15 months

Kaelyn had her 15 month doctor's appointment today. Just a check up and some shots. Kaelyn doesn't appreciate the pediatrician...OR her nurses. How DARE they take her temperature! Though I tried to tell her taking it in her armpit was WAY nicer than how they USED to do it! How DARE they look in her ears! And push on her belly! And oh my, you better not even THINK about taking her blood pressure! She was screaming good before the shots were even a thought.

This time, instead of weighing her on the baby scale, they had me stand on a scale WITH her and then without her. Perhaps because she was being quite the little screamer or maybe at this age they don't need to be REAL exact, I'm not sure. Anyways, she weighs about 25 pounds now putting her in the 80th percentile. She didn't appreciate being measured for height either. But she survived and is 30" tall, in the 40th percentile. Does that make her a bit round? Whatever, she's healthy!

After all that she sat on my lap and sniffled and sobbed and clung to her cup and her duck and my shirt. Poor thing. It IS a hard life, being a baby. She was scared to death.

I asked the doctor about her eating, she won't eat many table foods, though she HAS just started picking up on wheat bread so that's good. She said it's a texture thing and to just keep trying and not to be too concerned with it yet because she's healthy and growing well. I also asked how much milk she should drink and she said 18-24 ounces a day is good and I'm thinking Kaelyn gets at least 18 sometimes more so we're set there. She also said her fear of strangers is still normal. Though when I say strangers I mean everyone but me, Sean, and my mom! Even other family members and friends. What do you do!

Then came the shots. That's awful because she's already scared and then you have to put her on a table and hold her down and stick her with needles. She stopped screaming from that pretty fast, though. Just continued with her sobs and sniffling. She recovered the second we pulled into our garage at home. She knew where she was and she let out a little squeal and was her old self again. The next 30 minutes I chased her around and she played like nothing had happened. Then I stuck her in the swing and she pulled off her remaining bandaid and played with that. Gross, but hey, whatever works. It's quiet upstairs now so I'm hoping she's sleeping the rest of the trauma off! :)

Back from vacation blues

I could not BELIEVE how well Kaelyn slept while we were on vacation. I'd put her in her little tent bed in the camper and she'd just roll over and go to sleep, no complaints! Even when she didn't go RIGHT to sleep, she'd just lay in there, happy as a lark, until she DID go to sleep. One of my theories about that was that she had more room. The bed in the camper was a double sized bed. So she could lay either direction and be fully stretched out. She tried to do that in her own bed when we got home and as you can see, the result is quite uncomfortable!

Being back from vacation is tough. We looked forward to it for SO long and now it's just over! Kaelyn slept SO well on vacation and we were out and about doing different things, it was nice! I also think Kaelyn greatly enjoyed being the center of attention at all times and having undivided attention. Don't get me wrong, she gets such attention at home quite often. But there are also phone calls, cooking, laundry, emails, etc that distract her from being the ONLY thing I'm concentrating on, you know? She got quite used to that on vacation and that was probably part of why she liked it so much! That and her camper bed!

I tell you, that camper bed! Amazing! I miss it! Can we go camping again? Even though she went to bed at about the same time, she got up a little later each morning. And HAPPY! At home she'll start rolling around and crying at 4:30 or 5. She's not really awake but she's working on it. This will continue for two hours or so. I get up because it's so frustrating to JUST fall back asleep and have her roll over and burst out with another cry or two. In the camper...nothing. She'd just get up when she was done sleeping, she didn't have to work up to it at all. It was awesome. I didn't have to nap during the day because I actually got to sleep at night. ALL night! I got a lot of reading done during naps because we were all in the camper so I couldn't move around or talk much and we weren't at home so I didn't have any chores to do, really. It was nice!

I think Kaelyn was excited to get home and see all her toys again but she gets pretty bored pretty easily so I think she preferred all the different things we were doing on vacation. Though I did take her to the zoo the day after we returned and she had SO much fun there. She missed her zoo.

We have weekend trips planned here and there, like last weekend we took the camper to Sean's parents house and camped out there. There was a family baby shower and a baptism all in one weekend. Little trips like that are great, but it's just not the same as being AWAY away, you know? We don't have another big trip planned until NEXT July, ugh! Though Sean MAY get sent to Las Vegas on business in January so we may get to go there for a few days. Kaelyn would stay home. With my mom, don't worry! :)

Since getting home, Kaelyn has started sleeping in on occasion, which is really nice. She's slept till 7:30 three times. And 7 a few other times. I think she really NEEDS to sleep until 7 or 7:30 because the past couple of days when she's gotten up at 6:30 she has NOT been in good spirits and goes back to bed within a few hours and naps for a long time. I don't understand why she doesn't just sleep till she's ready to get up! I know she's not ready to get up for the day at 6:30 and yet she's crying and crying so I can't just leave her in there by her lonesome!

Her other issue right now is real people food. Table food. She's getting more brave and trying a few more things. She's started to like wheat bread and she tried a tater tot the other day. But she still won't even try fruits or veggies. And she throws up a lot when she DOES eat something. We went to the splashpad park nearby on Monday and I got her to try some dried fruit. She had a banana chip and liked it and I gave her a dried piece of orange and she seemed to shovel that right in. About 10 minutes later she threw up. A LOT. So much I had to change her. She's done that before when I've fed her the REAL yogurt that has chunks of fruit in it. She hits a chunk and either spits it out, gags, or eats it and then throws up. I'm glad she's seeing the doctor tomorrow for her 15 month appointment so I can ask about that.

Seeing how well Kaelyn slept in the camper I seriously consider getting her into a bigger bed. We'd have to make a full sized bed into a crib somehow, because she rolls around SO much she definitely needs a bed with sides. But she really seemed to like the extra room! I don't know that I've talked Sean into the idea just yet, though! :) Just look at that picture, the poor thing! :)

We have been pretty busy since getting back, though. We have another family baby shower coming up this weekend and lots going on during the week. I look forward to finding out the details on Kaelyn's current stats at the doctor tomorrow. I'm sure she does NOT look forward to it, especially the shots!

I guess we can't be on vacation ALL the time. Tis back to the real world!

First Ponytail

Kaelyn's hair is getting long and it hangs down in her eyes. She doesn't care, but she's so cute you need to see her face! Barrettes work a little but they slide out so easily. Last night I was messing with her hair while she sat on my lap playing and I was pretty sure there was enough to do a little ponytail. So this morning while she was in the bath I grabbed one of those tiny baby rubber bands and here's the result! Kaelyn didn't exactly appreciate my efforts. I tried to be really gentle but she was screaming like I was pulling hairs out one by one. I'm pretty sure it didn't really hurt her, but it was a new experience. Hopefully she'll get used to it. She's napping now and I'm anxious to see if it's still somewhat in tact when she gets up. I don't plan to fix it if it's not, but I may have to take it out and she probably won't like that either!

Ah, the firsts in life! Her very first ponytail! Many more to come, I'm sure!

Colorado Trip-Complete

On Saturday we got up at Kaelyn's normal time at the Cabela's campground and headed home. We drove three hours in the morning, stopping in Kearney for lunch. I had Wendy's and Sean had Arby's. Kaelyn ran around in a hotel parking lot for awhile and played in the camper for awhile. Then we packed up and drove another three hours, finally arriving home at 4ish.

Then the REAL fun began. We unpacked a little but mostly just tried to ease back into being home. Sean washed the outside of the camper and Kaelyn tried to see how many things she could play with that she hadn't seen for a week! It was hard to get home because we knew it was over. And the humidity hit us square in the face the second we walked out the camper door!

Being home was tough at first. Kaelyn got used to her big camper bed and the first night we were home she was up from 1:30-5 yelling on and off. Sean went in twice and I went in several times as well. I even brought her back to bed with us for awhile to see if that would help. That didn't work. I rocked her for awhile at one point too. We hadn't been up that much with her in months. It brought back unfond memories of what it was like to get no sleep! That led to her being pretty grumpy on Sunday and I'll have to admit I was as well! Plus there were 8 loads of laundry to do (which took through Wednesday to get done AND put away) and various other elements of unpacking and settling in. But we made the most of it and headed to the zoo Monday and had a great time there.

Our next vacation isn't scheduled until NEXT July. But Sean has so many extra days off I'm convinced he should use them and we should take another one. Not sure if I've convinced HIM of that yet, but I'll work on that part! It was nice being together all day everyday. I can definitely tell one thing Kaelyn enjoyed about vacation was being the center of attention all the time. She is MOST of the time at home, but there's also laundry, phone calls, bills, cooking, things that get in the way from her getting ALL of the attention EVERY second. She doesn't like that! But you gotta eat! You gotta pay the bills! On vacation, there's not much you HAVE to do. Other than pay attention to Kaelyn. So that was nice for her AND for us!

We hope to visit Colorado again someday. The weather is SO pleasant. The scenery is beautiful. And there's plenty to do and see.

Colorado Trip-Heading Home

Friday our vacation was mostly over. We got up in the morning, packed up, and started to head home. Kaelyn took her morning nap while we drove and when she fell asleep so did I. Sean, therefore, was left without a navigator. And, therefore, we took a few detours! :) Instead of taking shorter routes we headed straight north to Cheyenne, Wyoming. Around lunch time we stopped at a camper store and then we HAPPENED to see a sign for Chick-Fil-A so we stopped there for lunch. Yeah!

We went a bit farther to Ft. Collins and looked for somewhere to let Kaelyn out to run around for awhile. We found a neat downtown area but couldn't find anywhere to park the camper so we ended up heading back to the interstate. We found a rest stop that had some trails and wooded areas so she played ball there for awhile. We didn't make a lot of progress. We drove for like 6 hours and when I did a search it said that drive should have taken 2 1/2 hours. Too many worthless detours!

We landed in Sidney, Nebraska for the night at Cabela's. They allow campers in their parking lot AND they have a campground right there as well. We would have just camped in the parking lot but it was SO hot we decided to try to get a spot at the campground so we could hook up and have AC all night without running the generator. It was really stinking hot. Welcome back humidity! I did not miss you ONE little bit!

Kaelyn enjoyed running around Cabela's for quite some time. She found a big red dog ball (of all things) with a handle and she greatly enjoyed tossing that around the store. She also found stairs that led up to a loft where people were sitting and eating. It'd been awhile since she'd had very many stairs to climb so she went pretty crazy over those! They had a fish tank there too and she watched them for a short while. But at that point she was still distracted by the dog ball. :)

We went to Dairy Queen nearby for supper and then set up the camper for the night. There was a nice playground on the campgrounds so, even though it was hot, we HAD to play. There was no swing, much to Kaelyn's dismay, but there were
a couple of slides. However, the sun was so hot they were BURNING. So I wouldn't let her slide down alone. She was happy enough going down with me. I knew enough to stay on my shorts and feet so I wouldn't get burned. She would have screamed all the way down! And, actually, one of the slides had a turn in it and I ended up peeling some skin off my elbow so I was even more glad I was her ride down!

There were actually people tent camping right next to us. In that heat, that was pretty nuts, if you ask me! That's REAL camping, though. We have all the perks in our camper. We don't camp in discomfort, that's for sure!

We knew the trip was REALLY close to being over. We only had about 6 hours to go the next day to get home. So sad to see it ending. It went by way too fast.

Colorado Trip-Garden of the Gods again!

On Thursday we knew our trip was wrapping up. And we didn't like that idea one little bit! The playground at the campground didn't have a baby swing. It only had ONE swing and it wasn't a baby swing. But Kaelyn did enjoy the slide quite a bit while we were there. Anytime we were on the campgrounds we were throwing her ball around or playing on that slide. She would climb up the slide (with help!) and then run over the bridge that was behind it, then come back and go down the slide. It was nice that it was all at a level where I could still reach her so I could just stand at the side and help her. A couple of times when there were other kids around I climbed up there with her to make it a little safer.

In the morning we went to the Garden of the Gods again to explore a little more. Sean hadn't been there except for that first day we were there for a little while so he wanted to go back and walk around some more. Kaelyn napped well there in her stroller and seemed to enjoy running around as well. We walked the main part of the garden and then drove to the part that had the balancing rock and some of the other sights.

After her nap ended and we were done exploring we went to find a skateboard park we had seen the first day we were there when we were driving around looking for our campground. Sean had
his remote control car with him and he thought it would be fun to run it around on the ramps.
He had a great time with that and Kaelyn liked playing with the car around the parking lot too. There was also a swing at the park so Kaelyn got to finally do a little swinging. She didn't want to stop, actually! When I took her out she ran right back over to it and looked up at it like hey, I'm not done with that yet! The slides at the park were WAY too hot to use. It was getting pretty steamy so we left and went to the Garden of the Gods visitor center. Sean hadn't been there yet either.

After we looked through everything there we went back to the campgrounds. They had a spagetti dinner there that was really good. We just threw the ball around and played on the playground the rest of the evening. We were all pretty sad that the trip was over and not looking forward to the drive back. We enjoyed the humidity-less weather and having the mountains nearby to look at anytime we wanted.

Colorado Trip-Royal Gorge

On Wednesday of our trip my parents and all of Sean's family were gone so it was just the three of us. We decided to go to the Royal Gorge in Canon City which was supposedly 45 minutes away. I think it took about an hour to get to Canon City and the Royal Gorge was outside the city, farther away. When we got to Canon City Kaelyn was majorly ready to get out of the car so we thought we'd see if there were any shops there and grab some lunch somewhere. We first stopped in the train station shop. There is a train that goes from Canon City through the Royal Gorge, something we'd like to do someday. And at the train station Kaelyn found lots of trains! Most of them made noise. We ended up getting her a little train set for her souvenir. It has an engine train with a driver in it. On that there's a button that makes the whistle blow and then it plays music. It has two cars that attach to the back. And a little track! I think I was more excited about the
track part than she was. It's pretty cool! :)

There wasn't much to see downtown. Sean stopped in one art store and Kaelyn and I walked through the Hallmark store. So we stopped in a small cafe and got some lunch. Kaelyn enjoyed playing in the window display. There were sand toys and flip flops up there, after all! Since we were still on OUR time, it was only 10:30 and there weren't many people there. That was nice. Kaelyn had the run of the place and I didn't feel too bad about letting her run! There was a small ramp leading from one part of the cafe into the part where we sat. And once she discovered that she must have run that ramp 10 times! After we were done eating and she went back to running the ramp, she handed her water glass to a random lady who was coming up the ramp. The lady was like, thanks... Then she started looking around like, what do I do with this now?! Kaelyn is becoming quite brave! She went from cowering from any stranger to handing random ladies her drink glass! :) So I took it from the lady and chased Kaelyn down. Again.

By the time we got to the gorge and got parked it was almost nap time. We couldn't BELIEVE when we got to the entrance that it was $25 PER person (Kaelyn was free at least!) to get in! But we drove all that way, we pretty much HAD to go in! There's a big bridge all the way across so after Kaelyn had her yogurt snack we walked that. It's a bummer that they let cars drive on it too. It's not all that big of a bridge, really. And when you have people walking all over it and a car tries to get through, it ruins the atmosphere. Not to mention if TWO cars go on it and meet up. That can be a little tight of a squeeze. When we got to the other side Kaelyn was getting sleepy so Sean walked up some stairs to a viewing area to take pictures and I kept walking Kaelyn in her stroller so she could nap. I walked over the bridge several more times. I figured I may as well have a good view while I walk! And we got some fresh squeezed lemonade that was SO good.

We were almost done for the day when we ran across the yellow train. Sean and I took a picture in that train together when we were there ten years ago. There wasn't really anyone around it so we couldn't take a picture with all three of us, but we took one with each of us and Kaelyn. Pretty neat to take the same picture ten years apart! We looked and looked for that train and it turned out to be close to the entrance! Figures! When we were all done there we drove by a wild west town attraction that looked really neat. It was $15 each to get in and it was already getting late so we headed back and hope we can do that next time we visit instead of paying to get into the gorge park. We stopped by a neat wood carving shop on the way back and that was cool. The carvings were VERY expensive. And Kaelyn was quite upset with me because she wanted to run up and down a ramp outside and I wouldn't let her. Why? Well, there was this big mean looking pit bull outside on NO leash! As much as we hear about pit bulls around here there was no way I wanted her anywhere near one, even if it seemed friendly. Which it didn't. But she was pretty upset with me anyways. What do you do!

We went back to the campgrounds and were able to catch the ice cream social again. Another HUGE bowl of ice cream for me. And no, I didn't share! We were starting to see our trip near its end and none of us were happy about it! But we still had all day Thursday before we needed to start heading back.

Colorado Trip-Seven Falls

On Tuesday the golf was over and my parents were still there so they came over to the campgrounds first thing in the morning and we took a drive through the mountains so Kaelyn could nap. When she woke up we went to seven falls. It's really pretty there. There are, well, seven water falls! :) There are 224 stairs that you can climb to get to the top. Sean and I had done that 10 years ago when we were here last time and we wanted to do it again. My parents didn't really want to make the climb and I didn't want to carry Kaelyn up that far anyways so they took an elevator up to a viewing platform and Sean and I climbed the steps. When I got to the top I kept looking around for more stairs. It didn't seem like it should have been 224 stairs that fast. Not sure why. Sean and I both remembered it to be a lot longer of a climb last time, whatever that means for the shape we're in! Kaelyn enjoyed throwing a ball around in the cave that led to the elevator so she was thoroughly entertained

After we saw all of the falls we could handle we went to Chick-Fil-A again for lunch and then we went to Old Colorado city to explore the shops there. I got a Colorado hooded zippered sweatshirt for my souvenir. I always seem to do that. Get something warm to wear when it's hot out! And if we go somewhere in the winter I always get a t-shirt. So I can't actually wear it for quite some time, but what do you do!

After our shopping/wandering around that city we went back to the camper so Kaelyn could nap. My parents made a Dairy Queen run so that was tasty! When Kaelyn got up we went back to Manitou Springs. Sean had seen an old fashioned picture shop. He and I went to Estes Park, CO for our honeymoon and we had done an old fashioned picture there. That was just over 8 years ago and he thought it would be fun to do again. It was fun 8 years ago and a few things changed since then! Kaelyn being the big change!

So we picked out what type of picture we wanted and they gave us our clothes. My mom came back with me and Kaelyn to help. I put on the dress thing they gave me...and see, there's a reason I don't wear dresses! Kaelyn FLIPPED out! She was crying like she was getting a shot or something! But once I took her she calmed down a little and we were able to get her little dress on her. When we went back out and got ready for the picture she sat in my lap like a little doll. She just SAT there. Arms out and stiff, not moving a MUSCLE! They tried and tried to get her to smile. I was shocked that she didn't squirm or try to get down, she just SAT there. VERY unlike her! It was pretty funny, really. What she looks like in the final picture is what she looked like in EVERY shot they took! But hey, it worked! After we were done with the picture we ran into some of Sean's family as they wandered the shops so we got to see them for a few minutes. It was weird that we were all in the same city and we barely got to see them! Too bad, but what do you do!

My parents took us back to the campground and they took the cog train up pikes peak. They said it was really neat. Sean and I had done that 10 years ago when we were there. We wanted to do it again but with Kaelyn, we were a bit afraid. It was a 4 hour round trip and we didn't want to get stuck with an upset baby on a train so we passed this time. Maybe if we visit again sometime we can go then! We just grilled out at the campgrounds instead and played on the playground etc there instead. After the cog train my parents were going to return to their hotel and then leave for home the next morning. All of Sean's family was leaving the following morning as well so it was just going to be us left to continue the vacation!

Colorado Trip-Garden of the Gods & Fof

On Monday of our Colorado trip the guys went golfing again. EARLY in the morning. Their tee times were 8 something and the golf place was like an hour away. So my mom picked Sean up and dropped he and my dad at the hotel where the rest of the guys were staying so they could get a ride from there. When she got back we headed to the Garden of the Gods to walk around. Kaelyn napped in her stroller and then wandered around with us. We went to the visitor center and looked at the gift items there. Kaelyn enjoyed playing with a bin of pencil erasers.

She was still out of sorts most of the day. Just hard to please and not her normal chipper self. Even though she seemed to sleep really well in the camper and had a nice long nap in the stroller at the Garden of the Gods.

After we got done there we went to lunch at Chick-Fil-A. SO nice to have one nearby!! It wasn't far from my parents hotel. They even had free wifi so I was able to get my emails sent and receive the new ones. There was a play area too so Kaelyn explored that a little. Then we went to the Focus on the Family visitor's center because there was a big FREE kids area. There was a toddler room, even, and Kaelyn became attached to riding the turtle. As well as climbing the bridge and crawling under a log. There was a three story slide as well, but she didn't attempt that this time around! Maybe next time! There were several rooms of fun things for her to explore. We headed back to the campsite in time for her nap and she took a nice long snooze and my mom and I read. When she got up it was time to throw her ball around the campgrounds again while we waited for the guys.

Once they finally arrived (they thought they'd be back around 1 but didn't end up getting there till 4!) we headed to Manitou Springs, which was a touristy spot just down the street. Sean and I had tried to go there before but couldn't find anywhere to park the camper so we thought it would be good to go there when we had my parents car to park more easily. We looked through some shops and Kaelyn found this water table toy to thoroughly enjoy. It was just outside a kids toy store. Not for sale or anything, just to attract kids, I guess! She was pretty well soaked and probably never would have left it had we not wanted to move on. Actually, we came back to it later to let her play some more!

The neighbors down the street were watching Ollie, our cat, for me. So I got them a little circular stained glass hanging thing that had a puppy and kitty on it and it said "Friends". I also got them a Dairy Queen gift card. The neatest store along the Manitou Springs streets was a blown glass store. TONS of big and little glass items. Some were very small and delicate looking. Smaller than a penny. Very easy to lose, I would think!

We drove through Wendy's on the way back to the campgrounds for me to get some supper. Sean and my dad ate such a late lunch they weren't really hungry. My parents headed to the Flying W ranch for their dinner and show. I had gone there last time we were in Colorado Springs 10 years ago and it was fun so I hoped they would go and they did! We would have gone too but the dinner started at 7 (8 our time!) and the show at 8 (9 our time!) and Kaelyn was going to bed at 7 because that was 8 our time! Got that? And she went right to sleep again! Luckily, Sean got our camper tv working and we were able to watch the Bachelorette after she went to bed! :)

The golfing was over and the guys had to hang out with us from then on! Poor them!

Colorado Trip-Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

On Sunday of our trip the guys went golfing. They had 10am ish tee times. My mom came to pick Sean up and dropped them off at the golf course which was only 15 minutes away. I stayed at the campgrounds with Kaelyn so she could nap. I put her in her tent for her nap and she stood up and threw a huge fit, though she was REALLY tired. So I climbed in with her and she fell right to sleep that way. Wish I could have too but it didn't work out since I wasn't very comfortable!

When my mom got back we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo! It wasn't very far away, but it really was on a mountain! It was very hilly and the views were really neat. Right inside the zoo are about 14 giraffes. They're really close and you can even feed them. We didn't, but I DID touch one! Never touched a giraffe before! The rest of the zoo was really hilly and really confusing...even with a map! It was like there were all these
fingers you had to go down to see things but then you had to turn around and go back. There was no flow. And all of the exhibits except the giraffes paled in comparison to the Omaha zoo. And it was $4 more to get in!

Kaelyn found some puddles to stomp in and liked running up and down the hills some. But really, she was off that day. She was tired from the rotten, short first nap, and she just wasn't herself. She was really hard to please and didn't want to walk and didn't want to ride sometimes. She just didn't want anything! She didn't eat much lunch, but she ate a ton at snack time. It was nice and sunny but didn't feel overly hot. That low humidity is really wonderful, I had no idea!! Since Kaelyn was being such a handful I was relieved when she fell asleep early at 2.
Actually, I kind of thought she was almost asleep at 12:30, but she hung in there! My mom and I walked around and around the giraffes since that was the coolest part while Kaelyn slept for an hour and twenty minutes. We REALLY saw those giraffes!

After the zoo we went back to the campgrounds and waited for the guys. We weren't back but an hour and here they came. We had all been invited to Sean's cousin's husband's uncle's house. Got it? Not sure I do! :) So we went over there for supper. Since Kaelyn was still on the Nebraska time we left just about as everyone else in Sean's family was arriving, but at least we saw them for a FEW minutes! And we were able to grab a hot dog before leaving too. Kaelyn liked running the fireplace at that house. And in and out of the back door. She explored the yard a bit and had me throw her on the couch. She even got ahold of a remote and changed the channel on the tv once before I put them up higher where she couldn't get them. Quite the little trouble maker!

When we got back to the campgrounds they were having an ice cream social so I grabbed a bowl quickly before putting Kaelyn to bed. QUITE a bowl, there was a TON of ice cream! But I managed! Kaelyn went right to sleep again. She likes her little tent! The next day was more golf for the guys...EARLY golf! And more exploring for my mom, Kaelyn, and me!

Colorado Trip-Traveling Day Two

We left the Walmart parking lot probably around 8:30 or so on Saturday July 10th. The last leg of our journey was only 3 hours or so but it was a LOT less fun than the first leg. Kaelyn didn't sleep very long for her nap and was just totally OVER being in the car! She was much harder to please.

When we arrived in Colorado Springs we met some of Sean's family at the Garden of the Gods and walked around for awhile. Though none of them could find parking so we didn't actually get to walk around WITH them. What do you do! Then we got set up at the campgrounds and let Kaelyn nap in her little tent bed. We wanted to explore the nearby Manitou Springs after that but there was nowhere to park our big motor home so we ended up at the North Pole amusement park. We didn't go in, we just looked at the gift shop and ran around the parking lot
for a bit. Kaelyn enjoyed throwing her green ball around the campground the best, I think. She was happy to be free of the carseat and out and running for awhile! I think we grilled burgers at the camper for supper that night and looked forward to the next day. Kaelyn was a great sleeper in the camper for her nap (as you can see from the picture!) AND overnight.

My parents were visiting a friend of theirs in Castle Rock, CO so we didn't see them the day we arrived. But Sean was going golfing with a whole group the following day including my dad so my mom and I were going to take Kaelyn and explore somewhere. We didn't know where yet until the next morning. Already, from the second day of traveling, I was wondering how well Kaelyn would adjust. She did SO good the first day. But the second day, after not wanting to drive anymore, I just could NOT keep her happy. Tis the joy
of traveling with a little one, I suppose.

But Colorado is SO pretty. And I had NO idea that the lack of humidity would make such a huge difference. It was in the 90s there much of our time there and sometimes felt a little hot, but never stifling or stuffy or sweltering like it ALWAYS does here even in the 80s. So I want to move to Colorado for that reason! :) Stay tuned for what we actually did on the trip other than drive! :)

Colorado Trip-traveling

We're back from our trip to Colorado! I tried to keep track of what we did on what days so I could blog about it when we returned. So unless something exciting happens, my next several blogs will be about our vacation.

We left for Colorado at 7:30am Friday July 9th. I must admit I wasn't looking forward to the long drive. But that first day, Kaelyn was an AWESOME little traveler! We traveled for 7 hours that day, on and off, and Kaelyn slept only for about two of those hours. When she was awake she poked her alphabet apple toy and a few others. She was perfectly happy as long as I
WASN'T in the back with her. Go figure! So I stayed up front!

We first stopped in Kearney at 10:30am so Sean could visit a job site. It was at the fairgrounds so that left Kaelyn and I in a big field. She explored and ran around. It was good to stretch those legs!

As you can see the trip made her become a bit of a two fisted drinker. One water, one milk!

On our drive on Saturday, my parents, who were also going out that day, passed us THREE times! We didn't see any of Sean's family. We're guessing they passed us when we were stopped at Kearney.

We didn't make it all the way to Colorado Springs that first day. I figured Kaelyn had had enough of the carseat and we didn't want her to sleep TOO long during her naps and then not at night. So we stopped at a Walmart near Brush, CO. It's pretty nice that walmart lets you camp in their parking lots. There were lots of truckers and other campers there along with us. We ate at Wendy's and then Kaelyn had a GREAT time running around Walmart. She found a frisbee that she threw down just about every aisle she could find. Then she found a volleyball, still in the box, that she enjoyed tossing a bit. I think she would have stayed there longer! But as we went back out to the camper, she also enjoyed playing in the landscaping.

Then came the true test, after being in the car for most of the day, would she sleep that night? Yep! We let her stay up a little bit later...a whole 15 minutes! But she went RIGHT to sleep...AND slept till 7am the next morning! REALLY late for her!! We decided it would be easier to keep her on our time. Colorado Springs is an hour difference. That was source of MAJOR confusion for me the WHOLE trip! I was always talking Nebraska time and needed to stop and think about what time it was THERE! So, Kaelyn getting up at 7am was really getting up at 6am THEIR time. And we ate lunch at 11:30, which is 10:30 THEIR time. So we were early to rise, early to eat, early to bed, but what do you do! We didn't have to readjust when we got back home and it seemed easier not to mess with her anymore than we already were!

I was quite pleasantly surprised by our first day of travel. Kaelyn barely complained at all and was a much better rider than I expected. Stay tuned for details on day two and on the actual vacation once we arrived!

Packing frenzy

My husband says the sideways pictures are some kind of application problem with the iphone so hopefully apple will fix it and we can get an update. Because it's annoying to have to tilt your head to see what's going on.

Anyways, this is a picture of bathtime the other day. Our cat Ollie LOVES fresh water. I've read that some cats just like the taste of it better. They can tell the difference and some like it fresh from the tap instead of out of a bowl. One time when I was in our whirlpool tub a LOOOONG time ago, Ollie managed to get a drink while I was in the tub without falling in. I was impressed. And glad because I didn't really want my relaxing bath interrupted by a howling wet cat. I think that might have been his goal here in this picture but the water level was just too low and he never could figure out how to safely get a drink. So he just perched there and watched for a bit and eventually moved to the toilet to observe where he would for sure by safe. Kaelyn did poke him a few times so he knew he was risking getting pulled in.

The last few days have been a packing frenzy. We're going on vacation to Colorado soon and I wanted to get as much packing done now as possible while my mom's here to watch Kaelyn. Packing is MUCH faster when I can use BOTH of my hands! We're taking the camper so not only do we have to pack the normal clothes but also food, shower towels, bedding, all that good stuff. We figure it's going to be about a 10 hour drive. We're going to leave before Kaelyn's morning nap and take a lunch break and let her run around a bit. Then drive farther during her afternoon nap and see where we end up. That'll be day 1. Day 2 we'll go the rest of the way, however much farther that will be. Wish us luck! I think if she has a good, sleepy day, the drive won't be so bad.

We're staying at the Garden of the Gods campground. It looks nice online. Has a pool and playground and even things like pancake feeds. We plan to go to the Royal Gorge one day while we're there and otherwise probably just bum around Colorado Springs. Oh, and of course, Sean has two days of golf outings, but otherwise our plans are pretty open. I hope the weather is nice so we don't get stuck inside the little camper. Kaelyn seems to enjoy it in there for limited amounts of time. But playing in there for any LONG period would probably be tough. I'm sure there are inside places there we can find things to do as well.

This will be our second vacation with Kaelyn. Last summer we went to Kansas City with my family for a few days and stayed in a big cabin there. It was a nice close place where we could go and do some different things but not be TOO far from home. Next summer we plan to take another family trip to Branson where a couple from our church owns a nice big house and offered to let us use it.

But let's focus on this vacation first. I think I'm pretty well packed but now I have a list of last minute things that I can't really do until the morning we leave. Which is a bummer because Sean wants to leave at like 7:30am. So getting up and getting all that packed AND getting Kaelyn and me ready might be pushing it, but we'll make it! I hope. :)

Picture catch up

I need to figure out why the pictures are sideways. But at this point I'm stumped.



Here's Kaelyn at the zoo. She's taking her morning nap. This is how she sees the elephants. Over and over as I do laps around them. She never gets to see the elephants, the poor thing!









One day last week Kaelyn had a real rough nap. She just yelled and yelled. She was really serious about it. When I couldn't stand it anymore I went in and picked her up and rocked her. I wasn't intending her to fall asleep, I just wanted to calm her down. But she went right to sleep and looked like a little angel. It's been a long time since I held her when she was sleeping.








Ollie was just sitting on the stairs the other day like this. Like a real person or something! He usually lays in a ball or on his back all spread out. This was a strange place to lay and a strange WAY to lay!







Kaelyn is finally awake in this zoo picture and ready to run. At least run for the camera to try to grab it! I think we had just gotten done at Bear Canyon and she led me over to the Aviary.

Mishaps

Again, I don't know why these pictures are sideways, but they'll do I guess!

Yes, Kaelyn knows how to turn on an iphone. She pushes the button and slides her finger across. Then continues to push every button she can until she gets bored. She's done things to it I don't even know how to do! :)

When I was a kid it seems I had several mishaps. I don't remember them and I (supposedly!) did them innocently. One time I set off the fire alarm in the library by opening a fire door. I guess it wasn't quiet in the library that day! Somehow I pulled over a whole rack of shoes at a shoe store. And I completely shut down an escalator by messing just right with the hand rail. Sometimes kids just do things! Whether they mean to or not! I don't remember doing those things so I can't say if I meant to or not. But my mom believes it was all very innocent so I'll let her keep thinking that!

This past Sunday in church Kaelyn was running around, as usual. At the back of the church was the elevator. She's been fascinated by that for quite sometime. She can't reach the up and down button so she reaches FOR it. Sometimes I push it, the doors open, and she hops right on. We ride up or down, then go back to the main floor. This was no big deal until this week. Inside the elevator, she discovered she could reach some of the buttons! Oh joy! What buttons are lowest on this particular elevator? The call button, so you can talk to people if you're stuck in the elevator. And the alarm button, so you can make a loud bell ringing noise. She chose the alarm button. Things like that always seem to happen in a split second, but in slow motion. I could see her going for it. I could see what was going to happen. And yet I could do nothing to stop it. It was only a split second of an alarm...three times. And I wasn't sure anyone even heard it. Later my husband told me he had heard it in the church. And therefore I'm pretty sure most everyone else did too. But what do you do! Perhaps she takes after me in that way. Initiating mischief!

I know I've talked about how Kaelyn won't eat ANYTHING or put much in her mouth. Last week we went to some friend's house for dinner. She LOVED the chocolate chip cookies as you can see from that picture. She chowed as much of that as we would give her. Down the hatch! And all over the face, I might add. So now we can add chocolate chip cookies to her things she will eat. Among the gram crackers and veggie puffs and zuchinni bread. Not exactly a balanced diet! Good thing baby food gets her some fruits and veggies!

Pictures

I have a bunch of pictures I haven't posted recently so I thought I'd catch up a bit by just posting some pictures. Kaelyn will be awake soon so I'm sure I don't have time to write much. I don't know why some are sideways like that.


Her 4th of July dress











Her 3rd of July outfit that was my niece's









Concentrating on swinging outside

















Looking at who knows what in the swing!

4th of July

Kaelyn loves her swing, really she does! Just because she looks totally bored in these pictures... :)

We didn't really have any plans for the 4th of July weekend. Not for lack of trying! Sean's cousins were going to go camping nearby so we were going to visit them one of the days. But then they changed their plans. So no visiting. We asked some friends to come over for a BBQ but they were going out of town. We checked with Sean's parents to see what they were doing and they were going over to some friend's house. At that point I think we gave up! :)

So Saturday Sean mowed and Kaelyn and I hit the library for a bit. That was pretty much the extent of the day. Sunday we plan to go to church and take a test ride in the camper (more on that later) and Monday we have some grocery shopping to do. Big time plans, right?! :) But hey, it's a nice relaxing weekend and at least we're all together!

As for the camper, Kaelyn hasn't really ridden in it since August. She was pretty little back then! We're going to Colorado for a whole week pretty soon and we thought it might be a good idea to take a test ride to make sure her seat fits okay and she likes it okay. Not that it matters if she doesn't at this point. We have our plans set! We've done a couple of test weekends actually camping and that has gone well. Kaelyn has slept pretty good and enjoyed running around in the limited space of the camper. But I've always driven my car separately from the camper so she's never actually ridden IN it. At least not since August. She'll only have to put up with the ride for 10 hours when we head to Colorado!! Oh boy. Could be a long drive! But we've arranged it so we'll take full advantage of naptimes so hopefully that will help.

The last couple of days Kaelyn has had some major screaming fits. I'm wondering if there are some molars bothering her. Yesterday morning she woke up very unhappy. I went in to her room and she was just rolling around screaming. Usually in the morning she pops right up and stands up so I can pick her up. Not yesterday. I let her roll around for awhile while I stood there waiting for her to stand up. She never did so eventually, after we had long since woken Sean, I just picked her up and took her downstairs. She wouldn't drink her milk, she wouldn't eat, she just wanted to scream. She was SO upset she had REAL tears and a runny nose! Just not like her. I finally just sat at the kitchen table and held her. She was even struggling against that for awhile. But she calmed down eventually and ate a little and was fine after that. I don't know WHAT the deal was! She was EXTRA cute after her morning nap, though. Maybe she had teeth bothering her, maybe she slept weird, maybe she had a bad dream. I'm the first to admit I really don't know what I'm doing here! It's a new adventure everyday it seems. I hope not to have to endure many more of those fits, though. It's so hard to know what to do when everything SEEMS okay and yet they scream anyways!

I'm doubting we'll get to see any fireworks this year. Kaelyn goes to bed at 8 and it's still quite light out at that time. Maybe there will be a display on tv we can watch. I think that's what we did last year other than what Sean's dad set off in our backyard. Happy 4th to all of you!

Outside fun

Aren't kids the best when they're asleep? So peaceful and sweet! But they just don't sleep that much! At least mine doesn't! But being outside helps to wear her out.

When we're outside Kaelyn enjoys chasing remote control cars. I dropped ours the other day and broke a piece that we now know can't be fixed. So I got a real cheap one at Walmart and we tried it out this afternoon. She loves it! She likes when it chases her or comes over to her slowly and then she gives it a push to start it up again.

Another of her favorite outdoor games is toss the golf ball. She'll take a golf ball (or more recently two) and throw it across the driveway into the grass. Then we have to go retrieve them and throw them the other way. Occasionally they get tossed into the street and bounce down the hill away from our house. This is upsetting to Kaelyn and I have to carry her down to get them back. Which is no fun for me! So we try to avoid that travesty, but what do you do! It happens!

The other golf ball game involves her sitting on the porch and throwing the golf ball over the edge into the grass. At which point I "get to" retrieve it and hand it back to her. And then she tosses it again immediately. Lots of fun for me, as you can imagine!

Bubble blowing is also fun. Especially if the bubbles land and stick in the grass without popping. Then they can be popped by baby fingers. Much more fun than popping on their own!

And Kaelyn has a pink car that neighbors gave her. She won't ride in it but she loves to be chased BY it!

Wagon rides are also a good time. She has a foam rocket that she holds onto and sticks her finger in and just sits there looking around and chilling out.

Kaelyn has tastes chalk on a few occasions and made a few hash marks on the sidewalk. But mostly she tells me what to write! :) Things like welcome home daddy. And pictures of weird looking animals that I do my best to draw! I think I have more fun with the chalk than she does, but she DOES like emptying it from the box and putting it back in!

I don't know WHAT we're going to do when winter hits and we're stuck inside all day everyday again!