We Keep Ourselves Busy

If you thought we were done with our busy summer, you were mistaken!  We managed to pack in a few (lot) more things the past couple of weeks.  

The last week of June David's sister Tracy and her family came out west to visit Yellowstone.  They invited David and his brother Brian to come with them!  We had swim lessons and ballet so we could only join them for one day.  We borrowed my mom's car (stupid van needed to go to the mechanic again...) and headed up!  It wasn't the greatest day to visit because we basically followed a bunch of rain storms all around.  But it was fun seeing family we don't normally get to see!

This particular loop we ended up doing twice.  Once while we were waiting for everyone else to show up and it rained and even started hailing on us.  The second loop we did with everyone and the weather was much better!

Second time around - much drier!  And we had a fun crew to walk around with!

On our hike back to the car we walked past this and even got to spot some fish jumping out of the water!  It was very cool!

My kids all said this was the coolest part about Yellowstone.  (We didn't make it to Old Faithful, which I think is the coolest part)  This herd of bison were running down the road and ran right next to us!

This was another path we walked around twice - once while waiting and again with everyone.  It was fun to see all this!

We did a lot of driving that day and my kids actually did really well in the car.  We've done enough car trips to know how to handle it!  But it was an exhausting day.  I looked back and caught this moment which melted my heart a little!  They love each other.

These fishies finished another year of swim lessons!  They are all progressing so well.  I bought those swim caps for the girls but told them they didn't have to wear them if they didn't want.  They chose to and it saved their hair and made them really easy to spot!

I went to check on Asher one night and found him cuddling up with his monkey which was just too cute.  He doesn't know I snuck this picture...😄

We also had Independence day and we had so much fun!  David hates parades, but the kids and I like them so we headed out to watch!  We were at the beginning of the route so the kids got so much candy and we were home before noon so it wasn't even too hot.  

Waiting for it to start!

I always take a picture with my kids while we wait for the parade.

It's a fun way to see how much they've grown!

They're a bunch of cuties!

These were some of my favorite floats:

This train was pulling little train cars behind it.  A local pumpkin patch has this for people to ride on!

Tetons!  I just really liked how cool the mountains looked.

I saw our local aquarium had a float and wondered what they were going to do.  They brought a few of their parrots!

And snakes!

And more snakes!

After the parade we went home to relax for a little while and then headed to my parents house where we ate lots of food and treats and the kids swam for about 4 hours and then we lit off a few fireworks!

Sparklers!  And cups to protect their little hands.

Asher said he felt like a pirate!

I could not get a normal picture of Mia holding a sparkler...

We left that party a little early so we could go see the Melaluca firework display.  I always hear people say it's the biggest show west of the Mississippi.  Don't know if that's true, but it's quite a show!  We've been trying to find a good spot for the last few years and found one at the local high school!  It's close enough you can see them, but it doesn't take 2 hours to get home afterwards.  It was raining and pretty cold, but the kids loved it!

One day we'll watch it closer, but for now we'll enjoy it like this!

After the fireworks we went home and got everyone right in bed.  I was not looking forward to the next day because I had to get up at 5:30 so I could have Ava to the hospital by 6:30.   She had her appointment for sclerotherapy scheduled.  

My sister told me I should take a before and after picture.  So here is the before.  You can see the difference between the two arms.  The bump never really bothers her, but it has gotten noticeably bigger this last year and I want to take care of it before it becomes a problem. 

All gowned up and waiting for the procedure!  She was able to bring her own comfort item and show up in pj's, which she thought was pretty cool.

The doctor told me it would be about an hour and a half long procedure, but after 45 minutes they came and got me.  The way they do it is they insert a needle, drain the fluid, inject a strong antibiotic, let that sit for an hour, then drain it out.  The antibiotic should kill the extra passageways and create scar tissue to prevent the fluid from building up again.  Unfortunately, while they were getting Ava ready, a nurse was holding on to her arm and the pressure ended up pushing the fluid out.  So the doctor wasn't able to pull out as much fluid and was only able to inject less than half of the antibiotic that he was planning on.  They also found a hard mass of that same lymphatic tissue that they will cut out maybe at the next session or the one after.  They said she would probably only need 2 sessions total, but it's looking like we'll have to do 3 now.  But everything went well otherwise. 

They told me that when she was waking up from the anesthesia that she'd probably be really sad and maybe a little upset because it's just hard to wake up from that.  But basically as soon as she opened her eyes she had a big grin on her face!  The nurse told me she hoped all her patients woke up like that today!  Pretty much all the doctors and nurses told me what a cute, charming girl she was and was just smiling and talking to everyone.  So I'm glad they all got to see her fun personality!

She was very loopy waking up and had this goofy grin on her face the entire time in recovery.  There were some not very happy kids in recovery so I think I got lucky!

 It was hard seeing her all hooked up to everything, but everyone at the hospital was so great to work with.  I can tell even after this first round that the bump is smaller.  Let's hope this works and we don't have to worry about it again after this.  She can't get her arm wet at all until her follow up appointment next week, which means no swimming.  Maybe after her appointment we'll go to Grandma's and celebrate with a day full of swimming!