Run With The Fishes

Yay! Everyone made it back home safe and sound. All three kiddos were even more tan than when they left. Grandpa has a pool and I think they tried to live in it while they were visiting. No, I didn’t run right out to their car, rip the seat belts apart and slather them with hugs and kisses. Only because Zoey made it in the door before I could get out there.

As soon as Allison saw me, she reached out and would not let go. For the whole weekend. She was a little afraid she would be going back to Grandpa’s house. When Dad was leaving she grabbed tight to my neck and said, “Allie, no bye-bye… Allie go mom’s car.” I’m sure thinking, “You fooled me once crazy people, there is no way I am getting in a car without mom or dad again.”

Nathan said he was glad to be home, but didn’t really miss us. The little twerp. He is just getting too old.

While they were gone, they went to the zoo and the aquarium. Their favorite part was that they got to see the shark feeding. What do sharks eat? Bloody fish of course.

As peaceful as this week has been, I miss the kids. We have called them every day, sometimes more than once a day. Most of the time they are like, “Geez, we just talked to you yesterday! Yes we are having fun, and we could be having more fun right this second if you weren’t distracting us from it”.

Last night Zoey and Allison called us back. Allison kept asking, “Mom, Phone?” So dad let them call us. She was cracking them up while she was talking to us. She would get really excited and kept telling me “Hello” and “Yeeee Haw!”. Then she cracked them up by waving into the phone. I’m sure it was cute.

The kids left yesterday for Oklahoma to stay a week at my dad’s house. That’s right, a whole week. With just Greg and me. Much to Greg’s annoyance, I already have a whole list of things to do around the house.

It is weird without the kids. I wanted to cry yesterday when they left. Allison was so excited to go in Grandpa’s car, to Grandpa’s house. We even got some kisses goodbye from her. I know she will be fine, but a small petty part of myself hopes that she won’t be. That we get a call tomorrow saying, please come get her. Only you can make her feel better. That is just a teensy tiny part though. I really hope that she has fun, I want her to enjoy visits away, but you know… there is still that small part.

Nathan and Zoey will be fine. They are old pros at going to visit Grandpa’s house.

Nathan seems to have gotten over the stomache virus that attacked him on Sunday night. Allison woke up in the wee hours of the morning yesterday and got to experience throwing up for the first time in her little life. We thought it was ok, because she did not spend the rest of the day throwing up. That changed today. She has spent all day trying to make sure she got some vomit in each room of the house. I got to leave work around 4 because Greg has fallen into the evil clutches of the virus.

I decided it wasn’t enough that my family was coming down with this thing so loaded Allison and Zoey into the Jeep to go to the store. We may as well contaminate the whole town now and get it over with. Really it was a mission for PediaLyte, Gatorade, and Ice Cream (for those of us who aren’t sick). We were doing so well and had only one more thing to get when Allison said, “Moooommmmm, belly hurt”. We didn’t make it out of the store.

Zoey just decided to join in Pukefest 2005. That leaves me. I have already armed myself with the Lysol pistols and am not going down without a fight.

*** edit to add that about 9pm, Zoey and I were racing to the nearest bathrooms. It’s a good thing we have 2.

Our 4th of July weekend was a blast.

Get it? A BLAST!

We drove to Dallas area right after work on Friday. Due to some amazing organizational skills we were out of the house and on the road before 5 and made it to Wendy’s around 9, just in time for bed. On Saturday we left early, drove to the old neighborhood Target and picked up Noah’s birthday present. Then headed to the party. The kids had fun in the pool while the grownups enjoyed some tasty ribs. Some of the braver folk drank Josh’s home brew. After the party (and some shopping) we headed back towards Wendy’s house and decided to stop off at THE BEST GERMAN (okay, Austrian) RESTAURANT IN THE DFW AREA, Jorg’s Cafe Vienna. Nathan and Zoey ate pretzels and drank beer to their hearts content.

For our evening entertainment we decided we would drive over to a neighborhood near Ward Manor and watch the fireworks they were shooting at Southfork Ranch. They were already scheduled to start late at 10:30. We figured that would be alright, the kids could have a treat by staying up super late. Someone didn’t tell us that at Southfork Ranch, 10:30 really means 11:50. All 3 kiddos were passed out in car. After waiting that long, we stayed to watch them anyway.

On Sunday we went to visit Leon, Brenda, and Alex. He is so tiny! It is very cool to see Brenda and Leon so happy… and exhausted. They had wisely skipped out on the birthday party since Alex is only 2 weeks old and there would be a bunch of germ infested people there. Greg made a joke as we were leaving about it being too bad there was nothing they could put Alex in that would rid him of all the germs we brought with us to their house. You could see the wheels turning in Brenda’s head that it really was too bad.

The plan was to go rollerskating after that, but, there were no skating rinks open. Go figure. Instead we had a fun night of SkipBo, KerPlunk, and my famous Chicken Enchiladas.

At about 9:30, disaster struck. Nathan started a string of non-stop puking. I felt awful for him and we thought maybe he had eaten something bad. Until I read this. After all of that careful planning, fate was against us and now we really have contaminated the Kao family.

Nathan seemed to be feeling better the next day, so while Greg, Kelly, and Craig watched Batman Begins, the kids all played at Wendy’s neighbor’s house before we headed to Celebration Park. They can’t get enough of that place and so far we have been every time we visit Dallas. It is a great way to wear them out for the drive home.

We recently went to Lufkin to get some new workout clothes. Part of the Slimmer, Trimmer, Mom and Dad plan. Allison has decided that these are her new shoes, not mine.