Before I get too involved in the recap from our fall camping trip, I wanted to write about the unfortunate excitement we experienced on Friday (10/9/09) afternoon. On Friday morning, the elementary school that Clara attends (which is a lovely small neighborhood school) found that a rock had been thrown through one of the windows containing a bomb threat toward the high school. Both the elementary school and the high school were evacuated and investigated thoroughly by the bomb squad. It turned out to be a prank, but resulted in a lot of scared and angry parents. I was informed about the threat by one of the neighbors, who found out by trying to go and eat lunch with his child. That may be one of the scariest voicemail messages I've ever received! My heart was racing and my hands were shaking as I immediately turned to go and get Clara, but by the time I got to the school, the kids were all back in their classrooms. The school didn't inform us of the situation until 4:30pm! The school was following county policy regarding emergency situations, but many of the community parents are outraged that they weren't notified immediately and given the opportunity to collect their children immediately. Instead, all the kids were evacuated onto the soccer fields behind the school while the investigation took place... for 3 hours... in the hot sun, with no water and no facilities. I can totally empathize with why parents are so angry... but on the complete other hand, when I picked Clara up from school at the end of the day, she informed me that it was the best day EVER.So the biggest part of this post was supposed to be about our camping trip to Seneca Rocks in the Monongahela National Forest of West Virginia. However, placed between a bomb threat and a flu scare... it doesn't seem as prominent as I would have liked. We had an absolutely wonderful time! We headed to the campsite directly after Clara finished Nutcracker practice on Saturday afternoon and arrived at the campsite with enough light to set up camp. Jason had a nice fire going by the time we were done eating (hot dogs and baked beans), so we enjoyed a little relaxing time by the fire before bed. During the night, the temperatures dropped into the 30s, which was really cold. We were snugly warm in our tents, sleeping bags, thermal and fleece (Clara actually wore her hat to bed the second night). Eli didn't stay in his sleeping bag very well, so luckily, we had brought some extra blankets to make sure he stayed warm during the night. Sunday morning, we woke up and had hot chocolate, eggs, toast, and bacon (well, no bacon for me, obviously) and then got ready to explore the area. We looked around the Seneca Rocks Discovery Center for a while and then proceeded on a hike to the observation deck just at the base of the "knife's edge". The hike was a 900 ft elevation gain in 1.5 miles. Clara had to stop a lot on the way up, but she persevered and did great! Lucas kept up with Jason really well and only started getting tired close to the top. Jason went on to explore the "knife's edge" (or what I've been referring to as the spine), which was too dangerous for the kids. 
After returning to the car, we drove around for a little bit and then headed back to camp for dinner (green beans with macaroni and cheese) and roasted marshmallows! Jason's fire was perfect that night and Clara loved sitting by the fire writing in her journal about the day's adventures. Monday morning we enjoyed more hot chocolate, cream of wheat, and pears for breakfast... yummy. After loading up the car, we headed for Spruce Knob, which is the highest point in West Virginia at 4863 ft. I was looking forward to being able to look out on the carpet of color of the forest's treetops, but was sadly disappointed when the closer we got to the top, the cloudier it became. At the top, we couldn't see a thing... and it was so frigid! Jason and I took turns looking around while the boys slept in the nice warm car (Clara explored around with me). It was quite an experience... there were times when the clouds were so thick that even when Clara was standing just a little behind me, I could barely see her! And after all the fun, it was time to head home... back to a reality of back-to-back activities, car repairs, and sick kids. 
And lastly, I have to talk about how our house was invaded by the flu today. After a perfectly normal day yesterday, Clara woke up this morning with a low fever and a headache. At first, I noticed something wasn't quite right with her, but she insisted that she was fine... so she proceeded to get dressed for school. After about two minutes, she decided she didn't feel very well, but still didn't want to miss out on school. Finally, after an additional couple minutes and by this point she had started whimpering, she conceded and got back into her pajamas. When I checked her fever a few hours later, it had risen by a degree, but still not too concerning. She rested on the couch all day, but wouldn't relax... she insisted on doing her homework and drawing. She finally relaxed enough to fall asleep around 1:30pm and slept for a couple of hours. When she woke up, her fever had risen dramatically to 102.6F. I gave her some Motrin and told her relax. While I had the doctor's office on the phone about an hour later, I checked her again... 103.2F! The Motrin hadn't helped at all. She was so achy all over, that just brushing up against her arm caused her to exclaim of the pain. After a dose of Tylenol and a bath, she seemed in a little better spirits. She typically reads by herself before bed, but tonight she requested to be read to... so I called Jason in (reading to the kids at bedtime is typically his domain) and then I was going to get the boys ready. Clara told me that she wanted me to read to her... her words were something like this: "I want you to read to me, Mommy. You were the one who took care of me all day and you were the one that I relied on... I want you." Needless to say, I had to compose myself and dry my tears before I could settle in and read. That was the most wonderful, loving and perfect thing to hear after the scary day we've had. Lucas had an interesting day as well. He came home from preschool perfectly normal and then while he was eating lunch, he just couldn't hold his head up anymore. He went in and laid down with Clara on the couch and promptly fell asleep. He slept for 2 hours, woke up watched some TV (never moved from that spot), then about 2 hours later, rolled over and went back to sleep. Jason woke him up to put him to bed! This is highly irregular behavior for Lucas and he seemed like he was hot to the touch in the afternoon, so I just figured it was the fever, maybe he was getting whatever Clara had. However, Jason put him to bed and said that he wasn't hot at all. So I have to wonder... did all that sleep really help him? I'm guessing a lot will be determined in the morning.
We have bid farewell to September and summer seemingly at the same time. Here it is October and quite brisk... the kids have been wearing jackets to school every day. I don't really remember an October this cold this early before, but I have to admit loving how it feels exactly like fall should.We celebrated Eli's birthday a day late in the hopes that he would feel better after a couple doses of the antibiotic. He didn't really feel any better... just as I suspected, he was allergic to the medicine and the doctor ended up prescribing a new antibiotic Monday morning. Without getting too far off subject... I'm trying to stay focused on the birthday festivities. I made these little car cakes for our little guy who loves his "beep beeps", but he didn't even notice. He was so enthralled with the candles that once we blew them out, he just had a tantrum... he wouldn't even eat a little bite of his cake. I was incredibly disappointed, but kept telling myself... he's only 2. The highlight for Eli, though, was the presents. I don't think there was a single present that he didn't like. Even now, two plus weeks later, he is still playing with all his new toys... and he is ear infection free! 
Last week, he had his 2-year check-up. He is a very healthy boy, aside from the persistent runny nose and cough, which the doctor said is most likely allergies. His vitals: weight = 30-lbs (75th %ile) and height = 33.5-in (25th %ile). He weighs just 3 pounds less than his brother weighed at 4-yrs. The doctor says it's pretty normal for there to be such a wide discrepancy in the numbers and to expect that he'll hit a growth spurt during this next year. During the checkup, he did demonstrate his alphabet knowledge (which the doctor was impressed about). The worst part of the entire visit was when the nurse had to do a thumb-prick blood draw. Eli cried about the needle prick and he cried about having to have his hand held still while the nurse collected the blood, but he screamed and thrashed when the nurse tried to put the bandaid on his thumb. In fact, he pulled the first two bandaids right off, causing his hand to be covered in blood. The nurse finally had to put a third bandaid on, surrounded by tape to keep him from pulling it off. And then... after we left the doctor's office, he still cried every time he looked down and saw his thumb!I took Eli in to have his 2-yr portraits, but wasn't completely happy with the results, so I have another appointment scheduled for the coming week. Let's hope that his nose doesn't look too red and that he doesn't permanently cling to me during the photo session.Jason's parent's are home safe now. They had a nice visit here and we enjoyed having them. The kids really enjoyed them being here. Lucas and Eli took turns getting in bed with them each morning. Clara is still wearing the nail polish that Grammy painted on her fingernails and toenails. Eli still talks about his "papa" and "mammy". Jason and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. Jason's parents were here, so they watched the kids while we went out. It was really nice... especially since it's been since our last anniversary that Jason and I enjoyed dinner out without the kids. Our weeks seem to be disappearing like magic. With Clara's and Lucas' activities, we stay busy constantly. This past weekend was a bit more than what we are used to (assuming one ever gets used to being this busy). Clara had to attend a dance-a-thon (a fundraiser for the Nutcracker) on Friday evening from 6-9pm. Although she was hesitant about going, we invited a friend to go with her and they both ended up having a blast. Then Saturday evening, she went to a birthday party from 4-8:30pm. I'm trying to think and it seems like that was the first time that she's been away from us in the evening... and definitely the first time for two evenings in a row! I'm really not used to her not being here in the evenings. Although it was much quieter (the boys were playing together so nice without her being there to antagonize them or scream when they do something wrong), I actually missed her. We found out that Clara will be a snow angel in the Nutcracker. She has been to two rehearsals so far and seems much more excited about it now. At first, she was extremely upset and said that we tricked her into signing up and did not want to go to rehearsals. I am glad to see that the attitude has changed.I feel like Lucas hasn't had much space in this post, but not to worry. Lucas is having a lovely time right now. He loves his preschool class and teacher. He loves mini-kickers soccer. He loves dance. He even loves going to watch Clara's soccer games. He is exploring a burgeoning interest in sharks, is scared of the newer "kid-friendly" movies, and hums songs from Phantom of the Opera while doing his puzzles. He loves his siblings and gives the best hugs. And on that note... I'll say goodnight!
