Wild Wilderness Drive Through Safari

One of the only events last week that we actually pulled out the camera for was our trip to the drive-through safari.  I had heard crazy stories about monkeys running and jumping on the top of cars and emus pecking at windows so I was a little hesitant to go, but we experienced none of that craziness.

Addison waved "HI" to all the animals as we passed them

Deers stealing food from monkeys...don't see that every day

Loving her time in the front seat of the car

Acres and acres of beautiful land and animals

The 'z-bas' were Addison's favorite...
Unfortunately she has her daddy's camera eyes

Is that a yak?

"Stay"cation 2013

Our plans for a Florida, family vacation last week were immediately put on hold when we learned of Emily's diagnosis.  So instead of spending the week on the beaches of Clearwater, we enjoyed spending quality time with Emily AND our family right here in Northwest Arkansas.

SATURDAY, June 15

• NWA Naturals Baseball Game: Addison ate a half of a bag of popcorn by herself and washed it down with the better part of John's ice cream cone...but we were on vacation, so we lived it up!

SUNDAY, June 16

• Father's Day: The boys (John, his dad, brother and nephew) started the morning with 9 holes of golf and came back to the pool for swimming and we grilled out.

MONDAY, June 17

• Superman Man Of Steel: It was a rainy day, so the boys went and saw a movie and Addison and I tinkered around the house
• Pizza & Bowling: The rain never really cleared up so we opted for pizza and bowling for evening entertainment.  Addison wasn't a huge fan of bowling because she didn't like to let her ball roll down the lane, she wanted to keep/hold it. 

TUESDAY, June 18

• Surgery Day: John took Emily to the vet's office bright and early so she could have blood work done before her surgery. 
• Roger's Aquatic Park: We met up with everyone (Mike, Chris and Landon) at the new water park right when it opened at 11.  The park is great, it has 5 slides, a kid zone, a infant pool, lazy river and splash pad.  Addison had a blast in the infant pool, it was 1ft deep and she splashed and jumped and 'swam' until she was blue...literally she was cold and her lips turned blue and she was shivering.  Addison and I called our day short and made it home for a late nap.
• Emily Visit: Emily made it through surgery like a champ and we were able to stop by and see her before dinner.  She tried to get up when she saw John even though she was drugged up.
• Dinner & A Walk: Since we were in Fayetteville to see Emily we ate dinner down there at Greenhouse Grill and then went for a quick walk on the trails.  It was a beautiful evening.

WEDNESDAY, June 19

• Floating & Fishing: The boys floated the Mulberry River and attempted to fish.  Attempted being the very important word as no one really caught anything.  But they had fun and that's whats important.  Addison and I passed on the float trip and did our normal Wednesday routine...story time at the library, quick trip to Walmart, etc.
• Emily Visit: John made sure to stop in and see his little girl before and after the float trip.  She was in really good spirits.
• Grill-Out: We made some yummy kabobs and brought them over to Mike's house for dinner.  Chris and Landon had big plans to 'camp-out' in Grandpa Doc's backyard so we built a fire and had s'mores for dessert.  John, Addison and I passed on camping, opting for the comforts of our own beds.

THURSDAY, June 20

• Emily Visit: John made a trip down to Fayetteville first thing to see Emily.  She was doing so good the doctors and nurses arranged for him to take her home, earlier than expected! 
• Swim Lessons: Addison and I went to swim lessons and John was even able to come and watch.  She was happy to see dad there but still didn't listen to the teacher :)
• Good Bye Emily: Emily wasn't acting normal when we got home from swim lessons.  Once Addison went down for a nap, John rushed Emily back to the vet because she was in so much pain.  They couldn't do much, there were complications from surgery and there wasn't anything they could do to relieve the pain.  John was able to be with Emily the entire time and held her for the last hours of her life.  She was in a lot of pain and she is in a better place, watching down on us now.
• Date Night: John and I had a date night planned and he didn't want to cancel it, so the two of us were able to sneak off and enjoy dinner together.
• Sleep Over: Chris and Landon slept over and that meant I had a someone to watch the basketball game with.  Well actually Chris laid on the couch with his eyes closed for most of the fourth quarter but....

FRIDAY, June 21

• Boating on Beaver Lake: We attempted a boat ride Friday morning.  We packed everyone up, applied sunscreen and swimsuits and were ready for a day on the water.  We got the boat off the lift and realized no one had a driver's licenses...then we realized the tags on the boat had expired...so back to the cars we went, no boat ride.
• Roger's Splash Park: We stopped by the Splash Park before heading home because we wanted to let Addison do something 'fun' after a morning of riding around in the car.  She had fun, but it took a little convincing from daddy.
• Shrimp Boil: We invited everyone over for dinner on Friday night and decided to do something new -- a shrimp boil.  It was SO good!  We doubled the recipe and didn't really need to so we had way to much food but it was awesome and I have been enjoying shrimp cocktail for days now. :)

SATURDAY, June 22

• Snotty Nose: Addison woke up with a snotty nose...yuck. 
• Splish/Splash: We had some drop-ins for swimming, Chris and Landon swam for a bit before lunch and Susan and Lindsay came for a little bit while Addison napped.
• Errands & Dinner: We were pretty much back in our normal routine by this point so we ran a few errands before meeting up with Grandpa Doc for dinner.

SUNDAY, June 23

• Drive-Thru Animal Safari: We took Addison to the drive-thru safari and zoo first thing Sunday morning.  We got there shortly after it opened and it was great timing.  We saw tons of animals -- zebras. deer, monkeys, rhinos, hippo, elk, kangaroos, pigs and so much more.  Addison had as much fun sitting in the front seat of the car as she did looking at all of the animals.
• Boat Ride: We tried again for a boat ride....tags and registration updated - check, driver's licenses - check, sunscreen and swimsuits - check.  We just were out for a few hours and John and Addison swam for a bit.

All of these memories were lovingly documented by the camera on my phone...except now it is in the bottom of Beaver Lake?!!?  During Sunday afternoon's boat ride, I flung my phone into the water when trying to give John a life jacket.  I am/was soooooooooooooooo upset.  But in the end, its just a phone?!

So all of our 'stay'cation memories might not be documented in pictures, but we have this long, wordy blog post to help us remember :)

In Loving Memory Of...

In Loving Memory Of

Emily Dougherty

May 16, 2001 to June 20, 2013

 

We had to say good bye to a very special member of our family this past week.

Emily had a short fight with a very large tumor but she is in a better place now.

 

She was John's first baby girl and the best big sister to Addison we could ask for.

There will never be another dog like Emily!

 

We will miss her and ALWAYS love her...

 

 

 

 

20 Month Update

A little over-due but better late than never...

 

 

 

Developments this month...

• She is putting 2 and 3 words together and continues to surprise us with what she knows...favorites this month -- "Mommy making cookies" & "Me, Addie" & "careful" as she points to John standing on the ottoman fixing the fan
• She has 16 teeth
• She is wearing a size 4 diaper
• She is wearing some 18-24 month clothing and some 24/2T clothing
• She LOVES the pool and being outside and we've taken full advantage of the beautiful weather the last couple of weeks
• Her favorite foods continue to be hot dogs, noodles and cucumbers (that is what she will tell you if you ask her what she wants for lunch) but she also eats plenty of melon, peas, ham, mac & cheese, pretzels and yogurt
• She counts to 2 now, so we've stopped the broken record "1..1..1..."
• She sings her ABCs and its regressed and progressed in the last month and now its most often "A...B...know my A...B..."
• Her love for Elmo is still going strong but she is branching out and also enjoys Mickey Mouse and Thomas the Train
• She has started throwing little tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants...nothing too bad (yet) and typically she can be distracted but I'm sure its just a primer for things to come :)

Cookies! Cookies! Cookies!

In just a week and a half the Made By ME kitchen has cranked out 27 dozen cookies -- YES! that is 324 cookies.

 

 

It started on June 5th when I began working on Curious George cookies for sweet Hannah's 4th birthday.  That order was for Saturday the 8th.

 

 

In between putting the finishing touches on the Curious George cookies I started on the next order....22 dozen cookies for a wedding in Milwaukee.  Yup that's right, in a moment of insanity I suppose I agreed to make a cookie for ever single guest at the Olsick/Kasper wedding.  I ended up spending the better part of Sunday the 9th and Monday the 10th frosting, piping and individually wrapping cookies for the wedding.  After I went to FedEx on Tuesday the 11th, Addison and I came home and both took naps...I needed it since I basically slept a combined total of 6 hours Sunday and Monday night.

 

 

 

 

My rest on Tuesday was  short lived because before Addison woke up from her nap I had to make one more batch of dough for my last order.  I had just a small order for a baby shower for pick-up on Friday the 14th.  I actually enjoyed doing something different and had time to do some detail work on them.

 

 

Lesson learned at the end of all of this...I can't do that many cookies by myself. John was a huge help with Addison and even helped package a lot of the wedding cookies but I don't think I will accept an order that big for awhile.  And next time I'll recruit some help!

Luke Bryan

WMT Shareholder's week in NWA means a crazy amount of foreign people...everywhere...all wearing matching shirts...AND awesome free concerts!

John scored us tickets (yes, tickets are required for free concerts because of the previously mentioned crazy amount of foreigners) to the Luke Bryan concert on Wednesday night.

It was a great show.  He is a great entertainer!  John's favorite part of the entire show was when they played part of a Metallica song...ha.  It was a nice little date night for the 2 of us and Addison got to spend time with her Cousin Landon and Uncle Chris.

Soggy Saturday

It was a soggy Saturday morning here so after a Chickfila breakfast we headed to Fayetteville to run some errands.  We took advantage of a break in the sprinkles to walk around the Farmer's Market.  Addison felt like such a big girl walking around sans-stroller.  She explored all the pretty flowers and found some colorful rock-os.

Friday Night Fun

We met up with some friends Friday night at the Naturals baseball game.  The kiddos (3.5, 1.5 and 1) were SO good...the game started at 7 and post-game fireworks meant we weren't home until almost 10:30.  Everyone managed to stay awake for the fireworks but it was lights out for Addison quickly once we got in the car.  Addison was only so-so about the fireworks.  She didn't cry but she hung onto me pretty tight and John and I had to do a lot of reassuring her that it was fun and pretty.  It was good practice for the 4th of July.