Coming Home

Friday we had a several hour drive to a friend's house in Texas.  Two years ago he held a large party we were unable to attend but this time we came.  Cora had a pretty long nap in the car but arrived fussy.  The event is a reunion of college friends.  One is pregnant with her first so the rest of us girls made a quilt before she arrived.  It's not quite done yet but we accomplished as much as we needed to while there.

Saturday was the actual event.  Cora stayed fussy the entire time which was tiring for Buddy and I.  She alternated between us and I was always glad when it was Buddy's turn.  Bohdin and Nyla needed hardly any attention.  There were many kids there.  Nyla had no trouble finding somebody to be with.  When we say the pictures of the party on Sunday it seemed that Nyla had taken a picture with half the people there.  There was some joking about how many pictures there were of Nyla.  Bohdin did an amazing job for him.  He spent a lot of time reading by himself especially on Saturday but other times he was able to play with large groups of kids.  He usually asked questions and engaged the other kids when he was with them.  He's come a long way from the shy four year old who would turn away if a kid said hello.  He still has a long way to go but he has made a lot of progress. 

There was a homemade slip and slide set up.  Nyla did it several times and liked it fine.  Bohdin tried it but was frustrated that he couldn't slide the whole length of the plastic.  No little kid was able to make it beyond a few feet so his expectations were pretty unreasonable.  I wish I had talked to him about it beforehand.  Once he failed he wasn't very interested in doing it much again. 





The food for the event was crawfish.  Cora loved the crawfish and Buddy said that she ate as many as did.  She also enjoyed putting the shell on her hand and walking around.  She was very insistent that I do the same.   I found it creepy instead of fun. 








I took Cora back to the hotel for a nap hoping she would wake up refreshed but she was still fussy.  Her fussiness was the worst part of the event.  Other than that it was a lot of fun to hang out with everybody again.  I didn't get any pictures of Buddy on the slip and slide but some good ones were taken.

Sunday we attended a baby shower and watched the slide show of the event.  Bohdin had become less social as time went on so by Sunday he stayed almost completely to himself by reading a book.  He regretted it later.  We had a later start than we anticipated but were back on the road by mid afternoon.  Cora slept a little and once she woke up, Bohdin and Nyla fell asleep.  We didn't stop for many hours.  Cora was extremely grumpy and fussy.  Her crying eventually woke Nyla up and then we had two grumpy girls.  We stopped for an hour at a Walmart and then hit the road again.  I drove as far as I could after Cora fell asleep because I wanted the shortest possible drive the next day.  We toyed with the idea of driving straight through but we would have arrived home about 7 in the morning and that didn't make sense. 

Cora was still not happy in the car today.  We did anything we could to keep her occupied.  She did a lot of art both on paper and herself.  It wasn't fun for anybody.  Nyla complained, Bohdin was moody and argumentative, and Buddy and I were beat.  It was a long time to be in the car.  It was funny how quickly we all perked up when we were out of the car.  We eventually made it home and everybody felt better.  Cora was no longer clingy and fussy which was really wonderful.  She has never been a good traveler. 





When Nyla found out about the baby shower she was distressed that she didn't have a gift for the baby.  We went to the car to find something to give.  Nyla briefly considered Piggy but I talked her out of it.  Instead she gave up Brownie.  It was a very Nyla thing to do. 

Being There

We were at Nana and Papa's house for seven days but the first day and last day were short.  We did a lot in that time.  On Sunday, Buddy, Cora, and I did a garden tour that Papa was part of.  It was weird to just have one child since the other two stayed with Nana.  It was a lot quieter and a lot easier.  On Tuesday we went to a lake.  Bohdin and Nyla went fishing while I hung out with Cora.  It was the first time in her life that we spent a significant portion of time outdoors and she was my sole focus.  Taking a walk with her reminded me of being in San Francisco with one year old Bohdin.  It was really nice to have that alone time with her.  Once the kids came back from fishing we had lunch and walked down to the beach.  Bohdin enjoyed the water but Nyla stayed mostly on shore.  I don't think Cora went into the water at all.  Unfortunately I didn't take the camera out that day.  Now I wish I had. 

During our stay Bohdin had many spray water bottle fights with anybody.  He took it too far several times and became a little annoying.  Neither Nyla nor Cora like being sprayed but they were sprayed on occasion.  Luckily for Bohdin, Nana indulged his desire to spray someone on many many occasions.  In the picture below he is using the umbrella for protection from her spray bottle. 





Wednesday morning the neighbor girl came to play with Nyla.  I think it went well but since I was gone shopping I can't say for certain.  I thoroughly enjoyed my kid free time.  I showed up at the house right after Buddy's aunt, uncle, cousin, and his cousin's daughter showed up.  They live a good distance away but were nice enough to make the drive.  They are my favorite of Buddy's aunts and uncles and we can't see them often enough.  The little girl is four months older than Nyla.  At first Nyla was in a bit of a bad mood.  Eventually she tried to play with A- but A- is a little slow to warm up to people which caused a grumpy Nyla to almost give up.  Eventually things clicked and they became great friends.  Nyla had an amazing time with her.  The picture below has them wearing their capes.  During the visit they had gone on a bear hunt among other things.  I don't remember what the capes were for.  They came after the bear hunt when the girls took a bath together. 


Papa got a dog days before we arrived.  It's a puppy and has the excitability that goes along with being a puppy.  When we first arrived Marley jumped all over us.  Nyla and Cora hated it.  None of us were big fans of that behavior but the rest of us were annoyed instead of scared like Nyla and Cora.  By the end of our visit Marley had stopped jumping.  Bohdin seemed to become attached to the dog as the week progressed.  He would spend time outside with Marley and Champ, the neighbor's dog who was usually visiting.  Nyla liked telling Marley to sit.  Cora wanted to pet the dogs but was too scared.  By the end of the week she had touched the dogs a few times.  The week before we visited Nyla asked if we could get a dog.  Once she spent time with Marley she said she had changed her mind about wanting a dog. 




Wednesday brought some strong winds which made great kite flying weather.  The wind continued on Thursday so the kite was pulled out again.  The kids liked chasing the tail of the kite.  I asked Bohdin what his favorite part of the visit had been while we were still there.  He gave me a very lengthy description of a Wii game he enjoyed.  I wrote it down but it's downstairs and I'm not.  Nyla never gave me a good answer because I always seemed to ask at the wrong time.  If she is not in a good mood she will say that she didn't have any fun at all.  She did get home sick at one point but was over that by the next day.  Cora's favorite parts were the puppies and the plums.  The plums on the tree were ripening so the kids were able to eat as many plums as they wanted.  They all wanted to eat a lot of them.



On our last night we went to a nearby restaurant that has really good catfish.  Cora does not do well in restaurants because she doesn't want to sit still.  That night she did it.  She behaved pretty well.  To compensate, Bohdin and Nyla behaved horribly.  Nyla was grouchy because she fell asleep on the way there.  Eventually she perked up.  Bohdin was in an off mood and just wanted to lay down and read instead of eat.  We stopped for ice cream afterward.  Bohdin and Nyla behaved fine while Cora ran around the table playing duck duck goose.  Someday I would like all three to behave at the same time. 

Getting There

We just returned from an eleven day trip to Texas.  Four of those days were travel days.  The original plan was to leave Thursday night but Buddy had too much work and couldn't make it home in time.  So we left Friday morning instead.  Cora was a big concern but she did really well the entire way there except for the last hour or so.  Everybody was done by the last hour though. 

We made several hour long stops along the way to stretch our legs.  The first was at Dunbar Cave which had a small museum nearby. 



The next stop was Memphis.  Buddy googled playgrounds in Memphis and was able to find a really amazing one.  It's the best playground I've ever been to.  It was really innovative and lots of fun.  One of the most popular features was the large slide.  When we arrived there were groups of kids going down any way they could.  Some ran down, some used towels, some kept it traditional.  The slide empties into a bowl of sorts.  There is a ramp on one side and the rest is just the rubber material that has to climbed to get back to the top.  There were two slides and the bigger one was really fast.  Cora loved it. 






We spent the night at the halfway point ten hours after leaving.  I thought it was ten hours but maybe it was more.  The time zone switch can be confusing because the car clock will be wrong but the cell phone will be correct so sometimes I add or subtract an hour without thinking.  I did that several times during the trip.

The next morning we headed out early.  Cora was continuing to do well in the car.  As we were driving south of Little Rock Buddy and I played the alphabet game to see who would drive next.  I won so I took the first exit I found.  As I was exiting I noticed the fuel light was on.  I had been paying so much attention to finding letters, I hadn't noticed we were almost out of gas.  It's a good thing I found the z without too much difficulty.  The exit I took was the exit for a  lake.  Since we were stopping for gas we decided to stop at the lake for a break.  Bohdin enjoyed playing in the water.  Buddy found clay in the lake and made a clay snowball.  Nyla helped decorate. 




We didn't make any more fun stops the rest of the way and were able to make it to Nana and Papa's house by dinnertime. 

Art

I took some pictures of Nyla's recent art.  The above picture is Nyla as an adult princess.  The one below she calls her Christmas picture but I don't remember why. 


Nyla built a swing for Piggy and Brownie yesterday. 


It was a beautiful day so I thought I could take some pictures of everybody but it didn't work out.  I took about 60 pictures and there was not one good one in the bunch. 




Nyla's caterpillar art.



We finally planted the garden yesterday.  We meant to do it over the weekend but there was a lot of rain.  Our neighbor gave us many tomato seedlings so hopefully we'll have a good crop.  We're going to share the garden with them this year.  They are going to come over and help us out with weeding and stuff on occasion and they will get some of the harvest.  They helped plant a bit yesterday.  It's smaller this year since we had to make an enclosure to keep the deer out but I have high hopes for a better yield with less space.  Our peas have been eaten by either a rabbit or a deer so no pea crop for us this year.  The peas were not planted inside the barrier.  The tomatoes and peppers are the only things inside I think.  Everything else will either be deer food or hopefully survive.  The deer didn't touch those plants last year so hopefully they don't this year either. 

Mother's Day

While I was out by myself on Saturday, Buddy and the kids made me a beautiful piece of art.  I'll have to take a better picture soon.  Cora pointed to it all day and said "pretty".  She is quite proud of her work.  Buddy made me a big breakfast in the morning with french toast, fruit, and bagels with smoked salmon.  Nyla also chose some flowers for me which I need to plant soon.





Jenn brought Cora a blue monkey when she was here.  On Saturday Nyla went to a yard sale and picked up a small brown monkey so she now owns three monkeys.  The new monkey named Brownie is the baby.  Blue is the mom and George is the dad.  We played monkey a lot over the weekend.  I thought it was a lot.  Nyla thought it was hardly at all.  Piggie has been cast aside for Brownie.  Brownie came with us today to my eye appointment and Brownie was supposed to sleep with Nyla tonight.  Piggie has been in the toy box almost all weekend.  He only came out to attend Brownie's birthday party. 

Bohdin lost another tooth last night.  Once again he chose to keep it instead of giving it up to the tooth fairy.  Nyla is impatiently waiting for her tooth to fall out.  She is ready to get a present from the tooth fairy.  I told her it could be years but it wasn't the response she was looking for.

Our strawberries have been ripening for the past several weeks.  Because we did such a poor job of taking care of them last year our crop this year is small.  The strawberries are small and there are few of them.  Cora is the only one interested in eating them so they are mostly just rotting out there.  The neighbors have come by a couple of times to pick.  Tonight we went out to work in the yard.  Buddy built a structure for the kiwi plants while I weeded the raspberries.  The raspberries have been kind of neglected as well.  I didn't pick many last year because I would feel so guilty to see so many weeds growing among them.  Bohdin picked a lot of the raspberries last year and did share a few.  Tonight I weeded  a lot and two of the four rows look pretty good.  It was getting dark so I couldn't quite finish up the second row.  Bohdin and Cora were outside with us helping out.  They would load up the wagon with the weeds and grass and then dump them out.  Bohdin pulled the wagon and Cora pushed it.  They made a great team.  I had no idea what Nyla was doing.  It turns out that since she couldn't find a job to help outside that she wanted to help inside.  She unloaded as much of the dishwasher as she could.  She was really proud of her idea and couldn't wait to show me. 

Yellow

I don't know where the time goes.  We've had a quiet week to recover from the craziness of the past few weeks.  Nyla doesn't like that because she likes to go out a lot more than I do.  I did take her to story time this week after a several month absence.  Cora didn't do well and I thought I would give her another chance.  She still sucks.  She wasn't too bad for the actual story time for her but once we were looking for books she was running around pulling books off the shelves.  She refused to be held while I was checking out and it was embarrassing how she ran around.  Bohdin was supposed to keep her contained but that is an impossible task.  He tried. 

Cora only knows the name of one color which is yellow.  When she holds up a red diaper she'll ask "yellow?".  She will do the same for most of the colors.  I don't know if yellow is her favorite color or just the one name she latched onto.  She doesn't seem to pick out the yellow diapers with greater frequency.  She also knows only one number which is two.  She saw two birds outside this morning and said "two birds".  There actually were two birds but it was just a lucky guess.  She would have said the same thing if there were three birds. 

Bohdin has been reading like crazy this week.  His reading confidence has increased tremendously so he tackles chapter books without a problem now.  I should actually be requesting more books right now because he has read almost all of the 40 books I checked out yesterday. Only about six of those were chapter books and the rest were picture books of varying length. 

Nyla loves doing art and I've always had art supplies within reach so she could do it whenever she liked.  With Cora getting crazy with the paint I had to put those away so Nyla could do it only when Cora was sleeping.  Last week Nyla drew on the side of the chair in marker and somebody colored the wall behind the couch.  Nyla has just entered the lying phase so I don't know if the coloring was her or Cora.  The chair was quite obviously Nyla although she denies it.  It looks like Nyla art.  The markers and crayons were put away also where Cora can't reach. 

Cora is not just our trouble maker.  She can also be really sweet.  This week she learned how to give real kisses and has been kissing Buddy and I all over.  She kisses my shoulder a lot but any body part will do for her.

Derby 138

Buddy decided to finally attend a Derby and invited his coworkers to attend as well.  Several of them did.  Paul, Jenn, and company once again woke up super early to be among the first through the gate.  They secured a great spot near last year's spot.  Our goal was to arrive at 10:30 but we were late getting out the door.  It takes a long time to get everybody ready so we didn't leave until 11.  It didn't take long to find parking and we loaded up the stroller.  Bringing the stroller was a genius idea on Buddy's part.  It carried Cora, two bags of ice, a lot of food and four chairs.  Buddy carried a cooler and neither Bohdin nor Nyla carried anything.  The line to get through security was long and it moved so so slowly.  We were in line for about an hour.  It was so hot already.  As the person in front of us reached the security line they called off all security.  Prior to that they were checking for weapons, glass bottles, and alcohol.  People love sneaking alcohol in so that was probably the biggest thing they were looking for.  At one point the line was held up while some people were chugging their alcohol before throwing it out.  They were caught with it and tried to drink as much as they could as quickly as they could. 

Once they called off security there was a mad dash for the entrance.  We were on the opposite side of where we needed to be.  The giant stroller made it difficult to cut across the crowds so I was separated from Buddy and Bohdin.  People were really mad that it was taking so long to get through.  They had a new system this year with cheaper admission if you bought early and printed out a ticket at home.  People were so frustrated with the long ticket line that they just paid admission again so they could get through the much faster cash gate.  Eventually we did make it through with the assistance of some people around me who kindly separated the masses.  I couldn't find Buddy on the other side of the gates so we just headed out to where Paul was.  Buddy had beaten us there by a lot. 

There were record crowds out there yesterday and it did seem more crowded than the year prior.  It was also really really hot.  Everybody was sweaty.  I forced the kids to hydrate but nobody had to pee for many hours despite all the fluids.  Bohdin read almost the entire time.  He brought five books and finished all but one before we left.  He started the last book but finished it when we came home.  Nyla was her usual social self.  She interacted with everybody.  Some stranger gave her a blow up horse which she loved and played with for a long time.  Somebody also gave her a small foam horse that she enjoyed for some time.  Cora was more social than usual and allowed several people to handle her.  She loved seeing the horses parade by and pointed them out excitedly at first.  Her interest waned by the end of the day after seeing so many horses. 








Cora had to take her clothes off after spilling water on them.  She doesn't usually like to wear wet clothes.  Somebody gave a shirtless Cora some beads. 







We did a horrible job picking horses and so we did not win.  If there had been a prize for picking the horses that came in last we would have done awesome.  Bohdin had picked one of the top horses in a previous race so we wasn't upset.  Nyla cried because her horse lost.  We stuck around for the next race and she won that one. 

The heat made this Derby less enjoyable than previous times.  Since we were on the fence we saw the people who were carted off the field.  There were a few crying girls.  The last one we saw was a middle aged man having chest compressions done on him.  I don't know if he made it.  Between the heat and the alcohol, it's surprising that there weren't more heat casualties.  We don't know if that guy was a heat casualty or something else.  My favorite moment as on the way out.  Buddy and I became separated again because moving the stroller through the crowd is slower than moving an individual.  When we were in the tunnel a guy started playing the national anthem on the saxophone.  A lot of people starting singing.  At the end of the song people cheered and chanted "USA, USA".  The spontaneity of it was fun.  Buddy and Bohdin missed it because they were too far ahead but Nyla, Cora and I were right in the middle of it. 

We didn't leave Churchill Down until well after 7pm.  Cora never took a nap.  She behaved quite well with such little sleep.  All of the kids did well.  Cora fell asleep at some point in the tunnel.  She was awake at the top when I had Nyla climb in as well.  There was such a crush of people it was safer for Nyla in the stroller.  I didn't want to lose her.  For a while there was a guy next to her that was trying to watch out for her to make sure she would be okay but once the crowd thickened the stroller was the best option. 

As we were walking to the car Bohdin said that the Derby was boring.  He said we just spent the morning rushing to get ready, waited in line forever, and then sat around waiting for races.  While that was technically true he would have been less bored with the races if he took interest in them instead of his books.  He didn't even stand up for most of them.  Part of the Derby experience is hanging out with people and he didn't interact with people much. 



Nyla loves having visitors and was so sad to see them go.  She loved spending time with all of them especially Jenn.  She cried as they left.