Visit to Dallas (4 years and 2.5 years old)

My nephew Nick got married and we were invited to the wedding.  My parents drove down to Dallas and spent a week there before the wedding.  We flew down Wednesday night.  We did not arrive until midnight our time.  Sydney fell asleep on the plane however Austin did not.  They travel so great on planes now.  All the really need is their Kindles and they are good to go.  I do pack stickers and books to play with too but they mostly use the Kindle.  We don't let them watch TV or use their Kindles much at home (less than 30 minutes a day on average) so they really like getting to use them more when we travel.

Once the plane landed Austin and Brian went to the rental car company to get our rental car and get the car seats installed.  We brought our car seats and the umbrella double stroller.  Brian has a very nice way to carry the car seats though the airport.  After we got our rental car we went to our hotel to get some sleep.  By this time, Austin was asleep but Sydney was awake.  It took her a while to finally go back to bed.

On Thursday, we spent the day at Donnie and Cheri's house.  Everyone came over for breakfast.  The kids played at the park for a while.  The weather was only in the 60's with scattered rain so that was a bummer.  Then we did not go to the rehearsal dinner so we went to Whataburger with Dean.  I figured it would be too much with the kids and Whataburger worked out fine for us.

Friday was the wedding.  We took the kids to a local mall Friday morning to burn some energy before the wedding.  Since the weather wasn't good, they could not play outside.  They ran around the mall then we went back to Donnie and Cheri's house to get ready for the wedding.  The kids fell asleep in the car while driving to the wedding which worked out perfectly.  It's not easy to get them to take a nap in their beds while traveling.  It's easier for everyone if they sleep in the car during naps when we are not home.

Unfortunately it was raining and Nick and Courtney could not have their wedding outside like they were hoping.  However it was a very nice wedding.  Courtney looked beautiful.  It stopped raining right before the ceremony inside.  Austin and Sydney enjoyed playing in the back outside.  Brian spent a lot of time out there with them.  Austin really enjoyed dancing.  He was going strong until about 10 pm.  Then we left and went home to go to bed.

On Saturday, Brian and I took the kids to a bounce house for little kids called Coo Coos.  They had so much fun there!  The played there for about 2 hours just running from bounce house to bounce house.  It also has a train for the little kids to ride.  I highly recommend it for younger kids.  After that, we went back to Donnie's for a cook out with the entire family.  It was great seeing everyone.

Austin really enjoyed raking leaves at Donnie's house.  He filled 3 full bags.  Cheri got them lots of toys to play with too that they really enjoyed too.  It was nice especially since they could not play outside too much.

On Sunday, we went to see Dennis' truck.  Austin loved that!  Sydney was a little scared but went in the back with Austin.  After seeing the truck, we went to the Science and Children's Museum.  That was also very cool for them.  Donnie, Dennis, and Dean went with us.  Towards the end of the day, they decided to go home since it wasn't as much fun for them as it was for the kids.  We let the kids play basically until the place closed.  They even got to play outside for a while at the end too.

Then we went and got dinner.  Austin wanted pizza so we stopped at a Pizza Hut and Taco Bell combo.  After dinner, we checked into our hotel.  Then we promised Austin ice cream all trip and we never got it so we went and did that.  Austin really enjoys ice cream.  Sydney really enjoys eating the toppings to ice cream.  After ice cream, Brian returned the rental car while I stayed at the hotel with the kids and got them ready for bed.

Our flight was early so we got up early for the airport.  They did really great.  We ate breakfast at the airport and flew home.  Brian had to travel to Denver that day too for work.  We flew from Dallas, Brian drove home got his car and then went back to the airport.  At the airport, he found out his flight was cancelled.  They re-booked him on a flight from Akron so he drove down there for the flight.

While Brian was gone the kids were great.  I tried to relax and let things be what they were going to be.  I knew I had to do it all but it was okay.  We really had a great time together.  They went to bed fairly easily which is the hardest part.  The kids like us to lay with them until they fall asleep so that's difficult when there is only one of us and two of them but I would put the one to bed who was more tired and it worked very well.  They were both asleep by 9:45 pm every night.  They really helped me around the house.  I was glad it was an uneventful trip.  We were glad when Brian returned home.

Austin says some funny things these days.  He comes up with them on his own.  When Brian asks him to do something he likes to say Aye Aye Captain.  While traveling in Dallas, Brian asked Austin to push an elevator button and with an elevator full of people he said "Aye Aye Captain".  It was very funny.  He also calls whipped cream "wooden cream".  Austin rarely has a tantrum now.  When he gets mad he will sometimes scream for a few seconds but once reminded to use his words he does.  Austin understands what is going on and usually complies with any requests (but it just may take a few reminders).

Scars, illnesses, and maybe Spring? (4 years and 2.5 years)

Austin's scar is still not healed from when he fell on the playground in September.  The ends look great however in the middle has a red raised area.  A zit appearing thing appeared.  It looked terrible.  I took him to see the plastic surgeon.  Our surgeon is relocating however he offered to do surgery before he left.  Because it looked so bad, we scheduled surgery for Friday.  He did not want to do it in the office because of his age and prior experience with stitches.

Then on Tuesday night after seeing the doctor during bath time the "zit" broke open on it's own.  It opened again Wednesday morning.  Brian put a band aid on it and Austin went to school.  It looked much better Wednesday and Thursday morning.  I called and talked to the doctor.  He still feels there is something in there but he said there is no rush to "clean it out" so I cancelled surgery.  It continues to look better and Brian and I are grateful we did not put him though surgery.  Hopefully it will finally heal on it's own (update: it turned out it did!).

This winter we have been surprisingly healthy.  It has been so nice however Sydney got a GI virus.  It started Saturday night with vomiting.  Then the next day it was diarrhea.  She would be up a lot during the night too.  Since Sydney is a "big girl" she refuses to wear diapers and always wears underwear except at night.  That includes when she is having a lot of diarrhea.  Brian and I both tried to convince her to wear a diaper because she was sick but she adamantly refused.  She made it too the potty most of the time but there were a few accidents.  She continued to have diarrhea and was unable to attend school on Wednesday and Thursday.  That was difficult for Brian and I but Brian stayed home in the morning and I came home at noon.  It wasn't ideal but we had to do it.

Unfortunately around 11 pm on Wednesday, Austin started with diarrhea.  He was really good at getting to the potty.  It didn't seem to bother him too  much.  But he had diarrhea until Saturday.  We were worried because we had plans to go to Great Wolf Lodge on Sunday with our friends.  Brian had to stay home with them on Thursday.  By Friday they were pretty much better and they both went to school.  We were so happy they were better in time for Great Wolf Lodge.

On Sunday we drove up to Great Wolf Lodge for the night.  This winter has been so cold it was so nice to go somewhere warm for the day and night.  The kids love the water so it was perfect for them.  When we got there it was so busy.  I took the kids to the pool while Brian and Lisa stood in line to check into our rooms.  Sydney was a little hesitant as first going down the big slides but after a few times she was ready to go.  She always wanted someone with her though either Austin or Daddy/Mommy.  They played in the water until dinner time.  For dinner we ran out to Wendy's.  After dinner they played in the pools and slides until it closed at 9 pm.

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel with our friends.  Then after breakfast we let Austin and Sydney play in the water park for an hour until we had to drive home.  Brian needed to be at work so we left by 10 am to get home.  We had a lot of fun at the water park.  February is a great time to go since there is not much else to do around here then.

The next week on Sunday Austin came down with a 102 fever.  The next day he developed cold symptoms.  Luckily he was better by Wednesday.  However Brian and Sydney got it.  They were really tired with cough and chest congestion.  When I picked Sydney up from school on Wednesday she was lying on the small couch in her classroom.  I knew she was now really sick too.  Brian and Sydney had to stay home on Thursday again.  We were doing so well this winter without any illnesses however we had 2 illnesses in 2 week's time.  The kids got over it pretty quickly however it has taken Brian a lot longer to get better.

This winter we have had snow on the ground since early January.  It has never warmed up enough for the snow to melt.  Just this week, we can see grass again.  The kids (with our help) built a large snowman in our front yard in mid January.  It just melted this week.  When we would walk back to the swing set, the snow would be up to my knees.  It was crazy how much and how long we've had snow.  Spring is finally coming.  It has warmed up into the 40's (which that feels like 60's to us).  Over the past week the snow has slowly melted.

However before the snow melted the one thing Austin wanted to do was build an igloo.  So Brian and Austin took a bucket and made like snow bricks to make an igloo out of his massive snow pile by the driveway (Brian tries to snowblow the driveway into one massive pile for the kids to play on).  Austin really liked it.  He wanted to do it because of the book Alaska's 3 Little Pigs. In the story the third little pig builds an igloo and the bear can't get him.  Austin enjoys that story.  Austin got his request before winter was over to build an igloo and he enjoyed playing with it for a day until it fell apart.  Fortunately no bears came to test his igloo.