August in Review

Our annual week at the ranch in New Mexico was the first week of August.  I love the ranch!  This year we stopped in Holbrook on Route 66, both on the way up, and on the way back.  (Holbrook is one of the models for "Radiator Springs," the town in the movie Cars.)

Do you recognize the "Cozy Cone" from the movie?  It's the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook.

With Doc Hudson and Mater

Then to the ranch where it's all about being outside, riding quads and horses, hanging with cousins, visiting, eating, and relaxing.  

 Again, I don't have many photos.

 And I hardly saw my kids because they mostly hung out with their cousins. 

Jack watching a lady bug crawl up his arm

And then school started!  I didn't get Collin in the obligatory first-day-of-school-front-door-photo since he was already gone by the time I pulled out my camera.  Oh well.  He probably would have balked anyway.  

Mary and her 2 best friends again at Skateland, enjoying a little weekend fun!

July in Review

July was busy and zoomed by!  

 

We spent the first week at the cabin with cousins.  Unfortunately, Jay couldn't go with us this time... too busy at work.  :(

 

We took a fun hike along the rim road.

I don't have any photos of our fun time in St. John's celebrating the 4th, but it was great, as usual.  I was too busy visiting and enjoying myself to take photos!  (I'm so bad about remembering!)

Then Collin had surgery!  (Read about that HERE.)

Then I took Jack's Cub Scout den on a field trip to Peter Piper Pizza.  They got to have a tour of the kitchen and learn all about what goes on there, then make (and eat!) their own personal pizza.  And of course, they got play some games too.  They had a blast!

 

Jay and I went to San Diego for a weekend to attend Jay's brother's wedding.  

It was beautiful and we are very happy for them!

We stayed in San Diego with my awesome sister (thanks Liz!) and enjoyed mugging on her sweet baby Fritz.

Jay and I had a little spare time and enjoyed exploring La Jolla and Coronado Island.  I loved this sand castle on the beach!

Then I took Mary and her 2 best friends to a local resort to celebrate her birthday.

 They all brought their American Girl dolls....

 .... and enjoyed putting together a set of Harry Potter Legos, and a scavenger hunt/pin collecting game put on by the resort!  Awesome, and free!

 They were quite the divas....

 ... enjoyed the pool, water slide, and lazy river....

 ... and the amazing bagpiper who plays every evening as a tradition going back many years.

 It was a very fun little trip, and a great way to celebrate Mary's 11th birthday!  I LOVE these girls, and I'm so glad Mary has such great friends! 

 On her actual birthday we took her to the local "free birthday meal" restaurants.

Liberty Market's amazing burger!

 I'm glad  Mary still loves getting new clothes for her American Girl dolls.

"Ding Dong Cake" is the best!

 And she is still very obsessed with all things "Harry Potter." 

Grandmary's famous candy bar poster birthday tradition!  Love it!

Mary, Jack and I took guitar lessons this summer.  We learned a lot and it was very fun!  I found it much harder than I expected, but I really enjoyed it.  Now I really appreciate how good Jay is!

Collin has surgery

I apologize if you are "squeamish."  If you are, you might not want to read on.  This is to follow up from this post. 

Collin had surgery today for the following:

A Pediatric Neurosurgeon removed a quarter-sized lump on his scalp (lipoma = fatty benign tumor).  These are not uncommon, but his was unusually large (they are usually smaller than a nickel), and in an unusual location (usually found on the torso).  The surgeon said it looked normal when he removed it, but they will send to lab for biopsy just in case.  Collin has a small patch of shaved skin on the top of his head, and we will probably give him a short buzz cut to balance it out until it grows in.  There shouldn't be any complications (the lump was all outside the skull) and he just has some internal stitches that will dissolve, and it's "super-glued" closed on the outside.  That was the easy part. 

Now the harder part.  The ENT performed a tympanoplasty to repair a perforation on Collin's right ear drum using a small piece of tissue from behind his ear (externally), meaning he has another incision on his head, behind his right ear, and lots going on inside.  The biggest issue is that his equilibrium is way off, causing a lot of nausea (and some vomiting), but that should settle down, and the medication for it helps (but it knocks him out).  He had a rough time coming out of the anesthesia and it took him a really long time to be discharged (about 3 hours, rather than the 1-2 that is usual) and they almost decided to keep him overnight because he didn't seem to be holding up very well.  But then he perked up a little (after vomiting) and got to come home.... where he immediately zonked out again.  :)   He has some stitches where they took the graft from, and has to wear a giant plastic shield over that ear that makes him look a bit like a wrestler with lop-sided headgear.  :)  He will be taking it easy for a couple of weeks, and he won't be doing any swimming the rest of the summer, but that's OK. 

All in all, everything went well and according to plan, and Collin was a trooper, though he had a bit of anxiety when they had trouble getting an IV going, and after "blowing" a couple of his veins decided to wait until he was "under."  (He takes after me that way.  I'm a really hard "stick.") 

June in Review

We spent a fun morning at the zoo with cousins.  This peacock was really putting on a show for us! 

The highlight of this visit was the lengthy show that the baby orangutan put on just for us, it seemed.  She was really going to town, showing off and making us crack up!  It was quite entertaining.  Obviously I was enjoying myself too much to remember to take any photos.
Mary participated in MCC's musical theatre workshop, and LOVED it, as usual.  I have video of the performance (she was fantastic, of course), but it's pretty impossible to get decent still shots in a live theatre setting. 

Grandma Wendy congratulating Mary after the show.

 My kids read all the "Origami Yoda" books and loved them.  They were delighted when Jay went out and bought some "real" origami paper and I made a Yoda and Darth Vader (following the directions in the books, of course).  Great books with a good message, and very fun!

Jack earned his "Wolf" rank in Cub Scouts.  He had to "wolf" down a bowl of whipped cream to retrieve his award.  He loved it, naturally.  :)

He really loves Cub Scouts and works hard at it!

Collin spent most of the month of June at Scout Camps.... 2 different ones.  Read about that HERE.

The Summer of Scout Camps

Collin spent 2 weeks in June at 2 different Scout Camps.  He went with his own troop, but was also fortunate enough to go with his cousin's troop as well, so he earned extra merit badges and had some great experiences!  (Thanks to Uncle David for making sure Collin had this opportunity!)

These photos are from Emerald Bay Scout camp on Catalina Island.  Collin absolutely LOVED it!  What an amazing experience.  I have no idea what is going on in most of these photos, but it looks like they had fun. 

Unfortunately, I don't have any photos from Camp Geronimo, where he went with his own troop, but I'm sure he had a good time there as well.

Collin has earned all the merit badges he needs for his Eagle rank (plus quite a few more) and is now gathering ideas for his Eagle project.  Woo hoo!