Florida for Piper's Wedding

The night after we welcomed Harriet to the family, Eban and I headed to the airport to see Piper get married in Naples, Florida, on the beach. The flights were an all day extravaganza and we had a long layover in Detroit.

It was great to fly in along the west coast of Florida and see all the white sand beaches as we landed in Fort Myers. Although it was cloudy, it sure was pretty. The humidity that enveloped us after we departed the plane was so thick and heavy. I do not miss humidity whatsoever!

We drove to the Rainen's home and Eban was able to see his first lizard. He yelled out and pointed, "Look Mama! AN IGUANA!" I have no idea what type of small lizard it was, but it was fun to see them running all over the place. That night was a cocktail party and Eban took off running all over their house, all over the dock, and anywhere else his two little feet could take him. Getting Mike's fishing pole settled him down just a tad, but it was a nice 20 minute reprieve from the constant chase mode. We stayed at the boutique hotel, the Trianon, that night. When we arrived, the front desk man (and only hotel worker) said we could use the pool as it was 9:00pm and Eban was wide awake as it was 7:00pm his time. So in we went and another family of boys joined us as they heard the nice front desk man allow to use the closed pool.

The next morning, Eban was on fire and a tad hyper and a new front desk man was working. I could simply sense he was having a bad day and noticed later on that he was glaring at me from across the lobby - I think he didn't approve of how I was parenting Eban. Anyway, as I was taking a picture of Eban in a pink stucco artistic square that was roughly 4 feet off the ground on the back patio of this cute hotel (see below pic), the cranky front desk man came running outside and said, "I TOLERATE A LOT, BUT THIS I DO NOT TOLERATE! Get him off of there!" So I was taken aback by the delivery of this request and went inside with Eban to pack up to head to the beach. I wanted to talk to him about appropriate use of words and tone, but knew it would be a lost cause. As I was bringing our suitcase to the front, Eban ran over to the front desk guy and was making noises and taking his ball cap and swinging it from side to side and then he swung it side to side and hit the front desk man. He angrily looked at Eban at shouted, "DO NOT HIT THE NICE HOTEL MAN!" I think I laughed out loud as it was such a contradiction so then I said to him, "You don't have kids, do you?" And he curtly replied, "No I do not." I told him I could tell. Eventually I ran into the nice hotel worker again and told him how much I appreciated the fact that he went over and beyond the call of duty to help us out. I also let him know that the morning hotel worker had no patience or social grace when dealing with situations that were foreign to him.

"My favorite thing was playing at the beach," Eban just said after I read him the above paragraphs as he wanted to know what I was working on. Cara, Ryan's cousin, picked us up in the morning so we could all have a beach day. We headed to the Naples Pier so relaxation and fun in the sand. As I was carrying a Igloo full of food and drinks, two backpacks, beach towels, and other items, I saw Eban run off as he caught a glimpse of the beach. Off he ran as fast as he could and behind him flew a shirt, then came pants, then came a hat....as he was running and stripping to get into the water. Cara caught him before he hopped in but it was a close call. He wasn't afraid of the water and wanted in - and he stayed in the water most of the time other than playing with a little girl from "Jersey" named Abria. He just elaborated by saying that he also loved the sand and playing with that girl, Abria.

That night, we went on a dinner cruise. Eban loved every aspect of the four story boat and he just told me that the dinner cruise was totally awesome!! It was really sweet as Piper and Jack ate dinner with us and it was very special.

Fourth of July was interesting as Eban was going stir crazy in the house after an hour. I figured we'd go for a walk and see if we could find a coffee shop so we could get him a "Starbucks." Lo and behold, I came upon downtown Naples and someone told me that the corner spot was still open and it was one of the best spots to be in. We drank our Starbucks and watched a two hour parade with old cars, military personnel, community organizations and I saw my first real Airboat - the vehicle they use in the Everglades. Lunch was a perfect picnic in the park with other parade goers and we headed home to nap so we could head to the hotel for the wedding. Eban put on his tie like a champ and wore it the entire night. He was all set to be the ring bearer but on his way down the sand beach aisle in the dark, he caught sight of a heart sand castle with the letters J and P in them. I saw him jump away and I heard giggles come from the crowd and about a minute later, I saw one of Jack's relatives holding Eban's hand and walking him down the aisle. Some of the guests said it was hysterical to see how excited got with the sand castle as it was an opportunity to crush it - I mean what would you want to do - Walk down an aisle perfectly or jump feet first into a beautiful sand castle?

The reception was a party - dancing until the wee hours. Eban crashed around midnight and fell asleep in my arms and another patron drove us home. The next morning, we drove across Alligator Alley over to Delray Beach to see my great Aunt Ruth. She looks fabulous for being 97 and she has long white hair and laughs with everything. She loved meeting Eban and was so impressed that he wanted to know all about her emergency lights in her room at the nursing center. He also loved the automatic soap dispenser in her bathroom and Eban told her it was "SO COOL!" That night, he swam for two hours in the hotel pool where we stayed and he couldn't have been happier.

We saw Aunt Ruth again for 10 minutes on our last morning and Eban wanted to push her in her wheel chair to breakfast. He succeeded and he couldn't even see over the bars, but he loved pushing her. All the other residents giggled as we entered into the dining room as you could barely see Eban behind the huge wheel chair. Aunt Ruth was so proud to be wheeled in by her great great nephew and not an orderly and she told everybody who he was. I was chopped liver and didn't get introduced. Perfect! I'll upload photos from this visit as they are still on my camera...oops. I'm certainly glad we had the opportunity to see her on this trip. That's it for now, but as a teaser for the next entry, the boys went on their first horses and loved it!

EBAN'S FIRST HOUR AT THE BEACH

Harriet!!

We've been contemplating getting a puppy for awhile now and decided that if it happened, it would have to be a rescue dog that is already potty trained. After months of going back and forth, we finally have our new addition - a sweet little blood hound named Harriet.

Harriet spent the first two years of her life in a puppy mill giving the dreadful owners litter after litter. She has bad skin due to her living conditions and itches uncontrollably now because I've learned most dogs do that due to being bored in their crates/boxes. She certainly does. Moreover, Harriet is a sweet heart. She loves the boys and tolerates them SO well. She bosses Seamus and wears the pants in that relationship so it reminds me of how Murphie used to be with him - although they snuggle more than Seamus and Murphie ever did. Murphie was "too good" to do that. They kiss each other, play in the mornings outside and generally have bonded better than I could have imagined.

Her only vices are running when she gets out - who wouldn't after they've been crated for two years. And she likes to get up on the counter to steal food if we leave it up there so she's been happy to claim a half pizza, ribs, and many other items simply from having a fabulous nose and being quick! Harriet and Sadie also get along - Harriet wants to be better friends with her but she only likes Seamus at this point. It reminds me of when Seamus was added to the family as Sadie only liked Murphie. I hope you all get to meet her soon as she is a little love.

Here are some of the boys' stories - We hear a lot of Quincy in them now. The other day, Eban was telling Seamus to do something and Seamus was happily ignoring him. Getting more frustrated, Eban finally yelled "SEAMUS BRAND" real loud and enunciated each word as if Quincy were yelling at her dog, Vedder Brand. It was so funny. I had to explain that Seamus' last name was Tracy and not all dogs have the same last names. Two mornings ago as Jack and I were taking our time getting ready, Eban was busy waiting for us. He was tapping his food and looking at us as if we were taking a long time. He finally said, "That's enough boys, let's go!" Again, I heard Quincy all over that statement.

JACK LAUGHING VIDEO

Eban's Third Birthday & Father's Day 2009

Eban wanted a train theme for his third birthday party. So I made a "pin the smoke stack on the choo-choo train" game, Tutu made PB&Js in the shape of trains, I made homemade railroad crossing signs, but I'm sure no one noticed those little things as having 10 children running around a house is more chaotic than anything! At least he took his time with each gift and card this year and thoroughly enjoyed himself. Eban again had a time out at his own party. He said something naughty and I told him if he did it again that he would go to timeout. So he did and therefore, I simply picked him up and put him in the timeout chair adjacent to the kitchen. He LOVED his cake which Keegan and Lisa did again. It was out of a culinary showcase exhibit. I felt guilty cutting into it. It was funny. Everyone made fun of us for getting a minivan eons ago and then look outside our house three years later and it looks like minivan heaven. All sorts of people succumbed to the dark side of minivan ownership! ha! The Rehms got him a Lightning McQueen car which Jack took as his favorite movie is the PIXAR movie, Cars. I remember when Cars was Eban's favorite movie a year or so ago so now we hear, "LIGHTNING MCQUEEN?!" all the time from Jack's mouth as he's searching for one of his McQueen cars. It's humorous to see how Jack is so similar to Eban at this stage in the game. Eban also got Cars magnets from Lisa's mom and those are now Jack's too as he loves all the different characters on the fridge. Another awesome gift was from Grandpa as he got him his first real bike...a Hot Wheels bike and it is pretty cool for a little tyke bike. He knows he has to wear his helmet but he takes it with him to Quincy's everyday. I hear about it when I forget to load the thing in the sexy minivan - and trust me, I hear about it as Eban is vocal and uses his words loudly! Of course, he was thrilled to see his girlfriend there - Avery was just the nicest little girl to him. She's going to be the first to berak his heart and we all know it. Oh well...here she is helping him with a gift and of course, he takes the time to appropriate thank her with a big fat kiss. Nice stuff. The day after his party was Father's Day and I took all the boys (Ryan, Eban and Jack) and Grandpa to the Colorado Railroad Museum. They all loved it. We saw a miniture train set with little towns and scenes, we saw remote control trains, we saw steam engines, we saw Thomas the Train, we went into a caboose, etc. The highlight was, of course, riding on the steam train and we sat right across from the conductor and Eban was mesmerized by his outfit and about the "authority" of the esteemed conductor. It was pretty funny to see him so captivated. Another cute story is when Tutu left us, I told Eban to give Tutu a hug goodbye and he ran to the front door and hugged her and tenderly said, "I love you, Tutu" in the sweetest little voice. Ugh...he'll get in the will with that maneuver - for sure! Hopefully I'll one day update this blog to tell you all the great news - - that we have a new addition to the family. A sweet little blood hound named Harriet!! SINGING HAPPY BIRTHDAY


SINGING AT THE PARTY


LITTLE CHOO CHOO TRAINS ARE AWESOME

No More Gall Bladder! And New Kiddie Pool!

So the day after HOBY was great as I was in the hospital all day. I had my gall bladder removed and I guess the surgery was more difficult than the doctor expected as I had to stay the night.

My gall bladder was shot (they showed me a pic but I had no clue what I was looking at...for all I knew it looked good?). I also was passing a stone at the time of surgery and my bilirubin was high...so I stayed the night and lo and behold, my friend was my nurse! BONUS! It was great to see Liz but seeing her as a patient and being on pain drugs is a different story. They released me the next day after it was determined that I have Gilbert's Disease. It's hereditary and basically says that I have high bilirubin levels. It's not a big deal whatsoever.

The recovery process was incredible. I couldn't pick up the kids for about a week but every day mass improvements were made simply due to rest. In fact, the doctor told me not to play softball or golf for six weeks, but I did play at the five week mark as I feel completely recovered. I did the same thing after my cataract surgery...I played golf the next day against the better judgement of my doctor.

Anyway, Tutu was in town and the boys gobbled up her attention. She bought them a kiddie pool which they love. We are working on them to wear swimsuits and not their birthday suits in the pool as we do have neighbors.


The weather, again, was totally random so there are pictures of more tornado-like weather and hail under this post.

The next post - the big 3rd birthday party for Eban!