Monday was a new day...

Well after a night of throw up, bile, dry heaves and naps on the bathroom floor, Gracie went to bed about 3:00 and made it through the rest of the night with out any problems. She slept pretty late and woke up in a good mood.

Poor thing just wanted to go do things so we decided that we were going to go and try the Zoo. Someone had told us how nice it was so that is what we were going to do for the day. We got there just as they opened and Grace was feeling pretty good because she wanted to eat so I was hoping that it truly was altitude sickness and that because we were at a little bit lower altitude it would be a good day.

The Zoo was fun. I get REALLY bored at zoos but I wanted to be a trouper for the kids so I sucked it up and off we went. The kids had a great time in the Butterfly house. Grace and Mac really enjoyed looking at the butterflies. We went to all the displays and houses. I sat outside the reptile house but other than that it took us about two hours to get through the park and then we did a little train ride around the park and we all were ready to go. We had a little picnic in the back of the car and we were on our way.

As we were leaving the park we decided that we needed to stay at a lower altitude so we decided to look for somewhere else to go. We started driving and Don suggested we drive out to the Great Salt Lake. So we got on the interstate and headed toward the Lake. The kids fell asleep, which was a good thing. It took about a half hour to get there and when we got there... what a disappointment. It is nothing. Well, it is nothing on Monday afternoon. We were shocked. I guess coming from Chicago and Lake Michigan we expected people to be on the beach and the shops open and people out in their boats. It was nothing of the sort. No boats, there was only one shop, and there were no boats on the lake. We thought it was because the Lake seemed to be quite low. So there was someone working on their boat and Don decided he was going to ask him if the water was low and was that why boats weren't on the lake? Well I think the guy thought we were nuts. He said that it was Monday and so people were working. It is full on the weekends but not generally during the week. I found that to be a bit odd, but he thought we were odd for asking. Seems that if I had a boat and there were a nice big lake out there I would find time to be on it even during the week. It's summer for Pete's sake. Oh well, different values I guess.

So after seeing the Lake, we decided we needed to do something else. I suggested we head to Park City and the Olympic venues so that is what we decided to do. If we ever go back to Utah, Park City is where we would stay. It is the cutest mountain town and there was much more to do then there was at Snowbird... but I will talk about that later. Grace seemed to be doing a little better today so we decided that we would go up to the Olympic Venue and see what was all there. We went in and found that there were many activities and we also heard that Park City was a quaint little town with many shops and we could park at the top, walk down one side and take a trolley back up and walk down the other. Well, that was perfect for us. So we parked and began our shopping adventure. I was thinking that we might be able to find Grace her cowboy hat... and sure enough... the second shop we walked by was a western shop!!! I asked for assistance and within 10 minutes had her pink cowboy hat to match her pink cowboy boots. The place had red and pink hats made like the Jessie hat in Toy Story 2. I wanted Grace to get the red one but she really wanted to get the pink one so that is what we got.

We spent the better part of the evening in Park City. Grace got to ride the Trolley twice (she called it Mavis like on Thomas the Tank Engine) and we ate at Western restraurant and she kept her food down so I was very happy.

We left there around 7:00 got back to the Condo and every one was in bed by 9:00. At 10:30 Maci started to wrestle around... and yes, you guessed it... he got sick. ALL NIGHT LONG EVERY 15 MINUTES UNTIL 7:00 AM!!!! UGH!!! Once again on a trip and my kids are sick. I was so sad for them.

To be continued...

A HORRIBLE MOM MOMENT!!!!

We woke up Sunday morning and decided we were going to go to the Brunch at the Atrium at The Cliff Lodge at Snowbird because we had read that the brunch was suppose to be absolutely fabulous. We got ready... everyone dressed up... looked nice. Grace had her cute little red, white, and blue dress on and her cowboy boots. Mac was in his r/w/b outfit from his birthday. Well we head down there about 9:00 and are ready to eat. Grace tells me a couple times that her belly is hurting but I think that it is just that she doesn't want to eat and she wants to go swimming so I told her she had to eat a little bit and then we would go swimming.

We get to the Brunch and we find out that the main Brunch does not start until 10:30. UGH!!! What are we going to do for an hour and a half. Well we just walk around. We saw most of the resort, found the convenience store, walked outside, looked at the little river running through the place... I think that only took up 45 minutes. So we just sat and waited. I should have noticed something about Grace and how she was sort of fussy but like I said earlier I thought she was trying to get out of eating.

We FINALLY brunch comes. We get our table and when they are finally ready to serve I go first because I want to get the kids food so they can sit down and get eating and then Don and I can relax... NOT SO. Grace takes about two bites of food and throws up. One thing you need to know is that Grace has been known in the past to throw up on cue when she didn’t want to eat, when she wanted attention after Mac was born, or when she put too much food in her mouth. (I blame this on the ICU doctors but that is a subject of another blog). Mortified, not believing that she is doing this while on vacation I clean everything up and take it to the garbage and well… we stay. We believe she is playing with us. So Don gets his food and then I get in line… Grace comes with me… She keeps telling me her belly hurts and I told her that she was not going to start this like she use to do… What happens, you guessed it, we get back to the table and she just throws up everywhere. Serves me right. God I felt like a horrible Mom. People are looking at me. I don’t know how many people’s brunch I ruined. I felt like it was all my fault. Don was very helpful taking the kids to the room and I sat at the table trying to hold back the tears because I was both embarrassed and feeling like a really bad mom!!! I paid the bill, they actually let me take a carry out so that Don and I could eat something… $60 later we had had one plate of food. UGH!!

I got to the room and we put both the kids down for a nap, Don and I took a nap, and well when we woke up we thought everyone was doing ok. It did cross my mind though that maybe she had altitude sickness. I called my cousin Tracey because I knew that her daughter Mattie had the same problem, and well it sounded like what we were dealing with.

When Grace woke up she said she was feeling ok but still didn’t want to eat. So we thought it might be a good idea to take her down to a lower altitude. So we headed down to Salt Lake City. I really wanted to go and she the temple and go to the family research place, and all the sites available. There was also a place called the Gateway that was left over from the Olympics and we thought that it might help her feel better.

As we started down the hill she saw 7 – 11 and Grace actually said she wanted a Slurpie so we decided that we would get her one. Well she got about half of it down and she gave the rest to Mac. Oh boy… what a mess the sweet child made!!! But she was acting like she was feeling better so we kept going.

We went to the Gateway and we were going to go shopping there and then head off to the little water show that they have there and then head to the Temple. Well it was the hottest day of the year in SLC and well we got about 20 feet from the car and Grace got SICK. At least I had brought Don’s empty Slurpie cup so we were able to deal with this moment a little bit better. Well we packed up, got in the car, and drove around the sites but didn’t stop. In the car we had a couple more episodes but the poor thing had nothing left to get out of her belly and she just wanted to get back to the hotel.

With Grace being sick and Mac enjoying his first Slurpie our car was a mess, but I really thought I should go to the grocery store and get some plain foods for her and hope that this sickness will go away.

We got Grace and Mac ready for bed but only moments after getting out of the tub poor Gracie was sick again, and again, and again. She finally just took herself into the bathroom and lay on the floor on towels. Every tile we had was dirty with sickness, the room just smelled. I felt so bad for the girl and Don was just great through it all. He took care of Mac and just left Grace and me to the bathroom.

She was up until 3:30 with the dry heaves and finally holding her tight I got her to go to sleep and relax.

What a night. Monday could only get better.

We had a fun day at the resort

Saturday July 29 brought a lot of fun for us... it is always hectic when we are together but it was so much fun. It started with us going to breakfast and Grace throwing up her breakfast for some reason. Well I know why... Don made her put too much in her mouth... but anyway, she said her tummy was hurting her but she wanted to go swimming. We decided that we were going to stay at the resort today being our first day there we wanted to see what we could do and we were going to plan our week.

Don and Grace went swimming while I took Mac back to the room and he took a nap. When he woke up I got him ready and we went down to join Grace and Don. We swam for quite a while and found it very interesting that the pool was filled with salt water not clorine. Has something to do with the heated pool and altitude.

Anyway from there we went to the Snowbird center to see if there was anything for us to do. We found that there were several activities fun for kids. Grace got to jump in a caslte and slide down the inflatable slide. Then she REALLY wanted to jump on the bungie/trampoline jump... so we let her. She was suppose to be three but since she is only 45 days away from that and taller than a lot of 4 year olds... we went for it and she had a blast. We then walked back up the steep hill and back to out room. I could not believe how steep the hills were but we were in the mountains weren't we. There were many things to do at the resort but it was the Rock Blues festival so we decided that we would wait to do the Tram, alpine slide, and other things. It was also very hot... even in the mountains... so we decided to go to dinner and then get the kids ready for bed.

We went to a Mexican restaurant that night and we weren't too impressed. Don was getting mad at Grace for telling us her tummy was hurting her, so I sent him to the room with Mac and I got her to finish her food. While we were there, I noticed some people sitting right by us. Tobe honest I thought they were someone from IEA or NEA but nope... turns out they were two of the designers from on the the HGTV programs. No wonder I recognized them... My mom watches those shows all the time. This is possibly where I recognize them but I don't know if they were just telling me a line or what.

When we got back to the room Don had Mac ready for bed. I got Grace ready and laid with her for a few minutes and we called it a relatively early night.