National Lampoon's Lake Tenkiller Weekend

Continuing from the previous post, Friday was spent taking our baby daughter to the doctor where she received four shots. After spending nearly two hours in the office, Michael was more than ready to hit the road.

Claire slept pretty well through most of the trip and, in spite of the shots, was in a pretty jovial mood when we arrived. The ladies rallied to hit the store for supplies, since both Michael and I forgot underwear and other staples that should have been obvious whilst packing, while the men when to Barnacle Bills (floating restaurant) for pitchers, oh- and food too. The Tahlequah Wal Mart is the height of class at 8 p.m. on a Friday night, by the way. Filthy, obese, barefoot children wearing only diapers. Toothless parents, not fairing much better than the babies they have in tow. If you ever need a self esteem boost, this may be the place to go.

We awoke to rain on Saturday, which foiled our plans to go out on the water. The day was spent trying to entertain the little one and ourselves without succumbing to cabin fever and hoping our trip was not a literal and figurative wash. I brought sewing, so that was my daily feat. We have our own room at the cabin- exhibit A:

It is a blank slate. I do not want to spend boo-coo dollars, but I want to give it personality and perk it up a bit. My in-laws told me to do whatever I want. Hope they won't regret that! Anyway, I brought some photo frames and effects and made two euro shams and a bolster. Exhibit B:



I think the room is cozier already! I am going to work on it in phases, to avoid major expense, so I will call exhibit B, "phase 1". The tables are two short tables that my in laws got as a wedding present. I stacked them and intent to paint them in some colorful- shabby chic manner. That is, after I secure them to one another! Click here to see my inspiration! I love the color and charm!

In spite of the rain, it was nice to get that done and Claire had a blast playing somewhere new. She was in great spirits and ate all the Gerber comfort foods. In the evening, we put her to bed thinking all was well. Fuss was heard and we all looked in on her. One of the times, Randy (my father in law) said she'd thrown up a little and brought her out. She changed her sheets, cleaned her up, and returned her exhausted, limp little body to bed. Moments later, more fussing and crying, I entered to find my baby girl COVERED in vomit. I was horrified as to how that could all come out of my tiny little girl. We rushed her to the sink, where she proceeded to vomit on Lane (my mother in law). We scoured the place for clean clothes for her, as the quickly soiled all of the jammies and outfits, I'd packed for 3 days away. Finally, I was sitting on the couch with my naked little cherub wrapped in a towel, making sad eyes at me. At the same time, we placed an anxious call to Claire's doctor, who is also a friend of the family. He informed us that some babies react this way after shots- after four, maybe I shouldn't have been surprised. He told us he'd be glad to call phenigren (anti-vomit medicine) into a pharmacy for her. We told him we might like him to do that. After placing calls to all the pharmacies around and finding they were all closed for the evening, we called the hospital to see if there was a 24 hour pharmacy anywhere close. According to the hospital, we'd have to drive to Broken Arrow to get to a 24 hour pharmacy! This is an hour drive! Let me get this straight, Tahlequah has a four year university and a class 6a high school, but you have to drive almost an hour if you are unlucky enough to get sick after hours?! You've got to be (expletive) kidding me! I guess no one gets sick in Tahlequah after 9:30. Good for them. Anyway, Michael and Lane ran to Wal Mart for Pedialyte and finally, she was done. We got her into clean jammies and into bed for a good night's sleep.

After that, Michael and I thought the weekend was definitely over, but Claire woke up 110% and bouncing off the walls. We decided to feed her bland and slowly and see how she did. After a couple of good hours, we decided to go to the water. Claire passed clean out in the boat. I'd had to poke her a couple of times, just to see her twitch! Since we'd made it out of the woods last night, it would be too much to ask that the day be scott-free. Dan was walking through the boat when he hit a sharp place on the boat's windshield and cut his back open. The wound was about an inch to an inch and a quarter and peeled off enough skin to cause all to stand around and muse about the need for stitches or lack thereof. Finally, Dan was 'ghetto rigged' back together and we were off. A tetanus shot will await Dan when he returns home- lucky him. Of course, it made for a good photo opp- so enjoy- I couldn't make this up, you know!


Yes, that is duct tape.

Claire was great on the water and seemed to be be usual bubbly self- in spite of the miserable night before and the three sharp teeth coming through the gums. She is such a good sport.



I was diligent about covering my baby in sunscreen, spray, cream, and trying, definitely in vain, to get a hat on that precious head. Unfortunately, my attempts to keep sunscreen out of her eyes only resulted in red burn spots around her eyes! She looked like she'd been abused! I hated that! Now, we have to wait for that to heal and figure out how to avoid that in the future. A little sunscreen in the eyes might not be so bad in comparison.

Again, being such a good sport, she slept most of the way home.


Love her.