National Lampoon's Southern Vacation

Where to start? 

Well, I guess I'll start where we started...our driveway...on Saturday morning. 

On the 14th of this month Bryan and I (mostly Bryan) packed the car and we headed south. 

The plan was to take three days to get from our house to Bryan's sister's house in Enterprise AL to meet the up with the whole fam and then everyone would make their ways down to Florida later in the week.  We had some stops planned to keep the kids happy and we were content to take our time traveling to avoid meltdowns.  Our first planned stop, a little rock shop near Mammoth Caves National Park in Kentucky, was a bust.  We missed the exit and Lilly was devastated, as the rock shop was something she had been looking forward to.  So, we were desperate to find a replacement stop.  We settled on a Railpark and Train Museum outside of Bowling Green KY.  The best part of this stop was the way we got there.  I pointed to the sign on the interstate and Bryan turned off onto the exit.  I suggested we just follow the signs to get the museum while Bryan wanted to punch the name and address, which we didn't know, into the navigation screen, which I didn't know how to use.  After a few tense moments 'we' decided to hastily turn into a small parking lot to try and find the exact location of the museum.  When we couldn't get the museum to come up on the nav screen we 'discussed' our plan for a few minutes.  Now I was in the driver's seat and 'we' decided to keep going in the same direction and look for a sign.  Needless to say we both got a good chuckle out of the fact that we sat in a parking lot for 10 minutes arguing about where the museum was and the whole time it was around a curve and about 75 yards away.

So...anyway...here's Lilly riding one of the toy trains at the museum.  The lady who gave the tour assured us that she had been to Chicago, San Diego and New York and this museum rivals any of the museums in those cities.  I guess I'll not being going to any museums in those cities because I'll just be disappointed because I was sure disappointed by this one.  Oh well, Lilly had fun and Jack learned to say "choo choo" and enjoyed watching the model train go around the track. 

And, here's Bryan roasting Jack over a pretend hobo fire.

Later that evening we made it to Nashville TN, our first planned stop.  We didn't, however, plan very well on our hotel.  We decided that we might get a better deal by using price line at the last minute, a strategy that has worked well for us in the past.  But, this time our system failed us.  We ended up at the Hotel Indigo int he pouring rain.  Google it...really...if you are a young, hip black couple with no kids it is the place for you.  For nearly $200 a night it was nice, trendy and lacked a bathtub, elevator from the parking garage, luggage cart and most things that make traveling with a child more convenient.  It took Bryan three trips up and down a small stairwell to bring all of our things up to the room.  But, it was a nice place, the room was huge and we were able to walk to a number of restaurants...although, we kind of felt like we needed to sneak the kids in and out.

We settled on Italian and the kids ate great after a long day in the car.  Jack even discovered that he like calamari and an older woman at the table next to us complemented me on the behavior of my 'beautiful children'.  That was a first...and would be a last for this trip...

Jack and his calamari.

The next day in Nashville was spent walking around downtown, shopping and site seeing before heading to the Adventure Science Center.

Of course we had to get some cowboy boots in Nashville.

Adventure Science Center.  Please note the glass pyramid on the top right of the building.

Jack getting really involved in some trains.

Lilly on the magic school bus.

Jack.  Magic school bus.

When you first walk into the front doors you are greeted by two sets of stairs.  These stairs lead, obviously, to the second floor, but also into a labyrinth of intern organs that you climb on or into and they all lead up, up and up.  Within ten minutes of arriving I had followed Lilly into this maze and we emerged at the very top of the glass pyramid that you see in the picture of the building.  I don't like heights, but we were so far into the exhibit that I couldn't find Bryan and I couldn't let Lilly go on alone.  By the time we were at the top I was sweating, nauseous and dizzy.  Yeah for me.  When we got down and I told Bryan about the horrors that I had just experienced he was desperate to do it as well...but, without any of the nausea and dizziness...although, he tells me that the sweating wasn't from nerves, but from the sweltering heat of the top of the 3 by 3 glass pyramid.

Lilly at the top.

An exhibit that I'm not proud of, but it's one of the few pictures of my from out trip.  There was an aging experiment where they take your picture and calculate what you will look like in 10, 25 and 50 years after smoking or sun exposure.  As a non smoker I chose to see what I'd look like if I never use sunscreen again.  The results are not pleasing.  This is me at 82. 

The Adventure Science Center wore everyone out and we made pretty good time between Nashville and Birmingham AL, our next planned stop, so good in fact that we continued on to Montgomery with no issues.

Thanks Grandma for the travel pillows.

After smooth sailing from Nashville all the way to Montgomery AL, things started to fall apart.  It was almost 8pm Alabama time and we hadn't fed the kids or made a stop in a long time.  Our navigation system told us that we had about two hours of two lane country highways to go before reaching Bryan's sister's house.  We calculated that if we stopped to eat and stretch our legs it would be almost 11 before we arrived.  The thought of traveling for another two hours with crying children and then having to unpack and get those children to bed did not appeal to us.  So, we stopped for dinner, got a cheap room at a small Inn and ended our travel day.

At dinner Jack chose to haul his meal around in his construction equipment rather than eat any of it.

But, everyone was excited about the little hotel room.  It was an old fashioned, family owned, inn with about 20 small rooms and a common grassy knoll.  It was a great stop.  The kids played, and the owner actually brought out some of his kids' ride on toys, while Bryan unpacked the car.  The room had a double bed and one twin.  Lilly was beside her self with joy about the little bed just for her.  And, in a rare moment of kindness, she offered to let Jack sleep with her in the little bed.  He refused.

We were up and at 'em early the next morning and made it to Cam and Ed's by about 10:30.  We, of course, caught all sorts of hell for our decision to stop with so little time left to drive, but we handed over the kids and all was forgiven. 

Jack almost immediately found a seat that he liked...the dog bowl.  He spent quite a bit of time here, the only problem was that he couldn't get out of his own.

Jack and Granddad having a serious conversation about big trucks at dinner.

One night, Morgan's friend came over to meet the fam and Lilly was quite taken with her, especially when the older girls started taking turns playing the piano and singing. 

We spent three days at Cam and Ed's and then made the under two hour trek to the beach on Wednesday.  Well, it should have been under two hours, but our navigation system decided to get cute and send us to a beach resort about a 20 minutes away from the one that we were actually staying at.  But, eventually we made it to the villa, unpacked the car chose a room and headed to the beach.  Actually, we headed to dinner, but when Lilly laid eyes on the beach it was a done deal...she was going to get to that sand and there was no talking her out of it.

Of course Jack wanted to play too.  About a foot from the steps leading down to the beach he stopped, dropped and started digging in the sand with his backhoe.

After a kind of tumultuous start to the evening, that included getting lost on the way, circling a parking lot several times while looking for a place to eat, only to finally find a place through a Winn Dixie parking lot, we ended up having a great dinner and Lilly lead the boys to an ice cream place while Jo and I did the shopping for the rest of the weekend.  The next morning we were ready to hit the beach and in a couple of hours Cam's crew joined us and we were in full force.

Lilly on the beach, exfoliating herself with sand.  There was enough sand in the tub that night to make our own beach.

I don't think Jack ever did realize that there was a large body of water nearby, he mostly just played in the sand as if he were at home in the sandbox, or on some kind of job site.

After the beach Lilly, and almost everyone else, wanted to rinse off in the pool.  Within minutes Lilly swallowed several gallons of pool water and immediately threw it back up along with some of her lunch.  Only those of us in our little family group saw it and we were all out of the pool in seconds...except Lilly...so, Bryan had to stay in with her.

After he got out, Jack lead Uncle Ed and Matthew around the pool and demonstrated his new driving skills when he, and in turn both of the 'adults, would stop every couple of feet, prop his foot up as if it was on a gas pedal, turn his like a steering wheel and say, "brrrrrrm".

The next day started off as kind of a dud.  We woke up to rain and it continued for several hours.  But, the moment it stopped Bryan, along with Wes, had Lilly and Jack out the door and looking for fun.  They found it at the other end of the resort in an area called Harbor Walk Village.  There were shops, restaurants, bars and random activities.  Jack rode in the the stroller, but Lilly got to jump on a trampoline.  Jo and I got there just in time to see them strapping her into the safety harness.

She was a little unsure at first, but eventually started jumping higher...

and higher.  She was all smiles when her turn was over and asked to do it again.  So we steerred her towards some other things.

Lilly driving a remote control boat.  Not sure what Bryan is doing.

Jo, taking on the role of stereotypical tourist, if only she had a large camera around her neck too.  Oh wait...that's me.

Leave it to Lilly to find a stage...and Jack to find something dangerous to climb on.

Aside from the group picture that follows, this is the only picture of me on this vacation, and one of the few of Morgan.  Please notice that we had to take it ourselves.

We had been so impressed by what Harbor Walk Village had to offer that after the kids got up from their naps we headed back over there for dinner and entertainment.  But, not until Jack had his after nap cuddle and snack with Matthew.  Not sure how much of the trail mix Jack actually got, but he seemed happy.

Our only group picture.  Even though I had big plans to get a nice picture of all of us together this is the only one that I remembered to take, or rather remembered to have the server take.  If you look really closely you can see Jack at the end of the table.  And, you can look as close as you like, but you aren't going to see Ed, although I promise he's there.

In a vain attempt to impress Lilly I put aside my fear of heights and motion sickness and go on a zip line for the first time ever.  I briefly imagined myself (on a 10th anniversary trip that I'm sure Bryan is planning) zip lining through the canopy of the South American rain forest and thought that this would be a much better time and place for a panic attack so, I gave it a try.  The smile you see in the picture below is fake.  I was nervous and felt sure that I was only moments from either my own death, or the humiliation of climbing back down the steps in front of everyone and passing small children who were on their way up to bravely zip line across the small man made lake. 

Well, I did it.  The first step off of the platform was one of the hardest of my life.  But, after that it was a lot of fun and I can' wait for that trip that Bryan is surely planning.

Clearly, you can see how impressed Matthew is by my bravery in overcoming my fears.

After I was done risking my life our heard made it's way to the arcade where Jack got to ride a motorcycle and Lilly robbed Matthew of about 20 minutes of his life that he'll never get back.  He volunteered to help her chose what to buy with all of her tickets.  It's probably not something that he'll ever do again.

Just hanging out with a big truck and drinking some milk.

Not sure what Bryan's doing in this picture, but it just wouldn't be a beach vacation without this ridiculous yellow flowered shirt.

While all the other kids played on the playground Jack used his playground time to hand out piles of rubber mulch.

Within 60 seconds of Lilly being on the playground Bryan had lost sight of her, but heard almost every other child calling her by name.  She's never met a stranger.

Getting a ride on the way back to the car.

Story time with Grandma.  Obviously, Granddad is more into the story of Barbie the Pet Vet than Jack.

Lilly had woken up from her nap with a fever the day before, but seemed to feel OK, but today the fever was higher and she just wasn't herself.  So, instead of a big adventure to the beach everyone relaxed around the villa for a little while and did some fishing.  Lilly was actually the only one to catch anything and it wasn't even a fish.  It was a snapping turtle.

Did I mention that everyone was fishing in their pajamas?

Lilly noticed some 'friends' a couple of doors down that were outside and fishing too, but when we explained that she shouldn't go near them because she wasn't feeling well she was content to wave and say 'hi'.  Jack on the other hand continued waving and saying 'hi' for about ten minutes.

PJ fishing with Daddy.

A little later Bryan and I decided to go to the pool.  We were hoping to get Lilly out of the heat and that the cool water might bring down her temperature and make her feel better.  In the spirit of togetherness everyone decided to join us at the pool instead of ditching us for the beach.  It turned out to be a fun pool day filled with water squirters (which lead to threats of violence) and a swim race (which could have lead to a heart attack).  I think Bryan and Ed both would have killed themselves to beat Matthew.

But, they didn't need to over exert themselves, they just put him in the middle.

And, pinched him out at the end. 

Bathing beauties.

Getting a ride from Daddy on the way home from the pool.

After naps Ed insisted on going to the mall.  Morgan and I were all for it until we realized he meant the Bass Pro Shop, but by then it was too late to turn back.  So, Lilly got her picture taken with the giant shark.

Jack drove a boat.

And, everyone went to see the giant fish in the aquarium.

 

Then, we saw the train.  It is obviously intended for little kids, but Lilly asked Matthew to ride with her in such a way that refusal was not really an option.

We played mini golf.  That's really all that I'm going to say about that.  It was pretty much a disaster.

When everyone walked off of the golf course (without finishing our round) the Maynards went one way to drive go karts and we went the other way to drive the ones that Lilly could ride on with Bryan.  At first we weren't quite sure what she thought about it.  She held on and wouldn't let go to wave at Jack and I, and she never cracked a smiled, but when the ride was over she was smiling and excited and claimed to enjoy it.

Before we were even out of the car Lilly noticed the little ferris wheel.  So, after go karts she wanted to take a ride.  As we waited in line her excitement only built and when it was finally her turn to get on she was beside herself.  Then, when the ferris wheel started she circled around by us and yelled, "It's going really fast!"  And, when she circled around again she joyfully, and very quickly, yelled, "This is very scary!"  At the end though, she was smiling and wanted to go again.

Every time I pointed at the swings, the only thing that Jack was big enough to ride, and asked him if he wanted to take a ride he would shake his head 'no' and point at the train and say, "choo choo".  Poor guy, he just didn't get it.  But, I was finally able to talk him into the swings.  And, he was determined not to smile.

The next day was our last beach day so I figured it was time to break out Jack's new shirt:  Have you seen a little boy with blonde hair and blue eyes and a t-shirt that says 'bull shit'?  (If not, then you clearly haven't seen 'The Jerk' and you probably think we're horrible parents).

After dinner on the last night we walked across the street to do some shopping because the money that Lilly brought to spend was burning a hole in her purse.  This may come as surprise, but she bought a shell necklace.

We had a great time in Florida, but best of all was just spending time with Bryan's family and watching Lilly, Jack, Matthew and Morgan interacting with each other.



Four for the Fourth

Usually, Bryan's family is here for the Fourth of July and we celebrate in style with a cookout, swimming, a neighborhood parade and fireworks (Which come to find out Lilly thinks is all for Ed's birthday.  Not sure how she came up with that, but somehow his status as a soldier along with the American holiday combined in her mind to make the entire affair about him).  But, this year, since we have planned a family vacation (that I'm sure you will read about in a couple of weeks) we all decided to stay put for the Fourth.  It turned out to be kind of a dud anyway.  The fireworks were canceled due to the extremely dry weather and the excessive heat made it almost too hot to even swim.  But, the neighborhood parade went on as planned and Lilly rode her bike in it for the first time ever. 

Here comes the parade, and if you look close, you can see my family pulling up the rear.  Evidently there was a water stop along the way and my kids will never pass up a drink.  I think they get that from their dad...

 Finally, here they come.  Lilly and Bryan spent the morning decorating Lilly's bike and Jack's wagon for the festivities.  Lilly even picked out a hat for Bryan at the craft store.

 As you can clearly see, Nathan was thrilled to be a part of the parade.

  George and Georgie were the only ones able to keep up with the group, possibly because George was willing to body check small children who tried to get ahead of them.

 Jack was still enjoying his water stop even after the parade ended.

 Lilly ditched her helmet pretty quick, but I was able to get a picture of her Fourth of July outfit.

 After the parade Georgie stuck around to play in the water table for a little bit and then we went inside for lunch, naps and some AC.  We didn't do much all day, but Bryan and I were able to get a little bit of work done.
Later that night we had a good ole American meal of BLT's, cheese potatoes and corn on the cob. 

Please stayed tuned for two weeks from now for some more exciting pictures of our Alabama/Florida adventure.

Septic Peanut

Earlier this month, on June 1, Lilly began complaining about her leg hurting.  She said that it hurt and then played at Grandma's in the morning, did some gymnastics with the neighbor girl in the afternoon and tormented Jack that evening so we didn't give her complaint a whole lot of weight, especially since there wasn't anything visibly wrong.  Then, the next morning she didn't get out of bed, again complaining of pain, and I noticed that her leg seemed a little warmer than the left, but she had been warm in her bed so we decided to go about our morning and take a look in a few minutes.  Lilly played a little while Bryan made breakfast for the kids and I opened our garage sale.  I came back in to examine the knee and we noticed that it was in fact warm, and was already kind of swollen.  We decided that I'd run Lilly over to the immediate care center after she ate.  I checked on the garage sale, got dressed and made a cup of coffee.  In that time Lilly's knee had gotten bigger and was now hot, and that heat was spreading.  She was already starting to show signs of fever.  Away we went to the immediate care center, fully expecting to be home in an hour or two with an antibiotic or a knee brace.

I explained to the nurse and then the doctor what was going on and obviously they asked me about injuries, falls, or bumps.  There were none.  The doctor did a brief exam and casually told me that he thought it might be an infection and that Lilly's temperature was just over 99.  He sent us to X-ray to rule out a break.  They X-ray showed nothing except a lot of fluid around a little knee.  When Dr.Romero came back in to talk to us he casually mentioned septic arthritis and suggested (very casually) that I should take Lilly to Peyton Manning Children's Hosptial at St.Vincent's.  He explained that to be sure that his diagnosis was correct some blood work and labs would need to be done.  He assured us that he could run the labs there at his office, but that we would probably have to go to a hosptial anyway for treatment and that they could do the lab work quicker and it wouldn't have to be sent over from his office.  At this time I still thought that I would take Lilly home in about an hour with an oral antibiotic.  When Dr. Romero asked me if Peyton Manning was the children's hosptial that I planned to take Lilly to and I said yes I was a little surprised when he nodded his head and said, "Great, I already sent Lilly's X-rays over and spoke with them, they know that you're on your way."  That seemed really efficient.

As it was now nearing lunch time and Lilly was saying that she was hungry I asked Dr. Romero if I had time to stop and get Lilly something to eat.  He assured me that lunch was OK and there was nothing so emergent that she couldn't eat, and that eating wouldn't effect any possible treatments.  Lilly and I swung through the drive thru at Steak N' Shake and headed to the hosptial ER.  Already, I could tell that Lilly was feeling worse, but she managed to drink about half of her milkshake before we got to the hosptial.  I carried her in because it hurt too bad to walk at this point and sure enough, the triage nurse knew that we were coming.  We had to wait about 15 minutes, which is an ER record.  Lilly's temp was now 101.5.

We were put into a room and a nurse came in to do an initial exam.  The nurse explained that the doctor, who hadn't even seen Lilly yet, had ordered some blood work and I was a little surprised that she put in an IV to take the blood.  Then, the doctor came in and explained that Lilly's symptoms were such that she wasn't planning to wait for the labs to come back before calling the pediatric orthopedic surgeon to get his opinion on a course of action.  The options were this: Either they were going to pull fluid from Lilly's knee to test it and then make a decision, or they would prep her for surgery and test the fluid while she was under.  Most of this was not what I expected.  That's about the time that the blood labs came back.  Lilly's white blood cells were very high, indicating quite a bit of infection in her little body.  I was shocked at this point to learn that the doctor planned to admit her to administer an IV antibiotic.  We were now just waiting to see what Dr. Bellflower, the orthpedic surgeon, wanted to do.  It was clear that the knee was infected, but if the infection hadn't gotten inside the actual joint then surgery wouldn't be neccessary.  This is the point in time when Lilly's 1/2 of a junior milkshake came back to haunt us:  they would not put Lilly under until 5:30pm since she had "eaten" at 11:30am.

So, the next step was to test the fluid inside Lilly's knee joint.  I will spare you the details, but after the doctor pulled the fluid from Lilly's knee she wasn't shy about telling me that it was some of the most infected fluid she had seen in a while.  She sent it to the lab, but assured me that she didn't need the labs to know that Lilly was going to have to have the surgery to drain and rinse her knee.

It was about 2 or 2:30pm at this point and a lot had happened since Lilly and I had left the house.  My mom, who had been about and hour and a half away at a music festival with my dad, gathered up her things and headed home.  She came to the house and picked Jack up (because I had his carseat) so that Bryan could come to the hosptial.  Bryan and blankie arrived shortly after the procedure to pull the fluid from Lilly's knee...she was still loopy when Bryan walked in and pretty much thought that he was there to join the party.  At this point we were just waiting until the labs came back and until Lilly could be put under for surgery.  We watched movies, played princesses and sent texts to nervous grandparents.

I have to take this oportunity to mention the child life specialists at the hospital, especially Miss April.  She came shortly after we got there with a little doll with an IV and explained an IV to Lilly.  Miss April had pictures, medical equipment and toys.  Lilly was able to see and touch and ask questions about almost everything, the IV, the tubing, syringes, masks, rubber gloves, and anything else that was going to be used on or near her.  Miss April even had toys to leave in the room, a little tub filled with Disney princesses and dresses.  This was especially appreciated since I left the house that morning with almost nothing.  I also need to point out that upon realizing that Lilly would be awake in the hallway when we would say our good byes, April not only volunteered to dress for sugery in front of Lilly so that she would know that it was still her new friend under the mask, hair net and scrubs, but also walk to the OR with her and stay until she was asleep so that she wouldn't be afraid.  Lilly in her hospital gown, preparing for her IV. 

At about 5pm the labs came back, suspicians were confirmed and our ER room was flooded with doctors and nurses as we met the anestesiologist, surgeon, surgical nurse practisioner and a slew of other specialists.  By 5:30 we were heading down the hallway to the OR.  We gave Lilly kisses, told her that we'd see her in a few and parted ways.  As Bryan and I made our way to the waiting room we heard Lilly say something and everyone with her crack up laughing.  Clearly, if she was cracking jokes she wasn't afraid at all.  After surgery, which only took about an hour, we met Lilly in the 'wake up' room, where she slept off her anesthesia and was in no hurry to actually wake up.  Finally, when I mentioned to her the her Uncle Wes had had knee surgery, she sat straight up, looked around and asked, "Is he behind one of these curtains?"  Well, no he wasn't, but then Lilly asked for a drink and declared that she didn't want to hang out there any more.  So, we made our way to a room, where we would stay for a minimum of 48 hours while Lilly recovered, stayed on IV antibiotics and waited to see what bacteria might grow in a petri dish.

The petri dish experiment was a double edged sword:  If something grew in the perti dish then doctors could identify the bacteria and type of infection in Lilly's body, which meant that they could tailor the antibiotic treatment to target that specific bacteria.  But, that might mean that we could potentially have a longer hosptial stay.  If nothing grew in the dish AND Lilly was responding well to the broad spectrum antibiotic that she was already on then she could switch to an oral version and go home after 48 hours.  The problem with this is that obviously we would be curious about the infection, but also Lilly would have to go home and take, three times a day for three weeks, the worst tasting antibiotic in history.  The nurse explained to us that it tastes quite similar to raw sewage.  When I repeated that description to the doctor he chuckled and assured me that is was actually more like kerosene.

Lilly finally settled into her room after a long day.

By the time we got to our room and got settled it was close to 9pm and the cafeteria was closed so, Bryan went and got dinner for us (and grabbed my overnight bag from a good friend who dropped it off for me) while Lilly and I watched a movie.  When we found out that Lilly would be spending the night in the hosptial the staff was really good about making it seem like it was a big, fun adventure.  They told Lilly all about the fun things to do in the children's wing.  Lilly focused in on the playroom and wanted to see it that night.  After a few bites of dinner she asked again and we debated for about 30 seconds before deciding that 10pm was not at all too late for a four year old to visit the hosptial play room.  Lilly deserved something good so we loaded her into a wagon, trailed her IV and wheeled her to the playroom where she examined the toys, listed what she would play with the next day, and picked out a couple of books for her room.  Pictured below are the first smiles we had seen for several hours.

After the playroom, Bryan read stories and headed home.  Lilly and I didn't take any time to fall asleep and had a pretty uneventful night.  The next morning, Sunday, we ordered breakfast, saw most of the doctors and then Bryan came and took Lilly back to the playroom while I ran home for a shower and a deep breath.  I got this picture via text message while I was at home.  So happy to see her up on her feet!

The surgeon assured us that Lilly's only limitations were the ones she placed on herself.  Basically, if she felt like standing she could stand, if she felt like walking she could walk.  He explained that kids are a lot like dogs in that they won't do anything that hurts and if it doesn't hurt it is probably OK. 

That day we had visitors, deliveries, movies, and trips to the playroom and Lilly continued to improve with her antibiotics.  Monday showed even more improvement with Lilly devouring a huge lunch, walking to the playroom and having her drain removed and dressing changed.  Nothing was growing in the petri dish, but the antibiotics were clearly doing their job.  We found out that afternoon that if Lilly was able to keep down two oral doses of the antibiotic that they would release us.  This was much harder than it seemed and the medicine was much worse than we had imagined.  But, like a trooper, Lilly kept it down and as good as their word...the three seperate doctors that needed to sign off on us did as they promised.
We were so excited to get head home and then, just like when she was a new born, so nervous when we got her there.  In the two hours after we got home Lilly fell, spiked a fever, spit her medicine all over the kitchen floor and passed out cold on the couch.

We carried her to bed and counted ourselves lucky to be home.

Within the next couple of days Lilly was back to her old self again and has shown nothing but improvement since. 

At the follow up with her surgeon we were given a script for physical therapy and were released, and encouraged to swim. "The more she swims, the less physical therapy she'll have to do." is what the Physician's assistant told me. So, swim we did.  Lilly has been in the pool almost everyday since then and we were released from physical therapy before we really even got started. 

During this whole event Bryan and I realized a couple of things, but the main thing is this:  We are fortunate, so very fortunate.  We are lucky that we have an immediate care center that is right down the road.  We are lucky that we have a first class pediatric hospital less than ten miles from our house.  And, we are so, so lucky that we were in that hospital for only two nights for something that was easily treated with surgery and medicine. 

Thank you to everyone who thought about or asked about Lilly, helped out with babysitting and errands and made Lilly's recovery easier on all of us.  I can't begin to express how grateful we are to have so many people in our lives that love our kids.

Swim Season

Every year I start the summer with a swimming blog and they are mostly all the same: pictures of the kids in crystal blue water.

But, this year swimming is not just a fun activity, it is a requirement.  As you will see in the next blog, Lilly had knee surgery at the beginning of the summer and has been encourage to swim as much as possible to aide in her physical therapy.  That means that my days for the past three weeks have been spent hurrying through my household chores so I can have the kids in the pool right after lunch.

Everyone is getting braver in the water and Lilly is enjoying swim lessons again this year.  So far, she seems to be showing improvement after each lesson and only struggles with one thing.  The other day while practicing my dad encouraged her to try and keep her face in water and mouth closed to avoid swallowing water.  "I can't." Lilly said, "I need to talk."

Lilly and Jack enjoying the floating papasan chair.  Jack is a wild man in the water.  He tries to run in this little chair and he'll jump off the edge to you, muttering something that sounds like counting before jumping.

But, he likes to relax too, and float around in an inner tube.

No matter what Jack is doing there is always time for playing with trucks.  He often takes time out of swimming to drive a 'big truck' around.

Little mermaid practicing her swimming.

Will she jump?

Oh yeah!!

More time for trucks.

Kick, kick, kick!

After swimming last Sunday Grandma made dinner for everyone.  While waiting for dinner Jack was able to talk Uncle Wes into reading a story about, you guessed it, a truck.

After dinner we made the trek to the lake to feed the fish and see if Daddy caught anything.  Lilly and I simply walked up to the lake.  Jack, on the other hand, acted like we were hiking through the plains of Africa, high stepping over tall grass and stopping every few steps to look for lions and take a break.

Daddy caught a couple fish and Lilly caught one too.  She was very eager to touch each fish before Bryan threw it back, but the one that she caught flipped right as she reached for it and after that she was less than excited to pose for a picture with her catch.

Then, Jack discovered a sword in Grandma's recycle bin.  (aka an empty wrapping paper roll). 

I know the last few pictures have nothing to do with swimming, but they were cute any way.