Girl's Trip Gone Bad

My friend calls me up and says "Kathi, let get some time away from the babies." So she rents a FABULOUS Condo at Crystal Mountain and I rented my ski gear and away we go.
We have three nights to relax, ski and just have quiet girl time.

We went up on a Monday afternoon so we could get checked in and check out the area for skiing the next day. There was fabulous snow and the Mountain was so pretty. It had been awhile since I skied last, but I promised my husband I would take it easy and not do anything to crazy.

The Condo was newly renovated and the owners did a great job! It was a really nice place to stay with a big flat panel TV, a wood burning stove and a great kitchen. How could this not be the perfect get away!?

We woke up that Tuesday at our leisure! No crying babies! No "mommy I need breakfast". Just piece and quiet! Then we bundled up and headed for the mountain! I stopped someone to take this photo of us, Rebecka was so embarrassed. He he!

We went and got our ski passes and headed up the mountain. We were going to start of easy but that lift wasn't open so we just headed straight to the top. Well, it was raining and I didn't ski as good as I remembered I could. I think I ended up falling down the hill more than anything else. I finally told Rebecka to go on with out me and I would catch up to her later.
Well, later came and she called me on my cell. I told her that I was heading down to the lodge...I was the one in the sled with the Red Cross on it...ya, that last fall was a doosy!

I completely blew out my knee!
I had Brian come and get me that night. Rebecka stayed to finish the trip.
Well....that night it started to rain. Flooding closed the only road to the mountain and shut down the Ski Lodge. My friend was stuck up there for 3 more nights with NO skiing and no way out.

We both decided that next time we are going to the spa!

Great Wolf Lodge

I had miss placed my camera for awhile...that's why my postings have been lacking. Anyway, now I found it and have some catching up to do.

We went to The Great Wolf Lodge for our summer family vacation. It is a resort/water park Hotel just south of Olympia. It had just opened in July and is offering great discounts so we took advantage of it. It was a great time! The park wasn't too big and I didn't lose any of my kids (Steven was at High Adventure Camp) and it lots of age appropriate stuff for Seth. It was great fun!

Sean is trying to get me wet! Stinker!

Do any of these look like me (minus the freckles)?

Or just like the dad (minus the facial hair)?

Sawyer just hung out and had fun playing peak-a-boo!

It was a great time. We are definitely going to go again on a rainy day (did I tell you it was indoor?) this winter to overcome the winter blahs!

Back to Work

Well, did you think I had abandoned my blog?! NEVER!! I just went back to work :( In reality it has not been so bad. I have been fortunate to get routine deliveries so I can ease back into the rhythm of things.

Just in case you don't know I am now a Labor and Delivery Nurse at our local hospital here in Renton. It is a LDRP (Labor, Delivery, Recovery and Postpartum) Unit. We average approx. 350 births a month. I am trained in postpartum care and as of December I now do deliveries too. It has been great fun and I love all that I do. Some days we have sad stories but on the whole it is a happy experience with healthy people and babies. I never knew nursing could be so great. I only work 3, 8hr shifts a week. You can't beat that!

See that Nurse, that would be me on a normal work day. But in this picture I am the one writhing in bed and that is my co-worker taking good care of me.

The Gilman family has tried to make changes to accommodate the fuel crunch. I have given up driving my Suburban and am driving Steven's little Mazda. Brian's office has allowed him to work from home every Monday and Friday and the other days he car pools with a friend. And we are looking at family vacation options here in our local area.

This is the little car of Steven's I am driving. (I found a picture of Steven to post! ah, ha!) He can't drive it anyway till he is 16.

I have been hearing the prophet's words on preparedness echo in my ears lately and I am feeling the crunch! It reminds me of when our State President was really pushing preparedness when we lived in Mississippi. That was the season Katrina hit. I am REALLY feeling the crunch!!

This is Seth and me in the shelter during Katrina. Seth was 13 months old and it was HORRIBLE HOT!! He was so miserable. Plus, there was no water, so that's why I have the greasy hair pulled back in a ponytail!

In all of the things we are suppose to have ready, my advice to you is to remember your spiritual preparedness, cause above all that is what will get you through the pearly gates when you don't survive the large tidal wave....

Well, I don't want to end on a sour note so here are those pictures of Brian and Steven going out on the Scout camp out. I will let Brian tell the story about them...

This is Brian, the Dad...Here we are the morning we went fishing. We are eating the ever popular staple of oatmeal and hot cocoa. Mmmmmm. It wasn't too bad of an evening in tents. I think it was about 50 degrees that morning.

This is me, James and Steven out on the boat. It was us three, Scott Birdsell and Keith who owned the boat. As we motored out to the spot, a Bald Eagle swooped down and was flying around us. Talk about motivational!


Contrary to what my Father in Law thinks, I can catch fish. Here is one of five (the limit) of Rainbow Trout. I cleaned them later on and unfortunately lost one as I was cleaning it. Seriously thought about jumping in after it. Grilled them up when we got home and must say they were pretty tasty. Dad out.......

A couple who blogs together, Stays together! Till the next post, loves and hugs!

San Antonio Vacation

May 19th - 23rd Brian had a business trip to San Antonio, Texas. Since I am still on maternity leave I decided to tag along!

What a good idea!
We flew down on Monday and my sister Cheryl, who now lives in Taylor, Texas, picked us up from the airport. I was so happy to see her:) We went out to eat and then dumped Brian at his hotel. Then Cheryl kidnapped me and we went to her home in Taylor (approximately 2 hrs north San Antonio).
I got to stay with her for two nights. I got to see how life is for her and her family in Texas. I went to my nephew Jordon's (age 7) field day at school.

And I got to see his brother Joshua's (age 8) baseball game.
This is him practicing before the game in the batting cage.On Wednesday, Cheryl had to take me back to my spouse in San Antonio...but not without stopping at the shopping outlets and spending lots of money!
That is just what sisters do:)
That evening Brian and I walked along The Riverwalk. This is Brian in front of a picture of the Alamo.
We also saw the Alamo, remember?

Did you know that the Alamo is right downtown? A lot of people didn't know that (to include myself). Well, across the street is "Ripley's Believe it or Not" Museum. They had this moving dinosaur head, when I stood next to it it moved towards me and startled me.

Part of the Museum was a wax figure area. This is Brian jumping on Oprah's couch professing his love for me!

One of the displays was this African Birthing Pot. Since I am now a Labor and Delivery Nurse I thought this was cool. They used it to place the tools they used to deliver the babies. Then they would bury the pot, placenta and umbilical cord for 45 days to ensure the child a long and happy life. After 45 days they would dig it up and use it for the next delivery. (I'm sure they would clean it out first)

Sawyer endured the trip very well, but he did get a runny nose from going in and out of the air conditioned buildings. Look how cute he is! The other children stayed with our brave friends, the Migilore's, and Steven was at home with the dog and cats.
All in all it was a great week!