Saturday, July 21, 2007
So we're currently on our second road trip in upstate New York. Actually, I'm in the car on the way to Niagara Falls but we've spent the past two days in Rochester and Palmyra, visiting with the Henrichsen Clans and watching the Hill Cumorah Pageant. I'd like to say we've been having all sorts of fun but mostly we haven't been. Maybe I should rephrase that. Mark and the three big boys have been having lots of fun. The babies and I are struggling. The twins are both sick with ear infections and they're just babies out of their element which as you may know, can be a little not fun. And Caleb got really sick on our way up to New York and has been coughing and sputtering ever since. And then there's me. Seems I've come down with some kind of achey body, soar throat flu and have been doping up on Tylenol every four hours and investing lots of money in sweatshirts which I forgot to pack. But we're surviving and things are beginning to look up.
Our first night up here, we decided to go to Pageant with Mark's Uncle Roy and Aunt Sharon and Cousin Daniel and his wife Brittney and their four kids and Mark's cousin Nathan. The lot of us picked up some McDonalds and sat eating it in our cars because it was raining, of course. It did this to us the last time we were here and for some reason we didn't learn our lesson and bring things like umbrellas or ponchos or even sweatshirts. Then we headed over to save us some seats which were all sopping wet. So we dried them off and hung a few tarps over them and then just stood there, in the rain, because what else could we do? The rain was pouring and the babies were crying and Caleb was beyond himself. But Hunter, Noah, Denver and Chase were having tons of fun playing under the tarp with their glosticks and didn't seemed bothered by the weather at all. That is until they realized they weren't going to be able to see the show with a tarp over themselves and they began wondering what they were going to do. A few pocket knives later, we had this and the boys stayed relatively dry the entire night.
The twins fell asleep halfway through and the rain stopped shortly after. Caleb drifted in and out of sleep and the wet and cold probably didn't help much with his sick. But he enjoyed the fire and water and lights of the show and didn't complain nearly as much as he was entitled. We rolled into the hotel around midnight and by 1:00am Mark had us checked in and the entire room set up for us to go upstairs and fall into bed. Of course the only ones that were ready to just fall into bed were me and Mark. The boys stayed up watching America's Funniest Videos and complaining about how they weren't tired. And the twins tossed and turned and even gave me a fat lip around 2:00am. At that point I'd had it and put them in the playpen and decided to let them just fuss. Everyone was wide awake five hours later and ready to go. . . everyone that is except for me and Mark.
Yesterday we ate breakfast and the boys spent the entire morning swimming in the hotel pool with their cousins Chase, Macgregor and Ainsley. I stayed upstairs with the twins who were sleeping and read the book Chris begged me to read that I hadn't been able to put down since I opened it on the drive here. Once Mark's parents had arrived with Shane and Diana and Uncle Michael we all ate lunch at Pizza Hut and then hit a park on the banks of the Erie Canal. I spent most of the time there struggling with Caleb who couldn't have been more miserable, coughing so much he could hardly catch his breath. Anne Marie and her three children and Matthew and Anita and their eight children met up with us there and it was practically a whole Henrichsen Reunion right there in wee little Palmyra. The boys got to watch the locks on the Erie Canal actually work while two boats came through and enjoyed the time they had with their cousins running around and playing. And the adults all sat and chatted and enjoyed the fresh air and good company for hours.
Around 6:00pm we wrapped things up, hit Walmart for some fried chicken, peanut butter and honey, and some dish detergent (because even on vacation I have to wash dishes) and we spent the rest of the night struggling with fussy babies and eating a makeshift dinner and watching television. And that about wraps things up. Mark and I had another rough night, as did Caleb. But we managed to get some sleep and Caleb is acting much better now and we're just crossing our fingers that things keep looking up.
posted by Shana # 11:48 AM 
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