Posts filed under 'Adventures'
Thankfully, we all made it.
Despite some bad weather on Thursday morning (4 inches of snow in our driveway when I left), my three-day drive to Birmingham, Alabama went off without a hitch. Gloomy skies for most of the journey, but dry roads from Kansas to Alabama. Many thanks to Debbie and Rex in Towanda, Kansas for a fine steak and finer company on Thursday night, to the Days Inn in Fulton, Mississippi for being worse than I had hoped but better than I had feared, and to the makers of Red Bull for keeping me awake during the drive. I entered Birmingham around 9 o’clock this morning, and was unpacked in our new apartment before noon.
Tara and Anna made it to the Denver airport with time to spare, courtesy of my parents who got up much earlier than retired folk are wont to do in order to ferry their daughter-in-law and grandkidlet to DIA (thanks Mom and Dad!). Tara managed to get the folks at United to see reason and actually seat both mother and child next to one another (evidently the airline computers see no problem in seating a mother three rows away from her two-year-old daughter…), and the flight to Birmingham proved blessedly uneventful thanks in no small part to a portable DVD player and several “Dora the Explorer” videos.
Our apartment here is really quite nice, and we’re in a fantastic part of town (I felt quite under-dressed wearing only jeans and a t-shirt when I walked into the Panera at “The Summit” to use the restroom…). Most of all we’re happy to be together once again, and happy that this whole scheme worked out mostly according to plan.
We’ve got the day off tomorrow to sleep in, take a look around, and generally get our bearings. Anna’s ordeal starts Monday with her orientation, casting, and first round therapy at UAB.
February 16th, 2008
We’re taking bets on how long it will take the monkey in our family to figure out that she can push the chair to the kitchen counter, climb onto said chair, and access all the forbidden wonders located on the counter top. This evening we walked into the kitchen to find Anna standing on one of the kitchen chairs. When she learned this new skill, I haven’t the slightest idea. She certainly was pleased with herself! So…who’s going to make the first bet?
In other news…we went to the circus today. The Greatest Show on Earth is certainly lacking. Perhaps it is just because I’m older and jaded, but it seemed smaller and amateurish (Neal agreed). I mean, they had two clowns…yes, that’s T-W-O clowns; and some troupe from Bulgaria jumping through hoops and such. No tigers (thanks Roy), only one elephant, one horse, and some dogs catching frisbees. We arrived a bit late to the arena and tried to find our seats in near complete darkness. In the meantime, Anna was totally freaking out. The darkness, the spotlights, the people…all of it caused her to cry and scream at the top of her lungs. We honestly thought that we were going to be forced to bag the entire thing. After a bit, the house lights came up and we were able to calm her down. By the end of the performance, Anna was crying because we had to leave.
On Friday Anna received her new orthotic. I hate it. She doesn’t seem to mind it though, and I guess that’s all that matters. It extends up her leg to about the largest part of her calf. It has two hinges that allow her to bend her knee and ankle, but prevent her from pointing her toe. She’s definitely heel-toeing, but she sort of looks like a pirate with a peg leg. She swings her left leg out and around. I’m hoping her PT can tell me whether this will change once she becomes used to the weight and the way it works. We’re certainly going to need to go shoe shopping again. So far we have one pair of shoes that fit over this new brace. I’ve heard that Nordstrom’s allows you to split shoe sizes for situations like this. I think she’ll need a size larger for her left foot (and perhaps larger width, too). The shoes at Nordstrom’s may cost you more, but it is probably still less than what you would have to pay if you were forced to buy two pairs each time.
Yesterday Neal sent me to a day spa for my birthday present. What a great gift! I had a massage and facial, and I got my hair cut! I realized that this may be the first (no, maybe second) haircut I’ve had since Anna was born. Anyway, the stylist asked me if I wanted to keep it long and if I pulled my hair back. I answered not necessarily to both questions, and she took it from there. I must say I was pretty freaked out (still am a little) by my new “do”. It’s much shorter than I’m used to, and it’s layered. I don’t think I’ve ever had layered hair - feathered, yes; layered, no (oh come on…I lived through the 80s). Needless to say, I think I’m going to need a little time to adjust to this new haircut. It’s supposed to be “wash and go” because I told her I don’t have the time or patience to deal with fixing my hair. This morning I had to do a lot more than wash and go. Why does your hair NEVER look the same on the second day? Arg.
Max has a new friend (or nemesis, we’re not sure which) that comes to visit him almost everyday. This very curious, orange tabby cat has been making the rounds nightly. This rocks Max’s world. They loudly mew back and forth to each other for what seems like hours (this usually happens after everyone has gone to bed). I’ve resorted to spraying the orange tabby with water (through the window screen) to make him leave so that the house is quiet again. Max then runs from window to window looking for his contact with the outside world. Poor guy.
September 16th, 2007
This last weekend was the March of Dimes WalkAmerica. Team “Miss Anna” drove down to Denver and walked 6 miles around downtown. It was a beautiful day - plenty of sun. Neal, Anna and I were joined by our friend, Wil. Unfortunately, Henry and Uncle Gus weren’t able to join us due to a family emergency. Anna managed to sleep in the stroller during a large part of the walk, but enjoyed the final 45 minutes or so riding in the backpack. When I figure out how to get pictures off my cell phone I will post a few we took during the walk.
Some very special thanks are in order here. Thanks so very much to those of you who supported our team. We were able to raise nearly $2500 for the March of Dimes thanks to your generous donations. Every penny counts! And thanks to our Team “Miss Anna” members: Henry, Gus and Wil. Each member raised money on their own, which contributed to our team total.
Thanks again for your support of the March of Dimes!
May 1st, 2007
I’m sure everyone has heard the news reports of the blizzard that hit the Denver metro area starting yesterady. I’ve included some photos of the aftermath of that storm. It snowed pretty consistently from Wednesday morning until Thursday noon. The streets are still pretty much a mess in our neighborhood. The plow probably won’t hit us because we live on a cul de sac. I started shoveling on Wednesday during the storm. I probably shoveled almost a foot of snow at that time. By the time I was finished with the drive, the front steps were completely covered, as was the part of the drive I shoveled first. And boy, am I thankful I shoveled some on Wednesday because we had another foot plus some to shovel today. And thats not including the areas with snow drifts. We are extremely thankful to our neighbor, Andy, who helped me shovel today. Neal’s not allowed to do any physical activity for three weeks after his eye surgery. We don’t want him to go blind! So it was all me on shovel-duty. I imagine I’m going to be pretty sore tomorrow. I think I’ll take some ibuprofen tonight.
December 21st, 2006
This last weekend we went on Anna’s first hike. Neal received a baby backpack for father’s day and we just now were able to try it out. Anna needed to be able to sit up on her own (even for a minute) before she should ride in the backpack. She’s been doing a pretty good job of sitting up by herself, so we thought it was a great time to try out the backpack. She seemed to enjoy it - new smells, sounds and sights. She certainly slept well Sunday night! It was great for us, too. We figured out that the last time we were in the mountains was last September when we went to Yellowstone on vacation! After our success this weekend, I think we’d like to try to get out for a hike more often - maybe even once a week!
August 7th, 2006