"Bound and leap, like a zephyr set free..."

James is bounding! Sort of. When it comes to personal mobility, he's actually more like an inchworm: lunge and scrunch, lunge and scrunch. We like to watch him practice. We've tried all sorts of enticements to lure him across the room, but Alice stumbled across the PERFECT temptation yesterday after Family Home Evening...her zhu zhu pet. Not only does James go for it with gusto, but he suddenly moves in a crawly sort of rhythm (i.e. gimpy monkey style like his big bro! Please forgive my boisterous astonishment). You can hear James' squeals and giggles after we turn the zhu-zhu pet on.

Now he follows that thing around the house.

And here are a few photos Bobby failed to post from our family trip to Nauvoo, IL:

I said, "Okay, guys, show me what you'll look like after 4 hours in the car!"

 

James trying out a new finger food.

We brought Robert's balance bike so he wouldn't have to walk so far or be pushed in a stroller.

 

Alice is proving she's brave enough to touch a horse. These horses' names were Joe and Jerry.

 

Everyone showing off their new "prairie diamond" rings from the blacksmith shop

While in Nauvoo, we also encountered our first bed bug. We saw something in the hallway of our motel suite that looked kinda like a tick. I caught it (accidentally killed it) and confirmed that it had six legs, not eight, and we all breathed a sigh of relief. Prematurely. Monday evening, Bobby was surfing Yahoo! news and came across an article on bed bugs. I saw the photo and instantly recognized our mystery bug. Ugh, my stomach sank. Panic ensued, on my part, and I suddenly remembered a million ways how we could have accidentally brought bed bugs home with us. We did a little research, threw all of our *still unpacked after 2 days* luggage in the chest freezer, and went to bed. Today, I've been decontaminating everything that could have come in contact with our suitcases since arriving home. Lots of hot, hot laundry to be done. I'm grateful our washer has a "sanitize" setting and our dryer has an "anti-bacterial" setting. It's taking about 5 hours per load, but what a relief. I've also filled our chest freezer with toys and soft items that are too delicate for 120-degree wash/dry temps. Any bed bugs and/or eggs on those items will die after 2 weeks at below-freezing temps.

No one received any bed bug bites during our stay. The bed bug itself was in a really weird place for a bed bug, too (i.e. hallway wall, near the ceiling). It appears to have been a mild infestation. I called the motel to let them know about it. Bobby and I will be much more diligent about this stuff in the future. *shudder*

[5 June 2013]
The motel called back to let us know they are refunding our money today and sending in an exterminator ASAP.