Wolves & Polo

On Friday night I had dinner with friends at Katie's and when I came home C was not quite asleep. "Mommy!" she said as I tiptoed up the stairs. Eventually she wheedled her way into my room which I protest against but secretly love the snuggles.

Saturday: Weights and an 85 minute yoga class. We stopped home briefly and then set out for the picnit that C had been requesting for days. I was going to drive by Faust Park until I found a drive-through nearby but I spotted food trucks there. We spread out the blanket, the girls surveyed the numerous birfday parties nearby (can we go? They got ballooms! [balloons]), and we shared sliders. (Josie and I shared sliders. Clem ate a bun or two.)

Carousel rides.

Knowing C would be hungry and having a little time to spare, we went through the McDonald's drive-through for a 10 piece nugget meal. (Meal doesn't really feel like the right word). I asked for a extra container and divided the nuggets before presenting them to the backseat dwellers for whom parity is everything.

These were the only sunglasses I had in the car; wore them all day.

The big event! I saw that Get Gorgeous was going to be at a polo event benefitting the Endangered Wolf Center and the event description included several kid activities and an entry fee of only $25. Horses! Botox! Facepainting! The name of the event: Wolves & Polo. To the point.

Having never been to a polo event before or having any idea what the venue was like, I opted to put the girls in the stroller which is leviathan but useful. It was so hot - so hot - and nice to stash my mom bag full of mom stuff in the bottom of it. Also, restraining the girls is always a plus.

This kind gentleman picked up us in a golf cart.

The view from the golf cart.

I made a beeline for the Get Gorgeous van because once the girls caught sight of the petting zoo and bounce house time was ticking. Botox at the polo match - fancy!

Facepainting.

Meeting the Endangered Wolf Center mascot. I was worried that C would be terrified of all the wolf pictures everywhere (thanks, Beauty and the Beast) but as you can see I'm taking this photo as she is sprinting toward the mascot. Who, she told me later, was "just a costume."

We will definitely have to check out the EWC, especially the Wine and Cheese Howl in which participants howl to get the wolves to howl back. (I think Luke will be really good at this - he's a very talented mimic.)

Petting zoo.

Bounce house eclipsed everything. The polo horses were passingly interesting to them but it could have been elephant ballet and they wouldn't have cared -- they love a bounce house.

Italian ices. It was blazingly hot and I had a lemon one and I don't think anything has ever tasted as good.

After another round in the bounce house it was time to go - everyone was hot and tired. I pushed the double stroller across the bumpy (non-playing) field, past the horse trailers (there were so many horses there), to the van, buckled each weary-whiny girl into her car seat, collapsed the stroller and heaved it into the van. Call me Sisyphus. I bathed the girls as soon as we got home to remove the layers of sunscreen and dust and llama-dander and they zonked out in their pajamas watching Aladdin.

Sunday: gym time, brunch with friends sans kids (eggs en cocotte with spinach and lardons of bacon larger than Jolly Ranchers - delicious!), a stop by the library to pick up a couple more Jim Harrison books (I'm enjoying the novellas of Legends of the Fall so much), getting ready for the week, Sleeping Beauty ballet on YouTube. (We've been watching ballets for a long time; I was searching the blog for posts about it and I can't believe all this was not quite 18 months ago!)

I saw the first wave of pumpkin paraphernalia in the grocery store today - this summer is drawing to a close. I have a few more summer things I want to do before these warm weeks pass... have a great one everybody!

What's Making Me Happy - Late Summer Edition

// "Look, Mommy, a mask!" Pretzels wif no spwinkles from the poolside concession.

// Clem was reciting The Gruffalo's Child and when she paused and I prompted her with the next line, she howled and said, "no, I was just getting my breath ready!"


// Dinner on the grill.

// Dessert on the grill!

// Dives.

// "I wanna take a picture wif Jenny."

// Lincoln in the Bardo as an audiobook. For your daily dose of devastation. This production features 166 narrators but the majority is performed by Nick Offerman, David Sedaris, and the author. I loved it.

Atopy Rules

Last week Josie had a snotty nose and a cough for a couple of days, nothing unusual for her. On Wednesday she started to breathe with her belly. Luke took her to the pediatric ER at 10 pm and after receiving nebulizer treatments and oral steroids, she was admitted for an asthma attack (her first).

Luke sent me this text from the ER. How sweet is that?!

I took C to school as early as possible on Thursday and went to her room. I was covering the frozen section service and though my colleagues offered to help, it happened to be an uncommonly light day. I was able to be in Josie's room frequently while popping down to take care of administrative issues and the couple of frozens that day. 

I texted my family that morning and the next time I spoke to my dad, he was already at the hospital. He stayed with Josie while Luke and I stepped out for various reasons throughout the day and of course Josie was so happy to see Pop Pop.

As for Josie, she had a great day. TV, popsicles, stickers, pizza...

Her breathing and lung sounds improved and she needed to demonstrate adequate oxygenation during sleep. As she was hopped up on treats, a new environment, and albuterol, I thought there was no way she would nap and we would have to spend another night in the hospital. Luckily, she fell asleep in the late afternoon, maintained good oxygenation, and was able to be discharged at 7 pm.

The respiratory therapist and I woke her up for her last treatment and she was angry, tired, and tearful. After packing up her things and maneuvering the screaming child and giant stroller through the hospital and to the car, she calmed down on the short drive home, commenting:

Josie: That was fun!

Me: What was fun?

Josie: Going to the doctor!

She's fine now and we'll premedicate her when a whopping allergen dose is anticipated... making me think of the farm animals and giant pit of dusty soybeans that she encountered at the fair.
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Town & Country Fair

On Friday the girls and I drove to WashMO to spend the night and be at the Town & Country Fair early. After my dad got home from work we went to dinner at Hawthorne (a family favorite) in nearby Labadie. Clem settled into her Frozen bed ("wif Frozen sheets and a Frozen pillow!" - Clem) and Josie slept next to me, waking at one point with her now-nightly night terrors. This one consisted of her shouting I WANNA GO ON A BIG TRUCK! I WANNA GO ON A BIG TRUCK! (I think we had talked about seeing trucks and tractors at the fair).


The weather was absolutely perfect -- overcast and 75 degrees. We were there about 30 minutes after opening - not much crowd yet.


With Pop Pop.

Luke had a gig Friday night and drove to Washington in the morning. He found us in Agri-Land. The girls petted piglets, a calf, goats, sheep, and played in a shallow pit of soybeans.

Fair fairy.

One second after this photo Josie said: You forgot to do da udder one (pointing to her upper lip).

The royal wave.

She loved the teacups.

Our last ride was a very small roller coaster that lasted about 6 minutes - so long.

Root beer floats by the tractor pull.

Zonked out in the car.

Luke and I spent Saturday afternoon and evening meal prepping for the week: beef/onion/mushroom kebabs, Thai peanut chicken kebabs, flank steak, green beans, bacon and eggs.

On Sunday the girls and I went to the gym (where I did squats and weighted lunges that made walking painful for three days) and to lunch with Jenny. At three we went to see a house that we both liked a lot (hopes: UP) and because it was in a partially renovated but uninhabitable state, necessitated a commercial loan requiring a 20% down payment of the projected finished cost (hopes: DASHED).