Rest & Relaxation

Last night was a quiet one here.  Cam had Evan over and they spent the time he was here playing Nerf guns and Pokemon.  Doug had made homemade pizza and everyone liked it.  Meg rested a lot.  She has a head cold and has been on the go ever since our plane landed.  Doug and I had work to do for school and Renegade.  It was a good night to get that done and to watch a movie I had been wanting to see - 12 Years a Slave.  It was a sad movie, but one worth seeing.  It won the best picture Oscar in 2014.  Cal did go to the basketball game at Tippy Valley with a group of friends.  The boys lost as Gage is out nursing a dislocated shoulder, but Cal and his friends had fun anyway.

We decided just to take it easy today as well.  We were all still dragging from our trip and the start of a new trimester.  Doug was very busy at work the past three days catching up from being on vacation.  Thus, it was the perfect day to rest.  I spent a lot of it working on the computer.  It is the easiest way for me to keep busy without physically being active.  I was able to catch up on the bills, our Disney photos and schoolwork.  Meg slept in and then spent a good portion of today reading.  Cameron read as well and played on the iPad.  Doug did try to reserve court time at the racquet club in Warsaw for the three of them, but it was busy today.

Doug and I did go to Chops tonight.  I felt pretty good today and only had two episodes of shortness of breath from my pleurisy.  We made it home before the snow go too heavy.  Meg and Cameron spent the evening at my parents.  Cam had fun rolling around their carpet and playing games.  Meg took advantage of the time to rest.  Cal was late returning from Hacienda and Cameron's.  The snow slowed him down.  Stephen and Nick spent the night here with him.

One Scary Practice

Tonight was our last practice of the season and it didn't go quite the way I had planned.  We have been holding team competitions all week and we started off with a suicide.  The teams got a point for each player that crossed the line before the clock sounded at 35 seconds.  After the suicides Angela came running to me and said Vicky was in the locker room.  She had used her inhaler, but it hadn't helped.  I ran in there and Vicky was crying and gasping for breath.  I sat with her for a minute and realized that she couldn't calm down and was struggling to breathe.

I had Angela run down to the office and get anyone there who could help.  Cindy and Ryan both came back with her.  Cindy also tried to get her to calm down and breathe slowly, but it didn't help.  Vicky tried drinking some water, but it wouldn't slow her breathing down.  Ryan finally called 911.  By then Coach Pizana moved all of the girls to the small gym.  It felt like forever before the ambulance arrived, but it did finally get there.  They put Vicky on oxygen almost immediately and started an IV.  By the time they wheeled her out of the gym her breathing was a lot better.  Ryan and Cindy came back almost ten minutes later and said that she was on her way to the hospital and was already doing well.

I had a hard time focusing the rest of practice as did most of the girls.  We made it through, however.  Once I took everyone home and got Meg, Cameron and Evan here, I felt a little better.  Ryan had texted from the hospital and said there would be releasing her this evening.  I still cried every time I thought about it.  I am thankful that she will be ok.  I don't ever want to do that again.

Pleurisy Round 2

I made an appointment with Dr. Mulry this afternoon to follow up on the problems I have been having with pleurisy.  He gave me some medicine for gout to try for symptom relief, but overall said that it would take at least another week or so to get over.  It was better in Florida, but definitely is still there.  I have gotten used to it which makes it easier to deal with.  I need to rest, but school and basketball make that challenging.  It also is hard because I have to talk so much and that makes my chest hurt after awhile.  Mr. Larson told me that after lunch I look terrible.  I had to laugh, but I know he was correct.  I should be able to rest this weekend and hopefully will be on the mend soon.

Cal's Vacation

We asked Cal if he wanted to go with us to Florida this time, but he opted out.  Instead he said that he would stay with my parents.  We checked in with him several times and had to laugh at his adventures with my parents.  On Friday he got stuck in the driveway of our house.  After forty-five minutes of trying to get out on his home he had to accept help from my Dad.  He then ran out of gas later as he had used it all up trying to get out of the driveway.  We decided that my Dad must have rubbed off on him as it sounded like something he would do.

On Saturday they all went to MC Sporting Goods and then Goodwill.  Cal found a new pair of shoes at the first one and a camouflage shirt for Saturday night's game at the second.  They enjoyed a buffet lunch before heading back for the boys' basketball game.  Cal and his friends met at our house to make signs for that night's game.  Dad sent us pictures.

Cal spent the day studying Sunday as Monday was the last day of the trimester.  Monday night he went with his friends to Buffalo Wild Wings and then watched "Better Call Saul" at Cameron Adams'.  Tuesday was spent playing basketball and checking his final grades.  He brought two of his grades up and ended up with two A's - Physics and Strength Training and two B's - AP US History and AP/Dual Credit Calculus.  We were thrilled.  He finished with an 11.0.  That is the best he has done in quite awhile.

The End of a Wonderful Trip

We were up early to check in with our airline at the resort.  They were even able to hold on to our carry on bags as well.  We walked to EPCOT to enjoy our last morning there.  We rode two of our favorites - Soarin and Figment.  We decided to eat lunch in the park on our tour of the countries.  Mexico had some delicious nachos and guacamole.  Meg wanted one last pretzel and Cam and I wanted a funnel cake.  I had been looking for a sweatshirt and found the perfect one in the German shop.  Cam bought a King Louie pin for Grandpa Cutes and we were on our way.

As we left EPCOT it started to rain.  Meg looked at me and said, "I think God is crying because we have to leave Disney World."  I think she may have been right.

We caught the Magical Express to the airport at 1:45.  Cam and Meg enjoyed the Mickey Mouse cartoons on the way out.  They watched a lot of them on our trip.  They are new ones based on the old ones from years ago.  It took awhile to get checked in at the airport, but easy to find our terminal.  I am impressed that Brett was able to navigate it all last Spring without ever having been there before.  Orlando airport is a lot bigger than Indy.

Our plane left about ten minutes late, but we didn't mind.  We noticed the plane to Providence was delayed several hours again.  Glad that we weren't on that one.  The plane trip went very well.  Doug slept for part of it.  I wasn't very nervous, at least not like the flight down.  This plane had live television to watch.  I was able to view several episodes of Man vs. Food and the nightly news.  It definitely made the time on the plane go by quickly.

We easily found our luggage and had a short wait on the shuttle back to our van.  Doug was afraid that it wouldn't start.  It did, however, and he was able to drive over the small mound of snow behind the van.  Indy got seven inches of snow while we were gone.  The drive home was a little slower than on the way down.  There were several roads with snow drifted over them.  We stopped at Arby's for dinner and were back by 11:30.  Cal was awake when we got here, but all of us climbed in bed almost immediately tired, but happy to have had the time away.

What a Beautiful Day!

Today we started at Disney Hollywood Studios.  Since they hadn't been able to ride Rockin Roller Coaster they wanted to try one more time.  All three were able to get one and had a great time.  The first part scares Cameron a little bit, but he enjoyed it just the same.  Doug and I hurried over to Toy Story Mania as we both enjoy that ride and neither of us can handle the spinning of Rockin Roller Coaster.  Once we were all done riding we caught a bus to EPCOT.  Our fast passes were for there this morning and they all wanted to catch Test Track, Spaceship Earth and Mission Space before Brett left.  Luckily, we had fast passes for all three as the park was crowded by the time we arrived.

Lunch was on the Boardwalk again.  Everyone but me ate pizza.  I enjoyed a chili dog.  Brett spent some time packing while Cameron and Meg went swimming.  Doug even joined them as it was a beautiful afternoon.  I waited with Brett for his Magic Express back to the airport.  His plane was to leave at 7:00 p.m. The bus was right on time and Brett said he was ready to go.  He has a test on Wednesday and would like to get it over with.  He planned to used his travel time for studying.

We ate appetizers in the lounge before taking the bus to Magic Kingdom.  It was crowded as usual, but we still had a great time.  Meg had one of her jokes used at the Laugh Floor and we all realized that we were lucky to have ridden Pirates of the Caribbean.  It was closed for refurbishment.  We almost made it back on the Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride, but it closed due to a technical problem.  We finished the evening by shopping at the Emporium.  It is my favorite place to shop on Disney property.  I found a handbag that I had wanted and Meg picked up a pair of Minnie Mouse shoes.

We were too late to get anything except for pizza back at the Boardwalk.  Doug ordered room service and we all like their chicken wings and chocolate cake.  I packed everything I could so that we may spend time at EPCOT tomorrow before our trip home.  Brett texted close to midnight and said that he just made it to his dorm room.  He got his studying done and was ready for the week.

Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride

We did sleep in until 9 a.m. or so this morning.  Everyone was glad for the extra sleep.  We had breakfast in the lounge.  Their fresh fruit and crescent rolls were wonderful. We caught the bus to Magic Kingdom and arrived just as our first fast pass to Space Mountain was expiring.  Meg, Cam and Brett made it with a minute to spare.  On our way to the Mad Hatter's Tea Party we ran into Alice in Wonderland.  Brett decided to wait and have his picture taken with her.  She has long been on of his favorites since his role as the executioner many years ago.  While we were waiting on Alice and the White Rabbit, Cameron spied Tigger and Winnie the Pooh.  He ran to be first in line and had his picture taken with them.

After the character meet and greet it was time for our fast passes to the new Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride.  We couldn't wait to ride it as we saw it being built on our trip last Spring.  Although short, it was an awesome addition to the park.  We tunneled through the mine and rode over the mountain.  Once we finished we enjoyed Mickey's Philharmagic.  Cam picked out his second shirt - a picture of Donald that said "The Official Angry Bird."

We were able to ride Splash Mountain and then they rode on Big Thunder Mountain. Everyone was excited to have ridden all three mountains twice within 24 hours.  Cameron and I headed to Gaston's tavern after the mountain rides as he wanted to try Le Fou's Brew.  It came in a souvenir mug and was surprisingly delicious.  We were able to shop at Mickey's Emporium before traveling back to the Boardwalk.   This time rode the monorail to Epcot and walked back.  We decided to have dinner at the Big River Brewing Company on the Boardwalk.  It was nice to eat outside.  For the second time today we saw a seagull swoop down and try to take someone's food.  Luckily, they left us alone.

We walked over to Fantasia mini-golf, but it was too crowded to play today.  We caught the bus to Downtown Disney once we left there.  It took awhile to get there and Downtown Disney was packed.  We all had fun shopping, however, and found some great items.  Brett really liked the Oswald the Rabbit shirt he found and plans to wear it home tomorrow.  Cam bought an Emperor Zurg gun and Meg picked up some gifts for her friends.

We spent the rest of the evening at EPCOT once again.  Brett wanted to catch Finding Nemo before he left.  Doug was finally able to try the avocado margarita we had read about.  It definitely was an interesting tasting drink.  We made it back to the Boardwalk for desserts and then enjoyed the street performers from our balcony.  It was the earliest that we had made it in, but worth it to enjoy the Boardwalk.