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April 8, 2003
Ten Days, Three Girls and a Mini-van ~
Woooo Hoooooo ~ we are home. I wish that I could say that we are well, but then I'd be lying through my teeth!! Lexi has strep throat, I know, what a great souvenir to bring home from vacation!! Let me back up a little and start from the beginning.
In 10 days we managed to put just over 3700 miles on the Minivan. Talk about needing a vacation from a vacation! The girls were not as great in the van this time as they were last time, guess the novelty wore off. We decided that the next time we travel, we will put them in the car top carrier and keep the luggage in the van.
We drove straight through from Denver to Roseburg, Oregon and only stopped about 37 times to use the bathroom and get something to eat. Lexi had a touch of the stomach flu and therefore, had diarrhea in every state. I felt bad for her, but she was a real trooper. Kimmi said that we should just put a Pull Up on her! I swear that child makes me laugh!!
I pooped on the tissue box ~
In the middle of the night somewhere in Utah (where it was snowing sideways) Lexi declared that she had to go to the bathroom. Of course there was not an exit or rest stop in sight, so we pulled off the highway and let her do her thing. It was 13 degrees, so you know that she had to go BAD! We learned our lesson last trip and packed a roll of toilet paper in the van for just such an occasion, but couldn't find it!! I pulled out the tissue box and handed it over to Lexi. She got back in the van and as she was shivering declared "I pooped on the tissue box"! She really didn't, it was just mud from the side of the road, but it gave us all a little laugh. Germ got situated behind the drivers seat again and we were on our way. Not more than a half mile down the road she screams "I'm gonna throw up", so off we pull to the side of the road AGAIN. She gets up and Germ runs around and I hit the button the van door (THANK GOD for automatic doors!!), she barely hangs her head out the door and she gets sick, Germ starts gagging and retching and Kimmi is in the back seat plugging her nose and declaring loudly "if she doesn't stop this right now, I'm gonna get sick". Mackenna slept through the whole episode and I started giggling. It was between 1:30 and 2:00 in the morning and I got slap happy, I could not stop giggling and probably laughed for 5 minutes. Germ said that the only reason I was laughing was because I was not wiping puke off my shoes in 13 degree weather! LOL!!
On a long and lonesome highway ~
I would just like to thank all of you for keeping me awake. After the "sick" episode, it was my turn to drive and at roughly 3:00 a.m. I wasn't exactly "Susie Sunshine"!! I didn't turn on the radio as I didn't want to wake up the girls, so I was writing this entry in my head and thinking about everyone that I have met from iParenting. While I cannot say that my thinking was exactly clear, I had a few laughs and thoughts along the way. I wondered what the AAA weekend was like (Allisun, AmyF and Alicia) whether Nicole's steroids were kicking in and if she was starting to grow a beard, how Dawns' poor little Zoe will ever survive with Aimee as her MIL and how Kim has avoided ending up in jail having to deal with her Mom and MIL everyday!! Trust me I didn't leave a one of you out of those thoughts running through my head, but I'm sure you don't want to hear all of them!!
Down and Dirty ~
We arrived in Oregon on Friday evening and settled ourselves down at my Aunt and Uncles house. Besides my Aunt and Uncle from Roseburg and their kids (and wife, girlfriend) my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin drove down from Washington, another Aunt and Cousin drove down from the Portland area and my dad flew up from San Diego. It was a house full! We had a really nice time visiting and catching up and of course EATING!! My Aunt and Uncle own a couple of Quad Runners (ATV's) and we took them up to the Mountains a couple of times and went riding. Mackenna preferred walking around and stepping in the mud puddles, but Lexi and Kimmi never wanted to get off of them. The faster they went the better they liked it and the more mud puddles you hit with them, the better. We threw them in the tub as soon as we got home and the water was a nice shade of red clay mud. The second time we went out it had dried off a bit, but the girls still wanted to hit the mud puddles and get dirty - who needs a boy!! (Please don't post and bash me on this ~ I'm only joking!!)
Wildlife Safari ~
After the rest of the family headed back home and to work, my dad, the girls and I stuck around for a few more days and tortured my Aunt and Uncle and forced them to visit the Wild Animal park in Winston, Oregon. Actually, my Uncle refused to go and preferred his nap, but we drug along my Aunt (she only screamed for a little while). I had been before and actually prefer the one in Sequim, Washington (you can feed the animals there), but the girls had a good time. Right in the middle of the Lions cage (you drive through the exhibits where the animals are roaming around) Kimmi declared that she had to go potty REALLY bad. Given the options of feeding her to the lions or coming up with an alternative, I used my head. I had her squat over one of Mackenna's diapers and go, she thought it was such a great adventure that now wants to do this every time she has to pee and we are in the van. The child is nuts!!
Beach Babes ~
Since Mackenna has never been to the beach and Kimmi doesn't' remember going to the beach, we decided to drive to the Oregon coast and let them play for a little while. We drove to Coos Bay and it rained / sleeted almost the entire way. It was still raining when we pulled up, but quit about 10 minutes after we got there! The sun came out and the air warmed up, just in time for the girls to run around and play on the sand for a few minutes. My cousin had Mackenna and kept putting her feet in the water and running backwards when the waves would come in, she would just giggle. We took a couple of pictures of the three girls walking on the beach and if I can figure out how to post them, I will do it!!
I can't drive 55 ~
To quote Kim (SKT), I think that Germ is also the love child of Mario Andretti. On the way to Oregon, we were pulled over about 8 miles from my Aunt and Uncles house for speeding. After spending about 26 hours in the van with the girls, Germ was ready to get out and walk the rest of the way. He explained to the very nice Highway Patrolman that we were just a few miles from the exit and had been driving forever with three small children. The cop took his information and walked back to the car, we were sure to prepare a ticket. It was our lucky day, he came back to the car and told him that the fine would have been $295.00 (HOLY @#$&) and that he knows how it can be as he has small kids too, but to slow down. Germ said that he would, shook his hand, thanked him and we were on our way once again. You would have thought he would have learned his lesson, but got pulled over just outside of Portland on our way out of town (the next week) and ended up with a speeding ticket this time. Goodbye $185.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Remind me that next time it will be cheaper to FLY!!!! Did I actually say that there would be a next time? I must be suffering from some mental illness to even contemplate crawling back into the van with those munchkins!!
Tattoo for you too?
My Cousin is a Tattoo artist, he is licensed and that's what he does for a living. So needless to say that while we were in Oregon, Germ and I both had a little work done. While we were there in November, he touched up a rose tattoo that I had received about 12 years ago, so this time I had him add a small dragonfly at the top. In November, before our trip, he called to tell me that he drew up a tattoo for Germ and that he would do it while we were there. Germ just laughed, said no way in heck was he getting a tattoo and that my Cousin was insane. After seeing me get my tattoo touched up, Germ decided that maybe getting a tattoo wouldn't be so bad after all. This really cracked me up, after being in the Navy for several years and never getting one, I thought for sure that he would NEVER EVER get one ~ I was wrong. My Cousin designed a tattoo with two joining hearts and banners running through them with my name, Lexi, Kimmi and Kenna's names in them. At the top of the banner to the left of the first heart, he had Jake's name.
The rest of the tattoo consisted of roses below and a stem with a bud running behind that comes out on the top of the hearts. Germ got the hearts in November and had the rest of the tattoo done last week. It looks really nice. Anyway, the girls wanted to get a tattoo as well. Now before you call Child Protective Services, I would never let that happen. What I did agree to was this, I went to Wal-mart and bought a big multi pack of Sharpie permanent markers and then let them pick out of his tattoo books the designs that they wanted. He then drew their "tattoos" on with the Sharpies, they were so excited!!! They each had a tattoo in the middle of their back and an anklet on their left ankles. He took their pictures to put up on his computer with all the rest of the tattoos that he has done. A couple of his friends came over while he was doing their tattoo's and they all made a big deal over them, so the girls thought that they were really cool. When you ask Lexi what the best part of her vacation was, she says it's getting a tattoo. Talk about making memories!!
On the road again ~
After seven days in Southern Oregon, we headed to Portland for my niece's Birthday party and to have dinner with all of Jeremy's family. We met them all at a pizza restaurant and had dinner and cake and visited for a little while. Then we headed over to his brother's house to spend the night. They have three little girls as well and a pretty small ranch house. We slept in my oldest nieces bedroom with Mackenna in her pack n play and the other five girls slept in the living room. I'm not sure what time they went to bed or when the woke up, because my SIL took care of them all. We planned to get out of there by Noon and start the drive back home so that we could rest and relax and of course do laundry before the end of the weekend.
Picture this ~
My SIL works for the Picture People at the local mall and we made a couple of appointments to get the girls pictures taken before we left town. My oldest niece skipped school and we headed over to the mall at 10:00 a.m. First of all, I would not want to take pictures of little kids as a job EVER. Can you imagine having to take the pictures of six little wiggly giggly girls all at once?? There's a reason to start drinking if I ever heard one!!! LOL!! The pictures came out ADORABLE!! All six girls were looking in the same direction at the same time and most of them were even smiling or at least attempting too!! I will have to scan them in and post them. Then we took individual pictures of the two littlest ones, the two medium sized ones and then the big girls. The pictures of Lexi and Katie (the oldest) at the CUTEST!!! We have pictures of the two of them from the time that Lexi was 6 weeks old up until now together. What great memories they will have someday of visiting each other. The trip home was pretty uneventful, or else I was just so tired that I don't remember any of it, but I am glad to be home.
Enough Already ~
Since you all know that my cruise is off and Germ promised to take me on one in the fall, we will be getting away alone for almost a week at the end of October, first of November ~ I'm already looking forward to it!!!!
Okay, so that's about it! I've talked your ear off and my hands are cramping, so it must be time to close. I just want to add that I have been REALLY busy working on the stuff for Lexi's Silent Auction at school and unfortunately, have not been able to drop by and write you all as much as I would like. Only six more weeks until the event (May 16th) and then I should have A LOT more free time to visit and catch up. I have been reading the diaries, but don't have much time to post, I'm sorry that I'm such a slug!! LOL!!
From me and mine to you and yours ~
Stephanie
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