August 7, 2008

Poor Ariel. All the fun she misses on Wednesdays. Yesterday I took the boys to the Boulder County Fair. I'd never been to a county fair, or a state fair for that matter, but it was about as expected. We looked at 4H projects ranging from photography (Alex does not care for black & whites) to needle point, painting and cake decorating. We made a quick run through the pig, goat and sheep pens before Alex could tolerate it no more (though as far as farm animals go, they were pretty darn clean).

And then the good stuff started at noon when the rides opened.

I took the boys on the ferris wheel:



Alex's favorite ride:



Another ride (Adam was a bit short, so the operator stuck him on with some bigger kids to keep him from flying around):



We lasted 3 hours on the rides until our cotton candy lunch caught up with us and we left to go to Wa-Noodles. So yeah, the county fair was alright, might be worth an annual trip. And maybe next year I'll enter the photography contest and kick some butt :)

And onto today...

7:45 I got home from my track workout. Now, except for 2 weeks ago, I have haven't worked out on a track since high school and now I remember why I don't just go and do it on my own. It ain't much fun. Today we ran 4 400's at a good clip. At least, a good clip for me. And then a mile at a slightly less good clip. After a typical running performance from me, my coach suggested that maybe all my hacking and wheezing might be excerise induced asthma. An interesting theory, though I always though running was just suppose to hurt like that. So I made an appointment with my doctor next week to get checked out. Maybe that's been my running problem all along (I can hope, right?).

Anyway, when I got home, Ariel was here and still in one piece. JJ said there had been a minor crying incident due to some, "Adam hit me" business.

8:00 Hot cereal breakfast

8:15 Ariel and I showered.

8:30 I ate breakfast and Ariel finished her cereal.

And then, we had a very quiet morning. Alex and Adam locked themselves in Alex's room to work on legos and Ariel played by herself or tagged after me. She helped me load laundry into the washing machine.

We did some birding.

Here's my best hummingbird picture yet (though I took it last night):



Ariel and I sat outside and tried to get some good goldfinch pictures (got some pictures, not great).

12:00 Lunch - grapes and mac & cheese.

12:30 Down for nap.

And still, not much happened in the afternoon. We did learn that we have a ton of birds during the day, I guess we haven't been home much. I finally got a good picture of the goldfinches that have been tweeting non-stop the past few days. This shows it is a Lesser Goldfinch, and not the more common American Goldfinch. Good to know (Alex would not let me label the page just "Goldfinch"). I love these guy's song, they are so chirpy and happy sounding.



And then, a new bird for us. Alex was the first to spot this female Black-Headed Grosbeak. Right on!



3:40 Ariel woke up, very wet.

4:00 Early Pick up. Sweet Corn!

After pick up, the boys and I went to the Wild Bird Store to buy a suet feeder to attract more woodpeckers and nuthatches. Don't know what a suet feeder is? I didn't know until today. Suet is beef fat. And we got an extra special suet/insect (millworms, crickets) blend for the flickers. Woohoo, the things I do for my kids!

August 5, 2008

So it's really happened. I've become one of those people (at least in the summer) that gets up at 5:30am to work out. Before Ariel even got here I had ridden my bike to a trailhead, run 6 miles (on two day old blisters), got several mesquito bites and lost my cell phone on the trail. Quite a morning.

7:45 Got home, Ariel was here. Breakfast - she had a few bikes of Oat Clusters with the boys.

8:15 Ariel and I took a shower.

9:00 Drove to the woman's house who had my phone. That's one thing I love about Boulder, you know if you loose your phone, it's going to get returned and NOT have all your minutes used up calling China. I think I need to safety pin my velcro pocket shut in the future. At least my phone didn't fall out in the tall grass, that might have been a problem.

9:30 While we were out, we stopped at Target to buy Mae a birthday present and to pick up more blister bandaids.

10:15 Hit the library for story time. It was less crowded and Ariel did better this time, making it about 30 minutes. I was surprised Alex still enjoyed it as much as he did.

11:00 Last errand - post office.

11:30 Home and lunch - mac & cheese and most of a banana and a few grapes.

12:15 Ariel asked to take a nap, good sign.

3:15 Finally went to wake Ariel but she had just woken up, and had just wet the bed.

3:40 Left for Mae's birthday party in the park. All children were very excited about the party. Alex and Adam made elaborate cards while Ariel was napping.

Here's the front of Alex's card. He copied the Broadtailed Hummingbirds from the bird book, but came up with the symmetric flower motif on his own. VERY impressive for art reluctant Alex:


And the inside - on the left are a female and male House Finch at our feeder. On the right is the Bald Eagle diorama from the museum, complete with a Magpie inching in to get a bite of fish. It's in the Birds of North America room, if you want to check the original:



And Adam's - I was impressed that he tried to copy Happy Birthday Mae from the paper I wrote on for Alex. I haven't seen him write so many letters. As for the rest, your guess is as good as mine.



And the party lived up to all expectations. Ariel went nuts in the bouncy castle/slide. Really nuts:



Big hit all around:



And the birthday girl:



I didn't get any great pictures, a zoom bird lens is not ideal for 3 year old birthday parties. Unless you want to see pictures of the barn swallows that had built a nest in the playground and were diving bombing anyone in a 10' radius.

4:45 Becky picked up Ariel from the park.

August 4, 2008

Well, hello there and welcome back. It was quite a long and busy month without Ariel, I'll try to sum it up for you.

First, we did the 4th of July with Grammie in Colorado Springs. Adam stayed up for his first firework show.





On July 8th, we traveled to Maryland to visit Crissy and family. We had a very relaxing time. We spent a lot of time at the pool and a lot of time just hanging out. Our only kid adventure was going into Baltimore to the National Aquarium, and one night we hired a sitter and Crissy took me out for crabs. Pictures are here (and if you've already looked, I just added some more with my new underwater camera).

We stayed in MD for 10 days. The week after we got back, the boys went back to Grammie's house for a week of art camp. They were both pretty skeptical but of course ended up enjoying it. And I enjoyed my week off. I worked on my "real" job stuff, I did a few photoshoots and updated my website.

The next week (or last week, depending on how you look at it) the boys and I did a lot of swimming and a trip to the museum. I took them to see Beavers at the IMAX theater earlier in the month and they wanted to go back to see Greece (and no, not the movie with John Travolta). We also spent an obscene amount of time at bird dioramas. Alex has turned into quite the bird nerd this summer. Well, we all have and it's quite fun. We've done several bird watching hikes and the kids do much better if they have something to look for. They might not be complete wusses after all. Some of my more exciting bird pictures are here. Oh, and Grammie, we finally got a hummingbird to our feeder. It's a migrating Rufous, but she's been hanging around for a week. We only saw the male one day.

Female:



Male:



And talk about Bird Nerd, right away Alex identified the female because she didn't buzz when she flew, "Mommy, only males flap their wings fast enough to buzz." Oh, of course.

And yesterday, I completed my first triathlon in 8 years. I did the Tri for the Cure at Cherry Creek Reservoir in Denver. And for just picking up the sport again in June, it went pretty well. I did fine on the swim, I was consistent and confident, if not fast. I rocked on the bike (Jeremy's so funny, now that he knows I'm actually decent for a female triathlete he's encouraging me to get aero bars and try his time trial helmet). And then the run... didn't go as well as I hoped. First, it was hot by the time I started and the run was a hard course. It went up to the Dam road and the whole course was visible at all times. Because of the elevation and because THERE WERE NO TREES. I didn't stay hydrated and ended up walking some. Well, first I just walked the water stations but then I just kept on walking. And, oh yeah, I thought I'd save 10 seconds by not wearing socks and I ended up with some nasty blisters. Anyway, I wouldn't have wanted to do spectacular, now I have some (lots!) room for improvement before my next one September 21st.



And that pretty much sums up the month of July. And now, onto today's exciting installment of Adventures with Ariel.

7:15 Drop off one Ariel. All cousins were excited to see each other again. At least for the first 1/2 hour.

7:45 Small breakfast of oatmeal.

8:15 Ariel demanded pink toes, I gave pink toes. Then Adam asked for blue toes and got those.

9:00 Left for our Adventure of the Day - swimming at Boulder Res with Ellen and family.







Much fun was had by all. Alex and Adam did a little swimming, Ariel waded in up to her waist. But they spent the most time playing in the sand. One popular game was sliding down the hill on their bottoms, which put sand in places I didn't even want to think about.

11:00 For lunch, Ariel actually ate half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some pretzels.

12:00 The Res closed to due lightning, but it was time to get going anyway. All three kids took a shower in the locker room to try and remove some of the aforementioned sand.

12:30 Got home, threw kids into the bath. I decided some soap was also needed. Plus, my own kids have had about 5 baths this entire summer and I'd been meaning to get around to it for a week or so (c'mon, doesn't swimming count as cleansing?).

1:00 Lunch Part II - Ariel finished her oatmeal, had a string cheese and a bowl of spaghetti o's. Who is this child that eats?

2:15 Super fun trip to the grocery store. SUPER fun.

3:15 Got home and unpacked the groceries. The kids were out of my hair until I mentioned that I was baking zucchini cookies and then all three wanted to be in the kitchen on chairs "helping." Oh, and back to zucchini, my small garden is doing pretty well, inspiring me to plant more next year. We have mint and basil, tons of cherry tomatoes and zucchini. The big tomatoes are just starting to ripen and the carrot tops look good.

3:45 Gave up on cookies and talked to Crissy on the phone.

4:25 Ariel pick up. No, she did not have a nap. And yes, she was fine until Mommy walked in the door. Oy.

July 2, 2008

7:15 Drop off with perfect timing, I had just gotten back from my swim.

Breakfast - once again Ariel declined.

8:30 Left for our adventure of the day - Swimming! (I'm so thrifty I feel like I *have* to go twice on days I workout).

9:10 Met Rachel and Lilianna at the pool.

Ariel stylishly wore her goggles the entire time, though mostly above her eyes. I'm sure Lilianna was horribly jealous of Ariel fashion sense.





It almost looks like Ariel is swimming, but don't let her fool you, she's just lying on the pool bottom:



Ariel had a FABULOUS time. She splashed. She dragged me down the big slide at least 5 times. We hot-tubbed.

11:00 I finally decided that Ariel had all the pool she could handle (though she disagreed). I got her out of the pool with a granola bar bribe.

11:20 Met Rachel coming out, we decided to meet at lunch at Breadworks. And then a most random thing happened - I ran into a girl I used to run with, back in the day when I really ran (like about 8 years ago). She has a two year old daughter and is also training for Tri for the Cure. Kinda blew my mind, I always wondered what had happened to her, she spent two years in Equador and I lost track with the training group, what with having kids and all.

11:30 Fabulous lunch at Breadworks. I had a tomato/basil/fresh mozzerrella pizza (Ariel declined again) and a brownie (which Ariel gladly shared). Then we biked home.

12:00 Ariel napped. And for the record, I did not. I showered, then started messing around with Becky's iTunes to grab some more tunage.

2:30 Ariel woke up. I let her watch Hello Kitty Cinderella to give me more time to finish up the iTunes business (and btw Becky, you are welcome for YMCA, now you CAN dance on your coffee table!).

Midst movie, Ariel got hungry and had some yogurt. When the movie ended, she was very distraught so I gave her a popsicle and shuffled her outside. My distraction might have worked if Ariel knew how to eat a popsicle quickly so they don't melt off the stick, but alas she doesn't (even the 2 1/2" mini ones) and we had another tragic episode. This time she was distracted by our young neighbors who came over to see what the commotion was. Ariel kept trying to tell them things and they kept saying, "What? What is she saying???" Poor Ariel. As it was, I could only translate about half of it myself.

4:30 Pick up. Finally.

Have a great 4th of July. The blog will be on hiatus for a bit, the boys and I are going to Crissy-land next week and we'll be gone until the 18th.

July 1, 2007

7:20 Got back from my run, Ariel was here. I asked if she was hungry and she said she didn't want to eat. She's been eating so little for breakfast lately that I didn't push it.

9:00 Went outside to wait for Rachel and Lilianna. I pulled weeds and Ariel "helped." Cute story, she looked up at the phone wire and said, "Look Dee-Dee, Good-morning dove!" I was very impressed, we were looking at doves in the backyard yesterday, but they look very different way up high (which she also noticed, "I can't reach!")

9:20 Rachel and Lilianna arrived and we walked to the park. The girls did a spectacular job of not playing at all. Instead, they whined about Cheddar Bunnies.

10:00 Given how the park was going, I suggested we walk up to the library for storytime.

Ariel did ok for about 5 minutes, until she decided it was more about a territorial war about the sitting cushion and less about the stories. The library had to stop reading to reprimand her (I was on the other side of the room).

Before it went bad (with Lilianna):



11:00 Rachel had parked her stroller up front and so even though the girls were long ago done we had to wait until the end to leave.

11:20 Got home, Ariel had mac & cheese for lunch.

12:15 Down for nap.

2:30 Woke up. Ariel spent the afternoon intermittently whining and clinging while I tried to do some chores. She was a good cheerleader though, every time I finished something she'd say, "Good job, Dee-Dee!"

4:30 Pick up.

June 30, 2008

Once again, we lived up to our reputation of having a crazy fun weekend. Friday night we drove down to Colorado Springs and spent the night. Saturday morning we continued down to Turkey Toe for Jeremy's family reunion. There were A LOT of cousins, and only one was actually Jeremy's first cousin. And two of his aunts also made it. But the rest were like Rabbit's many "friends and relations." There were 4 other kids that were 7, 7, 9, and 9 and Alex and Adam got along with them well enough.

Saturday night we had a big picnic in the park and it only rained a bit and no one got struck by lightening:



We did the usual Turkey Toe activities (I shot a bow and arrow for the first time and 7 year old Ben kicked my butt):



Grammie, Adam and I joined some cousins for a hike to the waterfall. Adam did GREAT, only complaining it was boring a little bit:



The waterfall lived up to it's name this trip:



And some bonus Columbine too:



We did lots of birding there, but I won't bore you with all the pictures. I do have to share these though. This pair of Brewer's Blackbirds (here's dad):



built a nest in a 4' high pine tree by the house. And then spent the entire weekend squawking when anyone came within 20' of it.

The nest was low enough we could easily look in. The birds tried to camouflage themselves when the boys and I looked.



And then I came over with my big black camera and suddenly they were very awake and hungry:



I LOVE that picture, there's just something about it I can really relate too.

Anyway, Jeremy and I left Sunday afternoon, the boys are spending the week with Grammie so it's just me and the princess this week.

7:15 Drop off one princess.

Breakfast - half a container of yogurt.

9:30 Double cookie grocery store trip, with the bike no less. There's something about driving 350 miles in a weekend that makes you not want to be in a car any time soon.

11:30 Lunch - mac & cheese and grapes.

12:00 Down for naps. Both of us.

3:00 I finally woke up. I had one of those naps where I tried to wake up several times and the couch just pulled me back. I think it had something to do with getting up at 5:30 to go swimming.

4:00 Becky got here early and we finally woke the Ariel.

June 27, 2008

I was so crazed getting packed for our quickie weekend trip that I never did blog on Friday. So here it is Tuesday and I'm trying to remember back so it will be an abbreviated entry.

In the morning, we biked over to the Rocket Ship Park, which is about 3 miles away. Alex made a huge production of how hot and tired he would be but it's mostly down hill there so he was fine. I packed lunches for the park and all Adam and Ariel wanted to do was snack. Alex did the best playing, Ariel hardly did anything at all. We were supposed to be meeting one of Adam's classmates for a playdate, but he never showed. And that was ok. This kid was one that was specifically not invited to Adam's birthday party but he (yes, the 4 year old) called the other day and asked to play with Adam, so I arranged this. Adam was ok with the playdate, but only Alex kept asking when the boy would be there.

After the park we rode home, stopping half way for DQ. Ariel ate the chocolate off her sundae but didn't finish the ice cream.

And then Ariel napped when we got home.

June 26, 2008

Yesterday we took our annual trip to Lakeside. This was probably the perfect year for the kids to go - Adam was fine on his own and Alex wasn't too big for anything yet. We went with Ted and Sam and Mae and everyone got along amazingly well, not caring who they sat with. All the boys took turns riding with Mae, who despite a rough start had a great time too. As in past years, the Frog Hopper and the Roller Coaster were the most popular but I think they rode everything they could (except for the broken sketchy ferris wheel).

Here's my favorite pictures of the day (and more on flickr).









7:20 Drop off. Once again, I was here in the morning, though I had planning on going to a track practice. I picked up Jeremy's cold Tuesday night (after a brutal and unpleasant open water swim). My head is full of snot and I haven't slept well the past two nights. But good news, I'm feeling much better today.

7:45 Breakfast - yogurt and one bite of oatmeal.

8:00 I said, "Ariel, do you need to go potty?" And she looked at me and said no and then 1 minute later peed herself. I don't know what we're going to do with this girl, but I'm going to start by not asking anymore. She did have a great poop on the potty after that.

9:30 Super fun grocery store trip. The pushover I am, I let them have donuts instead of cookies:



Apparently you are never too old for the penny horse.



10:30 Got home, the kids had mini popsicles in the backyard while I unpacked the groceries. Apparently even a mini popsicle is too much for Ariel.

11:00 Lunch - 1 cherry and 1/4 of a corn dog.

11:30 Down for a nap.

12:00 Actually asleep.

2:00 Ariel woke up. We had planned to go swimming at Ellen's pool, but it was closed due to lightning so we nixed it. Ariel never knew of the plan so she was fine.

2:30 Told the kids they could watch a video of they could ALL agree on it. After much fighting and tears, Alex coerced Adam into watching the Keropi Robin Hood/Gullivere's Travels. Adam may need some spine building lessons.

4:10 Bored. Painted everyone's toenails - Ariel - pink, Adam - green, Alex - silver/blue.

4:30 Pick up.

June 24, 2008

7:15 Drop off and once again I was here. Jeremy doesn't get back until tonight.

Breakfast - 1/2 a fresh pancake. I made sure to eat the deficit.

8:45 Finally left the house completely prepared for a morning of swimming.



9:00 Swimming adventure at North Boulder. We had the pool to ourselves for 20 minutes. Alex was completely independent and finally did the big slide by himself (over and over and over). I gave Adam more range today too, he was in the deep end by himself, jumping off the wall and swimming back. That left me to stay close to Ariel.

9:40 Lilianna joined us.

10:00 Took Ariel down the big slide a few times and it was a hit.

11:00 Done with swimming:



11:15 Jamba Juice stop at Safeway. I also did a quick grocery run for some staples like milk. That part was less fun. The kids couldn't work how to all sit nicely in the cart so they all had to walk. Cherries were on sale so I grabbed a couple bags for a pie.

12:30 Home. Ariel fell asleep in the car but did not transfer to bed.

2:00 Finally let Ariel get up. She never slept, though she wasn't crying.

Lunch - 2 cherries and some mac & cheese.

I made a pie. It is very far from the cover of Cooking Light this month, but just as tasty:



4:35 Pick up.

June 23, 2008

I'll be straight up with you from the start, I didn't take any pictures today. But I did take some yesterday of newly two cutie-pie Jake:







7:15 Drop off. I was at home because number 1, it's my rest day and number 2, Jeremy left at 5:00am for a quick trip to California. I remember the good old days when he didn't travel. I LIKED the good old days. He needed to go for a follow up meeting to his meetings in India so we hope it's not becoming a regular thing.

Ariel did not have any breakfast, Becky said she was pre-donuted before arrival.

8:15 Poop accident. Made worse by Ariel "helping" to clean up with her hands. WTF? She hasn't had a poop accident here since the first weeks of potty training.

8:30 Did a little gardening. Our carrots never came up so I planted some more spinach. We ate our row of spinach this weekend, it really was only 2 nights worth. And we are starting to get some cherry tomatoes too. Our broccoli and zucchini plants look well, but won't be doing anything exciting for a while. And oh, yeah, our mojito-mint is taking off nicely :)

9:30 Grand adventure to the park. Alex and Adam played "sand piper" (don't ask, but it involved digging dry rivers and putting weeds in for "aquatic vegetation." And lots of chirping). Ariel also played in the dirt and on the slides. I supervised from the sidelines while knitting a sock.

11:15 Ariel had a huge tantrum because we were out of cheddar bunnies and I only brought zbars so I deemed it time to go.

11:30 Lunch - yogurt, two spoonfuls of sauce and then Mae and Sam came for a quick visit.

12:15 Mae and Sam left when Ariel had another tantrum about something I don't even remember and it looked like nap time.

While Ariel napped, we had plenty of time for mini-adventures. First, I gave Alex a buzz cut. It's probably picture-worthy (and WILL grow back) so I'll try to remember tomorrow.

Next, I mowed the lawn. Because somehow that's because my job and I'm not sure I like that. But it is hard to hear kids screaming over the sound of a gas mower.

4:00 Finally decided I'd better wake Ariel up. And she was not happy.

4:20 Pick up.

June 20, 2008

7:15 Drop off.

Breakfast - yogurt and a bit of oatmeal.

9:00 Biked Alex to camp. Then we biked over to the 29th street mall for some Starbucks. Feeling in a generous mood, I got Adam and Ariel a donut to split as well as a vanilla bean frap. Both were a big hit. They played there for a while too.



10:30 Trip to Home Depot to buy more bird seed. I'm starting to ration it more carefully but those birds are DEMANDING. I also made an impulse by of a bird bath which appears to be a piece of crap.

11:15 Stop at the Rocket Ship Park for more playing fun. It would have been a better trip of the playground wasn't overrun with a daycamp.

12:00 Got home. It's amazing how 20 lbs of bird seed doesn't really change how hard it is to pull the trailer. 80lbs, 100lbs, what the difference anyway?

12:15 Laura and Hannah arrived while I tried to set up my piece of crap bird bath and refill the feeder.

12:30 Ariel and Adam had spaghetti o's while I started Hannah's 15 month pictures:



Laura put Ariel down for a nap and while I finished up with Hannah.

And when Hannah was done, I did Adam's four year pictures:



1:15 Adam's session ended abruptly when his leg got pinched in my broken chair. Hannah was lucky to escape a similar fate. I then put on a video for Adam so I could finish proofing the senior pictures from last night.

2:45 Woke Ariel up, time to pick up Alex.

3:00 Alex pick up from camp.

4:00 Ariel pick up.

June 19, 2008

Once again, I had a pretty busy day off yesterday. Adam wanted to go to the mall and since that's pretty cheap that's what we did. And in the afternoon, we picked sour cherries from our neighbor's tree (don't worry, he's in a nursing home and I'm sure he doesn't mind) and I made a pie from scratch. And it was UNBELIEVABLY good. And no one died:



8:00 I got back from my swim workout and Ariel was here. This morning I swam with a woman's tri group and the class went really well. I was nervous about going since they were swimming for an hour and I've only been doing 1/2 a hour, but it was fine. And as a confidence booster, I was the fastest of the slow lane, meaning 4 women were faster and 4 were slower.

9:00 Rode Alex down to camp. Then we rode up to North Boulder to go swimming. Except I forgot to check the schedule and the pool didn't open until 10:45. So we went to Spruce, an outdoor pool.

10:00 The whole swimming thing would have worked out better if I had remembered my suit. But I rolled my pants up and didn't let Ariel get in very deep. The pool also had a little splash park which Ariel liked better anyway and didn't require adult intervention. Adam amused himself by jumping in and swimming back to the side.

10:45 Adam was too cold, so it was time to leave.

11:30 Got home, had mac & cheese for lunch.

12:00 Ariel went down for a nap. Except she didn't sleep right away. Jeremy was home and I put a video on for Adam and I tried to nap too, but it was hard because I kept trying to listen to Ariel's chattering in case she said something important like, "Poop."

12:45 Ariel finally fell asleep.

2:30 Ariel woke up.

3:00 Picked Alex up from camp.

Jeremy was home from the doctors when we got home. The good news is, he doesn't have malaria, which we were kinda worried was what the fever and chills was about. He just has a mystery virus and should take it easy.

4:30 Pick up.

And this evening I shot my first 2009 senior:

June 17, 2008

7:20 I got home from my swim work out and Ariel was already here. I could hear her shouting "Dee-Dee" from the garage.

Breakfast - 1/2 a yogurt and a few cheerios.

8:30 Ted was dropped off for our biking trip extraordinaire to East Boulder Rec center, where camp was to be held today. I think it's about 2 1/2 miles there from our house and fortunately for Alex, almost entirely downhill.

9:00 Dropped off Alex and Ted at camp.

9:05 After a quick false alarm trip to the bathroom, I started workout #2 today, biking. I went the long way on the bike path to the North Boulder Rec center.

9:50 Finally got to NBRC with surprisingly little fighting between Adam and Ariel. I think it was my crafty packaged snack bags with a smattering of M&Ms intermixed with bunnies and cheerios that kept them occupied.

10:00 Swimming! Much like last Thursday, Adam wanted to swim in the deep end and Ariel wanted to play in the fountains and we reached a compromise and did both.

11:15 Done with swimming.

11:30 Lunch at Moe's. I enjoyed my egg salad bagel but Ariel and Adam only picked at their egg and cheese bagel. Noted.

12:15 Got home. Ariel fell asleep in the trailer and transfered to bed.

While Ariel napped, I showered, painted my toe nail (and Adam's too) and then I took a nap.

2:30 Ariel woke up, just in time to pick up Alex.

2:45 Drove to camp to pick up Alex. I'm sure that he was relived that he didn't have to bike home uphill in the 90 deg heat.

3:15 Got to the doctor's for Adam's well check and Alex's weight check.

3:45 Doctor's appointment. Alex is now 37 lbs pounds. We got a referral to see a pediatric endocrinologist at Children's just to rule anything out. He's still not even on the chart to give a percentile of how small he is.

Adam is 31 lbs and 38" (10th percentile) and got the diagnostic that we have long suspected, he's a character. I think the best part of the appointment was when the doctor asked Adam what his full name was and he answered, "Adam McAdam McMonkey McBean." Luckily he answered correctly after we all laughed. Then he told the doctor, "See that little girl over there? She's not my sister, we just babysit her." He also said he had a pikachu birthday cake and didn't have any toys at home, among other random lies.

The boys each got a booster shot. Adam was acting brave and wanted to go first and we could tell it hurt much more than he expected but he didn't cry. Alex was less enthusiastic but nontheless stoic about his.

And Ariel seems to have gotten over her doctor phobia. She understood that Adam was seeing the doctor, but after witnessing his noneventful appointment, she wanted, "my turn." I let her sit on the table on the crinkle paper and that seemed good enough.

And afterwards, everyone picked out a toy from the treasure box. Adam and Ariel got sunglasses and Alex picked bubbles.

4:25 We fortuitously ran into Becky on the way out of the appointment and Ariel went bye-bye.

Of note today:

- Ariel didn't have any accidents.

- She also didn't poop.

- I finally filled the minivan up. My last fill up was April 22nd. I could have gone another week but I saw gas at $3.91 and I figured that wouldn't last. (And by making it another week, I mean that the gas light hadn't gone on yet but I still put in 19 1/2 gallons). My car only made 18 1/2 miles to the gallon, I'd like it to get 20 but I think I do too much city driving.

And, no pictures from me today, but I'll leave you with one from Alex's camp. That's him in the middle eating lunch, next to Ted. Friends again. They spend the morning playing at the playground and the afternoon swimming.