Recovering...

So, this last weekend was filled with up's and down's - literally - at the event.

The event itself (The Gathering) is one that was originally created to thumb their noses at the pointy-hats and drama-llama's in the SCA who held a long-standing event called Egil's. Over the past 7 years, I migrated over from Egil's to The Gathering mostly because others whom I camped with were heading over to it. Over the years, it's moved around to different sites, some good and some not-so-good.

This year's site (and last year's, as well) was held at Horning's Hideout. It reminds me a lot of Pennsic with the rolling hills and muddy roads that you walk along to get from camp area to camp area.

The 40-some-odd peacocks and pea-hens wander throughout the site yelling practically all hours, and wend through your campsite in the early morning looking for leftovers from the night before.

Friday it was slightly damp when we set up camp, but the evening turned fairly nice. The pooper was having someone decide that black powder would be a GREAT thing to bring to the event - and set off - in a cannon... Mind you, I know of at least 3 servicemen who had just (and I mean, within the last 3 weeks) returned from yet another tour in Afghanistan... While the event copy apparently warned that black powder would be at the event, I don't feel that it was appropriate to have it there. We are not black powder enthusiasts. Granted, we stray a bit past what the SCA feels is a period time limit, but we don't do the black powder events... Elizabeth had just gone down for a nap the first time they shot off the cannon... She slept through the first blow, but the 2nd and 3rd blasts had her screaming her little head off. Did I mention they were all of 100 yards away from our tent when they blew it? And we didn't hear a "fire in the hole" warning? Oh, did I also mention that all the servicemen immediately hit the deck and freaked out? Yeah - not pleased. We asked them to move it to another location on the site, which they agreed to.

The fire show apparently went well, and Fred came back and had a good time saying hi to everyone afterwards across the camp. Elizabeth finally calmed down around 8-ish, after she refused to sleep all day (other than the hour ride to the campsite), and slept until 2:30 or 3am when Fred came back to camp.

The next morning she was up around 7am, and had a 20 minute nap in the morning, and about a 30 minute nap in the afternoon... It was the only day it was nice out, and so we slathered her with sun-screen and stripped her down to her diaper since it was too warm for her otherwise. Sat under the trees and enjoyed the breeze coming through. Unfortunately, with so little sleep, she just was not a happy camper, and proceeded to constantly cry and fuss through most of the day. Fred came to the rescue several times, as did others in the camp that we were in, to allow me a few minutes of relaxation and recouperation...

That afternoon, the cannon was again set off, and apparently had been moved BACK down to where they'd originally shot the cannon off the night before... AGAIN, right after I'd put Elizabeth down for a nap. I went down and started yelling, politely. I was told that I should have gotten her ear plugs (a 4-month-old!?!?! in ear plugs!?!?!?!?!?!) and that I should just suck it up and deal with it since the event copy warned that black powder would be here - the final straw was having the woman who obviously had no clue (she was the one who suggested ear plugs) ask loudly as I was leaving why I was bringing a newborn to an event at all, anyway... Hmmm - having a life, since life doesn't stop just because you have a baby, you fiddly little twat. Fred found out, and he went down to yell at them, too... They then were told to go ahead and move it again, or not shoot it off at all, since we weren't the only ones complaining.

That night the fire show was rained out, and Elizabeth was in bed and swaddled by 8:30 or 9. Fred went wandering and I stayed in the encampment and played Tablero, checking on the baby ever 20 minutes or so. I tucked into bed around midnight and Fred came back around 3 again... Baby woke up at 6am - never woke up for her 2am feeding, she was so tired, poor thing.

Fred took her and put her back to bed, where she slept for another 2 hours or so and woke up happy. It rained on and off all day Sunday, and at one point, during a break, I popped her into the snuggli and we went walking through the forest, up through merchant's row, and back down to camp. Got our pictures taken 4 times, her in a cute little viking outfit in light brown fleece. She fell asleep for a bit, then woke up on the way back.

We were early heading to bed with her Sunday - she was just very tired and decided to conk out early, around 7-ish. Fred headed off to the fire show, and I again hung out at camp. I went to bed around 1, and Fred showed up around 2:30-ish. Elizabeth again decided that she wasn't going to wake up for her 2am feeding, and ended up waking up around 6 am or so. We played for a bit, fed and changed her, then I headed up for the car before the rain hit hard again.

Packing out was an adventure as well, since there wasn't a really safe place to put her while both of us were packing up, other than in the carseat in the car. So, that's where she was most of the time. On our way out, she coo'ed happily at the trees, then fell asleep until we got upstairs at the apartment where I fed her again and put her down for a nap.

She woke back up around 7pm, and we had a nice bath, then she pretty much went right back to sleep again, and didn't wake up until 2:30 this morning for her munchies. She woke up happy and quiet this morning at 6, chatting happily at the dragon print in her crib...

So, all in all, not a bad weekend. My back is killing me, but that's due to a mattress not being pumped up again after sleeping on it... I left this morning to a very giggly, happy, but quiet baby. I think she likes the forest.

~M

Hot, hot, hot!

It's been particularly warm in the NW of late. While it doesn't rival Texas or the southwest in the summer, it's definitely warmer than expected in May - and much more muggy.

92 degrees both Friday and Saturday, with high humidity, and in a 2nd story apartment. Saturday was better than Sunday, simply because a lot of the humidity was baked out - but Sunday, at 85, was by far the best for the 3 days we've had so far...

Saturday we finally broke down and installed the air conditioner in Elizabeth's room. Once she figured out what was going on, and had stopped having fits about the heat, she had a pretty good day - though she was very unhappy that we hadn't just moved everything into her room, including us. She was very snuggly this weekend, even with it being so hot, and the air conditioner helped to keep both of us from getting massive heat rashes.

I did tell Fred that with our stimulus check (should we ever receive it) we will be getting 2 more air conditioners, along with the vacuum and the grill we would like to get. We'll see how much we get, though... No sense in spending it before we get it.

This weekend will be the first time we go camping with the baby... Should be interesting. It's supposed to be cooler this weekend, so I can hope that the baby, while excited about the new surroundings, will be comfortable. I'm packing for everything, though, just in case.

~M

Zoo - the aftermath

We went to the zoo on Sunday. While I technically didn't have the extra cash, it was the first really nice day of the season, and I really wanted to go for Elizabeth's first "big adventure"... I should have brought the digital camera, to show her off in different areas of the zoo, but didn't. I honestly didn't even think about it, so dazzled was I with the weather. Sun isn't a common occurance in the spring up here - at least, not lately, so it tends to blast brain cells.

Anyway, the zoo was pretty neat. About half of it is currently under construction to create a new area for the serengheti animals, which should be open next year. Even so, it's still a pretty nice zoo, and was a long enough visit with Elizabeth to make it through without her being overly fussy at all... She fell asleep in my arms at the very end, and I held her through purchasing a giraffe rattle and matching giraffe booties at the gift shop, and then we went home.


On the ride home from the Zoo...


Vampire Baby - she *adores* this rattle.

The really BIG adventure comes Memorial Day weekend, when we'll head 45 minutes away from home to camp for a few days with a couple hundred other people. I'm still debating on whether we will bring the whole travel crib or just the mattress and have a bunch of pillows around for a bumper... We'll see. She's getting to a point where she's arching her back to try and roll over, so we may go for the crib anyway.

~M

It says it all...

I saw this at work the other day while up on the hill, and it just hit the right tickle bone in me.

Honestly, the rest of the flyer was regarding a free head and neck inspection for possible cancers, so that part was rather serious - but the top of the flyer did hold my attention long enough to giggle incoherantly for a good two minutes before I moved on to the rest of it.

It pretty much sums up the week for me. Hopefully life allows you a little bit of humor as well - hey! The sign said it was ok! Besides, if you can't allow at least a little bit of slapstick into your life, you're taking things WAAAY too seriously, and you need to lighten up.

~M