Seven years

4 comments Posted by Erin at 6:37 AM

Seven years ago today, I had butterflies in my stomach.





I ate chocolate ice cream.





I had lunch with my sisters and some of my best friends.





I smelled beautiful flowers.





I saw my mom dressed in a gorgeous blue dress.





People I love came together.





I walked down an aisle and married my best friend.

Happy anniversary Clark!!!

 

Sea World - Part II

1 comments Posted by Erin at 6:11 PM

Once everyone slept and had breakfast, we were prepared for the day with lots of ziplock baggies and changes of underwear.

As we drove to Sea World, we should have taken the very overcast sky and misty fog as a sign, but nothing was going to hinder our excitement of experiencing Sea World with our kids. I just kept thinking that those clouds would burn off soon enough.

Once we entered the park, the first thing we did was look at and feed the dolphins. Andrew was really scared at first that they were sharks and he wouldn't go near the pool. We took a ton of pictures here, but I'm going to spare you. And I won't lie, it was so incredibly cool to feed these animals and hear them talk. Totally awesome.

You'll notice in that picture that I'm wearing Clark's fleece jacket that we fortunately brought along. About this time it started to rain. And I don't mean a light sprinkling. It was cold and wet. We happened to have a little jacket for Andrew in the car, but poor Corinne was not dressed well for this day. In fact, later in the afternoon I actually carried her zipped inside the jacket for awhile.



waiting for the sea lion show that eventually got canceled due to lightning. yes, lightning.


in the aquarium with all the sharks and eels and stingrays


waiting for the "Believe!" (Shamu) show -
Andrew didn't know what to expect and the music was loud
Most of the morning we spent crisscrossing the park trying to stay warm and dry. We were actually having a GREAT time, and the kids loved it. We didn't mind that the sea lion show was canceled because we ate lunch before everyone else wised up to the fact that the third "this show will be delayed for five minutes" message meant "this show will be canceled." In fact, I think the rain kept the park incredibly empty and it was so relaxed.
After lunch we headed over to the "Believe!" show. This used to be Shamu. It was by far the best part of the day! I won't lie - I teared up several times thinking about how awesome these animals are and how cool it is that they can learn and perform. It also helped that there was some majorly loud and cheesy music playing. Seriously, I loved this show! It made up for every bad and obnoxious part of the trip. And Corinne loved it, too!
**Warning! The music on this video is LOUD!

The last thing we went to do was the dolphin show. It actually got canceled due to lightning as well. We didn't care, though, because the whales were so awesome! You can tell from the picture below that we were soaked! Right as we got to the whales, the skies let loose and it poured the entire show and for about 45 minutes afterward. We took shelter for awhile under a tent with a sweet family from Arizona that had flown in on spring break.
And I just need to say right now that this is a sign of how much God has changed me over the course of medical school and especially residency - I've been able to except when things don't meet my expectations and even to look on the bright side. Poopy underwear. Pouring rain. Canceled shows. Nothing could have taken away my excitement and enjoyment of this day. It really was so much fun.


Up next: Sea World - Part III - Here Comes the Sun!

 

Sea World - Part I

4 comments Posted by Erin at 1:06 PM

Our decision to go to Sea World might be considered a hasty one. Or a bad one. Or a crazy one.


We decided we'd go down Wednesday, stay the night, do Sea World on Thursday, and come home straight from the park around mid-afternoon. We knew that would be asking a lot of the kids, but I don't think I fully realized how high my level of frustration would, or could, get. But more on that in a minute.

I tried to head off some of the tantrums in the car by borrowing my sister's DVD players. I also decided to make "special" treat bags to whip out when it looked like we might be headed for a meltdown.

The ride down was pleasant, checking in to our hotel was pleasant, even getting ready to swim at the hotel pool was fun. Here are the kids in all their excitement - literally climbing the walls!




It was tons of fun swimming! Andrew quickly remembered most of what he learned last summer and was doing great. Corinne, the crazy one, kept trying to keep us from holding her and was jumping off the side before we were ready to catch. Oh, it was a blast.
For about twenty minutes.
Then, it happened. (Que the "Jaws" music) Dadum. Dadum. Dadum dadum dadum!
Andrew pooped in the pool!
It was so frustrating. Poor Clark had to reach down and pick it up bare-handed. Needless to say, we left with Andrew screaming about how he wanted to swim and that he really didn't need to poop, etc. Corinne was crying because she was having so much fun and didn't want it to end. Then we spent about forty-five minutes keeping Andrew on the potty trying to get him to poop.
You can only imagine what we were thinking at this point - what had we done? What sort of day were we going to have at Sea World if Andrew wouldn't poop. Fortunately, I knew we were having these issues and had brought several changes of clothes.
But, it gets better. We went to eat dinner, came back and got ready for bed. I'll spare you the ordeal that was. Suffice it say that about 9:30pm, when Corinne had finally stopped screaming for me and was giving up, Andrew was just dozing off on the pull out couch with me next to him, then the fire alarm in the hotel went off.
It stopped after about 5 seconds, and all I could do was laugh at this point. I literally thought, "Now I've really got something to blog about." No one evacuated, so Clark laid down with Andrew and got him to sleep within ten minutes. I just put Corinne in bed with us where she contentedly cuddled with Clark the whole night. It could only get better, right?
Coming up... Sea World - Part II

Edited* Sorry about the text - I can't get it to keep from running altogether like that!

 

Hello (bloggy) world!

3 comments Posted by Erin at 6:13 PM

I'm sorry. I really have no excuse for not blogging in so long. Some days I haven't had the mental energy to post anything, and other days I get completely sidetracked the moment I sit down at the computer, and still other days I just plain don't feel like posting anything.

But I do appreciate your patience with me. I hope I'll be posting more regularly from now on.


I have so many adventures to catch you up on! Like, back in March we took the kids to Sea World and I haven't even posted about it yet! Plus there are lots of other goofy everyday things to tell you about it.

Like this:

I bought "The 30 Day Shred" by the Biggest Loser trainer Jillian Michaels. It's really hard, but a great workout. The kids have fun doing parts of it, and I feel more motivated when Andrew is trying his hardest to do jumping jacks right along with me.

One day he said, "Let's do Level 2, Mom!" and I was like, "That's the right attitude Andrew! Let's do it!"

Bad decision. It kicked my butt.


Besides being motivated to workout, I've gotten back on the sewing bandwagon. I bought a cute pattern for Corinne months ago, but I've been hesitant to sew anything from it. I've never actually sewn anything from a pattern before. I mostly just wing it. But I have been so impressed with myself after making this:


It was so easy, and she can wear it with so many of the random shorts she has. I picked that fabric because of all the colors it includes. Plus, she loves it! Next up, an easy skirt that I'm almost done with made from some embroidered orange material, another shirt like this made with yellow fabric to go with some hand-me-down pants, and hopefully a dress! I'll keep you updated!


 

Newer Posts Older Posts Home

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)