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Back in the Fold!

Harry Potter's last book finally arrived yesterday afternoon!  I ordered it from Amazon.com and I guess they were so bogged down with orders that they were slow to deliver the books to us Hawaii folk.  Not a big deal - I was neck deep in a research paper about Alexander Campbell so I wouldn't have been able to read it anyway.  I'm hoping to start it within the next day or two (between homework assignments), so no one tell me how it ends!

As you may be able to tell from the pictures, I ordered the Deluxe Edition (I got it for about the same price as the regular book because I ordered it so early)!  It comes in a box with the typical front and back covers that all the books have.  However, the front and back cover for the book itself is completely different!  You may also notice that J.K. Rowling's signature is on top of the box.  Lastly (and I'm actually not sure if this is just in the Deluxe Edition or if it's in all the books), there is a gallery of all the artwork found at the beginning of each chapter in the back of the book, but each picture is much bigger and has captions.

I've heard good things about HP7 and I'm dying to find out how things go, so everyone leave me alone for the next week or so!

The Saga Continued

I didn't have time to finish "the rest of the story" in the last post.  Our trip home was maybe even more of an adventure than our trip to Colorado.  We showed up at the world's smallest airport too close to boarding time (it turns out they shut down the check in counter 30 minutes before boarding) and we ended up missing our flight.  And, wouldn't you know it, that plane actually left early!   The lady at the US Airways counter told us that there was a flight on United that could get us to Phoenix in time to make our connection.  So, we stood in the United line for about 30-45 minutes to see if we could get on that flight.  It turns out the flight she was talking about got into Phoenix 10 minutes before our flight to Honolulu would be taking off--not really going to work.  So, we go back to the US Airways counter to re-book on the exact same flight for the next day.  The counter is closed.  So, we have to come back to the airport at 6 PM to book that flight because we can't do it over the phone.  We have to be at the airport, but that counter is closed.  Yes, I was a little perturbed by this time.

So, we came back to the airport at 6 PM and I got booked on the flight for Saturday.  Then my sisters and I met Dad and Mom at the casino for some fun at the penny slots.  Even though I grew up on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation, it was my first time to ever even set foot inside a casino, so it took me a while to warm up to it.  I hated that you could smoke inside and I just didn't think it was much fun since it was all based on luck.  I didn't see the excitement in sitting there pushing a button for hours at a time, but there were plenty of people who did.  Then I found the old fashioned slot machines with the handles you had to pull down and the three things that line up.  My machine was called the Sky Ute Loot.  It was a quarter machine, but I think I only put one quarter in it when I started winning like a fool!  I had people lining up behind me to watch the quarters fall!  That's actually not an exaggeration.  There were several people lining up behind us to play.  Becky wanted to play a couple of quarters after me (she didn't rake it in like I did, though) and when she was finished there was a man who nearly sat on her lap before she could get out of the chair.  So, I went and cashed in my quarters and walked away with $34.75.  It's probably a good thing we had to get home to the kids or I would have lost that and I would be going to meetings where I only have a first name now.

That night we stayed with Leon and Tammy and got up early the next morning for homemade pancakes and an early trip to the airport.  This time we got there in plenty of time to discover that our plane was delayed.  It hadn't even left Phoenix, yet.  That wasn't terrible, though, because we had a four hour layover in Phoenix.  So, we got our bags checked in (after plenty of drama and arguing over whether or not a car seat counts as a bag--which it doesn't--they tried to charge me $80 to check it) and the ticket agent said, "OK, so your bags are checked through to Maui."  Yep, it turns out they had re-booked me on a flight to Maui instead of Honolulu.  Then they tried to tell me that I told them I was going to Maui!  I was very frustrated by this time.  Then she said, "OK, we'll try to get you on the flight to Honolulu, but there are only four seats left and the computer won't accept your reservation."  So, we waited for about an hour while she sat on the phone with some customer service number and she finally got me a seat reserved but couldn't get a boarding pass for Koa.  She finally sent us on our way and told us to get the boarding pass in Phoenix which we did with no trouble at all.

The flights themselves were relatively uneventful (as much as they can be with a VERY active 16 month old).  By this time he had finally learned that he can, in fact, sleep almost anywhere even if it is not his bed.  However, he took cat naps in each of the airports at the most inconvenient times (going through security, boarding, boarding again and baggage claim) and was wide awake and ready to run a race on the planes.  On the long flight I would let him walk all the way to the back of the plane to use the restroom (even though there was one right next to our seat) once an hour.  He didn't try to hold it at all this time.  He went every time I took him.  He had to use every bit of restraint he had in him not to touch the laptop of a guy sitting near us when I let him get up and stand in the exit row area a couple of times, but he did resist.  He actually tried to position himself to fall and "accidentally" touch it a couple of times, but I saw what he was doing and stopped him.  He is quite sneaky!

He finally fell asleep about half an hour before landing and then slept all the way through baggage claim (we got in early, so Zak wasn't there, yet, and he just met us at the curb), putting him in the car seat (after we set him down to put the car seat in the car), taking him out of the car seat, putting a diaper on, and putting him to bed.  He never even peeked open an eye!  He fell asleep spread eagle on his bed and slept until 6:45 the next morning.  I think he was pooped!  So was I, and I don't think I will ever fly US Airways again as long as it is my choice.

I'm sure I am destined to eat those words now!

The Rest of the Story

The day after the family reunion was Sunday.  We got to worship with my parents' congregation which is always a nice time.  They have made a lot of improvements to the building since I was there last.  It looks really nice!  I always love seeing all the folks I grew up going to church with and hearing how their kids are doing and what great things are going on in their community.  The lesson on this particular Sunday was given by the youth minister and he talked about herding sheep with one of the members of the congregation.  You don't get that just anywhere!  What a wonderful church family and what a blessing to be with them!

On Sunday night we had tickets (along with 97 other members of the Cundiff family) to go to the Bar D Chuckwagon!  This is a family tradition for our reunions.  In fact, I was trying to remember if I have ever been there without a large number of family members--I don't think so.  It was a fun evening of good ol' chuckwagon grub, music and laughter in a mountain setting.  It's always a good time.  One of the guys who started it back in the 60's is still playing there.  The other guys have come and gone many times over, but it is always a good time.  You'll find pictures of Koa and I riding the train before the show in the K2's CO Trip photo album along with evidence of the rest of our adventures.

On Monday we went to the Rocky Mountain Wildlife Park near Pagosa with my sisters and their kids and my cousin Tracy and her two boys.  It was a small little park with cages where the animals ate, but they were allowed to leave the cages and roam in much larger areas when they were not eating.  At first glance it seemed awful because the cages were so small, but it became clear that they were in a nice environment, but it also made them harder to spot.  We hung around for quite a while waiting for the mountain lion to come out of hiding so we could see him.  We got to see bears, wolves, elk and mountain lions.  The boys got to feed ducks and a sheep.  There were some elusive bunnies we were supposed to feed, but they obviously weren't very hungry.   

It was also nice to be away from large groups of people a little bit that day so I could cease from appeasing Koa's whines in an attempt to get him back to normal.  At one point we were walking up a pretty steep, rocky hill in the hot sun and Koa was whining (well, he was STILL whining) and I told him if he would stop whining I would pick him up and carry him.  He kept whining, so we kept walking.  When we got to the top of the hill he was in a little better spirits and started asking for things in his normal ways like pointing instead of whining.  That was the beginning of the detox....

After the wildlife park we met Great-Grandma Pierce and Great-Uncle Brad for lunch at a little malt shop in Pagosa.  This was the first time for Koa to ever meet his Great-Grandma and Great-Uncle.  So that was a nice time, but very short.

On Tuesday Great-Grandpa Hunt and Great-Grandma Myrna Zumwalt made the drive all the way down from Grand Junction to see us.  We were supposed to have a picnic "Up Home" which is the ranch where my grandmother's family homesteaded and where my grandparents raised their family.  My grandmother just passed away almost two years ago, but her kids still keep the place looking great and ready to use for family events or if someone is in town and needs a place to stay. 

We met Hunt and Myrna up there with the intent to have a picnic, but it started to rain as soon as we got there.  Hunt was happy to see the rain since it has been so hot and dry in Grand Junction, but we had to head inside for a while.  And just like my grandma always said--a sunshiny shower won't last half an hour--we were back outside in no time enjoying the beautiful yard and garden.  Great-Grandpa Hunt also got to see one of my uncles, Henry, whom he baptized years ago.  I know Uncle Henry was really glad to get to see him.  This Zumwalt-Cundiff web is very complicated....

After Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Zumwalt left to head back over the mountain we played around a bit more in the yard and then headed over to Tammy and Leon's (my sister and brother-in-law) house for a hair cut and a birthday party.  You will find pictures of Koa's hair cut in the K2's CO Trip photo album and I imagine there will be a video posted when Zak has a free moment to get it edited.  Koa did really well with the hair cut and although I was a little apprehensive about cutting off those curls, I think he looks as handsome as ever!  Tammy did a great job with it!!   

Leon and Tammy's eldest daughter, Kristina, turned 19 on the July 11.  Happy birthday, Tina!  So, Leon grilled out and the kids got to roast marshmallows (except Koa--I just couldn't do it) and then Tammy made homemade ice cream and homemade brownies!  YUM!  I made the mistake of offering the ice cream to Koa after he had already seen the brownie.  He wouldn't even touch the ice cream--that child knows that he loves chocolate!

On Wednesday Koa got to ride a four wheeler for the first time with Grandma Cundiff.  He wasn't sure he liked the idea until she got going and then he really enjoyed it.  Grandma was brave enough to get Alec, Sam and Koa on there all at once.  I think she enjoyed it as much as they did!

That evening I left Koa with Grandpa, Grandma and Aunt Becky and I went to have dinner with one of my best friends whom I never get to see.  Kate and I are terrible at keeping in touch, but every time we see each other it's just like we haven't been apart.  It was so nice to get to have some time with her.

I think this is the same day one half of the Fred Zumwalt family headed towards Romania for their annual voyage.  They will be teaching English there and supporting the local church family.  If you are interested in following their adventures you can check them out here.

Thursday was our last day in Colorado, so we had to try to squeeze in anything else we wanted to do.  So, we headed back to Pagosa Springs in the morning to see my Grandma one more time and we got to see my Uncle Buck and Aunt Shari (on my mom's side) and their son, Mike.  Koa thought Grandma's oxygen machine was the most fascinating thing he'd seen in a while, so I had to keep running him out of the bathroom where she keeps it. 

That afternoon we headed up to Lemon to go fishing.  To tell you the truth I'm not sure what Lemon is...I know there's a Lemon Dam, but there was no dam here.  I've never heard it referred to as Lemon Lake, though.  My dad always just says things like, "We went fishin' up at Lemon."  So, that's where we were--Lemon.

When we first took the lid off the container of worms Koa thought the dirt was chocolate!  Before I could even say anything his hand had shot in and it was already in his mouth!  As gross as I thought it was I couldn't help but laugh...natural consequences, I guess.  Then his Aunt Tammy encouraged him to pick up the worm.  I just knew he was going to put that in his mouth and that's the first thing I said...  Well, that just gave him ideas.  So, he kept acting like he was going to put it in his mouth just to make me squirm.  He thought it was hilarious every time I would react to it and he would just laugh harder.  He is such a little trickster already!

My dad "helped" each of the boys catch their own fish.  Koa wasn't sure what to think about the first one but he thought it was pretty funny when it would flop around.  The one he "caught" we had to throw back because it was too little.  He was more interested in tromping around in the mud and he kept wading out in the water and then he would get stuck because the mud was so goop-y.  The water line has come down considerably in the past month, so it was pretty messy all around there.  Eventually Koa got hungry, but I had just gotten started fishing so my mom took him to the car to get him clean and fed.  This time he didn't mind his long pants nearly as much!

I kept fishing until I broke the fishing pole.  No, wait, I still kept fishing with the broken pole.  I think I even caught the biggest fish on the broken pole.  Eventually I thought I should go see how Koa was doing--that must have been about 9PM.  Dad and Tammy kept fishing until around 9:30 or whenever it just got too dark.  Dad ended up catching the biggest fish (after I left, so it doesn't count!).  It was a German Brown.  All the rest of the fish we caught were Rainbow Trout.  We ended up catching 14 fish in all.

When I got back to the car and found Koa he had eaten a whole sandwich and had Doritos all over his face!  He was as happy as could be with Grandma.

Fun and Family!

You were at my mercy and I failed you.  It was a strange paradox:  I was in the land of dial-up at my parents' house and when I went to my sister's she had high speed, but she also had Vista and I couldn't figure out how to load the pictures to Typepad through Vista.  We were only over there a few times and one night I started this post, but didn't get it finished.  So, you finally get the update on our first couple of days....

Well, we did make the voyage across half of the US, and by the time we got here it felt like we had walked it!  Our flight out of Maui was delayed by an hour and a half.  By the time we actually got in the air Koa was sound asleep, but not too long after we took off (finally!) he awoke very disappointed to find that he was still on the plane!  He tried over and over to let me know that he was finished being on the plane by giving me the "all pau" sign.  I assured him that we were all feeling the same way, but we still had plenty of time left in the flight.   He fussed and whined for quite a while and I tried everything to get him to calm down.  I had already had to give him medication for his fever twice by this time, so I'm sure he was also still not feeling well from whatever his little body was fighting, but there was nowhere to go...  I figured at least he wasn't screaming and keeping everyone awake--although I'm sure there were a few very unhappy passengers.

Since we were delayed in Maui, we missed our connecting flight in Phoenix.  So, when we arrived in Phoenix we had a five hour lay over instead of one hour.  That was pretty rough, but at least Koa got to sleep a little in the airport.  When we got on the plane in Phoenix it was 115 degrees outside and we had to walk to the plane.  Then we sat on the runway again for about 45 minutes or so.  Poor Koa had a heat rash, by the time we got to Colorado, all over his body.  He's very hot natured like Zak anyway, so I'm sure he was miserable.  I was thinking how glad Zak should be to not be with us at that point!

On top of all of this he refused to go to the bathroom the whole day!  He held it for 11 hours at one point!  Then when he would go he would just whine and cry.  I was beginning to wonder if he had a bladder infection or something!  I have since figured out that it was just a bad attitude, but it has been very disconcerting and frustrating.  I think we are starting to get back to normal now, but it has taken a few days.

I guess it should be no surprise that Koa was a little out of sorts by the time we got here, but I have been shocked by just how different he has been acting!  He's very whiny and timid about seeing anyone new!  He's usually so adventuresome, but he has been very afraid of every little thing.  It's been really weird and very frustrating for me.  I have had a hard time figuring out if he is still sick, or if I should not be so surprised since we are in a new place with new people and unfamiliar surroundings.  I just have never seen him act this way before.

We left Hawaii on Wednesday at 5:30 PM (or got to the airport at that time) and arrived in Colorado on Thursday at 5:30 PM.  We had Friday to basically recover.  I ended up leaving Koa with my parents that evening and my sister, Tammy, her daughter Tina, and I drove down to New Mexico to drive the last few hours of a 13 hour drive with my sister, Becky, her three kids and two dogs....I thought I had it bad!  She is in the midst of  moving from Texas to Illinois and this is just a stop along the way.

Saturday we had the Cundiff family reunion.  There were over 200 people there and I might have known half of them.  Of course, none of them had met Koa, yet, so they all wanted to say hi and he wanted nothing to do with any of them.  He ended up taking a nap for a good part of the day.

We were there late into the evening with folks singing and playing guitar.  It started getting pretty chilly, so I thought I would put Koa's long sleeved shirt and long pants on...  You would have thought they were trying to eat his arms and legs the way he reacted!  I guess that's what you get from a little boy who never has to wear warm clothes!

K2 is a Go!

Koa emerged from his slumber in a better mood and with less of a temperature than earlier today, so we thought we'd give an on-time departure to Colorado a try.  We hope he's not just in one of his good cycles and his fever will come back in a couple hours!  If so, Kathy carried on some medicine and a thermometer and may medicate him if his body temp gets high enough to prevent him from sleeping.  They're flying on a red-eye so sleeping will be important - regardless of whether one is sick or not!  As said before, please continue to pray for little Koa's health.

So, Kathy and Koa are boarding their flight to Maui even as I type.  That trip should last only about 20 minutes and then they leave from there to Phoenix in a couple hours.  That will be about a 9 hour leg!  Koa is a "lap-seat kid" which means he doesn't have his own seat, but since I'm not going on this trip, we're hoping the airline hasn't sold my seat and will let him sit in it.  That obviously depends on how full the flight is, so let's all keep our fingers crossed.  If anyone is interested in tracking K2's flight from here to AZ (and will be awake!), you can go to FBOweb and search for their flight: USA31 (and be sure to use the Google Earth feature!).

I've set up a new photo album in which Kathy can post the pictures she takes of their adventures while on the mainland.  It's called K2's CO Trip.  How often pictures are posted will be totally up to her, so we're all at her mercy (myself included!) to see what exciting things they have going on.

Have a safe trip, my little family!

(Oh yeah, happy 4th of July.)

Touch 'n Go

Koa's fever made an alarming resurgence yesterday and is keeping us all at an elevated state of alert.  It's very cyclical - he'll have a couple hours where you wouldn't believe he's even sick, then his body temp will spike and he'll be a (hot) zombie for a couple hours, then it'll go back down and he'll be back to normal.  He's spent probably half of these past 2 days in his bed either sleeping or just zoning out, which has been a big help.  He threw up a couple times yesterday and his temperature got as high as 103.8 before we gave him some medicine last night.  We're amazed at how well his little immune system operates - his body is battling very hard to get him healthy enough for his trip to CO (thus the high fever and throwing-up).  We were hesitant to give him any medicine for that reason - God's perfect design was operating as it should have and by interceding and forcing his body temp down, we would essentially be hampering his body's ability to combat his sickness.  The final decision to give him medicine was made at his bedtime when he couldn't fall asleep - we decided getting a good night's rest would be just as beneficial as allowing his body to continue to run at a high temperature.  Needless to say, the medicine worked, Koa's temp came down, and he was able to get some sleep (he still woke up 4 or 5 times) last night.  Today has been much of the same so we've laid low, canceled our 4th of July plans, and allowed him to continue the good fight all day.

This obviously has caused some concern over the upcoming trip to Colorado later this evening.  We're delaying making a decision about whether to abort the trip or not (or more likely just delay it) until the last minute.  The bags are packed and sitting by the front door, but we'll see if we head to the airport based on how well Koa does post-nap.  Kathy has been on the phone with the airlines quite often today talking about our options if Koa is still ill.

Pray for little Koa and his health.  We know he'll be fine and will be better long-term after this ordeal.  Even in times of illness or weakness Kathy and I are in awe of God's amazing creation: the human body.  How our bodies take care of themselves under different situations (almost without our needing to do anything) is truly a sign of God's limitless wisdom, power, and love.