Friday, May 31, 2013

Cursed Pink Eye

Administering eye drops to a toddler is roughly akin to dealing out medieval torture.

I know the nice ways--tilt the head back, place two drops in the corner of the eye, and let the drops gently slide into their eye as they blink. Or, pull down the lower eyelid to make a nice little pocket which evenly distributes the drops as soon as they close their eyes again. It can certainly be done nicely.

Assuming, of course, that you can get the toddler to tilt their head back and hold still. Because, you know, toddlers are so good at holding still.

Picture instead--toddler laying flat-backed on the floor, Mom straddling, arms pinned down between thighs and head pinned between knees. Pry the eye open with one hand--and I mean pry because that poor kid will be fighting with all possible might to keep them closed--and squeeze a few drops in, hoping they land in a relatively useful place. Repeat with eye number 2. Be careful to not actually sit on the child meanwhile.

Once you've given the child freedom once again, grab a tissue and hope that the tears running down their cheeks aren't just wiping out all the medication and that all that wasn't a complete waste.

And then sit on the couch and cuddle while your traumatized child reminds himself that you do, in fact, still love him, even though you are the current cause of pain and hopelessness in his little world.

...Such it is when Ben has pink eye. He's not contagious anymore and you can't hardly tell it was there, but the eyedrops still last forever. All I have to do know is open that one cupboard and Ben will run away screaming, "No medicine! No medicine!" Sad, but kind of funny at the same time...

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

I guess New Mexico isn't ALL brown

Chris and I spent a lot of time last week bemoaning the fact that propane grills are banned at our apartment complex and Chris's lovely, barely-used grill is locked up and unusable in the storage unit a mile away...admittedly, that puts a bit of a damper on Memorial Day festivities.

Lucky for us, Mark and Jess invited us up to Jemez Springs for rock climbing. Yay!

We left a bit before them and ended up pulling over at this random spot along the highway before getting to the climbing area. It was a pretty neat spot to stop--it included a waterfall and a hot spring inside a cave.



Chris said that he felt like he was breaking the rules when he stuck his hand in the hot spring--it reminded him a lot of Yellowstone, and there you basically just get arrested if you touch anything. At all. Ever. So this was cool. No arrests were made all day.


It did also make for a convenient breakfast locale. Cold cereal from the back of a van, anyone?


We hung out a bit after eating to unofficially start our own rock climbing and to play in the dirt--this was just the beginning of lots and lots and lots of dirt playing that day.



Detour complete, we met up with Mark and Jess and a few of their other climbing friends. Chris jumped right in on the action.


Audrey was quite interested in climbing around the lower edges of the rock face, so Mark fashioned her a harness out of extra straps.



Dad was on belay, Jess helped her up, and Mark helped her down. Somewhere in the middle she kind of freaked out, and the only way we got her to keep climbing was by saying that I was taking pictures and I would put them on the internet so Grandpa Jeff would see how awesome she was at climbing. Grandpa Jeff, consider yourself informed.







She was quite proud of herself, though I think the rope freaked her out a little. She climbed that high and higher all by herself without any rope or anyone around. We didn't point that out at the time...


And Megan and Ben played in the dirt. I took pictures, as you can see.



Chris has only climbed a handful of times, and I've only been around maybe once and that was never outside--I've only watched him on climbing walls. It was fun to see something different, and to watch him doing something he really enjoys.



Lunch via cooler.








Once everyone had tried all the routes there and eaten lunch, we "hiked" a trail for about twenty minutes to reach another climbing spot that Mark and Jess had been to before. It was actually a really nice little walk, and I admit, the scenery was quite a welcome change from the pervasive brown of Albuquerque.


This new spot came with a stream.


Stinkin' cold, but the kids had fun.




These climbs apparently were much harder--the first climbs by the road were mostly 5.6 and 5.7, but this particular climb was a 5.10d. If you know anything about climb ratings, that's a fairly difficult climb. (On the rope here is Mark's friend Remy--I just wanted to show the entire route.)


The hardest Chris had ever climbed before was a 5.10b, so this was quite the stretch for him. He didn't make it all the way to the top, but he still did really good.




He did make it all the way to the top of this, which I believe was a 5.9. Awesome.



P.S. Using a climber's body weight to make a swing for yourself as belayer is strongly frowned upon. Especially by the climber.


And in other news, Ben got dirty. Really, really dirty. Like, war paint dirty.



As another hiker said on our way back,

"Now that's the sign of a successful day--coming home covered in dirt."


Friday, May 24, 2013

Wamplers, and Wamplers, and Wamplers...and a Boldt

The Collective Posterity of Craig and Janet Wampler


The Progenitors Themselves


David & Shaya


Christopher & Laura, et al




Brenda


Michael & Amanda, et al



Heather & Brandon


The Women


The Men





The Grandchildren


The Originals
 

Other Random Shots That Don't Lend Themselves Nicely 
to One Categorical Title







Messing Around Because Really, 
We Were At a Park and Family Pictures are Boring