It's been 5 days in a row, Mom!

We've been to the pool.
They are excited.
103 - 104 degrees today when I looked at the temp. guage in our suburban.
Quick phone call to the kids, "you guys want to go swimming?"
It was unanimous.
I cherished our baby days. I loved my toddlers.
Now we are onto the big kid days where naps are not always a necessity.
Trips to the pool in early afternoon is a first for this family.
Lots of fun!
Dad is impressed, swimming. Late night watching movie with mom.
Oops I forgot to call him back!
Bye~

Great Wolf Lodge !!

We are home now! The most relaxing trip we as a family have ever taken. That is saying a lot when traveling with 5 children, ranging from 3 1/2 years to 14 years old. Vast age range and interests. One of these days we may venture off in other directions but so far it has been a nice getaway when we need to just get away and regroup as a family and make some good happy memories.
We stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge.
We started going when N was a baby.
It was great cause he could go on the slides with us.
We actually went for my birthday, the first time we went.
It is what I picked to do, and bumped me into the cool category with the kids.
Then as we learned about the food allergy issues it has been a "safe" place to go.
The staff has always worked with us.
My dad lives near by and we get to see him.
This time around the older kids were able to go to a Royals game with Dad.
D couldn't go, baseball games and peanuts are synonymous.
So we hung out at the water park and had a blast just the 2 of us.
We also explored Legends Mall. There's a lot of outlet stores. Last time we went, we only went to TRex, it was too cold to hang outside for any length of time.
We also went to the Neilson Atkins Art Museum. The olders enjoyed it much. D wasn't too into not touching. So we enjoyed as much as we could and left while things were still enjoyable.
We have never gone during warm weather before. It was great, we were able to enjoy the outdoor waterpark in the morning and evening. To avoid burning we could head indoors to enjoy the waterpark and slides or head back in to our room for naps or explore other indoor interests in the KC area.
We saw several sets of Grandparents with Grankids. It is just lots of fun for the whole family.
The customer service is unbelievable and everyone is so very kind. Not something that is always easy to find.

Another ER Trip ! !

Our trip has been really relaxing. Haven't had a trip this relaxing since ???
Kids are getting older, partly why.
Familiar with where we are staying, another reason.
Just comfortable in the season we are in, I think most of all.
So our early morning trip to the ER wasn't so traumatic and just kind of flowed as naturally as breathing. Which is why we were in the ER.
Not sure why but D was in a bad flare and wheezing.
Not sure why his allergies flared in such a bad way.
The hospital stuff was Super Duper Sweet and Kind to us.
We were in and out in under two hours. Record timing since they had to assess him, examine him, he got xrays, a breathing treatment and medicine.
Now he is on Ora-Ped and he is one busy guy. They also told us to give him Benadryl as needed.
We decided the steroids in the morning and the Benadryl inthe evening to help bring him down !
But there is no coughing anymore.
The hotel was super-duper. Customer service like I have never seen.
I went to the front desk to ask where the closest medical facility was....
While we were gone, they left a "sick" cub stuffed wolf at the door for D.
Plus we got a check up on him phone call.
A card came with stuffed animal.
When we returned to the hotel they let him and I stay in a different room to see if he would sleep better. Not knowing if it was sleeping so close the pool that was bothering him.
The second room was at no cost! !
The staff have recognized him all weekend and doted on him just cause he's "cute". This just upped the ante a bit and he has ate it up. Our first day here, one particular person went way above and beyond to accomadate his food allergies. Told me, "gotta keep him happy". "If he is happy, then making mom happy is easy."
So we are a bit spoiled.
I am very relaxed and in no hurry to go home, which if you know me well enough I don't like to be away from home too long.

Shopping with my 13 year old

We went to an outlet mall today. Just to look. Should have known better.
I have been trying to find my oldest another swimsuit. We swim a lot and it is kinda nice for the kids to each have two suits. It seems these days the junior swimsuits are all bikinis.
Really hard to find a one-piece. She is not too much into the tankinis for herself.
While we were shopping I came across one in the outlet stores. Really cute, and appeared to be modest. It would have to be tried on and pass the mom test and then the dad test.
Showed to daughter. Went to look at a few other things. She came and asked if she could try it on. I told her to confirm price first. See if it was really 50% off or not. Came back and told me 14.99 ! Huh, my guess was $25. Sent her back to confirm. Second person said $25. She tried on, Dad said okay. Went to pay. Salesperson sold it to us for 14.99 cause that is what she quoted daughter. I tried to explain we were told from someone else it was $25. But she wouldn't hear of it and daughter got her swimsuit for a bargain. All I could say to her was she was spoiled. People just love to give her deals whether it is at a garage sale or a store! ! She just grinned and very sweetly told the saleswoman thank you.

It's Time for Bed ~

You are getting cranky. Let's go get jammies on.
"I'M NOT CRANKY !!! " he wails in the loudest voice possible.
Nope, he's not cranky the onlookers are thinking as they are smirking and laughing, cause they know all too well.....

Shoulda Had a Video Camera

One of my favorite memories today is of D.
After 3 hours of pooltime yesterday. Two and half hours this morning.
(He did sleep last night)
He was finally tired. Got some lunch in him.
Turned on some cartoons and he snuggles into the couch to relax.
He fell asleep.
I put his shoes and socks on him to leave 45 minutes later.
He sat up, opened his eyes, then swayed to the left, right and wobbled.
One finger to his shoulder and poof he fell backwards and back to sleep!

Nothing more precious than...

when a young child has no self-consciousness and sings his little heart out for Mom and/or Dad.
Tonight both Dad and I each got a special song from our sweet N.
Just cause he loves us and felt like singing.
Melts my heart like butter.

Nothing more lovely than listening to soft breathing as all 6..oops 5 and dad are sleeping.
Long day, lots of play. More to come in the morning.