What a great holiday!

Excited to celebrate our country and our freedom!

Land of the free…

Home of the brave…

and there’s no better way to celebrate than with free fun, yummy food, family, and fireworks!

Thanks town of Smyrna for the bouncy fun, thanks grandma for the snowcones and light sword, thanks Rissa for the piggyback rides in the sweltering heat, thanks for grilling Daddy, thanks for the sillystring war Aunt Karie, and thatnks for the personal fireworks show Uncle Nathan and Uncle Dustin.

Hope you pick us to hang out with next year!

PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!

(and Canadian, but let’s not mention how I didn’t plan anything big for Canada Day and a certain Canadian in our house made sure to make note of that! don’t worry I might get it right next year!)

Last week we had a bit of a surprise visit to the hospital.  Luke has been wheezy for a few weeks, and the allergy meds weren’t helping, so we went to visit the pediatrician who gave him a breathing treatment and an inhaler. After a week of puffing on that thing, he still sounded like a 80 yr old chain smoker so we went back to the doc in hopes of a new solution.  After a couple more breathing treatments…

…he still sounded completely the same!

So they said we needed to go down to the ER immediately.

They wanted to put him on constant albuterol, which they can’t do in the dr office, so we ended up here…

After a few hours of breathing treatment, he still sounded the SAME! So he got a chest xray, and they wanted to continue monitoring him while they puzzled it out.  Not until after 8 pm did this poor guy get to eat anything.

Boy, was that hamburger good!

Turns out his lungs were so inflamed, they needed the steroid to calm them down, which he got at the dr office and at the ER, but it take hours, even days, to fully work, so by morning he was sounding great! Of course his sleepover at the hospital with Daddy was pretty fun he said and Natalie enjoyed visiting! (thankfully Darin hadn’t started work yet and was here to help me!)

Now he is considered asthmatic, and it might just be allergy related, but to what allergen we don’t know!

We come in contact with just about everything that causes asthma (dust, pollen, exercise, uncles…)

hello flamingos. want a cracker? sorry I’m not sharing.

I’ve decided the best day to visit the zoo. When a drizzle is on.

The rain is cool and refreshing and lots of people head for the exit, leaving plenty of room to roam.

Plus the kiddo play area is completely covered, so I can sit back and watch them roll, jump and have a good time without worrying about them running into the big kids (getting knocked down, and crying… did I mention that happens a lot lately? the crying thing, not the gettign knocked down)

what could be more fabulous than cow puppets?

FREE CHOCOLATE MILK!! yes, please!

and there were free ice cream sandwiches, but they ran out while we were in the mooovie,

no worries, we ended up with ice cream in our bellies somehow

The chiclets got to play fun cow games, like throw the cowpie on the bullseye, who doesn’t love that game?

They also got to work on the farm, picking apples from the tree, and veggies from the garden (a skill they have mastered at home), eggs from the chicken coop, and grain from the fields. Then they had to sort the foods into food groups, go sell their goods at the Farmer’s Market, and spend their money at the store. they bought coloring books! How cute is that?!

Our very adorable and excited friends came too and we had a blast meeting the cows…

okay, real ones too! (horrible picture, I couldn’t seem to catch the kids and the cows in a good shot)

Moooooooo!

luckily we have friends in wet places, and pools have been readily available.

Mr. Chiclet usually kicks around most of the time, while Lil Miss will hang on to me.

And we always have buckets and toys to toss around.

and poolside snacks,

speaking of, get this lifejacket off of me, I’m hungry! (again!) 

the “carrot” in my side salad at McD’s.

heeheehee…

thanks for all the birthday love. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I always get spoiled one way or another.

we’ve harvested lettuce, cilantro, basil, and parsley. the green beans are coming in now, and the tomato plants smell fragrant so hopefully there will be something soon. not sure about the carrots, and jalapenos yet

but this is progress people.

I think we will top our 1 pepper and 3 tomatoes last year.

I think.

tubing with the boys, riding the boat, waiting out the hail-infused thunderstorm

building sand castles, racing down the slide, watching a wedding

skiing for some, just trying for me, soaking up the sun

playing games, eating good scones, and laughing

yep, good times. love vacation.
we learned Natalie hates the sand, has a new word “pretzie” and new favorite snack snyder’s honey mustard and onion pretzels, and loves to wear her sunglasses upside down.
home again, home again, jiggety jig!