Crazy Grandma

I've had Blake for the last going on 3 weeks every morning and to mix things up this is what we did yesterday morning.

Monkey see....

Monkey do:-)
Then we had hot chocolate after "cutting down a tree" as Blake called it. But in reality I just trimed up some branches that were hanging out over the road.

Oh, and today he asked if we could do that again with the "shaving cream"! I told him we don't eat shaving cream, it's called cool whip and to NEVER eat shaving cream.

THIS Frog Likes Rain and So Do Flowers

My friend had a flower pot like this on her blog and I mentioned it to my daughter so she/they made me one for my birthday, I just LOVE it. So far the paint is staying on.

I looked out and noticed Blake found a bucket to gather up water and he watered everything. I used to do the same thing when I was a kid and it brought back memories.

I've said it once, twice and I'll say it again, this car gets used everyday he comes to my house, not even the rain can keep him away, nor snow either.

Other Fun Pictures (Nashville)

Here we are at the visitor center

These little ones didn't go to Nashville but they wanted to show off their new shirts.

This was my a very yummy "pot pie" It was more like a thick chicken soup and the pastry on top was a chicken or is that a rooster? Anyway, it was very delish. We each had one for dinner the second night.

Here I am out shopping and showing off my I mean Blakes biker shirt I picked out for him.

This little stone house was on the property of the Sock Factory. There is no more info on it but it was quite unique. If you click on the picture and make it go far right you can compare it to the orange cones next to it. (for size)

An Afternoon At The Park

Jayde all ready to slide down to gramma

We went to the park one afternoon, it was so lovely and the kids had a great time. Can you guess what day it was?

They have this really BIG swing there, I think it's great because even children with challenges can enjoy swinging safely.

And of course Blake, he enjoys the bouncy animals still, amongst other things.

Run Jump Play

Fake eyes...it was either red or black so I chose black!

Joel, my just turned 5 year old nephew (not blood, but we still I consider him our nephew) had been asking me to take he and Blake to this amazing fun inflatable play place. It's been several months since I took them and he's been wanting to go again.

Finally, after Blake's cold was gone, our vacation to California and Joel's annual ski trip to Utah we were able to go. Both boys loved it and *I* had just came down with some awful bug but I went to the doc the day before and was told "I was no more infectious than some of the people in Kroger" and given some potent Amoxicillin so I wasn't going to make these 2 guys wait any longer even if I did feel awful.

They had a great time and I was so glad they were able to manage all the obstacles of climbing and sliding with out me, last time Blake needed a bit of help climbing up the big slide and Joel was a little reluctant sliding down it by himself the first few times but this time was different....NO HELP NEEDED. Joel's hair was so funny you can see it best by clicking on the top picture.

After that we went to a McDonalds and the boys were so thrilled that we were going to one with a play area but unfortunatley there were absolutely no parking spots we had to settle on a "boring" one. Through out the day, Joel and I traveled 80 miles together, as we had more errands to tackle, fortunately he didn't catch my bug. Blake however might have, because he ended up with a fever 2 days later of 103.4

You can barely tell but Joel is all smiles and lovin it!

Blake gets a push in "the bathtub swing"

Joel kept asking for me to take his picture, he is definitely a cutie

Blake gives a wave as he comes in for a landing!

This was another slide they found it to be boring after long it was a shorter ride

Cancel and Extend

What an ordeal. I had to call Delta on Monday while Sam was in the E.R. dept. to let them know we would not be on our fight Tuesday. That creepy woman gave no sympathy and actually gave me aggravation, she told me I'd have to pay a higher fare, for the second time,I told her it was medical, my husband is admitted to the hospital, I don't have a month and a half to reschedule a new flight home.

I was keeping in contact with my sister who was calling family to update them. Of course I was in contact with Jennifer and she was even helping to make phone calls. I had her extend the dog kennel, call Sam's parents once and my sister once, I didn't want my phone to die on me, I asked at a couple nurses stations if they had a spare charger but they didn't. Fortunately, it lasted till the end of our hospital stay.

I had to extend the rental car and hotel. Whew!

On Wednesday, Sam was on the computer checking out flights to get us home. He asked me if I wanted to stay another day or go home that day. I said if your up for it, let's get outta here, so he got Delta on the phone, booked us thru SLC then into Cincy. We didn't have to pay any extra charges either because it was medical. There was no way were we stopping off in ATL, they had storms coming their way and we did not want a delay or reschedule. It was bad enough our son-in-law had to pick us up at 10:00 P.M. because our truck was at the Dayton airport. (We love you Jim but I would have rather had you get a good night's sleep.) It was nice getting a cart ride through the SLC airport and wheelchair service through the other ones. Sam's computer bag weighed 25# and I would have had to carry it, but it fit on the wheelchair. I know this because I weighed it when we got home.

I Left My Appendix In SAN DIEGO"

YOU MUST READ "JUST ANOTHER MANIC MONDAY" FIRST THEN THIS POST: IT'S RIGHT BELOW THIS ONE. (SCROLL DOWN)

http://ctsurgery.ucsd.edu/Portals/0/Hillcrest_cvr.jpg The best I can do for a picture.

So now it's 2:10 P.M. and we're at the hospital. After spending nearly an hour in a full waiting room they call us back, (fortunately they take you based on your condition not number in line) long story short, a CAT scan reveals he does require an emergency appendectomy. His pain level was shooting up, by now it's at a 7.5 out of 10, that's a lot for Sam. The pain med was not helping till they finally gave him a shot in the arm, 3 minutes later he was in less pain.

6 hours after arrival, we're taken up to pre-op it is now 8:30 p.m. They start to start to prepare him then all of a sudden another emergency, somebody comes in with massive brain swelling. We're both extremely tired but can't sleep, a few 5 minute cat naps isn't enough. Finally, 4 hours later they take Sam into surgery, supposed to "be a simple one, an hour or so".

I am going nuts by myself, I go to cafeteria for finally something to eat since breakfast (I didn't want to eat if he couldn't). I pray over and over that God will heal him and comfort me. I get the word 2.5 hrs later because I am hanging out near the surgery dept. doors when a nurse comes out I ask about him and they say he is fine, surgery is complete and the doc will be out to talk to me. It's now 3:00 A.M. They bring him out and wheel him up to recovery. Praise God for giving all the medical staff the knowledge to heal those that are sick! Your awesome!

Recovery plays 50 questions, OK seriously more like 25 but it seemed like 50. I tried to answer them but then I thought maybe they wanted Sam to. Yano, maybe to wake him up, see if he is coherent, they asked the poor guy the same question in another way on a few of them! He just had a stinkin tube down his throat ya think he wants to talk! What can ya do, oh well. Maybe I was in the recovery room too soon.

Not sure why they have a recovery room because he was only there for 30 minutes, enough to badger his throat. Next stop...hospital room. He is feeling nauseous when he closes his eyes and he desperately needs sleep, the nurse gives him a shot and he is feeling somewhat better. But it gets the best of him.

Clear liquids for breakfast and lunch and a few short walks up and down the hall and finally we're told he needs to come back in a week for a re-check. Ummmm, we live in OHIO, we won't be back he tells the doc. So he gets paper work and it's suggested he see his doc here. He goes to the doc on Friday well past a week, but he didn't want to go on his first day back to work and he couldn't make it on Thursday that's all they had open. And that's all I have to say, other than sorry so long of a post.

Sea World

On Sunday, we made a quick stop at the zoo (see previous post) then we arrived at Sea World. First on the agenda was the Soaker Shamu show! We had wonderful seats, first row after the soaker section with barely any heads in the snap shots. I was to S.W. when I was in 7th grade, we went to the one in Aurora, Ohio but it's no longer there, shucks because we would love to take the grand kids but maybe still will to the one in Florida, since I don't feel the need to ever be going back to California again, more on that later. Please,to those that already know how Monday went hold your remarks till I get it posted. Thanks.

Between shows we were watching dolphins and sea otters being fed. We also observed many other aquatic animals they even had manatees there, flown in from Florida because S.W. of FL. had run out of room and needed a place to house injured manatees, they will never be able to survive in the wild again due to injuries.

We didn't go on any of the rides, it was on the chilly side and so we wanted to skip them and get back so we could have a great dinner out since Valentines Day was too full at a few of the recommended restaurants.

Here are some pictures of Sea World: Remember you can ALWAYS click on any picture and chances are it will enlarge, I do not have a clue why sometimes one won't but most all the time they do.

The star of Sea World!

"what an exciting ride!"

In unison

How's that for balance and grace?

A man doing a somersault off a killer whale!

I'm no dentist, but I think those teeth look past rotten, being black, yano.

Dolphins dancing

Right over the rope, centered too:-)

A final show of a terrific splash, would feel good on a hot day in sunny California but not today.

And last we have a penguin guarding dinner.

San Diego Zoo

Here is one of the events that we did while on our Valentines Day/Christmas present get away. We arrived at the S.D. zoo at 10:00 a.m. and zipped off to hunt down the panda bears. The baby panda was sleeping in the tree branches curled up in a ball. I call that boring. The mama was walking around, climbing on a tree and thinking about getting in the small pond she had, much more exciting; however, I found it odd she was not eating bamboo while we were there. In Memphis we learned that panda's eat 40# of bamboo a day and I'd believe it as they were munching on it constantly(in Mem.). But after observing I'd guess 30-40 minutes and not seeing her eat a bite, I wonder.

Anyhow, I was so excited to be there I got a little teary eyed just as I did in Memphis. We took a bunch of pictures and moved on thru the rest of the zoo. The amazing mural was painted by a lot of kids some as young as 4!

Later, I had to see them again and when we went back the line was just like at an amusement park, it zig-zagged back and forth. There was no way I wanted to wait that long considering we were very close to the zoo and had a 5 day pass, we quickly decided to hit the gift shop and come back first thing in the morning. The plan for Sunday was we would check out the panda's and get out of the zoo and head for Sea World.

We only took 90 pictures the first day but the second day we doubled it, we took 180 PANDA pictures in 2 days, is that a lot?

Nearly no post of mine would be complete w/o pictures so here they are:

Me on the first day, notice my Memphis Zoo panda shirt

Here is a list of artist and ages and me petting the panda

Now for a kiss from Lori

mommy and baby playing

morning snack time

One final pet before we leave

Mural

mamma nursing

San Diego Trip (FLIGHT)

It was time to cash in on one of my Christmas presents....A trip in February to San Diego to see the panda bears at the S.D. zoo. This was from Sam, of course and he chose Feb. because we would enjoy a break from winter weather by then. Since there was no way he wanted us to sit in coach seats to fly across the country he books the first class tickets on Dec. 31 for us to fly out on Feb.13. Not sure if you recall but that happened to be Friday the 13th! Not that I am superstitious but it just didn't sound like a good date. Anyway, tickets were booked, so we went. It was a romantic idea to spend Valentines Day in a far away city.

Oh yeah, when I went to shut off my computer at 3:30 A.M. on the 13th I see an article about the Continental plane that crashed into a home in Buffalo, NY the night before killing all 49 on board + 1 in the house. Not news you want to see any day of the year but not the day of Friday the 13th. a.k.a. the day we're flying. I didn't tell Sam till we were almost to the airport...nothing to do about it but pray for all those family's and for God to comfort them so we did our part.

This was my first flight going FIRST CLASS. Wow, they offer to take your coat and hang it in a closet for you! They offer you drinks even mixed ones, even for a 7:00 A.M. flight even as soon as you get situated in your seat that means well before take off! I knew they had complementary drinks but I didn't know when and they don't let your drink empty either at least they didn't let my mixed drink (I had 'em mix me up some Sprite and O.J.)see the bottom except they took it before take off [for obvious reasons]. On the back of the seat ahead of you are miniature monitors where you can choose movies, music, t.v. HBO, CNN or you can even watch the flight map in progress. They even offer you a lunch/dinner depending on the time your flying. Our lunch consisted of some chicken breast, rice mixture that tasted oriental,(I didn't like either) cooked perfectly tender asparagus, (I ate Sam's too) a salad and cheese cake for dessert. I'm not sure all those do hickeys were worth the extra money but I definitely commented to Sam several times how grateful I was he got us First class seats because the size of them alone was soooo much more comfy for that distance!

Check back for what we did while there. Please, if you already know, don't spoil the story. Thanks.

Irish Pub=Yummy

Last night we had dinner with a couple friends and she chose Claddagh's Irish Pub. We've never ate at an Irish Pub so I was all game to try something other than our 3 or 4 REGULAR restaurants. I (we, Nicole, Rosie and I) tried to meet at Cavanaugh's Irish pub in December if you recall but their kitchen was not open till 4 and that was not when we were there. So I was all about still trying out Irish food.

We took Donna's advice and ordered the beer battered onion rings. They were not too greasy as sometimes they are at various restaurants. So then for my meal I chose something I never had before, I'm guessing it's Irish...called Chicken Kildare. It was a stuffed chicken breast consisting of herbed garlic butter, parsley, sauteed baby spinach, mushrooms and Irish rasher bacon (I know, I had to ask too, but, it's like Canadian bacon) it was pan fried to an awesome crispness and then had a dab of garlic butter on top. Champ mashed potatoes ( whatever CHAMP is) and Julianne veggies of yellow squash, zucchini and red onions were the accompaniment. All was totally delish with me! I want more.

Everyone was done but me. Donna and Todd asked for the dessert menu, the waiter asked Sam and I but I told him I was still enjoying my dinner and that was yummy enough for me. I had my first sampling of bread pudding and It was OK, I always wondered what that stuff tasted like.

Be Careful of What You Hope For

Because you just might get too much! OK, so it was nearing the end of January and the kids had not had any snow to play in and I know growing up in Erie, PA was a ton of fun playing in that STUFF. Tuesday we got three inches when I woke up. I wanted some snow to take Blake out and have a good time, 3" is ample to do that. I shoveled the driveway, (which I as a matter of fact enjoy doing as long as it's not the heavy wet stuff or the end of driveway) Sam chose to work from his home office vs going the 1 hr drive each way in what the news crews were stating was a mess, schools were all cancelled, even some businesses were. When I came in after the driveay was done, Sam asked if I wanted some breakfast. He fried me up a couple eggs (just like my mom used to make 'em, a tiny bit crispy around the edges and yolk a little runny, in other words PERFECT) toast and turkey bacon. He even started to do the dishes, but I told him I'd handle it so he could get back to work.

then add this red measurement to the next day

Jennifer came over after work and Blake and I went out to play. He absolutely is addicted to this Little Tyke car my friend Lisa GAVE me a couple years ago. He plays with it everytime he is outside at our house. He only had 1/2 the driveway to ride and asked me to shovel the sidewalk so he could drive, he wanted me to shovel 4 houses length. I settled for "our part".














Here is another picture below of me taking him
sledding. He said "gramma, this is funnn!"and I said "I knew you would like this!"




















He saw the girls go far so he pointed out he wanted me to put the sled RIGHT HERE, like the girls so "I can go far" another time he watched them stand up and go, he asked if he could and I said that wouldn't be safe, so instead he went belly first. (like that is safe too). Blake is so independant he didn't need me to go with him, altho he asked me once if I wanted to ride with him and so I did, and he insisted on pulling the sled back up the hill all by himself. So after that I just guided him in the right direction and he came back up by himself. My kinda boy!