Road Trip!

That's right folks.  We took a good old fashioned, Clark Griswold style vacation to Florida.  With airfare running $420/ticket and a rental car at $500+, we decided to drive to Florida this year instead of fly.  Was it worth it?  I'd say so but that is a relative answer.  It saved us $1200+ so why not?  It was a LONG drive.  We stopped overnight in St. Louis and Atlanta on the way there and in Murfreesboro (TN) and St. Louis on the way home.  Doing it with just one overnight would have been very agressive with two little kids.  

When we got there, we headed to the pool.  It was HOT.  and HUMID.  And we celebrated Grandma Carlson's birthday.  

We played with Grandma.  

This was at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Clearwater Beach.  We prepped for this excursion by watching Dolphin Tale.  The CMA houses Winter the dolphin who is without his tail due to being caught in a fishing net.  

In this tank, you could pet the sting rays.  

I'm not sure which one is Winter as there are 3 dolphins that call the CMA home.  Winter wears his prostetic tail for only a few hours each day.  

On the bus to the Dolphin Tale museum.  It was quite neat with lots of props, photos, and background behind the filming of the movie.  I would have liked to spend more time there but the kids didn't allow for that.  

After visiting the CMA, we headed out to Clearwater Beach for a while.  It was HOT.  Nothing to drink and even the Gulf of Mexico was like a steam bath.  This park we were at was right across the street from the hotel I interned at in college.  I have lots of memories of Clearwater Beach.  I'm kind of in awe that I got to intern at such a BEAUTIFUL place.  Clearwater Beach is absolutely stunning.  On the way home, we approached a severe storm just as we entered onto the causeway to cross Tampa Bay.  I think it was the worst storms I have driven through.  Palm fronds were flying everywhere, visibility was almost nothing, lightning bolts from the sky to the ground right in front of me.  It took us a half hour just to cross over Tampa Bay.  I was in the passenger seat with white knuckles and Meredith was in the back enjoying every minute of the storm.  We even had a tree branch stuck in our car when we got home.  

The following day, we headed out to Homosassa Springs State Park.  I LOVE doing things like this.  Seeing nature, no crowds, etc.  Anyway, Homosassa is a spring where the manatees like to gather.  In the winter, the Gulf water gets too cool and they swim inland up to the springs because the water coming out is always a steady temperature.  I can't remember exactly what it is, but it's somewhere around 76 degrees.  This picture below is the actual spring and we were lucky to be able to view some manatees.  They actually have a viewing platform that goes out in the spring and you can view manatees from under the water.  It was pretty neat.  

There is also a wildlife preserve at the park that has a rather large and very nice wildlife viewing area.  There are lots of native animals and tons of birds.  They also house a hippo who was rescued that is an honorary citizen of the state of FL.  

Just one of many alligators there.  

And birds galore.  Just a few flamingos here.  

We spent the next day at Busch Gardens.  Anna stayed home with Grandma and Grandpa so Greg and I took Meredith by herself.  We figured we would be able to navigate the park so much easier without her and it was good for Anna to get a little bonding time.  I did not bring my camera with so I have no pictures but we did have a good time.  They have every A list animal you can think of there so that was kind of neat to see.  We are not roller coaster people so we skipped all those and did some other things. Meredith did end up going on a few adult rides like the Congo River Rapids, the flume, and even one of their tame roller coasters.  I had to threaten to leave 4 times as Meredith began to have tantrums over silly stuff like the rides having to close because of lightning, missing the train ride, and not being tall enough to drive the bumper cars.  Seriously.  

On the way home, we stayed in St. Louis on our second night of driving.  We got there early and spent some time at the Gateway Arch and then at Washington University where Greg went to college.  

The arch is pretty neat.  I was excited to go up to the top but it was not what I was expecting.  At. All.  First, you have to buy a ticket for a designated time.  We waited about 45 minutes for that.  Then when it is your time, you get in line and wait another 45 minutes to ride to the top.  I would rather have saved the $10 it cost to go up and just view it from the bottom.  I was expecting a nice indoor viewing platform with room to walk around.  Nope.  The viewing 'room' is tiny and there were probably 75 people all crammed in there.  You couldn't even move around and the people waiting in line to go back down takes up half the space in the viewing room.  And the viewing windows are tiny.  I wanted to go down as soon as I got up to the top.  

They have a nice area in the bunker below the arch with a gift shop, museum, and theater.  

I made this picture extra large.  If you look closely, you can see the viewing windows in the right third of the picture.  They look like black dots.  

You ride up to the top in these pod-like things.  It was interesting.  

All-in-all, it was a good trip.  We had fun!  

2!

So...my little Anna turned 2 on Wednesday, July 31.  Two years sure went by fast.  At 2, she knows all her letters and numbers up to 10.  She is very picky about what she eats.  She is skinny, skinny, skinny.    We go to the doctor tomorrow for her annual check-up so we'll see how much she weighs then but I'm guessing 22 or 23 lbs.  She has hundreds and hundreds of words and can string together two words.  She loves to read books.  She loves Mickey/Minnie Mouse.  She is still afraid of men (except daddy).  She is very serious and stubborn.  I love her to bits!  

Here is the Minnie stuff we got her.  She is obsessed with sunglasses (sis as she calls them).  That Minnie straw cup is because her sister has a Hello Kitty one like it and it has been the subject of lots of fits.  

We had Anna's party planned for Saturday 8/3 at Davanni's in their party room but on Friday, Anna became ill and we ended up cancelling her party:(.  Thank goodness she is not old enough to understand birthdays yet.  I went and picked up her cake anyway because I felt obligated.  

 

Here's the sick one snuggling with me on the day of her party.  

We still opened up presents anyway.  She got lots and lots of Mickey/Minnie plus more and she is very excited to have some new things to play with.  

Soccer

Meredith started soccer with the Rosemount Athletic Association a few weeks back.  It's been a few years since we first tried soccer (which turned out to be a total disaster).  This time, she is playing in a girls league with Kindergarteners and First Graders.  Sometimes it bums me out that we play with Rosemount because Meredith goes to school in Apple Valley so none of the kids she plays sports with (hockey or soccer) will be kids she will be in school with.  We are zoned so weird for schools.  We are zoned for high school at Rosemount High School even though we live WAY into Apple Valley.  That is the reason why we play sports through Rosemount Athletic Association though.  

Anyway, it turns out that one of the girls on her team is a girl she went to preschool with so she is happy to know someone.  

Soccer has been going well.  She is much more focused than she was at age 3.  She needs to work on looking forward as she runs (instead of looking at the ground) and her running form needs to be perfected (she runs like Phoebe from Friends).  But she is having fun.  We will continue on with soccer through the end of August.  

This was the first day.  They didn't have their complete uniforms, thus the bright blue shorts.  The girl in the front with the pink ball is her friend Carly from preschool.  

Now this one is a disaster at soccer.  I only attend once/week because bringing Anna is just too much.  All the other kids sit nicely.  Why can't mine?  She is always trying to run on the field.  Or run away.  

Anna's First Haircut

Anna's hair has been getting to a point of...I don't know...a mullet I guess.  Her hair has grown in much faster than Meredith's and for some reason, it hasn't looked as scraggly as Meredith's was.  I have held off cutting it because it hasn't bothered me as much.  But alas, it was time for a haircut.  I suggested to Greg that I cut it myself but he wouldn't hear of it.  Then I suggested taking her to Cost Cutters because that is where I take Meredith and they take competitor's coupons and that suggestion was pretty much blasphemy to him.  He insisted we take her to Kid's Hair.  So I did.  And it was probably a good decision.  Anna is a scaredy cat.  Just putting her into the chair made her cling to me.  BUT as soon as she saw Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the TV (that that have at every cutting station) she went into this trance and did not move or cry once.  So here you have it.  The mullet before and the cute big girl cut after.  

High Blood Pressure

So yeah...nothing like feeling really old when your body relies on medication to function properly.  I have high blood pressure. It did not come as a surprise since it is prominent in my family but still. I knew I have had elevated blood pressure for a while but it never occurred to me that it was high until I started having issues and not feeling myself. And it was really high.  Scary high.  150s over 110s.

No wonder I was feeling so off. Ever since January, my heart has been pounding hard when I lay on my left side. I couldn't even sleep on my left side it was so bothersome. I had this constant on-edge feeling.  Like my body was loaded up with caffeine but I don't even consume caffeine. I was starting to think I was having anxiety problems because my mind would race and I couldn't settle my body down. I couldn't sleep. It would take hours to fall asleep and then I would wake up every hour and have a hard time going back to sleep. I was getting 3-4 hours of sleep per night. I dreaded nighttime.

I finally googled some information about my pounding heart and it said it could be from high blood pressure. The next day I went to CVS and took my blood pressure. I made an appointment that day to see a doctor.

I got to have blood work done, a urinalysis, an EKG, a renal ultrasound, and an echocardiogram.  All was normal but I do know now that I have a heart defect called an atrial-septal aneurysm )which has no clinical significance and is just one of those odd things). So I feel really healthy now! And I feel a million times better now that I am on medication. The pounding heart has stopped. The on-edge feeling is gone. I can sleep!

So there you have it. My body is officially deteriorating.

Visitors

Here's another very late update.  Since Grandma and Grandpa Carlson came to visit almost a month ago, I figured I'd share some pictures.  Scott also came to visit too!  We had a great time visiting and Meredith goes nuts when she gets visitors.  I mean nuts.  Oh my word.  When does the crazy stage end?  

Anna did her usual 'scrunch her eyes and bury her head'.  I am beginning to think this is an attention grabbing maneuver because she seems to only do it around 'familiar' people that she doesn't necessarily see every day.  It's cute though.  

This is about the best I could do for a group shot.  Anna is hiding.  

Rich and Mary spent some time down in Iowa and in St. Louis to visit relatives and Greg's uncle Don and Aunt Shirley came up for the weekend.  I always love to see them and Meredith loves to see Shirley.  She had Mary and Shirley up on their feet here.  

We busted out the popsicles for the first time this year on one of the few nice days we've had so far.  

And since we're talking about visitors, Uncle Chris came up to visit before his big move to Texas.  Anna now calls him Uncle Bye-Bye.  We have been Skyping and since she has another out-of-state uncle, she expects postcards.  LOL.  

Spring Program

It's been a few weeks since I've updated but Meredith had her spring program the week before school was done.  Grandma and Grandpa Schwake came up and Auntie Jennifer came as well.  It was a sad realization that preschool was almost done.  On her last day of school, they had a picnic and I didn't bring my camera because Anna is such a handful that I knew I would not get any pictures anyway.  But it was a sad day.  Kindergarten is the next step for us.  I'm sad that she will not see most of these friends again as she went to preschool in Rosemount and we are in Apple Valley.  I'm sad because it seems like I was finally getting to know some of the other moms from her class and now it's over and I won't see them again.  It's sad because she had a friend Caroline who seemed so similar to Meredith and her mom was so sweet.  One that I could see myself being friends with.  So it's just kind of sad that this chapter in our lives is over and we're moving on.  She will continue to play hockey with one boy from her class Zach.  And she will play soccer this summer with Carly from her class as well.  

Meredith likely won't be going to the Kindergarten that I want her to.  I really wanted her to go to a magnet school of International Studies which teaches foreign language.  But instead, she will be going to Cedar Park Elementary (the school we are zoned for) which is also a magnet school focusing on Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math.  

The kindergartens in the area are really full from what I understand.  From what I heard, the school that is closest to us (not the one we are zoned for though) will be bussing some kindergarteners to another nearby school because they are so full.  

She will be doing half day as I don't want to pay for the $340/month to go a few extra hours.  I'm so disappointed that we missed the free full day kindergarten by one year.  Half day kindergarten seems so 50 years ago to me.  At least we have full day K to look forward to with Anna.  

Anyway, enough rambling.  Here are some pictures from the spring program.  

They had an artist visit their class one day and they all painted canvases.  Hers is the one just to the left of her head.  The bottom picture shows all the canvases from the kids in her class.

Faces

This girl makes the craziest faces.  She started off very shy by burying her head and clinging to Mom and Dad whenever she was around loud places or strange people.  Now it seems she just does it when we're at the hockey rink and when she sees relatives SHE ALREADY KNOWS!  LOL.  I think she wants attention.  Grandma and Grandpa Carlson came up from Florida a few days ago and this is what they get.  She scrunches up her eyes all tight and buries her nose.  Okay, I get it...she needs to warm up to them as she doesn't get to see them very often.  

But this is the reaction Grandma Schwake and Auntie Jennifer got when they stopped by briefly tonight.  Mind you, Anna sees them all.the.time.  Apparently we were being too loud.  I have no idea where she learned to plug her ears.  LOL.  

Osman Shrine Circus

This is way overdue but I thought I'd share our trip to the Osman Shrine Circus in April.  We have done this now for 3 years.  Every year, they have special Grandparents shows where they sell tickets in designated sections for $5 each as long as the grandparent is the purchaser.  It's quite a drive for us up the the fairgrounds but for $5 tickets, it can't be beat.  

We ended up going early so Meredith could go on the elephant before the show instead of battling the crowds during the break.  The ride was so short that this is about the only picture I could get because before I knew it, they were getting off.  

I vetoed Anna getting to go on the elephant.  Grandma bought her a ticket for it and I promptly asked for a refund.  LOL.  I don't trust this kid on the elephant.  I'm surprised that they let babies on.  

Cotton candy was a big hit.  Once again, I hit up the $1 toy booth and she picked out this headband with tassels.  

Here are some pictures from the show.  The tigers did a great job.  

The clowns were funny.  

The jugglers were fun.  

And the daredevils did not disappoint.