Happy 7th Birthday Savannah!

We had Savannah’s birthday party the day we left on our trip and Jason just had a final exam the day before, so it was a crazy week to prepare the house, packing, work, studying etc. (I don’t have all her birthdays digital, so she isn’t getting a photo review of the past.) She wanted to serve daddy’s buttermilk pancakes and have a Luau, so we had a Luau Breakfast theme-pancakes, pineapple, strawberries, bananas, juice with umbrellas, and cupcakes. We played ALOHA bingo, limbo, present opening, etc. It went really well. The girls got little flower purses with earrings, necklace, notepad and a fish shaped bubble bath, the boys’ favors were similar but in cellophane bags with parachute guys instead of the jewelry. I cannot believe she is seven years old. She is so smart, loves art more then anything and has a great, fun personality. Here are some photos from her friend party.

 

Phuket, Thailand

My screen is not fully loading, so I don’t know if this post is working properly. Anyway, quick update. Our hotel is awesome, great room, great beach view. I’ve had two massages, spent hours on the beach and at the pool. Food is yummy, lots of cashew chicken-it’s sooo good. The Thai people are so respectful and kind mannered. I didn’t know they drive on the left side-and they have motorbikes and scooters everywhere, They drive all over on their bikes without helmets and have their little children on their knee or between their legs on the floor board. The kids are so cute and don’t seem to mind being on the motorbikes. Patong Beach is crazy-it seems there’s a million shops and stands and restaurants-lights and signs galore. We went to several small islands yesterday including the famous two where they filmed Tomorrow Never Dies/James Bond and The Beach. Very beautiful-foilage, green and blue waters etc. I am trying to recap fast. Heading to the beach and pool. Everything is so cheap, you feel like you are ripping them off! Fine dining is $30 maybe, we turned in a bag of laundry at some random shop, 24 hours later we picked it up fresh, clean and ironed, even our undewear was ironed! I think it was five bucks. Off to the golden sand beach!

Hello from Taipei

We are in the China Airlines lounge in Taipei waiting for our flight to Bangkok, eating dumplins, roasted sweet potato, and freshly made noodles with beef. We have just hit the 24 hour mark since we left our house. It started with our flight to LAX being cancelled, we were originally told we would not be able to leave Saturday night. I was very stressed and disappointed, We thought we would have to go back home and leave Sunday afternoon; say goodbye to the kids again, be in economy/coach seats and lose a day of our vacation, plus we have a non refundable connection from Bangkok to Phuket. We would have had to buy those tickets again-they were not part of our reward flight. We had a great agent and Jason’s Platinum status saved us! We were re-routed to San Fran and then to Taipei and we have caught up to our original itinerary, so two more flights to go! We did not get First Class over the water-only business class. We are annoyed and will have to fight to get our Delta miles back when we get home. Business class was very nice actually, so everything has fallen in place so far. It was about a 14 hour flight, nice seats, with headrests, footrests, dinner, snack, breakfast, movies, and games at our seat. Slippers and blanket and nice pillows. It went pretty fast actually, we both slept 5-6 hours. I am starting to get the cloudy head that comes with jet lag. This is the biggest time change I have experienced before, it’s about 13 hours I think.  Food’s been good, can’t get a drink of water to save my life!  And I can’t read any of the bottled drinks-I see beer, pineapple juice, and vodka. Oh wait, Jason just found Sprite on the other side of the lounge, please let it be cold! I can’t wait to get to our hotel in about 12 hours!

Savannah’s Writing

Happy Birthday to Savannah in a couple days-I am so busy I will have to do her birthday post in a few weeks. But I wanted to share a couple writing samples she brought home from school. She did these in the fall but they just came home this week.

I am outta here-sun, sand, pool, elephants, monkeys, tuk tuks, and golden temples are in my near future! Off for a full day of preparations, party planning, packing and shopping. Check back for trip updates…maybe.

February Recap-The Flu and Vegas

Influenza Type A and Vive Las Vegas!

The first flu virus was identified in the 1930s (although the flu has probably existed for centuries). Since then, scientists have classified influenza viruses into 3 types, creatively named
A, B, and C.

Influenza Type A is the most common and also the scariest of the three influenzas, causing the most serious epidemics in history.
Influenza Type B flu outbreaks also can cause epidemics, but the disease it produces generally is milder than that caused by type A.
Influenza Type C flu viruses, on the other hand, have never been connected with a large epidemic, usually just causing mild respiratory infections similar to the common cold.

Have you ever had the test for the flu? It’s worse then the stick on your raw throat for strep. They stick a 6 inch cotton swap in your nostril and get a sample off what feels like the back of your brain. My husband had it first in the morning, and it came up positive, so I went in later that day as my symptoms got worse and you guessed it, positive. We laid in bed for nearly a week while the kids fended for themselves. I think they ate everyday-at least chips, cookies, and string cheese. At least those are the wrappers we found in the TV room when we came out of bed blurry eyed to make sure they were still alive and not bleeding. It was bad. We were prescribed some white powder substance to inhale twice a day. It’s suppose to take a day or two off the flu. It cost $67.20 each for this. It took over two weeks to feel completely better. Fortunately, we were better in time for Jason’s work convention in Las Vegas!

We drove to Vegas with the kids and they stayed one night with us, and then my parents graciously drove several hours to pick them up and take them back to their house. Jason worked and I hung out at the MGM Grand gym and spa! They have a really nice workout facility, and then I would go in the whirlpool, sauna, and steam room. It was so relaxing. It might be the best steam room I have ever been in. They also had a relaxation room with magazines, fruit, snacks, juice, water. A few of the nice touches-big fluffy robes, slippers, perfumes, professional attendants, lockers, all the toiletries you could need, etc. And my favorite-frozen cucumber slices and washcloths on ice. My skin and eyes looked great…for one week. So, I spent my mornings doing that and my afternoons shopping. Be still my heart-H&M. I love that H&M has come to the US. When we lived in Sweden I went there every week and bought most of my clothes there. So, I picked up a few cute things. I took the monorail to the Miracle Mile shops. Jason and I were able to meet during his breaks and walk the strip when he got off about 9-10pm. It was a nice break. One funny thing, we are walking around the Caesar Forums and spot a gelato stand. Jason decides he’ll get some and we pick a small size and they dish it up. We walk to the register-it is $18.99 for two scoops of gelato! We tried to act normal–I can feed my family for 3 days if I had to for $18.99! They had a size that was $45.99 for four scoops of gelato. Do you understand-a scoop, not a mammoth, share with 16 people bowl. Oh my goodness, we were laughing so hard. Anyway, here are a few pictures, I didn’t really take too many and I am still having major camera issues-all my photos are dark and some of these are once again bad camera phone shots.

As if…

Jackson: “Mom, I can’t decide if I should go to Thailand with you or stay with grandma and grandpa.”

Mom: “It takes two days to get there-it’s a really long trip.”

Jackson: “Well, you can just set up the DVD player and movies and bring coloring books and snacks, okay mommy.”

Mom: “Grandma and Grandpa would miss you.”

Jackson: “Won’t you miss me?”

Mom: “Yes, I am going to miss you a lot, but you can’t miss school.”

Jackson: “But we missed school last week to go to Vegas and California.”

Mom: “What did you talk about at school today?

Jazz Family BBQ at Energy Solutions Arena (Jan)

We have season tickets to the Jazz games (don’t ask, Jason’s actually a MAVS fan) and so we were invited to the Jazz Family BBQ at the Energy Solutions Arena. They had BBQ sandwiches, chips, salads, cookies, drinks etc. After dinner they brought several of the players out and played some games and gave away prizes. The Jazz bear did some tricks-the kids were more excited about the Jazz bear then the starting line up of the team. Since it was for season pass holders only, we were really close the the floor and that made it fun. After the activities, they had several players set up around the foyer of the arena for autographs, so we ran around and the kids got their mini Jazz balls signed by the players. Honestly, I didn’t know the names of half of them, I figure they were the good ones the longer line. Some were nicer then others, and Brevin Knight was super nice. People had serious action plans to get as many autographs as possible, families split up in different lines and were calling each other on phones to get updates etc. I heard one little boy say to his dad, “Where’s mom?” His answer was “She’s waiting in line for her boyfriend, Kyle Korver.” That got some good laughs. The women were lining up for this guy like crazy. Here are some grainy camera phone pics from the night:

The Jazz Bear on top of the hoop.

Players coming in

Activities, Games, Prizes

Players leaving to prep for autograph sessions

Savannah getting an autograph from Andrei Kirilenko

I don’t know who this is but there was a long line.

Waiting in line for Brevin Knight

Happy Birthday Jackson! (5 weeks ago)

First Birthday

Second Birthday

Third Birthday

Fourth Birthday

And this year, Jackson turned five!

Jason had class all day on Jackson’s birthday, so we had his friend party the week before at Chick-Fil-A. We had nine 4-6 year old boys, big sister Savannah, mom, dad and Grandma. We had kids’ meals, ice cream, cupcakes, balloons, a visit from the ‘cow’, and time to play on the indoor playground, and treats/coupons to take home. It was crazy and fun! Jackson loved his gifts. Here’s the gang:

On his real birthday, I took him to a model train show, he and Savannah really liked it. They had all different sizes from large to tiny trains that fit in a briefcase, everyone’s favorite was the display made out of Legos-it was amazing.

And for the evening after Jason’s class, we headed to Chuck E Cheese with some cousins young and not as young. Festivities included a Batman cake, games, pizza, salad, soda, and more presents that were perfect for our little guy.

The younger cousins

The cousin that didn’t want to be in the group picture.

And he was the spotlight student at preschool in January. Here are a couple photos from that special week.

Birthday cupcakes for class

Getting his special ‘Zookeeper’ cup from his teacher.

We love Jackson! He loves to ride his bike and do tricks on it, ride his Razor, play outside, play with friends, his favorite toys are transformers, remote control cars, plastic animals,etc He takes gymnastics, art and soccer will start up again soon. He is great at teasing his sister (what brother isn’t), he wishes his little baby brother was with us and not in heaven because he really wants to share a bunk bed with a little brother! He is always pulling silly faces for the camera these days, when he’s in the mood he’s a great helper around the house! I love this little brown eyed, blond boy. And best of all he still loves to snuggle with mommy. Happy Birthday Jackson!

Thank you everyone far and near who made Jackson’s birthday great!