Family fun in the sun

We just got from a wonderful week vacation with the extended family in Florida. We've been to the Alden Beach Resort at St. Pete Beach twice before with one side of the family. This time we went there with the other side of the family. Last Saturday, we arrived and met the grandparents at the Tampa airport. Late that night, Aunt Sonja and "the cousins" arrived. We had six days of fun and relaxation.

Poor Elaine wasn't used to walking in the outdoors without boots. She refused to walk on the sand, regardless of whether she wore sandals or went barefoot. I had to carry her on the beach and she would only sit down on a blanket. Once there, she loved spooning out sand and sorting sea shells for hours.

Meredith loved building castles, finding shells, and jumping in the ocean--especially with Zach. Meredith spent countless hours in the pool too. Both girls never wanted to leave the pool. Every time Elaine caught sight of the pool she desperately wanted to get in it.

We saw a dolphin. We saw pelicans and fishing hawks and storks and egrets and lizards--all within 100 yards of our room. The week also featured a trip to the zoo in Tampa and a eco-boat ride and an eco-safari adventure involving ziplines. Jen was interviewed by a local television station on the latter one. Meredith fed a giraffe at the zoo (it had a blue tongue!) and allowed a parrot to sit on her head for a bit.

While enjoying the sunset on the beach one evening, we turned around to see the space shuttle taking off on the other side of Florida. Meredith thought that was pretty cool.

The girls were excellent travelers and we dealt with minimal tantrums from kids and adults alike!

All an all, a great, relaxing time. Pictures to be posted soon.

Meredith quotes: Family, et cetera

Meredith has given some memorable quotes recently. Many dealing with family relationships. Others on the subject of school and fairness.


While walking the dog:
"How come I have to do all the work and you get to have all the fun!?!"
The offense was that her job was to open and close the gate and I got to be the one to walk the dog equal to Meredith's weight and surpassing her muscle mass. I assured her that I didn't think that was true that she did all the work.

After being told to turn off the TV, Meredith challenges the ruling while following me upstairs during Elaine's pre-dinner diaper change:
Mer: It's not fair!
Der: Just because you can't do something you want doesn't make it not fair.
M: It isn't fair!
D: I don't think you understand what fair means. In any case, we need to wash hands for dinner.
M: I do know what it means! I have to tell you. I wanted to watch Dragon Tales.
D: You watched two other shows already and it's time for dinner. You'll be able to watch Dragon Tales another day.
M: But it's not fair! Today I got to watch Curious George and Super Why! but not Dragon Tales!
D: Yes. We don't get to watch Dragon Tales every day. You saw two--
M: Some days I get to watch Curious George and Super Why! and Dragon Tales! Today I only got to watch Curious George and Super Why! It's not fair! I want to watch Dragon Tales!
D: Well, that's not really how fairness works, and usually you don't watch Dragon Tales because we have to eat dinner, like we're just about to. It is only a special occasion. Tonight we have to eat dinner.
M: You're not listening to me! I'm trying to tell you about fairness! [she starts stomping to stress her points]
D: Meredith! I don't like the tone you're using. I need you to behave. We can talk about this, but you need to be patient. No more stomping, or flailing, or yelling.
M: I' M YELLING BECAUSE I'M FRUSTRATED! IT'S NOT FAIR THAT I CAN'T SEE DRAGON TALES!
D: Meredith. There are going to be consequences if you can't improve your behavior.
[stomping and kicking of furniture ensues]
D: Meredith, I'm going to count to three and if you don't stop there will be NO TV tomorrow.
M: AARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH! IT'S NOT FAIR! [stomp! stomp!]
D: Okay, no television tomorrow. Now, let's settle down or there will be more consequences.
M: Hmpphth!
[pause]
M: [calmer] It's not fair that I can't watch Dragon Tales.
D: Meredith, I know you're upset because you wanted to see Dragon Tales, but we can't watch TV whenever we want. We need to eat dinner now. If you're frustrated, we can talk, but that kind of behavior is not acceptable--even if you feel it isn't fair.
M: [hopeful] Maybe I can watch Dragon Tales tomorrow?

Making pizza for Meredith, Jen and myself:
Mer: We're putting mushrooms over the whole thing?
Der: Yes.
M: Everyone likes mushrooms?
D: Yes.
M: Zach doesn't like mushrooms; even though they're so good!"

Meredith learned about dinosaurs at school:
Mer: Some kind of meat eaters travel in groups.
Der: What are the groups called?
M: I don't remember.
D: Why do they travel in groups?
M: I don't really know. So they can find food really good? And triceratops do too.
D: Are triceratops meat eaters?
M: No!

Telling me about learning how to make graphs at school:
Mer: What you do is make two lines. And then you put lots of squares between. And then, then, you call out the things you would like to see that other people would like. And then what you do is, and if, like, if someone likes something better than the other one, they win.
Der: What do you do with the squares?
Mer: With the squares, you kind of draw a shape of that thing in the squares. Like if I had spaghetti then I make a kind of a wiggle. And that is a graft! [sic]

A conversation in the car:
Mer: How do you know people in your family by looking at them?
Der: You don't know people in your family by looking at them. You know they are your family because you grew up with them.
M: But how can you tell by looking at them?
D: You can't.
M: Then how?
D: Because they are part of your family when you are born.
M: What if you are walking down the street... I'm going to give an example. It's just an example.
D: Sure. An example sounds good.
M: I'm trying to ask you my question about looking at family members.
D: I know this is hard to ask so I understand. I really like talking to you about this though.
M: Okay. This is just an example; if you are walking down the street and see someone in your family? How do you know? Like, if you were on the street, how would the daddy know, how would you know I'm your daughter?
D: Well, I know you're my daughter because I was there when you were born.
M: But I'm not a baby now.
D: No, you're not a baby now. But I remember when you were a little tiny baby when you were born and I knew you were my daughter and I was your dad. And now you've grown and you're bigger, but I still remember you being born and growing.
M: Can you use pictures to remember?
D: Well, pictures help us remember things, but I'm not going to forget you are my daughter. I don't need pictures.
M: But if you forget can you use pictures to remember?
D: Pictures are helpful and nice to look at, but I assure you I won't forget you're my daughter.
[pause]
M: How do you know your cousin if you see them on the street?
D: You know them, because you have met them before as your cousin. If you didn't meet your cousin and you saw them on the street, you wouldn't know they were your cousin.
M: You wouldn't?
D: No. But you have met your cousins. So you would recognize them, right? If you saw Zach on the street, you'd remember him?
M: Yes!
[pause]
M: I haven't seen Zach in a long time...

Later in the car:
M: I have lots of cousins. Zach is a real cousin.
D: A "real" cousin?
M: Yeah. He's the biggest kid cousin.
D: He is? What about his sisters?
M: His sisters?
D: Yeah. Natalya [age 14] and Kayla [age 17]?
M: They're not kid cousins.
D: They're not?
M: No! They're grown-ups!

And later:
M: Jaz is a real cousin.
D: What about his baby brother Soley?
M: Soley's not my cousin.
D: But if Jaz is your cousin and Soley is his baby brother, then Soley is your cousin too.
M: Soley's a baby.
D: Why does that matter?
M: Babies aren't cousins.

Spring break in Green Bay

Last week was Meredith's school's spring break. There was nothing spring about it except for some melting of snow that revealed our long lost friend: grass. Jen's law firm does not have a corresponding spring break, so I took Elaine and Meredith to the exotic locale of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

We spent some time with Grandma Cathy and Grandpa Dave, and got to see Aunt Sonja and Uncle Chris and the cousins, Kayla, Natalya, and Zach. Meredith enjoys being around her cousins! They are nice, friendly, fun, interesting kids. Even better, Meredith likes playing with Zach. He's a big kid, but he also lets her boss him around. What could be better? In all seriousness, Zach is simply a good sport who plays very nicely with a sometimes pushy four year-old. (She just knows what she wants I guess.)

In Green Bay, Meredith got to go to her first basketball game with her grandparents. They saw the UWGB Fighting Phoenix Women win their first conference tournament game. Apparently she had lots of questions to pepper at her grandparents throughout the game. We went to the Wildlife Sanctuary and saw a bunch of animals. We saw eagles, owls, snakes, giant fruit bats, and an eagle nest; but Meredith's favorite part by far was feeding corn to the geese and ducks.

All in all, it was a fun trip to Wisconsin. The five hours of driving both ways went relatively smoothly, with the girls sleeping most of the way back. It would have been perfect had Meredith not struggled with nightmares every twenty minutes in the car.

For your viewing pleasure, some video and pictures from the last week!


We won't have Elaine babysit anyone anytime soon:


Meredith had a bit of sugar on this day:


PICTURES (More pictures from Wisconsin will be added in the coming days)

Cousin props

A belated congratulations to Natalya Jensen, cousin to Meredith and Elaine, on her excellent spelling abilities. She won her school and got to the final round of the regional spelling bee. She is pictured in this Green Bay Press-Gazette link.

Props!

Meredith wants to congratulate her cousin, Kayla, on being student of the month. "Good job Kayla!" Meredith says.

West De Pere High School Students of the Month - January 2008

Pictures: Christmas with family

Despite the hurdles of illness and weather-related traveling woes, we've been able to have a fun holiday so far with family. My parents, Meredith's and Elaine's Grandma Cathy and Grandpa Dave, have come to Minneapolis to spend the holidays with us. Uncle Jesse rode out with them after flying into Green Bay from Arizona. We were also pleased to host the Jensen family. Meredith enjoys playing with her cousins Kayla, Natalya, and especially Zach. Zach is apparently a really cool guy according to Meredith. (I'd concur.) Their mom, Aunt Sonja, drove the five hours each way during questionable road conditions to spend the weekend with us.

Last week, Elaine was sick and Meredith was very sick. I got sick in time for everyone to come and was bedridden for much of the past 4 or 5 days. It's not been fun, but our main hope is to be well by the time we fly to Florida on Jan 1.

Below are some pictures from the past week. It appears upon viewing that Jen probably took a lot of these since she doesn't appear in them. Grandpa Dave escaped the camera this time too. So we'll have to rectify that.

PICTURES

VIDEO

Also, last Friday Meredith's school presented a whole program of holiday songs from the preschool, pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classes. The below video is one sampling. Apologies for the low production values. The brief moment of darkness in the middle is my attempt to record Elaine's reaction to the singing. Meredith is sitting in the front, middle with a red Nordic sweater.