Trailing of the Sheep, and Tummy Aches

This past week has been a doozy! Nico and Guy returned home from band practice last Thursday night after I had updated the blog, and Nico started complaining of a tummy ache. I tucked him into bed and prayed he would feel better in the morning.

Friday was meant to be the day we left for Ketchum, ID to attend the Trailing of the Sheep festival, but Guy and I discussed it and we decided that if Nico was still feeling poorly in the morning that Guy would go to the festival on his own and I would stay home with Nico.

Alas, Nico's tummy ache persisted into Friday and I called the school to let them know he wouldn't be coming in. I prepped everything for Guy to leave for Ketchum at 12:30 and we saw him off. I packed him one of the cupcakes I was going to take with us, to celebrate his birthday in Ketchum on Sunday. I kept the other 3 at home, knowing he'd be back Sunday and we could celebrate with him then.

Nico's tummy ache was unique in that he could continue eating normally. We went to Chipotle Friday night and picked up some food, as well as some smaller cupcakes from Trader Joe's. Nico ate his ENTIRE Chipotle meal (he has never done this before), plus 2 cupcakes, while we watched The Secret Life of Pets 2.

Guy's Friday night was full of Lamb food. I had purchased 3 tickets to "For the Love of Lamb", which allowed each participant 5 "bites" of lamb food from various restaurants in downtown Ketchum. Since Guy had 3 tickets, he got 3 "passports". He gave one to someone who had lost theirs, and used the other two to get 10 bites of lamb food. Guy said the age demographic for Friday was double his own.

Waiting in line.

#1 Lamb Samosa

#2 Lamb Meatball Gyros

#3 Lamb Curry

#4 Lamb Shepard's Pie

#5 (too tasty to remember to take the picture beforehand)

#6 Lamb Pasta with Mushrooms (not tasty, didn't finish it)

#7 Lamb chili - not tasty, didn't finish it

#8 Lamb ribs

#9 Lamb Sausage

#10 ?

He went back to the Airbnb and texted me "Yeah, it was intense. I'm back at the room, glad I saved my ginger ale"

SATURDAY

Saturday, Nico woke up still feeling sick, but he ate his pancakes just fine :) He spent the day playing on his Switch while I schemed to put together Guy's office for him while he was away. I put together the new bookcase we ordered (Nico helped a little) and unpacked a large portion of the boxes that were covering Guy's desk. I put his monitors on his desk as well. Not perfect but a large step forward.

Saturday night I ordered Nico a gluten free Chicago Connection pizza, I made my own pizza, and we rented another movie. Ugly Dolls. Nico ate almost his entire 10" pizza, leaving only one piece behind. 

In Ketchum, Guy went to breakfast and got Lamb Benedict. He told me later that he usually doesn't order eggs Benedict because it's so difficult to make and he doesn't like putting out the chef. But, they were advertising this as a special and since it was a special occasion he went ahead and ordered it. His thought was, "Well, they did it to themselves by advertising it." :)

The Airbnb he stayed in was in downtown Ketchum a handful of blocks away from most of the places he needed to go. It was a "treehouse" (see video at end), but it wasn't built in a tree, more like it was built up off the ground. It didn't have its own bathroom, it shared a bathroom with the other "treehouse" on the lot. The bathroom was outside.

After breakfast on Saturday Guy drove to Hailey, ID (about 15 minutes away) to go to the Sheep Trials and the Folk Life Festival. There are snippets of these in the video as well. He really enjoyed the sheep trials. 

He took this picture because of the dog on the leash in front of him. It's looking intently at what's going on in the field.

Lunch at the Sheep Trials.

He says next year we'll be sure to bring CHAIRS. Near the end of his stay at the sheep trials, he ran into two older women he had met the night before while waiting in line for sausage. He mentioned to them that he wished he had brought a chair, and they told him that they went to a thrift store that day to purchase some, and got 3 chairs when they only needed 2, so they had an extra. They told him they'd save him a seat at the sheep parade the next day. Front row. During the parade the next day they said they had "adopted" him as a stray, after finding out why he was there on his own without his family.

Anyway, back to Saturday. After the sheep trials, he went to the festival. He ran into a woman from our church, Debbie, who plays the bagpipes. She was participating in one of the performances that day (video clip of that below). 

That night he went to Smokey Mountain Pizza, and who do you guess was there, but Coach Vellotti, Nico's chess coach! Coach Vellotti was putting on a chess tournament at the Smokey Mountain Pizza in Ketchum, ID the same time that Guy was there! Crazy!

SUNDAY

Happy Birthday to Guy!

Nico woke up feeling sicker. He ate no breakfast and complained of a progressively worsening tummy ache. This was the day he started throwing up.

Guy attended the Sheep Parade on Saturday after breakfast. I wasn't able to get that video off Guy's phone to include in the video at the end of the blog, so I will post snippets from the parade video next week. They move the sheep from summer pasture to winter pasture, right through the middle of town. They make a parade out of it!

Guy arrived home with just enough time to open his presents and eat a piece of pumpkin pie (a present from Jeff & Allicia) before he had to head to the church to help with an event that night. It was a long Birthday day for him, he even stopped by the store on his way home from church to pick up a few things for me.

Nico continued to throw up through Monday. Tuesday evening I called the doctor and he prescribed some anti-nausea meds to give to Nico since he wasn't able to eat, and drinking hurt his tummy. The anti-nausea meds helped a little bit, but he is still complaining of not feeling well and not able to eat much. 

Nico has a doctor's appointment tomorrow at 11:15, for an unrelated reason (a sore on his foot), but we will certainly talk about Nico's tummy issues. I am concerned about getting him into the doctor's office, because he can't sit up or stand up for very long. I will call ahead to arrange to have a room ready for him so he can go straight in to lie down. That's my plan at least. I suspect he is dehydrated though I'm pushing fluids on him, as much as he'll take. I bought a pack of 6 fresh pressed juices from Boise Juice Co. yesterday (Allicia picked up my Fred Meyer grocery order AND went to Boise Juice Co. for me!!) Most of the juices also have coconut water in them which is good for rehydration.

Nico unfortunately has missed 5 days of school so far. Tomorrow there is no school anyway, so that's good. He also missed a field trip on Wednesday, as well as the yearly Boo Bash celebration at his school tonight. Just this weekend we had ordered a new costume for Nico on Amazon, he said he doesn't want to be a ninja this year (boy that ninja costume, though, he wore for 4 years!!!) But Nico is not complaining about missing anything, he is happy to stay in bed because he feels terrible whenever he tries to get up. When I ask him how he's feeling, he says "Still not very good" every time.

But he has his humor still, Guy and him watched Three Stooges last night and Nico was being his silly self. Then tonight as I'm updating the blog, he has asked me several times into his room to show me cakes on Youtube that he wants to make with me. He watched a food video today and moaned the whole time, "I wish I could eat that food it looks sooooo good!"

Yesterday he told me he wanted strawberries so I drove to M&W Market, leaving him at home. I kept him on FaceTime the whole time and showed him what other fruits they had. He told me to also get a watermelon and a cantaloupe. He said no to the bananas and the asparagus ;)

Today he said he wanted Great Steak and Potato (a restaurant in the mall), so I asked Guy to pick some up on his way home (Turkey sandwich, no bread, with cheese on a bed of lettuce). Nico could only eat a bite of it, even though he asked for Guy to buy a LARGE. Oh well. We have leftovers now so he can try again tomorrow.

If he didn't have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, I probably would have called the doctor today to get a recommendation. Nico might need IV fluids to feel better. We'll ask the doc tomorrow and do whatever is needed.

From Guy's pumpkin pie. I texted Guy this picture "Happy Birthday ants!"

Drinking Nuun electrolyte drink through a straw. Everything through a straw.

Allicia brought these Nuun tablets over with the pumpkin pie on Sunday, knowing that Nico wasn't feeling well.

We received mail at Louisa St address that Avery biked over to us. Nico was happy for the distraction. Also, Allicia brought him some treats from the dollar store, some fun activities to do as he starts feeling better.

Me getting out of the house yesterday evening. A walk next to the foothills.

Oh, on Sunday night, I was a little worried going to bed in our bedroom with Nico being so far away in his bedroom. Nico didn't like it either, he ran to our bedroom in the middle of the night feeling sick. He didn't want to be alone and sick. So I camped out on the couch that night, and have stayed there all the nights since. It's a comfy couch, so I don't mind!

Here's the video snippets from Guy's trip. I'll include the ones from the parade next week! I forgot to label one part of the video, when there's a man sheering the sheep. The sheep is OK, he's just shaving it ;) 

Watching the Kids, Painting at Rory's Birthday, The First Summer Grandma Camp,

Last Friday we awoke bright and early as the kids started to wake up - Nico and then Avery, Ivy, and Evelyn. Jeff and Allicia left at 5AM that morning to catch their plane to Missouri, and we watched the kids for the weekend. Looking back, the weekend feels almost like a blur. Friday we played video games downstairs, and then after lunch we went to the park with our bikes, so we could ride around on the dirt loop. I told them to see how many times they could lap me while I was walking.

Saturday morning, Guy took Nico and Ivy to Free Fishing Day at the church. They met there at 7:30 and from there they drove to Arrowrock Reservoir. They didn't catch any fish but they had a fun time!

Evelyn, Avery, and I stayed home. Evelyn made chocolate chip pancakes, then we played some more video games and after lunch I even convinced Avery to take a nap!

Hanging out downstairs after his nap.

Sunday morning we attempted to ride our bikes to church. I thought it was going to work well, but there were a few hiccups in my grand plan.

1 - I didn't notice which shoes Ivy had chosen. Slip on shoes. She rides a Strider bike (a bike that has no pedals, you push with your feet), and she sweetly lost her left shoe every 15 seconds. I was riding behind her and would scoop it up and drop it right in front of her foot so she could put it back on easily, but it did cost us a bit of time.

2 - On the way to the greenbelt I told everyone to stay in a line, which no one liked, so when we reached the greenbelt I told the bigger kids that they could ride ahead, but since I was the only one who knew the way I asked them to stop every time there was a choice between which way to go. So Nico, Evelyn, and Avery rode on ahead. Ivy and I plodded on behind dropping and scooping shoes. The big kids stopped at the first road split, way to go! I told them to turn right, so off they went. And went. And went. They missed the next split, and the next, and we missed our turn. Since they had ridden on ahead, there was no way to tell them to stop. They stopped a ways ahead, and once we caught up with them it was too late to turn around and make it to church on time, so instead we headed home with the intent of driving to church late. We had inadvertently made a huge loop so it was easier to head home than to turn around.

We arrived home at 10:30, the time that church starts. I contemplated skipping church but then I was overcome by resolve to not miss this important opportunity to have a bit of time to myself in the church sanctuary during the service. We hopped in the car. It was the closest I got to raising my voice during the weekend. Imagine a car full of bickering children that would not stop hitting each other and refused to buckle their seatbelts. After my stern command, Avery looked at me and said quietly "Ok, ok, I'll sit down." Zoom!

We arrived late. No surprise there. We got into the children's room, which was dark and loud because they had a music video playing on the screen and all the kids were singing and dancing along. Avery looks at me and says, "I don't want to go in there, I don't like dancing!" I told him it would be ok and that he didn't have to dance. Evelyn grabbed his hand and stayed with him which I was grateful for. As we were getting their name tags printed out, Avery again looks up at me and quietly asks, "Are you sure this is a church?" 😂😂

Ivy was young enough to be in the little kids room so I dropped her off there, she went right over to the other kids and started playing.

The church service was... amazing. I'm so glad I didn't skip it. We had a guest speaker and it was one of the best services we've had.

Sunday afternoon was Rory's birthday party. I left the other kids at home with Guy while Nico and I went to the party. Guy and the kiddos finished watching some shows and then played video games while we were gone.

Rory's birthday party was at a painting place, the theme was flamingoes, and all the kids got to paint! It was super cool.

After they finished painting the background, the kids took a break to eat cake and ice cream so the background could dry completely before painting the flamingoes over it.

It was super fun. Happy Birthday Rory!

Monday morning I created chore lists for all the kids. Their parents were returning that afternoon, and I wanted the house to be as clean or cleaner than it was when they left. Each kid had 3 chores. Despite the complaining, they all got through the chores, and were rewarded with some video games.

Right before they came home, Ivy and I were sitting on the couch, and she looks over at me and sweetly says, "You're not the boss of me. My parents are." It wasn't a malicious statement, but a matter of fact. I looked at her and said, "You are totally right. But while they were gone I was taking care of you huh?" and she said "Yep". Their parents arrived home around 3PM and Nico and I retreated to the Clubhouse, leaving them to decompress. Allicia and I caught up that night when we took a walk around the neighborhood to exchange weekend stories.

Tuesday was my birthday, I received so many text messages and/or calls, it was very sweet. Nico was the first to say Happy Birthday that morning! I drove him over to my parents' house in the morning for the very first Grandma Camp of the summer! This summer there will be Grandma day camps, Tuesdays and Thursdays most weeks.

I had told Grandma about the Pokemon League at the library every Tuesday, so she tried out bringing all the kids to the library for it, and they loved it! She was even able to pick up Evelyn to bring her along too. Afterward they went to Pizza Pie Cafe.

Wednesday Allicia took Nico again to the summer dollar movie with the kids. Despicable Me 2. In the afternoon we put together a puzzle. I'm sure we did other things too but if I don't have pictures of them then they didn't happen!

This afternoon we visited GG. We brought our new Travel Scrabble game with us and we played it. Nico won by a lot! It was fun. GG gave us one of her Scrabble dictionaries. Yay! Nico really likes to plan his words well and get the best ones possible.

There are 2 videos below, one of just the time with Jeff & Allicia's kiddos (a separate one so I can share with Jeff & Allicia), and one that has a few snippets of just Nico at Rory's birthday party.

Growing a Cabbage Plant, and Swimming Lessons!

Last Saturday was a busy day for us. We went through our hat rack and our shoe closet to organize and get rid of those things that we no longer wear or something that Nico grew out of. Our shoe closet looks great now!

Nico came home with a cabbage plant on Friday. The entire 3rd grade class was given a cabbage plant. They are supposed to grow them for 8-10 weeks, and then harvest them. After harvest, they are to be weighed and then pictured. It's a statewide thing (although they may do it in more than just Idaho?) The teacher chooses the best of her class, and enters it into a drawing. The winner gets $1000 scholarship. Nico named his cabbage plant "Leafy", and Jeff & Allicia let us plant him on the side of the house over by the back gate, on the other side. We planted him on Saturday.

As of today, he has one less leaf, and two of his other leaves are a tad eaten up. I mixed up an essential oil spray that he can use to repel pests, and we will give Leafy some plant food to help him grow.

Our church wrapped up their 24-hour Prayerathon by having an hour of corporate prayer with music and testimony on Saturday afternoon. All of us went. Afterward, it was time to start pizza! We watched Three Stooges, it was Nico's choice, and because Jeff & Allicia and family were out of town, we were able to watch it downstairs! The boys prefer the "New York" style crust, so that's the kind I've been making. (I prefer it too!)

Nico also spent some of the weekend working on his research project. He is transferring his data to Google Sheets, which he was already familiar with because he uses it at school. We were able to log in with his school email address and access his Google Sheets from home. 

Monday was his first night of swimming lessons. The downtown YMCA is a maze and Nico and I easily got lost trying to find the pool. It was a fun adventure and we finally made it. When Guy took him to his lesson on Wednesday, he picked up a map for me. Now we have a route of attack for next time, because after all that I still wasn't able to locate the locker rooms! But now I know where they are.

Nico asked me to put him into a swim CLASS and not private lessons. But for his first class, he was the only one there, so he got the instructor's undivided attention.

On Wednesday he told me that he wanted to do swim lessons EVERY day. That is quite a switch from where he was a week ago.

Nico has pulled out his Pokemon cards again. Him and I played an hour-long game on Tuesday after school (pictured below).

He has also been going through his huge binder of cards and alphabetizing them.

Next week is Nico's drama performance! He is excited. He has to wear all black so I just ordered him some black sweats and black long sleeve shirt from Amazon. He is King Lobster so I think he'll be in a lobster costume. Can't wait to see him perform!

I suppose that's it for this week!