Road to Recovery

What a difference a couple days make.

The above picture was taken after 4 hours at the emergency room on Saturday.  Garrett was placed in a 3 sided hard splint, but he could not move around at all.  By Monday, he was in more pain than he was on Saturday.

Monday afternoon, we went to the orthopedic's office.  They did not take more x-rays, just used the ones from the emergency room, but he appears that Garrett's  fracture will heal without the need for surgery.  The bones were aligned.   He fractured his tibia straight through, but there is no sign of a fracture on the fibula.  They will x-ray him again in one week to make sure it is healing straight.
The cast he is wearing above will be the length he needs for another month and then he'll move into a shorter cast for a month longer.  Once this one was put on, he immediately felt better, it provides much more support.  He's still not moving around too much, but at least he can now get out of bed.

Today I was running around.   We now have a handicapped person in the house, so some modifications were in order.  Garrett will obviously not be driving for awhile, but we got the temporary handicap placard through the end of April.  At this point, getting his long, straight cast in the car is a bit of a challenge.  I'll need to drive my Acura which has a bit more leg room.  But the handicap spot will mostly be needed so he can swing his door open wide.  It's kind of an production getting in and out of the car with that leg.
I also went to his school.  I already emailed his teachers.  We think he'll miss class this week, but his physics teacher said it would be a hard week to miss because of some in class demonstrations.  So we may take him just for fourth period on Thursday and Friday.  That class is at the front of the school so he won't have too far to walk.  His last class of the day is on the second story so I had to see the principal's secretary and check out the super secret elevator key that he can use for the next few months.  Thinking ahead to next week, I also asked that they provide a table and chair to prop his leg on in each class.  There's no way he'll be able to get in and out of those small desks.  I've also been busy ordering things online to make life easier...I bought some gel covers for the crutches, a waterproof protector for his cast, a stool for the bathtub, and a hand held shower head.

Garrett's been a good little patient.  Chris went out and bought him a tv for his room so he's been hooked up with his PlayStation keeping busy.  His friend came over last night and kept him company so he was in good spirits.  I will keep you posted with his recovery.

Summer Reunion

I found this on my desktop and forgot to share it.  Good times!

Opening Day

I will get back to those summer memories, but we interrupt to bring you a soccer update.

Saturday was the official start of soccer season and for the first time in six years, we got to wake at the crack of dawn to attend the traditional soccer parade downtown.  And for the first time in six years, we watched two children play soccer.  We have been waiting for this day and Jack did not disappoint.

Chris is the coach.  I am the photographer.  So I gave Morgan the job of video taping.   Knowing how big soccer has been for our family, I decided I wanted Jack's very first goal to be recorded.  And one minute after kick off, I got that first goal forever recorded.  And then he followed through with about 15 more!



What I loved most about the pictures below is how happy Jack is.  He had a huge smile on his face all day.

After we packed up, we headed over to Garrett's game.  And when we got home for the day, Jack begged to go outside and practice.  I think somebody loves this sport.

Palm Desert

So moving backwards here...this is the second half of the trip.  Are you following so far?  Ha!

Last week Morgan, Jack and I flew with Jenifer and Arianna to So Cal to spend the week out in Palm Desert.  108 degrees.  Hot.  But a great visit and some fun activities thrown in the mix.

On the drive out to the desert we saw a billboard for a local hotel that looked like a fun place to entertain the kids.   One of the pluses of visiting the desert in the summer is the cheap room rates.  Rancho Las Palmas is an awesome resort.  The rooms are recently remodeled and the swim area referred to as Splashtopia is geared toward families.  We got a room with easy access to the Splashtopia area which made coming and going easy.  There was a huge pool, lazy river, a couple long slides, a beach entry pool and a water park.  It may have been 108 degrees, but this was a great way to cool off.

And Jack went down his first slide. He barely made the height requirement, but he was fearless and went again and again.

The last night we went to the Palm Springs Aerial Tram.  I'm not sure why after living most of my life in Southern California I never managed to do this, but this was great.  First of all as we rose 8,500 feet we went from 100 degree weather to 70 degree.  Ahhh, natural air condition how I have missed you!!  The tram ride? Awesome-it rotates so you get spectacular 360 degree views.  At the top?  Amazing.  Talk about a contrast in terrains.  And again more views.

Backwards Week

Long neglected little blog...

Sleeping in our own beds, catching up around the house, and enjoying the last half of summer-that is what on the agenda this week.

Our summer so far has been busy.  I like busy, it keeps everybody from whining and gives me an excuse not to get everything on my to do list done.  But there is something to be said for having a lazy day or two.  And that is exactly what I have planned this week.  However, I'll catch you up on our busy-promising to share a little every day for the rest of the week.

I think I'll start backwards.

On Saturday, Morgan, Jack and I flew from So Cal to Sacramento (and might I add that Sacramento may just have the nicest airport I've ever been in!) and were picked up by Chris, Garrett and a soccer friend for a weekend tournament in Elk Grove.  We had just left the desert, so I was very much looking forward to a weekend in the low 90's!  But low 90's on an AstroTurf field is more like 100-sigh!

Once again, I'm the team photographer, so escaping under an umbrella from the heat was not an option.  But at least I wasn't running around, it was tough in that heat.

This was Garrett's first tournament of the season.  They came in third which sounds impressive, but it was a pretty small tournament.  They only had 3 goals scored on them and they scored 3 goals in four games.  So not a lot of excitement.  But Garrett did get 2 of the 3 goals so he was happy. 
We ended up in the consolation bracket against against the Ptown team.  Trust me, we were all scratching our heads that we had to wait around for a 4:30 game to play a team from our own city.

Jack has been coming to Garrett's soccer games since he was a couple weeks old. Of all the teams Garrett has been on, this is the first year there is a little boy the same age as Jack. Jack was thrilled (and we were thrilled that he would be entertained). This is a definite bonus to the team this year.

We did not get home until 7:00 on Sunday and let me tell you a bed has never looked so inviting.

Just a sneak

 

So many pictures...just giving a little taste of our vacation.  Piles of laundry await, so will share more later.

Congrats!

Cheer season wrapped up on Sunday with a 2nd place finish at the USA Jr. Nationals at California Adventure. The girls did such a great job and were so close to first. Can't be disappointed when they had such a great experience.