Nice evening

We had some thunderstorms roll through and not drop nearly enough rain. Afterwards we had a nice relaxing stroll to the park under a huge rainbow. The geese also enjoyed the night as well.

MRI AOK

Miss Julia had a precautionary MRI to rule out anything funny. Nothing found, so it looks like her episodes have just been an occasional gag reflex to reflux that ends up trying to go past her vocal cords.

Happy Babies Poolside

Ella and Julia hanging out by the pool after another trip to the doctors. They are both in a good mood because 1) Miss Julia tipped the scales at 12 lbs 3 oz (with clothes on), and 2) the neurologist said there is probably nothing to worry about. (photo by A. Geddes)

Sad day

Colleen and the kids headed out this morning. Very sad for everyone. Mike and Suzanne will miss the company and of course the tremendous help Colleen provided with the babies. Lauren will miss her swim buddies and movie partners. The girls will miss Colleen and the kids, especially Kahea who continues her tradition of carrying her cousins now that Lauren has gotten too big.

They are off to see Mr. Chris in Kansas City. Have fun watching a Royals game! (See their activities on the Traveling Mom blog!)

Sea World is big!

Sea World San Antonio is huge. First, it has added a lot of sections so there are a lot of things to see. Then there is a big waterskiing lake in the middle so to get around to a lot of the new rides you have to walk all the way around. And finally, they put San Antonio in a hot section of Texas so the walk always seems longer. Fortunately there is the occasional beer garden to raise your spirits!

We went all day Monday and then Tuesday morning until about 2pm. Then we visited the sleaziest Wendy's in the world before heading home. Had to rush home so Mike and John could review Batman Begins before seeing The Dark Knight in IMAX!

Click on the pic below to see all the photos.

Sea World Trip 08

This is what happens when you get too close

Here is what you look like after you sit in the "Soak Zone" at a killer whale show. Cold, wet ... and happy. (Killer whales like their pools at a constant 52 degrees.)

Killer Whales are cool

On the River Walk

We found this nice restaurant with outside seating to enjoy our first night in San Antonio. The sun was setting over the city buildings so it was nice and cool and a great way to enjoy the River Walk. The girls didn't seem to mind and went with the flow, even taking their first boat ride down the river.

I'm on the road

I busted out of incarceration Saturday morning. When the masks weren't looking I jumped into the soiled linen bags and road it out until I hit the laundry. A couple of unmarked pills to my friends there and I was back on the street.

You never know when someone will be coming back at you with an IV, an EEKG, or an MRI so I skedaddled out of Dallas for parts south. I've holed up here with this crowd along the river. Everyone here is a tourist, drunk, or both, so I should be safe for the time being.

And if you have any extra formula around, send it my way!

Julia

I'm OK

They're trying to starve me to death in this hospital with their no-flow nipples and 3oz/3hr rules. But other than that I'm fine. I'm busting out of this place tomorrow, you can count on it.

Julia

Then they went medieval on me

So after preparing the torture devices they sent the electricity through me. Here I am up above going through it, the fools were dumb enough to record it on video. The Hague is going to have a field day with this one. Been to the Netherlands, good Doctor?

My M.O. from the outset was to not let off that it was hurting me in any way. I dropped myself deep into my zen trance state (actually this was good practice - I don't really use this much around the house.) I thought I was driving them crazy but it turns out that they prefer their torture suspects to sleep through the first 30 minutes.

After that things went crazy. Let's just say that not only do they wake you up, but the really try to make you flip out as well. They have strobe lights they put just 10 inches in front of your face and they fire on and off. Don't Japanese kids go into seizures from video games that do the same thing? And I thought they were testing to make sure I didn't get seizures! There is video of this in the vault by I will spare everyone. I'm not too proud of it anyway because I kind of lost it a bit. Next time you're by the house ask to see "A Clockwork Julia".

Julia

Somebody call Amnesty International!

So after a day or so of just giving them name and serial number they started to get rough with me. They had tried the usual sleep deprivation techniques and bad food to soften me up so I knew this was coming. What I didn't expect was the Mad Doctor coming in and marking off my skull like she was a surveyor. Then she starts putting leads on my head and I'm thinking, this might be trouble for the June Bug ...

In the hospital again

Yep, I'm in the hospital again. I've got the reflux, bad, like you read about. A couple times this morning it got so bad I had trouble breathing. In between milk coming out my nose, the acid in my throat, and getting blue in the face it is a real pain in my sweet tushie. And then Mom and Colleen go Emergency-1 on me, pretty soon I'm at my pediatrician and then I'm at the hospital. Ok, not too soon, this one is all the way across town. So the first thing they do when they see me? IV, of course. Nothing makes them happier than putting an IV in a infant. Geesh!

Julia

Fancy Ladies

When we really want to paint the town red we'll get out our really fancy outfits. My sister and I will spend all day picking out just the right thing! Then of course we'll spend another couple hours accessorizing. Nothing like a purse and a hat to make you feel kicky. And then, of course, the lady bug, and out the door we go!

Babies sleep through the night

Last night I had the pleasure of pulling the night shift. The girls had their last meal around 10:30 and were in bed by 11:00. We were watching Sicko (excellent flick, really shocking when you think about it) and went to bed at 12:30. Not trying to brag here, but my calming abilities helped the girls sleep all the way through to 6:30 am!

The key to the good night was Ella staying awake almost all of the evening. Not sure why she did, just just didn't fall of to sleep mid-bottle like she usually does.

Still anonymous posting, but with word verification

Hopefully this will cut down on the spam comments!

Crashing with Grandpa Bill and Nana Pat

Thanks to American Airlines (no, really, thanks!) we had the chance to spend some more time with the grandparents on Friday. We originally had a 7-hour trip arranged going through St. Louis which we were not looking forward to. However we did find a direct flight later that had open seats and they graciously put us on that flight.

That gave us about 3 hours to kill at RDU. Nana Pat and Bill came over and picked us up and took us over to the local empty mall, where Lauren used the entire food court to demostrate her Can Can skills and skirt.

The flight back went fine. Miss Ella changed things up a bit and was the baby that was awake more. She nursed a couple of ounces for a couple hours. Julia pounded her 7 ounces and passed out for the rest of the flight!

I guess we left at the right time!

Click on the title above to see the news of the shark attack

What happened in Emerald Isle

See the marked-up map with our Emerald Isle adventure!

Bogue Inlet

This is the island where we went with Alice and Larry and Ian, Jacob and Sarah. This picture is not quite up to date and is probably from a couple years ago. The Army Core of Engineers as redredged the channel right along Bogue Ct where all the houses are - so what looks like one big island is really two now. The new channel gets quite a currrent so even though it is only about 100 yards across you wouldn't want to cross it without a boat.

How do we know the specifics of the island? Ian and Jacob circled it completely. Well, not quite completely. Of course it is easy to walk the sandy beach, the hard part is the rest of the island. Everything else is grassy swamp, probably filled with snakes and other omnivores. So when Ian and Jacob wanted to circle the island they went down the waterway. On Google Maps it is the far right waterway on the island, closest to the new channel. They walked 1.82 miles all the way up that waterway and then cut back across to the west side of the island. The waterway starts as up to your ankles but then drops off. Ian had to walk the last part of it holding his cell phone up by his head so it wouldn't get soaked!

Mermaids sighted

You can tell they are mermaids because of their flippers! Lauren and Sarah were enjoying the beautiful, calm waters on the sound side of the island at the entrance to Bogue Inlet.

Assembly line moves to the Outer Banks

Larry and Alice demonstrate ruthless efficiency in battling the Mahaney Baby Hunger Monster. The ocean made Julia even more of a snacker, needing a drink just about any time someone walked by!