Unbelievable. If it didn't actually happen, that's what I would say. Here's the story:


Part of our Make-A-Wish trip included a "passport" we could use at amusement parks across the US that expires one year after our wish trip, which is coming up very soon. One of those parks is our Lagoon park here in Utah. The kids have been sooooo excited to go to "Magoon" (as Brinley calls it) and the day finally arrived (after pulling teeth from the guy in charge of it) for us to go. We woke up with all kinds of excitement from everyone. TODAY'S THE DAY!! MAGOON! MAGOON! FUN, FUN, FUN!! MUUUUUAAAAAHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHAAAAAAA, THAT'S WHAT YOU THINK!

We got Mylee out of bed to find out she had thrown up overnight, and slept in it. Hmmmm, could she be sick? No fever, ah well. We're still going. Next Brinley gets up, tummy hurting. Throws up in our bed. Hmmmm. Today is the only day we can go. What to do.....we decided if we both agree to do something we probably shouldn't do, then it's probably okay to do it. I know, right? Mistake number 1. We decide we are still going to Lagoon anyway. Nothing will stand in our way of FUN. Well, except a fever. From the QUEEN of fevers. Mylee, no, she's fever free. We get to Lagoon to discover Brinley has 102 fever. Only Brinley, because everything comes with a fever with her. I call the on-call to plead for a solution, since we would lose our chance to have a great day! No, you still must come in. All the fun in the world doesn't change that your kid has cancer, and a fever is serious business. I ask if she can hurry along the ER today so we can give her some tylenol and get back to our fun, sick or not. (I know, some of you are tsk'ing me, but it was our one chance this year to go to Lagoon!). David leaves me and the kids at the park and heads to the $250 ER. The same $250 ER we went to last week. We try to make the best of it, so I put Mylee in the back of the double stroller and Taylor and Jade hit some rides. Not long after David leaves, Mylee starts throwing up. Massive amounts of vomit, like the movies where crap just flies straight out of the mouth. The first time, she manages to miss her clothes, but soaks the seat of the stroller. Ok, I discreetly clean it up as best I can. I put her in the front, since wet wipes don't do much in getting the smell out of the stroller seat. A few minutes later, an adult size portion of food comes up again. From the belly of an 18 month old. This time, no such luck on the clothes. They are drenched as if she had bathed in vomit, along with the front seat of the stroller. I get her to the bathroom, wash her clothes out with hand soap, hang them to dry on the stroller. She's sporting a diaper. I smell vomit throughout the rest of the day, in fact I believe it is permanently burned into my nostrils. That's my side....

In the meantime......

David arrives at hospital. They are so very quick to get him in, they knew they were coming, had a room clean and even ordered the antibiotic before they got there. Wow, they were prepared like never before. Muaaaaaaahhhhhhaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhaaaaaa. You really thought they would go against the ER handbook that clearly states NO ONE will be released without doing their fair share of time at the ER? Oh, they made him think they would do it. Always pretending to be hurrying, having the doctor come in right away. Getting the antibiotic started within an hour of them stepping through the doors. So can someone PLEASE tell me why it was FOUR HOURS later that they came back to the park??? Why, oh why, oh why do I let them fool me into thinking it will be fast every single time! Oh, we'll have you out real soon....let me just go find a heparin flush. Oops, we need to order it from the pharmacy. EH? Since when is there not a HEPARIN flush lying around??? And the pharmacy will take about an hour to send it. Here's to hoping your BLOOD DOESN'T CLOT UP THE LINE in the meantime!! Bahhhhhhh! The sick and wrong side of me actually pictures them hehehe'ing outside our door, rubbing their hands together at how they've fooled us again.

Here is my problem. Really? Really? Brinley Torres has dealt with so much CRAP these last two years. We are having a fun freaking day, and I would really appreciate it if you would all just cut the kid some slack and actually TAKE only the 45 minutes to do 45 minutes worth of stuff. Give her some tylenol, get the stupid culture and CBC, give her the antibiotic and send us on our merry way. JUST THIS ONCE!!! For Brinley. I KNOW it is possible. Oh, I love you people dearly. I really do. The nurses and doctors there, I adore you. I am normally so very patient and understanding. We have had dozens of 6 hour ER trips where we have smiled, laughed, joked around, always being patient. But this time, well this time it was not cool. It was just not cool. Okay, my ER rant is over.

So they finally get back to the park at 4:30 or so. Taylor and Jade had a blast together. I missed all the rides I wanted to go on, and I LOVE rides, but I just resigned myself to make sure the girls had fun, which they did. David and I couldn't help but laugh at how NOT surprised we were that things had gone the way they had. And Jade threw up on the way home. The End.


Our first Grand Stand was a great success! We were so worried, but everything went smoothly and we were able to have a wonderful time!

There is so much to tell, I just don't know where to start!! We had over 60 volunteers, and I just can't thank them enough. We had a great DJ donate his time, and made everything so much fun. Then we had Grizzbee, the Grizzlies mascot, come join the party, and brought another mascot, Willie, with him. Brinley fell in love with Grizzbee, I mean when she cried about something, she ran to Grizzbee for comfort! She wanted him to go down the slide with her again, and again, and again! When he left he sent me a text about how touched he was with Brinley and how much he enjoyed being there. When I asked Brinley what her favorite part was, she said "Grizzbee!" It was really cool. We may even have to become hockey fans to take her to visit him!

We had so many people come to show support, many we knew and many we didn't. I tried to ask people how they heard about it if I didn't know them. One man donated $200.00 from his construction company, so I asked him how he heard about us. He said that someone had left a flier on his door. How cool is that? Talk about compassion.

It was so cool to see the beginning of something that I feel will be really big. This was our first "grand stand" year, when we didn't really know what we were doing yet, and we all felt like it was a great success. As of today, our total raised is around $6300.00! I know our goal was $10,000, but are really feeling good about what we raised our first year. We multiplied last year's by 5!! Look out $10,000, we're coming for you next year!!

A big thank you to all of you who donated online. You made up $2700.00 of our total! That is huge and shows that even if you don't live close to us or couldn't come to the stand, you can make a difference in our efforts to rid the world of childhood cancer. You can still donate online if you missed it at http://www.alexslemonade.org/mypage/67204.

Another thank you to the donations to our stand, we had cookies donated, a bounce house, the DJ, prizes, supplies, items to sell, rentals. It wouldn't have happened without your donations.

The best part in my eyes was seeing all these people coming together against cancer. We all have our stories, so many people have been touched by it somehow, and we know how to fight back! There were gold ribbons everywhere, it was a great feeling. We are still exhausted from it, but still basking in how amazing it was. It felt so good to be kicking childhood cancer's butt, one cup at a time :) More pictures to come when I get the rest of them...


Brinley and Grizzbee sliding together

Think she's happy?











Our AWESOME volunteers! The morning ones were missing, so add about 20. That's a lot of people who wanted to help!

The committee counting the money we raised!