Train ride at the zoo
My mom and I took the children to the zoo a few days ago. We ended up going straight over to the rides, and stayed the rest of the afternoon, so the only animals Claire and Ronin saw were the props on the train ride. They had a wonderful time and kept trying to go on rides that were too big for them. Most of the rides had a 36″ height limit, and Claire is just barely under that at 35″ (75th percentile). Ronin is 33 1/2″ (25th percentile). Mom and I tried to stretch them onto their tiptoes and sneak them onto the roller coaster, but the operator said they were just itty bitty babies and they should come back later. We told him they were tiny but adventurous, but he shooed us away.
Claire
We are leaving tomorrow for an adventure in the wilds. We are going to spend a week on a small island in McGregor Bay in Eastern Canada with the twins’ great-grandparents and my Aunt Linda and my mom. We will be without electricity or cell phone reception, so we’ll be completely out of touch, and we’ll be a long boat ride and then a long car ride away from any stores or other services. I am taking a lot of care in my packing, knowing I won’t be able to pick up anything I forget or find out I need once I get there. I learned my lesson from our trip to Wyoming, and am taking Children’s Motrin and some basic first aid supplies this time.
Unfortunately, Claire has picked up a stomach bug recently, and we have been spending more time than we would like giving her unanticipated baths and washing extra loads of clothes and linens. This doesn’t bode well for long travel days and long plane trips and a vacation without a washing machine. Last night we spent an hour in the middle of the night changing Claire’s pajamas, changing the crib sheets, wiping down the mattress, showering with Claire, and starting another load of laundry. It was miraculous that we were able to do all that without waking Ronin, who had been asleep in the same crib and who was successfully transferred out and then back into it through all the activity and Claire’s crying. I have packed extra clothes for Claire and more diapers than I had planned, and I also packed a change of clothes for the carry-on bag, just in case (gulp!).
I’m still off work due to my illness. It has been 7 weeks, and I am definitely on the upswing but not fully recovered yet. I never imagined I would be this sick for this long. I haven’t wanted to talk too much about it, since this blog is mostly about the babies, but it has been such a major part of my life for the past two months and it has affected Claire and Ronin, too, in all the activities they’ve missed out on and the adventures we’ve had to cut short and the tv-watching they’ve done. Luckily, I am pretty sure I will be cleared to return to work when I come back, as long as I continue this trajectory.
As before, I will try to get some pictures posted when we come back but we’ll be pretty busy for a few days, so be patient with me.
