Ambrenglish

I'm loving some of the words that are making appearances in our daily conversations lately!

Cowl:  mom please hand me my cowl (Cow + towel...hooded towel made by Aunt Evie made to look like an adorable cow)

Yarden: Butterflies like to fly in our yarden! ( yard+ garden)

Flyter squadron: I need that flyter squadron so I can kill this fly. ( fighter squadron + fly swatter)

died out: Mom, come help me; my light died out. ( burnt out + died)

Lander Moonder: Mom, can you do the count down so my lander moonder can blast off? ( lunar lander + ?)

Cooling off

This is stating the obvious, but the summers around here are intense, to say the least. Most days the high is 100+, so escaping the heat is a must. Lucky for us there is a small mountain town less than an hour away. It's amazing how quickly the scenery and temperature change as the elevation increases. In about 20 minutes drive, the temperature decreases by about 20 degrees, it's fantastic! In addition to the cooler weather, there is also a small lake that is stocked with fish. John and Ambrose go up there pretty frequently, but Bram and I had yet to venture up. Despite the fact that it was about the furthest thing from relaxing, it was a great time!  

I quickly discovered that there is very little fishing done by the oldest boy. For the most part, he plays in the dirt, throws rocks and occasionally casts a line (however, have I told you about the time that he cast his line and hooked himself in the cheek?....pure talent this one....)

Bram was all sorts of in the way fun! He handled at least a couple hooks, every piece of bait, each bobber and tangled some fishing line. You just can't keep up with him sometimes! 

 

Staycation

For me, part of the trip that I was dreading the most was the drive. Bram, even at 14months, isn't a fan of the car seat, and makes it known very very loudly. However, I was pleasantly surprised when he held it together pretty well! Ambrose did great! If he wasn't busily playing with his legos and giving us a play by play of each constructed item, he was snacking or looking out the window.

 Immediately after arriving in Albuquerque, we headed over to Explora, the children's museum. The entire place was amazing and Ambrose loved how hands on it was and Bram enjoyed walking around without me redirecting him or constantly taking things from him!

 The next day we saw the Albuquerque zoo. The boys loved seeing all the interesting animals!

Albuquerque also has a small, but great aquarium. The kids loved getting so close!

 The aquarium was on the grounds of a botanical garden, so we took a walk around and saw some beautiful plants and flowers!

It was an awesome time as a family!!

It's my Mac's fault

So, it's been a while. Sorry, but you can blame my mac! I know there are many people out there who swear by Mac computers, but folks, that love is completely LOST on me! We purchased our *first* and *last* mac three years ago..Dell we will meet again.

So, this post will  be many pictures and probably very few words. Lets all just get caught up ASAP.

We finished our time up in FL at then end of May. The trip was fantastic, and the best part was that we didn't really spend significantly more than John would have if he had gone on his own. Yay for a cheap month long family vacation! 

 These Puddle Jumper water swimmies are fantastic! If you're looking to spend some time in a pool (and your kid doesn't know how to swim) these things will rock your world! The other day, Ambrose and I went to a hotel pool, and got tired of swimming so I got out and checked my email (on my phone, 5 feet away from him....not back upstairs in our room) while he swam around. It was a whole new sense of freedom for him and I!!

 Bram got his first hair cut while in FL. The wonderful lady that cut his hair was very nervous as she only cuts 30+year old fighter pilots hair, but she did a great job!

 For much of the time we were in FL Bram was sick. I unknowingly let him wander around with a double ear infection for a week. I of course felt terrible, but also hold him hugely responsible because the only way that I know that my boys have ear infections is because they don't sleep at night, and with Bram, well, we all know his awful sleeping record. So, if the kid wouldn't cry wolf so many times and actually sleep well at night, when he is up for 3hrs in the middle of the night I'd know something was wrong, rather than thinking it's just Bram standard . p.s- he also had a case of thrush that we found while at the ER for the ear infection.

 We came back and quickly got into the swing of things. Here's Bram in that bath solo because his bath partner was running a fever.

 John and I went on a date!

 Little did we know that fever that Ambrose had a couple of days prior was leading up to a terrible horrible case of hand foot and mouth. Have you guys had the experience of dealing with this virus? If not, thank your lucky stars and promptly knock on every piece of wood around you because this virus is no joke! Here's a pic of Ambrose's hand, and it does not do this virus justice.  He had large open sores on his arms, and then smaller ones all over his hands, feet, went up his arms, inside and outside of his mouth, in his nose and even one on his ear. Why they call it hand foot and mouth, I'll never know. For my son, it was a full body virus. Each one of those sores is like a canker sore, it was incredibly painful for him. For one of the days he wouldn't walk because the sores hurt so bad. He slept terribly and complained all night that his feet and hands hurt. It was AWFUL!!! He is over the virus, but now his hands and feet are peeling off in sheets, which I guess is the tail end of the virus. It looks terrible and there's really not a whole lot we can do other than wait it out. I prayed each day Bram would avoid it, and he did! I don't know what that would have been like....I shutter to think!

I have a few pics from last weekends trip to Albuquerque, but for now, it looks like my kid free time is up.