Sniffles

So that virus or whatever that's been passed around has hit me again, it seems. I'd had a weekend bout with chest congestion, fever and sore throat before the ER visit, but it had passed quickly after I drank some Alka-seltzer Plus and some of my daughter's echinacea tea. Then everyone else got sick. I think what I have now might be a sinus infection. I took a Claritin last night because I thought it might be allergies, but it had no effect. My symptoms are pretty mild right now, other than the sore throat, and are responding well to my standard remedy: various teas with honey, alka-seltzer plus, and gingerale cough drops. Since I am allergic to benadryl, Theraflu is out of the question. I'd always feel worse after taking it, and it wasn't until I started paying attention to labels that I realized that, sonuvabitch, diphenhydramine HCl is one of its main ingredients. 

After dropping our daughter off at school, we stopped to get some waffle sandwiches from Dunkin Donuts, and then took our shower together in case I felt dizzy. I lay down for about an hour before he left for work, and when I awoke, I felt much better. My sinuses are dryer and I feel toasty warm, so the echinacea tea is definitely helping. Better to get this over with now. Although I am content to live in Buffalo, because of its convenience and almost nonexistent traffic, I am homesick for Boston. Bree is, too. I'm not rushing into any major decisions right now, mind you, but I will seriously consider moving back if it means her happiness and health.

Yay! Dinner at The Chateau.

Put in a quick call over to the restaurant that we'll be meeting my brother-in-law's family at, one of our old favorites. We were correct; The Chateau in Waltham does not use dairy in their calamari appetizer. Bree loves fried calamari, so she will be pleased. We can order her some plain linguini to go with it. I looked at the menu, and decided to go with one of the dinner salads, either the Oriental Chicken or the Tuscany Grilled Shrimp. One good thing about how we've handled her allergy is that we know how to navigate menus and chefs. 

I'm really looking forward to our visit, especially the food. It sounds silly, but the fact is that I miss walking to the Trader Joe's in West Newton. There are so many dairy-free and vegan choices in my old neighborhood, within walking distance, so it was easy for me to plan a healthy meal. Anyway, today I promised that if the weather was good, that I'd take the kids to the Zoo. Have fun everyone.

Zoo trip

Had fun at the Zoo. If you are lucky, closing time at the zoo can be full of surprises. Today, I was wishing that I'd brought the camera, even though it really needs to charge.
Thought I'd be warm enough with a light sweater, but I should have put a T-shirt on first. As soon as the kids got in the door, I told them to drop their bags; homework could wait. We hung out in the gift shop for a little bit, so that they could each pick out a stuffed animal, and then made our rounds. The highlight of the day was that both ocelots were running around their enclosures, eating and having fun. This is the most time that we've had with either ocelot, and to have both be up front and curious about visitors and their enclosure was amazing. Since they are nocturnal, it's quite rare for us to see them so active in daylight. The male normally curls up in his log in the very back, and the female loves to nap on a cliff, hidden by foliage. When the male was going inside his chute, the zookeeper came into the enclosure and motioned to us that she was putting down some food for the kitties. Then the female came bouncing out and rubbed against the glass when she saw the kids. We got to observe them both play and explore, and spent about half an hour in the rainforest with them. It was so freaking cool.

Tonight was okay. Bree was put out at first that she had "wasted" time before dinner doing nothing and felt that she didn't have time to do anything. Eventually, she ended up snuggling the kitties and making herself some tea, and things returned to normal. My brother called, so they didn't get to bed on time. But that was okay, because she was laughing and joking around about letting her uncle rough up the boys that had been giving her trouble. He asked if he should stuff them in the trunk, and she told him, "Nah; strap them to the luggage rack." She promised to watch his back when the zombie apocalypse comes, and likewise. So it was a good day, if tiring.