Amber and Troy in Town

Amber and her husband Troy arrived from Holton, KS Thursday afternoon (the day after my parents left). Louis and I picked them up from the airport and I prepared them for the worst as I had stayed home all day with a sick baby and he was NOT in a good mood. We made the leftover turkey burgers for dinner and then ended up taking a long walk around the neighborhood when, as expected, Louis would NOT go to sleep. Friday, Louis' fever was gone so I brought him to daycare and the rest of us headed to downtown Seattle. I had NEVER seen anyone as excited as Troy to go to the Fish Market! Troy was rather disappointed that the Market didn't carry the northwest Rarity Goeyduck but he did buy us 3 Dungness Crabs, King crab legs and calamari. We also did the Underground Tour, went to the top of Smith's Tower and ate lunch at Pike's Brew Pub. When we got home Troy cooked up all the seafood and Amber and I made rice and salad. I told them I had never used all 3 burners on my stove at once! Troy did a great job and we had the best crab and beer-battered calamari EVER!

Daycare told me that Louis was "sooo good and such a laid back baby" but guess what? As soon as I put him in the car he cried the whole way home and was irritable all night. Louis wasn't eating well and I thought maybe his nose was too stuffy so Mike and I did a saline wash and suctioned his nose out - which I don't think did anything buy make him scream at the top of his lungs and cry for over 30 minutes and then I felt bad all night!! He woke up only 2 times in the middle of the night though and was able to eat just fine!

Saturday we packed a lunch and drove to Paradise. To our surprise the trail was completely covered with snow and there was not a cloud in the sky - the sun was glaring off the snow! I was so paranoid that Louis was going to get sunburned or that Mike was going to slip in the snow with Louis on his back that I had trouble enjoying myself. When the boys tried to set up lunch in a small bare area surrounded by snow I put my foot down and made us walk back to the car and drive lower to a spot that had a picnic table where we had a nice lunch in the shade and walked down to a water fall.

Poor Amber who had gotten a huge blister from her new hiking shoes during our walk on the fist night had made them worse by slipping and sliding on the snow all afternoon! After she got the blister initially, Troy, who was an EMT in the military was more than willing to perform a minor surgery on her blister. (Amber asked me if it was necessary and I told her I didn't know but I was all about the entertainment.) Troy took a needle and thread and put the needle in one side of the blister and out the other and then trimmed the thread real short. (This was to keep the holes open to allow the blister to drain. He then made a lambswool cutout to relieve pressure around the blister. After a few hours Amber pulled the thread out and it looked really good!

When we got home we had crab salad and played Trivial Pursuit! Louis did great all day and all evening (except that he is still boycotting eating - boob and bottle - and I am having to pump a lot to make sure my milk supply is still there when he decides he is going to start eating again!)

It was so fun to have Amber and Troy visit and Mike and Troy have big plans for their next visit - including renting a charter boat and catching some Goeyduck!

Pictures!