Riley and Avery

Oh, yeah, I took pictures!

Yesterday was dollar day at the state fair, which meant dollar admission for Rudi and me, and Riley and Avery were free. Rides were a dollar each. Rides are normally 3-4 dollars each (!!!!!!!!) Since we missed the Renaissance Festival because our return trip from Maryland took much longer than anticipated, we decided to treat ourselves. This mean that I brought NO snacks and NO lunches. We only brought bottles of water. It was nice. Especially for me, as I'm usually the one packing lunches and holding the purse strings tightly. Rudi had an enormous 1/2 pound brat, and I could barely finish my 1/4 pound polish sausage. Despite it being early afternoon, we both threw caution to the wind and had a beer. It was so extremely, extremely, very, very hot and I had to drink my beer rather quickly before it got warm. Yeah, I'm a light-weight, but I was a bit buzzed.

And OMG, we were in Pueblo when I realized that I had taken my carriers out of the car to wash them, and that I had remembered seeing the stroller in the garage. No carriers and no stroller! Eeeek! Luckily, they rent strollers at the fair. We got the double and Riley and Avery both got rides around the fairgrounds.

We actually didn't go into any of the exhibit halls, and only went in to see the sheep because they were being really loud and drew the girls' attention. Must have been dinner time.

Avery was surprising at the fair. She wanted to go on ALL the rides, even ones that I would never go on. She even went in the haunted house with Rudi and Riley. Riley was a bit different this year. She was nervous on all the rides, even many of the kiddie rides. I think she's reached an age of awareness and saw danger where Avery saw only fun. Riley kept asking about the physics and mechanics of the rides, if they would fall off he tracks, etc. Avery's not old enough yet to think of such things.

At the fair, we got some of those Peruvian jackets that we love so much. You know, the handmade wool ones with the embroidery and applique. Riley has an old one that she and we all loved, so now both Riley and Avery have new ones. I got one of those Indian wraps. It was funny, I saw a "dress" in the shop and I came in and asked the woman where it was in the store, how much it was, etc. Apparently, all the "dresses" were made from one wrap. She basically attacked me with one, wrapping it around my body in various different ways. I mean, she was all over me. I ended up buying one, and although she gave me a sheet of directions, I know realize that I may never know how to tie it. She made it seem so easy!

Alright, I'm using Safari instead of Firefox, and it's not letting me upload pictures. So, they're coming up in a separate post!

What is going on with our neighborhood? Riley has had two run-ins today alone. Riley was playing with a piece of one of my ribbons outside. Paige came along and took it and tied it around her waist and wouldn't return it. I know it's stupid, a ribbon, but the fact is it was Riley's, and if it was important to her, then it's important. I told Riley three more times to go ask for it back. No dice. So I went out and told Paige to give it back. She said that it was her cousins. I said, no it's not, it's mine and I want it back. She was like "oh." I swear. Lie to me about some random ribbon belonging to your cousin. Lame.

Next, and more excitingly, Evan shot Riley in the face with his nerf gun. Again. For the second time. At very close range. I was ticked. I tracked him down in the neighborhood where he was hiding in someone's garage (the man of that house was sitting there with his baby, the look on his face was priceless). I had my ugliest face on and YELLED: "If you shoot my daughter ONE MORE TIME I will call the POLICE! That is ASSAULT! That is the SECOND time you have shot her in the FACE! Don't touch her again, and I don't want you anywhere NEAR our house!" I mean, people, I yelled as loud as I could. If I had stuck around a little longer, I probably would have seen a puddle at his feet. Seriously, though, if his parents are raising a child that will point a gun one foot away from a girl's face and shoot her twice while she's whimpering and crying, then they better get used to a police presence around their house.

Okay, that's it. No pictures. Haven't taken any lately, but I will soon. Maybe.

Nothing much new here. Really. We're so interesting...

I started school last week. Fun times. Actually, I like school. It affords me time to myself. I'm taking Creative Writing, American Indian Experience, World History, and Physical Anthropology. The teacher who's teaching Am. Indian Exp. is one I had two semesters ago. This is the third class I've had with the teacher teaching Physical Anthro., so I'm hoping to do really well and get a grad school recommendation from both of them. The humanities teacher I had twice loves me and I'm sure I can get a recommendation out of her too.

Grrrr....Firefox crashed on me and autosave on Blogger was not working, so I lost a whole butt-load of my blog. Grrr, I say.

It's hard to believe that we have a dog now. Not like, I can't believe we FINALLY have a dog, but that Lola has fit so seamlessly into our lives. It seems like she's been here longer than 2 weeks. I don't even mind taking her for her numerous daily walks (ask me again in mid-winter and I might have a different opinion!). She is absolutely head-over-heels in love with Rudi, which I don't mind, because he really needs that. Whether he thinks he does or not. When we go somewhere as a family and come home, I am usually the first one in with the kids, and Rudi follows behind. She will wait until the girls and I file past her and then go ape over Rudi. She absolutely HATES it when Rudi is outside with a cigar. She whines by any open window she can find, and if he coughs or clears his throat, her ears perk up. She wakes in the morning with me for a walk and then goes right back to bed with Rudi and I won't see her until it's time for her next walk. She totally uses me. And I don't mind.

I got a funny picture of Lola today. Lola was under the dining room table chewing on a bone, looking cute, so I got out the camera. As soon as she saw that camera, she does this:


...and as soon as the camera flashed she rolled back over and continued to chew her bone. She totally posed for the picture! Now I'm a crazy dog lady that talks way too much about her dog...

I have been painting like a mad woman at Riley's school (well, Avery's too now). Last year I painted shelves and furniture, and this year I'm doing walls. Fun. Actually, I don't mind it. I enjoy the time to myself, but it's hard to find time to actually DO it, you know? Sometimes I drive all the way there after the girls go to sleep and don't come home until about 1am.

Speaking of 1am, I decided to try to make those beer sausages that we had at Brendan and Mina's house, so after painting, I stopped by the grocery store for some necessities and some beer for the sausage. It was 12:45am. At that hour, only the self-check stations are open, so I start checking my stuff out and when I scan the beer, and loud voice comes out of the machine "AN ATTENDANT HAS BEEN NOTIFIED THAT YOU HAVE A RESTRICTED ITEM!!!!" And the checker comes over and I ask her if she needs my I.D. or what, and she looks at me like I'm a drunk or something and is like "you can't buy beer between midnight and 5am." Seriously, if I were a drunk, don't you think I would have known about that law? Geez, I can count the beers I drink in a year on one hand. I felt like a criminal. And I still haven't gone back to buy the beer.

Rudi has been requesting cabbage rolls for dinner. Today it's pizza, too bad. It takes me FOREVER to make cabbage rolls, and they have to cook forever on top of it. Only to have him tell me that his mother did this different, or that different. Seriously, last time I made cabbage rolls, I started at NOON and they were ready at 5:30. So, he'll have to wait until a day when I have A LOT of time! Hopefully soon, though...

I think my camera batteries are recharged. Time to upload photos...Bah, I only have one picture of Lola and none of the kids. I'll have to check Rudi's camera...later.

Lola get her head stuck in a hole in her blanket. I thought she was being a dachshund and burrowing, but no, she was stuck.

Lola sleeping with Rudi for a mid-morning nap.








It has been a little harder than I thought getting pictures of Lola. She seems to really like me, and when I get down to take her picture, she runs over to me and sticks her face in the camera.

So, obviously, we got Lola. On Wednesday. She is such a perfect pup. She likes the guinea pigs a little too much. Rosie, for some reason, is not afraid of Lola at all and will come up to the edge of the cage and Lola will stick her long wiener dog nose in the cage and lick Rosie all over. Lola whines for them and gets into the play posture. It's funny. Mia is having none of it, though. But perhaps Rosie's mom dropped her on her head or something, but she's not afraid of dogs.

Lola is absolutely smothered in attention. Rudi is thrilled. If he keeps it up, Lola is going to think that her name is My Lola, or Sweetheart, etc. Lola spends most of her time on her back begging for attention. The first day we got her, Rudi was bending over to pick a bead up off the floor and Lola saw him bending over and ran over to him and threw herself on her back at his feet. Ah, the life of a dachshund. She'll take every opportunity she gets.

She slept in the bed with the girls and me the first night, for a while. Avery woke at 1:30am and wanted something to drink, so when I went downstairs to get her one, Lola got up and followed me. She stayed downstairs with Rudi for the rest of the night. She does retreat to her crate when she wants to take a little nap, and I have taught the kids that the crate is Lola's private place and not to bother her when she's in there.

Lola has been going for walks about 8 times a day. We can't tell the difference yet between when she wants to go out and when she needs to go out, if you know what I mean. Not that it matters, really, we'll take her even if it's just for fun, but it would be nice to know if we can finish what we're doing first or if it's urgent. We have found that she does not like bicycles, skateboards, or other dogs. She didn't mind Riley on her bike, so that's a start. I guess since she knows Riley. She likes other people, unless it's dark, then she'll bark at anyone she sees.

Ah, got to go...more later.

The annual picture of all the cousins outside the Kite Loft in Ocean City!

Miss Riley, attitude and all!

Seaweed! The new fashion accessory!


My favorite picture of Riley at the beach this year.

Sooooo happy to be at the beach!

Daddy and Riley stargazing at night on the beach.

Little Miss Blue Eyes.

Yes, Avery was TERRIFIED of the water! To be fair, she did try to run from a wave and landed on her face in the sand and water. After that, she would not trust anyone near the water, and screamed and ran towards the hotel if she was put down anywhere sandy. Ugh.

I know it's been forever since I blogged. Just got out of habit (although it's debatable whether I was ever IN the habit).

We are home. Obviously. Four days of driving and we're home. Oklahoma was nasty, so was the Texas panhandle. Utter desolation. Especially Texas. Nothing anywhere but rusted out abandoned warehouses and farms. New Mexico wasn't all that different, landscape-wise, but showed signs of life. Driving through to Roswell at night, there would be a dim house light in the distance, and a school bus-stop sign. The hotel we stayed in in Roswell was N-A-S-T-Y. Well before even starting on our trip home, I decided that little to no personal belongings would be allowed in any hotel room, especially after Riley's nasty rash caused by, most likely, bedbug bites from a hotel we stayed in on our way out to Maryland. Sure didn't want to bring those nasty suckers home. Well, this hotel in Roswell was beyond disgusting. Had it not been 10pm, be would have searched elsewhere. After getting in, Rudi ran out to grab some eats for himself and the kids and while they ate, I decided to shower the road grime off of me (it had already been 3 days on the road by then) and I went out to the car to get a change of clothes. Roaches were EVERYWHERE! Pardon my middle-class upbringing white self, but I had only seen roaches in the zoo before (kid you not!). I ran inside and told Rudi to hurry up and finish eating because every scrap of food was going to be thrown in the outside trashcan. I didn't want anything to attract those little buggers into our room. There were some holes in the room covered with duct tape, and smaller holes that the owners didn't think worth the duct tape to cover. Trash under the beds that wasn't ours. Oh my goodness, so nasty! And I think that Motel 6 or Super 8 are luxury, so you know this place was a dump!

So, Roswell itself. Interesting town. In the middle of nowhere, literally. Government conspiracy or not, I think it is just as likely that Roswell is conspiring to keep itself relevant and in existence. Without the supposed aliens, Roswell as a town would have been pretty much dead decades ago. Really, nothing to offer, and in the middle of nowhere.

Speaking of Riley's rash, here are the pictures again because it's morbidly disgusting!:

Seriously, that's not even as bad as it got. Not at all. The area around each scab oozed and created more scabs. Nice. That doctor at the urgent care clinic was a wack-a-doo. Totally wrong. Didn't give any opinion as to what it was, other than to say that it looked like shingles (looks NOTHING like shingles if you search Google images) and told us not to go to the beach at all, and if we had to (duh) to get a water tight seal and not get it wet. Didn't sound right to me, so I took her to James' and William's ped, Dr. Ambush, who said he thought it was impetigo (and it matches the description perfectly!) and that we should, by all means, let her swim in the ocean and the pool as often as possible, saying it would do a world of good. So we did. Homegirl was in the ocean twice a day and in the pool at least once a day. It began clearing up after her first swim in the ocean. Literally.

I know that perhaps I'm being too hard on the urgent care doc. But after Avery's "unexplained" rash on her face in her first year that oozed and bled, after multiple courses of antibiotics, constant refusals to consider allergies as a source of the rash, run around after run around, only to find that she was allergic to dairy, eggs, and peanuts (I had to refer my self, for heaven's sake!) I have had it up to HERE with "unexplained" or poo-pooed rashes. Grrrr...It's an admittedly sensitive area for me.

So, yesterday I go out to run some errands. I needed to go to Joanns for fabric to make Riley a first-day-of-school dress (being naively optimistic that I'll have it done by then) and needed to go to Old Navy because they had jeans for $10 and Riley has, as far as I can tell, ONE pair of pants for the fall. Old Navy's jeans were a bust. They just weren't shaped for little girls. You can't really take jeans that fit a 12 year old and shrink them for a 5 yo and think the proportions will be the same. Totally unrealistic jeans. Very narrow in the hips and thighs, too low of a rise, and the flare jeans were ridiculous. Ugh. And she's too big for the 5T in the toddler girls section.

Anyway, while I was in Old Navy a really LOUD storm rolls in. You know, the warehouse roof on that place really amplified the sound. I wandered around Old Navy longer than I would had it not been pouring buckets. I did get two long sleeve shirts 2/$10 and two pairs of yoga pants 2/$10, that will hopfully fit. So I leave the store, and there is marble-sized hail all over the place! I mean, like piled on the sidewalks and on my car. I left my cell phone at home, but Rudi had tried to call me and make sure that I wasn't actually driving during the storm. He was worried that the huge hail would break my already-cracked windshield if I were actually driving.

So, I get home and the girls are all excited about the hail (and it rained a ton too). I look at my garden and it is totally DESTROYED! The garden box was FILLED with hail balls. Then I notice that Riley's Leapster was outside too. It was sitting on a plastic, slightly concave table, in a puddle of water. I won't lie. I freaked. I yelled. I was mad. We just got that thing right before going to MD and it was not cheap. I tell Riley over and over again that she is not to bring things outside, particularly the Leapster. I took the batteries out and dried them. I unscrewed the body of the Leapster, separating the two parts, towel dried is as much as was safe, and left it to air dry. I don't want to jinx it, but the darn thing appears to be WORKING! I will not lie, that thing was sitting in a PUDDLE of water! Wow.

Okay, I'm done for now! Perhaps I'll think of something else later...

Taken at Riley's request. Best Friends!

Avery all ready to go into Uncle Wilbur fountain!

Weird "Free hugs" lady. Yeah, downtown Colorado Springs...

Riley and Caoimhe doing something strange.

The girls set up a picnic. Avery wouldn't join in. Poo.

Avery actually got into the fountain. She had never gone this far and gotten this wet. She had a ton of fun!


That towel got quite wet, I'd say!


Avery made me take a picture of her climbing into the car.

...and a picture of her dog.

Riley and Caoimhe had an absolute blast at Uncle Wilbur. They really are so much alike. It's hilarious. All year, their teachers have told both of us how well they got a long and how they are so uniquely alike.

Today was Rudi's birthday. I got him a portable DVD player and a used X-Files season 2 box set. He was surprised and really happy. I had to make two attempts at the homemade chocolate cake. The first one overflowed and nearly set the oven on fire. So I made adjustments to the recipe and went at it again. You know, high altitude and all that. Well, the second one overflowed as well, but I managed to salvage it. It came out looking funny, but tasted fine. Turns out, our oven is not level. WAY not level. I don't know why I didn't think of that before. Duh. I'll see if I can borrow a level from the maintenance guy and even it out a bit.

I can't believe that we are leaving for Maryland on Monday! So soon. July just came up so fast! We have an appointment to get the car fixed tomorrow, and to get a rim for the spare tire. Last minute stuff, as usual. I think we are all set on clothes and whatnot for the girls. I do have to make a trip to the dollar store to get some car activities for the girls.

Riley pulled out her tooth today. It was SOOO not ready to come out quite yet. I would have given it another week at least. She was outside playing with her friends, and ran in, announcing that she had pulled her tooth out. Oh my goodness, there was so much blood!! She was so triumphant, her face, neck, and nose covered in blood, holding up her tooth, blood all over her hand and running down her arm. I swear. I think she was trying to kill me. It's too bad though, because I thought it would be a joyous occasion, the first lost tooth, but rather I was freaking out because of the blood. Ah, Riley...what evil plan will you devise next? We can only wonder...

Hmmmmm, what else? I thought there was something...

A couple things about Riley:

Riley got in her 6yo molars on the bottom. That was a surprise. I was not on the lookout for new teeth at all. Geez, she's growing so fast!

Yesterday Riley said "Mom, you do you get a boy to marry you?" That was also a surprise. I didn't expect that from Riley. Avery, yes, Riley, not so much.

Lastly, and most importantly, Riley was attacked by an 8yo girl today. This is the same girl that told her the other day that she was going to hide a knife in her pocket and when Riley gets a dog, she's going to slice it. And then she'll hide a gun in her pocket and shoot Riley's dog. After that, I forbade Riley from playing with her. Especially since her father is in the army and I know they have service weapons in that house. Not cool at all.

Anyway, today Riley was outside around the side of the house and I hear her yell "I'm not allowed to play with you!" Apparently, Paige didn't take to kindly to that. I hear Riley screaming in a way that I've never heard before, so I run outside. Now, the lady across the street had a baby about a week ago, so they apparently had a lot of family visiting. They were all sitting outside most of the day, enjoying the weather and watching their little kids play. I assume it was the lady's father or father-in-law, saw the whole thing and was running across the street when I was running out. He was yelling "that girl beat up your daughter! That big girl had her on the ground and was punching her!" I collected Riley and ran over to Paige's house to speak to her mother, while Rudi was shouting after me not to kill anyone. Paige's mother was on the phone when she answered the door, and obviously didn't think the situation important enough to end her phone call :( She said she'd keep Paige in for a while. Whatever. After hyperventilating and having a panic attack, Riley went back outside after being assured that Paige would not be out there. I comforted her, telling her that she did not deserve to be treated that way, etc.

Later, the man who saw the fight asked how Riley was, and said that that girl was way too big to be jumping on Riley like that. He said that it would be different if it were a fair fight, etc. He said that Riley held her own against Paige. I said, Riley fought back? And he was like "Oh, yeah, and she did really well!" In retrospect, I saw some blood and scratch marks on Paige's face and just didn't make the connection that Riley caused them. Riley may only be 5, but she can hold her own against an 8 year old! I don't WANT Riley to get in fights, but I also want her to respect herself enough to stand up to bullies.

Tomorrow, I'm going to talk to the property manager. I don't really want anything to be done with that family, because I know how things get when bad blood begins in a neighborhood. But she needs to be aware that a very violent little girl is running around the complex, and that if that little turd touches my child again, they'll be looking or a body.

And a special shot out to James, so willing to stand up for his little cousin! So brave!

Riley absolutely adores her camp! Good thing, because it sure is a long haul! Of course, when it turned summer, Colorado took it seriously. It is quite hot this week. Riley is outside all day long, exploring and learning. She comes home DEAD TIRED and with sore feet. It IS a mountain zoo, so uphill all the way. She just is really enjoying it. She took a video of the grizzly bear that I have to upload and post. But the drive! Oh my goodness! It's not so bad when you're going to the zoo for a day of fun, but going, coming home, going and coming home again is really a lot of work, a lot of gas, and a lot of stress. We just need to get out of the house 10 minutes earlier. Just 10 minutes. I feel asleep on the couch with Avery at noon today, only to wake up at 2:30 in a panic. I need to get Riley at 3 and had a 35-40 minute drive. Thank goodness the cops weren't out today, but I got there in time. GO, speed racer, go!

Sunday was Rudi's choice, so we went to the Nature and Science museum in Denver. We didn't get a real early start, and got there at about a little after 2 and they closed at 5. We get in free all the time since we have military IDs. Rudi is surprised by that every time, even though I tell him that we can get in free whenever we want. We saw all the high points for the girls first.
Their stuffed animal displays were phenomenal, the best I've ever seen. So realistic and interesting for the children. I learned a lot about Rocky Mountain wildlife. Who knew there were so many mountain sheep and mountain goats? I thought there were mountain goats and bighorn sheep, but there are a lot more, and I realize that I've been calling them the wrong name all this time. This muskoxen one was funny because Riley said "Are those kayaks?" and I say, "Do you mean yaks?" Riley was like "Yeah, I mean yaks." They are muskoxen, dear.







So much interesting stuff to look at!

Riley and Daddy's favorite part was the space exhibit.



Avery tried SO HARD to use those grabber things! She was so patient, and eventually got it!



Riley and Rudi totally enthralled in some space movie they were watching. Finally somewhere where they can share their mutual love for something I don't give a flying turd about! Hopefully when we move to Denver, the two of them can go there by themselves and talk outerspace all day.

Looking through telescopes together!

Riley really loved the real mummy. So interesting to her. She likes morbid things like that.

...and the famous fossilized dinosaur turd! Again, Riley smelled it. At least she didn't lick it this time!

...and the best part! Astronaut ice cream!

Surprisingly, Avery loved it too. Rudi loved it as well, which surprised him. Which means that he wanted some of mine since he didn't buy his own. Poo. If it weren't Father's Day...

While in Denver, we also took another look at Congress Park. It's beyond perfect for me in every way. However....Riley's number one most important thing in her life is riding her bike. Unfortunately, that is the ONLY thing that is less than perfect about Congress Park. The streets are really narrow and a lot of traffic. She'd have to stick to the sidewalks and not go out of my sight (it's too close to Colfax Ave.). So now I'm conflicted. I am wondering if I'm doing what's best for me, and not the kids. Is the lack of bike ridability made up for by the close proximity of several parks, the zoo, and the science museum? Sure, we could take the bikes to the park and ride, but I'm not sure....we are still moving to Denver, but now we're expanding our search. We want something VERY walkable, close to parks and playgrounds, AND with a place that Riley can ride her bike. We may look in the Cherry Creek neighborhood. Or look more into Cheesman Park, which was a close second after Congress Park, but for some reason, we never actually looked it at when we were in Denver. Ugh...why must I always second-guess myself?