A Plain Old Boring Weekend

Nothing too exciting to report, thankfully. That means the mystery fevers are all gone, everyone's feeling fine, and no one ended up with a rash (although Devon & I are both peeling a bit on the shoulders due to the nice weather we've been soaking up when we can).

On Friday night Devon & Avery went for a quick game of mini-golf, and I followed along with the camera. Avery's really into it now, and even following the rules more and more (like not putting the ball in the hole with her hand after about 8 swings). She really likes to hammer it.

On Saturday Devon took Avery & Kate to play at IKEA while he poked around the store for awhile. Playing at IKEA is an activity in itself, and the girls loved it. Avery got a haircut, and Devon treated the front deck with sealant on Sunday. That, and a few other errands rounded out the plain old boring weekend.

The Babes Of Summer

Now that the fevers have finally broken (no rashes followed), we've been soaking up the sun at the "beach." I've spent a few afternoons along the Columbia River here in Vancouver, with Kelly, Kate, & Avery, and today took Jordan and (nurse) Robin to bask in the sun, too. The river is cool, certainly not too cold to play in, but sometimes just being in the sand is better. Even Jordan liked the feel of it.

Jordan soaking up the rays, movie-star style

BFFs Avery & Kate in the Columbia River

Making "sand angels"

Brrr, Avery was cold straight out of the water

Why does sand have to stick like glue? I finally realized today that part of it is the "glue" we rub all over them at the start: sunscreen!

Big boats (okay, ships, if you want to be pedantic) can make it up the Columbia all the way to Portland and beyond

Big waves from big boatsEven some fun in the sky. There were kiteboarders, too, but there just wasn't quite enough wind to make it all work like they can in the Gorge

Fever Ping Pong

After 3+ days of off & on fevers, I finally called the pediatrician and made an appointment for Avery on Thursday morning. Of course, by the time I got her there, she'd been 14 hours straight without a fever, and Jordan was practically on fire (103.5'F, up from 99.5'F in the driveway, so 4'F in 20 minutes in the car. . . . ).

The pediatrician swabbed Avery's throat for strep since it was a little red (although she hadn't mentioned it being sore at all), but of course that was negative. So, we're back to "something viral that kids get" and "keep an eye out for a rash to develop." Jordan, in the meantime, was on the alternating Tylenol & Ibuprofen schedule, but luckily after 2 days (and an almost ambulance call on Thursday night), she's managing to keep her temperature under control, too (Avery hasn't been "hot" since Wednesday night). We still haven't seen any rashes on either of them, and Avery is a little old for this toddler-style virus game, but oh well, there doesn't seem to be any lasting harm done to either one.

I suppose our 95'F weather hasn't been helping the issue. Thank goodness we have air conditioning and know how to use it!

Still Active After All These Years

Time for a trip to Mt. St. Helens. Astrid & Matthew had to leave that morning, while Jordan was at the hospital getting her Botox, so we didn't make plans for that day with Kim & Jamie. But when we got done at the hospital at a reasonable time we decided on a whim to head on up to the Johnston Ridge Observatory (just a little under 2 hours from here). The skies were clear, and it was the best I'd ever seen the mountain. Despite the snow in the parking lot, it was warm enough for shorts! Here's the webcam for all you die-hard volcano fans!

The view on the drive up

From the observatory -- the mountain and the desolation belowAvery & JordanJordan & (nurse) RobinThen it started to get a little active. Right now it's dome-building at the rate of about 1 dump truck load per second.

Some fun in (near) the snow