Canada + Chicken Pox + Mealworms = Our Life!

Harrison Hot Springs

For the past four years Phase II has taken the employees and subcontractors (and whoever else wants to tag along!) to Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia. This year we got lucky - well, I should say our boys got lucky - and Cindy came to watch our kids while we left for the weekend. We love (LOVE) going to Harrison every year. It really is a nice, relaxing experience - and one we look forward to every year. We literally go there and do a lot of nothing. There is no agenda and not a lot to do. So, of course, we don't feel guilty sleeping in, soaking in the hot springs (well, I didn't do a lot of soaking, but Bryan made up for that), doing a little bit of shopping in the small town, taking a nap, or reading a book (I read a whole book while we were there!).

This year was fun for us because Kelli and Jeremiah went with us, and so did Kory and Ana Lee and Carissa and Adam. It was like a little family reunion! We went to dinner the first night at the pub, which is a tradition, but I think next year we are going to branch out and try somewhere that has better food. I did go in the hot springs a little bit (don't tell my doctor!). It was so freaking cold! It has never been that cold before and my plan to just dip my feet in went out the window! The freezing temperatures cooled the water just enough that I was able to go in without feeling like I was cooking the baby :) We also went to the annual company dinner, where we all get together and have a fancy dinner at the Copper Room. The food was excellent, and we had a great time.

When we got home, we took Dave, Lindsay and Cindy to dinner for helping us out (sorry guys for the terrible service at Wingers!) and so that we could spend time with Cindy before she left. We also handed out the Canadian candy and chocolate we had bought for our kids. Seriously, I would move to Canada simply for their chocolate. It puts American chocolate to shame!! And my kids still ask when Cindy is coming back, because they don't understand distances that well (at least Cole and Bryce don't) and they think she is hiding out at Dave and Lindsay's house, not all the way in Utah!

At the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in Harrison. It all looked sooo good!

We played lots of card games with my family. It's one of my favorite activities to do there, because at home I never get to play games because I have three rascals to deal with.

Bryan preferred to soak in the hot springs, but came by during game time to say hi. Isn't he just so stinking adorable in his robe?

My dad, Jeremiah, Adam, and I (I was brave) played Hearts together. My dad found great joy in beating Adam, or maybe he found great joy in Adam's reaction.

After the dress-up dinner in the Copper Room. Ugh - I look so pregnant!

Proof I was in the hot springs.

You can see Harrison Lake in the background, and all the mountains. It really is a beautiful place (and hopefully next year there will be NO snow or freezing wind!!).

Bryce got chicken pox (really, people still get it these days)

The day after Cindy left was Monday, and it sure was hard getting back into a routine! But I got up early and helped Bryce and Cole get ready to go to the office and got Rix going for school. As I was helping Bryce, I noticed his "bumps" looked weird. He has xanthogranuloma, which is a fancy word for "he has small brownish bumps pretty much all over his body that are slowly fading and will eventually go away". He complained that a couple of them itched, and I didn't think much of it, except that I was going to call his dermatologist and have the bumps checked out. Then a thought came to my head. Could they be chicken pox? Bryce has had the vaccine (we are all about vaccinations) and so I didn't think he could get them, but I called his pediatrician's office and they said that even with the vaccine, he could get what they call a "chicken pox rash", where the bumps still appear and may be mildly itchy, but not nearly as bad and usually no fever. I took him to school to have Mom (aka Dr Lynda) check it out, and she thought they looked like chicken pox too. What?? People still get chicken pox? It almost seems unheard of. I don't know any kids around me who have had them, but if someone is going to get sick around here, it's Bryce.

It was hard to tell that he had chicken pox because they appeared where his bumps already were, and maybe other places, but I've seen Bryce's bumps for so long that it's hard for me to tell where they are or how many he has because I sort of just overlook them now. But he's over the chicken pox now and back to school after missing a week. He sure missed being in school!

What's funny abou these pictures is that I clearly remember my mom making me take pictures like these when I had chicken pox and I was so embarrassed by them. And now look at me. I've turned into my mother :)

I refuse to have a pet dog, but sure, bring some mealworms home!

At Rix's school, first through fifth graders are required to do a science project. Rix came home with a list of ideas from his teacher, ranging from experimenting on plants to figuring out how fast mold grows. I read him all the options, purposely leaving out any experiments that involved bugs. However, Rix can read. Very well. He declared his experiment would be to see what food mealworms preferred to eat. (Really? Sigh.) He wrote it down and brought it to his teacher, who promptly sent him home with a vial of nasty, squirming mealworms. (They had just finished a science lesson on mealworms, so she sent home the extras. Thanks. A ton.).

We put them in the container with apples, carrots, and potatoes, and....they just sat there. They didn't move. Or eat. Or squirm anymore. But they were still nasty. I called his teacher and stated that I must have somehow killed the mealworms. She asked - Are they moving? No. Are they black? Um, no. Oh don't worry, she reassured me, they are pupating, which means they are turning into beetles. WHAT?1? Get these out of my house!! We threw them away and Bryan had the luxury of buying more mealworms at the pet store, where luckily they can only be bought in increments of FIFTY. We only wanted like ten. See how this all keeps getting better? Oh, and did I mention that Cole, while throwing a fit one day, kicked over the mealworm container all over my living room? It was gross. Even Bryan wasn't super excited about that.

In the end, the experiment (along with his verbal presentation in front of his class and some judges) won Rix his class's science fair, and he is on his way to districts. Does this mean we'll have to get more mealworms to go with his presentation??

Gross.

In their container. This is the first set of mealworms. The next batch - imagine like triple the amount of mealworms.

Rix and his "pets".