Thursday, July 18, 2013

Yep, It's Summer.

Summer is usually synonymous with "slacker" for me, and apparently my blog is no exception. No, I'm not really being a slacker, per se, but just going with the flow of our days, which leaves little computer time.

A little stream-of-consciousness style post about what's new in our world:

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If you're squeamish, avert your eyes and scroll on down.  I had more allergy testing done. I was tested about two years ago, where they determined I was pretty much allergic to everything under the sun. Long story short, I couldn't keep up with the demands of getting into the office at least twice a week (with 2 year olds--not sure why I ever thought I COULD...), so I had to quit. After this past spring and a terrible allergy season, I went back. This time, I found an allergist much closer to home and made Marty sign his name in blood that he'd help me pick up the kids from school so that I could get to these weekly shots. I'm pretty sure he's tired of my allergies, too--they involve much scratching, sneezing, and complaining--so he agreed. The new allergist wanted to retest a few things--fortunately not everything--just to see how allergic I really was. They base their dosages of allergens on exactly how allergic a person is--the more allergic you are, the more diluted they have to make the vials, so that they don't put you into anaphylaxis (fun!). To test this, they scratch your skin with allergens and then measure the size of your reaction (if you have one). They literally measure the size of the freaking spot on your skin--so fun. If you're not allergic, nothing happens. If you are allergic, the spot swells, reddens, and itches like FIRE. Like fire, I tell you. And you are not allowed to scratch.  Oh sure, they come in and check on you, rub a little lotion on it, but seriously? I've never wanted to scratch worse in my life. It's a pretty miserable 10 minutes.

If you're wondering what this might look like, here's a picture of my back after the 10 minutes. You can see where they gridded everything, and what things I am allergic to/not allergic to:

Yes, I asked the nurse to take a picture. Yes, I am still in love with the gorgeous sun tattoo I got when I was 20. Only one of those statements is true.
Those aren't the worst reactions ever--but that's because he diluted them, knowing I was allergic to these things. Can you imagine how it would've looked with them not diluted? Talk about misery.  The biggest reactions you see are cat and dust, along with grass pollens. Yay. I started my shots two weeks ago. The doctor says I should see some improvement by next Spring, if I keep up two shots a week. I sure hope so.

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We did two very exciting things in the past few weeks. 1) We sucked it up and took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time, and 2) We took the kids to the Bluegrass Fair near our house.  Item #2 was actually based on the success of item #1.  Chuck E. Cheese is pretty much a form of adult torture. Loud games, screaming kids, over-priced pizza that tastes like Totinos, bleeding wallets. TORTURE.  The kids loved it.  They ate well, climbed into the tunnels and slides, rode rides. We were so not sure if Anderson would get on the rides. The whole immature vestibular system thing pretty much makes all movement activities off-limits. Except...he loved them! Granted, these rides don't do much of anything. At all. But still...he got on them, smiled, loved them, asked to ride again. I was pumped.



So exciting!

One thing I can say about Marty and I as a couple is that we both share the same ridiculously immature sense of humor. We can seriously make anything fun/funny by saying or doing something stupid, by changing song lyrics to create some completely stupid song, etc. You get the idea. Anyway, within about 10 minutes of walking into the door, we knew that this was one of those times when our immaturity was needed if we were going to survive the experience.  So...he did this. I assure you I did NOT in any way talk him into this, and he was fully aware of the videoing. He doesn't care. I laughed so hard I cried. And yes...he actually rode a second time because he thought he could do better. And no...he didn't do any better.



So, since this was such a successful trip, we decided to take the kids to the Bluegrass Fair that is held annually in Masterson Station park.  I have to be honest...I love a good fair. This is a very, very small fair. It pretty much is just a midway, some food, and maybe a few things to look at. I actually love the small size--it elminates all of the walking/tiredness drama for the kids. Of course, as with all fairs, you do get the added entertainment of the "fair personalities"...ahem...but that's part of the fun. We took the kids on a cloudy Sunday afternoon, hoping to avoid major crowds and the even more fun personalities that come out late at night.  As soon as we arrived, it started raining. Not the kind of rain that drenched us, so we went on in. We took the kids to look at the rides, and they were interested--exciting! Went to buy our tickets, and OH. MY. GOD.  The cost of tickets. Wow.  Now, they did have a "ride bracelet", which you could purchase for $18.00. However, the women selling said bracelets were also measuring young riders to make sure they were right at the 36 inch height minimum for most rides.  And they weren't measuring generously.  One of my two little riders is a tiny bit shy of 36 inches...so, no ride bracelet for her. We bought individual tickets instead and hoped that some of the workers would be a little more...forgiving...of her shortcomings (HAHAHAHA!). Our first adventure was the little cars. Anderson was all about it; Amelia screamed when we suggested she ride it. She had her sights on bigger fish. So, he got on alone, and I was soooo nervous. I was afraid it would freak him out and that he'd try to escape the moving ride. But...he loved it.


I know it sounds stupid to say that a parent would be proud of a kid for getting on a crappy fair ride, but wow was I proud. So many little things he's overcome to be able to do this.

Amelia went by the "Go Big or Go Home" philosophy. She wanted her first ride to be The Caterpillar--that rickety roller coaster that is at EVERY fair, always. This video isn't of us--there is no video of us but if there were, it would be high-larious.  This is just a random video so that you get the idea:


She was adamant that she wanted to ride this. Anderson was protesting loudly and clinging to me, so Marty said he would take her. I doubted that they'd let him, with him being so tall and this ride being so...small? Rickety? I don't know. The guy running it didn't say a word. All of a sudden, though, Anderson wanted to ride it. He was climbing the rusty steps, so I had no choice but to join him. 16 tickets later, we were all jammed into the first two seats of the thing. Marty, who had the front row seat because "it has more leg room", put it best. As we were ascending the little hill, with the old, flimsy ride, he realized exactly how crappy the ride was and how all of our lives were in jeopardy.  The kids were great until our first trip down that hill. What you can't tell is how fast you go around the little curve that directly follows the hill. I'm pretty sure the dude running it was jacking with it on purpose--it felt like we were riding the brakes down the first half of the little hill, and then he hit the gas. There was definitely some g force going around that curve and the kids FREAKED.  I was cracking up, Marty and I were trying to keep it light because we had two more long trips through the course. Anderson never cried; he just whined. Amelia burst into tears as we got off. Needless to say, she was a bit more cautious of her ride choices for the rest of the day. We feed some animals, splashed in some puddles, rode more rides. They had an absolute blast. It was a great day.

I have OH so much more to share...I will post again tomorrow. Right now, Amelia is sitting next to me begging me to have a tea party and Anderson is losing his temper with a toy truck, so I'm needed elsewhere.  Off to resume my Mom role...

1 comment:

  1. Yay, Anderson! That is so awesome that he was able to get on the rides and love them. Silas looks at those little rides and laughs. Literally. He has to be on the rides that are crazy. The higher the better. The more risk, the more he wants to do it. Mix that with his very high pain tolerance and this mama is worried!

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