The Sea, The Sea

one of the things my dad wanted to do while they were visiting, was take a trip down to galveston island to check it out and shoot some photos. i'd been wanting to get down there as well, since i've never seen it and particularly since ike came and went i was even more inclined to check it out. i only wish i had been there prior to the hurricane so i had a little better indication of what it used to look like, as opposed to what it presently looks like = big mess.

we packed a picnic lunch and piled in our cars and headed south on what was probably the coldest day of the week my folks were here. i'm not sure it got out of the 50s that day, but it was a beautiful - albeit chilly - day. as we approached the island, the hurricane damage was evident: piles upon piles of debris, empty cement slabs where homes once stood, hollowed out shells of what used to be busy, coastal restaurants, hotels and businesses. it's why i wish i had a point of reference, because it was hard to know - in some instances - what was hurricane damage and what was your average, run-of-the-mill wear and tear.

we drove out toward the beach along a dirt road that a.)may or may not have been a dirt road before the hurricane and b.) was empty, save the aforementioned cement slabs where homes once stood. very eerie. particulary sad was a sign atop a cement stairway that once led to someone's front door that read "chris: gone but not forgotten". wow. you are out there looking around and you can't help but wonder how scary it must have been for those who tried to ride out the hurricane, but also why did so many people stay?

anyway, enough of death and destruction. let's talk about how much fun annie and jasper had running back and forth along the beach and wading in the water and stepping on jellyfish. yes, that's right, we almost had an incident.

so, it didn't take long for annie to ditch her shoes and roll up her pants, the tide chasing her out and drawing her in. she was laughing and giggling and having so much fun. now, if you'll look in this picture, you can see some garbage there by the kids. lovely, i know, but i point that out to you because while that is a piece of garbage, what we saw a few minutes later was definitely not garbage and definitely was a jellyfish. and then another jellyfish.

as soon as we saw that first jellyfish we continually reminded annie to watch where she was going and don't play by the jellyfish, etc. but you know 4-year-olds. they're immortal. they're untouchable. they have no fear. so, sure enough, a few minutes go by of annie running back and forth and all of the sudden i hear addison drop the ol' f-bomb and as i turn and look he is running at annie and swooping her up AS she steps barefoot on the jellyfish's head. there was a lot of chaos in the following minute or so as we were trying to ascertain whether or not annie got stung. see, her daddy scared the bejesus out of her when he dropped that not-so-under-his-breath-f-bomb while swooping her off the ground...and we got the bejesus scared out of us when we saw our daughter step on a jellyfish...which then in turn scared annie more to see US scared...and so she was bawling and...you can see how it turned chaotic.

i tried to calm her down and kept asking her if she just got scared or if she was hurt and finally she told us she was just scared. phew. crisis averted. you know all i could think of was that episode of friends where monica gets stung by the jellyfish and chandler pees on her. i'm so glad we didn't have to urinate on our baby girl. that could traumatize a person.

she was traumatized enough by all the jellyfish that she didn't want to go near the water. that, and it was cold, so we had our little truck-picnic, took a few more pics of the crazy, hitchockian seagulls, and took our leave. on our way out of town we took the kids to the port where two cruise ships were docked - it was fun to see annie's face as we got closer and closer to the "hotel on the water". she thought it was pretty impressive and frankly, so did i, though you couldn't PAY me to take a cruise. well, depends how much you paid me...

anyway, we had a good day that ended with filets on the grill and some good wine. doesn't get much better than that.

Horsey Rides and Dance Parties

we had so much fun having my folksies down to visit - the kids especially so, because they were pretty spoiled by all the attention, sweets, attention, etc. of all the fun to be had with papa, i would say it is the world-famous "horsey ride" that really took the cake. it is my dad's own fault if he has back problems now (though he *did* get to go have himself a 2.5 hour massage while he was here), for it is he who opened the pandora's box of fun for the kids. all it takes is one.

first annie gets a horsey ride. run, giggle, snort. then jasper says "my turn!" and he gets his ride. run, giggle, whinny, snort. then annie says "my turn, papa!" and again, round and round they go until jasper says "my horsey ride!" until finally we are all just tired from watching and papa gives them one more round...gotta hand it to daddio-o. i sure don't have that kind of energy.

and then there are the dance parties. seems like every night after dinner, we had the ipod cranked for a little dancin'. annie and mama were having a ball, jasper joined in the fun and so did papa while daddy and i just sipped our cocktails.

The Funk

today we are in the post-mama-and-papa-visit funk.

after a full week of endless fun, games, horsey rides, activities, good eats, movie nights and home maintenance, we are having to ease ourselves back in to our "normal" routines. my folks left this morning to head back to the still-frozen tundra, just in time for it to finally make it in to the mid-70s and 80s here in tejas.

sigh.

i think annie said it best this morning as addison was getting ready to leave for work she said, "daddy? is papa going to work with you?" and addison said, "no, papa has to go home today". just then, papa appeared and said "hi annie!" to which annie just glared at papa...and then teared up and said "i don't WANT papa to go home!"

i agree, annie pants. we always have withdrawal when they leave, don't we?

more on our many adventures tomorrow...when i'm done pouting.

Croup

wow. just when you think you've got everything under control and everyone on the road to healthy, you get thrown for a loop. and then you get thrown for another - crazier - loop.


allow me to explain.


we've been battling the winter sickies this past couple of weeks here at our house. we've been trading the cold bug back and forth and so far have avoided anything more than a cold. first, annie had a cold, then jasper started getting it and then last week i was down for the count with the sinus crap. i'm finally 90% back to normal but now jasper has regressed. his nose is runny, he's coughing, but otherwise he's himself...until tonight. he hardly ate dinner so i knew something was funky. sure enough, his fever was 103.9. i gave him his motrin and put him to bed figuring we'd go visit the dr. in the morning to rule out an ear infection and - in a 2 birds, 1 stone effort - have him recheck annie's finger. oh wait, you don't even know about her finger, because i haven't blogged in 17 years...


more on that later. so i put jasper to bed, annie, add and i play a quick game of "cootie" and then we put annie to bed. evening proceeds as it normally does until...


3:15am. annie comes down to our room and i didn't really even hear her but i heard addison say "do you want some water?" and then i went back to sleep. i woke up a few minutes later when i heard annie kind of couging a lot but quietly. i went to the kitchen to get her some water and when i came back she was laying down just wheezing and when i sat her up and told her to cough she sounded HORRIBLE. like, scary horrible.


to me, it sounded like she couldn't get any air in so i kept trying to get her to cough but it never sounded like it was clearing out all the phlegm. to annie, she just new something was wrong so she assumed she was going to throw up so she asked for her puke bowl,which, in retrospect, makes me just giggle because it's just so cute. don't feel good. must be about to puke. get bowl.


so she was sitting there with her hand over her mouth wheezing badly and addison and i weren't sure if she swallowed something and was choking, or if it was the whooping cough or something.


we decided to err on the side of caution, so addison loaded annie in to the truck and took her to the hospital, which is where they are now. well, actually, annie's finishing her popsicle and they'll be on their way home. with the croup.


i know. apparently people really do get the croup. i know it's not that weird, but it is when we've gone 4 years without ever having it. of course as soon as they leave, i look up on the internet and it pretty much says something along the lines of, if your child wakes up in the night with a barking, deep cough and wheezing, do not be alarmed and do not rush to the er, it's just the croup. hahahaha. i stand by taking her in, having never heard what it sounds like before, it was VERY alarming. it sounded like she was gasping for air. ick.


so. welcome back to our world. did you miss us? haha. never a dull moment. i will update more tomorrow as i'm thinking i still need to get jasper in and see what his deal is.

UPDATE:
jasper has 2 ear infections and bronchitis. anyone want to come over and breathe the air in at our house!?