Oh what have we done in the summertime?

We started Round #2 of KOPFC swimming lessons.  The kids started out doing really well, but the last few lessons were a bust because of kids not feeling well.  Miss Kimberly was our teacher and she remembered teaching Molly last summer (because she was so memorable)!  However, the good news is that Molly DID finally pass level 1 (seahorse) and is now allowed to officially register for level 2 (clownfish).  Hooray!  Unfortunately, I could not talk either kid into signing up for another round.  I guess 6 weeks of swimming lessons is enough for one summer.

We play in the sandbox . . . a lot.  Grandma and Grandpa Binggeli (and Jason) came to visit one night and the kids pretty much dumped out the sandbox and added enough water to make real sand castles.  It was a mess, but they had fun.  The make cakes, build roads, and do all sorts of crazy imaginative things in the sand.  Plus, now that they'll take a shower and not just a bath, sand cleanup is much easier.

One day we went on a TRAX adventure downtown to meet some Spartan Station friends at the Clark Planetarium and then lunch at the City Creek food court,  I decided we would go on a longer train ride so we caught it at 5400 South and rode all the way in.  It took about 30 minutes to get downtown and the train was definitely the best part of the adventure for the kids.

My mom took a few days off in July to host "Grandma Camp."  Grandma Camp is a bit crazy and involves whatever Grandma decides it involves.  One day was spent at Build-A-Bear and then driving around the valley collecting Tags for a staying active campaign for kids, ending at Grandma's house and putting up a tent in the basement.  The car ride was entertaining to say the least, we didn't crash into anything, and the kids were mostly all well-behaved (they wouldn't dare not be with Grandma at the helm).  

Some days during the summer we just sit at home and build forts while watching movies we get at the library, TroTro, or Nanny 911.  Some days we actually go find new librarys and play with toys before selecting new books and movies to get.

One day we went to Michael's Craft Store and made Minion picture frame crafts.  It was only $2 per kid and Molly, especially, had a lot of fun.  On the same day as the minion craft, my sister was selling her wares at a craft show in Lindon.  My mom, the kids, and I drove down to see it.  It was small and obviously not really kid friendly, so we hung out on a couch in the lobby for a while.  This was the best picture I could get of the goofballs.

On the 24th of July we celebrated pioneers by reading books about pioneers (from the library, of course), watching the Days of '47 Parade on TV, going swimming, and lighting some fireworks once our dad got home from work.  

That's a long enough post for now!  There is still some more summer left and we plan to execute our time as well as possible!

Galoon - It's What Fun Is!

This summer we went to Lagoon!  My mom took us.  She had some discount passes.  My dad opted out and Willie wasn't exactly there, but the rest of us went.  My mom has been talking about going for quite some time.  We finally figured out a day that worked (of course, after we figured it out, a funeral came up that my mom needed to go to - a cousin of Grandpa Huber died) and we went!

I have not been to Galoon since before my kids were born.  The last time I went, I rode the bus from Tooele Junior High to Lagoon, back to Tooele Junior High, and then home.  It was a long hot day filled with 8th graders.  I was actually impresssed that Lagoon has improved quite a bit since then.  The kid area was much better than I remember as a kid.  There were new rides, trees, benches.  It was great!

Molly and Jack had a lot of fun and we actually were planning to go again with bounce back passes, but then the July super sickness (see other post) hit us and we ran out of days.  Oh well.  Maybe next time.

Sick!

Holy cow! We have had major illness at the Binggeli house.  James brought it home first. He had a high fever, sore throat, and was pretty miserable for a few days.  Though James actually goes to a primary care doctor annually, the worst of his yuck hit him in the late afternoon, so he decided to go to Instacare.  The quick strep test was negative, but after looking at the puss pockets in his throat they decided to treat him for strep anyway and gave him an antibiotic.  He missed a day of practicum and a day of work, but then was finally on the mend.    

The following week Jack woke up one morning with a swollen, gooey eye. It wasn't pink eye (we've had that before), so I just thought we'd watch it. After a sleepless night and a day of high temperatures I couldn't get to break, I took him to Instacare one evening. The quick strep test was negative for him too, so we went home with the diagnosis of a viral infection and a blue popsicle.

He got worse. He was very grumpy, though he still wanted to play during the day.  Every night, though, he was awake, on fire, and miserable. One night, I couldn't get him to cooperate for anything, so I finally stripped him down, screaming, and put him in the shower.  I walked away for a second, came back and he was sitting on the floor of my shower, sprayer in hand, half asleep and just spraying himself narcoleptically in the face.  He wasn't well.  On day 6, he woke up with congestion and diarrhea. I took him in to our regular doctor, Dr. Havlik, but it was late in the afternoon before they could squeeze us in and Dr. Havlik was swamped after getting back from vacation so we saw another one in the office, Dr. Unger. She told us that jack had a positive culture for strep and should have been on antibiotics at least for the whole day before.  The Instacare had failed to call us and let us know that the culture was positive.  Grrrrrrr.....

To add insult to injury, or rather to add injury to insult, Jack took at beating by the swingset in the middle of his yuckiness and had quite a nice shiner to add to his puffy eye, sore throat, and hot head.

After a few days of antibiotics, Jack was finally doing better.  What was going to happen next?  Molly was going to get it!  After 2 sleepless high fever nights for her and a red, inflamed throat, I called the on-call doctor at our pediatrician's office (it was Saturday so we couldn't just go in). I thought that with our recent history, I could get an antibiotic over the phone and we'd quickly be on the mend with Molly.  No such luck!  Dr. Burton, this time, said they never prescribe antibiotics over the phone (even if two other members of the family have had the same symptoms and it is pretty obvious what is wrong).  We were back at the Instacare!  Hooray!

Lucky for us, the quick strep test actually came back positive so we didn't have to risk the ordeal of waiting out for who knows how many more days.  Molly is Molly and sickness is difficult for her, but luckily we caught hers before she got quite as miserable as her dad and brother.

We're done, right!  Everyone is better?!?  Ha!!

On Sunday, I started feeling worn out and had a headache.  Luckily, I had no fever or anything like that, but I could feel something coming on.  On Monday, I woke up with a swollen eye!  It was super weird and if I tipped my head over (like to pick something up off the ground) it throbbed!  I put some drops in it a few times during the day and that helped a little.  I thought I'd be ok.  During the night, however, Molly woke up to be re-drugged, and when she woke me up, I could tell something was very wrong with my eye.  It had swollen to triple the size of what it was the day before and it looked like it had a flotation ring around it.  Crazy!  I went to Instacare . . . again.  The doctor said it was an eye infection similar to pink eye, but the next step worse.  He said it could be related to what the kids had and he prescribed and antibiotic.

We are fortunately (knock on wood) all on the mend now!  But that . . . is our story.

If you include a dermatology appointment I also went to and a regular appointment James went to, the 4 of us visited a doctor's office 7 times in the month of July.  I can't wait to get those bills!!

New Baby Preslee

On her dad's birthday, our newest little cousin was born. Preslee Jean Binggeli makes the first child for Whytnee and Jarrell, the 8th grandchild for Mary and LaRon (and the 6th girl). She spend a few days in the NICU, but seems to be doing great.

I am partial to my own kids of course, but this one is particularly cute with her crazy brown curls and round face.  We are very happy for her parents.

We finally got to meet Preslee when she was a little more than a week old. We ventured to Garland for a Sunday visit.  While there, we got to gawk at the baby and the Binggeli's beautiful garden.  The kids also got some quality playing time with grandpa (he even rode the razor scooter while they rode bikes).

I think this juice bottle solar light fence post could use a face painted on it.  What do you think?  No one ever said LaRon wasn't resourceful.

I'd never noticed this desert scene painting on the back fence before.  There are always fun, hidden treasures in the back yard.