American Girl Bistro

I had promised the girls that we would eat lunch at the American Girl Bistro sometime this summer. We originally had reservations to go almost 2 weeks ago, but since Abby was sick, I had to cancel. The reservation line said that the weekends fill up 2 weeks in advance and about 1 week in advance for a weekday. I made a reservation for Wednesday, so us girls went to have lunch yesterday. Abby and Emma had a great time, and it was a very fun experience. The food was actually good, but overpriced to me. Emma doesn't have an American Girl doll, but she did bring her own baby, and the Bistro also let her borrow a doll just for lunch.

Abby wanted everything in the store for the most part, so I told her to start making a Christmas list. She did use her piggy bank money to buy Licorice, the black cat, while we were there, and then she was out of money. She has written about 20 items already on her Christmas list; she told us it's a good thing Santa is rich. Emma has started a list as well; she just wants an American Girl Doll. Why didn't I come up with this American Girl idea?

I took Abby to see the Kit Kittredge Movie a few weeks ago. She was sick when I took her (as you can probably tell in the picture). Yes, I'm one of those awful moms who dose their kids up with Motrin and head out anyways. I had promised her for weeks we'd go that afternoon, and she really still wanted to go. So, off we went! It is a great movie with a wonderful lesson; we were both crying during the movie. We'd give it 2 thumbs up!

Semi-Healthy Kids/Unhealthy Cars

Well, Abby is finally on the mend. Wednesday she remained fever free, and Thursday her voice returned for the most part with just a slight hoarseness to it. Emma has started having some congestion and coughing issues, but hopefully it doesn't turn into what Abby has had. Abby is still coughing, but she is so much better.

Now that the kids are well (and hopefully stay that way), we are having issues with our vehicles. Last month, my van got a new battery and new tires (where's that money tree?). Today, I was watching our friend's kids, Josh and Hannah, and needed to go to the grocery store. After spending $200 in groceries and coming out in the sweltering Texas heat, the car wouldn't start - just makes a clicking sound. I have 4 kids with me and the dairy products are spoiling the longer we sit - ughhh!. After cranking the engine many, many, many times, it finally starts. Praise the Lord! I call Brian at work who comes home and takes it up to have the battery checked that was just replaced. It is working just fine, they say. I've still had trouble starting it all day. So, we plan to take it in to the dealership tomorrow. And now, Brian had to stop and fill his car tire up with air on his way home. Nail in the tire - ughh! Who knows if his tire will be completely flat in the morning, and if my van will even start...we may have to call the tow trucks!

UPDATE: I should have waited longer to update the blog...Brian and I just spent 20 minutes in Emma's room. She had coughed so much once she laid down in bed that she threw up. So, we removed the fresh, clean sheets (now not clean) that I had just washed today and put on her bed. We got her and all her stuffed animals she sleeps with cleaned up. Emma did a breathing treatment and then we passed the nebulizer on to Abby's room for her breathing treatment. I need a drink...

Illness Update

After taking Abby to the dr. yesterday, he felt pretty confident that she has laryngitis and croup. He also did a whooping cough test as he said he is seeing quite a few cases. Apparently, the vaccine isn't as effective as it should be. We won't hear back on those results until Wednesday or Thursday. I would be surprised if that's what it is though because she doesn't exhibit the classic symptoms of whooping cough.

Abby did get on an antibiotic and is doing breathing treatments 4 times a day. She woke up fever free this morning - yeah! She did, however, lay around all day watching Hannah Montana episodes and once again didn't eat anything but a bite or two all day. Thinking she was now recovered, I spent the day cleaning and disinfecting the entire house while Emma was at a friend's. When I felt her head around 3:00, it was warm. I took her temperature, and it was 102.7. Ughh! She also had labored breathing and looked pale, so I was very concerned. I gave her some Advil and within 30 minutes, she perked up and started playing with Emma. She actually ate a Chick-fil-A kids meal, a bite or two of ice cream, and a chocolate chip cookie (she can't afford to lose any weight, so I'm doing my part with the fatty foods)! She was acting pretty normal (minus the still not being able to talk), and I took her temp, and it was down to 100. She started coughing 30 minutes after dinner and proceeded to vomit. Not sure if it was the fatty, sugary foods, or just a lot of mucus combined with the coughing. So, if she is still running a fever in the morning, I will be calling the nurse at the drs. office to find out if there's anything else to do. You would think the antibiotic would have kicked in by now. Perhaps it is a virus that she has, and it just has to run it's course.


Emma has really missed her best friend. She is trying to stay busy playing, but doesn't like to play by herself, so it makes my day lots of "fun". We've had tea parties, played library, dress-up, and had beauty shop with her beloved bunny. She has also been playing Hannah Montana and High School Musical CDs and has danced all over the house. She makes me laugh and is quite entertaining.


So, that's where we stand for now. Please pray that she recovers soon from this!

Quiet House

Our VERY talkative Abby has been running a little fever off and on since last Thursday with no other real symptoms. Motrin has worked just fine; it's gotten her back to her normal self. However, today has been a different story. The Motrin doesn't seem to be helping much, AND she's lost her voice. That's right. I know some of you may not believe this, but Abby talks a majority of the day. She asks so many questions that I told Brian we need to give her a portable google device that she could walk around and type different topics in to research all day. Her questions are usually unrelated and cover a multitude of topics. You think I'm exaggerating, but I'm not.


Bailey has been our little mother hen sleeping with Abby on the couch these last few days. Emma has been covering Abby up with her blankets and blowing her kisses. So, our house is very quiet since she is unable to speak. I will be taking her to the dr. tomorrow in hopes of some good ol' antibiotics that will hopefully bring our house back to its normal volume.

On a side note, the only noise we really have heard was a really loud thud on Thursday. Abigail had just gone upstairs to sleep and we thought for sure she had fallen off of her bed. Brian ran up there first, and when he got there, Abigail was sitting calmly reading a book by her night light. A few minutes later, Brian was leaving to go get Abigail some Chick-fil-a, hoping she would eat her favorite nuggets and he found what caused the noise - a broken spring on the garage door.


Luckily we got someone to come out on Friday and fix it. He said they typically last 5 - 9 years (ours was around 4 1/2). Anyone got some good seeds for a money tree?

The Kiwi's are Comin!

This past weekend, my Aunt and Uncle were in town staying with my Dad, and they all came over on Sunday afternoon for a nice long chat (and some fresh cooked burgers and dogs too). They are faithful readers of this blog, so a big Texas Howdy to y'all! My Aunt married an amazing Kiwi (that's a New Zealander for you folks that don't venture out much) probably some 15 years ago and now they split their time in retirement between New Zealand and Chicago. Still one of my best vacations, back in 96 going down to visit them in Christchurch (can you say swimming with several hundred wild dolphins!!!)... but that's a different entry.

My sister and nephew drove down for the weekend from Tulsa, and my cousin came over and just hung out for hours. It was Austin's birthday last week, so we celebrated it again. His birthday just happens to be the same day as Uncle Tom's, so we tossed him into the picture as well.


Gotta love having a bunch of family come over... just really makes a house a home.

Family Vacation, Part 3

Our last full day at the beach started out a bit bumpy. Emma was starting to get a little tired and ready to head home. Lucky for us, one of her best pal's, Lauren, had showed up the night before for their 4 night stay, and we all got to hang out on the beach together. This put some new life into Emma and therefore made the day a good one. Lauren also has 2 older brothers, one of which was Abigail's age, and they all had a lot of fun working on sand castles, playing in the Gulf, and enjoying the day.

The water was a bit stronger today, with some of the waves reaching my head when I was just a little ways out. But in those big waves you could see lots of fish swimming around. I could always find a school of minnows swimming around, but in the bigger waves we'd easily see 8in-10in long fish (I'd guess Bass, but I'm not much of a fisherman). Unfortunately, this day also brought in a couple of small Jelly Fish (one of which got Lauren's older brother Josh on the arm). He was back in the water within a minute... but still annoying.

That evening we went up to the top of the Condo to get the real view and as you see below, Fort Morgan is not that wide, with Mobile Bay (where the marina is below) right behind it. And then we went down to the beach for one final goodbye. I think we were all ready to go except for Abigail (I was just sick of sand being EVERYWHERE) . Abby could've played for another week on the beach, she had so much fun! It also helps that she tans really easy, so she was the least burned out of all of us.


The condo we stayed at was really neat (below you can see the room I picked out for my office). We were in the pink tower below (or so they say its pink), and it had an outdoor pool that went partly inside to where the hot tub was, a perfect escape from the sun for Emma. The one bedroom condos had a master bedroom and in the hallway were bunk beds for the kids. And, if needed, the sofa in the family area was a sleeper. The girls were really excited about the bunk beds (their website had lots of pictures that they looked at before we left). Also, besides the full kitchen that I mentioned, they also had a full washer and dryer. This made it very easy to not overpack (even though someone did)... and if nothing else make sure that your towels were dry for the next day.

The only drawback is that there is no daily cleaning service and you have to do a few cleaning tasks yourself before you checkout. Also, our cellphones didn't really work inside the condo. It let us have a real vacation though. They worked fine if we walked to the end of the building (or were on the beach). I'd guess it's the hurricane proof construction that was keeping out the signals.


The next morning we woke up the girls around 5am, hoping that since it was still dark outside that they would fall back asleep in the car. That didn't happen. But the trek home really wasn't all that bad. We knew we needed to get through Mobile before rush hour, after seeing the traffic when we arrived, and how it slows down around the tunnel by downtown. We made it through without a problem and after Mobile we picked up some breakfast. We made it all the way to north of Lafayette before we got out for lunch at McDonalds (just a little break from the car).

After the next break, Jen drove for a bit while I did some computing. It was nice to be back in civilization (meaning working cell coverage). Also, the girls finally caught a good 45min-1hr nap. I took over again at the next gas stop in Shreveport (where Jen rewarded the girls for being awesome in the car with whatever snacks they wanted at the gas station!) and we rocketed on home. By 5p we were picking up pizzas in Forney to take to Jen's mom's house for dinner and to pick up Bailey. This also allows us to not play in the joyful North Dallas traffic.

In the end, I think the all day drive was the better option and if we go back again we probably will do both days that way. Also, not sure if it was the condo or the nearly 14 hour trek back to Flower Mound, but it sure took Jen and I a couple of days to get rested back up. We both slept fairly well at the condo (especially compared to our hotel stays in Colorado a few weeks back), so I chalk it up to 'car-lag'.

Fort Morgan, AL was a great family vacation spot; a wonderful escape from the daily routines. Our kids really wanted to visit the beach (and not do anything else while at the beach), and we are glad we were able to visit a clean, safe place that wasn't crowded at all. It was a great vacation, and we hope to go back again some day.

Family Vacation, Part 2

Now that we are at the beach, we didn't do much else. The girls had so much fun just playing in the sand and hopping into the Gulf. As expected, each day we built a sand castle or 2. Below, you see the finished products from each trip out to the beach.


The first full day started out with a beautiful view of the Gulf and an early arrival at the beach. Jen, the ever dedicated workout nut, decided it would be fun to jog on the beach. The warm morning temp, high humidity and sandy surface made for the 'hardest run that she had ever done'. Luckily for all of us, she went when she did because she found a lot of large sea shells, and we didn't find any more during the rest of our stay.

As you see below, Emma thought this flooded castle was a pool and ended up being our plan for the rest of our castles. Also, as you see below, Day 1 created the most sunburn for all of us.


That evening was our only trip into Gulf Shores. We stopped to pick up some more beach supplies (namely a big shovel and a couple of boogie boards) and on the way our car DVD player died. Knowing that we were going to try and drive straight home on our return trip... a new car DVD player was also purchased (Uggh!!!). At least it died on the way to Walmart and not at some inopportune time.

Gulf Shores itself is quite a busy place and all the local restaurants already had a 1 hour wait at 5p. We did find one place, sea-n-suds, that didn't have a wait and enjoyed our deep fried food. With our condo having a full kitchen and all the food we had bought/brought, we didn't venture out again.

The next day brought much of the same. We gave the big shovel a good workout digging up a 'pool' for the girls and tried out the new boogie boards. Both girls had a lot of fun on them. This day also brought a little bit choppier water with a wave every few minutes showing up to almost knock me down (and did knock down everyone else including my beautiful wife). That evening, we opted for the 'cheap dolphin' cruise by taking the fairy over to dolphin island and back. We ended up not seeing any dolphins along the trip, but it was a pretty ride anyway.

We ended the evening walking the beach looking for seashells and crabs. We found lots of baby crabs... but hardly any shells.



A little more to come...

Family Vacation, Part 1

Last week, we loaded up the family truckster and headed out to explore the great US of A. Our mission was to find a beach and spend lots of time playing on it. After lots of research (and some luck of a last minute deal that changed our lodging from a hotel to an awesome condo), we left the comfort of home on our trek to Gulf Shores, Alabama (more specifically, Fort Morgan, Al). Saturday started with us making a stop at Jen's Mom's house to drop off Bailey for the week. Next, it just so happened that a) Canton was on our travel plan and b) it was First Monday, so we stopped for a little "thrift" shopping. We didn't find one item we were searching for (a new dog bowl set for Bailey), but we found some other good buys.

After Lunch, we were off for our big drive of the day. We decided to break up the drive into 2 days and had a room booked in Lafayette, LA. With no traffic (especially in LA where there was no one) we made good time and found some dinner. The girls, as expected, were extremely excited to be in a hotel room. They have so much fun playing around at a hotel.

The next day took us for a side trip to New Orleans. Neither one of us had visited the city before, so we wanted to see what the French Quarter was all about. After some beignets and coffee (perfectly timed during a brief shower) we headed out for a walk around the Quarter. We didn't stay too long as the girls were ready to find the beach. Next up, we got to experience the wonderful Mobile traffic. We saw a westbound backup that lasted 9 miles on I-10.. and then for another 8-10 miles coming out of Gulf Shores. Luckily, we were going the opposite direction. Never thinking we would find it, we finally made it to the Gulf Shores Walmart for food supplies and then the 20 mile trek to Fort Morgan.

Once we arrived, the trek was well worth the wait. First, the girls took the new sand buckets we had not allowed them to open and played for a good 20-30 minutes on the porch with the pieces. After a quick dinner, we headed out to check out the beach. It was beautiful. Our condo sat on a private beach, away from the busyness of gulf shores and the girls set out to find some sea shells.


More to come....

Happy Birthday USA!

Today, we celebrated the 4th by participating in the annual children's parade in our town. All the kids come out, with their bikes, scooters, wagons, strollers or motorized vehicles all decorated with red, white and blue. The girls have been talking about the parade for a week and were all excited to be there. Even Bailey got in the spirit and joined us for the celebration (all she wanted to do was go meet all the other dogs and howl at the fire truck when it was running its sirens).


It was quite warm, but I guess better than last year when we didn't make it to the parking lot because of a downpour that occurred just before the parade started and we decided to go back home instead.

More camping

June ended up being one summer camp after another. In addition to golf camp a few weeks back, we had Vacation Bible School at our church. Then, the past couple of weeks it was Basketball camp for Abigail and swimming lessons the for both of them. First up was Basketball camp taught by the Lady Jaguars head coach and members of the high school team. This was Abigail's first real experience with basketball, and she had a lot of fun. As she reminds us, she made 7 baskets during their shot around time for the week. That was on a regular 10 ft goal no doubt.


At the end they showed everyone what they had worked on, including passing drills, defense drills and ball drills. After the first exhausting day, she said she liked golf better... but by the end of the week she liked them about the same.

Next up was swimming lessons taught by our good friend, Michelle Davis. Abigial worked on learning new strokes, such as the elementary back stroke, breast stroke and butterfly. Emma worked on learning how to swim. She is now making it a little bit on her own... with no fear of the water. They both progressed nicely during the 2 weeks (thanks, Michelle!), and it should make for a fun summer at the pool.