2nd camping trip of the season

We just got back from our 2nd camping trip this year. This time we made a reservation at Ponderosa State Park in McCall. It was the same group as last time: Scott, Spencer, and I, Lindsey, her 2 kids, Katie, and Katie's friend Cassie. This time was really fun. Scott's parents let us take their camper (thanks again!!). So we didn't have to deal with as many coolers or tents. Our fire started...no problems there. We did a lot of hiking around. Well, for us it was a walk, for Spencer, Natalie, and Alex it was a hike.

The wonder pets: Linny (Alex), Ming Ming (Natalie), and Tuck (Spencer).

Matching camping pajamas

All Natalie wanted to do was play with bugs. She brought up her bug collector kit to find some. We found a whole bunch of one particular kind of black beetle. It may not have been an actual beetle, I don't know. They had really long antenna, and longer legs than I think beetles have.

I was too scared to take the lid off, for a better picture. And yes, she did play with them...not just look at them. For awhile, she would grab one out, put it next to her, and start scooting off, and wanted it to follow her. Of course it wouldn't, so she would have to go back, grab it, and put it next to her again.

The first bug that we found for her ended up crawling away. At that time, she only had the one. She was so upset when we couldn't find it.

When she lost it, she sat on the ground, curled up in a ball, and just cried. It was so sad:( After that, everyone went searching to find her another one.

Katie and Cassie got the tent, while everyone else stayed in the camper.

Walking around town, is also a favorite pastime while camping in McCall. Katie and Cassie bought new sarongs, and Spencer decided to wear it:)

A rough few weeks

It all started out with a runny nose and a little cough; both symptoms lingered on for 2 weeks. However, he never really acted sick, they were both just an annoyance. After 2 weeks though, he really started to act sick. Real clingy, didn't want me to put him down, just a lump. So, it was that day, that I called the doctor. I knew that his pediatrician was retiring (He was my pediatrician growing up), but he still had 2 day left. Right after I made the appointment, his fever started. After being examined by the doctor, he was prescribed some antibiotics and sent home. A bad cold, I guess...no ear infections, or trouble breathing. Two days after being on the antibiotics, he got worse. His fever would not break, and he turned from a clingy lump, into a crying clingy lump. Also, he wouldn't eat or drink anything. I know that he doesn't eat much in the first place, but he had dry diapers for 2 days. And his cry was a real sad cry, a "something is hurting me" cry. Eventually, after 2 days of crying (not even kidding, it never stopped), it went from a sad cry, to a mad cry.....he kept getting so frustrated that we couldn't help him, or figure out what he wanted. He started hitting himself, and me in frustration, plus the antibiotics still weren't doing anything. So finally, after a long day of non-stop crying (from both him and I), we took him into the ER. He stopped crying when we took him in the car. There were 2 things that made him stop crying: the car, and McDonald's chicken nugget happy meals, with Sprite. He started screaming again when we got to the hospital, all during the hour wait to get in, and the first few hours we were in the ER. He had to get blood drawn, and an IV put in for fluid replacement. That was a disaster. They tried both arms a few times, both hands, and both wrists. I don't know the terminology, but they said that it kept "blowing" the vein. His little arms, had red dots all around where they tried to get it in. They said his veins were minuscule, and he was the one kid that they get a year, that's a challenge. Finally, they backed off for awhile. They did try again later, and finally got an IV in. His arms, and hands, are so beat up. They did every test imaginable, including x-rays. We ended up in the ER for 6 hours. During all that time, he kept crying for the car, or home.

Since they finally got the IV in, they gave him some morphine, which relaxed him a little. After awhile, it was hilarious, every time someone came in, he would point to the door and say, "away." He's not dumb, he's knows what they do....and it doesn't feel good. After 5 hours, and not much headway, they decided to get a urine sample. All his diapers were still dry, and he would not pee. So they had to catheterize him. Poor guy. Scott says they're pretty painful. And after that ordeal, it hurt him to pee. So, he held his pee, all day Sunday, and all Sunday night. At this point he had a lot of Sprite, and all the fluid from the IV in him. He told us a million times that he had to go; he says, "pee pee toilet." We tried to get him to go, but he wouldn't. He just bawled. We obviously had a horrible night, because he had to go so bad. But he still wouldn't. Finally, at 6 in the morning, we threw him in the bathtub, and he instantly went. Then, luckily, he crashed till almost noon.
The next day, I took him back to the new pediatrician. Her suggestions were, either get a CT scan to check his sinuses, or a spinal tap to check for meningitis. However, he was acting better. We didn't know if the screaming was only from the peeing stuff, or from whatever was making him scream before we took him into the ER. So, instead of jumping into something big, we decided to do one more round of blood testing, to see if it looked like he was getting better. So the poor guy had to get poked again. Fortunately, it looked better, so she ordered more antibiotics. Right now, we think that it was a sinus infection. He's getting better, he still has a week of antibiotics. However, the doctor also thought that it could be a virus, which is festering in a joint. He kept walking really funky during all this. She said that sometimes viruses can live in joints, like your hip joints, which in turn can make you walk funny. So, we are going to finish the 2 weeks of antibiotics..and if its a joint infection, he'll start walking weird again, after he's been off the antibiotics. Great. So right now, I'm really hoping it was just a nasty sinus infection.
Whenever someone in my family is sick like that, we always set up the couch bed in the family room, for them to lay on. So they can be ill, but still be around everyone. Well, our couch bed is busted, so we set up some mats, and made a nice bed with our down mattress pad, and a lot of pillows and blankets. All he wants is McDonald's and to play "blastoff" - Mario Kart racing on the wii. So for the past week, I've done nothing but sit with him on his little bed we made, and play the wii. He had 7 happy meals in about 3 days time. He's feeling better now, the antibiotics are finally kicking in, and we hope it stays that way.

1st Camping trip of the season

The 1st camping trip of the season included: Scott - Spencer and I, my older sister Lindsey with her 2 kids - Natalie and Alex, and my little sister Katie. We camped overnight at a campground in Cascade ID. Scott was on shift at the fire station and had to stay within the city to be on call. The trip started out with a lot of drama. We arrived in Cascade with high hopes of a wonderful lakeside campsite; equipped with bathroom and water. Although the site did have all those things, it just wasn't quite what we were expecting. We felt like we were camping at Black Canyon Reservoir in Emmett. It was all grass, nothing to seclude your campsite from your neighbors, parking lot in the background; although there were several campers, most people were there just for the day to go boating. The beach was full of people most of the time. We were hoping for a little more wooded area, for the kids to explore, and to seclude the campsite a little. So we packed up and drove all the way to McCall to see if Ponderosa State Park had an open spot. I knew that it was a long shot, but I know that they keep a few sites open for "walk-ins." Unfortunately they were completely booked for the next 4 days. Luckily Scott's brother Jason, and wife Lisa let us stop at the their place in McCall to stretch our legs before shooting back down to Cascade. We planned on Pitching our tent in their backyard, but we knew that Scott wanted to join us, and he had to stay in Cascade. Between the drive from Cascade to McCall and back again, a campsite in the Cascade campground opened up that was perfect. Still not exactly what we hoped for, but this was the only site that had a few trees around it; enough once our tents were up to give us the "woodsy" feel.

The 2 little boys had a blast. They rolled their cups down the hill, played in the dirt, put stuff in the fire...Lindsey's two loved the fire. They couldn't have gotten any closer than they did. Spencer was not thrilled. Initially he started crying when we started the fire, we couldn't figure out what was making him so upset. Then he ran into our tent, and watched the fire from as far away as he could. He eventually came around, but was always a little Leary. Starting the fire was one of our many battles. When it was time to start it Scott got called away to help with a roll over accident, and Lindsey, Katie, and I were left to start the fire...How hard could it be?!? First we forgot to get wood. Round 1 trip to the gas station. Then we forgot matches. So we asked a nearby camper if they had any, they did and generously gave us strike on the box matches, with no box. Luckily, I remember I had matches in my emergency kit. Fire won't start. Round 2 to gas station. I didn't want to make round 3, so I bought a duraflame log, briquettes, and charcoal lighter fluid. Even with all that the fire was still giving us trouble. We eventually got it flaming, but the fire was a battle throughout the entire trip (even with Scott there).

The boys loved their new camp chairs, and eating on the cooler. All the kids, I guess excluding Spencer, loved roasting hot dogs. Natalie sat and roasted forever, until her roaster was completely sterile:) The food was another battle. It was around 9 at night before we ate dinner, due 2 campsite hunting, and fire hassle. Breakfast was also difficult, we couldn't get our grill to heat up very hot. We finally realized that we had it on for so long boiling corn, that we were out of propane. And lunch was disaster. Katie and I were going to have mac and cheese, but the water never boiled. We couldn't get it to boil over a fire either. We waited for 2 hours for our water to boil before we concluded that it wasn't going too. When we tried boiling it over the fire, it took us 45 minutes or so to even get a fire for it to boil on. Then we pulled it off, put it back on the stove, and put a paper towel on the rack, above the fire where the pan stood; it didn't even burn.When my sister's and I think about camping, the lake always comes to mind. When we would camp, we would spend our days on the boat or in the lake. So we decided to take the kids swimming. Lindsey and I decided to "cut loose." We forgot about hair and coldness, and the hassle of it all, and go swimming in the lake. Not just splash around with the kids, but swim out aways.....
Can you see us? If you look really closely you can see our heads. You can kind of make out my white hair, way out there.
Here is about half way back from where we were. When we were little, we use to swim around Payette lake with our goggles on. I remember there were huge piles of big rocks at the bottom of the play areas. Lindsey remembers once when we brought our good friend Tony Sheehan camping with us. Him and Lindsey went all the way out to where the buoys were, and found a big mound of rock way at the bottom. So they, rock by rock, moved the mound to more shallow water. We use to spend hours swimming in the lake, and it hasn't changed. The kids were ready to go before we were.
Had to throw in a picture of Katie:) Once we hit the lake, everything was fun from there. We still had our battles, but it was fun. The stars are awesome up there. We managed to get the kids to sleep and play cards. Scott was still gone, but it was really fun to play with just my sisters. Our cards issue was that our lanterns weren't all that light producing. We had 2 lanterns, a candle, and a flashlight, and could still barely see our cards:) We all got a million mosquito bites, and the kids got unbelievably dirty. Spencer is a drooler, so he was covered. Natalie is also constantly licking her hands and wiping her face so she was extremely dirty as well. But who cares, right? It was fun while it lasted. Now Natalie's face is a little raw, and Spencer's whole body is raw. Spencer has extremely sensitive skin, atopic dermatitis, and anything gives him a dry rash. This case it was mostly from the sand, from lake swimming. Also, just from caked on dirt, that wasn't immediately washed off. I'm still cleaning sand out of his diapers.
And of course, allergies had to take their toll. I rarely get symptoms anymore, I was on allergy shots for 6 years...unless I'm around a cat or a blossoming tree. But poor Spencer started reacting to something. Luckily it was only a few hours before we left, but his eyes just started watering, and puffing up. We don't know what it was from, especially since it was right before we left. If it was a plant, you'd think that it would have happened sooner...maybe a bug bite? Overall, it was fun, and really nice to get out of town, and relax.

Boating/Sandy Pointe Beach

Since we don't have a beautiful California beach close by, we make due with Sandy Pointe Beach. This is, I believe, a man-made little swimming area right next to Lucky Peak Reservoir. We had planned on going boating that day, but the flu bug bit most everyone in the family, so those of us still vertical went to the "beach" instead. My sister, and 2 kids, Spencer and I, little sister Katie, and cousin Tasha with her baby Zeke all went. We pulled Spence and baby Zeke, or baby "eke" as Spencer calls him, in the wagon all the way down the sand to the water. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but have you every pulled 2 kids and a lot of stuff, in a wagon, on sand? Not our brightest idea. Especially since it slopes downward to get to the water, which in turn means, pulling it uphill to get back out.

Katie, Tasha, and Zeke

BOATING

This was the first time this year that we have made it out on the boat. It was so nice outside, and the water was really smooth; hardly any other boats.

Can anyone guess Alex's feelings about being on the boat? He eventually calmed down. Him and Natalie went on the tube with Lindsey, and had fun. Spencer went on the tube with me and loved it. Well, he loved it up until the end, when the rope kept hitting the water and splashing his face. Last year, (his 1st time boating) he went on the tube with me and had a rather unpleasant experience. The ride actually put him to sleep, but when we stopped, I wasn't ready, and didn't distribute my weight right on the tube. If you have too much weight in the front when you stop, the whole tube submerges underwater. So, he got woken up to being submerged into lake water. But he apparently didn't remember said experience and went on the tube again this year.

You can't ride the boat as a little kid, and not help Grandpa drive it:) I think all of my cousins have memories of helping Grandpa drive the boat.
After boating we played on the shore. Spencer, Natalie, and Alex all got new buckets to play with. It's not the nicest beach to play on, a lot of gravel. But Spence had a lot of fun putting the rocks in his bucket.
Lindsey and I had a lot of fun, we haven't done a lot of serious boating since we had our kids. But Lindsey and I both took turns wake boarding, and both of us took a ride on the tube (together). We were reminded that we didn't go as fast as we did when we were little. I think I went faster on the tube when I was 6 years old. Apparently I hit the water harder now. Lindsey and I both have memories of skidding across the water when we fell off the tube...Now I just do a rather painful splat, the water seems to slap me to an abrupt stop. It was a lot of fun though, and I hope Spencer can grow up with all the fun summer boating memories that I have.

4th of July fun

This year Scott, Spencer, and I spent the 4th up in McCall/Cascade. Scott's parents as well as 2 older brothers live up there, and so graciously hosted the Barfuss (Scott's mom's side) family reunion. One of Scott's brothers lives in a 4 level farm house on a good size piece of land, with the perfect area for 50+ people to bring in tents and campers. From my view, everything went smoothly, and everyone had a lot of fun. Scott and I didn't make it up for all the festivities, but we did do a lot of visiting, and swimming. It is nice just to get out of town every once in a while. Since Scott volunteers for the Cascade Fire Department, he got to ride on the ambulance during the 4th of July parade; Spencer got to join him as well. Like any most little boys, Spencer has a fascination for fire trucks, ambulances, and everything else alike. Can't have much more fun than getting to ride in the ambulance with dad during a parade:)

Scott's older brother works for the Valley County Police Department, and also got to ride in the parade.

Unfortunately, I didn't care to carry around my camera through all the family reunion/4th festivities, so this is the only documentation I have, aside from the parade. This is Spencer and I watching the fireworks.

When all of the sisters/sisters-in-law lived in the same area, we would try to do a girls-only lunches on each others birthday's. It doesn't happen so much anymore, we have been split in several directions. So when we can, as many as we can, try to go out to Olive Garden; always the place of choice. Scott's little sister came up from Arizona for the family reunion, so we couldn't miss the chance to get as many of us as we could out to eat. This picture is of Scott's mom, and 3 sister's; I was the only sister-in-law to make it.
Overall, it was a fun-filled week. It was really nice to see everyone. We are so glad that Amber and Camryn made it up, and sorry Jordan couldn't.

Firefighter Calendar

Mr. July 2009!!

Skinny legs:) Suck it in!!

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous pictures of the things that we do...

We celebrate Father's Day, and wear matching outfits:) Happy Father's Day Scottie!!

We love to go to the Hydrotube:) The Hydrotube is a public pool with a giant water slide. During the summer, most of the wards in Boise rent out the place to have ward parties. Spencer always has fun swimming; it was a little cold this time. Since it is a public pool, you have to wait until they close to rent it out. That aspect I think makes it even more fun for little kids, instead of going to sleep they get to go swimming:)

We love to Spike Spencer's Hair after we put sunscreen on his head. This is about the most fun you can have doing a little boy's hair:)

And we love to say hi to the family of ducks that live on our bush....With Scott's help, they have recently relocated to Ann Morrison Park.