Chattanooga Vacation Day 4: Packin' Up and Lots of Tears

On the last day, Aunt Karla, Uncle Gary, Ally and her boyfriend joined in the fun.  We packed up and headed for home after lunch.  It was a terrible ride home!  Anna cried most of it, it rained, and when it didn't rain, we got hit with some weird wintery mix.  The last 2 hours was driving in the dark with the weird mix.  We only stopped once and Anna had a bad diaper rash, but we MADE it, and we vowed we'd never take a trip again (at least without a van)!  We were so glad to get home, especially with the nice surprise we came home to! -T

Mae slept VERY well at night - you can see why a king-sized bed didn't  necessarily mean we had all the room we wanted when we slept

If I ever build a house for us - our bedroom will have a balcony - I've always liked balconies

Story time: Mae is very routine oriented.  When I didn't have a cup for her after she would brush her teeth at night, I grabbed this soap box that I dumped the soap out of.  It was only supposed to be for the first night, but when I tried to use a real cup the next night - Mae wanted the box.  It leaked everywhere, but it kept her routine. =)

She gave it a thumbs up

Mom and Mae

More story time: The night before this, I brushed Mae’s teeth and then started filling up the Jacuzzi so Lindsey could take a bath after the girls went down, plus Mae liked playing with the nozzles that she could reach.  I pushed the jets to make sure they worked and they did.  So, we waited and waited for it to fill while Mae played with the nozzles (I made sure it was going to be warm).  Once the water was above the jets Mae wanted to push the Jacuzzi jets again.  By this time, Lindsey was getting annoyed and wondered what we were doing.  She came to the bathroom door just as I was pushing the jet button.  I’m not sure what happened but water started spraying EVERYWHERE.  Mae went sprinting out of the bathroom and was terrified.  I was soaked and couldn’t stop laughing.  We'll leave out the part of the story where we started a leak downstairs.  When we took this picture to remember the incident - Mae started to cry as she wanted no part of the Jacuzzi ever again!

The Granddaughters

They all actually did pretty good with these pictures

Then they started to lose it

And once Grandma and Grandpa got in there, the focus was completely gone

This one turned out pretty well though!

Tender moments

This kept Mae happy on the ride home

Staring at herself for 6 1/2 hours didn't make Anna happy

Papa D and Grandma Weez had a GREAT gift waiting for us upon our return!

This closet previously was an absolute disaster to open and close with the two sliding doors that were previously there

As soon as it came in from the car, the Nativity Set instantly came out -  we wished Audrey was here to play with it too!

Festival of Lights

Even though I lost my wallet, we had a really good time at the Zoo's Festival of Lights.  The weather was awesome - in the 60's! Mae was thrilled to be back at the zoo and Anna was just thrilled.  Mae still tells stories of the zoo from two months ago, so it was great to go back.  Oh, and in case you were wondering, Lindsey did track down my wallet.  May that person have infinite blessings poured out upon them! -T

Mae telling Anna how excited she is

Okay too much excitement

On the train ride!

Grandparents are the best!

She is not brave, but she is braver than the last time she came and very quickly did feed the goats

Goofy Anna smile

Two happy and very pretty girls

A family picture that's a little better of Anna

A family picture that is a little better of Mae

Breaking Hearts

When I leave for work in the morning, I always give Mae a hug and a bunch of kisses and let her "tickle tickle" me.  I even usually always come back for a second round of it (hence one reason why I'm late everyday).  Well, one day I was in a hurry and I couldn't give her the full goodbye she wanted.  I'm just grateful she loves her dad. -T

And her mother takes the poor girl's picture!

She just wanted 1 more!

Virginia Trip 2012 - Day 5: The Drive Home

The only catastrophe of the trip came on the drive home BEFORE all the twists and turns of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Mae got sick and puked.  In her defense, Lindsey and I felt car sick too, but we were able to hold it down.  Poor thing.  Lindsey caught a bunch of it in a plastic bag, but some of it didn't make it in.  It stunk and took awhile to clean up.  I was trapped in the back and just laid my head with Anna.  Because of the lengthy cleanup we missed church and drove on through.  After that, it was a pretty smooth ride back.  Anna was fine and Mae was entertained JUST long enough by some musicals.  She was a little antsy the last little bit, but Fraulein Maria saved us. We didn't take any pictures - especially of the puke - but we did take a picture of Mae in the morning sound asleep trying to keep the light out of her eyes. -T

Resting up for the drive home

Opening Day Fiasco

Reds Opening Day 2011 will always be remembered as two things: 1) A great comeback, WALK-OFF win! 2) The first time Dad yelled and scared his daughter (Lindsey does it all the time) Both of these events were interrelated. Dang you great ending to a game! -T

So when Ramon Hernandez hit the game winning 3-run HR I got excited! "GET OUTTA HERE," I believe was the call. Look how happy EVERYONE is...except Mae!

"Look Mae, watch the replay and you'll appreciate it!"

"Look how excited Dusty gets, Mae!"

By the way, BRAVO to Lindsey with all the good TV background shots she got to go with my story! "Why are you still crying? Everyone else on TV is screaming and you're not mad at them! Look, it's Ramon! Watch his post-game interview!" So, in the end we had to make sure that she still liked the Reds and that she forgave her dad... ...she does and did! =)

How To Get More Than One Shower A Day

Mae has really grown to love bath time. So much that recently she went all out to try to get a second one during the day. I was down in the living room working on stuff, Lindsey upstairs with Mae. (We were having some really great tummy time! -L) I then heard a screaming laugh out of Lindsey. When I got there...this is what I saw... -T

Lindsey couldn't stop laughing and Mae just tried to look innocent through it all...can't do that little girl, you got caught red-handed, or golden green-legged I guess

At least it didn't smell!

This used to be a diaper

(SERIOUSLY, TODD?!?!?!! Why would you put this on here?!!!!

We are obviously new parents. -L)
What a horrible color

In the end...she seems to always get her way

Cut me Mick!

They said to keep my stitches in for 10-14 days. By day 12, I noticed the skin was growing up and around my stitches, so after my running was done for the week, on day 13, I had my hot nurse take them out. I was expecting the worst, but reality wasn't bad at all. I was tough...I told her if she had to just to cut me..."Cut me, Lindsey!" She was phenomenol...and well again, looked amazing! -T

"T: Tell me when it's over!" "L: I've already done 3!" "T: Oh really, I didn't even know you started."

TLC

Well this just looks like I have zits or poison ivy with stiches in it.

No blood = Good

It feels weird

Starved for Attention

With Lindsey being pregnant and getting to go get stitches a few months ago, I think I felt a little jealous. Well, nothing a slice to the knee can't fix! Dad gathered a crew (Dale, Brian, me, and him) to put a metal roof on Grandpa's garage. The metal sheets were too long so I had the job to cut them shorter with shears and then hand them to Brian who was at the bottom of the roof and then he would screw in the bottom while Dad screwed in the top and the middle (he was on the top of the roof). Dale had not arrived from work yet. It was a GREAT system for about 30 minutes. As I was pulling off one sheet of metal to cut the next one, I slipped on a little lip in the grass and pulled the metal sheet right across the inside of my left knee. It hurt, but only like a paper cut would. Unfortunately, it was not like a paper cut. I saw the scratch and then was able to open up the side of my knee and see inside and as we all know Todd and insides of bodies don’t mix well. After a very brief feeling of light-headedness, I drove myself to urgent care, met Lindsey there, got 8 stitches, got a tetanus shot, and that was that.

The good news? I got some attention finally! =)
The bad news? I can't exercise for 10-12 days...8 weeks straight of motivation totally down the tubes!

This is a really close shot of it...you can see it's more deep than wide. That must be a needle the doctor stuck in to show the size of the wound. Oh no...whoops...I'm not sure how a fence hole picture got into this post!

We didn't really have a shot of it before the stitches since I was out on the job

Wounds are supposed to be gross! All mine looks like is a scratch with stitches in it!

All the attention I got just makes me look ultimately look like a wuss...seriously, a scratch with 8 stitches in it. I PROMISE it really did need stitches and I could really see inside past the skin! I'm not lying just for the attention!