this is why i care about what we eat

grammy and grampy took zoom for the weekend to a camp in iowa! what a fun adventure for him, sweet time for the grandparents, and a great break for us!! we reunited at church on sunday night with loads of hugs and bouncy love! it was so sweet to see how excited he was to see the girl! "she hugged me AGAIN" he would say, then run back for another one.
part way thru the gathering he declared that he had to go "pee AND poop", and did his little skip/run/bounce towards the bathroom. hubby took him, but appeared moments later with a urgent look, beckoning me to the door. zoom didn't make it to the toilet in time, and it was exploding diarrhea. he sat on the toilet for three minutes unloading. maybe that is too much information, but it made me ask why? that has only happened one other time in HIS ENTIRE LIFE!
i am anal about poop - no pun intended- and work really hard to keep him regular and firm. while i am certainly tempted to withhold all toxins from my children for the rest of their lives, i realize this is not possible, polite or practical. i didn't give my parents a list of do's and don'ts and really, they eat well, so everything "off the list" would be a special treat. so when i sat down with mom to try to figure out why he had such a serious reaction i wasn't shocked to hear about typical camp food, sweets, and juice. but juice, juice and more juice, and RED KOOL AID!!!
was more than i hoped. my dad looked up from his newspaper and asked, "is kool aid bad?". REALLY?!?!? dad, you grew up on a farm! do you think there is anything NATURAL and healthy in kool aid!?
lesson learned. tough stuff. dad and mom - we are still really thankful for the weekend - it was a small price to pay for the freedom we experienced!
i don't think i'll give a do and don't list next time, but i'll probably remind anyone who takes zoom for an adventure that they are taking a risk...it might not wait until he's back with us. would you really like that to happen on your watch?
i'm sure you'll all be glad to hear we are back on track, or as zoom said this morning, "i don't have spitty poop anymore!!"

seattle recap - i heart seattle

we were in seattle last month for a couple weeks. we intended to go out for a wedding, then stick around for longer. why not? free babysitting! green, green, growth! family!
well, just two days before we arrived, my mom had a series of strokes. we were extra thankful to already have plans and be able to be near the family during the aftermath. mom considers herself a miracle, and she is, considering she currently has 90/99% blockage of her two carotid arteries, but has no visible signs of a stroke.
the trip, clearly, was much more emotionally draining than we anticipated. it is strange to have your OWN MOTHER in the hospital. a woman who is healthy. i mean, she drinks her coffee daily, and looks at the dessert menu first, but overall she eats well, doesn't sit around much and specifically has low cholesterol and blood pressure. she falls into this mysterious 1% group of people who have strokes. she has since seen a few specialists, but the only other option is brain surgery. she isn't comfortable putting herself into yet another risk category when she feels so good. i don't blame her.
we are so thankful she is alive and kicking! it was amazing to see how loved she is - letters, cards, flowers, visits and the never-ending phone ringing. my favorite call was from an aunt who said, "well, she lived a good life and got to see two of her grandchildren" - the joys of the grapevine - word got around that she DIED!??! we all got a good laugh out of that message. laughter, i am sure, in part relief! many people don't get the chance to see how many people care for them. this is a gift!

highlights from the visit:

• riding the airplane out west, visiting the pilots (forever known as "chuck and brian") in the cockpit, and zoom getting his own cup on the plane.
  
• daily kid visits to the hospital, bringing cheer to all
• watching zoom "care" for grammy, then eat the rest of her food off the tray
  
• whole foods buffet across the street from the hospital instead of hospital food!
  
• basking in the green green of seattle and almost cluttered color of flowers!
• showing off the new babe!
  
• Blue C Sushi with A.Tiff, grabbing our lunch off the conveyor belt and using kid chop sticks
  
• seeing Beyond friends at Cindy's wedding: our all-day-long date, a few hours sans kids!
  
• 86 degree day in seattle, riding in mom's convertible, eating fabulous food at Salty's for the reception
  
• hearing how the two aunties fed the girl 3 ounces of milk using the tickle-then-squirt-milk-into-the-mouth method!
• consistently good coffee
• trip to the Burger-master
  
• sister time - never enough
  
• nearly constant views of mountains
• entire family gathering for lunch
• grandma's toys
• visiting the greenwood house (where i used to live) to find that we are celebrities, the first girls to live in the house. and finding some of our things still in the house, including a frightening picture from the 80's party. and finding the house still a place where people gather - the legacy continues!
  
• working in mom and dad's garden
• watching zoom play in the dirt, creating a construction site with an array of dump trucks and diggers