Introducing...Percy!!!

Izzy has been showing an interest in walking lately. And by interest, I mean that she "cruises" (which baby websites define as moving around on two legs while holding on to things.) So, I thought, hey, this is the perfect time for her to get one of those push toys that she can walk with. Oh, and she also LOVES things that move around. A few weeks ago, we went to the gym play area for kids, and she spent a hour pushing around a dump truck. And recently, she has started pushing boxes around the living room. So, with her new progress in mind, we went to Wal-Mart to look at push toys. We saw this awesome one that was a John Deere tractor. And we saw a pretty cool Radio Flyer thing. But in the end, Percy won. He was so cute, and while we were looking at him, he started playing music, and of course, Izzy started dancing, so that clinched it for us. Percy was being liberated.

Once home, we set him up. (By "we," I mean "me".) Immediately, Izzy started playing with him. When she touched his nose, he would play music. And once she new how to start the music, she tried to reach OVER the handle to touch his nose. That resulted in her holding on to the handle and walking behind it, while trying to get to his nose. Ultimately, that did not work so well for her. She basically just ran behind it, and eventually fell to her knees. But it was awesome to see her walking/running. And now, she knows that she can push it while holding on to the handle. She also likes to hide her food underneath the handle so that she can find it later. She gets that from me.

This is Izzy, reaching for Percy's nose.


And here she is, walking behind him.


Pretty quickly, though, she is on her knees, pushing Percy around the room.


And here's a shot of Izzy just about to start running behind Percy, not on purpose.

Where have I been? Let me tell you...

So, once we got home from our vacation, and settled back in, this is what happened:

1. I got a terrible cough that kept me up at night, and even had Chris come home from work because it's impossible to take care of a one year old while coughing so hard that I throw up.

2. Izzy got some sort of head/chest cold, to include a runny nose and a yukky cough and a fever.

3. Izzy popped 4 teeth all at the same time. That includes the diaper rash that often accompanies the teeth.

So, for the past few weeks, I have been exhausted and worn out, and for awhile, I would have sworn that my child was nothing more than one long cry.

But, the teeth are in, the diaper rash is gone, the colds are gone, and I am back. Kind of.

Izzy's Birthday Party

We finally had Izzy's cake party on Monday night after our vacation. I made a monkey cake for her, and we hung up everyone's pictures. The pictures are pretty self explanatory.

I'm a cute monkey cake.


Half me mouf ith gone...but I'm sthill cute.


nnn mmmm...buu immm stii cuuu.


bbbbblllllllhhhhhhhhnmmmm.


After some initial reticence, Izzy really dug in. She had both hands going, and by the end, I think she had some frosting in her hair and cake shoved in her ear.



Here's a pic of Chris with Izzy, and all the party-goers.


And a family shot.


p.s. on a sad note, the cute monkey cake was burned to death after I forgot I was storing it in the oven, and preheated it. Also burned in the sad conflagration, the orange plate that the monkey cake was living on.

Izzy's Grand Canyon Adventure

Because I am ultra-organized (some people are snickering...), Chris and I planned out things that we wanted to do, and when we were going to do them. Obviously, with a 1-year old, the plan was flexible. But for the most part, we stuck to it.

I have no idea when this picture was taken. Sometime in between Thursday night's ice cream, and Friday morning's hike down Bright Angel Trail. But, she was enjoying a banana with Chris, and also having fun with the sticker on her head (and then on the floor, and then on her knee, etc.)


Here we are, hiking down Bright Angel Trail. It was really fun! People would do a triple take when they realized that Chris did not just have a backpack, but had a BABY in the backpack. We got lots of smiles. We hiked 1 1/2 miles down, and then turn around and came back. It took us about an hour down, and an hour fifteen minutes back, so we were making good time. Izzy fell asleep on the way back, and then flopped around, hanging out of the pack. Good thing she's bendy. But here are Chris and Izzy walking through one of the two tunnels on the path. Bright Angel trail actually goes all they way into the canyon (9 miles). You can camp down there, too. Chris and I want to do that once Izzy is old enough to do it.


Here, Chris is tickling Izzy's feet. Her newest trick is to say "tickle, tickle, tickle" and tickle the nearest person, whether it be Chris, me (usually while I'm nursing), Raisin, or herself. Pretty much whatever is convenient. During the hike, she kept tickling Chris's shoulders, saying "tickle, tickle, tickle."


This is one of the few pictures we have as a family. It was taken at the top of the trailhead when we got done hiking. A nice couple up there offered to take some for us. Note Izzy, sleeping and flopped over.


This is one of the few pictures of Izzy and I. It was taken at Desert View Watchtower, where we went Saturday afternoon. To fill in the blanks, after the Friday morning hike, we napped, then we walked along the rim trail, which was right along the rim of Grand Canyon. Then Izzy napped and we had dinner at the fancy Arizona room, where Izzy was pretty well behaved. Then we walked around and went to bed. But here are Izzy and I.


We were supposed to go running on Saturday morning, but Chris wasn't feeling great, so instead we went to National Geographic Imax, and saw the movie there. It was fun, and Izzy ended up with a Burro and a Howling Coyote (both fun stuffed animals). Then, she napped and we headed over to Desert View Watchtower. At the end of the Watchtower event, Izzy began to lose it. But we always love it when she gets so cuddly.


She perked up when we got some ice cream. She has this thing with her feet, where she loves them to be at the same height as her hands. She loves to prop them up on things. Often, when we're running, I'll look down, and see her foot poking out from underneath the stroller cover.


After the Watchtower, we went back to our room, Izzy pretended to nap, and then we went to dinner at Maswik Cafeteria. And so began the evening of weirdness. It began when Chris chose a table by the cleaning/bussing station, where a woman talked to herself. Talked is an overstatement. It was really more like psychotic serial killer mumbling. So we moved to another table, pretending that the one he picked was too big. There, we kept getting "visited" by the cashier, who kept poking and talking to Isabelle, who kept trying to wiggle away. We couldn't blame her for that. Then, as we were finishing eating, a guy walked by who was giggling and mumbling and may have cackled...all to himself. At that point, we decided dinner was over, and that if we ever stayed at Grand Canyon again, it would not be at Maswik Lodge, home of the weirdos. Of course, the weirdness continued when we got farted at by the mule sign (discussed in a previous post). So, we walked around and called it a night. Of course, Izzy didn't, and refused to sleep in her pack n play, and wanted to sleep sideways in our bed. Ugh. But before we headed to bed, Izzy helped us pack up. What a sweetheart...occasionally.

Izzy's Actual Birthday

Izzy may have had the worst first birthday EVER. It involved a seven hour car ride to Grand Canyon ("they" don't like it when you call it 'the' Grand Canyon, though it would be proper english, I think). She slept for 2 1/2 of the first 3 1/2 hours (yay!), but was a bear for the third hour, while we were trying to get into Phoenix for lunch. Then we played and walked around MetroCenter Mall. Then, back into the car for another 3 1/2 hours. Again, she slept for the first 2 hours, and the last bit was pretty sucky. But in the end, we got there, we got checked in and settled, and we went to dinner. For our first night, we went to Bright Angel Restaurant in the Bright Angel Lodge, where we were staying. It was pretty family friendly. I had the worst spaghetti ever. I didn't realize it was possible to overcook noodles so much that they were mushy. Yuk. But the meatballs were good. And Chris liked his trout. And everyone thought that Izzy was cute!

Here she is, looking one year old!


For dessert, instead of traditional cake (we did that when we got home), we had ice cream (of course, since we were in Grand Canyon National Park, haven of tourism, we paid $2.50 for a tiny scoop...but we splurged on her birthday). Izzy was all about the ice cream!


I've figured out why Chris is clearly the fun parent...


And here she is, totally engrossed in ice cream.

Grand Canyon Mule Jokes

Well, the Grand Canyon has these mule tours, where people ride them to the bottom of the canyon. And that left a lot of jokes for Chris and I to come up with.

First of all, this was a joke in itself: We pondered the difference between a mule, a burro, and a horse. I told Chris that a mule was like an Eeyore, and a burro was a spanish Eeyore. I was wrong. (here comes the joke...) At the top of Bright Angel trail, there is a sign that explains the difference. As Chris and I (and Izzy) were walking over to read it, the woman sitting by it LEANED FORWARD and audibly farted. The joke was on us. And she was just one of the many weirdos that we encountered that evening. But what the sign told us before we were chased away was that a male burro + a female horse = mule of any sex.

And since mules are also called Jackasses or asses, there were jokes aplenty. Here they come...


Hey, get your asses out of the way!

There sure are a lot of asses in the Grand Canyon.

That woman has a HUGE ass.

Nice ass.

Move it, jackass.

Stop hitting your ass.

Stop hitting my ass.

Your ass stinks.

Watch out...big ass coming through.

Do these pants make my ass look big? (Thanks to Chris for that little gem.)

Four asses walked into a bar...(just kidding).

I am sure there are many more mule jokes, but this was just a taste of our humor. (Boy, it tasted like ASS...hehehe).

And here are some mules lined up on the side of the trail.


And this is...well, you know.

Giant TV, broken = New places to hang out

So, for most people, the title would imply that the Pack Family has decided to get out and do something better than sit in front of the tv. For everyone who actually knows us, they know that it just means we've moved to the other room. Boring, I know, but football season is upon us, and after all, we DID pay for our college gameday...waste not, want not.

But let's start at the beginning, Sunday, August 31, when after a large popping noise, our big screen tv started to sound like our vacuum cleaner, and look like we were crossing our eyes. So we turned it off and began the search for the warranty. Alas, it was not where it was supposed to be, so I lost my temper (I have a short fuse when it comes to not being able to find things, and when electronics don't work the way they're supposed to...so lost things and electronics, beware), and Chris quickly took over the search. (He's a good and patient man.) He found it in a place that had a logical connection, but it was NOT WHERE IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE. So, I called the warranty department, and they gave me an appointment for the next day with the repair company. When I called the repair place the next day, they said they first had to order the part, and then wait for the part to come in, and then call to set up an appointment, so it would most likely be at least a week. I figured, oh well, what can you do...but the next day, I got a voicemail from the repair company saying that they called to order the part, and it was on back order, so it may be at least 14 days until the part is even available. Long story short (this is the short version?), if our tv can't be fixed within 14 business days, the repair company is pretty sure that Best Buy will replace our TV! Which is great, because our tv is so old (a whopping 3 years), that Best Buy doesn't sell it anymore, and the one that they do which is comparable is WAY fancier! Whoo-hoo! So, keep your fingers crossed that the part DOESN'T come in soon, and that we score a new tv!

But since we love our TV and our football, we have all moved into the office for the time being. That includes the dogs! We sit on the bed and in the papasan chair, and watch tv and read and hang out. And Izzy is loving being on the bed, because she seriously flops around. And she especially loves to "chill" and lounge. She is clearly our child.

Here are some pics of Izzy doing some power lounging.