Las Vegas

HOPEFULLY I WILL ADD PICS LATER WHEN I HAVE TIME TO STEAL THEM FROM VALERIE!

My brother, Michael, and his wife, Jackie had the opportunity to go to England for 10 days the beginning of July and they asked me to come and babysit their kids for them. They have 3 girls; Audrey, Kirsten and Ava Marie (I add her middle name cause it's the same as mine!) and one little boy, Evan. Audrey is the oldest at 8 and Evan is the youngest at 3. They are good kids and very independent but coming from a one kid home it can be overwhelming. So, my solution?? To take THREE MORE KIDS!!! Valerie came with me and I was so very grateful! We flew out of Idaho Falls on June 27th. I had to ask a very nice lady if she would switch seats with me so that I could sit next to Valerie but even though she had to sit in the very last row she didn't have to sit next to any babies! The children were all surprisingly good on the airplane, Isabella sat next to me and let Wren crawl all over her trying to get to the window and then to me and then to the window and back and forth a million times!



Michael and Jackie have a pool and Wren would like to live with them for that reason alone. She would stand in the 6 inch deep portion of the pool and jump off of the ledge to me, even allowing her head to go under, over and over again all day long. She even went down the last 3 feet of the slide several time and LOVED that also. We did discover that she is allergic to sunscreen. I tried several different kinds while we were there and each one made her eyes swollen, her nose run like crazy and she even had a rash after 2 of the applications. It was very sad! The solution was quite easy actually. We swam twice a day and the first time was usually when she was still asleep in the morning (at 10 a.m.). So, she would wake up (at NOON), we would play inside for about an hour, make lunch for the kids, then put the kids down for naps (which they hated). After that, I would make her lunch and then back to bed we would go! Valerie and I were able to take naps every day that we were there! It was so very nice! After naps we would have the kids play upstairs or clean upstairs while we made dinner, then after dinner we would go and swim again. That was the perfect time for Wren to swim. The sun was not severe enough to require sunblock and most of the time she was in the shade that evening provided.



Since we were there for the 4th of July, we watched the fireworks from Mike's house. The ones from the casino down the road were very nice, but then the neighbors started setting off their crazy loud firecrackers right below us. I was very prepared to drag Wren inside screaming from being so loud but girlfriend just sat right down in my lap and started clapping! The rest of the littler kids were terrified, but not my girl! She Crazy!



I of course have to write about the TWO times Evan pooped in the hot tub (which spills over into the pool!) the first time a minimal amount of poop came out of his swim suit but the second time there were HUGE LOGS IN THERE!! This, THIS was the reason that I brought Valerie along! She climbed into the poo stew and scooped all that poo right out with a little scooper! I will call her the pooper scooper trooper! :) After the second time that this happened, I told Evan that he could not get in the pool without a swim diaper on and for two days he would not get in the pool because he did not want to wear a diaper. I finally gave in (What, he's not my kid!) and let him get in after that. It's just so hot there, I felt bad for him! Happily, he did not poop again while we were there.



One other small mention: Justin came for a couple of days that we were there and one night he let Valerie and I go see Eclipse! It was SO good and I am excited to go and see it again after I read the books again. THANKS JUSTIN!