January's Medical Update

For the Parrys, January was a relatively quiet month, medically speaking. Yay for that. The day our cruise was to leave, Isaac woke up with horrible croup. As I looked for an urgent care center, my mom remembered that she had brought some prednisone with her for her allergies. So, I called Dr. Briesacher to see what dosage to give Icky and he started to get better right away. Dodged that problem.

While on our trip, mom received a third degree burn on her finger. It's a small burn, so obviously not a big deal. The reason I'm reporting this is because the burn came from a POP TART. How lame is that?

It's basketball season here in Bountiful. Craig and I really think it's just the season that falls between football and baseball--the sports we are best at and find most exciting. Sam is playing deacon's ball, Jake is on the teacher's team and Evan on the Priest's team. Isaac, Sam and Jake are also playing Jr. Jazz. It was at Jake's Jr. Jazz game that his face met a Polynesian elbow. His eye is really, really black and blue, which you can't tell from this picture.

Where Dreams are Made

We had a fabulous, wonderful, laugh-a-minute, love fest trip to Disney World this month. We are so grateful to G-dawg for setting us all up and helping us live the dream. The cousins loved spending 8 days 24/7 together and the grown-ups--not to be outdone--laughed probably more than the kids. We created a lot of perfect memories.


We spent four perfect-weather days at Disney World in Orlando. The latest and greatest at the Animal Kingdom is "Everest"--a thrilling (I mean it) ride through the mountain. My kids wanted to go again and again, and found that using the "single rider" line got them on the ride quicker. However, I wasn't too sure about it when my baby went off as a single rider on this scary ride (OK, OK, I know my baby is almost 9).
While lining up in the morning to get into the Animal Kingdom, we made friends with a worker who let us into the park 30 minutes early and put us on the first safari ride of the morning. It was so fun to be almost all alone in the park.

We spent a day at Disney's Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM). The new ride here is the Toy Story ride, which is like being in an amazing video game. The idea is to shoot 3-D targets and get the most points. The wait for the ride was often 90 minutes, but we rode it a few times using fast passes.

We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, which cozies up to the savannah at the Animal Kingdom, so this is the view from the lobby. We had the same view from our room, only higher.

The Magic Kingdom is still magic. It was fun to ride some of the rides with our family. We hooked up in the afternoon to hit "The Haunted Mansion". We only had one crier (Henry).

We also spent a day at Epcot, my favorite. We rode the big rides like Test Track and Mission to Space, but then spent several hours walking through the World Showcase. We ate dinner in "England" where we enjoyed fish & chips and pot pies.

I highly recommend a cruise to somewhere warm in January when you live in Utah. The Disney Wonder is an amazing ship. We spent four wonderful days cruising to the Bahamas and back to Port Canaveral. Every evening, the 30 of us gathered for a riotous dinner. We probably (cross fingers) lauged all our calories off. Craig and I had it pretty easy because our kids are a little older. We let our kids go anywhere on the ship and do whatever they wanted, with the exception of Isaac. He had to carry his medication in a fanny pack and he had to have someone older with him if he was eating. Thankfully there were no health incidents.

We went to lots of movies on the ship, the spa, tried every eating spot, swam, played games in G-dawg's suite, played in the kids' clubs, and the arcade. The age for the spa was 18 and over, so we had everyone confused when we sent Jake and Evan and Craig in all under Craig's ID. They were in and out throughout the day. When Jake got a massage from the same person who gave Evan a massage, she asked Jake if he and his brother were both named Douglas. I would say that towards the top of the list for the boys was the ice cream machine on Deck 9. So much fun.

Pirate night on the ship:

One of our stops on the ship was Castaway Cay, a private Disney Island in the Caribbean. We mostly sunned on the beautiful white sand beach, burried Jake in the sand, pushed people in the water, built sandcastles, laughed and ate. Craig, Sam and Isaac went jet-skiing in the ocean, Isaac and Caroline went on a sting ray adventure and snorkeled, Jake, Evan, Becky and Uncle Rye all went para-sailing, which was super scary but so much fun.

Ryan and Jake had to "steal" the Monopoly game from the Oceaneer's Lab. Jake was amazed at Ryan's confidence as he walked into the lab, picked up the game, put it under his arm and walked right out with it. On the way out a worker asked him if he needed to check out his kids or if he was just visiting, to which Ryan replied, "just visiting" and they just kept walking. Jake took the game back to Grandma's to set it up while Ryan went for a soda run. When Ryan returned, Jake said, "un problema"... they had stolen a Spanish Monopoly game, which we played several times. It was a funny moment.

The ship also stopped in Nassau. Everyone except me, Mandy and Sophia went to the water slides at Atlantis. The three of us went to the straw market and shopped around town for a few hours. Mandy has a back injury and because of my surgery, I was still feeling really tired. But everyone had a great time and the water slides were number one on some lists for the whole trip.

This pictured ended up last, but it should have been the first. This is our shuttle from our Orlando hotel back to the hotel where we needed to catch our Disney Cruise Line bus. You can see that we had fun from the very beginning.

THANKS GRANDMA. We had a blast.

Are Peanuts in the Bill of Rights?

The Parrys (and 20 Davises) are currently cruising at 32,000 feet on the way home from an epic vacation to Disney World and the Bahamas. We are entirely exhausted and fun-filled.

But, no matter how much fun I ever have on vacation, DELTA always manages to kill my mood. I just don't understand their fierce attachment to serving peanuts on an airplane. I don't even think that many passengers care if they are handed a bag of peanuts or a bag of prezels. Do you? For me, flying with Isaac is an anxiety-filled nightmare. I once had a pilot ask me, {insert mean voice}"What do you do when you take your son to a restaurant?" My answer: {insert mean voice reply} "We don't usually choose restaurants at 32,000 feet."

Realistically, unless he actually ingests a peanut, Isaac probably won't ever have a respiritory problem, although with all the peanut residue on planes, he often gets hives. We always take every precaution we can: bring a soapy rag to clean everything he's going to touch, pack food for him that we make at home, notify Delta ahead of time of Icky's "handicap"carry multiple doses of benadryl and epinephrine, pray. But, if I had a nickel for every flight attendant without compassion, I would be rich. Their favorite line is that they are just following the book.

Occassionally, we run across a very compassionate group who decide that risking the life of a child (three children on this flight) is not worth it and they refuse to serve peanuts.

Kudos for courage.

Last time I checked, peanuts aren't in the Bill of Rights. Darn peanut lobby

Stupid Delta. I hate you.

The Dog Ate My Homework

You've heard the old cliche, "The Dog Ate My Homework"? Well, I caught Romeo really eating somebody's schoolwork today.

For the most part, we are doing really well with Romeo. He's sleeping so much better--almost through the night. He's playful and lively. We're still finding little turds on the floor and if we don't take him out often enough he pees on the floor too, but we love him.

He's off to the baby sitters now to be tended for eight days and Isaac is crying real tears.

Getting Trained By Our Puppy

We are getting really well trained by Romeo. I know that's not how it's supposed to be. Really, people should train puppies, not the other way around.

Craig made the mistake of letting Romeo fall asleep in Isaac's bed last night. After they were both asleep, we moved Romeo to his bed in the gated bathroom. He woke up a short time later and cried. So, I got him up and he made a beeline for the top of the stairs, where he sat and cried. So, I took him down to Isaac's room and put him in his soft little bed there. Of course, he cried and tried to jump up into bed with Isaac. When I finally put him next to the sleeping Isaac, Romeo curled up next to Isaac and looked at me like, "now I'm perfectly happy". The idea in getting a dog was so the dog would bond with Isaac, but this is ridiculous. When Isaac is at school, Romeo cries until I take him down to Isaac's room. Little devil. I should tell him that things don't end well for Romeo in the play.
Today, he disappeared into my bathroom for a few minutes and then came racing around the corner with the end of a roll of toilet paper in his mouth. It was cute, but naughty. He also loves to chew the corner of my nice area rug in the bedroom. But he already knows he's not supposed to, so when he sees me coming, he bites as fast as he can, looks at me, then runs away.


Stay tuned to see who wins the battle of wills.

Welcome 2010

We welcomed 2010 with a trip to the emergency room (actually we went on New Year's Eve, but it practically counts as our first visit of the new year. Jake hit a tree while he was skiing at Park City (he was wearing a helmet) and his thigh bone took all the force. The ski patrol brought him down the mountain and Craig drove to Park City to meet them and bring Jake to Primary Children's. Treatment for a fractured femur is surgery, so we were relived to learn that he had a thigh contusion, rather than a broken bone. Jake was delighted to learn that his growth plates are still wide open. He's 5'11" now, but wants to be 6'3" and he might just make it.

Craig and I went to dinner with our friend, Cindy Brown, at Cafe Molise, one of my favorite places to eat, mainly because of the roasted garlic appetizer. Every time we go I vow to eat just a little, but I can never stop because the roasted garlic spread on bread is like heaven. But, every time we go, I eat too much and all that garlic makes for a bad smell and a bad stomach. Worth it.

Afterwards, we came home. Cindy and I put our sweats on and we really just sat around and talked. We watched the countdown on TV and had a quiet evening--until the stroke of midnight when all the kids who were home banged pans and welcomed 2010!