Beach, Peach

We had a rhyming picnic at the beach today! The girls had fun playing in the sand and waves at Brimley State Park and we had a picnic lunch while we were there. It was a lot of fun. Abby loves swimming and Olivia loves the sand, so it was a good day for everyone.

Sand Monster

Bats Are The Bane of My Existence

It's official. I hate bats. Really hate. Hope they all die. I don't even care that they eat bugs. Neither do my babies who now have to get five shots each on the off chance that the bat from their room had rabies and potentially bit them. It's a long shot, but, since we were not thinking straight at 12:30 am when we caught the bat and neither kid seemed to have bites, we let the bat go without having it tested. And since rabies is 100 percent fatal once symptoms show, we decided that it was better to err on the side of extreme caution (with the advice and agreement of our doctor and a friend who is also a family physician). So... our kids have had 1 of the 5 rabies shots they will be getting over the next few weeks. They did pretty good, all things considered. So here's hoping they do okay on Thursday when they get the next dose.

It was a nightmare getting the vaccine - a true test of my patience. And I'm afraid my score would have been low, especially toward the end of it. I called the health department at 8:30 am, again at 1 pm, and finally about 1:15 got a call back and was told that our girls needed the vaccine based on their exposure to the bat last Wednesday night/Thursday morning. We were directed to the community walk-in clinic (I also checked with my family practice but they don't keep the vaccine on hand). So off we drove to the walk in clinic. But they can't start the rabies series there, so they sent us to the ER (we will be getting the next 4 shots there though). Thankfully, our family physician was covering the ER today, so I know we got good care. The downside was that we arrived shortly before 3 ambulances, so being non-critical we had a long, long wait. Like 4 1/2 to 5 hours. It got a lot trying since I came ill prepared to keep kids occupied for so long. And Olivia missed her afternoon nap, so that only increased the chaos. But it's over, they have the shot, and we can sleep without worrying about another bat ending up in their room.

So, here's what I know now that you should remember:

1. Always try to catch the bat or wild animal to have it tested. This is especially true if you get a bite or if the animal is around a child, deep sleeper, or a mentally incompetent adult who may not notice or be reliable in reporting a bite. And try to keep the animal alive to make testing easier and potentially faster.

2. If you don't catch the animal, you should seek treatment if: you or your child was bitten; if a child, mentally incompetent adult, or someone who was sleeping deeply (medicated or alcohol induced generally) was found to be asleep or alone in a room with an animal; or if you come into contact with bodily fluids or mucus membranes of an animal that wasn't tested.

Less than 5 cases of rabies are reported in the US each year. And my kids aren't going to be part of that number thanks to their immunizations. Yay for shots, even though they hurt.

Bat Man!

Steve is two for two in bat catching in the last two days, which means we officially have a bat problem (at least in my books). Tonight's incident started with an Olivia freak out around 11:30. I normally let her cry it out but she sounded extra frantic, so I went in to check on her. The bat was flying circles in the room when I opened the door. Yuck! And I'm sure this was a new bat, because the first one is dead on the street in front if our house.

So... We moved the girls into our bed, shut the door and Steve started bat hunting. But in the move the bat ended up in the "safe" room with the girls and I. It stayed hidden for about 20 minutes before I startled it out and it startled us. Steve made quick work of the capture and got the bat released outside. Now for the tough parts - getting Olivia back to sleep and figuring out where these crazy bats are coming from.

This is where renting was so much easier... Now it is my problem since it's our house. Any good bat removal/prevention ideas would be greatly appreciated!

The Bat Came Back

Or more likely never left. But thanks to Steve it won't be coming in here any more.

Bat Attack!

We had our first bat in the house incident yesterday. I guess with this being an older home I shouldn't have been so startled to have a bat in the living room, but it was still a little much for the girls and I to handle. I was working on some bookwork with Olivia's assistance (or non-assistance) and Abby was relaxing on the couch trying to beat the heat. Then the bat flew down and landed on the couch right next to her head. She freaked out, Olivia freaked out, and I grabbed them both and tossed them into the car before heading back in to find my shoes, Abby's shoes, my wallet, and phone. Then we escaped to a friends house to wait for Daddy the bat remover. But, since I purposely left the back door open, Steve couldn't find the bat. So all day I've been looking over my shoulder waiting for it to reappear. Let's hope it got the message and flew out the door after we left.

And... in all that chaos, I didn't notice that Abby had dressed herself in only a dress and forgotten to put on panties. So yep... that went well. Luckily our friend had some size 4t undies, but they were boys so we had a little talk about the difference between boys and girls undies. And to top off my wild afternoon, we took the girls to see Winnie the Pooh at the movie theater with their friends. They had a good time, but somehow when I had changed Olivia's diaper before the movie it ended up twisted and inside out. So when she decided to pee at the theater it ended up on my lap not absorbed into the diaper. It can only go up from yesterday... I hope.

Uncle Dan the Traveling Man Visits

We had a visit from Uncle Dan last week (and a visit from cousin Meg & Ron her husband last night). It's fun to have company come up here so that we can have some quality time to visit - that is hard to do when we go home and have such a short amount of time and so much family concentrated in one place. So we've been to busy to do any substantive thinking about the last few weeks in the Obreiter household. It's been almost two weeks since we took Olivia to see an allergy specialist. That visit was mostly a waste of time. On the positive side, we know she is not allergic to dogs, cats, dust, or mold. But the allergist seemed to have this idea that a girl her age couldn't have an outdoor allergy. We disagree. A lot. The snot has been flowing all spring around here and was even worse for the last few weeks since she had to be medication free for the week leading up to her appointment. And after he told us she had no allergies and didn't need the medication we went with that for about a week. But eventually you've just got to go with your gut instinct and make your kid feel halfway normal, so as of 3 days ago she's back on allergy medication. She's still snotty, sounding funny when she's talking, and having all the allergy symptoms (especially after being outside), but we are hoping by the end of next week she will be feeling a little better again.
While Uncle Dan was in town we took advantage of the opportunity to do some day trips. The first trip was up into Canada. Our goal was to photograph Chippewa Falls, which is just over 30 miles from our house. We went on Monday and the radar showed some sprinkles, but it seemed like it would clear up quickly. It did not. Poor Dan braved it and got out at the falls to try and get a picture. Two minutes later he was totally soaked and didn't have any great shot to show for it. And he ended up crossing the border back into the US in my shirt (luckily I had packed myself and the girls extra clothes). But we had a good time driving up the coast. It was a beautiful stretch of road leading up to the falls and we saw a bald eagle sitting right on the beach.

We also took a day trip to Drummond Island and had fun exploring the neat things that the island has going on. Here are some of the things we saw...Maxton Plains - this place is basically a gigantic slab of limestone. The picture doesn't really do it justice. If you could see this from over head it would look like grass and bushes had grown up on a giant parking lot. And it's totally naturally occurring. It was pretty cool. And it would have been gorgeous about 2 weeks ago when it was in bloom. But, being a flower lover, I did enjoy snagging some wild columbine seeds, so I can enjoy the beautiful wildflowers in my own yard in a year or two.
I've lived in the U.P. for over three years now and this was the very first live, wild deer I'd seen. Not kidding... And it was an adorable spotted fawn. It would have been even more adorable if it hadn't been running down the middle of the road and making us follow it at a creep. I normally wouldn't have cared, but when on an island with a ferry that runs only once an hour it's important not to get slowed down if you want to leave on schedule. We ended up having to hang out at a beach for a few minutes because we missed the ferry boat. But the girls had fun swimming and playing in the water.

Birthday Partying

We have lots of little friends, so birthday parties are a fairly frequent occurrence for the girls. We had lots of fun celebrating a couple weeks ago with our special little buddy Wyatt who turned one. And Olivia learned how to swing on the swing without freaking out, so that was a major improvement in our outside activities!

Beach Weather

We finally have had some beach weather and the girls have been crazy about being in the sand and water. Olivia literally tremors with joy at the sight of the beach. And when I said beach the other morning she ran right to the closet, grabbed my flip flops, and put them on my feet so I would be ready to go. She can hardly stand the wait from the car ride when she knows where we are going.

We tried a new beach on Tuesday and it is someplace we probably will avoid for many years (and also made me rethink my plan to sell our house and buy a house on the Lower Saint Marys River in about 10 years). We are pretty well used to seeing freighters (huge boats) at the beach, since you can't really visit a beach around here without catching a peek at a boat. So we didn't think twice about throwing our kids into the water where big boats might be passing. And we did read the warning signs about strong currents and all. We even made the kids get a good 20 or 25 feet from where the water line was. But that apparently wasn't far enough. I was at least 20 feet on shore, but when the boat wake came I was mid-thigh deep in a very strong current. Luckily I was holding Olivia and had a good grip on Abby. Abby's friend Huron was on the bank, about 25 feet inland, and he ended up washed away. A quick thinking stranger plucked him up, but not before a big scare. So ended our first (and probably last) trip to 4 Mile Beach.

Sleepy Swing

Olivia got swung to sleep by her big kid friend Aron. She enjoyed having her own personal playmate last night!