Turns out Eric had same symptoms as Michaella, fever for twp days with headache and fatigue and went back to school on Wed. Ruth thinks it will probably be okay for us to go to Kansas City tomorrow. We will make final decision after she gets here about 2 p.m.

last post

As we are leaving tomorrow morning, this is our last post.

That stinks about Michaella. We are praying for God to give her comfort. there is a plastic tub in the storage room in the basement. Take a freezy pop out of there and freeze it so she can have it if she wants. Just keep an eye on her temperature. 101 isn't too bad but we want to watch it.

That is fine if my parents pick us up. Whatever works. you can see how michaella feels in the morning as well.

Here are the final pictures you need.

Michaella is running a temperature of 101 today. While we were at the library, she went a laid down on the couch near the entrance and kept pushing for us to hurry and go. When she got in the car she kept making funny noises. When I asked what was wrong she said she had funny shiver cramps all over her body. I took her temp when we got home. She is in bed with our "Indian blandket and the knit afghan from the basement piled on her. I gave her the acetominiphen. Josiah has a little tightness today so he dosed with the blue inhaler this noon. He still has a headache (he says) but he doesn't really act mopey like earlier this week. I suspect the two of them have the same thing but her symptoms are stronger. Since the H1N1 has been hitting teens hardest I am keeping a close watch on her. In light of that, I don't think Dad and I should drive to Kansas City. The medical release is in my name so Ruth couldn't get care of her if it was needed tomorrow.

I don't think Josiah is sad about not doing leaves. He wasn't a particularly enthusiastic raker from the first. Josiah finally got sound to his game cube so he is excited about that this afternoon. Still nothing for Videos.

Thursday post

That was me!! I used my laptop and remoted in so I could chat with you guys in real time. I though maybe Josiah would already be at the computer. While I was on, I noticed that someone came and opened the blog but it was probably Josiah and he doesn't know how to type.

Directions for Josiah.
1. Give him his orange enhaler twice a day.
2. Give him his other enhaler (blue one) when he complains of chest tightness
3. Keep him off leaves duty as that might be bothering him.
4. There is some childrens ibuprofin in the white basket in the bathroom closet for headache.

Here in Cancun things are good. It's chilly here. I'm actually wearing my sweat shirt right now. Hopefully tomorrow it will be warmer.

I (dad) went snorkling today. It was amazing. I took lots of pictures but its a film camera so we won't see them until we get back. Mom is snorkling tomorrow. I only have one more day of class tomorrow so I'll have someone take a picture. Plan on that picture being uploaded by late tomorrow afternoon if the connection is good enough. It's a bit sporadic. We are tired so that is all for now.

We are very excited about coming home and seeing you guys. I saw some kids today doing a puppet show with some marenettes. I think it was part of the kids club thing. They danced their little mermaid puppets around to the little mermaid song. It was no where near the quality of your performance. Did you guys do your show for G and G Ruse?

That is fine if you pick us up. Go ahead and use the map and instead of GPS. I think that Tom Tom gets confused about what roads are what. I probably need to upload on the computer.

Can't help you with the chicken.

We will try to post pictures tomorrow.

Love you guys

m and d

Josiah is lying on the ground because Grandpa went too fast, too many times on the merry-go-round. He was quite dizzy. Hannah was excited because some little girls came to play and she was sad to leave. One little girl ran and gave her a hug when we left. From there we went to the antique mall (Michaella's request). She was estatic. We finally returned home to rake. Josiah seems much better tonight. He isn't moping but joined whole-heartedly into charades, as did the drama queen, Miss Hannah. Noah was very creative with his attempts. To illustrate a baseball cap, he sat on the floor in the shape of a hat. He also slaughtered me at tri-ominos - 162 to 50+. Josiah still has a headache and cough but is no worse. Dad and I, well, we're pooped. I lose count of how many times I climb the stairs in a day. You should be staying skinny girl, without T-Tapps. I've searched all three freezers and can't find any chicken to bake for tomorrow night. If you don't tell me some hiding place I've forgotten, I'll pick some up when we go to the library tomorrow.

Love and good night.

Mom

Don't forget I need a pictue of "Daddy in school with Dave Ramsey"

Dad has decided that everything electronic in your house is "half-possessed". He is afraid to trust your GPS to find the Kansas City Airport. He says he'd probably do something wrong and that wouldn't work either. By the way, Mike, your mom suggested we pick you up so that we can spend more time seeing you guys before we leave. She is willing to watch the kids. Okay by you? He says to assure you that, old-fashioned guy that he is, he can read a map and find you okay. He has already checked it out. No lightening storm last night so no power failure. Only lost power in Grandpa and Grandma. We are certainly ready for bed at the end of the day. We tried running a DVD in your computer last night after kids went to bed. Half-posssessed piece of junk about describes it. So we went to bed and read.

Josiah has been complaining of a headache since last evening and sort of droops around. He also complained yesterday of more tightness in his chest. Suggestions? We're hoping it's not the flu. He also complained about his stomach last night but Michaella says his stomach always hurts when he is sad. Could raking leaves be stirring things up for him?

See ya,
Mom

??? from Dad

somebody broke into the sight with a word text message??? asking user to get somebody who could type, no names mentioned

Wednesday

lets get housekeep out of the way.

1. I believe that the gas cap isn't tight enough. Try that. Other then that it's probably an O2 sensor. check the fluids and if they are okay then don't worry about it.

2. The computer password is mjv06196. Make sure it's not in caps. The computer is half possesed (or its just junk). If it gives you problems then restart it.

Josiah, I'm sorry you are so sad. We miss you very much and love you. Don't listen to Michaella. Everything is going fine here and will for you too. Remember to trust in God that he will take care of us and you.

Here is the picture we wanted to send yesterday. The internet connection is sometimes lousy here.

Here is mama scrapbooking. She isn't doing it as much as she thought.

We spend a lot of time hanging out with other people. I went zipling today but they didn't allow any cameras so I don't have pictures. One thing I did was zipling upside down. It was pretty neat. Tomorrow I will snorkle on the great carribean reef. It is the second largest in the world. Friday, mama will snorkel and Judah will on Saturday. Just kidding...he said he doesn't want to spend the money.

Dinner tonight was at the Japanese restaurant. We have some cool pictures and a really neat video that we will bring home to show you. We at Sushi and LIKED it. I want to take you to a sushi restaurant like that. I think there is one in Columbia.

I sat next to Dave Ramsey on a truck and I spent a lot of time zipling with his wife and son. Pretty cool. Oh...and you adults will find this interesting. I sat at lunch with Dave's new pastor. he is Michael Easly, formerly of Moody Bible Institute. Really nice guy! He is going to do a talk tomorrow on leadership. Should be good.

I got a picture of Judah sleeping for Hannah's book, but I'll try to send tomorrow. I don't want to push my luck tonight with this connection. Hannah, mama knows how much you LOVE shoes! I'm sorry it made you sad not to be able to keep the bowling shoes. Noah...how cool to get a strike! Last time we went bowling with Matt, Christina, and Corrisa, I didn't even get one. Michaella what an awesome bowling score! Josiah, I'm proud of you for working hard with Grandpa raking...and all of you! Michaella...remember to encourage and reassure your siblings while we're gone..not take advantage of them!

Hope you're holding up well mom & dad! Sorry the phone thing didn't work...we just saw this (to call from US 1-800 number) on the phone and hoped it would work. We won't be able to call from here because it's really really expensive. When we get back to the airport on Saturday we will call you for sure to let you know we're coming home.

Your "Service Engine Soon" light is on in the car. Should we be concerned, check something, etc before heading for Kansas City?

Sorry, these pictures are pretty bad. I couldn't figure out what was wrong at the time but realized after we got home that it was on "night" setting so of course you can't get kids to hold still long enough for a clear picture.

Scores were: Hannah and Noah (who each bowled once in a frame. trading off who started the frame - 72 points; Josiah - 65; Michaella 107! She was quite pleased. She had one strike and a couple of spares. Noah had one strike.

Hannah was adamant that she wanted to keep her bowling shoes. She was even convinced that the man said it was okay. I took them off her and put her shoes, only to have to do it again two more times before we finally got them to the counter and away from her.

Michaella is at dance right now, Hannah is asleep, the boys are setting up triominoes to play with us.

See ya.

TUES NOV 11

From Mom,

School done except for Josiah's piano today and independent reading for both today. He is practicing now so we can go bowling. We spent a couple of hours raking today and hope to do a bit more after bowling. Dad is working on the TV/Video problem now. They got it back to picture so Josiah could play games but no sound (yesterday). This morning Josiah used the same password we had been trying yesterday for the computer and it worked. Who know why. We did get a message today about error problem to send to Microsoft so obviously something wasn't right last night. All is well and the kids were relieved to hear from you.

Hannah played in a puddle today and mysteriously got wet, all the way to her skin. Imagine that! She crawled in bed with me this morning and we hud under the blankets so Grandpa had to find us when he came out of the bathroom.

Noah did some raking today and was very possessive about "his" rake. (I bought 3 more yesterday). If they had had a 4th available I would have purchased it but we bought them out except for the $14 ones. Grandpa sometimes uses the snow shovel and moves the big pile while we rake.

Michaella wants to know what day you are zip-lining. The reason we didn't call you is because we couldn't get it to work, even using the long-distance operator. She gave us the country code and verified how we should dial but it wouldn't work. We tried using both the cell and the land lines. The kids were very disappointed. They want you to call them.

Josiah went to bed early again last night because he was sad. He told us, "1st the TV wouldn't work last night. Tonight the computer won't work so we can't blog. Tomorrow we'll probably have a thunder storm and the power will go out and the next day Grandma or Grandpa will get sick." I think these very pessimistic forecasts probably came from big sister. He wasn't sad enough already! Her comment today, "You don't know how much fun it is to scare your little brother!" His gullibility reminds me of his mother.

Jon and Katie are in process of signing new purchase agreement on their house. This one looks very possitive. Closing is set for Dec 15 with possession 7 days later. If all goes well, they will probably move the week prior to closing so it isn't so close to Christmas.

Must leave for bowling. See ya and have fun.

your computer password-Stacy

Email your computer password to dad or me so we can call the Ruses with it. You know, the password you have to put in when you turn on the computer. Delete this blog post after reading. Out.

Bathrooms and life in mexico

Our shower...it constantly changes between cold water and scalding hot! There is no reason for this because it only does it when the water comes out of the shower head. The bathtub faucet doesn't do this. Very strange...

We thought it was cool that this family friendly resort has a special bath tub just for babies. Julie said it was a biday but she doesn't know anything.

We visited the beach today. The water isn't "crystal clear" because of the hurricane. We are hoping that it will clear up in the next couple of days. Because of this we couldn't go snorkling. We did sit on the beach for awhile but Judah didn't like the water. He thought it was attacking him with the waves we think. After that even being on the ground was not an option.

Everthing is a walk so we are constantly hungry. On top of that we never eat at "regular times". Breakfast was at 10:00 lunch at 12:30 snack at 4:00, light supper at 7:00 and supper at 9:30.
We miss you guys. Thought maybe you'd call tonight, but not sure if it didn't work or got confused on which day since we said "tomorrow" but posted on tuesday (it was really about 1 in the morning...but we were still thinking it was Monday). So maybe we'll hear from you on Wednesday at 5:30pm (Central time). Don't be sad Josiah...have a great time with Grandma and Grandpa.

At this point I can't walk you through getting the sound and video to work through the sound system. However, you can try a couple of things. On the back of the receiver there is the FM antenna plug. Take the grey wire near that and plug it into the VCR. that will make the video go direct form the DVD to the TV without going through the receiver. If that doesn't work then look on the back of the DVD player and hook up three wires (two audo, on video) from DVD out and put those into the TV. That will skip the receiver all together.

Internet stinks here so I don't think I can get any pictures posted right now. Will try again tomorrow.

As you can see, I finally figured it out. Noah has been evading pictures.

From Mom,

We spent some time yesterday after arriving doing some raking, then built a campfire and roasted hotdogs, but not marshmallows because we had no sticks. The kids were very disappointed about no blog update. Josiah went to bed early (8;30) and I found him there crying. He said he "missed Mom and Dad". I suspect it was a combination of no update and the sense of not being able to contact you to solve our "movie night" problem. (We tried to run a video but could not do so. The kids know some cord has to be moved in order to get stuff from the VCR but they don't know which one. If you can possibly describe what needs to go where, maybe we can get one going another night. ) This morning Josiah raced downstairs as soon as he was awake and came back all excited because you had updated the Blog. He explained all the details of why you hadn't done it earlier.

I also can't figure out how to download pics from my camera to your website. When I use the download cord, the camera won't show up in Explore. Also, on the blog page I can't find a place to upload pictures. Any wisdom for this problem.

Today we have tried to do school but the distraction level has been high. We accomplished about 1/2 of 11-10 work. I guess that means we'll have enought for the whole week. Noah was a great help getting me to Truman for his therapy this morning. Go straight, now turn this way, etc. He is a very observant young man. He told me Hannah doesn't know that you have to wait for a green light to go. She says, "Go, Mama, GO!".

Can I just say I don't like your mouse. I inputed comments here three times only to have it "jump out" and lose everything before I posted. E_E_E_E_E_K!!

Each of things had given me messages for you but I have long forgotten all but Noah's. He said, "Tell them I miss Mom and Dad and Judah and I want Judah to come home so I can kiss him and he can kiss me." It was so sweet.

In regards to foraging - you said it! Dad even found the chest freezer in the garage open and the blueberries opened. Of course she didn't do it. Yesterday afternoon, I walked into the kitchen to find her cheeks bulging with marchmallows and three more in each hand. She had climbed onto the counter to accomplish that one.

Enought for now. Hope you are having a great time.

UPDATE

The TV got switched to a difforent cord so we won't be able to have movie night. hope you are enjoing youselves. Har, Har, Har, grandma doesn't understand the buttons on the side of our mouse she was getting pretty frustrated.WE HAVE WON THE LEAF BATTLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We're sorry we didn't get a chance to write on here last night; so there was nothing new for you to read this morning. We took some pictures during our flight to Cancun from Chicago so you can see some pictures taken during the daytime. I thought the clouds were really neat to look at from above. We also took a picutre of the "eye" of the hurricane. It was more of an open spot of sky in the middle of the clouds. Our pilot worked very hard to give us a smooth ride around the storm. Judah slept most of the time on the airplane. We sat next to a travel agent who surmised that Frontier grounded their flights because their pilots don't have the same experience levels to allow to fly in those conditions. When we got in to the airport we got through customs very fast because a mexican saw our "bebe" and sent us to the front of the line ahead of like 300-400 people. Our experience has been that the mexicans love babies. Everywhere we go they comment on Judah. "que linda!"...how cute.

So we got to the resort and Erick the bellboy brought us to our bungalow in a "limo" which is a 3 bench golf cart, then carried our luggage up two flights of stairs to our room. All of the workers here are very kind. Dave Ramsey said that one of the reasons they chose this resort was because of its "Stellar" customer service. Josiah...do you know what stellar means from your latin? We didn't have much time until we had to go to our evening sessions and dinner. By the time we got back to our rooms it was around 9pm,but we had been up since 3:30am that morning and were sooo tired, that we didn't update the blog last night.

Today Daddy went to his morning sessions while Judah and I stayed back in the room. I ordered room service, getting brave enough to use my Spanish, "Deseo un plato de fruta," which means, "I wish for a fruit platter." I had slices of mango, watermelon, cantalope, and honeydew melon arranged beautifully on my plate and that was my breakfast. I spent the morning unpacking our suitcases, Ttapping, andshaving my legs...which resulted in an unpleasant walk in the surf later. It seems that my ankles were a bit chaffed from my razor and made my legs sting in the salt water.

At lunch today I tried Calamari (squid) from the buffet. It tasted very rubbery. We didn't really like it. I also had Tamales, which were wrapped in corn husks. This item had some kind of meaty center cooked in corn mush stuff, kind of like fried corn meal mush texture, only made from white corn. We didn't like it at all. Tonight we're going to dinner at 9:30pm at a Meditteraean style restaurant with another couple we met.

We did try to go to the beach today, but because of a long lunch, where we were visiting with other people, we didn't make it until 4pm and the sun was starting to set...so it was too cold to swim. We sat on the beach with our complementary beverages and fries (for a snack) and listened to the surf. Judah chewed on his toys. His first tooth has almost appeared. Tomorrow morning we are going to the beach when the sun is shining and warm and will try to snorkel. We'll be sure to take pictures with the underwater camera...but we won't be able to post those because they're film.

Here's a toll free number you can call us at1-877-648-8358. Ask for room 1115. If you call us tomorrow (tuesday) around 5:30pm we'll be sure to be in the room to receive your call and talk to you. Use my cell phone that is sitting on the kitchen counter to call...just go stand in the living room by the windows or on the porch to get better reception.

Love you all....and loved your pictures and stories too.

Mom & Dad.

a little message from Josiah

I found the disc "across the universe" under the chairs downstairs. Hope you are having a good time.


Everyone is waiting for you to post!!!! (from Stacy)

a monster in the leaf pile- from Michaella

We finished a movie about a leaf pile that eats people up. Eric should get the thing done by tomorrow. all sots of people get eaten by the pile. in it a special performance of indiana jones and a family celebrity. Have you arrived in cancun?

And back at the ranch...

Just to give you an idea of what we have been up to since you have been gone...


This is the fort that Therese and the kids made to watch a movie in last night. The mattress now has little butter grease marks from popcorn, but not too bad. Michaella, Josiah, Neiko and I also told stories in it before they went to bed. As for the current picture- the kids have been playing WAY too many video games today... this picture was taken before breakfast. We are cutting them off to finish making the movie we started yesterday. The plot has to do with a leaf pile that makes people disappear- Therese thought of the plot, and won the vote. My plot, having to do with a house that keeps relocating to different parts of the world, did not give a single vote. Ivy and Hannah's plot of "Princesses in a castle" came in second.

Speaking of the two, this is Hannah and Ivy playing with My Little Ponys in the closet...They have been playing really well together. Ivy told Hannah that she should call Therese 'Mom' because they are sisters now. They also declared their best friendship on the swingset a couple of hours ago...but then Ivy would not share a pony or play because she said she was feeling mean...so it is a complicated relationship.

The boys playing in the room- all in all I would say everyone is pretty happy so far, and we really haven't had to discipline anyone really- just vague threats to get everyone to clean the rooms and brush their teeth this morning. They of course loved your pictures that you posted. Hope you guys arrive without being too tired- I'm sure Dave is anxious for you to get there. Your children are doing well though.

oh the places we'll go

Well, we are in Chicago now. We had to get up at 3:30 this morning for our early flight. It was a 50 minute plane ride. I think we spent about 15 minutes cruising until we started to descend over the mississippi. Judah slept the whole flight and only woke up a little when his ears started to get plugged on descent. We tried to get some pictures of the morning breaking but they just don't do it justice. Here at the airport in Chicago we rode several people movers. We thought about how Josiah would love to run on them and see how fast he could go.

trip to cancun problems

Well, about 3/4 of the way to Kansas City to get on our airplane Sunday morning, the airline called and said our flight was cancelled. Apparently Ida was causing problems and Frontier airlines cancelled the flight. I found out later that it was only ONE OF TWO FLIGHTS CANCELLED. After much phone calling and cajoling we finally figured out that we can get refunded for our "outbound" flight and we booked a different flight on United airlines through Chicago.

Interesting fact: Frontier wanted us to take a flight on Monday into Cozumel instead of Cancun. Find Cozumel in a mexican travel guide. We would have to take a ferry to the mainland and then find our way up the coast to Cancun. The Dave Ramsey people were not excited about picking us up in Cozumel. We were thinking that the ferry looked something like this.

One bit of sunshine is that since we will be in Chicago, I might get to ride a people mover which Josiah really wanted a picture of.

Another visitor to Cancun

Well, we leave for Cancun in almost 48 hours. I've discovered that tropical storm Ida is also planning on visiting the area. It seems that she will be arriving sometime after us. It doesn't look like she is going to stick around long. Should make the waves in the ocean a lot more fun.

Traveling to Cancun

There is only one airline that offers a direct flight to Cancun from Kansas City. We chose Frontier airlines because they offer a direct flight without silly layovers in far away Texan airports. Plus...it is my opinion that Frontier has the coolest looking airplanes.

First post

This is our blog to be about our trip to Cancun, Mexico.