St. George Summer

I had plans to visit my parents in July this summer but got summoned to Jury Duty for July 1-August 31. With Scout camps (cub, girl, and Boy) and other things on the schedule at the end of June we suddenly had to decide if we were going in the next few days or not at all, so we packed up and hit the road Monday June 5th (after deciding on Saturday to go!). It was super last minute and I was so nervous to do the drive on my own (I usually need some mental preparation time!) but with the big kids helping it wasn't too bad. The road construction makes me crazy and we had to stop for 40 minutes just outside St. George for a one-lane road in 100* heat, but we made it through. The first couple of days were heavenly, hanging with cousins, swimming, eating  yummy food. Isaac and I had a Waffle Love date Tuesday night (he got the Churro waffle and loved it!).

We went to Target and the dollar store with all my kids plus Kate. Zoe and Kate were so funny, talking about the cute clothes, looking at the baby stuff and telling me how they would design their nursery. It was so fun for Zoe, I love that she has sweet cousins (Kate is Noah's age but is always so nice to Zoe).

Jonas almost always goes to bed before 8 but he was refusing to go to bed the whole trip. The first day, despite only sleeping for an hour total on the drive, he would not go to sleep. Finn was dying to swim so I just plopped Jonas on the grass and took Finn swimming. Jonas just sat there for an hour watching us. My dad sat by him for a while but mostly he was just so good, I can't figure out why. I didn't want to take Finn swimming with Jonas at the same time, but once I finally convinced Finn to wear a floaty (by telling him he couldn't swim at all if he didn't wear it) it got much easier to do swim time without Dave around. Zoe was swimming really well too. Unfortunately a few days into the trip Noah had a bad experience (swallowed water and couldn't get to the side) and nobody noticed. I was sitting out there with Grandma and I didn't even notice. He was finally able to get to the side on his own and get out of the pool, but he didn't tell me about it 'til later that night. He didn't swim again the whole trip and I felt so awful. He's afraid to swim now and it's my fault because I wasn't watching closely enough. I'm so glad he's okay and I hope he'll get over his fear, he is a total fish in the water.

Isaac was so helpful with Jonas. This day he was so tired he was trying to fall asleep on Isaac's shoulders!

Finn took really late naps every day and was staying up so late, so I decided if he didn't nap by 2 he couldn't nap. He kept asking me to go in his "green bed" (pack and play) and I said no so he took matters into his own hands and had a good nap on the floor.

Ellen's daughter Grace is 5 but is smaller than Finn, so she's terrified of him. She kept trying to get him to "get" her but then when he'd try she'd scream and run away. She had much better luck with Jonas who can't move yet. Heh heh.

My mom and dad were so helpful with Jonas, holding him, playing with him. My dad would walk around with him for a while and then he'd have to sit down, he's so heavy!

My poor Dad. I think our visits stress him to no end. My parents house is spotless and he wants to keep it that way, so I was a maniac trying to make sure there were no half empty soda cans laying around, making sure my kids sat at the table to eat (which, why don't they always do that ANYWAY??), sweeping up crumbs, never leaving anything in the sink (always in the dishwasher). It makes for a very clean house and a very stressed mom. I think we should probably hold off on visits like this until my kids are older because I just could not keep on top of it all alone and watch the babies and make sure nobody was drowning in the pool and cooking dinner...I'm just not good enough to do it all and I know it makes my dad crazy to have anything left out. Mommy school this summer is "Life Lessons", one of which includes how to clean up after yourself. You'd think they'd know that by now but...they don't. We're working on it.

We had a fun few days and then the sickness hit. Zoe was first and I was sharing a room with her, Finn, and Jonas. She coughed all night long--literally--so none of us got any sleep, and then Finn and Jonas started getting sick. I was exhausted and Dave woke up at 4 am to drive up on Thursday to help me out. He had a meeting in Albuquerque on Monday so he had to leave Sunday but those few days with him were heaven. He took Finn swimming so I didn't have to and helped at night, it was amazing. We went to Freddy's for dinner Friday night and it made me so excited for the Gallup Freddy's which opened the day we left for St. George. We also went to Benja's with Ellen and Jared for more Thai food, Dave probably made the trip simply so he could get his precious red curry. Weirdo.

My mom got a new chandelier for her living room and my dad installed it for her. It was a huge job with him up on a ladder (up a lot higher than it looks in these pictures) which made me nervous for him. He's 76 and up on a ladder but he's more steady than I would be I guess. I hung the crystals, hundreds of them, and it was so fun! It's a gorgeous light. My mom told  me if we ever sell the house we have to take the chandelier with us. Ha!

We went to church on Sunday and then Dave left for home. Unfortunately Sunday night Jonas got croup. I've never had a kid with croup and it was so scary. Zoe was up coughing until 2 am, and I finally moved her out to the couch at 2. Then Jonas woke up at 2:10 gasping for breath. I've never heard anything like it. I sat up with him all night with a phone in one hand trying to decide if I should call 911. I finally said a prayer asking if I should take him to the ER and I felt like he would be okay if I stayed home, so I relaxed and just let him sleep upright on my chest. He seemed much better in the morning but I decided to take him to InstaCare anyway. The wait time said 1 hour 30 minutes and when I checked in they said I could leave and come back. I went to Fabulous Freddy's for a detail car wash and Chick-fil-A for lunch (I'd left the other kids at home with my parents and Isaac) and when I got back to Urgent Care I still had more than a 2 hour wait. It was awful. We saw the doctor for about 30 seconds, he prescribed a steroid, and that was it. Ugh.  That night I took Finn and Jonas to the train park. Finn played in the water and did a swing and then wanted to leave. We were right by the Waffle Love truck so we stopped again.

The volcano "erupted" while we were there (you can just barely see smoke coming out of the mountain) and Finn loved that.

I decided if I got some sleep that night I would leave the next day. It was just too hard to be a single parent with no sleep and everybody sick. I was completely exhausted. I didn't get sleep that night so we didn't leave until Wednesday. The kids were so disappointed to leave early but I just had to get home. Zoe hadn't been feeling well and the day before we left she came to me, sunburned, exhausted, and bawling that her head hurt so bad and asking for medicine. Zoe has never willingly taken medicine in her entire life so I knew it was serious. I took her to the bedroom and had her lay down in the dark with a cool washcloth on her forehead, gave her some Advil, and she fell asleep. It was the first time the entire trip I felt like a decent mom. Ha!

My parents were so great and helpful and the big kids were SO happy to be with their cousins.

When the grandkids turn 10 my mom invites them to stay for a week or 2 during the summer, and now that Noah's 10 he really wanted to stay. But my parents had watched my sister's kids for a while while they were in Europe just before our visit and then had our craziness for 8 days and they needed a rest so I had to bring them home and Noah was so disappointed. I hope he'll get another opportunity some day, I felt bad but totally understood that my parents were as exhausted as I was! Ha! Also my dad got so sick right after we left, I think the stress of our visit was too much for him and it might be time for our visits to St. George to be over and I'm so sad about that. So, it wasn't our best visit. But the older kids had a blast, Finn loved swimming, Jonas tolerated it, and we ate lots of good food. I made a list and my dad did the grocery shopping (I could get used to that!). And the swimming, it just doesn't get better than having a pool right at home. We even did water balloons on the last day out by the pool! So fun. Really, knowing my dad, it was a terrible idea but I was hoping he'd stay inside. No such luck. I think I got most of the balloons picked up, but I bet he'll be finding more balloons for weeks. We did 250 of them.

I took Noah to Red Robin on our last night there after the babies were in bed, just the two of us, and he talked nonstop the entire time. He told me it was the best part of the trip and I know he needs more time with me. I wish I had more time to give these kids, I'm always pulled in by the babies, but I need to make a better effort.

On our drive home we stopped at the lodge at Jacob Lake for some world famous milkshakes and cookies. The shakes were so good and I think we'll make it a tradition if we ever make the drive again (heh heh). They don't have a changing table in the bathroom so I got to change 2 poopy diapers in the middle of the lodge, fun!

We made it home and both babies were in bed before 8 pm. It was so good to be home. I hope it wasn't too stressful for my parents and I hope my kids will remember it as a fun trip for them!