A series of unfortunate events...
Ugh. You ever know you're going to have one of those days, the day before the actual day in question?

So, anyway... Casey calls last night. As soon as I saw his name pop up on the caller ID I knew something was wrong. He fell skateboarding and hurt his foot. He didn't think it was broken but he couldn't walk and had to be carried to his room. Apparantly he's gotten "really good at skateboarding" uhhh, yeah, that's why you fell, right??? OK, just kidding. Anyone can fall. It was late and he thought he might be feeling better so I told him I'd call him at 6:15 in the morning and if he still felt bad, I'd take him to the ER to make sure nothing was broken.

Of course, I couldn't sleep and started waking up around 5 am and then again every 5 mins until 6:15. I called, he didn't answer. I called, he didn't answer. Finally I get ahold of him and he says he thinks he needs to go. OK, there starts the day. from. hell.

I get there to pick him up and the security guy, James, tells us he's having a wheelchair brought around. I thought "oh my gosh, how helpful." We wait, and wait, and wait, nearly 30 mins. Finally security guard James comes walking by and says "sorry" can't help us, his supervisor said he couldn't and I need to go talk to someone else. So, I walk 10 mins through the campus to talk to his "supervisor" who turns out to be a couple of students behind a counter. Yeah, they can't help me either but are ever so helpful (NOT!!) and tell me I can go talk to another guy parked in a student services van across the way. Yeah, he couldn't help me either. Back to counter girls I go who still can't help me but provide me with a map to the building I need to go to to get the wheelchair myself. I'm pretty sure this is where I started swearing at people.

OK. So, now armed with my trusty map, I hike back to the car and drive 5 mins or so to the other side of the campus and park in Lot B like I'd been told. I hop out and walk 10 mins in search of the freaking building where they supposedly house the wheelchairs. I make it, check out a wheelchair (with just a signature BTW, which was weird in and of itself), roll the wheelchair 10 mins back to the car and then began considering "how the hell am I going to get this freaking wheelchair in my car???" First of all, its heavy as hell, second, its huge! So I pop the trunk and began unloading all my assorted crappola (stroller, blankets, a folding chair) into the back of the car, fold up the huge chair and eventually am able to maneuver it into my trunk. I jump in the car finally feeling pretty good about things and notice, I GOT A FREAKING PARKING TICKET!!!

Now I'm really pissed. Egads.

I drove back to the other side of the campus, hoisted the heavy-ass wheelchair out of the trunk and finally was able to pick up Casey. Fantastic, success!!!

Off we go to the ER where things actually improved. Things went relatively quickly (2 hours), xray came back OK, no break and away we went with a RX for some pain meds and a brand new pair of crutches.

Lets just say it was a LONG day and it didn't end there. I still had to go to work. Can you spell e.x.h.a.u.s.t.e.d?

One year ago... (part 1--DOR)
It was a crazy day. I'd been on RQ pretty much 24/7 for weeks looking for info and finally the day had arrived!! Referral day!!! I couldn't believe it. I was so nervous and excited I thought I was going to burst. About 11:30 in the morning, we saw G's face for the first time! I couldn't believe our good fortune. We received referral for the perfect little girl for us!!! On that day, we became a family of five.

A few weeks ago we had family pix done. During the 3 yrs we waited, I used to imagine having family pictures taken with the boys and my imaginary girl. Its weird the things I focused on sometimes. Anyway, it was fun to get pix of the 3 kids together plus its been years since I've gotten pix of Brett and Casey that were the crummy school variety.

They printed them in a finish they call "retro" --I tried to duplicate the look in photobucket with a little success but I think you can still get the idea.

Introducing the new and improved Crowells...

And then there was one...
Kid that is. Its been a week.

Seven days ago Bobby and I dropped Brett (kid 1) and Casey (kid 2) off at school. This is Brett's third year so you think I'd be used to it by now, but no. Bobby took Brett. He's skipping the dorm this year and sharing a 3 bedroom, ocean-front duplex with 3 girls and 3 other boys (yes, that's a total of 7!!).

I took Casey. We loaded up his stuff, you know, all the usual: twin XL sheet and comforter set, desk lamp, pens and papers and a costco sized package of cup a noodles. It was hot, Casey was a bit grouchy. Its a big step for him. He'd been excited and nervous. He said he wasn't but he was. G went with us to drop off big brother. As usual she was a trooper. I'm pretty sure I didn't see any other parents dragging a toddler along while they dropped off their college kid. It made me feel old and, to tell the truth, a little out of place. I'm not sure why. I think I was nervous too.

So, like I said, its been a week. I've talked to each of them a few times for a few mins each and asked the expected questions. I've asked them what they've been eating, how they like their roommates, do they like their classes, etc. But what I really want to ask is "How did you grow up so quickly?" and "Where did all the time go?" Sigh.

In some ways its not so bad. My house is cleaner than its been in quite some time and I don't have to keep reminding them to be quiet while G is napping. I can only imagine how much money we'll be saving on groceries. But, in general, it's awfully quiet. Even though they were off doing their own thing most of the time they were still around and now they're not. Its depressing.

G looked for them the first day or two. She's stopped now. They'll be back home for Thanksgiving break in 59 days. Not that I'm counting :-)

21/20
Big news at the Crowell house! This past week was Brett's 21st birthday and Georgie turned 20 mos!!!

I cannot believe that my beautiful baby boy is now 21 yrs old. Its absolutely shocking to me. Where did the years go? I just don't understand how this can be. When I think of "Brett" I picture him at age five. It seems like such a short time since little Bretty wore a step cut and wanted Power Ranger figures for his birthday. I think about him learning to read and the way he'd amuse himself by creating books he fashion from cut up squares of copy paper stapled together. Brett was a beautiful child and he's grown into a very nice young man. I love him with all my heart.

On the same day, Georgie turned 20 mos old. She continues to grow and learn. She's such a happy, healthy, lovely little girl. And, OMG!! she's potty training herself! I'd heard about kids doing that before but never thought I'd have one. She's doing #2 consistently --she comes and tells us "poopoo" and we help her then as a reward she gets 2 mini marshmallows! She loves it and is very proud of herself. She comes out of the bathroom saying "mallow, mallow!!" Then we all tell her what a good girl she is and how proud of her we are. She usually holds onto the mallows for awhile while she walks around the house saying "proud, proud" before she finally pops them into her mouth. Adorable!

All the world's a fair!
I've been going to the LA County Fair since I was in the 6th grade. Not every year. I've missed some but I definitely made up for it some other years by going many times. When Brett and Casey were in elementary school, they entered lots of contests and competitions at the fair and we'd go sometimes 10-12 times during the month it ran. But it had been a long time since I'd been at the fair with a little kid and I was really looking forward to it!

Even though it was the first day of the fair --which I figured pretty much guaranteed a pretty big crowd --and its been about 100+ degrees every day for a couple weeks --which I figured pretty much guaranteed it would be hotter than the hinges of hell --we decided to forge ahead. I have to admit that the fact that they were having a special admission price of $1 per person really helped with the decision! I can't believe the price has gone up to $17 pp now. Trust me, only paying $2 for us to get in made me feel quite a bit better about paying $10 to park, $6 for a hot dog, and $4 for a bottle of coke. But hey, what can you do?

Anyway, G had a blast!!! She saw and petted horses, chickens, donkeys, llamas, bunnies, goats, sheep, pigs, and cows. She rode a pony, milked a goat and had so much fun. It was HOT! I mean sweat running down the sides of your face hot in some of the barns where the animals were kept. But we made the best of it and ended up having a great time. G was so tired she actually fell asleep in her stroller for only the second time that I can recall.



You know how the goats and sheep they have in petting zoos are always so docile they seem dead? Yeah, not a problem on the very first day of the fair. The animals were so hyped up, nervous and active that I had to rescue G a few times because they were running around so fast they almost knocked her down. Some of them were leaping into the air higher than her head to get to the $5 per dixie cup full of food. Yikes.




G and mommy in the barn. I cannot even begin to express to you how hot I was when this photo was taken. Seriously, the aluminum roof on this building must have magnified the heat or something, it was almost dizzying. Thankfully, we did this first thing and it wasn't very crowded yet.


G milking the goat. She was so good at it she actually squirted goat milk onto my foot once or twice, yuck!


Feeding the cow some hay with daddy.


Showing off her pony ride token!


On the pony ride! As usual, G didn't look very excited during the ride but didn't stop talking about it for the rest of the day!

Horsing around all over town!!
I've mentioned before that Georgiana LOVES trains. She loves them so much, I believe she dreams about them. The other day, I went into her room to wake her up in the morning. I was rubbing her back gently and saying my usual morning greeting "good morning sunshine, are you ready to get up?"

Georgie rolled over and sleepily said "choo, choo" --absolutely priceless!!! She particularly loves the train in Arrowhead so we found ourselves making the trip up the hill again for lunch, choo choo, and duck feeding. This time we got 8 ride tix. G was in heaven, she got to ride the choo choo 4 times in a row. They have a small carousel up there as well. Last time we saw a carousel, G said she didn't want to ride but this time she was happy to do so.

This last weekend, we decided to go to the Santa Monica pier. I've lived in So Cal my whole life, been to the beach tons of times, of course, but for some reason never made it to Santa Monica. It was fun. No trains unfortunately but they have a gorgeous carousel. When G saw it she started running towards it screaming/screeching "Horsey, horsey!!!!" She was so excited! What a bargain too only $1 per ride for daddy and G!

By the time we got a bite to eat and rode the carousel, it was almost 2 o'clock which is really late for a little girl who takes a 2 hr nap at noon every single day like clockwork. But it seemed like a shame not to go down to the water so we forged ahead. I have to say, its been really HOT in our area the last week or so. We're talking 102 to 105 degrees every day. At 8 am, when I'm driving to work, its already like 82 degrees!! Eeek! When it gets hot like that, people swarm the beaches to hopes of finding some relief. As a result, I have never in my life seen the beach so crowded. It was unbelievable. The water was a "sea" of people. G didn't care. She sat down on the sand right at the edge of the water and every time the wave would hit her she'd scream and shriek and laugh! She was so happy. So, so cute.

When we got back in the car it took her, oh I don't know, all of 10 secs to fall asleep. That was a big day for little G.

Georgie and daddy on the carousel in Arrowhead


Riding the choo choo


Checking out the ducks and fish at the lake. G's getting really good at feeding them. Now when she throws the bread to the ducks it actually lands in the water instead of on the ground an inch or two in front of her feet!




G in the backyard wearing super cute ladybug suit. Ahhhh!




Giving daddy a kiss




Blowing bubbles in the water


G at lunch in Santa Monica. We went to the mexican place at the end of the pier. I think it was called Mariasol. Super tasty seafood enchiladas. We were going to eat outside but it was just too hot. G liked it because there were actually birds that came inside the restaraunt to eat broken chips that had fallen on the floor. All during lunch she said "Birdie, birdie!!!" FYI, she's not drinking soda, its water.


G and daddy looking at the carousel horses.


G's pretending that the horse is biting her fingers. She does this with her stuffed animals too. Its pretty funny.


Daddy's turn!


Each time that G went for a ride she'd have to carefully choose her horse. Bobby would start to put her on one and she'd say "noooo" he'd put her on another, "nooooo" etc until she found one that was just right! Apparantly, she's the Goldilocks of carousel horses.


G enjoying the beach. Ever since the weekend, G will randomly walk around the house saying "beach? beach? beach?" I think she liked it there!








Let's just say that G had a LOT of sand in her swimsuit at the end of he day. I mean, a LOT!