Kai Wednesday

Craig stayed home again on Wednesday, which turned out to be a very good idea. I thought I was getting better, but I managed to sleep until 11:30! As I was starting to wake up, Kai came up to tuck me in (as if I needed to sleep more!). She brought a variety of things to put me to bed with, and Craig took a picture of me with all those things when he came upstairs:

When I finally got up, it was time for lunch. I was able to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for Kai, with her expert help. Craig made up some leftovers for me and a sandwich for himself. It took all afternoon to accomplish the errands we had delayed Monday night - with me driving with my left foot and Kai needing a nap in the middle. We managed to make pizza dough, though, so when we finally got home, we started on our pizzas.

Kai was so hungry she took a bit out of each pepperoni before she put it on her pizza. We had to take a picture of this unusual method:

And her resulting pizza (it isn't cheese covering the pepperonis, Kai took a bite out of each and every one!):

And our pizzas:

Kai Tuesday

Due to my injury, Craig stayed home from work on Tuesday. He started the morning by making us breakfast:

It wasn't breakfast in bed - it was even better! Craig got Kai dressed, got me situated on the sofa with an ice pack, AND made breakfast! Here, Kai and I are showing off my breakfast (and her outfit):

Because Craig was working from home (and he actually works non-stop when he works from home) and my mobility is somewhat limited, we called on the babysitting skills of my niece Kaitlin...quite literally. She's in Kansas, but FaceTime allowed her to give Kai a tour of her toys and watch Kai give a tour of her toys. I don't know why Kai is so fascinated with this, but she demanded Katie show her toys not once, but at least three times! Here's a picture of Kai enjoying the tour:

During an intermission (Kai kept accidentally hanging up on her babysitter when she tried to turn the camera around to show Katie different toys), Kai made me something to make me feel better:

Then she made faces to cheer me up:

Later, she "helped" me to the bathroom and was hamming it up with my crutches:

Kai Monday

This week we are child-free (Courtney has gone on a cruise and Bryce is at a college camp) but we have the grand-daughter. I'm going to try to post daily this week, so Courtney can catch up on the week when she comes into port. Craig and I started our "grandparenting" adventure by exhausting Kai to the point that she fell asleep beside me on the sofa, half eaten princess apples in hand. She woke up just a bit as we tried to take this picture:

Monday began with some interesting conversation. Kai remembered to come into my bedroom when she woke up. I asked her to hand me my pajamas, which were at the foot of the bed. We had this conversation as I got dressed:

Kai: "Why do you sleep naked in your bed?"
Me: "I usually do."
Kai: "Like Grandpa do?"
Me: "Uh...I guess?"
Kai: "You and Grandpa are SO silly!"
Me: "Why?"
Kai: "Because you and Grandpa like to sleep naked in your bed."

She topped this brilliant observation by following me into the bathroom and closing us into the room. She announced, "Grandpa doesn't like it when I come in here, but you're a sucker, so you do." This comes from Courtney once saying that she wouldn't pick Kai up, but I would because I'm a sucker. It's true that I'll pick Kai up any time she asks, if I'm not holding anything else.

Leaving our conversations aside, we decided to build with legos. Kai built a very tall tower:

After awhile, she decided we should go back to bed. We crawled into my bed, where she sung me songs and tucked me in:

We got up and bathed. I took a shower while Kai took a bath in the tub next to my shower. That worked really well - she played with toys while I took a shower. When we got done, Kai even squeegeed my shower for me! (She loves to do that, for some reason.) After our showers, we went to the market to get some groceries. Once home, we made a picnic lunch to eat in the backyard. We made peanut butter and jelly water crackers. (Kai wanted to put water on the crackers after we made them, because we had talked about making them with "water crackers". It took some discussion to talk her out of that method.) Here Kai is, enjoying her peanut butter and jelly, water crackers:

Kai and I took naps, then we headed out to get our nails done. After our volunteer event this weekend, my hands were a disaster. So I decided to get a manicure, rather than the pedicure I usually get at the nail place. Kai was very confused by this change of course. She questioned every single thing the lady did during the manicure - what is that? why is she doing that? I let Kai pick out the color(s) for her nails. I told her she could do different colors if she wanted, so naturally she picked out two colors:

I wanted a clear polish with just a bit of sparkle in it, because I don't ordinarily wear nail polish on my hands (I find it distracting and a little confusing when I catch the color out of the corner of my eye). I thought the gold sparkle Kai had picked out would be sheer enough for my purposes. My hands:

Right. I know. That's not sheer at all. It's not at all attention grabbing, right? I mean, if I see that out of the corner of my eye, I'll think it's just my nails. Or I'll scream. I'm not sure which; but I am sure that nail polish won't last the week! (Even if I have to find nail polish remover in Courtney's bathroom, because I'm not sure I have any myself.)

Kai was really great all day. We got home and she was playing in her room with legos (or cleaning her room, it's debatable) so I went downstairs to make dinner for her. Craig and I were planning to run an errand when he got home, so the plan was that she would eat dinner before we went and we would eat when we got home. But I destroyed that plan when I missed a step halfway down the stairs. My foot landed sideways on the landing, I felt my leg hit the carpet while I was still upright, and I heard the loudest pop my body has ever made.

It was all I could do to stop crying when Kai came down to see what had happened. I was trying to text and call Craig, because I already knew I wasn't getting up. Kai brought me her teddy bear, Cotton Candy. When that didn't make me all better, she returned to her room and got her water for me. She offered to get an ice pack for me, but even though she managed to unlock and open the garage door (a new trick) she was unable to reach the freezer in the garage. She knew right where the ice packs were, though!

She returned and asked me to come out and open the freezer. Instead, I directed her to get a towel from the bottom drawer in the kitchen, where they are handily stored, and to fill a cup with ice from the kitchen freezer (which is on the bottom of our fridge). She brought me more cups of ice and we made an ice pack for my swelling ankle. Before too long, she made a second ice pack for herself. She also distracted me by drawing on my legs with a piece of ice. At one point, she went to her room and made me something out of legos.

Craig raced home through the typical, horrible traffic. At one point he told me, "Remember that jackass truck yesterday, weaving through traffic? I'm that jackass tonight." I just asked him to please not crash. When he got close to home, I had Kai get her shoes so I could get them on her before he arrived. I also had Kai clean up - putting away three cups and five towels she had used to make ice packs (this did not include the two towels I was using at the time). When Craig got home, he quickly packed Kai's dinner (a lunchable that she talked this sucker into buying earlier at the market), Kai's tablet (thanks Maurico!), my kindle, and our iPads for our trip to urgent care.

Just past the urgent care center, the police had set up a sobriety checkpoint. We "avoided" the checkpoint by turning into urgent care, so a motorcycle cop followed us. When we parked at the urgent care, he decided we weren't trying to avoid the sobriety check and left us be. Craig went inside and returned with a wheelchair for me. It was big enough for both Kai and I! (This was handy, because Kai insisted on riding with me most of the time.) Here we are in the room, Kai is eating the chocolate pudding from her lunchable, after much discussion (she initially told Craig she didn't like chocolate pudding, but he talked her into trying it while I was getting X-rays and she was sharing it with him when I returned to the room):

My ankle is just sprained, not broken. But I'm supposed to be off it for a week or two. Anyone want to place bets on how likely that is?

Comic Con

We started the weekend early by going to Comic Con on Friday. I had to download the Tetris Blitz app, but I got a special lanyard for it:



We saw some pretty fantastic costumes, but Comic Con is primarily a crush of people. We did stop in this booth for a minute:

But the crown of the trip was finding these fantastic furniture makers: Geek Chic: Furniture for Geeks. All I can say is - I want it! All of it! Even the stuff I wouldn't use!

But the weekend ended on a less happy note. I started Sunday by breaking a glass in the kitchen. Thankfully, Kai stayed on her stool without moving until Craig could lift her out of the room (she's in that delightful stage where she takes an order not to do something as a starting point for something fun to try). I managed, somehow, to get glass under my foot even without moving. But as dramatic as that was, all of us escaped without injury.

Craig and I took the afternoon to look at neighborhoods closer to his office. Afterwards, we met with friends for dinner. I capped the evening by falling in the restroom and cutting myself with my glasses. Oops:

Road Trip: Vegas

Returning from Kansas, I had only one day at home to do laundry before heading out on my next trip. I went alone on this hastily planned road trip to Vegas, to meet my sister at a conference there. But before leaving, I attended my sewing class and finished my shirt for Kai. It's blurry, but this is my favorite picture of her in it:

I was able to bring home the matching bag and take a picture of her with that as well. The second shirt she is wearing is a much smaller size - I had to turn it in for grading, but we will likely put it on one of her dolls or teddy bears as it matches her shirt and bag as well. Here is the set:

At least I needn't feel bad about missing my class on Thursday, I completed two shirts before leaving. Aside from one classmate who also made two shirts (our TA thinks we should start a small company called "Simply Shirts" - I could make girl's shirts and Rebecca could make boy's shirts - because we finished our first baby shirt so early that our teacher suggested we each make a second), everyone else in my class was struggling to finish their shirt. In fact, the rest of my class was still finishing their first shirts today.

But while Ann was at her conference, I had a bigger goal - finishing the course design work I undertook but haven't found time to complete. So I set up an office in her hotel room:

If you're wondering, I made my soy chai latte in a wine glass that morning. I wasn't so completely taken with Vegas to think I could work properly after other beverages.

Ann and I found time for several meals together. Including the following, which we ate at a club with music so loud as to preclude one from thinking, let alone speaking to one another:



We did some shopping at the canal shops. I fell in love with this piece, but the price was just a bit too high (okay, it was twice what I could have comfortably paid for it):

If we weren't planning to buy a house...

I had a great time in Vegas, catching up with Ann and nearly completing my course design. The trip back home went much more quickly, as Ann rode along with me. We spent the weekend taking a whirlwind tour of LA - a local tour, pedicures with Courtney, dinner with the family, Universal Studios, Craig's office, another dinner with the family, several rounds of Catch Phrase at the house, Rosco's Chicken & Waffles, Gamble House tour, and Ikea - packed into about 50 hours. It's really no wonder I haven't had time to write.

Kansas Fifth

After only two days at home after the River Trip, we packed up the family and headed for Kansas. I don't seem to have taken many pictures, but here's what I've got. I'll start with this questionable form of entertainment:

I haven't a clue why Aurora is giving Kai a "horse" ride while Leo instructs Kai on the proper method to play a Nintendo DS game, but the three of them do seem to be enjoying themselves. At least until I attempted to get them to look at me for the picture:

We celebrated the Fourth of July on Friday, the fifth. While we were waiting for the sun to set, EJ entertained a large group of littles (and a few adults) with black-snakes:

EJ also set Kai up with proper ear protection - he has a really neat kind that allows you to hear conversation but protects your ears from the loud bangs:

The guys got the pyrotechnics going (Craig is entirely too close for my comfort):

After a weekend packed with visits, activities, meals, and fireworks, the kids were understandably wiped on our way back to the airport:

River Trip (WNM)

Craig's family goes on an annual river trip with WNM. I joined them this year. Even as a "rookie," the trip was tons of fun. This is no small group - nearly a hundred people. And they are quite well organized. Here, you can see that someone brought an easy-up and set up a little shade:

They apply a bit less planning to the placement of tents. I took a picture of the route to my tent, but I must point out that my tent isn't actually visible in the picture. Our tent is just beyond the awning with the blue cooler in front:

But I certainly cannot complain about the view from our tent (taken out the back window of the tent):

Here is a picture of us floating down the river (censor supplied by a drop of water on the camera, Craig is actually fully dressed):

And here's another, this time showing my classy leg-protecting towel in addition to my SPF50 shirt (the combination did save me from any sunburn, despite two floats of five hours each):



At the end of the trip, we gathered a hundred people on a hill to take a group photograph. After rounding up all those people, getting us settled into something resembling order, I give you this shot:

Like any group picture, you've herded cats to get everyone lined up and then someone has to figure out the timer on the camera.

You can see more pictures here - Flicker

Or on the WNM Facebook page.