No, not like that.  More like this:

See the little shaved leg?  Yeah, it was was broken.   I met Cole at the shelter, the day he was brought back from the specialist and having his pins put in.  I saw him and said “Gimme! ” and sat him on my lap while I entered medical records into the computer.  Little dude just sat there and purred and didn’t move.  I was being suckered.  Just like his mentor, Indy, had done to me 16 years ago.  So when I saw Beth, the foster coordinator at the time, I said “I’m fostering him until he is better”.

Like that face couldn’t sucker you in!  :)

And boy did he get better.  As he got better, he got badder!

Skyler is telling him this is not a good idea!

I love how she says “I told you to stop!”

Then we get some foster kittens from a hoarding situation, and Cole teaches them all about how to be a kitten:

I apologize to the owners.

Eventually, Cole does settle down and become a very wonderful and loving cat, with just a tad a mischeviousness in him.

And he is actually the smartest cat I’ve ever owned.

So why this post?  Well last Sunday morning, at 3:30ish actually, I heard a strange noise.  It sounded very strange – I want to call it a scratching incident.  I was able to wake Matt easily and say “Hey, do you hear that?” and we went downstairs to investigate.  I was convinced it was wildlife outside.  But no.  Here is the conversation:

Matt:  ”It’s Cole”

Me:  ”Is he having a seizure”

Matt”  ”I think so”.

Me:  ”Oh no”  but not in a panicky way.

I get into the living room for the last twitch and lift his face (don’t try that at home) and he is all glassy eyed and foaming.  He is done twitching and we just wait it out and eventually he is able to get up and walk around, although he still confused.  He hisses at us, but not the other cats.  He walks around in the Halloween Cat position – back arched, tail straight out with fur all sticking out.  I didn’t know they could walk around like that.  I found it odd that he was hissy with us but not the cats.  None of the other cats were freaked by him except Blossom, who just tends not to like him in general, so we locked her in the bathroom.  We didn’t need her special kind of evil right then.

Eventually, he came out of it and acted normally, and let us pet and hold him and purred.  Had open mouth breathing.  When he started playing with his toys, I knew that he was totally 100% back to normal, and that we could go to bed (as if we could sleep – but surprisingly we did – and in my case – very well!).

A seizure is not a rush to the emergency vet type of emergency unless they last a very long time or continue to occur.  But of course, this was the Independence Day holiday, so we had to wait until Tuesday to see the vet.  I already had to be there early to take Willie for a dental, so I took Cole with me hoping for a morning appointment and I was lucky to get a cancellation.  Whew.

Nothing showed up on exam and so we took bloodwork.  The next day, the blood results were in and the only thing on the blood work was CPK, which is a marker for muscle inflammation.  It could be skeletal muscle, meaning that a seizure could have happened and made the inflammation/CPK high.  But my vet said that he doesn’t usually see that and that CPK is usually a heart function.  Sigh.  So we took the next step and had a chest x-ray done the next day (Thursday).

Cole has a slight – very slight – heart enlargement.  It is slight enough that in the absence of the seizure or other episode, which could have been syncope (three syllables), it would probably not register as a concern.  So right now, we are treating the heart with a glandular supplement, which fortunately Cole likes as a treat and we are going to retest the CPK in 6 weeks.  If it still elevated, then we will go for an ultrasound.

Cole is only 5 years old.  He is not supposed to be the one with health problems!  Not yet!  It’s not fair!

But you know what he has to say about all of this?

Told you he was smart.  :)

]]> http://www.jennriffle.com/2011/07/13/sometimes-they-are-too-young/feed/ 1 http://www.jennriffle.com/2011/06/27/travelling-tales-part-iii-zoos-and-north-carolina/ http://www.jennriffle.com/2011/06/27/travelling-tales-part-iii-zoos-and-north-carolina/#comments Mon, 27 Jun 2011 02:18:12 +0000 jenn http://www.jennriffle.com/?p=459 Continue reading →]]> I’m combining these two trips because I don’t have pictures from North Carolina.  Call me a bad aunt if you must.  However, you must then call Matt a bad uncle and Kayla a bad cousin.  After all, neither of them took pictures either and I at least remembered to take the camera.  I prefer to think of it as being such an awesome aunt that I was too busy having fun to be taking time out for pictures.  But mostly, I just forgot to take them.  But first, let’s start with the first weekend in June.

The first weekend in June, Matt and I went on a trip with my fellow zoo docents to the Columbus Zoo in Columbus, OH and the Good Zoo in Oglebay, WV.  Columbus Zoo is a HUGE and beautiful zoo and if you are a fan of zoos, I highly recommend this zoo.  There are animals there that we don’t have at our zoo, like koalas, tree kangaroos, red pandas, Pallas cats, artic foxes, wolves and the fishing cat.  Oh and a really big bat!  Thank goodness we don’t have those big bats in Pittsburgh.  I would have to move.  I couldn’t live in a place where those big bats are!  My favorite exhibits were the gorilla exhibit because it looked so small but yet was so big.  They have a lot of gorillas and you look at this exhibit and think it’s small, then you see a gorilla and how little space he takes up and you realize just how humungous it is.  I liked the exhibit because it had climbing things and ropes and ledges and all kinds of fun looking things for them to do.  I also liked the outdoor penguin exhibit.  I like outdoor penguin exhibits.  Not all breeds of penguins can be kept in outdoor exhibits of course, but when they can, I like the outdoor exhibits.  There were lots and lots of baby animals.  Mostly primates.  And they were all oh so cute.

It was extremely hot this particular weekend.  Heat indexes of 97 degrees.  Pretty much a heat wave on the whole Eastern Shore, I believe. Although Columbus is hardly the Shore.  Ha ha.  The Columbus Zoo does have a water park as well.  So if you go, you can make a weekend of it, spend one day at the zoo, and one day at the water park.  We stayed at the nearby Chase Suites Hotel, which was a very nice hotel.

The next day we went to the Good Zoo at Oglebay in Wheeling, WV.  I didn’t even know that this zoo existed.  It is 70 acres, so it much smaller.  But boy is it nice. They too have really nice exhibits and very well cared for animals.  We loved seeing the baby zebra.  She still had her fur on.   We had a great time!  Since I took about 400 pictures of this trip, I’ll just post four – one of my favorite animal, the baby zebra, and two more photos that I am just proud of.

Baby Zebra at Good Zoo

Always my favorite animal (next to kitty cats of course)

I’m proud of this photo because this little guy was elusive.  It took forever to get a good shot of him.  (Columbus Zoo)

And this shot?  Well, c’mon.  Look at it.  It’s just beautiful.  Also, not an official zoo animal.

Now on to North Carolina part of the post.

Just like St. Petersburg, the main reason we visit North Carolina is to spend time with family.  This time it is my sister, three nieces and nephew.   This trip was scheduled for Friday – Monday.  We do fly to Raleigh, and although we could fly direct via USAirways, we usually choose Southwest.  This time, we had to choose a flight with a 2-hour layover.  Then we get a notification that our plane was going to be delayed for two hours.  So four hours in the BWI airport.  That is way too long to have any layover anywhere!  But we finally get there and was very happy to be there!  :)

We got up early the next day to travel to King’s Dominion in Virginia.  The last time Matt and I were there Maddie was just a little thing, a baby.  I don’t think Owen was even born.  Maddie is now 11, so it had been a long time.  King’s Dominion is a three hour drive from where they live.  We got there shortly after opening.  The East Coast heat wave was still in effect.  The kids didn’t care.  :)  We had a nice split.  The two younger girls and their parents went their way and the two older ones came with Matt, Kayla and me.  We rode the big rides, the rode the small rides.  We did hook up for food and things we could all ride throughout the day.  It was so much fun.

One highlight – the biggest roller coaster in the park, the Intimidator, uses the elevator pulley to pull you up the first hill like the Millenium Force at Cedar Point does.  And like the Millenium Force – it will occasionally break down.  And it did.  With Owen and Kayla on it.  Um.  Uh-oh.  Owen was good about it though.  No freak outs.  So that was a relief.  Matt and I had that happen to us at Cedar Point, so we know how it feels.  The staff at King’s Dominion were a bit rude with us though.  Funny, Matt took a picture with his cell phone (okay, so I guess we do have a picture of this trip somewhere) and they said “You can’t take a picture of that”.  Matt said “I already did”.  At least they didn’t make him delete it.  We told them our small nephew was on the ride, but they still made us leave the premises, but we stayed as close as they would allow.  Yeah, we were those people.  :)

The park was not crowded.  The longest line was about 25 minutes and that was for the Volcano.  Which I love, but Matt says is too slow for him (I think that is why I liked it).  We kept thinking that all of the people were over in the water park and that they would be coming over to the rides side before long, but no, they never did.  In fact, the park just kept getting emptier and emptier.  :)

We had a blast.  Matt and I even got on the ferris wheel at night with the little girls.  CoCo is just filled with so much joy. She is just incredible to spend time with.  When people say we should look at life from the eyes of a child, they are talking about children like CoCo.  She is so very delightful.  Here are some quotes that I lifted from Matt’s facebook page.  Shh…. don’t tell him, and me = Matt in these.

CoCo: “It almost makes me want to cry!”

Me: What?

We closed the park and headed home.  My sister and I were in the same van with the girls and the boys and Kayla in another van.  They took one route, we took another.  On our route, we encountered the road being closed and so we had to detour.  We are exhausted, sleepy, thirsty, and here we are lost in the dark in Williamsburg Virginia.  The GPS was useless as it kept wanting us to go back to the exit where we were forced to get off in the first place.  But we got home – it took an extra hour.

Then we discovered the hamster was out of her cage.  We had a middle of the night rescue.  Yes, this is definitely an interesting trip.  :)  Fortunately, Sunday and Monday were much less eventful.  We spent time in the pool and playing with the kids and talking and just having fun in general.

Of course, there was the fun of actually getting home.  We had a very very short layover coming home.  I guess to make up for the four hours going down, eh?  Then we find out our flight from Raleigh was delayed.  Yay!  Our record of getting out of RDU airport continues to be 0%.  But we are always very early anyway.  We check our bags, the ladies taking care of this area are not paying attention and this took a little too long for my liking.  I know, what is the hurry?  Stay with me here!  We go through security.  Didn’t take long, but everyone had to be naked checked, no more sneaking through metal detectors only, so that slows us down.  We get to our gate and what do we see?  A plane that is boarding going to BWI where we are headed!  After spending two minutes discussing with Matt whether we should try to get on the plane and him not wanting to, I try anyway, and I run to the Customer Service desk and the lady said that she can get us on, there is lots and lots of room, the plane is half empty!  Yippeee!  Except.  The stupid gate man wouldn’t let us on.  Boooo!  So now we are down to our original and still 20 minute layover.   Mind you – all those annoyances – the luggage ladies paying attention, or not using the stupid scanners or not arguing with Matt – and we could have gotten on that plane! We literally missed our chance by two minutes.  So it was hard to relax waiting for our plane and even being on our plane despite being reassured we would make our connection.  We get off at BWI and we are literally one gate over from our flight to Pittsburgh and they are just lining up.  We get right in line and get right on the plane.  WHEW!

If only layovers were always that smooth. Oh wait, no.  It was too tenseful.

We take Kayla home and go to bed.  The next day, we have to get to Cleveland for the Glee Live concert and that is a post for another day.  I’m quite tired of writing.  Talk to y’all tomorrow.

I’ll refer you to my sister’s blog for photos of the children – she is in my Blogroll – All My Little Chickadees.

That is our niece Eva.  She is four years old.  Unfortunately, she doesn’t live near us, but fortunately, her mom picked a wonderful place to live and so we love to go visit!

This particular March, it was already hot in Florida.  Very hot.  But this is what we were leaving:

Since the main attraction is indeed spending time with Eva, we didn’t do a lot of touristy stuff.  The first night we got there, Eva was spending the day with her daddy, but we had lunch with her and then we fought to stay awake.  We walked down to the nearby park, Crescent Lake and walked the loop.

The next day, however, we spent the entire day with Eva and my sister-in-law.  We went to the park and just hung out and had a great time.  Eva picked out her outfit.  I think she did a good job:

That evening, we babysat her while her mother went to work.  Here was some of the stuff that went on.

The next day was BEACH day!  In MARCH!  Yes! Pinch me!  Not only was it hot enough to be outside in shorts, the water was warm enough to go into.  While we were laying on the beach, we decided what else we could do when we were done.  After all, none of us wanted to be there all day and become as red as a lobster.  Then we got hungry.  So we found a place for lunch and had some yummy food and then went mini-golfing.  It was Eva’s first time mini golfing and she had a blast!

The unique “twist” to the golf course was that it had alligators that we could feed.  A little alligator farm.  It was kinda cool, just because we could feed them.  But it also seemed a little cruel.  I mean – it wasn’t that big and there were a lot  of them.

Feeding the alligator what we believe to be dog treats

Perch where most of them stayed.  You can see an alligator head in the lower left of this photo.

Later on, we went home for a nap, then went to the St. Petersburg’ Pier where I finally, finally got to see dolphins jumping and frolicking.  I’ve seen dolphins of course.  I’ve seen them in captivity, but to see them in their natural environment and doing their natural dolphin things, it was just so wonderful.  There was a big group of them out there.  And I even got to see a baby!  It was oh so very cute.  The day ended with a great dinner at an Italian restaurant, and then we all went home and crashed.  Florida air just makes you sleep very well!

The next day, Wednesday, we headed home.  Our trip was too quick and next time, we agreed we would stay longer.  We are planning to go down for Halloween.  And hope to make this week in March/Spring Break an annual tradition too.

]]> http://www.jennriffle.com/2011/06/26/travelling-tales-part-i-st-petersburg/feed/ 0 http://www.jennriffle.com/2011/03/10/laughter/ http://www.jennriffle.com/2011/03/10/laughter/#comments Thu, 10 Mar 2011 21:32:43 +0000 jenn http://www.jennriffle.com/?p=332 Continue reading →]]> I am the kind of person who can read a funny book or watch a funny show without actually laughing out loud.  I might chuckle, and/or smile, but outright, belly laugh? It doesn’t happen often.   The movie The Hangover was an exception I can think off of the top of my head.

I can find the information funny, and I do feel different and happier after reading or watching something funny.  I never thought much about it, figured I’m still getting the benefits of laughing.

My husband, however, is the total opposite.  If he finds it funny, he will definitely crack up. Out loud.  Heartily.  THAT makes me laugh.  In fact, the other night, we were lying in bed, and he was reading his new book 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth by The Oatmeal.    He was laughing so hard he was shaking the bed!  And so my response was to crack up too.  I had no idea what he thought was so very funny, but I started laughing so hard tears rolled down my face.

I started reading that book last night, and to my utter disappointment, nothing more than a chuckle so far.

I think I need to laugh more often.  Chuckling isn’t nearly as cathargic.

Below is what happened in August, in no particular order:

We celebrated our nephew’s birthday:

We had record breaking temperatures:

Skyler discovered the dryer:

We discovered a dead mouse:

I celebrated my birthday with my cousins:

We were visited by fawns:

The geese started to gather for their southern migration:

I started a quilt:

The cats continued to be cute:

Despite getting a diagnosis of heart failure, Joey the Wondercat continues to keep on keepin’ on:

Oh, if only I could keep his face that clean now:

We went to Cedar Point:

We went to Ohio Pyle to see kayakers go over the falls (do not try this at home):

and attempted to see Cucumber Falls, but the summer was dry and it wasn’t much to look at:

and I had my zoo docent orientation:

All in all, a very good month.

Oh, it’s been a while since I’ve posted here.  What have I been doing?  Well, a lot and nothing special.  July was a laid back month, not a whole lot happening, until the week of my birthday, which is the last week of the month.

And a few days later, birdies noticed:

I love this gift.  It makes me smile every time I see a bird come by to feed.  But then I see this:

I usually open up the patio door to scare him off.  I like squirrels just fine, but I put out food for the BIRDS, not a squirrel.  :)

And while we are talking about food, Matt and I made some homemade pizza a few weeks back.  Here is a picture of my creation:

Looks yummy, no?  I used Daiya vegan cheese … both the cheddar and mozzarella flavors … I promise to my vegetarian friends, that this cheese is awesome … there are also lightly sauteed red peppers and onions and some Upton’s seitan sausage.  YUM.

‘This is the best pizza I had ever had!

That is it for the food portion of this post.  Now I will talk about more FUN and family.

Matt, two of my sisters-in-law, brother-in-law, and Matt’s parents, and me took the boys (nephews) and our baby niece to Idlewild park.  Here is a photo of the kids before the day officially started.  I called it the “While Everyone Was Still in a Good Mood” photo.

Joey, Jacob, Katelyn, Nicholas (Left – Right)

However, I ended up having to say “Some of the cutest kids in the world” photo as every one was so good.  Each kid, and maybe even an adult or two, had one little meltdown, but it was over quickly and the good moods and behavior returned.  It was a hot day, but not too much so as long as you didn’t stay in the sun for long.  It was fun.

Five days later, we celebrated our nephew Joey’s 7th birthday at his party.  He is such a cute kid and the most precious moment when the super shy Nicholas, who really doesn’t talk to me much, wanted to play ball with me.  It was so touching and sweet.  I enjoyed every minute of the attention he wanted to give me.

Later that afternoon, Matt and I spent three hours raking algae from our pond.  Yes, it was as fun as it sounded.  We learned an important lesson here.  Don’t let the algae get out of control!  What do we know? It’s our first pond.

The next day we attended Kennywood for Matt’s work summer picnic.  Kennywood has the world’s best French fries and even though the company provided lunch, we still made sure to get some of them.   We lasted three hours.  I don’t know why, but we just don’t enjoy that park as much as we used to.  The Thunderbolt and the Racer are some of the best coasters in the world, but after you ride those … you are left with mostly spinny rides that make me ill.   And the park feels small, so you can walk around it multiple times and check on lines.  I LOVE amusement parks, and I think I like the idea of Kennywood more than Kennywood.

When I was a young girl, I used to think the park was SO BIG and so much fun.  I guess these things change with age.  There is definitely a nostalgic factor at play here.

But enough of that.  What has June brought me?  Puppies!  Yes, puppies.  Everyone around me is getting puppies.  A friend just got a little puppy they named Charlie, my husband’s boss got a little bulldog named White Chocolate (or W.C.) Truffle, or just Truffle and my brother-in-law and kids just got a Boston Terrier named Rylie.   You want to see?  Okay.

Here is Truffle:

Here is Rylie:

So, at the end of June, we went to visit my sister and the kids, for our bi-annual visit.  Summer usually coincides with Maddie’s birthday, so we usually celebrate that.

This year was a little different because the kids had to go to karate lessons and CoCo had a birthday party on Saturday, so our beach trip was reserved for Sunday.   I love that they live only two hours from the beach, I would go to the beach all summer long if I lived so close to the beach!  Our day was perfect, it was hot, near 100, but it didn’t feel bad at the beach.  The waves were really rough this year, which we attributed to a storm coming through at some point (and it did).

I was so proud of the little girls.  Ginger went into the water this year.  Not far, but enough.  Good brave Ginger.  And CoCo showed no fear and went out to the water almost to her hips!  In a few years, we will be having trouble keeping her close by!  Maddie is a stronger swimmer than I am and so I found it funny that she couldn’t go out in the water without an adult (who was mostly me, LOL).  Maddie is such a charmer.   Owen, well, he is still a bit spirited, so he mainly stayed with his dad or mom.   Or with Uncle Matt.

This year, we went to the North Carolina Farmer’s Market.  The place was HUGE!  I can’t tell you how many stands they had.  But in addition to the many produce stands, there were flowers/plants, crafts (we didn’t see) and a restaurant.  We didn’t get to see it all, cause the kids were bored, but we did get good homemade ice cream!  I had blueberry!  Yum.  I thought how much it would be nice to have a farmer’s market like that here … but then, I remembered that we have the Strip District.  It’s different.  In NC, its more like a park, or a fair, whereas, the Strip is City shops with tables outside.

Our trip was way too quick and I honestly didn’t get many pictures.   So I am going to post one of all four of them that I stole from my sister’s website.

Left to right:  Ginger, Maddie, CoCo, and Owen

They also added a canine to their family.  However, he isn’t small or a pup.  His name is Kalua, aka Buddha or Bu.

For the Fourth of July, Ben and Sydney usually come home to PA and we get to see them.   On the third, there was a big picnic at my father-in-law’s house.  It was nice to see everyone.  We saw people we haven’t seen in a while … Matt’s cousin’s Liz and Steph and aunts and uncles.  Ben and Sydney are getting so big and they are very very smart and sweet!  It’s nice to be able to hold smart conversations with them.

Here is Sydney with Rylie:

And Katelyn, who is getting so big and has decided to just go ahead and like people, meeting Rylie:

The Monday after, that would be the 5th, Jacob, Ben, Sydney, Joey, Nicholas, and Kate, along with their moms and their grandparents and Uncle Matt and Aunt Jenn went to the Carnegie Science Center.  We were there for 5.5 hours and I was really ready to go home.  The new SportsWorks was pretty cool though.  And we had the entire place to ourselves for a long while. However, I forgot my camera and I only have this picture to show taken on my cool iPhone 4, which still needs a zoom:

That would be Uncle Matt on the bicycle in the air.  I did it too.  It was too short … as soon as you gained confidence, and knew you weren’t going to topple (it starts out going backwards) it was time to return.  But after my Hawaiian adventures, it was hardly intimidating.

Till next time!

Today, I have a house full of workers, who are repairing the spiral steps that Hope had fallen through.   They are noisy, with the power tools and stuff, but they promised to be done today.   The cats are all in the basement, cursing my existence.

I honestly love pretty much everything about living here.   I love the fact that there is a lot of storage and therefore I don’t have to look at my clutter.   Living in a 100+ year old house for the last seven years and an apartment before that means that there really isn’t a lot of storage.   In our last house, my clothing was in closets in a different room from the bedroom.  I don’t have that problem now.   When I am out and about, I forget that I have an attached garage and I am expecting to have to haul my stuff through the yard, until I get here and am surprised all over again.

I am not spoiled yet, and I still don’t take the house for granted.  I know how incredibly fortunate I am.  However, I keep reaching for the medicine cabinet in the bath because I am used to having one above the sink and I have to remember that my stuff is in a drawer.  It’s funny … it’s a 40 year habit, and I wonder how long it’ll be before that habit wears off.

My favorite thing about the house though is the privacy and the yard.  We have watched a family of geese … six babies grow up from fluffly little things into the almost adults that they are now.  They look like geese … they have the long necks and dark fur.  They are still fluffier than a full fledged adult.  The other day, I watched them learn diving lessons … one of the babies didn’t want to do it and walked around the side of the dock and walked in the old way.

And now we have baby deer.  Two fawns.  They are so cute when they are out there frolicking.   When they run off, their tails seem too big for their bodies!

The only thing I would change is that I would be able to go for a walk without having to drive to the park. I know its only a mile to the park, but I miss being able to just get up and go without needing the car.

But its a small price to pay.

Enjoy some pictures of the babies:

First born (above)

Splashing in the water in our driveway

They are getting bigger!

This is the newest picture … see how they look like grown ducks now!

Our nephews, Jacob and Joey (cousins) both graduated from kindergarten and had their final t-ball games last weekend.  Here is some cuteness from those events:

Jacob graduating from kindergarten

Joey playing T-ball

Nicholas being shy, and telling me that he is three.

Katelyn was in a good mood and we bonded totally.

Jacob playing T-ball.  That was a good hit!

Till next time!

Last Friday, we attended my cousin’s Matriculation/Convocation ceremony at her university.   You are all probably familiar with Kayla by now.  Her university of choice is only one hour south of here, and we drove down for this rather quick formal welcoming ceremony.  We were looking forward to seeing her and seeing the school, as we have not been there yet.

It is dead smack in the middle of a little town.  Main roads run through it.  Yet it is still private and very beautiful.  Fortunately, it was hot in the gymnasium, so they skipped the opening speech and got right to it.  All 400 something names.  But it was a stroke of luck that we were sitting in the front row of the bleachers and one of the nurses opened the doors and we had a nice breeze coming in at us.  Ahhhh ….

Kayla then gave us a very quick tour of the campus and took us to her tiny dorm room.  So cute.  But it was nice.

I am very proud of that girl.  She has grown up into a beautiful and smart young lady, who is going to make a wonderful RN someday.

***
On the homefront, well, like I said, I feel like life is whizzing on by.  Is there any reason for that?  Well, maybe.  I call it responsibility.  And the beginning of training for a marathon.  I haven’t really been running much, but more than I have for a few months.  I feel like I am beginning again.  You wouldn’t think that six or eight weeks of low mileage with a few 7-days of no running stretches would do that.  But for me … deconditioning is so easy.  I have put on a few pounds, and that is contributing.  But so is the fact that I’ve been lazy about my running. Combine that with the oppressive humidity.  I am having all the usual doubts about me being cut out for running and all that.  But somehow, week after week, several times a week, I lace up the shoes and head out and do my run/walk.  I manage to improve each time.  Obviously, I can do this.

Other noteworthy things:
*Hallie gained a pound of weight.  Yay!

*I think I actually have a handyman to do our work.

*I discovered that I hate the Swiffer Wet-Jet.

*My dryer died.  Now I have to go to the laundromat.  I hate the laundromat.  The only advantage is the ability to do multiple loads at once.

*The owners of the condo we rented in Kauai have not sent us the important information that we were promised by now.  Naturally, this stirs up a lot of anxiety, as I worry that something went wrong and we really don’t have the condo.  Although the rental agreement is right here on my desktop.

*After the initial excitement of my weight workout, I have never done them again.  Each time I think I’ll start again, there is a trip in the way.  So now … I will say after I get back from Hawaii.  Maybe I’ll be ready to commit to those again.  I know I have commitment issues, despite being married and having a tattoo, but this is a 2x per week, 25 minute workout.  You’d think I’d be able to handle that. 

*Technology is starting to overwhelm me.

*These smileys show up in places I didn’t put them.  Drives me nuts.

I promised the cats that we could play with their new toy, so I should probably go attend to them.

We arrive on Friday, hop in a cab to the Palazzo.  Which continues to delight.  Kayla reacted to the room pretty much the same way I did in March … complete with open jaw and giddy over the remote controlled blinds and curtains.

After we checked in to our room (that is 2 for 2 on the Palazzo having our room ready at 12:00), headed out for lunch.  We went informal to the Cyprus Market at Caesars.  Its maybe a half mile away, but it took us half an hour to get there.  It was so incredible to watch Kayla looking at everything.  She looked, she took a picture, she took a picture with her phone, texted it to someone, repeat.  It was funny.  That was pretty much the pattern of the weekend.  But it was okay, it was funny.  It took us five hours to go three miles down the strip.  Hey, you have a better way?  Didn’t think so!

We did the “Eiffel Tower Experience”.  I have always wanted to go up there.  It wasn’t that thrilling, but at least I can say I did it.  Dinner was at The Rainforest Cafe.  They seated us in the bar, despite being with a drinking minor, and after asking us if everyone was over the age of 21.  I was disappointed in that.  I really wanted Kayla to see the animals get upset when the thunderstorms started.

Criss Angel show was just okay.  Needed more music, less dancy artsy fartsy diabolical bunnies.  I suppose if you are a die-hard Criss Angel fan, then its the show for you.  I thought it was better than KA though.

Saturday was rides day.  We headed to the Stratosphere.  The first thing we rode was “Speed: The Ride” at the Saraha, as that is where the monorail drops you off.  That is the second best coaster in Vegas.   A short walk to the Stratosphere.  Kayla and I rode the Big Shot.  I really like that ride, I wish it held us up there longer so that we could see Vegas better. That is the highest view to see Vegas from, and its over in an instant.  Matt and Kayla rode X-Scream, which I opted to skip this time, as the first time was enough for me.  It really, honestly gave me a panic attack and made me cry when we rode it the first time.   Matt, my hero, didn’t chicken out and went on there with Kay.  He was close to not doing it, but he was very brave.  Insanity is not that scary, its actually pleasant, but since I get motion sickness and didn’t feel like spending the day nauseated, I opted out of this one too.

For the first time ever, we visited “The World’s Largest Gift Shop” so Kayla could do some shopping.  Headed to Circus, Circus to show Kayla that amusement park and Matt and Kayla rode the best coaster on the strip.  Too bad its in the worst casino/hotel.  Too many people, too many kids.  Inconvenient location.  I would probably battle the kids and ride the coaster every time we went if this was more centrally located.

Dinner at Stripburger. My favorite place in Vegas.  Where they make homemade veggie burgers and the fries come in such a large portion that you need to share.  They used to have “Cakes in a Shake” but they don’t anymore.  A shame.  It was fun to be drinking a shake and have a chunk of cake get stuck at the bottom of your straw.

Mystere was the show of the evening.  The best Cirque du Soliel show that I have ever seen.  Matt agrees.  It was just as good, if not, better than the first time.  Kayla said “wow” at least 50 times in the first 45 minutes.  After that, I lost track.  It is highly acrobatic, and I always want to join them on the trampolines.  That just looks like fun.  I would have to say if you have time/funding for just one show during your stay in Vegas, this is the one to see. Really.  It’s that good.

Sunday came too fast.   We ate at Grand Lux Cafe in the Palazzo, where I get this unique breakfast thing that I can’t remember the name of, but also has awesome pancakes, and we’ve here, French Toast.  Visited the Secret Garden (baby animals yay!), Madame Taussad’s Wax Museum, which we walked through twice, because we were at the end when Kayla realized she left her sunglasses with Hugh Hefner.  Nobody stopped us from walking back in there and going through backwards.  We were able to recover the sunglasses.  And you’d be surprised how long it takes to get through there if you stop and take pictures of three people at even half of the statues.

Kayla made a new friend of the Coca-Cola bear.  We didn’t buy any M&M’s at M&M’s World (yes, really).  Kayla and I rode the coaster at NY NY, which is just okay.  Its too rough to be good.  Headed over to the Rio, which is a really really fun casino over in Carnival World or whatever they call it …except for when the shows are dark.    We ate at the buffet, which we were told by one of the chefs is THE largest in the world.  It really is big!  And it has gelato on the buffet.  Since that stuff cost $10 a scoop elsewhere, you’d better get some while you’re there.  Penn and Teller were, as always, great.  They changed the opening.  I liked the older one better.  And Penn missed one of the psychic jokes.

At the Rio buffet, I asked Kayla how many pictures she took.  She was at 477.  I had nicknamed her Snappy the day before.  That is why.  And also why she’ll need a new memory card.     Matt and I have about 47 pictures.  And they are mostly of us at the wax museum.  Ha ha.

So that was basically our trip.  We look forward to our return in December when we will be running the marathon.  We are deciding between staying at Planet Hollywood, our original plan, and Mandalay Bay, which is the host hotel.  Normally, we wouldn’t consider Mandalay, as its at the far end of the strip, and we’ve been trying to stay central, but seeing that it is actually the finish line of the race, that makes it a big contender!  We’ll keep you posted!

Matt’s take:  http://matt.riffle.org/2009/08/11/las-vegas-trip-august-2009/