May 28th, 2008: Rotavirus ... UGHHHH!

Note from the American Medical Association...
The Rotavirus vaccine does not work!!!!!

Unfortunately we can now verify this as Travis has been in a world of hurt the last week. And just Kelly's luck, it all started right before Scott started a stretch of 7 midnights.

After one trip to the pediatrician Thursday, the ER on Friday night, and Travis and Kelly spending a night in the hospital Sunday night with Travis hydrating on an IV, things are looking up. Now, Scott only has one more midnight left and Travis is holding down some food well and back to his normal 'chatty' self.

So, the Memorial Day holiday weekend which was expected to be a massive celebration of Scott's candidacy for POTUS (he turned 35 on May 22nd and is now officially eligible) turned into a bit of a nightmare in the Wyoming Carpenter's house. Scott guesses that he'll have to just stick with his new position on the Cheyenne Capitals Hockey Board instead, and oh by the way we're hosting a "Celebration of the Onset of Hurricane Season" this Saturday. We needed a reason to host a gathering, and didn't have to look far!

May 11, 2008: Mother's Day

Kelly asked for an updated stepping stone for Mother's Day, so we made it on Mother's Day before Scott had to go to work his evening shift. Here are a few pictures of the boys making their hand-prints.

And here is a picture of Kelly and the Boys, actually from Monday, May 12th.

May 4th, 2008: Sunday In RMNP

We decided to have a garage sale on May 3rd along with several other homes in our subdivision, and that went quite well. There was not much to sell this year, but we still went through some of the items that Travis has outgrown or nearly outgrown. Nolan and Barrett were out at the table with me at 7am to sell coffee, lemonade and cookies for their hockey fund, and they took in a lot of money again this year.

Since Scott was off again Sunday, May 4th and would have to work day shifts on Mothers Day weekend, we decided to head up to Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park for the day.


After a picnic lunch at Sheep Lakes, we thought we might just stroll around Bear Lake with a little snow on the ground. But instead we found 3 feet + of snow remaining on the ground there. So, we headed back down to Sprague Lake and found our walk with only about 100 yards of snow to traverse.

This was our first opportunity (of hopefully many) to have Travis in the backpack and he had a "ball!" He really likes having Dad haul him around.


Some other nice tourists helped us get a family picture.

Back in Estes Park while Kelly did some shopping, Nolan and Barrett took some time on their favorite Estes playground. The above picture shows Nolan on the monkey bars, which he can now go across and back without falling. Last summer, he could not so he was very proud of being able to complete this challenge after lots of practice on the playground at school!

Barrett was also having a lot of fun on the playground equipment in Estes.

May 2008: Barrett Started Swimming Lessons!

Barrett started his first swimming lessons on May 6th. He is taking the classes twice a week at the YMCA here in Cheyenne, and he is loving it!!! He has become more comfortable in the water during our infrequent visits to open swims at the Y, but he has really taken to the teacher and the lessons!

May 2008: Nolan Started Baseball

Nolan started Junior League baseball here in Cheyenne in late April. They had just a couple of practices and then started games on May 6th. When batting the kids get 2 pitches from the pitching machine to try and hit, and then if they have not hit the ball they get to hit off the tee. The rest of the game is basically tee ball, but the kids are having a lot of fun.

The teams are named after obscure minor league teams, and those of you from the Midwest will get a kick out of Nolan being on the team named after the Lansing Lugnuts.

The above picture was from the first practice.

This was Nolan's first at bat against the 38 mph pitching machine (and this was his only at bat in the first game).

Here is Nolan on first base with Dad helping out coaching on the field before going back to work for a few hours OT.

The second game of the season was on May 8th, and many of the Lugnut kids were able to hit the ball off the pitching machine (noone made contact in the first game). Nolan was able to foul off his first pitch, and then got a nice hit on the second pitch!!!