2006_08_01_archive

HOME SWEET HOME

If you check this blog with any regularity, you've probably noticed

we've been MIA for several weeks! As soon as Jake's pneumonia was

finally getting better, Mike started having pain in his lower back on

the right side. This is a very bad sign. This pain can only mean one

thing - another kidney stone. He managed on his own for a couple of

days before we ended up in the ER. Our doctor wanted to admit him, but

he was insistent on toughing it out at home. If it weren't for my

wonderful sister, Cerra, and her briefcase full of meds (she has a

terrible bone disease called a vascular necrosis) Mike couldn't have

made it.

By a great miracle from God, Mike's kidney stone finally passed ending

our family's bad health streak. Well, except for the fact that he also

had bronchitis. He healed from that pretty quickly though. We were

even able to go to our friend Vincent's wedding in Montana as we had

planned. Mike, Jake and I drove 5,200 miles in 10 days and covered 11

states. We had a great trip! We spent 3 of those days in San Diego

with Uncle Joby (aka my brother, Joe.) We saw lots of sights on our

trip, but Jake especially loved the beach and the San Diego Zoo! He

loved the pandas most. We had a caricature done of Jake at the zoo and

his picture has a panda in it. The artist also drew one of Olivia from

her photo. It's one of her at the beach. They're so cute! I'll try to

remember to take a picture of them to post.

We're all very happy to be home, especially Jake. The last couple of

days we were on the road, he had started to refer to the backseat as