Road Trip - Ogden, UT to Yellowstone

I have a soft spot in my heart for yellowstone. As a child, we would go to yellowstone almost yearly with my grandparents, so it felt fitting to show my girls yellowstone in the company of my grandmother. Above are the girls waiting for dinner with old faithful spitting in the background. My grandmother guessed she's seen that geyser spout about 100 times, and i'd guess she's probably right.
The parks did a good job of giving the girls educational coloring books and rest stops, but many of the jr. ranger programs were aimed at kids older than amelie. No matter, she loved smelling the 'stinky' pools and mudpots and saw lots of animals including buffalo and elk.

The last time i was in yellowstone, we read the book "Death in Yellowstone." This left us with a fear of the children (or dog) running into a boiling mudpot.

Above is dinner at the lake yellowstone lodge. The food was generally good. The only complaint i had was they seemed to think my grandmother could walk all the way to the end of the dining room for our table. She tried it a few times, and would stop every 10 steps and grab her chest which would cause the nearest 4 men to get up and ask her if she's ok. She'd smile and nod, and take the youngest one's arm for the rest of the walk.

Road Trip - Meadowview to Ogden, UT

We made it out of meadowview, UT, but not before gma tried to start a conversation about politics with the local folk. I can tolerate her stories about how she heard a world war would start the day we got a black president, or how she heard this morning that obama is going to bomb the whole middle east, but when she starts spouting these stories to strangers? I rudely interjected and got her out of there!

Ogden, UT is a very charming small historic town known for being a railway hub. We got take out sushi for our family and turkey sandwich for gma (Raw fish?! What next.)

Road Trip - Zion to Meadowview, UT

After checking out Zion during the day, we took a short drive to meadowview, UT, which was between zion and bryce. The "town" looked good on paper, with a few cafes, but it was completely abandoned. We stayed at a 4 bedroom cabin for two nights and ate at the only open cafe for 4 meals in 2 days. Although it was nice to stay at a cabin for sleeping arrangements, it was way too secluded. Above is the deck, where we watched movies on the laptop.

Above, amelie does tree pose next to a tree.
And here we are on our family hike. We left gma at the lodge with the paper and a coffee and forgot to tell her when we'd be back. When we returned, gma had the authorities on a search for us. We did not make that mistake again.

Road Trip - Grand Canyon to Zion

We started the day with the continental breakfast at the hotel, where gma talked about the dirty swedes who made fun of her growing up. She gave a few strangers her address in MT in case they drop by, which seemed to be a daily occurance on the trip. We drove to zion nat'l park, which my gma wasn't familiar with, and i can only figure the reason she overlooked this beautiful park (my favorite nat'l park) in her approx 100-200th trip from/to AZ/MT was her fear of heights. On the drive through the park, she often looked over the edge and said, "I can't look!"

We stayed at a lovely cabin in springdale, UT just outside the park. The motel owner came out to say hello upon our arrival and gma made him guess her age, and guessed 20 years her junior, which 'ticked her pink,' as she'd say. My husband and i put the kids down and drank beer and watched the laptop outside with the the mountains of zion in the background. Lovely.

The next day, we found a doggy day care for gma's dog and spent the day in zion park. This may be my favorite nat'l park and we did get a few mini-hikes in while gma drank coffee and read the paper.

Road Trip - Tucson to Grand Canyon

Last saturday, the LissyJo clan flew to tucson to pick up my 94 yr old gma to drive her and her minivan and dog to sidney, MT. Highlights of our short visit to tucson included grandma and grandpa's pool and a newly sewn princess dress, below. Grandma was prepared with her cough drops to stay awake so she could tell my husband how to drive, and her nyquil to "help" her sleep at night.

After 2 short days in tucson, we drove "old grandma" (often corrected by grandma to be 'great grandma') to the s. rim of the grand canyon. On the drive, gma had much advice including taking a shower if she felt she was having a heart attack and walking backwards for altitude sickness.

Amelie was not too impressed with the grandness of the canyon. She guessed it was only "twenty ten" feet to the bottom and was more interested in climbing trees, which made gma nervous.

What a NP/Lactation consultant can do for you

Amelie's new obsession is to ask me about the patients i see at work. Keeping HIPAA in mind, i give her a quick run down of the interesting medical cases i saw that day. Yesterday, i was telling her about a new baby i was seeing for a lactation consult. She asked me, "What did you do for the baby?" I told her, "I helped the baby breastfeed." She considers, then asked, "Did you give the baby some of your breast milk?" A valid question. I didn't, by the way.

All of God's Creatures

Edited: No comment. I neither confirm or deny anything related to squirrels. Period.

Weekend Activities

Spring has sprung here in mpls, and it is the season that i am most thankful for. I can almost feel the heaviness of winter lifting off my shoulders as the days get longer and the ground gets greener. Amelie has also been enjoying spring, as seen below. Here, she is wearing a dress sewn by my mother adjusting for amelie's particulars (NO buttons), the cross necklace of my gma, and the new ducky socks sent by ducky stickered package.

Spring also brings the May Day Parade, which has become a yearly tradition for our family. I appreciate the left-leaning political humor, and amelie enjoys the puppets. I think next year, she'll be old enough to participate. The parade always begins with the ceremonial tree of life, seen below. We did not see the float that could have been the touch of death.

This year, they had a clever swine flu section--One of the more impressive puppets below.

And here we are enjoying an icy pole watching the weird and wonderful parade before us.

Mommy's Adopted

Amelie and i were talking about the (imaginary) twins she is growing in her tummy (they come and go), and she asked me who all came from my tummy. I said her and her sister did, and then she asked me something unexpected: "Did you come from grandma's tummy?" I carefully told her that i was adopted, and that meant i came from someone else's tummy. Of course, she asked, "Whose?" I told her my other mommy couldn't take care of me (cringe) and grandma wanted to take care of me so she is my mom (more cringing). She considered this, in all her 4 yr old-ness and asked me who this other woman was. I told her i didn't know. She let me off the hook.

2 days later, we were reviewing the relatives. I asked her, "Who is daddy's dad?" She answers, "Grandad!" I ask, "Who are mommy's brothers?" She says, "Uncle scott and uncle andrew!" Then she adds, "Isn't it funny how uncle andrew and uncle scott sort of look the same?" I thought her little brain was considering the previous adoption discussion. I asked her, "Do you think mommy looks like uncle scott and andrew?" She says, "No, mommy! Of course not!" I said, "Why not?" She says, "Because you're a girl, mommy!"

Touche.

Strong Woman

So, we found out our team (named by my brother, something like Token Asian) has been accepted for RAGBRAI. I had started training months ago, but now it's on like donkey kong, i have refreshed motivation. I've been riding a lot recently and enjoying all the trails in the twin cities. I feel like i'm a respectful rider; I don't run over the runners, i respect traffic laws and i always say "On your left" when i'm about to pass. I also like to think i'm a smart strong woman when i ride in out-of-the way trails or in the city. I did bike-commute to an inner-city hospital, often times at midnight without a blink of fear. But i'm proactive. I took tae kwan do as a child. I may be small, but i'm strong. And i ride fast. I have an attitude of Don't F With Me when riding at midnight or in out of the way trails.

Recently, i was riding around the crosby lake trails, which are near the river, and sort of hidden. I was on high alert, scanning the brush for rapists, riding at a quick clip, and thinking about how to pimp out my bike with pepper spray. I started coming across walkers, riders, fishermen. Every single one of them would make eye contact with me and either nod their head, smile or say 'hi.' As if to say, "It's perfectly safe to walk these trails. We are minnesotan and we use our trails with confidence and pride."

It made me proud. I'm glad i live in a city that plows their bike trails in winter, supports their trails, and has the most walking/biking trails in the city than any other.

My Little Angel

I can't complain too much--She's smart, outgoing, curious and expressive. But recently, we have been butting heads. I have read plenty of parenting books who tell me it is the job of a 4 yr old to test her boundaries, but i guess i expected a break here and there. As soon as she sees me, she pushes and pushes and pushes. Just doing her job.

I had a 'parenting moment' (as the ecfe mom's group calls it), last week. It started with amelie telling me her hair wasn't pretty. I'm not sure what happened next, but amelie melted into a puddle of tears and frustration. She wouldn't eat. She wouldn't put her shoes on. She wouldn't do a thing. After a series of trying the parenting books' recommendations (I can tell you're frustrated by the way you're smacking my leg. It sounds like you're angry. I cry sometimes too when i don't get my way), i tried a new way including yelling (and swearing!) at her at the top of my lungs. After i yelled, i walked upstairs into my bedroom and closed and locked the door behind me and told amelie, "Mommy needs a time out." All the while, she is following me howling about how her feelings and ears are hurting.

It wasn't pretty.

Since then, i have read a few more parenting books looking for answers. Unfortunately, the majority of parenting books are aimed at people who beat their children and have no clue (Children seek attention from their caregivers--good or bad. Children respond to positive reinforcement better than negative reinforcement. A child may act out if they are hungry). The funny thing is, since then, she has turned a corner and is a complete angel. She keeps reassuring me, "I have good listening ears today, mommy," and "Aren't i doing good with using my words today?"

Steady she goes for now.

H1N1

First of all, i know it's probably early in the course, but you don't have swine flu. Let me repeat: You don't have swine flu. You haven't been to mexico. You don't live near cold springs. You don't even have a fever. So calm the F down.

I don't blame you. A few headlines if i may: Hundreds may die from swine flu. Swine flu takes health community by surprise. Swine flu pandemic imminent. One step from pandemic. I wonder how these headlines help us as a community. Very little has been mentioned regarding how to prevent infection. Wash your hands. Cover your cough. Eat healthy foods and drink water to keep your immune system functioning and stay home when you're sick.

Which leads me to another point. There has been a hindsight shout out in articles about staying home when you're sick. But this isn't the mindset in our culture. It is frowned upon to call in sick to work. This is evidenced by limited sick time, combining sick and vacation time and needing a note from your health care provider if you're "sick" longer than 4 days. This note requires a visit to the clinic and most of the time, people don't need medication. They need to stay home, feed their immune system and stop giving it to all the well child visits in the waiting room. Talk about wasteful healthcare spending.

This is not to undermine the severity of this particular strain. But nothing has confirmed the 'cytokine storm' theory of this particular strain (ie, deaths in the young young, old, and 20-40 yr olds). And the good news is that we have antivirals for this. But you don't need them right now. Because you don't have swine flu. So stop calling me and asking for them.

Famous last words, or wise beyond my years? Time will tell...

BTW: As if we needed another reason to scare the white people about the brown people.
BTW: Michelle Bachmann: You're an F-ing idiot.

Staple of the Neighborhood

Yesterday, our family attended a very casual memorial to an old neighbor who lost his 12 yr battle with cancer recently. Although he had cancer for so long, he was quite healthy, and his deterioration was quick in the end.

Henry wasn't only a wonderful neighbor who would dog and cat sit when we'd go to australia, praise any food i'd cook him and snow blow the whole block, he had wonderful stories of the neighborhood. His house was built by his grandfather and was one of the first in the area. He'd tell us stories of how our neighborhood was formed. He remembers going cow-tipping in the nearby farm, which is now bracket park. He was also a bit of a car junkie and had 2 corvettes he'd tinker with. The very same corvette was used to race down lake street when he was an adolescent. He had a great story of getting chased by the police down an alley. He took a quick turn into a stranger's garage and closed the door just in time for the police man to rumble by. Afraid of starting his loud engine, he sat in his corvette at 3am waiting. Two hours later, he walked his car back home.

He knew our house throughout the years. He was able to explain why some floor boards were put together strangely when we did some remodeling. As a child, he'd come over to our house and lie over a large grate over the furnace. Since that time, someone had repaired the hardwoods (poorly). As a teenager, he also remembered watching young college women who were renting our house at the time, playing topless fooseball in the dining room; His house's kitchen window had a straight shot view.

When i became a nurse at the hospital he was born in, he became my biggest fan. When he'd go to the hospital to get chemo, he'd ask all the nurses if they knew me. Some of them did, and would later tell me that Henry assured them i was keeping a close eye on him. When i learned of this, with much insistance, he did let me change his dressings here and there, but moreover, he let me convince him to get a home health nurse. In the end, he could no longer tolerate the food i'd bring him (and wouldn't admit it could possibly be my cooking!).

He died as he wished: in his home. I'm going to miss him.

Beer

Last night, the hubs and i went to The Muddy Pig. LOVE this pub. It's got a quatrillion local and oversease brews on tap and moderately tasty pub grub. My husband and i used to think we were beer snobs enjoying the beers of australia and england, but the US is creating some fine beers in a grassroots fashion and providing great pubs to serve them. Unlike in britain or australia, where the pubs are owned by one brewer and only serve their 4 brews (true, no?).

Dreams of IA

I am currently training to ride my bike across IA with my husband, brother and father in july. I'm finally in a training groove--enjoying finding different circuits, thinking of milage and heart rates, and really enjoying it. I remember this groove when i trained for a marathon (did not complete, btw). I call it my church (see previous post)--it calms me, gives me time to think of stuff, and i'm a better [NP, mother, wife, person] afterwards.