Fun Stuff

So, while we have been busy as heck with end-of-school-year stuff.....the school year which isn't entirely over for us that is....... we have done some fun stuff too.  Enough fun stuff that I have a few posts worth of pictures to share with you. 

And everybody says,"YAY!" 

Last week....or was it the week before?  I think I've really lost it, y'all....Anyway......once upon a time, Claire had a doctor's appointment in Columbia.  No, that wasn't the fun part.  But, we did make a family event out of it.  We all piled into that monstrosity of a van we have now and headed on down the road.  The appointment went well and I'm happy to say we us a new orthopedist.  Thank you, God! 

We Love Dr. Dobbs out in St. Louis.  But, he's....well, in ST. LOUIS.  And we are here.  In SC.  You do the math. I can barely get her there once a year for her follow-up and even then we have to call it our vacation! 

A doctor here?  Oh no, that would be way to simple.  Actually, we were seeing a doctor here.   It's hard to believe, but there are only four pediatric orthopedists in our area and they all work in the same practice.    We were seeing the one associated with the spina bifida clinic.  Unfortunately, our doctor made a recommendation for surgery and even after we received a second opinion that contradicted her, she insisted that Claire needed a surgery that could have dramatically changed her life.....and not for the better.  So we went searching for a new doctor. 

The newest member of Claire's medical team did not recommend surgery and even said, almost verbatim, what Dr. Dobbs (our second opinion) said last year- She does not have normal hips, but making her hips normal through surgery is not a good idea.  He's been there, done that, and it doesn't work.  THANK YOU! 

What was so fun about that?  Well, nothing really.  Except Claire did not cry at this appointment.  That was a first for an appointment that involved x-rays.  She did great! 

And afterwards, Paul's sweet Aunt Lainie let us have a picnic at her house and then she and his cousin Jenny gave us their guest passes for the zoo.  That was the fun part!  So it wasn't all business and no play.

The boys climbed the wall. 

Which is better than driving me up a wall!

I know.

I am hilarious!

Isabel loved the lorikeets!

And, they loved her too!

Noah got peed on, but Parker enjoyed them. 

 Such is life isn't it?  Someone always gets peed on. 

I went on vacation with my family once and a llama spit in my sister's face. 

She was not amused.

Neither was Noah.

He was however, thankful that his dad wore two shirts that day!

Isabel has a love of animal statues.

Since she was little she loved to pose with them.

She's trying to get Claire to love it too, but honestly, Claire just wanted to climb it. 

This is the only kind of animal that Claire isn't terrified of. 

Hey, look boys!  I found your long lost triplet...

Just kidding! 

You know we don't believe in Evolution.

And Isabel again with the statues.

I didn't take as many pictures as I should, but then, I was enjoying having a day with everyone. We saw lots of animals.  Claire did not get close to any.  Isabel sat on all statues and posed for pictures.  And Noah didn't get peed on anymore! 

Also, the kids found two bricks, out of thousands, donated by someone in our family.  Uncle Bill and Aunt Lainie's brick was on the bridge we crossed to get from the botanical gardens to the zoo. Parker spotted it right after someone said that we'd never find it because there were too many to go through, and we found the brick dedicated to Paul's cousin, Christian.

Christian died of cancer many years ago.  He was very young, about 19 or 20 I think.  My boys were just toddlers.  I didn't know him well, but I know the boys would have loved hanging around him.  He was a very cool kid.  We watched him skim board we went to the beach in Florida to see him and his parents, Aunt Fran and Uncle David. 

So we took a moment to think of Christian.

And to be thankful for the health of our children.

Never take that for granted.