Summer Happenings

Lots of summer happenings here--we spent part of June at my folks house.  My sister was traveling and we went down to hang out with them, cook, visit and of course, swim.

We've had some guest through but I neglected to take photos of all of them.  This is Ben's friend, Jacob.  He is an Alertman and the two of them traveled to Maine to attend another Alertman's wedding.  So fun!

And then there is the endless list of projects.  It was exciting to knock this one out!  We drained our pool and are in the process of filling it up again with clean water!  So glad for the help.  Devon has had the brains of this project but needed help to execute it all.  Ben, Eli, Joe and I helped figure it out with him.  Yeah for projects getting checked off!  

We are off to a great but busy summer....waiting for the slow down!
 

Celebrating Darrell

Happy Birthday to this guy!  We had so many places to be that it was quite a different day for him.  I had some of the kids in PA with me (he had traveled with me earlier in the week before heading back home) and some of the kids met with him and took him out to dinner on his big day!  So excited he got to be celebrate 3 different times!  How fun was that?

We celebrated with my folks at a special dinner with them and some of the kids in PA!  Yum, cheesecake! 

 

Family Celebration Day

Sometimes there are just so many things going on we do things a bit differently!  We had so many things to celebrate we decided to just celebrate everything at the same time!  We met in Keene at a park between Jess and the rest of us and played, ate lunch and celebrated.  The grands got to have fun playing at the park and it was just good to be together!

 Father's Day, Darrell's birthday and an upcoming wedding were all part of the celebration.  It was so good to be together...thinking we need to do this more often!

Becca Graduates NR!

Sarge giving Becca a pep talk and congratulating her on her hard work in NR!

 It's official!  Our last kiddo has successfully finished NR!  So proud of her!

Casts are Gone!

Dr. Dobbs walked into the room and said, "No more casts, casting is done!"  It was an exciting day in the office....a long exciting day!  Today's appointment was 3 hours and 45 minutes--cast off, cleaned foot, x-rays, and then fittings for 2 new AFOs. Great reports-his leg is healed and doing well! My only regret, I didn't bring the book I was reading.  We watched the staff rushing up an down the hall, watched our new favorite videos- a mime from Seaworld.  The staff peeked in more than once because we were laughing so much.  A good thing!  We have come to know the staff and joked with them as they each came into do their thing. 

Jacob and I talk about what is next in our day, find out we have to come back in 2 months (August-hot, hot), and talk about hardware removal in the fall.  We were looking for another souvenir shop, talking about a place to grab breakfast/lunch, and our plans to visit our friends for dinner.  After such a long appointment, we ended up going through the drive thru at Chickfila to grab salads and head back to Molly's.  We were tired and Jacob craved the sun.  We ate on the back porch, spread out in the sun and enjoyed the warmth after so many hours in the cold air conditioning. 

We then headed to the shop in Jensen beach.  It sure was unique with many Florida trinkets but it didn't have what we were looking for.  We then stopped and picked up some things to share with our friends at dinner and headed over to their place.  Their entire family was there and we enjoyed a lovely dinner along with the kids all playing games.  It was a fun evening. 
 

Flights and Fishing

We arrived about 11 am yesterday and then had a few glitches with our rental car.  We then grabbed something to eat to enjoy at the park and made our way to beautiful Dubois Park.  The Paley Institute has a group of fisherman who volunteer their time regularly...about 3-4 times a week to take the patients fishing.  We knew ahead of time.  We arrived and said a quick hello as we ate lunch.  Jacob quickly got to fishing.  He knew a few of the kids and it was so sweet to hear them talking to one another as to why they were there.

One of our first glimpses of the manatees...they were everywhere swimming up and down the coast.

This was John and he was showing us the nurse shark that one of the kids caught.  I got to feel it.  It was a pretty cool experience.

Jacob showing off some of the fish that he caught.  They were small but he was happy!  All of the fish get thrown back into the ocean.  Isn't the water beautiful?

These are not my photos.  One of the moms had her camera ready when these guys popped up in front of us.  It is mating season and they were in groups all around us.

We finished up fishing around 4 and headed back to Molly's house in Stuart.  It was after hours so we quietly went up to our room to settle in.  It was a long but good day.  We are thankful for the folks who put their time and efforts into our kids and it was so good to connect with the families.

Ready for Take OFF!

 Early morning take off today!  We are headed back to West Pam Beach and Stuart for a quick trip to remove Jacob’s cast!  We are all excited for him!  Florida…here we come!