A bit of time at the beach

Another quick trip to the beach this afternoon....just enough time to get our feet wet and sandy. I'll probably pack up the girls for another trip out there tomorrow. I'm planning on spending a little more time out there tomorrow if Norah manages to get in a good nap. By the way, my internet connection from here is really, really slow....hence, only single picture uploads per posting.

Beach days

PoPo and I did manage to take the girls out to seal beach yesterday. Norah and Lolo were enchanted with the seals...but as you can imagine, they loved playing in the sand and climbing rocks more!

In Memory of Mary Chiang

The girls' great-grandmother passed away on Sunday. We all miss her terribly, but were blessed by having the opportunity to say goodbye. Amazingly enough, on friday, Lolo sang her a few songs and she was able to muster up enough energy to applaud. Lolo has had a lot of questions about death and heaven lately. I guess that's good. We're talking about Zhu-Zhu every night. The girls and I will be staying here until July 6. We couldn't manage a flight home earlier. Jim will be joining us late this week and into next.

San Diego

The girls' great-grandmother is now at home under hospice care. We're planning on staying here for the next couple of weeks.

San Diego

The girls and I will be flying to San Diego tomorrow to visit my grandmother. I don't know when we will return and if we will be posting while there.

Amendment to previous post

I got a note from PopPaul today...denying any responsibility for the foam fan. He claims that Lolo picked out the foam fan at a yard sale by her self....but I ask, who paid for the fan?

18 month visit

Norah had her 18 month visit (about a month late) today. She's officially 21 lbs (10th percentile); 30 inches (10th percentile); with a 75th percentile head. She's almost got a mouth full of teeth. She's only missing one lower canine....a visit to the dentist is later this week.

In other news, Lolo is still struggling in summer camp. Every time she changes a classroom and teachers, she seems to have a difficult time adjusting. Lately, she just doesn't want to go to camp. This morning, I had the worst time getting her dressed and to school. Part of the problem was that I let her skip school on friday to go out with GrammaPeg & PopPaul (which clearly was more important in the grand scheme of things than a day a summer camp)....however, suddenly it gets in Lolo's mind that summer camp is somewhat optional depending upon Mom's mood. Oops. Big problem. Let's just say, there was lots of crying and tears involved in our trip to school this morning. Luckily, by the time I picked her up at lunchtime, all was well. Hopefully, she'll adjust to summer camp in a few weeks. I did place a call in to her teachers to have them keep on eye on our princess in the meantime.

Norah's words

Last post of the night....I almost forgot to mention...in the past two weeks, Norah has really started talking. It's like she made up 9 months worth of developmental milestones in 2 weeks. Here's a sampling of her current word list : mama, daddy, baby, go, hi, bye, uh-oh, go, mine, more, read, cheese, bubbles, and PopPaul. She's said "no" only once so far, but shakes her head to indicate yes and no. I'm a little surprised she hasn't said "Lolo" or "PoPo" yet though.

Oh....and since we're in Minnesota, I think you can tell from the video below...Norah knows the word "cold."

Random musings

I forgot to mention in our earlier trip report to Ely...since there was no running water in the cabin. We all took trips to the outhouse. Since Jim has less of a problem with the whole "no running water" thing than I do, he was charged with taking Lolo to potty in the middle of the night and first thing in the morning. However, after a few days, we both noticed that we were running her out to the outhouse a LOT. It appears that our little girl really likes using the outhouse and anytime she felt the remotest possibility of needing to go, she did. Go figure.
In other news...the girls and I decided to rearrange their room today. I moved furniture, Lolo decided where to move her kitchen (as she said, "I remodeling today"), and Norah pulled up a plastic cake dome to use as a step stool so she could climb in and out of Lolo's bunkbed (about a million times). Personally, I think the new arrangement is a big improvement.
Lolo also decided she needed to put her old mobile back onto her music box. Try as I would, I just couldn't get it to stay in place. I finally gave up in frustration. Lolo said that's ok...daddy can do it. After a while, Jim calls us to check in and Lolo chimes in as I'm talking to him "Don't forget to tell Daddy to fix my music box." Jim laughs (because he knows Lolo has complete faith that her daddy can fix everything AND because she is already giving him her own "honey-do" list).

Norah's creativity

Norah's mischevious nature takes us by surprise just about every day. Gramma Peg and PopPaul picked up this foam fan from a yard sale for Lolo (Lolo got hot in their van.) I was worried about the girls getting their fingers caught up in the fan, but Gramma Peg said to not worry because she tested it by sticking her finger in. (Great idea). Of course, since the fan has come home both girls have been sticking their fingers in and making the fan make funny noises. Norah, in particular, has taken a strong liking to the fan. Check out the video below...where bad parenting and Norah's bad ideas prevail...Norah likes to stick her mouth in the fan (clearly, losing a finger in a fan is just too mundane...why don't we stick our mouth on it instead) and also has a fondness for making lovely sounds with her fan by sticking her fingers in. Obviously, we have a genius on our hands.

Swimming

The girls have been spending afternoons in their "pool" since we've had uncharacteristically warm weather lately. GrammaPeg & PopPaul have been here and the girls have been extremely excited over their visit. Lolo is out exploring yard sales with them right now (and having a great time, I'm sure). She was thrilled beyond belief when I told her Gramma Peg & PopPaul were going to take her to yard sales this morning. Norah's napping peacefully right now, after helping me water our newly planted hostas and petunias (and herself).

Summer camp

Now that preschool has officially ended, Lolo started summer camp on monday. She gets to swim in the big pool, ride ponies, and work in the art bus this summer. I asked her if she liked summer camp or preschool better...surprisingly, she said she liked preschool better...she said they get to do more work and more projects in preschool. Hmmm. I think she'll probably change her mind as summer camp progresses.
The girls are back out in their "pool". It's a hot week here, so I anticipate they'll be out there every afternoon this week. Plus, Gramma Peg & PopPaul are here visiting this week. It's going to be a busy and exciting week for the girls.

Painted Turtle Race

I almost forgot to mention....as we were packing up the car on our way back from Ely, the girls discovered a female painted turtle. I picked it up to show the girls...letting them touch her hard shell. The girls were fascinated, but the turtle was not so enamoured with our girls. She hustled off as fast as she could...with the girls in hot pursuit. I wish I had my camera accessible because it was a sight to see Norah being left in the dust by a turtle. I never knew a turtle could move so fast!

Birchwood, Wisconsin

So the rest of the story...after we got back home...on friday, we took the girls out to ride their bikes. Lolo saw our neighbor's garage door open and ran up to see if Eileen and Julia could come out to play. They ended up inviting us up to their cabin in Wisconsin and, of course, since (1) it had electricity for Norah's nebulizer and (2) it was relatively close to a hospital; we took them up on their kind offer. It was a good time.
Lolo enjoyed every minute of shadowing Eileen...basically, we didn't see much of Lolo once we got to their cabin....she was right next to Eileen (who in Lolo's book...pretty much walks on water). Norah had a bit of a rough time there. Last night was really rough....but she seems to have turned the corner tonight. Jim and I feel like we dodged a bullet by not ending up in the hospital again.
Anyway, we're now back at home. The girls are in bed and I'm doing laundry like a madwoman...trying to get Lolo's stuff ready for summer camp (which starts tomorrow). Whew.

Ely Trip Report Part 4

Here's another thing...Jim started teaching his first mate how to drive the boat (just look at the joy on Lolo's face!). For now, she's first mate and can only drive next to Captain Dad....the trip made Jim reminisce about being a kid and driving boats out on the lake with Ben. Jim is now hooked on fishing. He managed to catch a good sized northern pike (which we polished off for lunch one day) and 2 bass. Hooray Jim!

Ely Trip Report Part 3

Captain Jim
His First Mate
His Second Mate

....guess that leaves me as the galley cook.

Ely Trip Report Part 2

The girls spent their time "fishing" (Lolo is very proud of her new Dora the Explorer rod and reel), catching various bugs with their nets, boating, and exploring around the cabin. Norah has come a long way since our time on a lake last year....for one, she's bigger and her life vest fits a lot better....last year was a real struggle with her in a canoe....this year was quite joyful. It's amazing what a difference a year can make. (Note how Norah helps out with her paddle in the boat).

Ely Trip Report - Part 1

We had a relatively uneventful trip up to Ely. Unfortunately for Jim, he was on call the night before...stayed up all night and got back home just in time to climb into the car exhausted. As you might suspect, the girls were not the least bit tired first thing in the morning and could not keep quiet for Dad to sleep.

We got to our cabin in the woods on the lake (a 2 mile ride in). Very peaceful. Here's a picture of Jim and the girls on our dock. Jim taught Lolo how to cast this trip. She's amazingly good for a 3 year old (IMHO). Check out this video below.

Back from Ely

We're back home. Got back late last night. Norah started coughing yesterday morning. Since I zapped our backup battery with the solar charger and the weather was extremely unpredictable (we were concerned about crossing the lake in our tiny boat in rough water and/or at night without lights), we packed up and left yesterday - a few days ahead of schedule....but it's better to be safe than sorry. Turns out, Norah's fine. She's coughing intermittently, but not really wheezing. We were just concerned about things going bad in a hurry. Luckily, all is well. Trip updates to follow.

Name calling

Lolo has started name-calling recently (brought home from preschool, I'm sure). Her big thing has been calling everyone "silly"...which I guess isn't technically that bad...I'd just like to keep it from escalating to something I really don't want to hear. In any event, we've been harping on how name-calling is naughty and how we don't do it in our house.
Last night, I'm trying to get the girls upstairs to get in the bath. I've run the bath and I say to the girls..."Girls, there's a bath calling your name!" Lolo looks at me horrified..."Mama! There is no name calling in this house!" LOL!