Passing the week away

After a little playtime with Paw-Paw on Tuesday morning and a yummy home cooked lunch, Summer and I ventured downtown to the Warner Park pool.  We started off in one of the kiddie pools, but quickly moved up to the big pool.  The inflatable obstacle course was calling our names, so we took the swimming test and both passed.  We had to swim across  the pool and back with our heads above water.  We did it together and she had no problem doing it with me cheering her on and encouraging her.  We got our green bracelets and headed to the deep end.  It was our first time doing the course, and I have to admit I was a little nervous for her.  But, I didn't say anything.  When it was our turn, we jumped in and swam to the first obstacle - climbing on the inflatable.  It was no race for us as I did not want to abandon her and leave her alone and scared.  We both made it all the way across the first time we tried! We did it once more before we left, but first we went to try out the slide.  It was a hit with her, but not so great for me as the landing did just not feel good.  Oh to have a 6 year old body again!  After a few times down the slide, she decided she would like to touch the bottom in the 9 ft. deep pool.  She tried blowing out her air like my cousin had taught her a few weeks ago, but she just couldn't do it.  So, I tried pushing her down with my feet after she would go under and it worked.  She was smiling so big after she came up the first time she touched.  She had to do it over and over.  It was cool to see her accomplish this feat which probably had seemed impossible to her at first after her watching me doing it and seeing how far I was from the top of the water.  After a bit, we decided to walk over the the spray and play part where she had her end of the year school party.  She showed me all the cool tricks of going under the fountains and letting the big trough dump on our heads.  Then we headed back to the deep end for a little more underwater fun.  When she had had enough of the pools, we got out and changed clothes for our trip to the library.

She was excited to get there early and play on the computers before story time started.  On the way up, we found out how many more books we could check out that day since we already had a pile at home.  But, who wants to go to the library and not check out books?  When it was time for story time, she paused the Cat in the Hat book she was reading on the computer.  She never did go back to it.  Since it was the end of the summer reading program, they only showed a few videos in lieu of reading books to us.  They still did a craft at the end.  Thank goodness!  I think that is her favorite part.  On our way out, we picked out more books and then checked them out.  I'm happy to say that we have exceeded our goal of reading 100 books this summer.  I just hope she will be rewarded by getting to go the party this weekend while she is at her dads.  As we were driving home, she said, "I'm thinking Krystals."  So, we stopped at the one in Soddy and dined in on cheese Krystals.  She likes hers with mustard, but no pickles or onions.  I like mine with just cheese.  When we got home, we decided to go get in the pool.  We played for a while and then came back in and got ready for bed.  We topped the day off with Barney's Campfire sing-a-long.  My favorite Barney movie!  Yes, I have a favorite.  I really like most of them.  The songs are just so catchy and it really is an upbeat fun time even when you are nearing 35.  I guess maybe I'm still a kid at heart.  :)  

When we got up Wednesday, she asked if we were going to get to stay home all day.  She was happy to find out that yes we were and not only that, but Memaw and Nanny were coming over after work to play and spend the night with us.  We watched a few cartoons and had some yogurt and granola for breakfast.  This is the most normal breakfast food she has eaten in a long time, but she was not really fond of it.  I did manage to get it all down her, but she made me feed her.  She's still my baby!  A little later she took Paw-Paw down to her hideout (the bamboo woods behind our house), but that ended with her getting stung by a yellow jacket.  I heard her cry out and the first thing that came to my head was a snake.  I was wrong, but it was still not pleasant for her.  We quickly taped a penny on it after consulting Memaw on the phone, and it seemed to take most of the pain away.  We also applied an ice pack a few times, but she found that the best thing to do was just to leave it alone and not touch it.  The day could not go by fast enough for her, but we managed to stay busy until they arrived.  Oh what a joyous time that was for her!!!!  She showed them all the things around the house that she had been wanting to.  She and Memaw swam in the pool.  She took them to her kingdom (the basement) where she rules as queen.  They all three played the Cat in the Hat game and then a few rounds of hot potato while I watched.  I really enjoyed just watching her smile all evening long.  Not that it is uncommon, but she is just a beautiful little girl.  And, I'm not one bit prejudice!  Ha!

This morning we got up early to have cappuccino with Memaw and Nanny before they left for work.  After they left, we started playing game.  We played Disney Princess's Spinning Wishes twice.  We both won once.  Then we played the Disney Princess's Monopoly Junior twice and she beat me both times.  After that, we headed up to her room where we played another Disney Princess game.  It is funny how she loves the games, but getting her to watch a princess movie is almost impossible.  After playing it three times, with her winning twice, we moved onto a craft project.  While we were doing it, Paw-Paw showed up.  We finished up as much of the craft as we could, but had to put it on hold while it dried for an hour.  I let Paw-Paw take over for a while, and I went to tend to my chores.  After the craft was dry, we worked on it a little more.  She had requested cheeseburgers for lunch, so that is what we had.  She gobbled hers up as she had the night before at dinner.  Either I'm a good burger maker, or she just isn't picky as long as there is cheese and mustard.  

This evening we took a trip downtown to cool off at Coolidge park before watching an aerial dance show in the trees.  She did not jump right in the fountains and play like she would've a few years ago.  I actually had a hard time convincing her to get in them even though she had been excited when I mentioned going down there.  She wanted me to play in the fountains with her, but I did not wear my bathing suit and did not want to get totally soaked.  I did walk around them with her and get my feet in them, but that was not enough to get her to go all the way in them. She just said she did not know what to do in them.  I told her to watch the other kids and do what they were doing, but she finally said it just wasn't her kind of thing.  I guess she's outgrown it or maybe it was just an off day for her.  It was a little frustrating for us both, so we ended just giving up and heading over to where the tree show was going to be.  We spread out our picnic blanket and relaxed in the shade while enjoying a nice breeze.  Not too long after we got there, they announced there were snacks up the hill so we went and got some green grapes.  She ate them all up, but did let me have a few.  A little while into the show, she wanted more so we got some more.  A healthy snack is okay to indulge in, right?  It did not ruin her steak dinner that we had afterwards at Logans.  Of course, she did not eat all of her steak, but I imagine she will have it for breakfast tomorrow with some rice.  

We finished the day off with a few episodes of Dragon Tales followed by a few books.  I really thought I was exhausted, but she fell asleep first and all I could do was lay there.  That's when I decided to blog. I hope now that I have shared most of our memories from the past few days, I will too fall fast asleep.  We'll see...

A week off

This week is going to be a pretty laid back week for us.  No camps, no big plans.  It's finally time to relax and take it easy!  Summer is happy about that as she enjoys days that we stay home all day and she does not have to leave the house.  Sometimes I wonder if it is because when she was younger we did so much running around doing this, that and everything we could.  But, maybe it's just because home is such a fun place to be. 

Yesterday, she spent a lot of time playing with her Paw-Paw.  She loves to do that!  Some mornings she will watch the clock and is so happy when it is finally 9:00 a.m. so she can go to his house and see if he is up.  I had to set a time because otherwise she would be over there at 7:00 waking him up.  It is so cool to hear them playing in the house as she is usually laughing and just having a great time with him.  He really gets on her level and does whatever she wants.  I feel so blessed to be able to have him as a next door neighbor which is something I never really thought would've happened when I was growing up.  So yesterday, after spending the first part of the morning on the couch with me watching a Shrek movie on her iPod, she went to see if he was ready to play.  They hula hooped and played and laughed and had a great time.  She was very happy to not have to go to the grocery store with me because that would've meant she would have had to leave the house.  Oh no!!!  lol  I think she wore him out because while she and I were eating fish sticks and home grown tomatoes (she dipped both of hers in vinegar, of course!) for lunch, he fell asleep on the couch. 

After he went home, it was my turn to play.  We made a butterfly kite into a dress up accessory.  We played Chuck E Cheese on the Wii.  We were trying to figure out how to change the level on the game since it always says we are at level 1.  We got the manual out and could not figure out how to change the level.  It seems we just need to play the game more.  While we were looking through the manual we discovered that we are missing a few of the games that are supposed to be on there - namely the ticket blaster.  We never could figure out how to get it to show up.  She was totally bummed about this.   But, maybe one day it will magically appear.  I hope so for her sake.  Maybe we'll just take a trip to Chuck E Cheese and somehow bribe them to let her get in the ticket blaster.  She has always wanted to do that, but I just don't like having birthday parties there and I think that's the only time they let people in there.  I'd rather it be just me and her so we can play to our heart's content, cash our tickets in and leave.  

We were expecting some friends over yesterday evening and while we were waiting on them to arrive, Summer wanted to play her Cat in the Hat I Can Do That game.  We had a good time playing it although I had to crawl around the house on several of my turns and my knees did not really like that.  She laughed and laughed during the game which made it all worth while though.  When her friend Abby showed up, they were off to play together and the game was forgotten about.  I can't say I'm sad about that because we had already been through the cards more than once.  They played and played until Abby's parents were ready to go.  I think the girls could've played longer, but it was getting late and they had to go.  On their way out, Summer showed them her new turtle that a friend found for her yesterday.  I am really hoping we will let it go soon as it does not seem to like it's cage and tried and tried to escape as we were getting ready for bed last night.  Maybe we'll do what we did with our last turtle and let him out for some fresh air and then forget about him until it is too late and he has wondered off.  Oh darn! 

Well, I am looking forward to seeing what she wants to do when she gets up.  Until then, I think I will lay on the couch and rest.  I got up early due to being unable to fall back asleep with some unfinished business on my mind.  Now that it is all taken care of, I can relax. 

The funness of my little girl

Yesterday after art camp, Summer and I went to our favorite sushi place for lunch - Sekesui.  She loves their soup, salad and teriyaki chicken.  My favorite are the Red Dragon rolls.  After getting our bellies mostly full, we headed to Cold Stone Creamery where Summer got cake batter ice cream in a sugar cone.  I really didn't want to get the cone because she never eats it, but I thought maybe there was a chance she would this time.  Nope.  She actually asked me pretty please to go get her a spoon so she could spoon the ice cream out of the cone.  lol  We walked to the playground afterwards, but after about fifteen minutes we left.  It was just too hot outside.  So we went ahead to the dentist even though we were an hour and a half early.  At least it was air conditioned!!!  They took her early and she got a great report.  No cavities!  We also learned that her insurance was going to pay for the dentist so that was a blessing. 

We headed a birthday party at Pump It Up after that.  After watching the rules of the place, Summer was too nervous to play.  She was so scared that she was going to break a rule that she did not even want to play even though she has been there many times before.  Darn video!!!  :(  I was pretty disappointed in the effect the rule video had on her, and I could not convince her that she would be fine and not break any rules.  Her friends came over the the bench where she was sitting and tried talking to her to see what was wrong, but they could not tempt her from the bench.  After they all left her, I went over to try to talk her into playing, but it was not easy.  I did get her to go down the slide once, but that was the extent of her playing on the inflatibles.  She did cheer on her friends Giada and Annie as they played air hockey.  They were having so much fun that she never got a turn.  It was good to see her finally smiling and having fun after being too intimidated to play.  What a bummer!  When the party moved to the birthday room, she was all smiles and acting silly with her friends.  She ate her piece of cheese pizza up and then licked the icing off of her cupcake.  The end of the party was definitely better than the beginning!

When we got home, we continued our Barney movie marathon which started the night before.  After going through and organizing our movies, she decided we would watch all the Barney movies.  I know we've got at least twenty of them so it might take a while.  The first night we watched two Barney Christmas movies.  Last night, we watched Can You Sing that Song?  Today we have watched two more.  The marathon goes on......

We are at the end of the summer reading program at the library.  When I turned in her sheet at the library Monday, she had read 75 books so far (at least that's how many we have written down).  Some of those we read twice, but each book is only counted once.  Our goal is 100 books, but I don't think we will make it before Saturday which is the final deadline.  I was really just wanting to read 100 by the time school started so I'm pretty sure we will make that.  I have read most of the books to her, but she reads the level 1 books to me.  I will probably go and update the total at the library tomorrow while she is at camp.   Not that it really makes a difference, but I want to return some of the books so I don't have to make a special trip downtown on Monday so I might as well add on the books we read this week.  Well, I must get off for our bedtime craft.  We are making a model lung in a plastic bottle.  Good times!!!

Camp central

Aerials camp has come and gone. Summer and her friend Willow had a lot of fun at the week long four hour a day camp learning different things on the trapeze and silks. They got to choreograph a routine for the performance at the end of camp. They decided to be scared zebras running from a car. It was cute to see the act they had put together on the trapeze to the song of Jungle Boogie. You can see it here.  Willow spent the night with Summer one night and that was fun too.  They had a tea party in the library loft and shared lots of laughs over a half gallon of water.  Summer did not go spend the night with her although she was invited, but she says she only likes to spend the night with her Memaw or her cousins.  She spent her first weekend with her dad (for those who don't already know, we are getting divorced) and although she did not think she would be able to sleep without me there, I believe she did.  Lexie was there to help keep her company so I know she enjoyed that too since I have not been able to get her for the past few weeks.  I hope that won't last forever, but only time will tell.  I sure do miss that sweet girl!

This week she is attending a week long art camp at the Hunter Art Museum for the 2nd summer in a row.  On the way there, she asked me how long the camp was and I told her 3 hours.  She was not too excited about being away from me that long and asked me if I thought she was going to be able to do it. LOL  I reassured her that she would, as she had done it the year before with no problems.  However, when I walked her to her classroom she was a little teary eyed and not in the best of spirits.  When I picked her up, she seemed to have had a good time and was anxious to get home and make some hamburger helper.  But, when we got home, the meat was still not thawed so we had a tea party complete with strawberries, smoked gouda and crackers to pass the time until it was.  After eating our hamburger helper and broccoli and cheese, the rest of the day was spent being silly on the couch, cuddling with the cats and dog, playing in the hot tub and watching Barney and Calliou videos.  Of course, we could not watch  movies without cookies and kettle corn, her two favorite snacks.   At bedtime, we read quite a few books.  Her favorite were the Dr. Seuss books and mine were the ones she read to me.  


Today as we headed to camp, she told me she missed me already.  She's such a mommy's girl!!!  She claimed her belly was hurting her when we got there, but I'm not sure if it really hurt or if maybe she thought she would be able to get out of going.  She did much better at drop off and went right into the class and started talking to one of the instructors.  They told her to write her name on the back of the paper and she asked, "How do you know which is the front and which is the back?"  It was a plain white piece of paper.  Too cute!  :)   

I took her to the doctor yesterday because she ran a low grade fever off and on last week and over the weekend.  She had also been complaining of belly and head aches all week.  After a strep test, blood test, and thorough examination by her doctor, it was determined that she was just getting over another virus as her white blood counts were low.  The doctor also found her to be constipated which seems to have been a pretty consistent problem for her since her chemo treatments which ended almost 3 years ago.  Hopefully, we will be able to get that straightened out with a little help from some miralax.  I don't want to fail to mention that it was possibly one of most fun doctor visits we have had.  While we were waiting to see the doctor, I sang her silly songs and she laughed and laughed begging for more.  I couldn't talk her into singing one to me though.

Looks like we will possibly be spending the rest of the day watching Barney videos.  She has requested that we watch all the ones that we have and then write their names down on a piece of paper.  We'll see if that happens or not.  Right now we are waiting on some banana bread to come out of the oven.  She was my big helper making it and added all the ingredients into the mixing bowl.  I think her favorite part was smashing the bananas, but she would not help me peel them.  She had a little taste of the batter, but she will not try the bread.  She said banana bread is not good, and she will not eat any.  That's okay though because it is not for us.  Guess I'm going to get off here and check the bread.  Then time to spend the rest of the day with her.  Love it!!!!

Our trip to the beach

Last week Summer, my dad and I traveled to Fort Walton Beach for a much needed vacation.  About an hour into the drive, she started with the "how much longer?" question.  "How many more minutes?" was a another of her favorite questions.  She played her Leapster some, but did not really play the iPad like I thought she would.  I figured she would be glued to Fetch with Ruff Ruffman like she had been the week before, but I guess that did not interest her.  After about seven and a half hours, we made it to our destination:  Island Echos on Okaloosa Island.  She only slept for about thirty to forty minutes the whole way down.  We were not at the condo long before she was ready to head to the pool.  After a little time there, we headed to the beach to build a sand castle.  We were almost finished with it when a rain shower blew over and cleared the beach.  We headed to our unit to get our things settled in and relax.  We were tired from the long day on the road so we decided to eat in instead of going out like we did for supper the rest of the week.    


On Sunday when we woke up, a tropical storm had blown in.  The waves were huge, but the rain had not arrived yet so we headed to the pool.  Summer and Paw Paw swam together while I watched.  It was a little cool out for me with no sun in sight.  While they were swimming, it started sprinkling, but that did not bother them.  When Summer was chilled to the bone, we headed back up to the room.  That was when her vacation took a turn for the worse.  She started running a high temperature so I ran to the store to get some medicine.  On Monday morning, she also had developed a sore throat so we took her to an urgent care clinic.  They gave her a strep test which was negative, but since she also had a painful sensation at the end of her peeing, they put her on amoxycillin to be on the safe side.  Her fever continued to spike over 102 for the next few days and added to the sore throat were body aches and a sore mouth.  On Thursday, we returned to the doctor for more tests since she did not seem to be improving.  After another strep test, urine culture and a trip to the hospital for a blood test, it was decided she had a virus.  They called her in a prescription of nystatin for the thrush that had developed in her mouth.  


Her week pretty much consisted of watching DVDs on the couch.  Blues Clues and Barney kept her quite entertained.  We met some nice people on the beach who loaned us some of their movies.  Her favorite was "A Bug's Life."  We also watched "Ant Bully."  On Wednesday night, she asked me when she was going to get to have some fun on vacation, but the poor thing just did not feel like doing anything.  It broke my heart that I could do nothing to make her feel better.  Her mouth was so sore we could not brush her teeth and pretty much the only thing she consumed all week was yogurt drinks. The pool was not even appetizing to her.  I did manage to get her to take a trip to the beach twice where she sat under the umbrella and buried her feet in the the sand.  She did seem to enjoy that some, but it did not last long before she was ready to head back up to the couch or bed.  She went through lots of ibuprofen trying to manage her fevers and slept quite a bit too.  


On Friday morning, she still did not feel great, but she did want to do something fun.  She begged me to take her to the water park. So, after getting her to take her medicine (that was a struggle the entire trip), drink a glass of Gatorade and gulp down a yogurt smoothie, we headed to Big Kahunas.  We had lots of fun going down water slides.  It was great to see her finally having fun.  Her favorite was the one where she and I got to ride double down an enclosed yellow slide.  We rode most of the slides two or three times.  We enjoyed the wave pool for a little while until hunger hit us, and we headed to the snack area.  We ordered a philly cheese steak to share, but her mouth was still her enemy and she could not eat.  Her fever also started rising again, so we left the park and headed back to our condo.  We had about two and half or three hours of fun though so it was worth the trip.


Saturday morning we packed up and our vacation was over.  On the way home, she slept more than the first down so her "how much longer" questions were not quite as bad.  We were all ready to get out of the car when we got back to Chattanooga.  The not so great vacation was over, but the sickness was not.  The main thing bothering her is her mouth.  She is so hungry, but she it just hurts too bad to eat.  She's hoping we will get to go back to the beach later this summer or maybe for fall break.  We'll see though.  Our life has gotten pretty complicated in the past week, but I'm sure in the end we will be fine.  The next few months will probably be rough for us both, but at least at the end of the day we still have each other.