Date Day

This past Saturday was an awesome day for both the kids and us.  It was Feather and Fin day at Mousey and Poppy’s house, so that meant all five cousins were invited to spend the better part of the day having fun with Mousey and Poppy.  Mark and I were more than happy to take advantage of a free Saturday, so we planned a little date day of our own.

After stopping off at the Sperryville Country Store for sandwiches and sides, we made our way to Thorton’s Gap to hike to the summit of Mary’s Rock.  The hike was great!  We basically hiked straight uphill for a little over 1.5 miles.  We had Cayenne with us, and she loved being along for the hike!

At the summit, we were at an elevation of 3,514 feet, so we had a great view of the Shenandoah Valley.  We ate our lunch at the summit and enjoyed the scenery before it was time to hike back down the mountain.

Many years ago, Mark made acquaintances with the jeweler he had make my engagement ring.  He was a soccer fan, and Mark was still playing for DC United, so they struck up a bit of a friendship.  We later returned there to get our wedding rings, then followed an anniversary present, and other visits for basically any jewelry needs we had.  Just recently, we were back again to get an heirloom ring from my grandmother re-worked, and while we were there, they told us that they had got into the winery business several years ago.  We talked about the winery life and promised that we would stop in the next time we were in the area.  It just happened that the hike we did wasn’t far from the winery, Molon Lave, so we stopped in to see the vineyard and enjoy some wine.  It was a wonderful way to round out the date day.

After the winery, we met my parents at Carousel – a super cute and fun ice cream shop in Warrenton.  Everyone got huge ice cream treats, and Cayenne even got a “pup cup” of a little ice cream with a dog biscuit!  We came home and had three exhausted girls (fur baby included), but it was a great day for everyone!

The following lovely pictures are all credited to Susan Lewis, a friend of my parents.  As part of Feather and Fin day, my parents took all the girls to the Lewis’s home to fish their pond and swim in their pool.  From what we heard and saw, the fishing was quite a success!

Nina happened to catch the pond record – a 4 lb. large mouth bass!!!  She cast it, set the hook, and reeled it in on her own.  She said Poppy helped her get it up on the shore since they didn’t have a net, but she was so proud of herself!  Mark was awfully proud of her too!

  

All the girls caught fish – many of them very nice sized.  Mousey and Poppy said that all the girls really enjoyed fishing, and it was a great success!

After fishing they got a ride in Mr. Lewis’s Gator back up to the house where they enjoyed some time swimming.  All the girls had such a fun day!  I’m so thankful that our girls have such wonderful opportunities to make memories with their grandparents and cousins.  We are very blessed that they love each other so much!

Cast #2

About a week ago, Nina got on cast #2.  She had another appointment with her orthopedic for x-rays to make sure the bones were healing straight, and they were thankfully, so she got on her next cast that will take her through the next four weeks.  We were so happy that this cast is waterproof!!!  Not only that, but she’s walking normally now without crutches, so our summer has drastically improved in the last week!

I snapped a few pictures with my phone to document it’s first trip to the pool.  We were surprised how easily Nina was able to swim with her leg casted.  She swims, jumps in the water, climbs out of the pool, etc with ease.  We are so happy for her to have this fun summer activity back!

   

In addition to hitting up the pool a lot this past week, we’ve been churning out loaves of zucchini bread. We got some very large zucchini from Mousey and Poppy’s garden, and there have been lots of requests for zucchini bread, so I’ve gotten plenty of “help” in the baking department this week.  Now if only that same help was also available in the clean-up department…

One other exciting part of our week was catching up with old friends at a fun outdoor concert.  I got to hang out with three of my girlfriends from high school – it’s hard to believe we’ve been friends for over 20 years!  While we spent time catching up, out kids made friendships on their own.  It was a fun evening with great friends!

Feel Good Friday

This morning when I was getting ready to leave to teach my class, I walked down the driveway to roll the trash can down to the street when I heard this little peeping coming from the grass.  I looked down and saw this little guy.  It looked like he had dropped from a tree a few feet away, but I couldn’t see a nest and didn’t want to interfere, so I filled a straw with water to see if he was thirsty, and he happily drank the water from the straw a few times then I went on my way.

By this evening, the little birdie was still sitting in the same place.  Once the girls saw him, it was all over with.  He was still too young to fly, and sitting where he was all day on the grass, he had to be thirsty and hungry, and he was also in a very vulnerable situation.  So, we decided to try to help without interfering too much.

Clearly, he/she was hungry.  He would look right at us and open his mouth so wide and squawk.  I don’t think it mattered if we were his mom or not – he just wanted food.  So, Lyla set off in search of worms.

Meanwhile, Mark tried to find the original nest.  We were thinking we could just set him back in his nest and let his mother take care of him.

When Mark found the nest, he realized why this little guy was on the ground.  The nest was packed, and all the other birds in the nest were much bigger than he was.  He probably just got pushed out.  So, we decided to try to help him.

Lyla found quite a few worms, and Mark fed the baby bird with tweezers.  He was so hungry, he probably ate five or six worms. Then he drank more water out of the straw and started to fall asleep.

So, Nina kept a watchful eye on him while we figured out where to put him.

Mark looked in the tree and found a good area on the branches right below the nest that his siblings were in, so Lyla and a friend gathered cut grass to make the nest and we put a little water in there with him and set him in his “new nest.”

Evidently, he decided he was still hungry for a few more worms, so we fed him some more and then Mark placed him inside the tree just below his original nest.

We think he’ll sleep well tonight – safely off the ground.  Plus, he’s got a full belly, and compared to his siblings, he’s got a nest fit for a king.  Since he’s directly below his original nest, we’re hoping the mother bird will obviously hear and see him there and will attend to him.  I guess we’ll check in the morning, but we’re hoping he’ll be good to go on his own now.  I know at least two little girls (and one big one) that will sleep easier tonight!

Life in a Cast

Life in a cast during the summer isn’t the best, but Nina has kept her good attitude and kept her spirits up.  It’s hard to find many things to do on crutches and in a cast, but we’re trying our best to keep life in a cast as good as it can be.  Thankfully, the leg pains she was having are gone, and it still doesn’t feel well enough to walk on yet, but she’s getting used to putting a little bit of pressure on it, and she’s learning to get around better on crutches.  We go in on Thursday of this week for cast #2.  I’m praying they let this next cast be the waterproof option.  That would add a ton of brightness to the next four weeks, so we’re really hoping for good news about that on Thursday.

While in cast, we took the opportunity to visit the Loudoun County Administrative Building where Nina’s artwork was on display.  We had received a letter from her art teacher at the end of the school year that one of her pencil shading pieces (pictured below) was chosen to go on display in the building.  We were very happy for her and enjoyed checking it out in person.

We are also learning how to get around in stores.  Costco was particularly fun because she got to drive the motorized scooter.  It was a little dicey (making sure she didn’t run into anyone or anything), but I have to say she did a good job with it.

While Nina got a special afternoon with Mousey to do art and go to lunch (photo credit to Poppy), I got the chance to take Lyla to the pool with a friend which she really enjoyed.  We also picked up an enormous zucchini from Mousey and Poppy’s garden.  I’m not sure it it’s big enough…

   

The other highlight of last week came with an outdoor 80’s concert near our neighborhood.  Our neighborhood and others near ours have free family-friendly concerts in the summer, and one of our favorite 80s cover bands, the Reflex, was playing at a neighborhood near ours so we went with some friends. 

Nina did great navigating the grass and the crowds with her crutches, and the girls enjoyed playing and dancing with their friends.  At one point, Nina and her friends moved to the very front of the stage, and Nina was “dancing” with her crutches.  On a break from the concert, an announcer came on stage and awarded Nina the swag bag of the night for being “the girl in the front row dancing her heart out on crutches”!  The bag had gift certificates in it to area vendors and restaurants, so we were so happy for her!

Cayenne has been one member of the family who I think is enjoying this ankle injury.  We’re at home so much just hanging around, and I know Cayenne loves all the attention. When she’s not pesting us, she is an avid bunny stalker.  Every time there is a bunny in the back yard, she patiently stalks them out.  She never charges on them to try to over power them, but she’ll take 20+ minutes to stalk one out from one side of the yard to the other. So far there haven’t been any bunny casualties, thankfully!  I can think of two little girls who would be very upset if that happened.

A Broken Ankle and July 4th

It’s been a week since our summer took a bit of a rough turn for the worst.    Nina had an accident while on the jumping pillow at Great Country Farm and ended up with a fractured ankle on both sides and a dislocated growth plate.  The story is long and writing all the details will just get me annoyed again, but the short story is that we left Urgent Care after many hours on Monday with an unclear diagnosis. The doctor there was not confident reading the x-rays, so she had them sent out to radiology and send us home with Nina’s ankle wrapped, telling her not to put any pressure on it, keep it iced and elevated. 

Ok, so no x-ray results the next day, or the day after (meanwhile, I’m calling to try to find results multiple times a day), then again no results on Thursday, and Nina’s mom gets a bit angry at Urgent Care.  X-ray results followed, told us what we were hoping not to hear, then we were scrambling to get her to an orthopedic ASAP. The Williams girls came over with huge minion balloons and chocolate for Nina, then they took Lyla with them down to Hartfield (where we were supposed to be as well), and we headed to the hospital

   

We were so grateful that Nina got to see one of Mark’s former orthopedics from DC United.  When we got the diagnosis from Urgent Care, Mark got in touch with him immediately, and he said he would be happy to fit Nina into his schedule that day.  She left with a super cool cast but a sad prognosis – six full weeks in a cast and then they’ll x-ray again and hope that is all for the casting.  So, she’ll be in a cast the whole summer which is a real bummer, but we’ve been really proud of Nina.  She has maintained a really good attitude, kept her smile, and has been a real trooper through the whole ordeal. 

  

The first 48 hours in the cast were pretty easy.  She adjusted to getting around on crutches, and she spent a lot of time reading and relaxing.  She was dealing with pain and soreness, but we were able to keep her pretty comfortable which was good.  Cayenne did a good job of keeping an eye (or a couple closed ones) on her! 

   

Saturday, July 4, was Cayenne’s birthday, so she started the day with chicken jerky pancakes while Nina enjoyed some chocolate chip pancakes.

  

Nina was feeling well enough to want to go to the Leesburg parade, so we thought it would be a nice opportunity to get out of the house a bit.

Here comes the parade!

The Leesburg parade is very small town, but it’s a nice family parade and we enjoyed watching it.

 

 

Despite being in a cast and on crutches, Nina was still her cute and stylish self!

 

We had some down time in the afternoon to relax, then we had the July 4th party on our street with neighbors.  A couple of the neighbors got some great (legal and illegal) fireworks, and we enjoyed a rather nice show to finish off the day.

 

Starting on Saturday, Nina started to have a bit more discomfort with her ankle and cast.  We’re pretty confident all is fine, and she’s just having to get through some soreness, muscle spasms, etc, she’s also felt sad at her injury.  She misses being her old self and being able to be active and doing things.  It’s also hard to think that she/we won’t be able to do a lot of the things we had hoped to do this summer.  However, she has to go in for a new cast on 7/16, and I’m hopeful they can make that cast waterproof.  If so, that will be really great and possibly allow us some other activities, but until then, we’re playing lots of games inside and trying to make the best of a not-so-great situation.