12 ON THE 12th: APRIL EDITION

April 12th, 2012
Thursday
(severely mutated influenza type b flu edition)
l-r

1. Fruit bars. Temporarily relieves extreme sore throat caused by uncontrollable coughing.
2. Sinus rinse. When the teeth start hurting and a sinus infection is heading my way, I reach for the sinus rinse. It’s a gross process, but it works.
3. Ceiling fan. The view from bed, a place where I spent many hours for many days.
4. My massage therapists. Or rather, my sons massaging my feet and legs at the rate of $1.00 for 8 minutes. (I think I might even have gotten 10 minutes out of them. Sshhh!)
5. UPS package. It arrived today along with some scrappy goodies.
6. Toes. At least they are painted, right?
7. My boys. They were so worried about me when I was sick. And once I got my voice back, they were happy to hear their mommy again. Go figure, eh?
8. My nightstand. Necessities include water bottle, inhaler, tissues, fan remote and cell phone.
9. My new cell phone. This was a life saver during the flu! Since I had lost my voice, I couldn’t really communicate much. Let’s say “Hip Hip Hooray!” for texting, shall we?
10. The chair-side table in the happy room. Necessities include water bottle, pharmacy bag, cell phone, antibacterial cleanser, tissues and a pen and paper to communicate with others. Oh, and a Lego guy, too. Never know when he might come in handy.
11. My feet. Just another view from bed.
12. My mom. The MVP of the week. If she hadn’t been here to take care of me and the boys…
I shudder to think what might have happened. Seriously shudder.

SAN DIEGO, PART 2

and here we go with part deux of our excursion to california!
let's focus on the safari zoo, shall we?
it was perhaps my favorite park we visited.
it's a zoo that also includes hundreds of acres of california desert that serves as habitat for some pretty awesome large african animals.
after enjoying many of the exhibits throughout the zoo, one trail took us to this overlook. we were enjoying the beauty when we realized there were animals down there. like giraffes! and a small herd of them. running! woa. it was pretty awesome, i have to say.

we hopped aboard the tram and it took us all around with a guide telling us more about the park and the animals that live there.






and after the tram ride, we met up with mr. lion. he was just chilling with two of his lady friends, enjoying the sunshine.

the sun was out, the animals were plentiful and we had a groovy time here!
hang tight as more excitement comes your way in the next post. ha!

SAN DIEGO, PART 1

we escaped to san diego for mid-winter break. to see some sights. and spend some family time together. and remind ourselves of that bright yellow orb in the sky.


the first half of the week we spent in carlsbad, with a day in legoland and a day at the safari zoo. the boys loved it all, but of course found the lego bonanza with mini models and rides to be the stuff that dreams are made of.
there was a new star wars miniland that was pretty dang cool.
here's hoth...

and an ewok village on the forest moon of endor...

and an army of battle droids.

this was probably our favorite spot in legoland. it was fun to see the families come through and get so excited. and the norm went as follows: family would show up. the dad would be the most excited of them all. he'd move ahead of his family totally in the zone, checking out each and every detail of the star wars set ups. the mom would try and increase her interest level to meet that of the kids. she would say something like, "oh look! it's that one guy. what's his name again?" and the kids, anywhere between 3 and 13, would say, "that's luke skywalker, mom."





of course, the boys brought their hard-earned money to buy a souvenir. they each bought a lego set...that they could as easily have bought at home...at target...and they couldn't even build them...because then they'd have to tear them apart to bring them home...or they might lose some pieces...so we schlepped them home in our already stuffed suitcases. awesome.
super fun day.
more coming up in another post.
stay tuned.
on the edge of your seat.
with baited breath.
and don't forget the pins and needles.