Good-bye Rhino -- We Won't Miss You

Our time with Rhino was short lived. Sunday evening, after he was brought home, I was alone in the house. Rhino was in his habitat in the kitchen. Everything was quiet and peaceful. Out of nowhere comes this unearthly, creepy sound. It was so so loud and shrill. The sound was a cross between nails on a chalkboard, a woman screaming at the end of a tunnel, and a nail being ripped out of a board. I couldn't figure out what was making the sound. Storm was looking around, ears alert, trying to figure it out too. Finally I looked in the kitchen, and saw one of the cats sitting on a bar stool looking at Rhino with the same expression Storm and I had. It was the frog making the noise!! Ken came home to hear my story, but of course no noise came from the frog for a long time. Finally, we were all settled down, watching TV. The house was quiet, calm and dark. He started up with the noise every few minutes. Eventually Ken banished him to the garage. All the screeching decided for us that we definitely were not keeping that frog!

Syd came over the next day, and we told her all about how scary and weird the noise was. We wanted her to hear it too, so she would know we weren't making it up, and could see he wouldn't be a good pet. We were too loud and active for him to be comfortable enough to make the noise.

We planned on taking him to the pond by our house, but Syd wanted to take him back to his "real" home, where they had found him. So, after dinner, in the pouring rain, we drove the 10 miles to his pond and she let him go.

I really wanted a video of him screeching, but didn't think of it until it was too late. As soon as Syd took him out of his box, he started chirping. The video doesn't do justice to how he can sound, but it's better than nothing. Ken was nice enough to be the cameraman in the rain to record the release of Rhino. Hopefully we've learned our lesson about bringing home new pets.

Meet Rhino -- He's a Frog

Ken and Syd took the canoe out for a little trip today. They came home with a new "pet." There were a ton of frogs around the little lake they were floating the canoe on. They spent a few minutes trying to catch some, and finally got hold of Rhino. Luckily, they had taken some water in sports type bottles with screw-off lids, so they had a way to transport him back home.

Would you believe we already have a frog habitat? It was another Christmas present Ken found along with the butterfly habitat. We've been waiting for the tadpoles that come with the habitat. But they can't ship them until it's a steady 40 degrees all the time. It still freezes at night sometimes, but I bet they'll be showing up anyday now. Wonder how Rhino will feel about sharing his new home?

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I don't consider myself a particularly skilled or adept gardener. I can't even really say I enjoy it. That being said, I do like having flowers and plants around my yard and house.

Syd wanted to get some flowers to plant outside. We didn't really have room in the small flower bed in front of our house. (We couldn't remember exactly what or where we planted last year, or if it would come back this year. Oops!) Ken had the wonderful idea of getting a window box for her bedroom window and letting her have her own little garden. So today we went to Lowe's and got all the supplies. She picked out some seeds and a potted plant for her window box. Syd and I planted, and she and Ken installed the box. I think it will be very cute once the flowers start to grow, and she can take care of everything herself right from her bedroom.

Ready to plant. She picked a potted geranium, and daisies and columbine seeds.

Putting the seeds in was totally up to her. The packets said one kind would sprout in a week, the other in a month. The seeds are all mingled together, so it should be a colorful mess once they all bloom.

A sudden little rainshower hit just as we were finishing up. Did Syd come in the garage away from the rain? Of course not. What fun would that be?

Ken was busy doing something, so while she was waiting to get her window box installed, she "watered" Storm.

Figuring out how to make it stay put.

Ta-da! The finished product. We took out the screen so she can water from inside. Now she just has to remember not to lean out too far!

While I was walking around the neighborhood with Storm this morning, I saw a cute window box hung on the porch railing of a neighbor's house. I found one at Lowe's, and even planted the pansies myself. The hanging baskets were pre planted -- just how I like them :)

My original plan was to hang the basket from the rail, but I liked it better sitting on the porch floor.

Happy Birthday Ken

Today is Ken's birthday, but all the fun and excitement happened yesterday. The weather was so nice -- we spent the whole day at home outside. We had a picnic lunch on the front porch, and he played frisbee and football with all the neighborhood kids. Later that night, he went to a fight-night party at Matt's.

Happy Birthday babe. I love you!

I stopped by the bakery after work on Friday and got a chocolate marble cheesecake. Ken didn't even bother with the plate. Notice the piece he pinched off before dinner. I guess you can get away with that when it's your birthday :)

Opening presents - Syd picked out a volleyball/badmiton set, and I got him some clothes, and a tool to wash the windows on the cars. So exciting I know.

Picture Tag

I guess I'm supposed to show you all the 6th picture from the 6th folder on our computer.

The first 6 folders only had a couple pictures in them, so I went to the 8th folder. Here is the 6th picture. Actually a pretty good action shot of Syd riding on Ken's lap on the recumbent bike.

I tag Marta, Mom, Lynne, Sarah, Celia and Stacey

One, Two, Tree!

We have trees in our yard!!! This is a huge deal to me. I love trees, and have missed having them around since we moved to our new house.

A few weeks ago, we noticed that one of the empty lots by us had a bunch of trees just planted randomly in it. They were big, nice trees, not scrawny little sticks in the ground. Ken asked the main builder if he knew what they were for and how we could get some. He gave him all the details, and today they came to plant them.

We put two on the south side of the house, in two corners, and one on the north side. Two are in the front yard, and the other is on the side of the house. They are a type of maple tree that blooms red before turning green, and in the fall they are a brilliant red too. I'm so excited to have trees in our yard, and to watch them grow every year.

The price of the trees included the planting -- can't beat that!

I was very intrigued by the process. They cut the sod, and kind of peeled it away so they could dig the hole.

Then they rolled the sod back up. You can't even tell where they cut it or dug the hole.

Yay for trees! Can you see the red buds already starting to form?

Easter Egg Hunt

There was an Easter egg hunt at a park in a town about 10 minutes away. It was sunny, but not quite 50 degrees and a little windy. But, there was no snow this year, so that was definitely good.

The kids found their eggs according to age group. We expected to stand around for a while so the littler kids could go first, but Syd's age group was the first to go. The hunting area was just a roped off area of the park. They threw the eggs on the ground and let the kids go get them.

Waiting for the eggs to be spread out.

The Easter Bunny even helped spread out the eggs.

It was a mad dash as soon as the rope was dropped. (Syd is kneeling down in a pink shirt behind another girl standing up in a pink shirt).

After all the eggs were gathered up, you took them to the table to get counted. Syd was very happy with the candy and fuzzy coloring poster she got as a prize.

Storm's Wound

Storm spent the week we were in Florida at the kennel. She's been there several times before, and doesn't seem to mind going. When I went to pick her up, the guy who runs the kennel told me right away that she'd gotten a little hurt. I guess she was in her pen, and every time someone walked by, she would wag her tail hard against the fence. She did it so much and so hard that the very end of her tail broke open. The kennel workers tried to prevent any more damage by putting quilts and blankets all around her pen so if she did bang her tail again it wouldn't be against the chain link fence. It's a very superficial wound, and I don't think she even knows it's there. But if she hits it against the wall or even one of us, it opens again and little drops of blood go everywhere. Ken fashioned a band-aid out of gauze and tape to contain the mess. She looks so funny with a little white flag on the end of her tail. I'm surprised this is the first tail related injury we've had, either to her tail or to us being hit by it.

Trip #2 to Florida

For spring break we headed to Florida to hang out with Ken's cousin Christi, her husband Joel and their family. We had a great time with them, even if the trip didn't turn out exactly as we had planned or anticipated. While we were there, Joel was admitted to a cancer center to start chemo for the leukemia he had been diagnosed with earlier in the week. It all happened within the space of a few days -- from getting the inital bloodwork done, to being admitted, to the actual treatment being started. As we were finding out more about Joel's condition, and what would be happening, I couldn't help but feel like we were an intrusion/burden added to their stressful time. But, after Ken talked to Christi about what she needed us to do, we decided to stay. Joel was on infection control, so he couldn't have any visitors, and having us there gave Christi something else to think about besides what was happening with Joel. It was sad to leave them when it was time to leave, and our hearts and thoughts are still with them.

One of the things Ken really wanted to do on our drive down to Florida was to find some waterfalls on the side of the road. He remembered them from his trips back and forth from Michigan to Florida when he was a kid. We lucked out and found a really cool one right off the freeway somewhere in Kentucky.

CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO

We broke the drive there and back into two parts. I don't think any of us could have handled being in the car for the full 17 hours straight. On the way to Florida, our hotel was in Chattanooga, Tennessee at the famous Chattanooga Choo Choo hotel. It's a very cool concept, especially for kids. I'm not sure if it was once a working railway station, or just made to look like it, but all the rail cars are still on the tracks, with the platforms running between them. It looked like a movie. Now we can all say we've stayed at the Chattanooga Choo Choo.

Ken and Syd between the train cars on the way to the pool.

Syd and I at the entrance to our room.



Hanging out in our train car room. Ken had to be careful not to bash his head on the luggage racks all along the walls.

A cool old steam engine in Chattanooga

DISNEY WORLD

The first day we were in Florida, Christi and I spent the day at the beach while Ken took Syd to Disney World for the first time. She had a great time, and even saw a friend from school who was also there for spring break. How's that for a small world?

You can't go to Disney and not get a picture with the castle.

"Driving" on the Grand Prix ride.

Minnie Mouse face paint

Having a blast on one of the rides.

A DAY ON THE BOAT

The next day we spent out on some islands that are only accessible by boat. Christ's sister Monica, her husband Brett, and their daughter Alison came with us.

Brett, Christi and Cindy on the boat out to the island

Syd and Lauren got to ride in the front of the boat. They had a great time laughing and squealing when we drove over the waves.

Syd, Lauren and Ken trying out the boogie boards

Lauren, Jack and Syd decorating a stick they found and planted in the sand.

Being on the beach is so relaxing. We had a beautiful sunny, warm day. Ken did a much better job with the sunscreen than I did. He left Florida the exact same shade of paleness as when we left Michigan.

SEA WORLD

The whole crew headed to Sea World. Ken and I have been there a few times, and this was Syd's first time there. We got to hang out with the sting rays (my favorite thing ever), feed the seals, and saw a cute show with trained sea lions and otters.

The sting rays were very active while we were talking to them. One lifted its wing clear out of the water, and had the perfect angle to splash Jack right in the face. He was soaked, but didn't seem to care too much.

About an hour before we left, it started raining pretty hard. Christi and I hid from the rain under an awning. Ken and the kids didn't care about getting wet and had a good time stomping in puddles.

FAMILY

We happened to be in Florida for Lauren's 7th birthday. Christi had planned a party with more family members for Ken to meet. We were able to spend time with Ken's half-brother Craig, as well as his step-mom Pam. Everyone was very friendly and happy to meet us. It's awesome to know there are more people who care about us, and to get to know better.

Lauren blowing out the candle on her cake at the family party.

On the actual day of her birthday, Lauren chose to eat dinner at Chili's. The servers all came out to sing happy birthday and bring her some ice cream.

Newly united brothers Ken and Craig.

Ken playing with his neice Isabella. She is a very happy and smiley baby.

Gramma Pam with all her grandkids - Isabella (5 mos), Sydney (7) and Seth (2). Pam is a great gramma and loves spending time with the kids.

We made it back home in one piece, but the drive home was not near as smooth as the drive to Florida. I ended up being the troublesome traveler, and not Syd. After about 6 hours into the drive home, I started feeling a little weird, I laid back and slept for a while. I'm not sure what woke me up, but I knew as soon as I was awake that I was going to have a problem. I told Ken I was going to be sick, and that's all the warning I could give him. It just came out and there was nothing I could do. Ken was in the wrong lane to be able to pull over, and by the time he was finally able to get to the side of the road, I was completely covered. I have never been sick in the car -- never! Luckily, we were only a couple miles from a big rest area. Ken was very sweet and sent me inside to get changed while he cleaned up the car. My clothes were completely saturated, and we didn't have anything to put the nasty gross clothes in, so into the garbage can they went, along with my pillow. I'm so bummed because I was wearing my favorite superman shirt, and some brand new pants :( But I couldn't deal with trying to clean them out in the sink and then getting them home and in the washer two days later. We wanted to get past Nashville before we stopped for the night so we didn't have to deal with morning rush hour traffic. It was a very long drive to the hotel -- I felt nauseous and queasy most of the time, and all the fast food billboards on the road didn't help at all. We finally made it to the hotel where I showered and went to bed. Ken and Syd went swimming for a while, and to get some food and I just hung out in the quiet. I was sick 3 more times during the night, and by the time I was done, I was dead empty, but feeling some better. I didn't eat anything besides a couple saltine crackers the whole way home, and by the time we pulled into the driveway, I was pretty much cured.

We'd been on the road for an hour or so when the movie Syd was watching was over, and she was ready for a new movie. We heard her rummaging in the back seat looking for the CD case all her DVD's were in. She couldn't find it, and I turned around to try to help. I couldn't find it either. Ken pulled over to see if it had fallen under the seat. It was nowhere in the car. The only thing we can think is that in the unloading process at the hotel, it got dropped on the ground. We called the hotel and asked them to mail it to us if it got turned in. We're not very hopeful, but maybe there is a good Samaritan out there in White House, Tennessee.

It really was a good trip to Florida, but Ken and I agree that it will be the last time we drive down. There are fairly cheap flights to and from very close airports both here in Michigan and in Florida. Life is so much easier when you don't have added stress from driving 17 hours, not to mention the time needed to make the drive.