okay, well, blue toe nails! I practiced what I preach and went and got myself a very lovely pedicure yesterday with my good friend, Lara, who also happens to be my very pregnant friend, Lara. She wanted her toes to be ready for when her little man makes his grand appearance, which should be any day now! I decided to go out on a limb and do something "radical" and I went with the blue polish, with glitter! It seems patriotic, although the boys are quick to point out that I've neglected the red and the white! ah, one out of three, still counts right? When I look down and see them, I smile! They make me happy!
Pedicures really are a treat! I've been trying to talk the Chief to get one for years...maybe one day he'll go with me. In the meantime, they are really a great reward! And my heals are smooth too!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Writings from the Road, Final chapter
Day 7: Operation: Get Home ASAP! You know how it is at the end of the trip...all you wanna do, is be home. Well, I woke up early, and of course it was the day that the other 5 slept in. Finally at 7:30, I woke them up and said, "Let's go!" Got the boys dressed and took them to the lobby for a quick breakfast. The Chief slowly got moving, and we were underway at 8:15. Stopped for gas, and said Good-bye to Wyoming...okay, not really, since we had to drive through it for another 5 hours, but you know what I mean.
I have to tell you that one of the best things we did was stopped at Car Wash minutes from home and cleaned the outside of the van, and vaccumed out the inside, and got rid of all the garbage! Wow! This was definitely one of the best ways to come home from vacation! Got home, and unloaded the suitcases and cooler and my van was sparkly clean!
It was a fantastic trip! Yeah, there was sibling arguments, yeah, there were times when mom or dad lost it and threatened to pull over (okay, I think we acutally did do that once and moved the car seat so Sethers wasn't in the back next to his brother, spitting on him, thus prompting said brother to hit him, etc. etc.) Yeah, there were times we were all tired and wanted to pull our hair out if we had to be in the van for one mile longer, but overall, it was a great vacation! Can't wait to go again!
I have to tell you that one of the best things we did was stopped at Car Wash minutes from home and cleaned the outside of the van, and vaccumed out the inside, and got rid of all the garbage! Wow! This was definitely one of the best ways to come home from vacation! Got home, and unloaded the suitcases and cooler and my van was sparkly clean!
It was a fantastic trip! Yeah, there was sibling arguments, yeah, there were times when mom or dad lost it and threatened to pull over (okay, I think we acutally did do that once and moved the car seat so Sethers wasn't in the back next to his brother, spitting on him, thus prompting said brother to hit him, etc. etc.) Yeah, there were times we were all tired and wanted to pull our hair out if we had to be in the van for one mile longer, but overall, it was a great vacation! Can't wait to go again!
Friday, June 25, 2010
Writings from the Road, Part 3
Day 5: Father’s day! Greeted daddy with some cards. We love you, Daddy! Left in a rainstorm, however we soon drove out of it, as we headed West on I-90. Minnesota was more farm country than I had realized and was beautiful. The boys were quiet and behaved, which was wonderful seeing they had spent so much time in the van by this time. The we crossed over into South Dakota. It wasn’t as beautiful. The drive seemed to take forever, when in fact it was about 8 hours. We stopped at Wall Drug and let the boys get some homemade ice cream, and a souvenir from our trip. We left again in a rain storm with severe weather warnings. This was another really scray 10 miles of the trip with the rain hitting the van so hard we couldn’t hear the radio when it was on full blast. Finally, we arrived in Rapid City, South Dakota. We checked into one of the most amazing hotels we’ve stayed in as a family. The Grandstay Residential Inn. It had two bedrooms, a sitting room, and a kitchen and a spacious bathroom! It was luxury! The boys were excited about having 3 televisions, not that we were there long enough to watch very much. We basically unpacked the cooler and grabbed our jackets and headed to see Mt. Rushmore. What an amazing sight! The drive was beautiful too that none of us minded getting back into the van! We went to their evening program. Highly recommend it if you go! It was patriotic, and a nice touristy thing to do! We headed to the hotel in the dark about 10 p.m. We narrowly missed a deer that ran across the road in the dark. At last, we came home to our marvelous hotel. The boys were all asleep within minutes, and Martin stayed with the boys while the Chief and I took advantage of the late hours at the hot tub. We met some nice fellow travelers who gave us some recommendations on what to see the next day. We had a night of comfort on one of the best beds and linens! This is how I always want to travel!
Day 6: South Dakota. We decided to stay at the hotel longer that morning since it was such a nice place. After the boys had a yummy full breakfast (the Chief and I did our best to stay on Kristi approved food the whole trip), I took the boys swimming, letting daddy sleep in. Then the Chief and I worked out together, while the boys got to watch television. Then we reluctantly packed up, and headed to the Dinosaur Park, there in Rapid City. It offers a great view of the city, and the boys loved climbing over the mammoth sized concrete dinosaurs. We bought them some hot dogs and SD t-shirts, and then headed to the Storybook Island Park. A great, free family attraction for those with young kids. My older boys were patient about going and let Seth enjoy it, but they secretly loved it too! We only stayed an hour, when we could have stayed much longer but had a full agenda. We then drove down to Custer State Park where we took the Wildlife Loop. It is a 90 minute drive where you get to see free roaming Bison and pronghorns (antelope) and donkeys, and goats, and deer. The animals cross the road right in front of your car and is exciting and fun to be on the lookout for the animals. It was a beautiful day, and we drove with the windows down and the breeze blowing in! Then we decided to drive toward Jewel National cave. We arrived at 3:45 in the afternoon, and unfortunately just missed the cave tour by 15 minutes and the next one wasn’t for 2.5 hours. The boys were sourly disappointed but we needed to hit the road. We still had 4.5 hours to drive to Wyoming. And so we reluctantly said good-bye to South Dakota, with plans to return soon!
Day 6: South Dakota. We decided to stay at the hotel longer that morning since it was such a nice place. After the boys had a yummy full breakfast (the Chief and I did our best to stay on Kristi approved food the whole trip), I took the boys swimming, letting daddy sleep in. Then the Chief and I worked out together, while the boys got to watch television. Then we reluctantly packed up, and headed to the Dinosaur Park, there in Rapid City. It offers a great view of the city, and the boys loved climbing over the mammoth sized concrete dinosaurs. We bought them some hot dogs and SD t-shirts, and then headed to the Storybook Island Park. A great, free family attraction for those with young kids. My older boys were patient about going and let Seth enjoy it, but they secretly loved it too! We only stayed an hour, when we could have stayed much longer but had a full agenda. We then drove down to Custer State Park where we took the Wildlife Loop. It is a 90 minute drive where you get to see free roaming Bison and pronghorns (antelope) and donkeys, and goats, and deer. The animals cross the road right in front of your car and is exciting and fun to be on the lookout for the animals. It was a beautiful day, and we drove with the windows down and the breeze blowing in! Then we decided to drive toward Jewel National cave. We arrived at 3:45 in the afternoon, and unfortunately just missed the cave tour by 15 minutes and the next one wasn’t for 2.5 hours. The boys were sourly disappointed but we needed to hit the road. We still had 4.5 hours to drive to Wyoming. And so we reluctantly said good-bye to South Dakota, with plans to return soon!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Writings from the Road, Part 2
Day 3: A day to sleep in and we were all slow moving. We stayed at a dumpy Super 8. On a positive note, the room was large and we all had a bed to sleep in. We spent the day with Kim and Lenny at their home helping them get ready for the wedding, preparing food, hanging out, and then took the boys swimming in the afternoon.
Day 4: The wedding day. We arrived over at Kim’s house about 10:30 and set to work setting up the place for the wedding that took place in the backyard. Then the wedding at 2. The weather was perfect for them. The chief and the boys spent most of the “after wedding” playing hill billy golf and tossing beanbags. They all wanted to avoid the beer guzzling and smoke of the front yard crowd. I was in charge of making sure the food was served and kept cold. We were all exhausted when we left that evening. We said our good-byes as we planned to leave early the next morning! Afterall, the adventures of South Dakota awaited our arrival!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Writings from the Road, Part 1
We took off last Wednesday for the Great State of Minnesota.
The first day was intended to be a long day of driving…across the very boring state of Wyoming, and into Nebraska. It was basically uneventful, which is something to be thankful for. It was 12 hours in the van, with few breaks. That night, we stayed in North Platte, NE at our least expensive motel of the trip. It actually delivered more than some of the others that cost more, such as a fantastic fitness room, which I used twice! We got up and going the next day for another long day of driving. We decided to stop in Omaha, at Winter Quarters, and check out the Visitors Center there and see the temple. It was good for the boys to stretch and get a little of the antsy-ness of the drive out of our bones! Then back in the car, as we headed north through Iowa. I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful the drive was. There was little traffic and we were able to make good time. As we approached Minnesota, we noticed a dark sky looming ahead. I called my dad and told him about the trip, and the black cloud that we were getting closer to. Then, we crossed into Minnesota, and all the boys quickly jumped out for a picture moment near the Welcome to Minnesota Sign. Afterall, we are Minnesota Vikings fans! The boys were almost blown away by the wind, and they jumped back in, just as the rain drops began to fall. No sooner were we back on the road when we heard the emergency signal on the radio and they began to announce severe weather warnings, including tornado warnings! Not knowing the area, we were unsure of what county we were in and how close we were. We choose to keep going. We turned East on I-90, and watched out the northern windows as the monstrous clouds reached down their fingers into twirling funnel clouds. We were scared, and petrified and begged the Chief to keep his petal to the metal and get far away from the storm, and wind, and rain. We only had 45 miles to go to Rochester and we drove on, white knuckled and tense. Even the children were silent! Definitely one of the scariest moments of our lives. We learned that at least 3 tornadoes touched down and destroyed homes. We estimate we were within 10 miles of where they touched down. We arrived in Rochester in a thunderstorm. The sirens in town were going off, letting residents know to seek shelter. We made it to the Chief’s sister’s home, and met her fiancée, and his son. We reunited with Jeni (our niece) and her darling daughter, Tenley. We all breathed a sigh of relief that we made it there safely. What a way to start our journey across the country!
The first day was intended to be a long day of driving…across the very boring state of Wyoming, and into Nebraska. It was basically uneventful, which is something to be thankful for. It was 12 hours in the van, with few breaks. That night, we stayed in North Platte, NE at our least expensive motel of the trip. It actually delivered more than some of the others that cost more, such as a fantastic fitness room, which I used twice! We got up and going the next day for another long day of driving. We decided to stop in Omaha, at Winter Quarters, and check out the Visitors Center there and see the temple. It was good for the boys to stretch and get a little of the antsy-ness of the drive out of our bones! Then back in the car, as we headed north through Iowa. I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful the drive was. There was little traffic and we were able to make good time. As we approached Minnesota, we noticed a dark sky looming ahead. I called my dad and told him about the trip, and the black cloud that we were getting closer to. Then, we crossed into Minnesota, and all the boys quickly jumped out for a picture moment near the Welcome to Minnesota Sign. Afterall, we are Minnesota Vikings fans! The boys were almost blown away by the wind, and they jumped back in, just as the rain drops began to fall. No sooner were we back on the road when we heard the emergency signal on the radio and they began to announce severe weather warnings, including tornado warnings! Not knowing the area, we were unsure of what county we were in and how close we were. We choose to keep going. We turned East on I-90, and watched out the northern windows as the monstrous clouds reached down their fingers into twirling funnel clouds. We were scared, and petrified and begged the Chief to keep his petal to the metal and get far away from the storm, and wind, and rain. We only had 45 miles to go to Rochester and we drove on, white knuckled and tense. Even the children were silent! Definitely one of the scariest moments of our lives. We learned that at least 3 tornadoes touched down and destroyed homes. We estimate we were within 10 miles of where they touched down. We arrived in Rochester in a thunderstorm. The sirens in town were going off, letting residents know to seek shelter. We made it to the Chief’s sister’s home, and met her fiancée, and his son. We reunited with Jeni (our niece) and her darling daughter, Tenley. We all breathed a sigh of relief that we made it there safely. What a way to start our journey across the country!
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Dominoes and pigs fly
Sundays are a day of worship, and then a day of family games at our place. McKay and Noah are old enough to play more enjoyable games for the Chief and me, which is so nice! And Setheroo is happy to be partnered with mommy or daddy until he grows bored and wanders off to play with his cars or his dad's ipod. So today, the game of choice was Dominoes. We play the Mexican Train version and it was just not my day! I could not get my train together for any of the rounds. When it finally looked like I might win a round, someone played a double and couldn't satisfy it, and before I knew it, I ended up with 27 points! Oh well, we laughed a lot, despite mommy having no good luck! Next, the boys wanted to play Pass the Pigs. If you haven't seen this game, you gotta google it! It is a riot. Two little rubber pigs, and you throw them through the air and if they land a certain way you get a number of points, but you may just "pig out" and lose all your points, so you take a risk at times! This game is small enough to fit in your pocket and easy to play anywhere. Even a 4 year old can play as long as we add his points for him. So, if you are looking for some inexpensive family fun...here are two ideas for you!
Sunday afternoon, hanging with the family, playing games, and making memories is what life is all about to me!
Sunday afternoon, hanging with the family, playing games, and making memories is what life is all about to me!
Friday, June 11, 2010
Packing frenzy
Do you ever notice when you go on vacation you have to work twice as hard with all the preparing and packing? Well, that is what it is like here at our house! We have a road trip to Minnesota planned to go see the Chief's sister, who is getting married on June 19th. We plan to leave early in the morning on Wednesday, the day after the boys get out of school! The Chief and I will both be working on Monday and Tuesday, so this is the weekend that I have to do all the shopping, laundry, and packing! So, I've finished the grocery shopping, and most of the laundry, and now I need to get the boys to pick out what they want to take. I plan to pack everything today, and then the last minute things on Tuesday night after I get home.
In addition, we are going to take the Chief's nephew with us. He is 15, and he lives in Mesa, AZ. We sent him a bus ticket, and he is riding the Greyhound today, and expected to be here about 5 this evening. He'll have a few days to get used to being here, and then he'll go on the road with us.
Our plans are to drive to North Platte, NE the first day which is about a 10 hour drive. We will stay overnight there and get back on the road early the next morning and drive the rest of the way to Rochester, MN where his sister, Kim lives. We'll stay there from Thursday evening til Sunday morning. Kim's three kids will also be there so it will be good to reconnect with them. The wedding is on Saturday in their backyard. I've never been to Minnesota before so this will be an opportunity for me to mark another state off my list of places I've been. When we leave on Father's Day, we'll be heading home the northern route and go through South Dakota, where we will stop to visit Mount Rushmore for a day. I'm looking forward to that. It's also another state I've never visited before! Then we'll come home on Tuesday. We plan to get home in time to go to boot camp that evening. We'll also have grocery shopping to do, and meal prep. It will be busy!
So, today, is kinda a frenzy at the Skelly place. But you understand why...because you've been there too!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
We need some thread here...
Noah, 8
So, Son #2 has officially joined the ranks of needing some thread to hold parts of him together. Quite frankly, I'm surprised it has taken this long for him to get there! And the way he succumbed to it...another surprise...a piece of broken glass got him. I really would thought it would have been a sidewalk or the road, or a football field that got him, but a little 1" piece of glass was the culprit!
Here is his foot after the 3 stitches
So, last night, I arrived home from work at 9:30, to notice all the lights on. I admit, I was feeling irritated that my kids were still awake, an hour after bedtime. I went in, to hear sounds of anguish as Noah cried in pain. He had stepped on a piece of glass, and busted open his foot. The chief, who thankfully doesn't get queasy at the sight of blood, had it wrapped up, and I carried him out to the car. The chief took him to the Instacare, where it was X-rayed to check for stray glass, and then stitched up.
So, it's official, Noah has joined the ranks of the Stitched! Welcome Noah! It's a club I wish I were not a member of, but that's life for you!
Heal well, sweet boy!
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