From the archives: Crab Festival 2006

I talked with Keith tonight and he told me about all the yummy carnival food he ate at the Kodiak Crab Festival today. The kids really loved going to Crab Fest and all the fun activities surrounding it.

When we moved to Kodiak, we arrived the week after Crab Fest. The next year, Megan was nearly 6 weeks old and the weather was pouring raining. Keith and I braved the typical Kodiak weather to check out the sites with Megan snug in the frontpack on Keith's chest and Joshua (about 20 months old) snuggled in the stroller protected from the sideways blowing rain.

We had the most fun at Crab Fest in 2006. The weather was amazing the entire weekend. Joshua was just a few months away from being 4 years old. Megan had just turned 2 two months before Crab Fest and Daniel was about 6 months old. Keith had duty, but I braved taking the kids to the parade and the other Crab Fest activities. In the picture above, the big kids are hugging each other with their (overpriced) prizes that they won from the game I let them play. Keith isn't that crazy about the carnival-type atmosphere. As for me, when I smell the funnel cakes and see the flashing lights from the little kiddie rides, it makes me think of riding the amusement rides at Salisbury Beach when I was younger.

Busy Week

My week was very busy. The kids' week was basically the same as all the rest - going to the park, packing picnics, riding bikes, sidewalk chalk, etc. I've had a bit of an impatient week. I'm get very anxious when I've done all I can do and now I have to wait. I'm waiting on my Florida nursing license so that I can properly negotiate a job. I'm waiting on a notarized copy of Megan's birth certificate so that I can finish registering the kids in school. I'm waiting on authorization from Tricare so that the kids can get in with their new doctor for their school physicals. We would have done physicals before we left Kodiak, but the school wants them done on a specific form that was not on their website until just recently. Waiting, waiting, waiting. One one level, I'm really okay with it. I know it will all fall into place eventually. On the other hand, I feel a slight level of guilt for having less than 1,000 things to do every day. I'm so used to barely having time to breathe every day, now all this spare time is killing me. So for now, I will enjoy going to the park, and picnicking and all of our other fun things. The kids are at the window waiting on Grandma to get home. Last night once Grandma got off of work, we all went over to the McCoy's house for dinner. Their daughter, Lauren was so gracious in allowing the kids to play with some of her toys from when she was younger. Joshua has been battling a cough (once again the Tricare authorization would be handy, it's not an emergency, but I'd like to check in with the new doctor and get a new perspective on this chronic coughing), and was very weepy. I am mortified when we bring the kids out to dinner and they don't eat. Usually they are fantastic eaters, but there was a lot going on last night. Daniel ate pretty good last night, so he shared some dessert with Grandpa. We've also been at the gym 3 days this week. I'm very happy with the gym I chose. I've really enjoyed working out with a personal trainer. He's encouraged me to try things that I would ordinarily be too intimidated to attempt. Today is my last training session with him, and I feel confident now that I can walk into the gym next week and actually work out on my own doing an effective work-out.

Big Girl Haircut

Last night was rough. Joshua and Megan are sleeping in bunkbeds. The upper bunk where Joshua sleeps is a twin size bed. The lower bunk is a full size bed. The kids are getting over runny noses and have been pretty phlemy. After being in bed for a couple of hours, Joshua was coughing and triggered his gag reflex. He vomited over the side of his bed...onto his sister. Megan couldn't figure out what had happened. She kept crying and saying that she was wet. Once I got her out of the dark room and into the bathroom, I figured it out. Daniel was fortunate to sleep right through the chaos. I left the mess for the morning and put Joshua in my bed, and Megan on the loveseat. I slept on the couch, since Joshua grinds his teeth and I cannot sleep in the same room as him.

By mid-morning, everyone was feeling better and ready to get out. We went shopping for a few things. Near the store was a kiddy hair cut place. Megan has been way overdue for a haircut, so it seemed like a good time to stop in.
The boys were happy to play while Megan got her haircut.
Megan had a great time. She watched Barbie Swan Lake and kept perfectly still.
The lady that cut her hair just adored Megan. They chatted away about ballet the whole time.
Daniel had a great time playing trains. He said, "Look Mom, my train table".

Struggling to stay awake

Last night the next door neighbors had a rockin' party. Bummer we weren't invited. Bigger bummer that the kids were up off and on for the duration of the party. Everyone woke up for the day sometime around 7:30am. Grandma took us to First Watch for breakfast. We'll definitely be back to eat there again! I'd recommend it for anyone that is looking for a healthy and filling breakfast. The kids all chose the fresh fruit filled crepes. At under $3.50 they had the perfect sized little crepe stuffed and overflowing with fresh fruit, served with a side of home made granola and organic yogurt. I usually struggle with the lack of healthy foods on most kids menus. This little crew nearly came unglued when they saw their yummy breakfast! They were members of the clean plate club this morning. My breakfast was yummy, too. I had a fruit, nut, granola and yogurt mixture with a small poppy seed lemon muffin.

After breakfast, Grandma showed me where Economy Foods is. I popped in to grab the kids new multivitamins. In Kodiak, the water did not have fluoride in it, so they took multivitamins with fluoride. Here they just need regular multivitamins without fluoride.

Then we took the kids to Publix to grab some groceries. Joshua helped hold the list, while Daniel, Megan and I played "I Spy" to pass the time. It's actually enjoyable to go to the grocery store with the kids when my only job is to push the cart!

We were back at the house by 10:30am. Daniel was trying to fall asleep in the car, and both of the other two looked exhausted as well. We decided to have some down time, and chill out inside with our pillows and blankies watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Daniel managed to take about a 25 minute nap during the movie.

After lunch, we played outside for a couple of hours. Grandma brought out an over sized plastic horseshoe game as well as a large rolling tube.
The boys had a great time playing horseshoes.
Megan braced herself ready for a ride in the rolling tube...
and then she fell on her face. She cracked up laughing thinking it was the funniest thing ever!
Joshua figured it out. He crawled like a gerbil in a wheel and was able to get across the lawn.
Daniel got in on the action. However, he's inherited his mother's control freak gene, so once the wheel proved to be unstable, he wanted out.

We also played with some water toys, getting all of us soaked. Even Mommy and Grandma got in on the action. By around 3:30pm we came inside to put on dry clothes. I put everyone in their jammies and began counting the minutes until I could put them to bed. They were yawning and heads were bobbing. I would have tried a nap, but the last time Megan and Joshua napped during the day, they had a really hard time going to sleep on time at night.

We picked up some craft supplies last week. One of the crafts the kids picked out was treasure boxes. With them all in the same room, Joshua has been getting his feelings hurt when his little brother touches his special trinkets. They decorated their treasure boxes while we waited for a pizza to be delivered.
After dinner, we played Chutes and Ladders, Trouble, Candy Land, Caribou, and a Duck game. The last two are Cranium games.

Finally, I couldn't fight the sleepies anymore. We started brushing teeth and reading stories at 6:45pm. It's now about 8pm and they are all sound asleep.

Bits of this and that

Here's a shot of me and the kids. I got my hair cut last week and Keith has been after me about not posting an updated picture of myself. Basically it's just like the picture to the right with me and Joshua and the back is a little stacked. Joshua said, "you look beautiful like Miss Becca now". Awwww...he's so sweet.

I had my first meeting with the personal trainer on Friday. My trainer is a nice guy. Not nice enough to sugar coat anything, though. My weight is great for my height, my BMI is great, my resting heartrate is 64, my blood pressure is 106/60. He tested my cardiovascular endurance and muscular strength and I scored "very fit" in both areas. All that sounds great, until we tested my percentage of body fat. Yikes, 31% of my body is fat. Ewww. But it explains why the actual physical shape of my body doesn't look like it represents the number on the scale. With the trainer's help, I had to set a few long and short term goals. The short term goals were easy - basically, I want to put on a swim suit and not shriek in horror, so the measurable aspect of that goal is to get my body fat percentage down to 26%. For long term goals - I really miss running. I like the solitude of running by myself. I probably haven't gone for a really good long run since before I moved away from home to go to college. So for a long term goal - the trainer is going to help me get on a training schedule to run the Disney Princess 1/2 Marathon next March.

The kids and I went to a great program at the church tonight. Instead of a traditional week-long Vacation Bible School, the church is going with monthly Family Bible Adventure Nights. Daniel has been sniffling all day, so I only took Megan and Joshua. They had a blast singing, doing crafts, having snacks and playing games. One of the games was a horse drawn carriage race and I had to race around the church parking lot pulling Megan in a wagon. It was great to watch her laughing behind me. The night finished up with a great puppet show. We'll be back for next month's program.

Collages

Grandma has a pack of really cool crafting scissors. Each scissor cuts with a different pattern. The kids enjoyed using the scissors to practice thier cutting skills. They made collages from their paper scraps. Joshua is pretty proud of his work.
I cut out a string of paper dolls for Megan to decorate.
Daniel used the scissors like a champ. Then he really got into using the tape. It was a fun, quiet afternoon craft for all three kids.

Visiting the Beach with Nana

Today the kids and I drove over to the East Coast of the state to visit with my mother (Nana). It was the first time the kids actually enjoyed the beach. Joshua and Nana checking out the water.
Joshua enjoying playing with his new squirter.
Megan and Daniel would not go near the ocean, so they filled up their squirters using this pink bucket.

Megan enjoyed watching the lifeguards doing their training drills.

Megan helped me spell her name.
The parking area to the beach had a nice little play area with water squirters.
Nana's retirement community has a nice pool. The kids really enjoyed it. Joshua tried to swim a bit with his little kick board. Megan didn't like leaving the stairs.
Daniel was happy to alternate between sitting in the stairs and riding around on my tummy while I floated on my back.

It was a good time. They were all worn out from the sun and the sand, and slept the whole way home.