Year: 2009

Dreaded day back to Vegas…

Yesterday was pretty depressing. The girls went back to Vegas to start school. Whenever the girls come and go Chip and I get more and more bitter about the judge’s decision. I mean really, how could this turn out this way? It was strange taking them to the airport to take off. I found myself almost numb. It hurt a little that even before they took off Kaitlyn was on the phone with John and Gillian was talking to her friend Ellie in Vegas. I sternly asked them to wait another 2 hours and then they’d be there. After they boarded the plane I still was somewhat dazed and sad at the same time. As I have many, many times, I question my decision to move to Northern Nevada. There has just been so much that has challenged us over the last 12 months. Financially, emotionally, even physically.

I’ve been seeing on Facebook over the last week pictures from the annual Orbitz sales meeting. It looked like so much fun. Again pointing me back to really ponder the decision I made to work outside the home, to move, to spend thousands of dollars fighting for the girls only to lose, supporting homes that aren’t in the same city as we are, and not being able to sell any of them. It could be the status quo I guess. Some days I look back and while it isn’t the grass being greener, I often feel that it wasn’t that bad. Was it? Maybe for the first (or thousandth) time it is clearer than ever that we have a small but good network of friends in Vegas. That the damage would have been significantly less with the girls. The relationship between their dad and I is irreparable and the girls feel it. Just one example: I had planned to fly to Vegas with the girls so that I could extend our goodbye a little bit. When Gillian mentioned this to John he told her that my time was over and regardless of whether or not I flew with them he’d be at the airport. On top of the many challenges we face in Reno, their dad gives nothing. No willingness to be flexible. I’ll be punished by him for many years to come. What pains me more is very soon we’ll have to be paying him child support, over $1,000 a month. With that, he’ll continue to give the girls everything, take all the credit for it and I get to fund it. While we had a lot of fun during the summer visit with the girls doing everything from geocaching and hiking to farmer’s markets and swimming, there was a lot more that I wished I could do but the finances are just not there. Nor will they be any time soon. As we figure it, the price to us for moving as far as the girls are concerned are about $2,000 a month between child support and transportation. We are still finishing the final paperwork with my attorney. I asked him point blank what happens if we can’t pay and he said his advice was to think about filing bankruptcy. That is not something we will entertain at all. Hmmm, let me see…John wins custody and child support. In return I get to pay and pay and pay and oh by the way give back everything we’ve worked for to the bank. I think not!

Perhaps this isn’t the forum to be airing all the dirty laundry, but this is our blog and it’s our real life. Chip and I have truly felt the pain of all of this, especially physically. The stress has helped us put on weight. There’s not a lot time or energy to exercise either.

I’m struggling to look at the glass half full when it keeps feeling empty. Especially when the glass half full is that we’re both employed. Glass half empty is as fast as it comes in it goes out.

Monday fun with the girls!

On Monday both Chip and I took the day off and spent it with the girls. It was a really full, but really fun day.
We started off by heading to the library in Spanish Springs. All of us checked out books, it was really nice. When the girls first arrived we went to get library cards and had to go to the Sparks library, which was pretty unimpressive and not in a great neighborhood, since the Spanish Springs branch is closed on Fridays and Saturdays due to budget cuts. Since we can return books to any library branch in the county, we were able to visit The Spanish Springs library this last Monday. It is simply amazing! Beautiful facility, great staff and cool technology to not only check books out, but to reserve them, search and use the internet.
After the library we were off to Circus Circus to play at the midway arcade. We had a really fun couple of hours. The girls really had a great time playing games and winning some stuffed animals. Chip and I had a little fun ourselves playing games with the girls. My dear friend Kenna really hooked us up with coupons and discounts for the Midway. It was so fun! We ended that adventure with some ice cream and headed even further downtown.
Next was the Truckee River downtown. Chip and Gillian went nuts in the water! Kaitlyn and I hung back. Kaitlyn did get brave a few times…she enjoyed the sunshine with me. I had all the keys, wallets and cameras in my bag, so I didn’t get really wet. It was really fun to watch everyone else! There were a lot of people of all ages hanging out. We all decided that it was really fun, but would be even more fun to tube or kayak down the river. So that’s on our list for next time. We spent a couple of hours there and then had a quick snack at Silver Peak Tap House.
The last fun thing we squeezed into the day was an Aces basesball game at the new stadium in downtown Reno. Gillian was just so into it. Watching the game, the players and of course all the food. Later the food came back to haunt her, but it was worth it. She even went and got an autograph from John Hester. The game was a blowout. 8-0…ACES WIN!
It was a long, but fantastic day. Chip and I really enjoyed the day and was so happy that grandma took care of the boys.

Our last weekend before school

This is our last weekend together before the girls head to Vegas for school. It’s been really fun! Kristy visited with Tiffany. Keith and Chris came over for a bit on Saturday too. Nice to hang out.

Gary did his first somersault on Saturday. The boys are talking so much! Ryan can say marker and some other 2 syllable words if you ask him.

Ben got his finger pinched in the patio door, took off some skin and it looks painful. He seems to be ok though.

Ryan’s been having some tough times with temper tantrums, but hopefully he will get over it soon.

Finally after over a week the boys stopped with the stomach bug. I swear to god in 8 days, we did like 10 loads of pukey laundry. Brutal. Truly brutal.

More sickness…OMG! Ryan colors for the first time and Sherri gets to see the RTO at Montreaux

Wow, what a week! We just tackled the Swine Flu less than a month ago. Then here we go again. Ben first…puking and all the rest of it. Both ends. Poor kid! Lots of vomit in bed. Then Gary, then Kaitlyn. I’ve done more laundry of pukey sheets than I can count. The carpets in the boys room are looking pretty nasty. Nights are worse than the days, although Ben was really not having a good couple of days. Poor kid. He just was so puny. Grandma really loved on him a lot.

It has been a tough week for all of us. Family friend passed, more attorney stuff for both mom and Chip and I, financial worries…all of it. A lot of pressure. All of that along with another flu bug really pushed all of us to the limit.

Luckily Gary was the last one to vomit last night in bed, Kaitlyn is on the upswing and so is Ben and Ryan. Chip had a small bout and fortunately for me I didn’t get it (knock on wood) and neither did Gillian.

The bright spot of the week was that we sat Ryan down yesterday the table and he colored with crayons! We’ll save the first drawing and probably even scan it. These precious moments do take the edge off of the trying times. Chip got it on video and I took pictures (see attached).

The other bright spot was that I had the opportunity to attend the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open golf tourney at Montreaux. What a beautiful place with very large homes. I was invited by Bevin from RSCVA. Michelle Engleman from the Grand Sierra and I were her guests. We were invited to hang out in the Lakeridge Golf Course hospitality suite. It was a fabulous afternoon that began with a tour of Michelle’s new house in University ridge. It’s a beautiful one story home. I also met her husband Aaron. Great people. So we enjoyed a wonderful afternoon, having great wine and complimentary food all afternoon. Little did I know that mom and Chip were at home struggling with Ben and the other crappy stuff that came up this week. When I woke up on Friday and talked to mom and Chip I felt pretty guilty that I had a fun, carefree afternoon with friends. That didn’t last long when Kaitlyn began feeling the bug and Gary and Ryan followed right after. By 7p on Friday I was exhausted and frustrated and drowning in sheets and blankets full of vomit. By 4 a.m. I was on the phone with the nurse line making sure I didn’t need to do anything else for Kaitlyn who was really hit hard by it. It’s just the way the cookie crumbles I guess. Saturday was a little better, still lots of sick monkey laundry. I was happy to just take a shower and do a little running around.

Today is far better, just reflective on the state of life right now. It’s a bit rough and changes are in order for me and how I handle daily life. I’m grateful that the kids are on the upswing and thank goodness we have each other. It causes me pain to know the girls will only be here until Aug. 19 – 10 more days and we’ve had 10 days of sickness.

Boys – Babble, babble and finally…WORDS!

These boys are so picking up on words. Gary always attempts to say what is being said to him. He has the biggest vocabulary. He just wants to hear what everything is. He’s so good with colors, cars and naming body parts. Gary especially says hieeee when we come in or get him out of his crib. He also says byeeeeee when things or people leave the room. It’s SO cute!

Ryan is closing in fast and says a ton now too. The other day he said “marker”. I was really impressed. For such a long time Ryan didn’t say much. He and Gary are really close now.

Ben on the other hand is still the quiet one. He said car and hi a couple of weeks ago. He’s really good at babble, but doesn’t seem to mind not knowing how to say many words.

Lately it’s been so strange to watch the boys. They are so little people now and no longer babies. I can’t believe they will be 2 in about a month. My heart is full that we’ve done all that we have to raise happy, healthy kids. We certainly havent’ done it alone. It’s also incredibly emotional to know that those baby days are gone, even though they were incredibly difficult at times. The little guys are so interactive now and they just love to see new things, be outside, play in the pool and play with each other. We do have situations where (like yesterday) Ryan clocked Gary with a big truck and literally split his lip open. UNBELIEVABLE. Now we do time outs too. They get it. Glad that they do, but sad that we’ve moved to that stage.

I actually bought some big fat crayons for them the other day to see if we can get them going with those. Back in May when Christina was here we tried but the boys just wanted to eat them. Here we are a few months later and I think we will be able to show them.

Virginia City – Girls day out

Yesterday I took the day off and took the girls, just the two of them and me and headed up to Virginia City. They had asked me a few times to go up there since neither of them had been there. We had a grand day! It started with meeting up with Patrick Gilmore from the visitor’s center. On to the trolley tour that started at the Bucket of Blood Saloon. We heard all about the history of the city, the people and the massive amounts of silver that have come from Virginia city as well as highlights of things to see. After that we did the Ponderosa Mine tour. Really a neat experience to be inside a mine and hear the stories. After that we went on to do the stagecoach ride. Gillian chickened out (it’s ok). Kaitlyn and I did it and it was so fun. Bumpy, but fun. After that we did an old time picture. That was one of the highlights of the day! Gillian wasn’t too sure what to think about it, but me and Kaitlyn jumped right in. After lunch at Red’s we went on to take the V and T Steam train to Goldhill and back. Again, hearing more history. We experienced being “robbed” for charity and a skit to go with it. It was lighthearted and fun. Once back in Virginia City we ended our day with a tour of the Fourth Ward School. More great history and both Kaitlyn and Gillian played on a typewriter. Yes, an actual antique typewriter. Gillian had not ever seen a typewriter like that. They both sat in the historic desks. Gillian asked me what a dunce was when she saw the cap in the corner. I had to laugh as I explained it. We ended the school tour with both of them ringing the bell. The historic class pictures were just amazing. After a great day of playing tourist, we headed back home. When I asked them what they thought of the day, Kaitlyn said it was everything she thought it would be. Gillian said it was “way cooler” that she thought it would be. Both of them want to go back again. It was a fabulous girls day. We spent a long day up there and didn’t even scratch the surface of what a visitor can do. It’s so worth driving up there.

A great visit so far with the girls

The girls arrived on 7/13 and we lost about 6 days due to flu. As soon as we could we jumped into doing stuff with the whole family.

One of the first things we did as soon as Kaitlyn felt better was to go to the Sparks Farmers Market on Victorian Square. It happens to be right outside The Nugget where I work, so we thought it would be fun to take them. Kaitlyn and Gillian had never been to a farmers market, so they enjoyed it. However, the little guys were pretty restless and we couldn’t stay long. I was glad they got a glimpse of how fun it is to try the fruit samples, so the booths and entertainment that makes the farmers market really fun.

Weekend with Grandma

Library

West Street Market/Truckee River

Kings Beach Tahoe

New wii game

Cooking together

Geocaching/hiking

Sparks Farmers Market