Transportation Day Part 4

This is the 4th year that Spencer and Michael have gone to Transportation Day.  It was my 3rd time.  Last year I was home with 2 month old Elliott going out of my mind with worry.  I don't have any idea what we did while Michael and Spencer were gone (I'm sure I nursed him about 16 times), but I very clearly remember thinking a lot about how I'd never go to another Transportation Day ever again.  I was just certain that Elliott would be in full liver failure by February 2013 and we'd be gearing up for a transplant.  I just couldn't wrap my mind around how I was going to care for one kid that pretty much lived in a hospital and one kid that was healthy and wishing his life could go back to normal some day.

 

Those thoughts were present and clear as we packed up as a (healthy) family of four and headed out for a vehicular adventure last Saturday.

 

If you are new to Transportation Day you can go HERE to read my post from 2012.  Within that post are the links for my posts from 2011 and 2010.  It's like the movie Inception.  There are layers upon layers of posts.

 

Parking is always a nightmare at Transportation Day.  This year we came up with an awesome plan though.  Our friend Monica lives a few blocks away from the preschool where it is held.  We picked her up in our car, she dropped us off and took our car back to her house.  Then she came to pick us up later.  It worked perfectly and saved so much time.  Then she gave us free bacon (she's an accountant for Bar-S Foods).  Win-win!

 

Up first.  A caterpillar contruction vehicle.  I kept wondering if it was possible for a kid to turn this thing on and move it into gear.  I hope not.

 

The city bus 

 

 A 1947 Pontiac

A photographer from a local newspaper was there and took Spencer's picture in this car.  He was published in the paper this week!

 

A race car

 

Ambulance 

 

Police motorcycle 

 

 

 

Phone company cherry picker.  The guy was giving all of the kids candy. 

 

Animal control truck

 

All of the dogs in there were up for adoption.

 

Harley Davidson motorcycle 

 

(can you see my reflection?)

 

 

School bus 

 

Army all terrain vehicle.  If it wasn't for the guy in black talking on his phone (and the busy street in the distance) you might think my kids were in Iraq. 

 

 

Sea Doo

 

Garbage truck 

It was right around this time that Spencer said he needed a break from all the transportation.  That break came in the form of this gigantic dolphin slide. 

 

And a jumping castle.

 

Elliott just needed  a snack and a drink. 

Then it was back to the garbage truck to see what was in the back. 

 

Answer: nothing. 

 

Either they have a super powered car wash, or this garbage truck has never actually picked up any garbage.  It was spotless.

 

Air Evac helicopter

Elliott sat in the front too, but the picture of him wasn't worth posting.  Apparently it was worth my telling you it wasn't worth posting though.

 

There had been a fire engine over by the garbage truck and helicopter, but they needed to go save lives, because it was gone by the time we got over there.  We still had about 20 minutes before Monica was coming for us so we walked back through everything to see if there was anything we missed.

 

They were letting kids stand on the cherry picker.  They were not, thankfully, lifting them up. 

 

Golf cart 

 

Pony

 

The UPS truck never showed up.  I guess important deliveries were taking place that day. 

 

And finally.  We met the Ghostbusters. 

Spencer had NO idea who they were or why we thought they were cool.  He was happy to give a thumbs up though.

 

And that's it.  Last year I did some fancy comparison picks of Spencer from 2010, 11 and 12, but it is late and it already took me 4.5 millenniums (millennia?) to load these pictures, so maybe there will be a bonus surprise encore of Transportation Day with those.

Friends and Family

We had a busy, busy weekend.  Saturday morning we went to Transportation Day.  The post about that will include approximately 14,867 pictures so you need to give me another day or two to get everything uploaded.  After Transportation Day I had my ladies group over for afternoon tea.  We planned this day way back in November at Amy's going away party.  The main focus was for all of us to get together to skype with Amy.

 

The snacks were just an extra bonus.

We ended up using Lauren's iPad to FaceTime.  We sat outside to begin with, but the screen was a little hard to see.

 

It was really nice to have Amy right there with us.

Want to know something totally crazy?  Shireen had baby Dahlia on Elliott's 1st birthday.  What are the chances that two babies from our small little group would be born on the same day?  There are seven kids total and two share the same birthday.  It's amazing.



 

The birthday twins were not quite as impressed.

 

Oh geez mom.  This is really embarassing.

 

Elliott physically moved away from her at one point.

This is what I would look like if I had two babies exactly one year and two hours apart.  And if I was on heavy duty medication, because I would NOT be smiling if both these babies were mine. 

 

Elliott thinks it is really funny.

Spencer had been having some asthma symptoms all day and by that night we decided that a trip to Urgent Care was warranted.  We have a family goal to make no trips to the ER in 2013.  Urgent Care is not the ER though, and we actually went in order to try to avoid the ER.  They gave him a breathing treatment and a dose of oral steroids.

Michael's cousin Parm and her daughter Grace are in Arizona visiting Parm's parents (Michael's aunt and uncle) right now.  They live in Vermont, so I am glad the weather is cooperating and they are getting some sunshine.  It's supposed to be 80 degrees by the weekend, so they might get a little warmth in their bones before they return to the cold. 

 

We couldn't pass up an opportunity for cousin pictures.  Even though they are 3rd cousins, I think Spencer and Grace look a lot alike.  Their grandfathers are brothers so I think they both got their looks from that side of the family.

Grace was born about a month after we got married.  Parm couldn't make it to the wedding because it was so close to her due date. 

 

I cut Grace's nails when she was about 8 weeks old.  It was terrifying. 

 

Here are the cousins!

 

I think we should use one of these pictures as our family Christmas picture.  We won't say anything and just see how many people notice that Michael has a new wife and daughter. 

 

 

 

Spencer was totally into Grace being in pink and him being in blue.  He has such serious ideas about gender right now.  Pink is for girls and only girls.  I tell him all the time that real men wear pink.

I made BLTs for lunch and Paula Deen's banana pudding for dessert.  I am not a big bananas for dessert kind of person, but this stuff is goooooooooood.  Google it.  Make it.  Immediately.

 

The week of Valentine's Day I put a picture of our still remaining Christmas gingerbread house on facebook.  I asked if I should toss it or revamp it with pink hearts and frosting.  Parm said she wanted to see it when we visited.  She meant she wanted to see it with all new VDay decorations, but I just let it sit there for two more weeks until she could see it.

 

Then we tossed it about 5 minutes after they left.

Last week was so busy and fun and then the weekend was even busier and more fun.  This week we have plans to listen to crickets chirping and to watch paint peel off of some walls.  We seriously have nothing going on.  I didn't even mind our emergency trip to the doctor this morning (to the allergist at her office, not the ER.  Our goal is still a goal) because it gave us something to do today.