Anniversary Adventure Part II

The big girls are back in school and preschool. The little ones are better, but still have really runny noses. Katie had her re-check yesterday and her lungs sounded good, her blood oxygen was okay. Thankfully Emma never had RSV, and wasn't as sick as her big sisters. The big girls and I snuggled a lot, so of course I now have a cold. Not too bad so far, thank goodness. Kristen is back in school, so I am back with the babies here every day.

Kev and Sema are coming back this week - hard to believe the 3 weeks are gone already. Sema is on her way, and may be in Dubai already (Wednesday morning 7:00 am now) and will arrive on Thursday; Kev leaves tomorrow and arrives on Friday afternoon. Please pray that their flights go better this time and that they get back with all of their luggage!

Back to the anniversary adventure --

It is great to live so close to such a beautiful getaway spot. - it's only an hour's drive up the hill. In fact, that's where we spent the first two days of our honeymoon - DC went up earlier that week and checked out the spot -



A storm moved in just in time for our wedding - by the time we got up there after the reception, it looked like this.



But it was nice and cozy inside - unfortunately, DC wasn't this happy the whole time - he was flattened by a sinus infection on the second day and we ended up heading down to our town for an appointment with a doctor and some medicine before we resumed our honeymoon to California.



In a matter of possible interest - our original plan was to go to the Grand Canyon and around that area. Our travel agent called and told DC that the storm was coming from that direction and she did not advise driving that way. So after going to the doctor that day, DC went back to the travel agency and booked a trip to LA - Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm, Japanese Gardens, etc. Long fun story. When I was looking for the pictures above of the cabin, I found our original itinerary:



I wish DC had put the prices on the rest of the hotels - $15 at the Grand Canyon! I found our first grocery shopping list, too. I wish I had put the prices there as well.

For those of you who are new here, I'll post this wedding picture --




But I digress.

While we were driving around on our anniversary adventure, we found this cottage in the same spot.




After looking at it and comparing the two, I realized they weren't the same. I remembered that our cabin had been destroyed by the Lawn Lake Flood in 1982. Estes Park was devastated by loss of tourist traffic for several years after this flood. Six years earlier, in 1976, the Big Thompson flood happened several miles below Estes, but prevented traffic from reaching them for several years as US 34 was repaired and rebuilt. So it is a miracle that this town has survived and is thriving and growing. If you ever decide to visit Estes Park, be sure to let me know so that we can get together!

My next post will be mostly pictures that I took as we drove around Rocky Mountain National Park on Monday. We also did our usual tourist-y thing of walking around town and looking at all the shops. That was when I got the watch that I showed you a couple of posts ago. There is a year-round Christmas shop that we love to visit. She has amazing decorative items, trees decorated in many different colors and styles, but I have to say that she doesn't run any great after Christmas sales! Hootin' Anni would go nuts in there, considering her Santa collection. I couldn't resist showing you and her some of the variety this shop carried this year. Anni, come and visit any time and add to your collection!









I've been to Estes many, many times, but have never noticed this rock formation before - it's visible from the middle of town and is called "Twin Owls." Well named!




There was a lot of wild life evident that day as we drove around - especially mountain sheep and elk. Elk and deer come into town and cause "trouble" - the fact that it was their land for eternities does not seem to make the new residents any happier.









It was really cold and windy up there that week-end three weeks ago - today it was 70 degrees F and will be as warm tomorrow. Very weird!!

Stay tuned for Part III!

Anniversary Adventure Part I

First a little catch-up. Emma and the big girls went to the doctor Friday. The big girls have really bad coughs and have been with me for 4 nights. Feisty is the worst and has not been sleeping well at all - which means I haven't either, of course. The babies are back together at home and are sleeping a lot. They're having nebulizer treatments several times a day and have a long ways to go before they have their spitfire personalities back. They tire very easily. Thanks for your prayers, and we ask that you continue. Add all of this to two funerals and it's been one unbelievable week.

It's already been three weeks since our anniversary - such a busy three weeks. But I don't want to waste all those memories and pictures. We left for Estes Park after the morning service on the 28th. We were returning to the cabin we've stayed in 3 times before - the third anniversary trip and one in May.



The trip up was beautiful on a very cold day. I enjoyed capturing the clouds as they hovered over the peaks.

The sun was TRYING to come out, but not very successfully.

I love this little cabin and could stand to live here full time.

Here I am in our "yard."

Three views from "our" deck and bedroom and living room windows. The Fall River is gurgling down below the snow and ice.

When we're not out and about, I'm loving this spot in this chair.

The little tree on the mantle is decorated with a fishing/hunting motif.

We needed this getaway after the busy and hectic and wonderful week with so much family!

But I didn't expect this picture to be taken!





We went to Nicky's for dinner - had their special, Prime Rib. I usually order chicken, but I went with the waitress' advice - and it was delicious. DC is looking mighty satisfied.

I think that's enough for now - I have a surprise for Hootin' Anni in Part II!

Yet another update

So it is Friday - the big girls spent the night in order to keep Katie safe from their colds. Which, by the way, are getting worse every minute. All plans for any fun stuff today are officially cancelled. A trip to the doctor, earlier rather than later I hope, will be our outing for the day. They need to be still and quiet today. Feisty in particular sounds really horrible - which I know from very first hand because she crawled into my bed at midnight, followed quickly by her sister, who was awakened by Feisty's crying in the middle of the night. Both are croaking pretty badly. We can't get them in to the doctor until 4:00 - they want to do RSV test on all 3 of the others - Kristen tells me they will not like this test at all!

The biggest problem this creates is that I need to go to Maizie's funeral at 1:00. The aunt who is taking care of Emma would normally be glad to take Katie, too, so that Kristen can be with the sick big girls. But we want to keep Emma from Katie's remaining germs.

Oh, my. Flexible is indeed the proper word for the year!!

(If any of this makes no sense to you whatsoever, like you came in on the middle of a soap opera episode, please page down and read the last post or two).

Thanks for your often and continual prayers!

Quick Catch-Up

UPDATE ON THE UPDATE: Emma was clear - no RSV, so she went back home with her aunt. Katie spent most of the day in the hospital - I was there most of the time, holding her so Kristen could get some things done and some rest. She went home at around 3:00 and we're keeping the big girls, since they have colds and they shouldn't be near the babes. Emma is staying with her aunt until Katie is well, so she doesn't pass the germs on to her. My word for the year, flexible, is getting a real workout!


PRAYER REQUEST UPDATE: Katie was admitted to the hospital around noon today with RSV (http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/welcome/infectionsguide/preventing_rsv.html). This is a serious issue for preemies. Emma was with her aunt all day today and now has been taken to the emergency room with the beginnings of the same type of cough and raspiness. Please pray for all of us! I have the bigger girls here tonight.


I needs lots of time to show you the beautiful shots of our week-end in the hills. I just wanted to catch you all up on a few things.

Maizie went home to Jesus and Joe on Monday morning. The funeral will be Friday afternoon at the funeral home. Her son who lives here is not a believer; in fact, he's quite anti anything Christian. He took a shine to my dad, the retired pastor who visited her, and has asked him to officiate at the service. It will be a small funeral, because most who knew her are already there waiting for her.

Lauren's mom and dad were on the news last night - they have already been to the state legislature to encourage passing of a law requiring carbon monoxide detectors in homes and apartments, just as smoke detectors are required. This bill was up for passage last year and failed. Six people have died in Colorado recently of CO poisoning. A skating rink in Greeley was closed down earlier this week when fumes were detected - apparently from a faulty zomboni. Scary stuff. A family of 4 was found dead in a huge luxury home in Aspen - they had won a week-end stay at this home in some sort of society contest in Denver. I don't know who the sixth person was.

Kristen will start school again Tuesday, so my schedule will rev up again with the babies every morning. The month has flown.

Kev and Sema are having a wonderful time with her family. We had an e-mail yesterday, which is always a treat. He's been keeping close tabs on the Super Bowl news, the Nuggets basketball scores, and the hiring of the new coach for the Broncos. Isn't it amazing what the Internet can do? Here's an exerpt from his message:

"Well we just got back from "shamba" which means farm really. It's their plot of land in a town called Kilifi near the beach. The beach was just a few minutes' walk away. It was so nice and peaceful, compared to Mombasa where it's loud, unbearably hot, and all that. I like both, but Dad, you would love it there in the countryside. I took lots of video. There are literally millions of palm trees there. This week we are actually going to a place called Watamu, a little town a couple hours away where (Sema's) dad has purchased us four acres of land. It's the first time we get to see that. Actually it was our wedding present. . . Wow, time is flying by. We hope to stay in a hotel for a night this week. Imagine at shamba we had to stay in a tent for 4 nights. and the mosquitoes, my goodness. I had to cover myself in bugspray every night. Other than that it was quite nice. Nothing to do but go to the beach and read. I also got stung by a jellyfish . . . "

I'm thankful they took lots of bug spray, because malaria is a real concern over there. Please pray as they come home next week on the 23rd that their flights will go more smoothly! I always wonder what they will do with that property that they own on the coast of Kenya!

I was going to show you this picture on my anniversary post, but there is a reason to show it now. This is my anniversary gift, which we found as we were visiting our favorite shop in Estes Park. They carry lovely paintings and photography. This caught my eye immediately - these watches are made in British Columbia and the bands are various types of wood. Just beautiful. Mine is sandalwood, I believe.




Please don't look too closely at the age spots on the hand! I took a shot from the other angle to show you the incredibly ugly ganglian cyst that I've been sporting for several months.




I keep waiting for it to disappear, as it did once before. But it just keeps getting bigger instead. I Googled it and learned that one way to get rid of it is to smash it with the old family Bible. Seriously. My friend (the one who just lost Lauren) told me recently that her grandmother got rid of hers when her grandfather did just that. The doctor even mentioned the old fashioned remedy! I think I'll pass! I don't have an old family Bible and I don't think my leather one would do the trick - maybe The Message would be heavy enough - but it sounds a bit too painful!

Modern methods are two - surgery, which I'd like to avoid, or aspiration of the gunk inside. I went in Tuesday with high hopes for aspiration. Often the cyst will return when this is done. Well, true to form, every time I have something done, it turns out to be a bit on the weird side. I don't want to gross you out with details, but suffice it to say the young doctor just about had a heart attack, I think, when the syringe began to fill with blood instead of gelatinous gook. He tried a different spot, after pressing on it very hard to stop the bleeding, with a bit more success. But not enough. I still have a large cyst, now with two needle holes in it. He was quite shocked and distressed, saying that I must have a vein over the top of it instead of underneath it. He wants to see me again in a week, but I don't really see what good that will do. My wonderful retirement insurance, pre-old-enough-to-have-Medicare-insurance, has such a high deductible that I don't really want to go the surgery route. But I really don't like having this ugly thing on my wrist either, and it does get in the way of my watch!

Could you pray for little Katie today? She has a nasty cold and Kristen just told me she spiked a temp during the night. She'll take her to the doctor today. We had hoped to avoid another trip over there.

I'll close this morning with this adorable picture of Feisty and her leaf-filled snowman that she made yesterday afternoon with what was left of Monday's snow.

Update

On yesterday's post -

My sister just got a call from Suzanne and the coroner has ruled that cause of death was a burst aorta - a congenital, genetic weakening that chose this moment to burst.

All of the men on both sides of the family are to be tested, because it could have been treated had it been known - but it's not something routinely checked, I guess. So incredibly sad.

Ryan and Emily are supposed to leave for their 3-year aviation mission assignment in Alaska a week from Monday. Ryan was to speak Sunday at their send-off service. The funeral is Saturday, but I don't know the time yet. It will be at a very large church in the town north of us, because we don't have enough room in our church.

I just keep thinking of Dan going to bed that night and waking up in heaven. It is the only comforting thought right now - and the fact that he obviously did not suffer.

Thanks for your comments and your prayers.