Ten On Tuesday - 2011 Review

It's been 10 months since my last blog post! I'll recap the last 10 months with our year in review.

 1. March - In March I went from job sharing my first grade position to teaching full time for the remainder of the school year. My job share partner, Carmen, had her 2nd baby; a cutie little boy named Jacob. I missed Carmen terribly, but teaching full time was fun.



Carmen, my job share partner and her new baby.

2. April - Ellie played her first year of softball. She had a great time and improved so much through the season. We enjoyed hanging out with friends and family while watching the games. Although most of the practices were rained out and many of the games we were winter-like cold, it was a great first year of softball.

Ellie swinging while Dad watches from 3rd base. It's a hit!

3. May - Aaron turned 36. We celebrated with the kids at a favorite restaurant, McMenamins.



Aaron's birthday at McMenamins.

4. June - Our girl turned 9! We celebrated by partying at the movie theater (Did you know you can have a birthday party at the theater?!) Ellie invited several friends and we all watched Toy Story 3.

It's fine to be 9!

5. July - Aaron and I celebrated our 14th year of wedded bliss. We also took our annual Sunriver trip with Aaron's family. Tons of fun, as usual.

Sunriver 2011

6. August - Major house repair! Upon our return from our Sunriver vacation, we found a dead refrigerator and the rotten smell of food that sat for 9 days. The house smelled horrible and our hardwood floor in our kitchen area was destroyed. It took a few weeks, but we bought a new refrigerator and our entire hardwood was repaired to better-than-before condition. I'm not sure I could handle a full scale remodel...

The damage. Note the island on casters and not in its intended spot.

7. September - A new school year! Ellie started 4th grade and Easton started 1st grade. Easton is right next door to my classroom! I resumed job sharing (phew!) and began my 15th year of teaching.



Easton 6 years old, 1st grade

Ellie 9 years old, 4th grade



8. October - Soccer, soccer, soccer! Our fall was consumed by soccer. Ellie played, Easton played and Aaron was the assistant coach for both teams. I got uniforms and practice clothes cleaned, kids ready for practice and all snacked up, water bottles and gear in order and cheered from the sidelines.

Easton and Ellie - fall soccer. (photo taken by Ashdown Photography)

9. November - We hosted Thanksgiving at our house with a 24 lb bird! This Thanksgiving was especially fun as my brother took a rare day off from hunting to join us for Thanksgiving dinner. He thinks it was his first "not reheated" Thanksgiving dinner since junior high! We gathered to take this photo for a gift for my Grandad's 80th birthday.

Thanksgiving 2011

10. December -  There will be an NBA season after all! Our family loves the Blazers, especially the kids. We share a set of season tickets with Aaron's family and the ticket holder events are always a lot of fun. Our family was able to go to an event and meet all the Blazers as well participate in some extra activities like ice skating and cookie decorating. A highlight was seeing almost all of the team and get autographs.

Let's Go Blazers!

Saturday - Homeward Bound

In record time, Aaron packed the car, we woke the kids and were on the road by 6:00am. Tucked in tightly the kids rested for a bit, ate a little something, then when I couldn't stand the asking anymore, they dove into the electronics. We decided to just bite the bullet and drive straight home. Aaron estimated we could be home around 9:00pm with a few stops to eat and use the bathroom. Easton was doing pretty well, considered just 24 hours we were in the emergency room.

Aaron was a trooper and insisted on driving the whole time. I kept asking, but he was maintaining a good cruising speed so we pushed on. Our kids did great and we made minimal stops. While we were gone, there was snow in Camas, including 1 and 1/2 snow days. It was so cold. Aaron had made the comment that we should probably call one of our neighbors to turn on our heat, as we had turned it OFF while we were gone. But how cold could the house get?

When we pulled in, Aaron jumped out right away to turn on the heat. We would not unload the car, just get the kids ready for bed, and enjoy our own beds after being away! The temperature in house was bitter 37 degrees! It was warmer in the garage than in the house. We pushed chairs in front of the fire place and we all huddled together. The kids easily fell asleep while Aaron and I turned on every light in the house, opened every door, took the covers off all the heating registers to get the place warmed up. It was so cold, our oven would not turn on and Aaron's memory foam pillow was actually frozen! By 1:00 am Aaron woke and the house was 57 degrees, warm enough for him to make it to bed. I stayed with the kids until 3:00 am when my back was killing me too much to wait any longer. It was now 67 degrees and I carried both kids to bed.

We spent Sunday recuperating, unpacking, taking naps and taking it easy. Our dog and guinea pig were returned to us. We made arrangements for Aaron to hang with Easton so I could return to work. I even made it to Bible Study Sunday night. As Aaron and I prepared for bed, the door to our bedroom flung open. It was Ellie, burning up. She now had a fever.

I called our doctor the next day and made an appointment to bring both kids in; Easton to be checked out and Ellie to be tested. Ellie tested positive for Influenza B, but not the Swine Flu. She was prescribed Tamiflu just as Easton finished it. Thankfully, we did not have the hassle getting her prescription as we had with Easton. The next Tuesday, was a Snow Day for us. Unbelievably on March 1st we had a Snow Day! I was thankful for the extra day to spend with the kids and they both would not have another absence counted against them. Ellie knocked her illness much faster than Easton because she got her medicine so early on.

So that's our trip! Despite some downer points, we DID have a fun trip. We learned a long car drive is not so bad. We learned to expect the unexpected. We learned to make the best out of each situation. And as one of my friends said, "You're making memories." Indeed.

Friday - A Trip To the E.R.

By morning, we were all exhausted and Easton looked terrible. Aaron and I were very worried by this point and made the decision to head to the nearest E.R. Nothing makes you miss familiar surroundings more than when you feel helpless. The hospital referred us to the closed emergency room which ended being a hospital for substance abuse and behavioral therapy! After 3 hours in the emergency room, 2 nebulizer treatments and a dose of oral steroid the E.R. doctor explained that Easton's nose swab came back as positive for Swine Flu. I could hardly believe it! I mistakenly thought that because we had the Swine Flu before, and from Disneyland no less, we wouldn't get it again. But the doctor said the flu is the flu, of course you can get it again.

As a mom, I felt so guilty that I spent the last few days medicating my poor kid and dragging him all over 3 amusement parks. Easton was already looking and feeling better than just a few hours before, but we left with a list of prescriptions and a mask over his face! Aaron and Ellie were waiting patiently in the waiting room for us. By then it was almost noon and no one had eaten. We headed for the closest pharmacy to get the prescriptions filled as I explained to Aaron what happened and diagnosis. He shared what he and Ellie experienced while they waited!

The first two pharmacies we went to did not have the Tamiflu we needed and were not very helpful. Finally, we were referred to small pharmacy where the pharmacist "made" the Tamiflu we needed. Tired and tearful, I walked into King's Pharmacy, a small hole-in-the-wall in a strip mall where the sweetest, kindest Asian man greeted me and assured me he could "make" the Tamiflu for my "baby". He spoke very broken English, but carried on like it was no big deal. His kindness energized me and when he rushed me out the door to go get some food for my family, I excitedly got back in the car and Aaron looked at me like I was nuts! This guy was going to "make" the medicine.

Easton had finally fallen asleep and Ellie was content because she finally had her hands on my new phone and was playing games. We drove to the closest, familiar thing we could find to eat; Taco Bell. Par for the day, they got our order wrong. We drove back to King's and Dr. Chiu had everything ready. He came around the counter to show me how to measure everything out and gave me a big hug saying, "Oh lady, don't cry! Your baby get better!" It was the brightest part of my day.

We headed back to our hotel to give Easton his medicine and let him rest. Friday was our last day for Disneyland and since no one was in good shape to drive home, we agreed to rest up and head home first thing in the morning. Ellie was in great spirits and ready to tackle Disneyland one last time. I sent Aaron and Ellie on there to way so Easton and I could rest peacefully. 15 minutes after Aaron and Ellie left, Easton threw up. During the last few days Aaron and I kept saying, "At least he's not throwing up." This new symptom confirmed we should not be driving today! I think his empty stomach and all that medicine was just too much. We both finally got to sleep and rested.

Aaron and Ellie had some good Daddy/daughter time. He even did the Peter Pan ride with her (the longest line for the shortest ride at Disneyland, but one of mine and Ellie's favorites!) She braved some of the bigger rides for her dad and they came back happy, but wet. It had started to rain. Ellie was ready to head back after dinner, but Aaron needed some rest for the long drive the next day.

Ellie and Daddy enjoying Disneyland

We wrapped our Disneyland days by eating In & Out Burger and watching the Blazers play the Lakers on T.V. It was amazing to see how Easton had perked up after his medicine and some sleep! He was totally into the basketball game and wanted to play his video game. At one point Aaron and I stood there, enjoying the silence. We hadn't heard no coughing in days! As the kids slept we completely packed everything and set the alarm for 5:45 am to be out the door by 6:00 am!

Thursday - Disneyland Day 2

Day 2 in Disneyland was a little slow for us all. Our night of sleep was not so peaceful as Easton coughed a lot. We loaded him up with Tylenol and made the best of our day. In the afternoon we went back to the hotel to nap and Aaron ran to Target to get different kinds of cough syrup than we already had because what we had was not even touching Easton's cough. We bundled up for the night and head back to Disneyland to catch the show World of Color.

Day 2 Disneyland



World of Color

World of Color is amazing! This picture is from the Disney website, I couldn't quite capture it with my camera. It is a water show with color and on the water that sprays in the air they show parts of Disney movies with music playing. My description does not do it justice! It was really, really cool! Last time we went to Disneyland, we saw another water show called Fantasia. I will admit I think Fantasia is better, but both shows are truly spectacular.

Unfortunately, Easton was pretty miserable. He coughed almost the whole time and once the show was over, along with literally thousands of people, we headed back for the hotel as fast as possible. At the hotel I did the steamy shower thing, gave him his inhaler, Tylenol, whatever I could to make him as comfortable as possible. During the night he even threw up once, just from the constant coughing. Aaron and I took turns laying with him, but between the three of us, there was little sleep to be had.

Day 5 Wednesday - SURPRISE! Let's Go To Disneyland!

After the bummer day on Tuesday for Easton and Aaron (but an extra day at SeaWorld for Ellie and I), we packed Tuesday night to check out of our hotel Wednesday morning. The kids never asked us where we were going or if we were going home. Our final surprise reveal was to spend 3 days at Disneyland!

We had emailed our family, asking for their prayers that Easton's fever would go away. Aaron and I discussed a few possible plans and thought we could take things slow at Disneyland, rent a stroller and go back to the hotel in the afternoons to rest. Following the nurse's advice, we could give him plenty of Tylenol and cough syrup, get good rest at night and make the most of our vacation.

I don't think I slept very much Tuesday night. Easton slept in the room in a nice bed with Dad in order to rest more comfortably, while I slept uncomfortably with Ellie in the living room on the fold out couch so as to keep her away from her brother's germs. I kept praying that his fever would break! I was so pleased to wake in morning and find his temperature had gone down from 102.4 to 99.7! The cough had set in, just as the nurse had predicted. He looked better and his personality was back.

Aaron and I were excited to share the last surprise with the kids and even more excited that we would all get to share Disneyland together. The kids enjoyed it so much when we went as a family the first time in October 2009 (however, after that vacation we brought back the Swine Flu with us! Read about that here and here.)

Here is our video from San Diego surprising the kids with Disneyland. It's about 2 minutes, but the discussion we have with Ellie is priceless!

Our first stop before leaving San Diego was at a CVS pharmacy to pick up cough syrup and cough drops for Easton. Thanks to the help of a guy buying a giant Arizona Ice Tea and a fifth of vodka at the pharmacy at 9:30 am, I got the CVS pharmacy club card rate! We left San Diego early enough to make it to Disneyland by noon. The drive from San Diego to Anaheim was less than 2 hours. Just as before, both kids did great in the car. Easton's virus had definitely moved to a cough and we kept pumping the hand sanitizer on everyone, especially Ellie.

We parked our car at the hotel, jumped on the transit shuttle to Disneyland and our first stop was California Adventure! We made our way to our favorite ride, Toy Story Mania. We snacked in line, kept the hand sanitizer flowing and caught a quick Disney singing show. After spending a few hours at California Adventure, we went back to the hotel for a rest, then back to spend the evening in Disneyland. Overall, we did quite a bit that day while Easton took it easy in the stroller, hopping out to get in line for rides. Looking back on these pictures though, I can now see in his eyes that he was more sick than he let on. Easton was such a trooper! Disneyland closed that night at 8pm and although we caught some quick rides like the Teacups and Small World at the end, Easton was telling us he was tired and wanted to go. Easton and Aaron managed to squeeze in Matterhorn the first night.




Disneyland Day 1 ~ California Adventure + Disneyland



Day 4 Tuesday - Sick Day, SeaWorld II

Monday night Easton slept very fitfully. I must have gotten up half a dozen times to check on him and discovered he had a fever. Even though I gave him Tylenol, the fever persisted. He woke in the morning looking very flushed, with sick eyes and a high fever. Both Aaron and I were so, so sad. What a bummer to be sick on vacation!! I called the doctor at home and spoke with the nurse. She told me a virus was going around that presented as a fever for a few days, then a cough. Her suggestion was Tylenol to help him sleep, then cough syrup to get him through the day. She suggested doing what we needed to do to get through vacation, but with rest he should be fine.

Aaron and I made the decision that Ellie and I would go on to SeaWorld that day as planned, while Aaron stayed back with Easton. We were both thankful we had changed plans on Sunday so that Easton did have a chance to experience SeaWorld afterall. Easton was a little bummed there weren't more rides at SeaWorld they day before and he quickly went through each animal exhibit. Ellie is a total animal lover so we made the most of the situation. Aaron and Easton dropped Ellie and I off near the entrance of SeaWorld. I was really sad to do this without the guys. I felt like a little kid with my backpack on, walking away from the car.

Through the day, Ellie kept saying she wished Easton could do this or that, that he would have loved to see a special exhibit or that he would have loved this. I text pictures to Aaron to keep him posted on what the girls were doing. Ellie enjoyed seeing the animals at her pace and we got to see a few things twice that she really enjoyed. Aaron and Easton went on a quick sight seeing drive, then Easton took a three hour nap.

A highlight for both Ellie and I was the penguin exhibit. Ellie studied penguins in first grade and because I teach first grade, it used to a big unit that I taught for several weeks. It truly was a spectaclar exhibit. I could have stayed for a long time! We also enjoyed taking a skyride on a gondola, seeing the sea turtles, bat rays, a pet show (Ellie is a dog lover!) and an additional orca whale show. We purchased souvenirs, including a few things for Easton.

SeaWorld With Ellie

 Later in the day, the boys came back to pick us up. I was pretty exhausted from lack of sleep the night before, so I stayed with Easton while Aaron and Ellie went out to explore the San Diego beach. As Easton and I rested together he pepped up a bit; it's hard to keep him down! He is a busy guy and I could tell he wanted to push through his sickness. I was proud of him that he didn't once complain about what he missed.


Sick in San Diego

 We made an early night of it Tuesday, praying and hoping Easton would wake up fever free for the last surprise of our trip; 3 days at Disneyland. Before bed, Aaron and I talked through a couple different scenarios and agreed to take things easy, rent a stroller and invest in Tylenol and we headed to Anaheim.

Day 3 Monday - LEGOLAND

Monday morning we took a short drive from San Diego to Carsbad to visit Legoland. Thankfully it opened at 10:00 am so the later morning gave us a chance to sleep in and then explore Legoland. We had fun on the rides and enjoyed looking for different Lego structures throughout the park. It's amazing what can made from Legos!


Legoland Adventures

   At the end of the day we enjoyed walking through Miniland. It has replicas of famous buildings in the United States. It was one of my favorite parts of Legoland. If we had made it before closing time, the cars and boats move, but it was just as fun to see the how well done the buildings and monuments were constructed.



Cool Lego Creations

Ellie brought along a penguin, the mascot for our school, Prune Hill. During our adventures she pulled Penguin out and we photographed Penguin as a way for her to stay connected to school.



Prune Hill Penguin at Legoland.

Legoland closed at 5pm. Out of character, Easton kept telling us he wanted to go, he wanted to be done. When we made it out to the parking lot, Aaron could not find the key to his car. We emptied both our backpacks, practically emptied the car and still could not find that key!! Thankfully, Aaron thought ahead and gave me a spare to keep on me at all times. (I'm so glad I actually took it out of the car where I had originally stashed it and put it in my backpack like a good girl.) Aaron ran back in to Legoland to check out lost and found. I got the kids set up in the car with a snack before we left and got dinner. I could tell Easton was not quite himself. He looked so tired. Aaron came back from lost and found with no key in hand. That key is probably somewhere in a Lego creation!

Our plan for dinner was to go to Costco, stock up on snacks and buy some "healthy" food for Aaron and I and a dinner meal for the kids. By the time we made it to Costco, we were all tired and cold. We bought a few things, then ran through McDonald's drive thru for the kids. They went to bed early and we geared up for an extra second day Tuesday at SeaWorld. I had no idea the night to come would be sleepless and Easton would break out into a high fever.





Day 2 Sunday - SeaWorld Surprise

Because we made such great driving time on Saturday, we only had 3 hours to drive from Buttonwillow to San Diego on Sunday. As we drove, the kids were so plugged in to their electronics we breezed right past Disneyland without any notice, making Aaron and I very excited for our final surprise!

San Diego Beach



Once we arrived in San Diego, we drove straight to our hotel to see if we could check in early. Although we couldn't, we took a quick walk to the beach, only half a block from our hotel! The weather in Southern California was unseasonably cold, but still very sunny as you can see by the squinting smiles.



Aaron and I decided to change up our plans and do SeaWorld a day early as it was too chilly to hang on the beach and we couldn't get into our hotel early. Quickly we decided to surprise the kids, drive to SeaWorld, tailgate in the parking lot to eat lunch and change clothes and get in an extra day at SeaWorld. Here is our video surprise to the kids!







SeaWorld favorites!

SeaWorld highlights: Shamu shows, polar bear den, big water ride for Dad & Easton, flamingos, orcas, rides, dolphins, sea lion show and more!

SeaWorld Shows

The shows in SeaWorld are amazing! We were able to see 4 shows in one day; one about pinnipeds (sea lions: which was so cool as Ellie had done a report on sea lions last year), 2 about Shamu and orcas and one with dolphins.

By the end of the night both kids were cold and tired, but so happy :)

Day 1 Saturday - Driving

After waking the kids at 6:45am on Saturday, we piled into the fully packed car and I started the drive; with our first stop in Eugene for Starbucks! I'm sad to say I didn't get a picture of the car or the kids all set up for a road trip. Both kids had their individual D.S. games to play and their own DVD player to watch movies. They also had Ellie's ipod, books, maps, Mad Libs, white boards and homework. They were tucked in cozy with blanket and travel pillow as well as lots of snacks and we started playing a license plate game early on to see how many different states we could see on license plates. Our kids are sort of camels as far as bathroom stops go. Aaron had to stop more than the kids and at one point we had to force them to use the bathroom!

Our logic in driving was drive the majority in one day, stop to sleep, then drive a short distance and relax before park hopping the next 5 days. Because our destination for the first day was just outside of Bakersfield, we decided to let the kids do what they needed to do to survive the trip, so of course the electronics won out. When I finally asked the kids to take a break from the electronics, we had a mini melt down so we let it go and said vacation is vacation, but when we get home, time limits WILL be reinforced on electronics!

Our final destination for the day was Buttonwillow, CA. Your geography lesson for the day is to find that tiny stop on a map! Total driving time was 11 hours, 45 minutes and 866 miles with 4 stops for a total of 13 hours in the car! The motel we stayed at was definately a truck stop motel, but it served its purpose and made us all eager to get up early the next morning to get to San Diego! One good thing about the motel was that it had a Starbucks next door.

In the back of mind, I kept thinking how Easton had mentioned he didn't feel well on Friday and had a very low grade fever...He woke up Saturday and Sunday in good spirits, with a great personality and didn't feel like he had a fever.

Surprise! Want to go to Legoland?

Spur of the moment, Aaron and I planned an impromptu week-long road trip to California. Because it was such short notice, we decided to make it a surprise for the kids! The trip would coincide with the President's Day 3 day weekend, along with a short work week for me so I wouldn't miss much work. Although the kids would miss a few days of school, we thought the timing was worth it while they are still young and before I go full time for my job share partner who is expecting her second child!

Keeping a secret from your kids is hard! We had to watch every conversation, tell only a few people and carefully research on the computer without curious eyes catching on. We also had to make arrangements for our dog and guinea pig, talk with teachers and the hardest of all; pack! All this needed to be done undercover. I think half the joy was the secret!

Our itinerary was as follows:

• Friday - Finish packing and completely load the car that night after the kids went to bed. Deliver dog and guinea pig. Get to bed at a reasonable hour.
• Saturday - Wake up at 6am, wake kids at 6:45am and surprise them! In the car by 7am. Drive all day to a small town just outside of Bakersfield and stay overnight.
• Sunday - back on the road by 8am and complete the drive to San Diego!! Check in to hotel and relax, maybe check out the San Diego beach.
• Monday - Legoland!!
• Tuesday - Surprise the kids again and take them to SeaWorld!
• Wednesday - Wake up early, surprise the kids one last time and go to Disneyland!! Drive back up to Anaheim and check into hotel and arrive at the Happiest Place on Earth by noon!
• Thursday - Disneyland
• Friday - Disneyland
• Saturday - Maybe one last Disneyland day or drive home. Stay overnight on the way home.
• Sunday - Arrive home, unpack and rest.

Here is our video of Saturday morning after pulling the kids out of their beds and just 10 minutes before we got in the car.

I'll be posting about each day of trip and the unexpected events that happened. Let's just say we did not get to follow our schedule and we learned to always expect the unexpected. As my friend said, "Your making memories, right?"