The One Where We Go to Given's

Aside from fishing, Eric also loves camping.

I love camping when it involves a room with four walls, a ceiling, a bathroom, and electricity. I consider sleeping in a cabin camping.

I didnt' always used to be this way. When I was younger my Grandma and Grandpa Carpender used to take me, my sister Brittany, and my cousin Megan camping all the time. They had a camper trailer, so we weren't completely roughing it. And I remember that being a lot of fun. We would always wake up to oatmeal and hot chocolate and have great meals, and explore, and get sunburned, and that was great camping.

Well . . . this is something I learned. Camping is a LOT of work!

Not so much camping I guess, but getting ready for camping. Goodness, I don't know how my Grandparents did it. Eric and I packed really good for a solid two-three hours, and we still forgot things like paper towels, and soap.

We went to Given's Hot springs, which is actually quite close to us since we live in the Boondocks. If I'm going to camp, I want a place with a pool, or at least some sort of water to play in, and indoor plumbing . . . no outhouses or going behind a tree. So Given's was perfect! But it was also packed. I swear there was so many people there! We got there and all the fire campsites were taken, it was sad, we packed smores.

Then HALLELUJIAH! We found one campsite, right next to the pool and the bathrooms, so it was kind of the highway for everyone, but it was right next to everything we could ever need, so it was good. We parked right next to it, and Eric went inside to pay . . . and I'm sitting there thinking, I wonder if people know we have this campsite. So I decided to be a real genius and take a bag over and set it next to the firepit. Right as a laid the bag down, this guy goes "Oh man! I thought it was an open one!" Well sorry dude, I do feel bad, but ten points for ME!

We were a little concerned about how Preslie would do camping. We knew Parker was fine, he and Eric went on a Father/Son campout a few weeks ago and he loved it. But Preslie is little and probably wouldn't know what was going on . . . and there is no Princess and the Frog to watch in the wilderness. But she surprised BOTH of us and did amazing.

She had so much fun in the pool. I wish we had taken a picture of her in her swimsuit, it was adorable. But she had one of those little swim intertubes, and she held herself up in it and kicked around the pool, would lounge back in it, she just had a great time, it was awesome. And she even did pretty good sleeping. We took her travel crib, and set that up in the tent, then put her down before the rest of us. No such luck having her asleep before we all went in to crash, she thought it was hilarious that we were all sleeping in a little room, she would run to one side of her crib peek over at Parker and laugh, then run to the other side peek over at us and laugh. It was funny, at some point she calmed down and went to sleep.

The kids both loved runnign aroudn in the grass and playing. Preslie is not too scared of fires, which makes me a little scared, but she did okay with it. All in all it was a good trip. And although I am not the HUGEST fan of camping, I will gladly go every weekend just to watch my kids, since they had so much fun!

Preslie carried her intertube around everywhere.

 And this is a picture of Parker's face . . . . I'm thinking maybe he has allergies we didn't know about cause he looks pretty goofy!

All Preslie wanted to do was go swimming, she kept running away from camp to go to the building. She was very upset this time when she got allt he way up the stairs only to realize the pool was closed and the door was shut and locked.

 This is the next morning . . . . so don't look to close.



The One Where Parker Gets a Fish

Eric loves fishing.

He bought us all fishing supplies, and got us all licenses, and we went fishing at Wilson ponds just the other day.

I remember fishing with my Grandpa Carpender when I was little being a bit more eventful.

This time it was HOT, and Preslie wanted to play in the water (more like drowned in the water)

and we were there for over two hours with our picnic dinner we packed, and  . . . . nothing.

It was so sad, I was so bummed. I envisioned us goign out and pulling in all kinds of fish right and left, filling up our freezer, smoking fish and eating fish for the next couple of months.

No such luck.

Well Parker did have good luck.

BEGINNER'S LUCK.

He caught a fish on his very first cast,

and it was the only fish we got that day.

Beginner's luck? Nah, I guess I just have an awesome little fisher on my hands. We tried to get a picture with Parker and his fish, but he was so excited he kept squeezing the fish and dropping it, so the pictures all turned out a little blurry. But after this picture, Eric cleaned and cooked the fish, and Parker ate the ENTIRE thing all by himself!

The One With Ugly Betty

Yes Ugly Betty became my new passion about a month ago. I love Netflix for that reason. I hate watching series on TV - they take TOO long. I mean four seasons, that is like 5 years!!!

So yes, Ugly Betty. I LOVED it. Eric thought it was funny, and it entertained him. But he has a hard time sitting down and watching series back to back to back like that. Seriously though, everyone should watch it. It's a good show, mild in the drama department, huge in the funny, and it always has a good message . . . . unlike most of the shows out anymore.

But last night I watched the final episode! DUN DUN DUN!!!! Now I am sad and feel like I have an empty spot in my stomach. I don't think, I can't wait to get off work and get in bed tonight so I can watch an episode of Betty, or I can't wait til I get ready today so I can watch a couple episodes of Ugly Betty, or I can't wait til the kids take a nap so I can clean up the tornado that went through my house and watch a couple episodes of Ugly Betty. It's so sad . . . . now there is NO MORE Ugly Betty. . . . . . depressing.

For those of you who have seen the series I want to know what your thoughts on the finale were. I was STOKED that the two finally got together . . . I mean seriously, 4 seasons, it's about freaking time! But honestly, I was so sad that the way they got them together was just "Can I take you out to dinner tonight?" "Sure." COME ON WRITERS!!!! This is not a KISS! This is NOT a great ending.

I feel let down, like everyone said with the Sopranos . . . .

The One With The West Valley Run-In

This actually happened awhile ago, but I forgot to write it down, and I thought I probably should . . . you know . . . for prosperity's sake or something.

The other day, May 16th actually, Eric was at an Albertson picking up some craving or another of mine and when he went to the check out he and the girl checker kept trying to figure out how they knew each other.

Finally she figured it out, "I know! You were at West Valley with your little girl a few weeks back. I was the student nurse."

Yes, this was Megan, the student nurse, and honestly the only person at West Valley, I guess other than the actual doctors, who we enjoyed. I remember that I felt so bad for her that day because it was her FIRST peds rotation day, and I just kept thinking, "this would be a terrible first day!"

Anyways, she ended up asking Eric what had happened, he told her they decided that Preslie had leukemia (because at the time, we still thought that) and she said she was sorry. She also told Eric that it was a VERY good thing that we transferred Preslie. She said none of the doctor's or nurses knew what was going on, or what to do, and everyone was scared of going in and messing something up. That explains why they were hardly ever in our room and offered us little to no information.

Needless to say we still like Megan the student nurse, and I wish her luck on her endeavours. But it was good to hear someone from THAT hospital say, "good job for moving her!"

And that is it.

The One With The Kid

I think I need to start blogging every day about the funny stuff Parker says.

He never ceases to make me laugh at least every hour that he is awake.

Currently, we are trying to teach him the difference between "his" and "her".

It always makes me laugh at the store when he points to someone who is obviously a lady and says "What's his name?"

It's funny when the person realizes its a little kid, that doesn't know what he's saying.

But I am more concerned that one of these days he's going to say it to a person who looks like a man, even though really it is a woman, and this he-she, not knowing my child is really not insulting him/her, will be extremely upset. 

So the other day we were going through everyone Parker knows. 

What are you? him

Good job, and what is Preslie? her

What about Daddy? boy, him

And Mommy? girl

And Grandma? girl!

What about Papa?  . . . . KID!

Well, my dad will be fifty-one this year, so that should make him happy.