Finally!

Long post of pictures~~

Josh received a foxtail sonic (kind of a soft baseball with a long fabric tail that whistles in the air) for Christmas.

Soon after (I say days, Josh says a month), we were walking on the trail to the park behind the house. Josh threw the foxtail sonic in the air and it got stuck in a VERY tall tree. I know trees are mostly tall, but these are immeasurably tall to me.

Every time we walked on the trail since then, Josh would find different tools (sticks, balls, etc.) to throw to try to get the foxtail out.

A few times, Andy tried to throw things when he came to visit. But, it wanted to stay where it was.

Realizing what a great exercise tool the foxtail was, I started looking for another. Fred Meyer didn't have any more, and I couldn't find any stores around here with them.

So, I ordered one on eBay, but Josh is quick to point out that it isn't a sonic foxtail because it doesn't have the whistle.

Anyway, Andy came to visit for a few days the week before Spring Break. He tried using the soccer ball to get it down.

After MANY tries, Andy got the soccer ball to dislodge the foxtail, but TO ANOTHER BRANCH!

Since we knew Andy was going to be here for Spring Break, we decided to wait and try to get it out then.

A few days later, one of our neighbors in the house saw the foxtail sonic on the ground under the tree.
Josh now has his foxtail sonic back.

The foxtail sonic is hard to see, it's to the left of the big branch to the left of the 23 on the time/date stamp.

The last day of school before break, Maggie scraped her ankle at the playground.
I didn't know about it, but it started really bleeding at the pool that night.
The lifeguard had to fix her up, but not before she got blood everywhere.

Kelly got here that day.

We discovered the Yummy Cafe. It was so good and has the best fresh almond chicken, and the children loved the orange chicken. The potstickers were too authentic or strong with something, as were the spring rolls, but we only really cared about the chicken dishes. YUMMY!

Maggie at the Yummy Cafe.

All the children tried to eat with chopsticks.

Posing in the trees between the cafe and the house (cafe's only about a block away).

Kelly

I just had to take a picture of Josh while he was sleeping like this.

I just deleted the picture for this paragraph.

When Andy got here with Daniel and Josh on Sunday night, Andy figured out why the bathroom sink in our room was draining so slow.

We don't wash hair down the sink drain, but someone before us did.

To the tune of 16 inches of nasty black crap.

So, if your sink is draining slow, chances are it needs to be cleaned out.

Andy, Daniel, and Kelly came for Spring Break.

The baby and I were sick with a nasty cold/cough, so we didn't do anything on Monday.

Tuesday morning, we woke up at 3:30AM and decided the baby needed to go to the hospital for fever.

The baby is neutropenic from treatment.

That means there is no immunity in the baby's body.

If the baby develops a fever of any kind, we have to be admitted to the hospital for a minimum of 2 days.

So, that's what we did.
I still felt awful too.

So, during the Spring Break that was supposed to be filled with fun activities like the Science Museum, shopping (for Kelly), bowling, etc., the baby and I were in the hospital, and Andy got to take the children places.

The picture above is from when the family visited us in the hospital.

First thing the children do is anything electronic, whether it's tv or computer, they do it, and the rest watch...

Andy took the kids to Alki Beach.

They found lots of big shells and Josh found a wand (straight stick).

After Alki, Andy took the kids to Magnuson Beach. They have great dog-friendly areas, so Penny had fun even more. Andy was trying to get her to climb up the lifeguard station. Didn't work, apparently.

Andy did take the children to the Seattle Aquarium one of the days.

Once the baby was discharged from the hospital, we were sure that we'd go out and do fun things. But, I still felt so achy all over, kept coughing, and was just weak.

So, we stayed in our cramped room the weekend and have just stayed here. Kind of like a cave right now.

I'm feeling ok at the moment, thanks to my round-the-clock dosing of Ibuprofen. At least I can go 6 hours between now.

Andy is on his way home with Daniel, Kelly, and Penny. The passes have snow, but the roads are pretty clear.

I am so welcoming our regular routine back this week.