San Diego Zoo - Tuesday June 24th

Our camping trip was over, but our adventures in San Diego were just beginning. When we went to the Zoo this time last year, it had been Rachel's first time to the zoo. Since then, we've gone to the San Diego Wild Animal Park, aka 'the zoo park' a couple of times and therefore, Rachel knew exactly what to expect in going to the zoo. That we would see lots of animals! And Rachel LOVES animals!

Knowing we were heading to the zoo, I picked up these cute parrot hats at the Dollar Tree and tucked them away for our trip. The were cute, but as the day worn on, I got tired of seeing these obnoxious colored hats in every picture and started having them take their hats off for some pictures. LOL. Several times throughout the week Rachel and I will check the webcams of the apes, the polar bears, the pandas, and the elephants. It was so much fun to get to see the animals in person, especially the pandas. We've been watching Zhen Zhen, the baby panda born last August since she was born, and it was so exciting to get to see her out on exhibit with her Mommy. She was sleeping up in the tree both times we visited the exhibit, but at least she was out.Rachel and Hannah shared a drink at lunch, here Rachel is being a goofball using both the straws. The hippos were actually up and about this time. Last year they were hovering off to one end of their exhibit. Not this guy, he kept going round and round in circles. He was definitely fun to watch.Did you know flamingoes aren't born pink?? They get their coloring from the crustaceans they eat. The zoo had quite a few baby flamingoes born this last Spring. Aren't they cute???The San Diego Zoo has a skyway that takes you from one end of the zoo to the other. They used to have one at Disneyland, but it's been gone for years. Rachel kept pointing to the buckets high in the sky, saying she wanted to ride them. She was so happy when we took the skyway from the polar bears to the other side of the park. After what seemed like walking miles and miles at the zoo, we arrive to our car. Where Rachel, after sitting still for just a few minutes, fell asleep. The girl had walked ALL DAY and kept up like a real trooper.

Mammoth Camping 2008

The girls were very excited for our camping trip. The Tuesday prior to leaving, they kept asking when we were going to pack the car. And when we finally did, they asked when we were leaving.

We went back and forth about when we should hit the road. It's a five hour drive to Mammoth through the desert, the boring desert. We thought if we left early (4ish), there would be the possibility that the girls would remain asleep for part of our drive. We eventually decided we'd get up at 5:30 and leave shortly thereafter. We were on the road by 5:50, putting the girls straight into the car with their jammies on, hoping for the slight chance they'd go back to sleep. No such luck. And after being on the road for only 2o minutes, we had to make our first potty stop, for Rachel.

Making only one other stop for breakfast, the girls did a great job on the drive. Once we had finally arrived at our campground, the girls changed into clothes and we went about setting up camp. Over the course of the next hour, everyone else made their arrival to the campground, and by mid afternoon, Uncle Bart had constructed a tree swing and the girls were having a blast. The rest of our first day, we spent at camp. Rachel did great sleeping in the tent and appeared to stay warm, with the exception of her hands. Every morning she was wide eyed and ready to start the day and conquer any adventures the day might bring.The girls didn't leave the campsite at all on the second day. They were enjoying playing with their cousins and just roaming about between our two campsites. My Aunt and Uncle brought their dog with them and the girls loved chasing her back and forth as well. On Friday, we set out on a field trip to the State Historic Park of Bodie. Bodie was about an hours drive North, but with the entertainment of my cousin Carrissa sitting beside the girls, they both did great on the drive. We were surprised at how well the girls did once we arrived to Bodie. It's basically house after house, building after building looking into the windows. But the girls had fun exploring, and they especially enjoyed being able to wear their new camelbacks of water.Throughout our days, Gramma had lots of surprises and activities for the girls to do. One day it was painting rocks to look like ladybugs, another day it was coloring their own mugs. The girls didn't leave the campsite except for the field trip to Bodie and then out to dinner that night, otherwise they kept themselves busy at the campsite. Here, Rachel sits on Carrissa's lap by the fireside. I love this picture.Last year on our camping trip, Rachel was almost always covered in dirt, she was also in diapers! This year we had a five gallon jug of water sitting atop the bear box and washcloths nearby that made for keeping her hands and face clean. We had a really good time. It's always nice to get away from home and work and all that. It was nice to spend time with family we've not really spent time with in years. And of course, Rachel loved the days and days of playing with her cousins.

Check out the rest of our camping pictures here, Mammoth Camping 2008.

Home Today, Gone Tomorrow

We made it home from our camping trip last night. Today finds us all catching up on blogs, websites, television shows, etc. Not to mention attacking the massive mountain of laundry and then packing again.

Yes, packing again.

Tomorrow we are heading to San Diego for two days to go to the Zoo and to Sea World. Rachel is soooo excited to be going to see Shamu, someone we check in on the webcam a couple times a week. I think when she sees him in person, she's going to be overwhelmed by his size because he appears so small on the webcam. LOL.

The girls will be heading to Gramie's for the weekend on Thursday afternoon, I'll have time then to post more about our camping trip and then our adventures in San Diego. Be sure to check back then!

Be Back Soon!

Ahhh, the great outdoors is where we'll soon be.

Rachel is so excited! Last year when we went, she got sooo dirty everyday. This year I am better prepared with washclothes and a jug of water just for washing up. LOL. Last year she was still in diapers! Hard to believe that!!

Lots to do today. Be back in a few days with cute pictures of girls covered in dirt and having a blast!

Update on Rachel

By Saturday afternoon, and after only a single dose of Prednisone, there was a noticeable difference in Rachel's cough. She managed to fall asleep and took about a two hour nap too. Saturday night was she didn't cough at all in the night, and we all got a good nights rest. The same for last night.

This morning, I took her to be checked out by our Pediatrician at the recommendation of the Urgent Care doctor. Everything checked out just fine and told me she had a reoccurrence, or if I needed anything while we were camping to give him a call and he'd call something in to the pharmacy there in Mammoth. Just having that reassurance means a lot.

Thank you for the prayers for her. She's doing good. While her ears were fine and checked out, I would ask for continued prayers that she continues to do well and that her ears won't be affected by the climb in elevation on our trip. Thanks!

Our Poor Girlie

For the last six weeks, every 2-3 weeks, Rachel will develop this cough and she'll cough continually (this really annoying hack) all day, usually all night long, and then as quickly as it came on, it goes away the next afternoon. It's weird. That's how this cough started yesterday morning. Having been down this road a couple of times the last several weeks, I had a feeling as to how the remainder of the day and the night would be, but I was wrong. Our night was much more worse than I had anticipated.

It was around midnight when the night went downhill. She coughed and coughed and coughed. There were times the cough just didn't let up. I've tried every cough syrup and cold and cough medicine over the course of the last couple of weeks and nothing seems to work. The humidifier was on and providing a cool mist in her room, but didn't really show signs of it helping. We even went as far as sitting out on the patio around 3:00am in the coolness of the night. Rachel's barking got all the dogs in the neighborhood barking. LOL. At one point we contemplated going to the ER for a possible breathing treatment. But after much, much prayer on both of our parts and then together, her breathing eased and we were able to make it through the night.

This morning I took our girlie to Urgent Care. She has the croup. Which was one of our suspicions, but we weren't sure if it ws that or something asthmatic. The doctor heard no wheezing, her lungs were clear and we were sent home with Prednisone and an RX for a cough suppressant. We came home from the pharmacy, after stopping at Starbucks for an apple juice sure to make it all better, and had a bath. She's doing better. The poor girl is exhausted, as are her Mommy and Daddy, but we're hanging in there. She is napping now.

We need to follow up with our Pediatrician before leaving for our big trip. Please be praying that the steroids help and tonight is a much better night in our household.

Last Day of School!

I can't believe today was the last day of school for Rachel, it seems like just a short time ago that we were going to parent orientation and meeting the teachers and today, we're saying goodbye.

I stayed the morning and helped the teachers putting projects in the cubbies and with the ice cream sundae party. There was a lot of hustle and bustle about the morning, and now it's all over and Rachel's first year of preschool is officially behind her. She's on summer vacation until after Labor Day.

The last day of being a Bouncing Bunny.Rachel's teachers put together these wonderful three ring binders for each Bunny, which had something they made from each month of their school year!
Celebrating the last day of school with ice cream sundaes
and having snack outside!! Both very special treats!The last time these three will ever go to school together again. McKenzie starts Kindergarten in the Fall and Haylee will go to preschool three days a week, while Rachel continues to go only two days a week. It was a fun year though and we'll miss seeing them so often!Riding the tricycles and pulling the wagons
to the storage shed for the long summer vacation.With Mrs. Wilson, her Bouncing Bunnies teacher. With Mrs Martin, her teachers assistant. "Goodbye preschool, Hello Mammoth!!!"

A New Cleft Friend

The internet can be a very large place, but when you meet new people whom you can relate to, it makes it feel so such smaller! Especially when they are walking a road you once walked.

Meet Drew. Isn't he the cutest?? He's 11 months old and he was born with the exact same cleft as Rachel. He has two surgeries under his belt, his lip has been repaired, and he'll have his palate fixed in July. Doesn't he have the biggest blue eyes?? Every cleft affected baby we've "met" has the most breath taking eyes, in a lot of cases, they are blue. I think the Lord must give these special babes such breathtaking eyes to perhaps take the attention off their mouth and scars, etc.

Water Fun at Preschool

The clock is ticking and Rachel's preschool year is quickly coming to an end. Her last day of school is Thursday. What better to celebrate the end of the school year than with having fun, more fun than usual in the case of a preschooler. LOL.

Today was water slide day. The kids had all been asked to wear their bathing suits to school under clothes, bringing a towel and easy shoes to slip on and off. After the June Gloom cloud cover lifted, the classes all took turns going out and playing on the water slide.

Rachel's Journey reaches 10,000 Visitors!

A little over a year ago, I placed a sitemeter on this blog. It keeps track of how many people visit in a day, from where, and how long they stay, along with other fun and interesting things.

I am so excited, Rachel's Journey had it's 10,000th visitor late last night!! To all you who visit daily, several times a day, weekly, etc, thank you for helping make that happen!!

Year End Class Picnic

Rachel had her year end class picnic today. Almost all of the class came and it made for a lot of fun! There were bubbles, and squirt guns, and all sorts of yard toys to play on and with. It was definitely a great time!

Disneyland with Uncle Bart

After picking up Rachel from preschool this morning, we headed to Disneyland and met Uncle Bart for the afternoon and stayed into the evening. It wasn't too bad crowd wise and the weather was great! We got to do a lot of stuff, including a run in with Indiana Jones when he asked Rachel which direction the Temple of the Forbidden Eye was. It's always a great time when we meet Uncle Bart at Disneyland today was no different! We got to see a part of the new Indiana Jones street show. When Indy started walking the street, he came up to Rachel.

Weekend Camping at Lake Perris

Last month in celebration of Mother's Day, Rachel had to draw a picture of her Mommy and write why she loved her Mommy. Her reason for loving Mommy, was because her Mommy takes her camping! Up to that point the kid had only been camping once that she could remember and that was last year on a camping trip to Mammoth!

So this weekend, I came through on Rachel's reason for loving me and we went camping! LOL. We spent the weekend with Uncle Robbie, Auntie, McKenzie, and Haylee, and some friends. Rachel was very excited to have the friends along as they have a baby, Nathan, who just turned one. Rachel loved spending the weekend with him.

We went camping at Lake Perris, not too far from home, compared to the trek will make in a few weeks to Mammoth. We had our campsite set up and ready to relax just after 5:00. It was later in the evening when the friends pulled their trailer in next to us and set up for the weekend.Friday evening the kids all played, and collected rocks to surround the fire pit. We had a campfire and then it was time for bed. The first night of camping is always the hardest when it comes to putting the kids to bed, they're so excited about camping, they don't go to sleep well. That doesn't hold true for the remainder of the nights. You'll see the cute picture farther down.

Saturday morning we had a wonderful breakfast and lots more time playing with the cousins. There was even a trip to the park across the road and a walk to the Marina for fishing. And of course, there is always time for grumpiness. After the trip to the Marina, Auntie pulled out a killer craft box, that even supplied everyone with aprons so that Rachel and Haylee could paint. A perfect thing for keeping in the trailer!After lunch, we had the opportunity to go on a boat compliments of Sarah's parents. Rachel was excited, until we were on the dock and it was swaying with the water, and until I put this big life jacket on her. It wasn't until we were all in the boat and out in the Lake and laughing and hollering that she relaxed and enjoyed the ride. From that point on, she loved it. She loved the water splashing and making the ducks in the path of the boat dunk under the water. The boat let us off at the island, where the rest of the group was. We stayed there for a while, the girls all splashing about in the water and having fun. After our time on the boat and out on the Lake, we returned back to camp. This campsite provided hookup so three of the four girls were able to get a bath before we filled the tank and didn't know how to drain it. Here, Rachel and Haylee embrace in a hug after cleaning up and smelling better.After baths, playing for a bit, and a late dinner, it was campfire time! While the other girls were able to get themselves to their bed, Rachel fell asleep in her chair at the campfire! No struggling with her to go to bed that night! She was tired and worn out from all the day had held.Sunday morning, Rachel was able to sleep in a bit. She came and crawled into bed with me and fell back asleep for another hour. For the most part, she's always bright eyed and happy when she wakes up and this morning was no exception!The rest of the morning, we packed up, and cleaned up. And managed to have some more fun with Nathan's wagon. The girls were all given bags to collect trash in. Rachel managed to collect every rock and small piece of wood left on our campsite. LOL. The chore earned them each a dollar, compliments of Matt, Rachel spent her dollar in the Marina on ice cream! A nice cool treat!Our time together came to an end after watching Uncle Robbie and Hannah fish for a bit. We then said our goodbyes and made our way to the van. Making our way home and unloading and a good scrubbing in the bath, Rachel keeps asking when we're going camping again. Thankfully we can say "soon". :)

Rachel's UNbirthday

At Rachel's preschool, they like to acknowledge all the kids' birthdays, even when in the summer. So today, they celebrated Rachel's UNbirthday! To a three year old, it's a little confusing as to why she was celebrating her birthday at school and not coming home to presents or sending out invitations for a big birthday bash with all the family. But we convinced her this is her practice party for when it's her birthday in a couple of months.

It's funny to see how kids get used to routine when it comes to celebrating birthdays at school. Because it was her special day, she was deemed "the special helper" which means she's the line leader, she passes out the napkins for snack, she collects the trash when everyone is finished. Also, because it's her special day, she gets to go with the snack lady and make the birthday punch together. It's something the kids all love to do. At the beginning of the school year, the kids all make and decorate a special placemat and a birthday crown to wear on their special day. We also get to bring in the snack for the day. Rachel chose sliced carrots with ranch dressing and cupcakes as the special treat. We got to use the Doodlebops paper goods we had bought for her birthday party last year, but had to cancel due to Daddy being sick. It was nice to use what we had and get it out of the house!!Rachel passed out party favors to all of her friends. We used our Doodlebops party favor bags and treat boxes with a pair of sunglasses and a bag of bug shaped graham crackers. They both were a huge hit!! Rachel had a great day celebrating her UNbirthday, and so far, she seems to have gotten that it was a special day at school, and her special day at home is coming....