Day 7: Christchurch Park and Mansion

We woke up early Monday morning and headed out to downtown Ipswich to go to Christchurch Park and Mansion.

The morning was a little cold, but it wasn't raining, and I was really happy to be able to soak up a little Vitamin D. We spent quite a while wandering around the huge, beautiful park taking in the scenery. Patrica told me about how when she was a kid, she we would go to the park and collect the horse chestnuts. The would drill holes in them, put a string through it and make "clonkers". After a long walk, we found a little concession stand where we sat and had a cup of tea. Just as we were finishing our drinks, it started to get windy and rainy, so we headed to the mansion.

The mansion was HUGE, and amazing beautiful. It was completely restored to fit what it would have been like during the Victorian era.
In the back part of the mansion, they had a gallery of Constable and Gaines (famous, local Suffolk artists) work. I could have spent hours in the gallery. It was amazing!

Christchurch Park and Mansion

Afterwards, we caught the bus into town, and had a light dinner at a local pub. I had the cheese chips (fries). I don't think I could ever get enough of the English cheddar!!!

brolly (underbrella) holder inside the pub

Inside the pub

Day 6: Sunday Dinner With Brian and Karen

I'm actually skipping this day for right now. My camera died, so I wasn't able to take and pictures. So, I need to get copies of the pictures that Patricia took.

Day 5: A day in the English countryside

On Saturday, Patricia's sister Carol, took us for a drive in her car to see the countryside. It was rainy (surprise!) and cold, so we very much appreciated Carol taking time out of her day, to drive us around in her warm, dry car.

The whole driving on the opposite side of the road thing (although I did not actually drive - there is no way I would attempt that!!! The roads are so narrow, crowded, and chaotic there!) was alot easier to get used to than I thought it would be. Whether the driver drives on the left, or the right side of the road, they are still sitting next to the middle of the road and the passenger, nearest to the shoulder. However, it was a little nerve-wracking every time we had to make a right hand turn. And I will always think that roundabouts are just crazy. But I thought that before I went to England.

I only tried to get in on the wrong side of the car (the drivers side) about half a dozen times that day. Every time, Patricia and Carol thought it was hilarious.

First, we dropped by to meet Carol's beautiful daughter-in-law, Wendy, and two adorable grandsons. Jack, the two year old, was just the cutest thing ever. He had to show Patricia and I every one of his cars, and make us some soup in his play kitchen. It was so fun to listen to him talk, with his English accent. It was also fun to see that even with distance, cultural differences, etc. families are the same everywhere. Spending that little amount of time with Jack really made me miss my kids, my husband and my home.

It is always interesting to see inside of other people's homes. In general, houses in England are not as big as houses in the States. But are still very similar. I was happy to see that every house I had the pleasure of going into, had the washer and dryer in the kitchen. It's a way of not wasting space. The house Brian and I owned in Centerfield, had the washer and dryer in the kitchen. Everyone thought that was so weird! So, maybe it wasn't that weird after all!

Next we set out on the freeway, towards Wickham Market. I think this is where I really fell in love with England. The countryside is soooo beautiful. There is such a random mixture of farms and forests and everything is so green. I loved the big, old country estates. I could really see myself living there. Well, maybe in my next life, when I am rich.

Wickham Market was everything I had ever imagined a small village in the English countryside to be. It was just beautiful! We stopped there for lunch and tea at a cute little cafe. There was a little antique store next to the cafe, that Patricia and I really enjoyed. I think that I probably could have bought the whole store, but I settled on a lovely, blue, Wedgwood vase. And it was only eight pounds! I was quite proud of my bargain shopping skills!

Next we headed Aldeburgh, to see the The Scallop - a sculpture that sits on the beach dedicated to Benjamin Britten. The sculpture and the seaside were beautiful. I would have loved to spend more time there, but it was just way to cold and rainy.

Afterwards, we went to a little village called Thorpness. Here we found another antique shop, to look around in. Then, we had tea in the adjoining cafe.

The cafe set next to a little man made lake. The lake has islands scattered throughout it. Each island is themed after a character in Peter Pan (Crocodile island, Wendy island, etc.). Carol and Patricia told me that when they were younger, their parents would bring them to Thorpness during a nice day in the summer, and let them explore the islands.

We also got to the see the "house in the clouds" in Thorpness. It is a house, that is built to look, almost as if it is floating in the clouds!

Wickham Market, Aldeburgh, Thorpness

After spending the day driving around and sightseeing, we went to eat dinner at the home of Patricia and Carol's sister, Leslie.

Like the rest of Patricia's family (Brian and Karen, Carol, & Grace), Leslie and her partner, Gordon, were very kind and welcoming. They made me feel right at home.

Over dinner (which was wonderful - Leslie is a very good cook!), Leslie and Gordon told us about their recent holiday to Sri Lanka. Afterwards, Gordon, who is a photographer, showed us some of his latest work. He's very talented!

I also got to spend some time wandering around their gorgeous back garden.

Gordon and Leslie's garden

Day 4: Lazy day!

On Friday, it was really rainy and gloomy. We were hoping to be able to make it to Christchurch Park... but the weather just wasn't very cooperative. So we decided to have a more relaxing day.

First, we went downtown for a little bit. Patricia wanted to do a little more shopping at Marks and Spencers (a department store). We had also decided to leave Ipswich a day earlier than planned, and spend two nights in London before we left, since we didn't get to tour London when we landed. So we needed to go to the tourist information center, to find out about train schedules and hotel rooms.

After we got back, we went for a walk to the post office, and the co-op. Patrica owns a house in England, which she rents out. We got to walk by that too. As well as the church she was married in, and the school her children went to. It was really fun to see more of the life Patricia left in England.

We were home early that night, and after dinner we sat outside in the conservatory enjoying a cup of tea. As we sat talking, we heard someone yelling outside. Patricia and I assumed it was a couple of drunks being loud and annoying, and just waited for them to leave. The yelling continued, and we wouldn't be able to go to bed until they left, so I told Patricia that I was going to walk to the front sidewalk and as them if they wanted me to call a cab. When I got to the sidewalk, I noticed that it was one man, and he was lying in a rain puddle, in the middle of the road, at a three way intersection, calling for help. I ran back inside and told Patricia to call the cops, and I went back out to see what was wrong and make sure that he didn't get hit by a car.

Luckily, a couple of people had stopped, so I wasn't by myself, and got him moved to the sidewalk. He had blacked out at this point, so I checked his vitals, which where there, but pretty erratic, and tried to get him awake. He was going into shock, so the neighbors and I kept asking him questions, trying get him talking and keep him awake and conscious until the ambulance arrived. He was shivering and really cold (it was raining), so I put my coat over him, while Patricia went to get a blanket. Luckily a neighbor had an umbrella, that he held over the two of us while I knelt next to the man. It couldn't have been long, but it seemed like forever until the ambulance got there.

The ambulance workers loaded him up, and took him to the hospital. I was more than happy to get inside and into some dry clothes! I was more than soaked after kneeling in a puddle in the rain!

So much for our lazy, boring day in. That was a little to much excitement for me!

Walking past the terrace houses to the co-op.

Patricia's terrace house.

Mailbox!

The church Patricia was married in.

Day 3: Ipswich!

I woke up early the next morning, after one of the deepest sleeps I have had in a long time. After a shower, and a change of clothes, I felt like a whole new person. I put on some fresh makeup, then went to blow dry my hair, only to find out that the electrical adapter that I had gotten for the cell phone wouldn't work with my blow dryer or hair straightener. That was a major problem. I have the most curly/frizzy hair in the world, and I had no idea what I was going to do with it. After searching around the house, Patrica found a blow dryer. I would have to find a way to manage with just that.

After getting all ready, we caught the bus to downtown Ipswich.

We decided that we should first take care of a couple of errands. Patricia needed to go to the bank, and we needed to get some food in the house. Grocery shopping was just as fun as sightseeing. I was fun to look at all the different foods, and compare prices from back home.

Speaking of food, my favorite things about the food were: CHEESE! I am a cheese freak. England has about 800 different varieties of cheese. Okay, maybe not 800, but alot. And they all taste better than ours does! My other favorite thing was that everywhere you went to eat, they always had at least a couple of GOOD vegetarian items on the menu. That's very helpful, when you don't eat meat.


My least favorite food item was Steak and Kidney Pudding. Okay. I didn't actually try it. But it looked, smelled, and sounded really nasty.

And here are some photos of my first real day out:

Patricia buying fish for dinner at the open air fish market.




A couple of interesting microwave meals in the department store.

Downtown Ipswich

Town Hall, Mannings Pub Sign, Ancient House, Ancient House Beams, Ancient House ceiling, Cock & Pye Pub Sign, The Great White House (where Charles Dickens would stay to work on his novels), & a random old building.

Saint Mary le Tower Church - Ipswich

While we were out and about, I got to experience English rain for the first time. It doesn't just rain hard and for a few minutes, like it does here. It was just drizzly and gloomy all day. I found out really fast, that it really didn't matter to much if I had a blow dryer and hair straightener or not when it just rains all the time. After that day, I just gave up on trying to get my hair to look even somewhat presentable, and just let it go curly.

Everything in Ipswich closes really early. It's definitely not a 24 hour city, like Vegas. All the shops close by 5 pm, and the pubs only stay open until 11PM. So, we ended up back home shortly after five.

After dinner, we watched a little bit of TV. I really struggled to understand what it was saying, with the different accent. So Grace and Patricia figured out how to put the closed captioning on for me. :)

England Day 2: Welcome to England and More Travel

After all the headaches, and stress we finally landed at Heathrow International Airport, in London on September 22 - around noonish. It was a sunny, clear day (one of the two that we had during our stay) so I was able to get a good view of London from the airplane windows. My first thought: "It's so green!"

We got off the plane and went to the baggage claim to get our luggage. My second thought: "Heathrow airport is kind of old and dirty". It's true. England is not like America. Since the country it's self is alot older, everything in it is old. They are alot more frugal, and environmentally minded, so everything is not replaced with new all the time. Still, not really what I expected for the world's busiest airport. There is also ALOT of stairs - where everywhere here has escalators. And escalators that do exist, are really steep. It's a little nerve racking looking down from the top of them. Stairs or escalators, it is a lot harder to get around with alot of luggage.

First thing we did is get a cup of coffee (tea for me). Another new experience. They are served in actual cups with actual silverware, unlike in the states where everything outside of a sit down restaurant is disposable. Oh, and the tea is served in a little teapot, which you then pour into a cup yourself, once you sit down. The coffee is always the nasty instant stuff. It's pretty hard to find a place that brews coffee like we do here. That didn't bother me, though, since I hate coffee.

After our little break we headed downstairs to the subway terminal.

I've never ridden the subway (or the tube, as it's called in England). So trying to figure out the schedules, was a little confusing. Since Patricia lived most of her life in England, she knew what she was doing and explained it all to me. I caught on really fast.

We rode the underground to Liverpool Street Train Station, to catch the Train to Ipswich, where Patricia's mom and sisters live. I giggled a little every time the subway stopped and the intercom announced the name of the station, followed by a reminder to "mind the gap".

We had a few minutes to kill, so we went outside, and I got my first real view of London. I was so excited to see the old buildings, the red double decker buses, and the London taxi's.

By the time we got on the train, I was exhausted. I had a really hard time staying awake during the hour and a half train ride to Ipswich. I really didn't want to take a nap though, because I new it would be much easier to adapt to the 8 hour time difference if I forced myself to stay awake until it was nighttime. I was right! I really didn't have any problem with jet lag, when we got there. I also really enjoyed watching the views of London and then the English countryside from the train window.

We got off the train in Ipswich, and caught a cab from the train station to Patricia's mom's (Grace) house.

When we arrived at the house, Patricia's brother, Brian, was there. He gave me a tour of the house, and of the garden. There were alot of blackberries and pears, and cherry tomatoes that were ripe. I was really excited about that!

After visiting with Brian and Grace for a little while, I decided that I couldn't stay awake any longer - even though it was still pretty early. I went up to my room to change, and unpack a few things before going to bed. That's when I discovered that even though I had checked my bag 900 times, I had forgotten the charger for my laptop. Not cool.

After only getting a couple of hours of sleep in a little more than two days, I crashed. I slept like a rock.

England Day 1: Travel

As you can guess, I didn't sleep well the night before we left. I was so excited, but also incredibly nervous. I had never been so far away from home before, and I have never been away from Brian and the girls for so long. I also had no idea what to expect, or what was in store for me in the the next two weeks.

Our flight was suppose to leave from Las Vegas at 11:30. We were to have a short, 40 minute, layover in Detroit, MI. The plane was scheduled to land at Heathrow International airport, in London, at about 7:30 the next morning, September 22.

Brian got a call for a job the night before I was so leave, so we decided that I would drive the swagger wagon (the mini van) to the airport. He would get a ride to the airport later that afternoon, and bring it home so that we wouldn't have to pay for airport parking. I was up, of course, when he left. I then went over my bags about 900 times, paced the house 900 times, checked facebook 900 times and at 8:00 drove around the corner to pick up Patricia. We were allowing 3 1/2 hours to get there, and get checked in. Everything was going according to plan.

Then I got a flat tire on the freeway. During rush hour.

I can't change a tire. I guess it's one of those things that I should really learn how to do. Patricia had no idea how to change a tire either. I called Brian, but he was in Boulder City and there was no way that he would reach us in time for us to catch our flight. Patricia, Brian, and myself tried calling everyone we could think of, but since it was a Tuesday, everyone was at work.

So we called a taxi. Apparently, taxis are not allowed to pick up people on the freeway. So we called a tow truck, thinking if he could drive us to the repair shop, we could call a taxi from there. The soonest a tow truck could be there was 45 minutes. Not fast enough. We were really starting to panic.

Luckily, Brian got a hold of our friend Hyrum, and he was able to get us to the airport. We left the car on the side of the road, and Brian picked it up a couple of hours later when he was done with the Boulder City job. We got to the airport about an hour and 15 minutes before our flight.

We got checked in, checked our bags, made it through security and sat down feeling relieved that we had made it! Then we got called to the ticket counter.

Our flight had been delayed. Because of the delay, it meant that we would miss our connecting flight in Detroit. I was starting to think that God just really did not want me to go on this trip. But then they told me that they had worked out some different flights for us. We were to leave two hours later, on a plane to Minneapolis, MN. There would be a two hour layover, and then we would catch our connecting flight to Heathrow. We would land in London at about noon the next day, instead of 7:30. That really messed up our plans to tour London upon landing. We weren't to happy about that, but decided we could live with it as long as we could get on a dang plane! Then, the lady told us that to compensate us for our troubles, they were upgrading us to the exit row (more room) on our domestic flight and to first class on the international flight! We was positive that we could live with that!

We finally boarded our new plane. We took off, and landed without any further problems.

After landing, we had a couple of hours to kill, so we got a cup of coffee and chilled in the terminal waiting to board our plane to England. It seemed like FOREVER. Then, they announced that it had been delayed. I was not a very happy camper at this point. Luckily, it was only delayed about 45 minutes, and we would still land in London at the scheduled time.

By the time we were finally able to board the plane, it was about 9:00 PM (7:00 Vegas time). I hadn't really slept in over 24 hours, I had spent all day sitting around airports - I was really tired and ornery! But once we saw our seats on the plane, I felt alot happier! First class is AWESOME! There was two seats in the same space that fits three in coach, and there was so much leg room! You didn't feel cramped at all. The best part was, that the seats laid down flat, into a bed. And we got real pillows and blankets, instead of those crappy fleece throws and travel pillows that they have in coach. We were greeted on the plane with Champagne and orange juice! And when it came to the dinner, we were handed an actual menu, and served a three course meal with real silverware (not plastic) and cloth napkins. Being in first class made the next 8+ hours go by alot faster! I was actually able to get a couple of hours of sleep too!

England!

So apparently I have REALLY neglected the blog, lately. I am going to be working really hard on catching up. I have a couple of posts about summer and the first day of school... etc. But I am going to start with my recent trip (September 21 - October 5) to England before I forget any more of the details.
I am going to be making quite a few posts about England over the next few days. I have found that it is much easier to make a post about each day, and to try and lump it all together. I will just take a minute to say, that I had the most amazing trip and I am extremely thankful to everyone who helped make this trip possible: Patricia, my mom, Kirk, Reed, Josie, and Brian. It was truely a once in a lifetime opportunity!!!
I fell in love with England. It is such a beautiful country! Much of the culture is the same as ours, here in America. But it was also different in alot of ways. I am really excited to share my adventure with the blogging world!

I remember, so I'm voting...

Summer Break!

For better or worse, summer is officially here! Alot has happened so far!!!

May 21 - 23 we drove to Phoenix to visit Mike and Misty. I hate that our visits are so short! There are so many people that I would love to see but we really just don't have the time!

May 28 - 30 we went to Utah to pick up the boys and visit out family in Gunnison. While we were there, we made a trip to the Fayette Spring. The kids had lots of fun catching guppies, and swimming. The boys even caught a couple of leeches. YUCK!

The girls were officially done with school on June 2nd. And the were more than ready! Especially since their brother's were here and they had been out of school for a couple of weeks! Their last report cards were excellent! Ady had straight A's and Alysa had all A's and one B.

The following weekend, June 4-6, we went camping with our friends Jim and Kim, and their kids Justin, Kayla, and Jordan. The A/C in our house went out, the day before we left, and they had issued an extreme heat warning for the weekend. We were really happy to be on the mountain and not in the 116 degree weather with no A/C!!!

Oh June 23 - 27 the girls and I made the journey to Gunnison, again. We brought my friend Kim's daughter, Kayla along with us. Kayla had never been to Utah - let alone a really small town, before. So we showed her around. We went on the Sanpitch River walk to see the Sanpitch Dragon (a huge mural under the overpass), swimming at the Gunnison pool, picnicking in the park, fishing for Crawdads, to pet the baby calves at Yardley's dairy, saw some elk in Mayfield, and participated in the Sanpete County Relay for Life at the GVHS track.

Since my mom is a cancer survivor, she was asked to speak at the Luminary Ceremony at the Relay for Life. She gave an amazing speech. She had a TON of support from both sides of the family. All of her kids were there, except Craig, who is Pittsburgh for the summer. But Craig's wife Erika was able to get off work to join us. Kirk's kids RaShelle, Mariah, and Clint and his wife Celicia were able to make it too. Reed and Josie, Steve and Tina, and Kiersten were also there. It was fun to spend the entire night with both families! We stayed until 4 AM!

In between all of the little trips, we have been able to have alot of fun at home.

In June, I met my Aunt Syd and Cousin Jill for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory in Henderson. I haven't seen either of them in YEARS! We had alot of fun catching up!!! There's nothing better than great food, and wonderful company!

We have taken a couple of trips to the drive-in movies with the kids. The picture and sound quality is always bad, and it seems like we always end up parking next to some Mexican family with about 100 little kids that run around yelling in spanish through the whole movie... but we still love the drive in. It's super cheap, and it is just fun to sit outside to watch a movie. We have seen Eclipse, Despicable Me, and Toy Story 3 so far this summer.

On the 4th of July, we had a bunch of people over to BBQ. Taylor cooked steak for us, and made the yummiest fruit salad. People are STILL going on about how good his food was! After eating, we sat out in front and watched all the firework shows across the valley, and let the boys light a few that we had bought.

We took the boys in for eye exams, and EVERY one of them needed glasses. That means, that all eight of us now wear glasses. CRAZY!!!

That has been our summer, so far, in a nutshell!

Marc Kahre Day

Every year the girls' school host a celebration in honor of Marc Kahre - a police officer who was killed in the line of duty. It is a pretty big deal. They have hundreds of police officers at the school all day. In the afternoon, they have a parade. The police helicopter flies overhead while, cops cars, motorcycles, the K-9 units, police horses, Swat vans, etc. circle the field. Then they have a police K-9 demonstration.

This year, our good friend Jenn Finney happened to be visiting us. So, she and her two boys, Scott and Tagge got to go with us. My friend and neighbor Patricia, and her granddaughter, Lauren, also joined us!

Lauren and Brylee in the SWAT van

the kids petting a police dog

Tagge, Lauren, Scarlett (the little girl that I babysit), and Brylee

Bry and Lauren

Visit from Sarah Carter!

Sarah Carter made the journey from Minnesota to visit us for an entire week in April. I was so happy to see her again!


We didn't do a whole lot of exciting things while she was here. We spent a lot of time hanging out at home, and in the hot tub. She had just turned 21 in March, so we made sure to take a trip downtown. We ate at, Fellini's, in the Stratosphere - one of my favorite restaurants, and hung out on Fremont Street. A couple of days later, I took her out to play some blackjack. I won $5 - not much, but it's a whole lot better than losing five bucks!


I was sad to see her go. I really wish that Las Vegas was closer to the Twin Cities. Hopefully, sometime I will be able to visit her in the great state of Minnesota!

Pet-a-Palooza 2010

Every year in April, the radio station that we listen to hosts a "Pet-a-Palooza" at the Star Nursery Fields in Las Vegas. It's basically, an all day concert that people can bring their pet to. Best of all - it's only five bucks a person. This year, Orianthi, Kris Allen, Five For Fighting, and the Barenaked Ladies were playing. Being a HUGE 90's music fan, I was really excited to see The Barenaked Ladies.

Unfortunately, the wind blew all day and The Barenaked Ladies really sucked. But Five For Fighting was awesome, and we had fun checking out all the costumed dogs, playing the free games and getting our faces painted.

Five For Fighting

The Barenaked Ladies

Bat Family Pics

Alysa loved the Brown and Blue. She really loved the polka dots and the diamonds on the side!

Ady got pink and black... again. She loves how it looks like "lace" on the side.

Brylee loves the her heart glasses!

The Bat Family!

Yep. Apparently, our whole family is as blind as bats. Today, we all went to the eye doctor to get a check up. I knew Ady needed a new prescription (she has had glasses for about three years now). I knew that Alysa would need glasses eventually. She has one bad eye, but at her last examine two years ago, it wasn't bad enough to require glasses. Brylee has never had an eye examine. I haven't had new glasses in about five years. It was time.

We ALL needed new glasses.

I almost didn't get Brylee an eye exam because the receptionist started telling me that I should probably go to a pediatric eye doctor because she can't read all of her letters yet. I knew that would cost a lot more, so I told her that I would just wait until fall, when she was in Kindergarten and had learned the alphabet (she knows about 3/4 of them already), to bring her in. Then the eye doctor said, that they could give her some basic tests and if there was a reason for concern they could dilate her eyes and get an accurate prescription.

They showed her the pictures. She got about half of them. But the eye doctor said that some of the pictures are hard for kids so she wanted to try something different. She showed her a chart of the E's and had her point what direction they were facing. She got the first few rows right, with no problem. Then it got funny. She was trying to cheat but uncovering the other eye a little. She was squinting. She leaned forward. She moved around. Then she just started guessing. Scarlett (the little girl I babysit) could even see that she was struggling, and was trying to secretly trying to give her the answers - which was pretty funny since the eye doctor and I were sitting closer to Scarlett than Brylee was and could see her trying to give Bry the answers. So, yep, she needed glasses. Turns out, she has worse eyes than Ady and Alysa.

Alysa, was borderline - but we decided to go ahead and get the glasses because her eyes are only getting worse.

Ady needed new glasses anyway, since her last ones broke. It was a manufacturers defect, which they were replacing for free - but only the same frames (which still had the defect and kept breaking). I was getting really sick of going in to replace them every couple of months. But her prescription had only changed slightly.

Mine, were surprisingly good. As a teenager my eyes changed so fast, that every year there was a definite difference. I probably could have gone in every few months and had a new prescription. Now that I am older they have slowed down. But there was still a slight difference... so new glasses for me too. I would love to wear contacts, but I can't. My eyes are to dry and it irritates them - especially here in Vegas. I hate glasses, but I wear them while driving - although the eye doctor insists that I NEED to wear them all the time.

So... I'll bet you can all guess where our tax refund went to. That was one expensive trip to the eye doctor!!!

When we picked the glasses up (we got the one hour service), Brylee was so funny. She kept looking around at everything. Then she said, "mom, did you know there are little holes in the ceiling?!? She was talking about the ceiling tiles. I about died laughing. On the way home, she just stared out the windows and pointed out everything. Poor girl!!! She had no idea what she was missing before!!!

To date - the only member of our family of eight who does not wear glasses is Michael. But I would be willing to bet that, that will change. Luckily, we reserved some of that tax refund to get the boys checked this summer. I KNOW that Austin and Taylor will need glasses. And maybe Michael too.

And that, is the story of the bat family.

April Fools!!!

On March 31, at about 7pm I decided that I needed to pull a really good joke this year! Thanks to a few good friends, I came up with a plan to fake a pregnancy. I even got my hands on a positive pregnancy test, thanks to my friend Kris!

Kris brought over the pregnancy test the morning of April 1st. By this time, I was feeling really ready to back out. I was sure that he would kill me, and then find a way to get even. But, Patricia and Kris both reminded me that there is nothing he could ever do to top this... and I went forward with it.

I took a pic of the pregnancy test with my cell phone and sent it to Brian along with the message, "Congratulation! You are daddy to baby #7." As I expected, Brian called right away. I chose to pull the prank over the phone, because there was now way I would be able to pull it off in person, without laughing. Patricia and Kris were both sitting there watching me while I was on the phone, so I still found it difficult to be convincing. He asked if the test was real. I said, "Yes. It's real. And I would really rather wait to discuss it when you get home, because I am still really upset." And I hung up.

Yep. I got him good! He was completely convinced.

I let him know a few hours later - after he had already called several of our friends - that it wasn't true. When he called everyone back to tell them it was a joke, they all laughed. Everyone has let me know, what a good joke it was!

However, I am NOT looking forward to next April Fools Day. I KNOW that he is going to find some way to get me back. I will just have to stay a step ahead of him!!!

Adventures in the ER

In March, we hit a milestone - two years in Vegas! And with that, we hit an even bigger milestone: two years since any of the girls have been to the doctor for anything other than a routine checkup. No injuries, and no illnesses. I celebrated quietly, in my head, because I really didn't want to tempt fate.

Well, it happened anyway.

We spend Wednesday night in the ER. I am sure you can all guess who the patient was. Alysa... of course. That girl has been in the ER more times than all 5 of the other kids... combined. Since she has been born, she has been in the ER for twice for concussions, four times for dislocating her elbow (the doctor finally taught me how to put it back in so that I would stop coming to the ER), one time for stitches in the head, once for sticking a bead up her nose, and once for a broken arm. One of the two times that Brylee has been in the ER I also attribute to Alysa. She fed Brylee a gigantic, plastic, toy ring when she was about 7 months old.

So this time she landed in the ER for a dog bite. Our wonderful, fabulous, neighbors (that was extremely sarcastic) who are unemployed, and sell prescription drugs for a living, decided that it would be a great idea to take on the responsibility of two pit bulls - even though they aren't even responsible for their four kids. Well, it only took about three weeks until one of them decided to attack - and unfortunately my little girl was the victim.

I took one look at the bite, and knew that it wouldn't need stitches. They were puncture wounds, so there really wasn't anything to stitch. But a few of them were really deep, and I know that those dogs are not licensed or had any shots, so we headed to the ER.

Our first experience with Vegas doctors was great! The hospital staff was very nice, and we got in very quickly. They basically just cleaned up the the bite area, and gave her two prescriptions - an oral antibiotic and a topical one. She also has to keep it wrapped up for about the next week, because the bite was pretty deep and there is a high risk for infection.

I took a couple of pictures of the bite this morning, while I was changing her bandaging. It is healing really well - much faster than I expected. The pictures don't really do it justice. Two days ago, it was gut wrenching.

The thing that really upsets me, is that they have been avoiding us like the plague. They haven't stopped by or called to see how she was doing. When Brian went to their door, as we were getting ready to go to the hospital, the kids answered and said they, "didn't know where their parents were". It really makes me mad. I have a dog. If it were to bite someone, I would want to know what happened, and how the person he bit was doing. I would want to be responsible and make sure that the problem was taken care of, with no hard feelings. Apparently, not everyone thinks like I do.

Anyway, whenever you go to the doctor or hospital for a dog bite they have to report it to animal control. The dog has to be quarantined for ten days for testing and observation. Unemployment is not a very lucrative career, and those fines and boarding fees add up fast. So I am sure that the dogs will never come home.

Happy Birthday Michael and Alysa!

On March 13th Michael turned 11 years old! We had been asking him for weeks what he wanted for his birthday. True to form, he asked for the most expensive things he could think of, like, a Motorcycle and a go-kart. The least expensive item on the list was a punching bag and speed bag. Luckily, Brian found a great deal on a punching bag (and it came with 2 free speed balls!). Michael was so excited!!!

Alysa turned 8 on March 28th. She was dead set on getting a golf set for her birthday. We found her the cutest pink and black set. She was a super happy girl! Brian took her out golfing the morning of her birthday! She was so excited that it was going to be just the two of them! Brian even let her drive the golf cart. She was thrilled! And she only wrecked it once.

I don't have any pics of Michael. I got the camera out to take some, and of course the battery went dead.

San Francisco!

On March 17th it was our NINE year anniversary! I really just can't believe that we have been together for nine years - the time has gone by so fast!

We wanted to do something fun to celebrate. So we begged Maren to come spend the weekend with the kiddies and we hit the road to San Francisco!

We left Friday night as soon as the girls got home from school. I wanted to leave earlier, but Brian wanted to wait, so that he could tell the girls goodbye. Because we hit the road late, we hit rush hour traffic. So it took us a while just to get out of Vegas. Then about 300 miles into the trip the bearings started to go out on one of the truck tires. We pulled over to check in out, and to decide what we were going to do. At this point it was close to 11 PM. We couldn't fix it. We had 200 miles left to get to the hotel - but it was 300 to make it home. We decided to push forward to the hotel, praying the whole way that the tire wouldn't suddenly fall off. We finally got to the hotel in San Jose at 2 AM.

Brian woke up early the next morning and was able to immediately get the truck into the dealership to be fixed. He went to drop off the truck, and I showered and got ready to go. I was just finishing packing when he pulled up in the rental car - a Mercedes!

Luckily, because he was able to get the truck in so early - it didn't mess up our schedule at all!

Our first stop was the Winchester Mystery House. It was awesome!!! It was so big, and weird. On the tour, they told us that construction lasted 24 a day 7 days a week for 38 years. They literally NEVER stopped building. The house was also remodeled 600 times in those 38 years. The servants had to had a new, updated map of the house weekly - so that they could find their way around.

Your not allowed to take pictures inside the Winchester House. But because I am a rebel, I was able to sneak one of my cell phone:

This is a picture of some stairs that go up to the ceiling.

After touring the Winchester House, we met our friend Tammy for lunch at a super yummy Indian restaurant. Then we dropped of the rental car, picked up the truck and headed to San Francisco to see the Muir Redwoods.

On the way to Muir Redwoods, and back to the hotel in San Franscisco we had to cross the Golden Gate Bridge:

And through this rainbow tunnel:

The next morning we got up bright and early to catch the ferry to Alcatraz Island. I had booked us a hotel close to Fisherman's Wharf, where the ferry leaves from, so that we wouldn't have to drive (driving in San Francisco is a NIGHTMARE!). So we set out walking - only problem was, we were heading the wrong direction! Luckily, we figured it out, and got to the pier just in time.

We LOVED Alcatraz! It was really cool. We arrived just in time to take a ranger lead "behind the scenes" tour about escape attempts. It was awesome, because we were able to go in alot of buildings and areas of the island that are normally closed to the public. After the ranger tour, we took the regular audio tour the the cell house.

We spent a few hours at Alcatraz, then we came back and spent the rest of the day hanging around Fisherman's Wharf.

Monday, we spent the whole day driving home. We were ready to get home and see the girlies, and rest my stiff legs from all the walking we did! But it was so nice to get away from a couple of days, with just the two of us!!!