual. I just measure the ingredients but she poured and mixed. I guided her on how full to make the muffin tins and put them in the oven. They turned out nicely!

Mia in a basket!

Last week we had a peanut incident at the post preschool. The teacher didn't realise that Mia's allergy was severe enough that she couldn't touch peanut butter. They did the classic preschool project where you put peanutbutter on a pinecone and roll it around in birdseed. Even though they used knives and spoons to put everything on, it was still enough to give her hives. When I picked her up from school my friend saw her before I did and asked "What happened to Mia's face?!" I noticed they were all carrying little baggies with the pinecones and told her teacher that she can't touch it. We had a conference the next day that included the school nurse. Her teacher was just horrified that she had put Mia in danger like that, she cried because she was so upset and scared. So we went over what she can't touch, ingest etc. We also recapped what symptoms to look for, what to do for them and when to use the Epipen. They are going through what I think is their third epipen training since school began, so I feel like it has been handled well. I'm just very thankful that it wasn't worse!

Before the benedryl kicked in

A couple of hours later

The pictures don't really show you how broken out she was, it was down her neck and chest, and she obviously touched her sides and her inside arm at some point because there was a cluster of hives in those places.

Christmas in Virginia

2010-01-05T06:54:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful time visiting with Chris and Angie for Christmas! Our flights out there were fine, thanks much in part to having a brother who works for the FAA! Chris picked us up right at the gate.
The kids got along very well and had a blast together, though eventually they were so used to each other that there were sibling-like squabbles! Christmas morning was what Chris called "mildly organized chaos" and I don't believe there is a better term for it!
On the 26th Mom and Dad drove us to Culpeper on their way back to Georgia so we could stay with Gary's mom for a few days. We were able to connect with my sister in law and her family as well as Aunt Carolyn and some friends of the family. It was a nice visit that could have lasted a few more days :)
I spent my birthday in Winchester, Angie and I went to some antique stores and briefly to the outlets before we had to get on the road to beat the traffic.
Our journey home was much longer than planned. Chris escorted us to our gate and sat with us until he left for work. Shortly before they should have begun boarding us the attendant said that there was some mechanical trouble with the plane. The fuel gauge and "something else" were having issues and they kept delaying and delaying until they finally started to call us up one by one when it was obvious we'd miss our connections in Minneapolis/St.Paul. We were re-routed to Dallas/FtWorth on American Airlines (we started out on Northwest). We were originally to be home by 1pm on the 3rd but didn't make it through our door until about 9pm! John was there to pick us up, but he only had ONE suitcase to pull--my suitcase and Mia's carseat were delayed. They brought them to us the next day, so nothing lost!
It has been a little bit of an adjustment being home. Mia and I both got used to having people around! We're now back into the swing of things with school. Mia started back on the 6th and my classes begin on the 20th.
Today Mia is sick. She was seeming a bit off yesterday when I took her to her afternoon preschool, but she was playful and eating. This morning she woke up in a mess, so I cleaned things up and bathed her. She came down to the couch to watch some TV and ended up getting sick so now she's snoozing with a bucket nearby. We were going to go across the street to our neighbor's birthday party but it looks like we're staying in. It's a shame because it's such a beautiful day out, the kind of day where you just need a good sweater. I picked up the back yard, as it looked like a wind storm happened while we were away. I've been working on a few sewing projects, mostly re-sizing too-big items with my new dressform. It is making sewing life easier already!

All of our stockings, made by Grandma!

Christmas Morning, stockings are the first order of business!

Mia had been asking Santa for a purple elephant, but she wasn't too disappointed with a grey one.

Snowshoes, to keep up with Mommy

Now she has her own hydration system and we don't have to worry about what we're eating when she wants a sip from ours

Mom and Dad gave me a "Frank Birdhouse". The next-door neighbor is a carpenter and he reclaims materials to turn into birdhouses among other things. The perches are from an old calculator from UGA

Rebecca wears her new tutu from Mimmy and Pop Pop

Our visit with Gary's mom, Mia put on a pair of her no-skid socks.

Mia and her Sugarplum Fairy Barbie

She actually fell asleep in Grandmas lap!

Very interested in Daniel's game

Aunt Yvonne, Daniel and Nicole gave her a little scrapbook kit that has the tiniest little camera I've ever seen!

Meeting Tony the African Gray at Aunt Carolyn's house

Nicole gave us a concert

Teaching Aunt Yvonne how to do ballet

Aidan and Mia checking out some of the moving ornaments

Aidan the train conductor!

This was one of rebecca's presents, the bumblebee costume

Angie with a giggly little fairy

Honk!

Eating that tasty DC snow

Mia wanted to dressup, so she borrowed Aidans Pirate outfit

Mia dressed herself!

Christmas Hijinks

2009-12-17T15:25:00.001-08:00

We're getting closer to Christmas break, one day of preschool left before we use the weekend to pack our bags. We have to leave here super early, to get to the airport in time for our flight. I think we have one of the first few out of springs.

Mia was officially discharged from feeding therapy on Wednesday. This is the last straw in the program. The suit she is wearing is a pressure vest, the pressure calms her down and helps her focus.

Her afternoon preschool had a gingerbread house party. I was concerned at first, but once I was able to read all of the ingredients decided it was okay to proceed. Mia had a lot of fun, though she didn't like getting the icing on her hands.

The finished products.

Getting ready for the brigade Christmas party

The balloon guy was impressive! She wanted a butterfly and that is exactly what she got!

The bouncy house

Mia and her little friend Laeney with their Pink Piggy and Butterfly. I'm telling you, that guy didn't bat an eye when they made their requests!

She's dangerous at minigolf!

She's warming up to this Santa fellow

We had pictures made since we had such a killer coupon

What negative degrees?

2009-12-10T14:04:00.000-08:00

We had a winter storm roll through over the weekend and during the first part of the week. The temperatures were dipping below zero and the wind chill was going MUCH lower! On Monday we HAD to get outside! We had been cooped up and only left for a few hours on Saturday to go to the pottery shop and work on some unfinished projects with my friend Carolyn.
Mia wanted to play in the snow so badly, so I put a good three layers beneath her snowsuit, wrapped a scarf around her face and grabbed the sled! It was about 6 degrees I believe, so we didn't stay outside long, just enough to get a few good runs down the hill at the playground and check the mail.

This could be a scene straigt out of A Christmas Story!

Mommy's helper

5" in this particular spot

MUCH more than 5" here! The snow was blowing into foot high drifts right here.

Down she goes!

You can't really see, but she's giggling!

Mia's Visit with Santa

2009-12-04T16:28:00.000-08:00

Mia's picture with Santa was a week in the making! I realised that I didn't tell Mia what to expect from Santa at The North Pole theme park, so of course she was afraid of the big strange man with the beard! I talked about him and mom emailed a picture of me with him when I was about the same age. Apparently I was scared witless of him but mom told me that she really wanted this picture, so I agreed that I'd put my hand on his knee for the picture. We talked about how nice Santa is and how much Mimmy and PopPop and Grandma would love to see her in a picture with him. I took her to the PX where they had a nice set up and let her watch other kids sit on his lap. Two days later she had no fear and walked right up to him. Apparently she asked for "an elephant to sleep with, but just a pretend one. Real elephants won't fit in my bed" and "a sparkly blue cinderella dress and sparkly red shoes to match" (honestly. That matches in her world!)

Santa was actually sitting in front of a green screen so they can switch the background according to what the customer wanted. I didn't remember that from our recon visit and put her in a green dress with pretty smocking of a winter sleigh that mom found. When they took the picture, her dress was see through! The photographer said that anything green would initially turn into whatever the background was, but she had a way to fix it thank goodness!

A Very Girly Christmas

2009-11-29T13:44:00.000-08:00

I failed to take pictures at Thanksgiving this year, go Me! Everyone had a great time, the food was great and it was good to see Susie and Mark, who flew in midday on Thanksgiving Day. Instead of shopping on Black Friday, we went to Santa's North Pole at the start of the Pikes Peak Highway. It's a little Christmas themed amusement park that is open between May and January I believe. Mia and I arrived before the others so we waited in line to see Santa. I wasn't sure what she would do. Let's just say it was a big no go for sitting with the strange bearded man! She didn't want anything to do with him. She is a little adrenaline junkie though! She loved the fast spinny rides, except for the rocking rocket ship. I don't know what was so scary about that one after the crazy roller coaster and the super spinny up and down parachutes and plane!
On Saturday we didn't leave the house except to retrieve a package from the post office. We played at the big playground on the way home. When we got home we cleaned the flower beds of the dead plants and moved the flower pots to the shelves on the back porch. We did a minimal amount of Christmas decorating, just enough to get in the spirit but not so much that it's a pain to put away. Since we're going to Virginia this year we aren't dragging out and assembling the big tree. Grandma Dollman had given Mia a miniature Disney Princess tree so we just put that up on the end table beside the piano. I thought it came with ornaments but didn't see any in the box. Luckily, I kept all of Mia's fairy and Barbie ornaments totally separate from the rest of the ornaments and only had to dig out one box of ornaments! For the rest of the decorating we hung the stockings and some garland on the stair banister and brought the nutcracker out. We ordered a pine wreath from our little neighbor who was selling them in November to help pay his tuition to a home school tutoring academy and they came in the day before Thanksgiving. It has a nice, festive aroma that we get to whiff when we open the door. I rather shoddily hung some white lights around the door, firmly believing there is a reason we send the guys out to do it!

Now if I could just finish Christmas gift making/shopping. I'm having a hard time motivating this year. I got a wild hair and made a quilt for Mia in four hours, so I know the wherewithal is there, I'm just having a hard time tapping into it for the projects I NEED to finish! I think part of it is not having Gary around to cheer me on, he was my pep team last year!

Mia's girly little Christmas tree

The quilt that appeared out of nowhere

This was taken a couple of weeks ago, she was pushing her ponies around the house, refusing to believe that she needed pants over those tie dyed tights.

Riding in the cars at The North Pole

This is on the rocket ship ride that she didn't like! Helen said she was absolutely trembling! Caden actually enjoyed it, besides the expression that makes you think she's going to toss her cookies!

I think the airplanes were too slow and bored her!

Mia was adamant that she was NOT getting on the ferris wheel, but she changed her mind after Erin and John did all of the standing in line.

The Best School Picture Ever!

2009-11-22T13:22:00.000-08:00

This is actually the re-take, and boy was it worth waiting for! She had the most awful smirk in her first set. It was amusing, but not something I wanted to pay for and send off to family! The photographer must have been doing something very ridiculous. I had originally chosen a plain blue background, but someone made a mistake. I actually like the purple background more, it makes the colors in her outfit stand out. We also have a set from her other preschool, but I didn't plan on buying them so I didn't dress her in anything that I'd want pictures made in, so they are going back. I'm super pleased with these!

Mia's Latest Masterpiece

2009-11-20T15:02:00.000-08:00

We are out of school again today. She is having some kind of allergic reaction in her eyes, presumably from the dust I stirred up when changing out the air filters for the furnace. One is directly across from her room and though I tried to be careful, they were nasty. I was sneezing and coughing with water eyes myself, but she actually has irritation. She had a bit of eye discharge last night but it seems to have subsided. I kept her out of school just to be safe, even though she doesn't appear to have conjunctivitis. She's just red and puffy, but an uncomfortable kid doesn't learn well so we stayed home and watched PBS. After the kids portion ended we played board games and the wii.
It turned out to have a silver lining, this staying home business. We got a call from Gary! This is twice in a week, so we're pretty lucky. Mia likes talking to him and I know the feeling is mutual.

Not much else is happening. I'm working on getting through the math final, first week of December. We're going to Helen's for Thanksgiving, with the extra treat of having Susie and Mark in town. I'm also working on Christmas presents, either buying or making them. I'm not as diligent as I was last year about DIY. I still have time but then again I don't!

We got our snow!

2009-11-15T11:19:00.000-08:00

The weather forecast for Friday night was supposed to include snow, but we awoke to a less-than-white Saturday morning. We took that as a sign that we were supposed to go to yoga. We had a pretty full class and Mia even listened :) Saturday evening, I dropped Mia at Helen's house to share a babysitter and we went out for a few hours for some big person time! We walked around some shops at Briargate and ate at PF Changs, which has an excellent gluten free menu! It's nice to be able to eat oriental food and not feel horrible all through the next day! It began to snow before we made it to dinner and didn't stop until the wee hours of the morning. We woke up to at least two inches, many more in some areas where the snow was blowing. Mia asked to go out, which is labor intensive since it takes a good twenty minutes to get both of us into our snowsuits. She had a good hour of running around and rolling in the snow before our cheeks got too cold.

Firefighter Mia!

2009-11-05T17:18:00.000-08:00

That's how she introduced herself to everyone on our neighborhood playground today, "Hi! I'm Firefighter Mia!" Officer Sam came to her preschool today and talked about 911 and stranger danger. This is great because I've been working with her to memorize what to tell a dispatcher if she did have to call 911. She almost has her address memorized, if I start it she can finish it flawlessly. Last night I heard her telling Cat, "If you get a fire on you, you have to STOP DROP AND ROLL to get it off." She also frequently coaches her stuffed animals on how to call 911 on the telephone. She's definitely into the idea of being a firefighter and saving people as her first career choice! It's funny because I remember wanting to be a firefighter or a paramedic when I was little. I was so enamored with the idea of saving the day and never missed an episode of Rescue 911! Tuesday nights, remember Mom? I'd be so disappointed if it turned out to be a re-run or didn't come on! I tried to upload a video of Mia talking about what she learned, but it didn't want to cooperate. Bummer!

Firefighter Mia on the playground, ready for action!

Taken a few days ago, she just smiled so beautifully I couldn't resist!

Where there is a smile, there is also a goofball face!

Halloween!

2009-11-01T10:31:00.001-08:00

Our Halloween started early Friday morning. Ruth Washburn lets the kids come to class in costumes if they wish, and Mia chose to dress up as a ballerina in on of my old recital costumes! We added some leg warmers and a turtleneck to make it weather appropriate.

She climbed in her box and watched PBS until I got it together enough to leave!

Halloween night, she dressed up as Belle in a costume that Mimmy sent last month. We made a loop around the neighborhood. She actually said "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" this year! There were a few people in the neighborhood that had creepy costumes and props like very loud chainsaws. She was the bravest little princess! She looked at Chainsaw Guy and walked right by him to the bowl of candy that he was "guarding" and even told him "Thank you!" The only thing she didn't do was go into a neighbor's garage that was super dark and set up like a mad scientist lab...or something. We're not sure since we didn't go in! After we came back to our house we sat outside and handed out candy. I think that was more fun for her. Someone put a little miniature My Little Pony in her bag instead of candy, so it really didn't matter to her that she couldn't eat any of it! She slept with it and chose to name it Cuties!

Mia Art!

2009-10-28T18:06:00.000-07:00

Snowy Day!

2009-10-28T16:15:00.001-07:00

We woke up to a dusting of snow that later turned into bonafide snow showers! We started early this morning with feeding therapy. Her tongue thrust is still stubborn. It is so obstinate that her therapist is considering trying to send her to the "tongue thrust guru". The thrust is an issue because it interferes with eating properly. She is swallowing things without chewing or chewing enough which is bad for your esophagus and makes your digestive tract have to work harder to process and break the food down. It doesn't help that she has been sick and off of her food/drink, tubing the formula just enables her to avoid eating which she seems perfectly happy to do.
After therapy we hightailed it to the hospital on post for her nutrition appointment. I left my phone at home so didn't receive the phone call from her dietitian asking if we could come in early. It was a good thing that it was a flexible request. I need a phone that yells before I walk out of the door so I don't forget it. The good news is that she is GAINING WEIGHT! She is 31.2 lbs, so tweaking the formula worked! We are going to leave things the way they are for the time being. If she continues to gain weight too rapidly, we would have to adjust the formula again to make it less calorie dense. We've never had to do that before! Normally the suggested weight gain for a girl her age is 5 grams per day. Since our last visit with the dietitian Mia gained 34 grams per day! She isn't too worried about it, thinking that her body needs to play catch up anyway. She hasn't gained more than 31 in the past week, so she's not steamrolling out of control.
After we were finished with the nutrition appointment we went home to gather her school things and boogied off to preschool. It was still snowing, but the wind had developed quite a nip. When we take the kids to preschool, they have us wait out at the playground. The area that we eventually go into is a commons, so I'm not sure why they have us stand in the cold with our cheeks freezing solid. They open the door at 1230 sharp, but I wish they would make an exception on very cold or very rainy days. It was so cold that they kept them inside for recess, Mia said. I let her run around outside when we got home, just enough that she got some good snowballs in with the boys next door!

Warming up after playing in the snow. Boxes are a favorite perch.

Trying to keep up with three older boys is tough work!

He's showing her how to pack a snowball

A few older photos popped up...

2009-10-27T16:07:00.000-07:00

Mia seems to be on the mend! Her fever finally broke on Saturday morning but she was still feeling poorly. She perked up by Monday, looking a little pale and still battling the cough. She went back to school today (so did Mommy) and seemed to have a good day. She came home with a drawing of herself, we named her Mini Mia.

Feeling pooky on Saturday. She was sitting in front of the television watching a movie and when I came back in to check on her she was face down, asleep on the floor!

These next few are a couple of months old, they were hiding on my small camera!

Auntie Heather sent her flower girl dress early. We either have to have it altered or Mia has some serious weight to pack on!

Typical Morning Mia Hair

Daddy brought her birthday present home with him. They have a little market set up on the weekends at the base, many vendors sell their work and he found the prettiest little jewelery box. It has a flower carved on the lid and it's made of rosewood.

Playing with the ponies before ballet class

Our official gear inspector

I believe this was her first day of preschool at Patriot Elementary

A Princess Plays

2009-10-24T08:09:00.000-07:00

We've had quite a week. Mia started acting like she was getting sick on Tuesday. Her energy was slightly lower than usual and she didn't want to get out of bed. By Wednesday evening she was running a fever so I kept her out of school for the rest of the week. The fever responds to Tylenol, but so does her gut so she had diarrhea on top of the fever, congestion and cough. The fever finally broke this morning, so maybe we're out of the woods. She stayed in bed all day yesterday and didn't come down until the evening. She refused to eat so I had to pump everything through her g-tube. I did call the nurses line and they pretty much said to keep doing what I'm doing since it is obviously the flu.
The unfortunate thing is that she sneezed in my face last night! I headed straight for the OJ and the Zicam and ate a bowl of veggies to make myself feel a little proactive! I doubt there is any way I'm going to avoid getting it. She got me squarely in the face!

These were taken a couple of weeks ago. She still likes to wear her hula outfit.

Singing Three Blind Mice

Showing off her "puppy dog ears" that she made in preschool

Daddy's R&R

2009-09-25T15:58:00.001-07:00

Mia and Gary decided that my bright blue flower boxes needed to be painted. They painted just one before Gary realised it was a bigger undertaking than he thought!

One of Mia's little friends had her birthday parter at a park in Manitou Springs

Mia took a picture of Daddy

Playing in her sandbox with that WONDERFUL (hahahaha) purple sand.

Family pic at the running shoe store

Playing ball in the backyard

Playing around in Rocky Mountain Natl Park. Yes that's a tinkerbell dress!

I'm not entirely sure if this is a groundhog or a very fat marmot, but he had prime real estate on his little rock.

The girl was born ready to hike!

Hiking around Palmer Park

Gary and Mia went to the Colorado Balloon Classic while Mommy slept in.

Later that day they went up Pikes Peak

Giving a "big girl bike" a try

Mimmy's visit

2009-08-28T13:01:00.000-07:00

Once again some of the pictures will be out of order! Mom came for a visit to celebrate Mia's birthday week. Her flight came in on the 18th of August and she stayed through the 26th. That also happened to be the week that Mia and I started school. It was nice to have Mimmy around to watch her while I was in class!

About halfway to the top of Pikes Peak

Four years young!

Having some fun with The Lady Bug Game

Braiding her hair

Story time before bed with Mimmy

Playing songs from her beginner book

Setting up her muffin and candle at her birthday. We claimed a spot early on Saturday at the Julie Penrose fountain. It's at America the Beautiful Park and at 10am, it turns into a water park! The water falls from the sprayers at the top of the loop and the water winds down around the base and into a reflection pool. It's very shallow and a lot of fun!

On Sunday we took Mimmy up to Pikes Peak. I forgot about the winding mountain roads, so it was white knuckles for all of us!

Having a famous high altitude doughnut

We also celebrated Mia's official birthday at home. Grandma Dollman had sent a few Tinkerbell items ahead to decorate with.

Chris and Angie gave her a rolling carry on for our trip to Virginia in December! The little pig can come out of his harness and you can fill him with sundries through a little zipper in his back.

She got a full cowgirl outfit, complete with more pink boots!

Grandma Dollman's "monies!"

The card "from" daddy

Mimmy and her cowgirl

All of the cards...that we could find!

A cow in downtown COS

Taking Mia to preschool

We had such a wonderful time and feel like it ended too soon. We dropped mom off at the airport and shared a soda with her before driving up to Denver to meet with the pediatric rheumatologist. He felt that there was nothing much that suggested anything autoimmune other than her ANA workup. He did run a few tests when I told him about the blisters that she will develop on her knuckles.
We saw the immunology doctors again and they had some interesting news. A few weeks ago we had a consult with them and they collected blood and swabs to run through genetic testing. The testing was of no charge to anyone because they aren't necessarily commercially available, but more along the lines of pet projects that National Jewish is working on to one day make them available. One of the cheek swabs came back positive for Fillagrin, so named for the protein in your skin that helps the skin barrier keep allergens and other unwanted things out. Apparently she is deficient in this protein which is why her eczema was so severe and is so easily exacerbated. There is no cure for it, just the maintenance that we've been doing. It is mostly helpful with the big picture, knowing that kids that have this gene mutation do not outgrow the eczema as quickly as non Fillagrin would, if they ever do. Basically we have to continue to be proactive against flare-ups and infections. Piece of cake. The downside of the gene mutation is that it means that the likelihood of other mutations being present is higher, and they have collected more blood for more genetic testing. The things they want to test for are usually male specific, but there have been mutations that allow females to acquire the diseases as well. Ultimately we're looking for T-cell disorders.

Mia is loving her classes at Patriot Elementary's preschool program. They are slightly more academic than Ruth Washburn which is just fine. It's still a play-based curriculum and they paint and draw every day. I'm glad I learned the clothing lesson last year at RWCNS, because now I'm smart enough to put her in clothing that can come back looking like Jackson Pollock designed them. Right now she is the only girl in the class which worried the teacher at first. She was afraid that Mia would be upset, but I assured her that she probably wouldn't notice and I was right! I think she's just gleeful at the fact that she gets the pretty dress up area to herself. There might be another little girl coming in the next couple of weeks, hopefully Mia will not be territorial! I don't want her to be one of those girls! She's doing very well with her words and writing. She can write her name on her own, though sometimes it's backwards and upside down. She can identify some words like "boy" and "ball" and "house". There is a great little Eric Carle board book where the pages are split in two. The top half has a word in lower case letters and the bottom half has a picture of a word and spells it with upper case. You have to match the top page word to the correct bottom page picture and word, and I believe that is responsible for this recognition.

Classes are going well for me, too. I started off with three courses, two in classrooms and one online. I had to drop the online course. It was not a good idea for a computer illiterate person to take a computer literacy course online, at home on a computer she barely knows how to navigate. Since my tech support is in Afghanistan and Georgia, my best option was to bow out gracefully before obliterating my GPA. Now I'm taking Math 030 (yes, the lowest math possible. I'm aware of that) and Basic Nutrition for Nurses. The nutrition course is fascinating. When I got home from class this week I went to my pantry and pretty much rid it of anything with dye. It's the same stuff that you use in your printer! The same stuff that colors fabric and carpet! Eeeeeew! This class is going to turn me into one of those obnoxious health nuts. Better than the alternative! In a few weeks an online Psychology course is supposed to start and I hope that my transcripts from UMUC will be entered by then, because I'd like to take that as well. I want to knock out as many of these pre-recs as possible so I can start interviewing for the program by next fall. I'm concerned about what will happen if we have to move again, in the middle of my studies. I have heard that it's hard on kids, it's probably just as hard on the big students!

One thing at a time...

The Lords Dinner

2009-08-11T13:43:00.000-07:00

Every quarter the church volunteers at a soup kitchen night held at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in West Colorado Springs. We buy about 57lbs of chicken to fry up, potato mini wedges, salad, fruit cocktail, rolls and fresh fruit. In the past, Gary has been around to wrangle Mia and her little friend, Grace, while we cook and set up. I was debating on whether to stay or not and decided to bring a few things to occupy her, just to give it a shot. She behaved very nicely and we only had one event that required time out. She helped clean up and put chairs away and stayed in her little corner of the kitchen for the most part. I'm proud of her! We always feed about a hundred people, more in the winter time. Unfortunately there has been an increase in the homeless population, a lot of people are literally living in their cars and roll up to eat then roll off to sleep.

It's such a humbling experience, because you can't help but catch yourself trying to remove from the situation, the possibility that that could be you one day. You can tell when someone is new to the lifestyle, they won't make eye contact, their clothes haven't been worn out yet and they almost seem ashamed to accept the plate.

Gary's Adventures

2009-08-07T10:07:00.000-07:00

Everybody flying in "full battle rattle"

Sitting in the "seat" of a C-130 on the way to the FOB

He was lucky enough to sit by a window, but turning to get the picture was difficult because he still had EVERYTHING on.

More countryside on the way to the FOB

His first "living" space. He said you could pretty much touch the walls from side to side and your head and feet could do the same lengthwise.

Standing on one of the roofs, he said that those are 15-18,000' hills

An old Russian MIG that was left after they pulled out of their 10 year war.

I don't know what it is, but it had better not come home with him.

I sent some digital thermometers and as you can see, they work very well! The inside temp is for the room where the computers are and the outside temp is pretty self explanatory!

Mamma's been busy!

2009-08-04T16:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I had originally intended to share some pictures of Mia at the table, asleep and covered in the sweet potatoes that she fell asleep IN... However I cannot find them, I'm afraid I may have deleted them instead of putting them in a folder.

So, here are a few pictures of my latest projects instead:

Mia's new hoodie fleece

I was quite proud of my first backpack, but Mia insisted that she wants a PURPLE owl. After I finished this one she decided that it was acceptable and pestered me about wearing it until I had sewn the lining in.

I can't seem to throw scraps away so I decided to use them for the lining just to make a dent in the scrap box.

Rocky Mountain Top Childrens Museum in Breckenridge

2009-07-30T13:59:00.000-07:00

I took many pictures that day but they weren't of good quality once I looked at them in ACDSee. These are the few that didn't end up looking like bad modern art.

The expandable plastic orb thingy was an endless source or amusement

Mia the Puppet Master!

The dressup corner kind of skeeved me out, but she had fun.

We were in Breckenridge over the weekend with Helen and John. They had an adventure race to attend and needed someone to stay with the kids. I don't need a lot of sweet talking to go to Breck, so it was a win-win situation for everyone! We just hung out at the museum and the pool. Those crazy kids even wanted to swim in the wind and rain! Well, I make it sound like a hurricane, really it was breezy and sprinkly. They had a good time, though trying to swim with a three year old and a four year old clinging to each side for dear life makes it very hard to move! Caden had fun doing cannonball after cannonball and made fast friends with the other kids. It was a nice weekend!

We went to see Mia's dietitian on Monday and the child has LOST a pound. Very little has changed in her diet, so we're not sure what's going on. I'm still keeping food journals so she went through and did a lot of calorie counting. She determined that Mia is getting about 230 calories per day from actual food, for a grand total of about 1330 calories per day with the formula added in. That has been the same for a couple of months, so we're worried about the sudden weight loss. A pound isn't a big deal to an adult, but to a preschooler who weighs 29 lbs when soaking wet it's bad news. I've been adding safflower oil, sugar and amino acid powder to her hot cereals, but she wretches if the taste or texture are too different. Once she wretches, good luck getting her to eat!

I'm nearly finished with class registration, simply waiting on UMUC to send my transcripts so I can get my psych course. I stupidly thought that my transfers from UMUC to Alaska U would show up on the AKU transcript. Not so! I couldn't figure out why they didn't want to give me credit for my English 101, very glad that they accepted my second lit class in it's stead. So far I'm taking Math 030 (go ahead and laugh), a basic nutrition course, computer literacy and a psych (human development/behavior). After I get more of my pre-requisite classes knocked out I will have to get a nursing advisor and from what I gather, you actually have to interview for the program. Now we just have to hope that this new GI bill gets signed this week so that Gary can transfer the rest of his to me, otherwise this is going to be an expensive semester.

Happenings

2009-07-22T19:37:00.000-07:00

Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo Parade, with her little friend Laney

Looking sweet before ballet class

Playing outside after ballet

Jazz in the park, dancing in front of everyone with Grace

Rose's birthday at Cave of the Winds

A little bit of free play at Iron Horse Park

Helping Mommy with the gardens

Chalk art!

"My Project"

"Mommy it's you with crazy hair!"

"Just this guy with two heads"

3.5 Hours in a doctors office, according to Mia

We have found a numbing cream that she can actually use!

Pikes Peak Art Festival at America the Beautiful Park

2009-07-03T21:18:00.000-07:00

Mia and I decided to get out of the house and go to the arts festival at a nearby park. We arrived early, so the vendors were still setting up. We walked around to the giant fountain at the end of the field where I let Mia wade in the water. I didn't realize this was allowed, or I would have had her put on a bathing suit. Luckily the Colorado heat dried her out in no time. We found one of her little friends at the pottery wheel and that's all she wrote as far as Mommy's agenda! We hung out with the other family until we left, which was wet and abrupt! We just happened to be camped out underneath the little kids coloring/clay molding tent when it began to rain. I say rain, but really I mean RAIN. There was even a bit of hail mixed in. It quickly became a giant mud pit so the first chance we got we bid adieu to our friends (whom we will be seeing for a birthday next week) and scampered off to the car. We chose to forgo the fireworks display that was being held on post. We were both wet and dirty and by the time we got out of our clothes she was ready for bed.

The World According to Mia

2009-06-29T17:05:00.000-07:00

Today we or she:
*Drew with sidewalk chalk
*Reconnected with an old neighbor
*Went to ballet lessons
*Mailed a box to Daddy and mailed a few things that needed to be returned to friends in Alaska
*Took lots of pictures
*Watered the plants
*Sat in the sunshine
*Played in the sprinkler
*Dressed up like a princess
*Practiced writing words
*Went on a lady-bug hunt (we counted twelve!)

A chair from a supine position

I think she was trying to tell me something...

2009-06-27T15:46:00.000-07:00

Our third week with Gary gone has been much of the same. Mia is staying calm more often than not, possibly because she has seen him a couple of times on the webcam. Whenever we pull up the Windows Live Messenger, she scampers over asking if we're going to see Daddy.

Summer is certainly beginning to show! It's staying around the 80's during the day, pretty soon we'll be leaving the windows open at night and using the attic fan. We have officially (for the third time) packed away the winter wear and hope that it stays packed away this time.

Today was spent working on a "flak vest" for a friend who is making a Boba Fett costume. He has been making the armor but doesn't sew. He showed me a website that had a tutorial on how to make the vest, so I actually had to draw the pattern. I used math and everything, I was so proud! This is just the mock-up that I'm working on, the real thing will be made after he tries this on and tells me what to change or tweak. I had to take a break though, both Mia and I were getting cabin fever. We took her trike on a loop around the neighborhood, stopping at the playground for a little while. It was a nice break, we came in for a snack and jumped back in on the vest. I only need to do the sleeves and the lace-up sides before I send it off for approval.

She wanted to go outside so bad!

Please mom?

This was an older one that Gary took about a week or so before he left. I curled my hair, so Mia wanted me to do hers "just like you, Mommy!"

Aloha Hawaii

2009-06-15T16:09:00.000-07:00

Mia and I hopped on an airplane to Hawaii the day after Gary left. I felt a little guilty, sending my husband off to the desert and promptly hopping onto a plane that would whisk us away to a tropical paradise! The vacay was very needed and very enjoyed! I love you Mom and Dad! I managed to squeeze everything for the two of us into one suitcase and one bigger rolling carry-on bag. Mia pulled her My Little Pony rolling case (super tiny) and I brought her diaper bag with my purse stuffed inside.

The first flight to Pheonix was fine other than being about a half hour late. They even made announcements before the flight asking people to refrain from opening any kind of peanut snack. Mom and Dad met us at our gate after a big run-around, but we had to run to catch the connection! I was that crazy woman running through the airport yelling "Lookout!" Once on the plane, Mia didn't sit still, crawling all over Mimmy and PopPop. We flew US Airways and that flight was kind enough to ask the passengers to not open the nut snacks. The lead attendant seemed a little perterbed that he didn't know ahead of time, and we were right there with him since I was told that the only thing they could do was flag her "file" as a passenger with allergies. He said that we could have asked for a restricted flight. Now we know! People have opened trailmix containing peanuts on a plane a mere row away before with no reaction, but you never know which exposure will be the last straw. I very much prefer to play it safe at 30,000 feet.

We arrived late Saturday afternoon and after settling in, we went to the grocery store. YIKES! It is an expensive affair, the grocery store. As much as I would like to live there, I don't think we could afford it! Even if I lived on post and had access to the commissary, it would be a bit much. We didn't find a very Mia-friendly store for three days. The next morning we had Al, Nancy and Skyler show us a great place to eat breakfast.

The resort was very nice! The condo had a full-sized kitchen, a large living room and big bedrooms with spacious bathrooms. The pool was very impressive and was probably Mia's favorite thing about Hawaii. There was a beach on the resort property and the water is just as blue as it is on the postcards! The waves were huge and knocked Skyler around easily.

You wouldn't believe how many CHICKENS there are in the wild! The story is that the hurricane in 1992 destroyed everyone's chicken coops and they have proliferated in abundance ever since. Everywhere you looked you would see chickens; they were in the parking lots, yards, streets and if you didn't close your patio door they would be in your living room! Mia had a great time feeding them with the finches and cardinals.

We mostly drove around and saw some points of interest, relaxed at ATE! There was a lot to do, but so much of it will be more fun for Mia when she's older or heavier, like the zip line tours. That looked like a blast but you have to weigh 80lbs...sorry kiddo! I was perfectly happy with sticking around the pool and the beach and wandering around the little stores. The only thing I wish I had done in hindsight was get a dashboard hula doll. Darnit. We did rent snorkel gear, though. I knew I'd have a hard time getting used to it but I downright panicked! It took about a half hour of me freaking out before I did my ten minutes of fish-following. I'm just not a water baby!

The view from our patio

Mia enjoyed the pool with the waterfall

Mia asked for Skyler all day, every day!

I was pleased that she enjoyed the beach. Her first sand experience did NOT go this well!

The resort beach

Skyler and his waves

Now she wants a bird after seeing how much fun it is to feed them!

Mornings on the patio...I miss that!

Hula girl!

Every morning the resort let the children feed the koi at the front pond

There is a neat little place not far from the resort on Poipu called Spouting Horn. There are holes in the rock where the waves rush under and shoot up like geysers.

The chickens are wild, but very beautiful

This is Weimea Canyon. The road leading up to this lookout was absolutely nauseating! I stayed so carsick while we were there. I must have eaten a ton of ginger candies trying to get my stomach to settle.

The family...and some guy picking his nose

I thought this was funny. It was near the beach at Al and Nancy's resort. A coconut is more accurate than a weatherman!

The view from Al and Nancy's room

We went to the Smith Family Luau. It is situated on an old sugarcane plantation that has been turned into a beautiful garden that has become popular for weddings. I should have taken a picture of the buffet! LOTS of food!

The plantation had a lot of birds. There was a gorgeous albino peacock, but he was in a cage behind some trees and the train moved too fast to take a picture. He looked like this, except he was all white of course!

The imu, where pigs are REALLY cooked! They don't season them other than salting, and it is perfect!

The pretty red bridge to Japanese Island where weddings usually take place

They invited the kids to learn a hula dance onstage. Mia didn't hesitate for a nanosecond! She wiggled her way to the front like it was her job!

She was very disappointed that she had to get off of the stage, but happy to dance on the floor in front of it!

We had a whole day to use before we got on our red-eye flight out, so we went to another plantation and took their train tour.

I honestly never knew pineapples grew so close to the ground!

The big apex of the train ride is feeding the "wild" pigs. They got dogfood that day, but you didn't hear a lot of complaining. They get gourmet leftovers from the plantations VERY pricey restaraunt during the week!

We love you, Daddy!

2009-06-15T14:59:00.000-07:00

Before Gary left, we had a photographer take some family pictures at Garden of the Gods. I was looking around online and comparing prices and a photographer wrote back saying that she volunteered for an organization called Operation; Love Reunited. Photographers volunteer their time to photograph military families before, during or after deployment. Their only stipulation is that the session be military themed, preferring that the soldier be in a uniform of some sort. They allow you a free session and put together a little album for the soldier to take with them, free if charge. We were also given a huge price reduction for any additional photos we wanted. She was so patient with working around schedules (AND weather!) If you're in Colorado and you're looking for a photographer who is super nice AND good at what they do, her website is http://fallchildphotography.info/index2.php
Even if you don't, you should check out her galleries, the main photo is too precious!

Gary left on Friday, June 5th around mid-day. We ferried him around to do his last minute things and had a picnic lunch under the trees.

Mia isn't a bad photographer!

Final formation to call the manifest. Where's Gary?

Just before they loaded the bus

Mia is doing okay, it helped that we left for Hawaii the next day. She was upset that she couldn't get onto the bus with him but I redirected her attention to her own plane ride in the very near future. We finished our last minute errands and went home, packed, ate and then went to bed. Since we've returned, she has asked about him and talked on the phone with him. I don't think she fully understands how long it will be and I don't expect her to get it during this deployment.

Today was full of errands. We had an appointment with a college advisor to finish up the application process. I thought I would go to Colorado Tech, but their nursing program is in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Yah, I know! I was very confused (so was the advisor) and couldn't get a straight answer as to why COLORADO wouldn't have a CTU campus in the entire state that offered the program but South Dakota does?! So that plan was blown out of the water. I've opted to just get started at Pikes Peak Community College because it is right beside post and it's cheaper than UCCS. I hate the idea of starting a 4 year up again, only to move in about two years but it's better than waiting any longer. Plus I'll be able to squeeze in some Spanish classes and these days, it would help to know Spanish when you work in health care.

No more preschool for the summer :(

2009-05-29T10:08:00.000-07:00