Bathroom Humor

Odin is definitely showing interest in using the bathroom. Several times he has grabbed my hand, said, "Poo!" and has gone potty in the toilet! My little man is growing up too fast!

A week or so before we left for Asia, the kids and I were in the bathroom. We had just gotten up, so I was changing Odin's diaper. Adelyn was going to the bathroom too. Or at least, that is what was supposed to be happening. I'm not sure exactly what happened since my attention was on Odin. All of a sudden there was a splash and a scream! Poor Adelyn somehow fell into the toilet! She was so upset. I was trying hard not to laugh out loud. I got her calmed down, dried off and we went on with our day.

Sing a Song of Singapore

On Monday (a week ago) the four of us headed over to Singapore for a few days.

We flew JetStar. I really don't like them. I tried to book our flights online. Well, my credit card was declined. I called the CC company and they said a request never came through, so it wasn't them that declined. I tried another card. And another. Same thing. So I got on live chat. They suggested I try again. I ended up having to call. But since I was calling, I was charged a convenience fee. When we got to the airport we were over our 15 kg limit. We were charged $15 per kg. I was shocked at how much they charged! For our flight home I tried to add more weight to our reservation. But of course, their website wouldn't take my cards. Their phone number didn't work. But the helpful live chat person said they could add it to our reservation. At the end, they said their systems were down but when they came back up in an hour, I would get an email conformation. Yep. That didn't happen. But thankfully, the guy at the counter didn't charge us.

Anyway.

We had a great time in Singapore. We were still dealing with jet lag, so we had to be a little flexible with our plans. We started off staying on the island of Sentosa. We went to the butterfly garden and rode on the cable car. At night we went to the Henderson Waves. It was a nice and relaxing time. At the butterfly garden, Odin got to hold a butterfly. It was so cute!

On Wednesday we moved to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. It was spectacular! The views were amazing. The first afternoon we had tea on the top floor. Adelyn thought it was pretty cool to have a tea party. Then we hit up the pool. That evening we walked over to the Garden by the Bay for their nightly show. The show wasn't too amazing, but it was neat.

Thursday we were back to Manila to continue with spending time with family. I will admit that we had the sterile version of Singapore. But I would gladly go back! It was clean, friendly and fun. I was so happy that we went.

Cleared for Take Off

On Wednesday we "left" for Asia. I put that in quotes because instead of being in Asia at the end of the day, we only made it as far as Detroit. Michigan.

We flew from Vegas to Detroit. When trying to board the next plane, we found out that they really were serious that we needed the paper tickets for Odin since he was an infant in arms and we needed to pay taxes since we were leaving the country. We explained that we had just moved so we missed the tickets somehow. No problem. You just have to buy them again. But don't worry - when we find the original ones, we can just call and get a refund. Ben sent Adelyn and I onto the plane so we could try and get some overhead bin space. Odin and Ben got the ticket thing figured out. They got on the plane. We left the gate. Sat around for a while. Then we got an announcement that during their final check something came up. We had to go back to the gate for maintenance to get on and fix whatever. After a while, they announced that they hoped to have it fixed in an hour. So we sat some more. The children were great! They were busy entertaining themselves. They didn't seem to notice we hadn't moved at all. An hour passed. "It shouldn't be too much longer," we were told. After some more time, we were told that we needed to switch planes. As we left the aircraft we scanned our boarding passes to get vouchers. Odin and Ben got off before Adelyn and I did. When I got to the boys, Ben asked where the boarding passes were. I said that I had mine and Adelyn's. Did he remember to get his and Odin's passes and passports from his seat back? ... No... So, I went to the ticket agent and told them what we forgot. We had to wait for the entire plane to deplane before someone would go look for them. Finally, we got tickets and passports in hand. Then was the tricky part to figure out how to spend the vouchers. The lines were long and we didn't have a whole lot of time. And our stroller wasn't given back to us so we were carrying everything, including an occasional kid. We ended up with McFlurry's and a new travel pillow.

We got to our new gate and new plane right before boarding started. We got back on the plane. Got settled again. It was a bit chilly because they were loading up the plane with food, etc. right near us. We were snuggling with Mr. O and his blanket and the Delta blankets as the 30 degree air kept blowing around us. Well, they had loaded everything up, but there was still cold air blowing. And we were past our new departure time. Hmmm.... Yep. Sure enough, a little while later another announcement: they couldn't get one of the doors closed. Maintenance was coming. Great. So, we continued to huddle against the cold as we waited. And waited. A few more announcements and apologies later, we were getting off the plane. This time for the night. They were handing out hotel vouchers with your boarding pass. Ben grabbed as much as he could and got off as quickly as he could since we had heard that sometimes the first few off get a better hotel. I was left with the children. When we finally reunited (no cool hotel for anyone) I realized we didn't have my backpack. Back to the gate agent. By now we were on a first name basis. They were able to get my backpack for me. Then we got to wait outside for the hotel shuttle. After a few minutes, we decided to just take a taxi. There were so many people waiting that we were at least waiting for two more shuttle runs before we would get on one. And it was late. Almost 11. So we took a taxi so we could get settled in and try and get more sleep. Before we went to bed, we found out our new flight was at noon.

The next morning, we put our clothes back on and went back to the airport. Got on the airplane. And waited. But this time, the plane actually took off! The kids did great on the long flight. We decided to just let them do whatever as far as sleeping goes. Those with kids know that to keep them awake or get them to sleep is sometimes just not worth it. We got off the plane in Japan and got right back on. But for our last leg they upgraded us to business class! Adelyn was in her own little pod and she did great. She thought it was pretty cool that her seat turned into a bed. Odin slept most of that flight.

And finally, we were in the Philippines. Hooray!

All's Well

The other day Odin had his 18-month well check. We found a highly recommended pediatricians office not too far from us. Lucky for us, they were accepting new patients. Everyone was very nice. And Odin continues on his big boy schedule. He weighed in at 31 pounds (99 percentile) and is 34 inches tall (92 percentile). He got two shots. He was a very brave boy.

Side story - I can't remember if I posted about this yet or not, but shortly after moving to Vegas I was moving the coffee table and managed to nearly rip off the entire nail on my toe. So for months I've had a band aid on my toe to keep the nail from snagging on stuff.

After Odin's shots he got a band aid on his leg. He immediately tore it off and wanted me to put it on his toe. So we left the office with only one shoe on because he was so proud of the band aid on his toe. We went out for lunch after his appointment. Halfway to lunch he started crying and screaming. He kept holding his foot out. It took me awhile to figure out he was upset because the band aid fell off! 

Ah, Cars

Sometimes I hate how dependent we are on cars. But today I'm just thankful for the timing of an oil change. I made a routine appointment the other day for an oil change. While they were going through their multi-point inspection, they found a leak on the steering column. Thankfully, it is still under warranty. And thankfully they found it before it actually caused an issue. So, so thankful! Especially since Ben has been gone. I can imagine the kids and me stranded in the middle of Vegas... just kidding. Everyone here is super nice. And I've been to the dealership before, so they know me. Sort of. I would have been fine. But thankful again, that I didn't have to deal with a broken car.

Speaking of being thankful, a few years ago I started posting something I was thankful for every day during November. Last year on Thanksgiving, one of my friends posted on Facebook that she was thankful that it was Thanksgiving so that people would stop posting thankful posts. I was hurt. I liked reading what people were thankful for. And I think it is a great reminder to be thankful. Stop and think about it... when was the last time you said you were thankful? I know how easy it is to get swept up in life and not even realize all the good around us. Our trip to Haiti helped bring things into perspective. And "forcing" myself on a daily basis to find something I am thankful for only makes me happier.

Back to my friend. Part of me was unsure if I should post this year. I began to wonder if I was driving other people nuts. I talked to Ben about this. He was quick to say "Her, her." (An inside joke sort of thing that basically means, who cares what she thinks). He encouraged me to do it. He even suggested that I tagged her in every post so she would not only read it every day, but get notified. I laughed at the idea. But I'm not that mean. :)

Lost Vegas

While on our road trip, we told the kids we were on the way to Las Vegas. Adelyn thought we said Lost Vegas. She was very concerned about what was lost. It took several days and several explanations before she finally understood that it was Las, not lost.

Our last week in Vegas we decided to do something fun each day. That would force us out of the hotel and be something to look forward to.

Monday Odin was sick. So we only managed to get to the hotel pool.

Tuesday we went to Silverton Casino. They have a 117,000 gallon fish aquarium. They have several different types of stingrays in the tank. A couple of times a day they have feedings. We got there just in time for the 4:30 show. It was pretty cool. The SCUBA lady was hooked up with a special helmet that had a two-way radio in it. She could hear any audience questions and could talk back to us. They also have mermaids in the tank. Unfortunately, they are only there during the weekends, so we didn't get to see them. After that we headed over to the one Steak n' Shake nearby. Adelyn only ate the whipped cream off of her shake. Lucky Daddy helped her out with the shake.

Wednesday we decided to check out the Farmer's Market in Summerlin. On the way there it started to rain. (Did you know that Las Vegas has a monsoon season? Me neither. But it has started). I'm not sure if the rain or the time of year made any difference, but we were underwhelmed at the number of vendors selling produce. There were plenty of food stands and other stands though. And we did manage to find figs, strawberries, and beefalo. Yep. Beefalo. A crossbreed between cow and bison. Supposedly it has the nutrition of bison with the taste of beef. We made it into chili, so it's hard to say.

Thursday we went to Crystals at City Center just to walk around. Ben had been there before so he knew there were a few things the kids would find interesting. Odin wanted to keep walking into the stores. It was pretty cute. We all spent some time looking at these cylinders that had water tornadoes in them. It was pretty cool. While walking back to our car the kids spotted the monorail that runs from Monte Carlo to Bellagio. So, we hopped on that and rode that around.

Friday we went to our friend's house again. The kids ended up in the pool this time. We had a nice visit and Ben made some delicious burgers for us (Mike was out of town).

Saturday we went to Boulder City to check out Hemenway Park. I had heard from a guy at the dealership (we had our tire fixed the day before) that at the park Bighorn Sheep are known to graze. Sure enough! There were probably about two dozen that we just hanging out at the park. They didn't seem to mind that we were there. We could get pretty close without them walking away. When a big tour bus came though, they did kind of huddle up a bit. It was so cool to be so close to wild animals with nothing between us. Not sure if I would have thought it was so cool if it had been a pride of lions though.

Sunday the kids and I let Ben sleep while we tried out the local Dunkin Donuts. We enjoyed our donuts and then we went to a local park. It was pretty nice. We were the only ones there. That wasn't too unusual to me, but it was at a community center and I thought it a bit odd that no one was there either.

Monday we headed over to the Flamingo to see the flamingo habitat. There were different types of flamingos, ducks and swans swimming around. And some of the most active koi I have ever seen.

Tuesday Adelyn woke up under the weather so Odin and I went to get a trailer hitch installed on our car while she rested and Ben worked.

Wednesday we went to the DMV to get our drivers licenses. It was pretty slick. We were even able to register to vote. In case you were wondering, we could use the hotel's address as a physical address and our new PO Box as a mailing address. Seems strange to me, but according to the DMV that is typical in Vegas. We spent the rest of the day packing up because on Thursday morning we flew to MN for a visit.

Cute Little Odin

Before I forget, here are a few cute Odin stories to share.

Living in close living quarters, we often times don't have very much privacy. Especially in the bathroom. Odin has become fascinated with watching daddy go to the bathroom. So much so, that when he hears daddy go in the bathroom, he will stop whatever he is doing and run into the bathroom. And then whenever I change his diaper, he likes to run to the toilet and stand there like he's going. It's super cute.

Years ago when I was a babysitter, one kid that I would watch brushed his teeth by saying the vowels. For instance, "eeeeee" was to brush his front teeth, "aaaaa" for his back teeth. It is an easy way to get kids to have their mouths open in a good way to get to their teeth. I thought this was a useful tool, so that's how my kids learned how to brush their teeth too. Odin has become obsessed with brushing his teeth. Just about every time we walk through the bathroom he runs to the sink, jumps and waves his finger around and goes, "Eeeeee!!!!"