Trains, Boats and Rides….Oh My!!

Early last week I surprised Hannah by taking a day off work without telling her.  She thought we were headed to daycare…until I turned the opposite way out of the driveway.  A questioning look came over her face and she quietly asked, ‘Mommy, Where are we going?’    I told here we were going on a train which was met with squeals of delight!  When she found out some of our favourite friends were going to be on the train she almost broke the sound barrier!  Can’t you just feel her excitement in this picture?

Once in Toronto we took a ferry over to Centre Island.

Once on the island we hit the rides immediately!  So many rides and so much fun to be had!

Hannah has loved the ferris wheel since she was a baby when she rode her first one at just 16 months of age so we rode it a few times this day.

Shortly after we arrived we met a gal I had gotten to know at our waiting mom’s dinners while she was waiting for her DD and I was waiting for Hannah.  It was neat to see our sweet DD’s together!

Centre Island is geared towards younger children and it’s absolutely beautiful!!  It is so well laid out in that there are a number of rides but they’re all reasonably spaced out so there’s not a lot of walking needed for little legs.

G enjoying Merry-go-round time with Mommy.

The log flume was a big hit and we rode it over and over again.  Each time we hopped into a log it was a new combination of riders.  Hee!

It was a beautiful warm, somewhat sunny day so Hannah took advantage of this splash pad while her friends were on a ride she didn’t care to go on again.  I love her independent spirit!

By far the ride that was the hit of the day was the fire engines!  Once again they rode this over and over again, switching up combos of people, and spots within their engines.

Hannah enjoyed riding her little white pony Shadow.

The frog drop was a tummy tickling experience!  Can you hear the giggles?

Sailing, sailing….

Drivers in training.  They took their jobs seriously and did great!

Before we knew it night was falling and it was time to call it a successful day!  The kids and parents had a blast from start to finish and I hope we can do this again next year!

I will never, ever tire of the beautiful Toronto skyline that we could see from the ferry as we returned from the island.

After grabbing bagels for supper we were on the train on our way home.  This was Hannah within minutes of us getting on the train and she slept right through until the following morning.

Sweet dreams baby girl.  I hope you dreamt of the fun, fun times we shared with precious friends!  We love you friends!  xoxo

Owen’s Science Birthday Party

Friday evening Hannah attended Owen’s 6th birthday party and she had an amazing time!  At one point she was jumping up and down as she exclaimed, ‘This is the best, best, best, BEST birthday party ever!!’ 
Owen’s Aunt Meggie is a teacher and came with science projects galore and the kids were enthralled from the moment she started!  Their first ‘experiment’ was making tie dyed headbands using permanent markers and rubbing alcohol.  The kids coloured for almost half an hour and would have kept going if it wasn’t time to stop for supper.
Love the lab coats made from men’s t-shirts and the glasses.  So scientific!   Meggie and Ange were really organized and each experiment we premeasured and ready to go which helped the party flow and kept the kids attention piqued.
After supper there was slime making,
magic mud,

balloon blow up and Volcanoes.  You can hear the kids reactions to Hannah’s volcano and hers was the 5th time they’d seen this happen!  The entire party was like this and the kids were enraptured by every single experiment!

The icing on the cake…Mentos and Diet Coke Explosion using a Geyser Tube!!!  LOL!  You can tell we were newbies at this as the first bottle of pop sprayed right into where the kids were sitting!  Oops!!  We learned from our experience and rotated the bottle so that it aimed from side to side in the yard.

Thank you so much Owen for inviting Hannah to your awesome birthday party!!  She had a ton of fun and we’re still recreating the experiments at home!  Happy 6th Birthday Owen!!!

Cottage Time = Fun in the Sun!

This year’s vacation weather can be summed up with one word:  HOT!  And we love it!!

California temps hovered between 100 & 110.  Salt Lake was similar and when we returned home they were in the midst of a heat wave too.  The cottage doesn’t have any A/C so when it was pushing 100 here too we took to the water often!

After a time of hanging out at the beach volleyball court

an impromptu evening swim in her clothes was is order.

Sunday afternoon it was tubing time!  2 years ago I sat in the tube in shallow water and attempted to get Hannah to sit on my lap but she would have nothing to do with it!  Last year the boat was broken so we didn’t use the tube at all.  This year – she was all over it and wanted to go on her own!!

That’s my brave little girl!  Check out her adorable little squeal of joy as Grandpa began to move her in the water a bit.

Ahh!  A weekend of fun on the water!

Cottage Fun 2013–Family Time

The day Hannah an I arrived at the cottage was also the last day my brother, SIL and their family were there.  We were sorry our time together was so short but we made the most of it! Hannah and Makenna are inseparable when they have an opportunity to be together.

 

Grandma and her two youngest girls.

Daddy and baby Kallen

Grandma, Tor and Bec Bec teaching Hannah how to play dominoes.

Tuesday Uncle Tim, Aunt Chris and my cousin Sean joined us.  It was great to spend the day together!

Cottage time = family time!

That Nasty Tide!!!

Ugh!  I messed up!!

Before we left CA I did a load of laundry and put about a TBSP of Tide in the water.  I knew Hannah’s system didn’t like Tide but figured such a little bit in a large load would be okay.

I was wrong!!

Thursday night I put her in the pjs that had been part of that load as we made Monkey Munch for the cottage. 

She woke up in the middle of the night scratching like crazy and when I turned on the light she was covered in hives everywhere under the pjs.  Oh no!  I immediately gave her Benadryl and covered her with Benadryl gel.  Within minutes all signs of the hives were gone.  A quick change and all was well.

The following morning we were off to the cottage to visit with my parents for a few days.  I’m pretty sure the shorts I put on her must have been the only other item in that load that I hadn’t rewashed.  Ugh!  When we got to the cottage her little legs were itchy under the shorts so once again I changed her and vowed to be more careful.

Little did I know that later that day she would wrap herself in a blanket at the cottage – that had been washed in Tide.  By now her little body was in attack mode and her system went crazy!  It was quickly evident that Benadryl wasn’t going to touch it this time and we were off to a local ER.  In the 15 minutes it took to drive there she quickly went from bad

to much worse!!  Her entire body from head to toe looked like this!

As we sat in the ER waiting room praying they would call us soon she got so bad that others in the room were telling us to go in front of them and she was screaming in pain and begging me to get her medicine.  It was beyond itchy and she was clawing at herself to try and get some relief.  We were both in tears as I went to find her some help.  Thankfully they jumped us to the front and took her right in.  It was a blessing that my sweet baby girl fell asleep waiting for the doctor to come see her.

We were all keeping a close eye on her airway and thankfully even though her face was affected her airway was never jeopardized. Thanking God for that!

They gave her a combination of 3 different medications – Benadryl, Steroids and something else I can’t remember and that worked.  She drifted off to sleep again and rested peacefully for the 3 hours it took for the mediations to take away every hive on her little body.  Even though her airway was not affected I can tell from this picture just how swollen her face was.  Poor lamb!!

At one point she just had one little spot on her face but they were not even considering releasing her until that was gone too.  In the end we were there close to 6 hours before she was well enough to be released shortly after 4AM.  The doctor sent us home with 2 prescriptions to fill in the morning and instructions to return to the ER if the hives came back.  They classified her as a ‘Rare Paediatric Emergency’ for this area and something they don’t see often.  That says a lot when we are in prime vacation country and there are a lot of children’s camps around too.  I cannot say enough about the hospital in Huntsville!  They were wonderful with her from start to finish!!

It was a short night for my little trooper but Saturday morning she showed little signs of the trauma other than a slightly swollen face and hospital bracelet on her ankle.  .

We headed back in to town to fill the prescriptions and wash everything in the cottage with the ‘Hannah safe’ detergent we use at home.  Grandma took up residence in the Laundromat while Bec Bec, Tor, Hannah and I did a little running around.

Early in the afternoon Hannah began to ask for her back to be scratched and I soon realized we’d be headed back to the ER based on the doctors instructions.  As had happened the day before, she quickly broke out again.  Poor little sweetie!  Once again I used electronics to try and divert her attention a little from the scratching until the doctor could see her. 

This time by the time the doctor came, the meds I had given her a little more than an hour earlier had begun to take affect.  He reviewed her case, changed up her doses a bit and added one new prescription to hopefully avoid any further outbreaks until her body could get regulated again.  We’re hoping with her medicine cocktails that she’s taking a variety of 4 times a day for the next 4 days, will hopefully help us avoid any further outbreaks. 

This picture was taken only 3 hours after the one above.  What a wonderful difference!

As I write this it’s now Monday evening and Praise God Hannah has been hive free since Saturday afternoon!!!  We’re being super cautious around people and not really touching others.  It’s hard but Tide is so common that we need to be careful until her little body is regulated again.  I was able to extend my vacation by 2 additional days so we’re still visiting my parents at the cottage they rent each July.  A wonderful place to recuperate from the weekend. 

I need to call our family doctor when we get home and have him refer us to an allergy specialist again.  This time I’m going to ask him to test her for a Tide allergy specifically as I’m 99% sure that’s what’s causing this.  My theory is based on the location of the hives always starting under clothing that has been washed in Tide and also that I can’t really think of anything else we’ve changed.  Time will tell and I’ll keep you posted.

Until then, thanks to all who were aware of what was happening and were praying for my sweet baby girl.  Your prayers were answered and she’s had a great couple of days!