The Beach

Laura and I finally had an opportunity to escape last weekend just the two of us for a quick 3 day getaway to Myrtle Beach. It was the first time just the two of us had gone away as stress free as we can be, in quite a long time. The first night we were there we hit Angelo's which is supposedly home of the best steaks in the universe. I'm not sure I can confirm that as I have not tried all of the steaks in the universe, but I must say it was a really good steak. Later that evening we took in a show at the Carolina Opry, which is currently doing a show called Good Vibrations. They basically recreate songs from the 60's, 70's and 80's and have dancers and visuals, laser lights and other assorted entertaining props. We really enjoyed this although being that most schools are back in, we seemed to be by far the youngest folks there, although we probably knew more of the music than the majority of people there. We spent the next couple of days relaxing, people watching, and actually never made it down to the actual beach as we had such a great view of the beach and ocean from our room. We were on the 9th floor and enjoyed a spectacular view both eastward and westward. All in all a nice little getaway before we really get thick into both school and work the next few months.

First Day of School

Noah started 2nd grade and Meghan started Kindergarten yesterday. They both seemed to be pretty excited, although maybe a little apprehensive starting the new year. This is Meghan's first year in public schools and she seemed to do pretty well, even going so far as telling us that we could go ahead and take Noah to his class and she could take of herself. Well, of course we didn't do that. After the day was over it appeared that they both had a great day at the first day of school.

Hannah Montana Party

This past Saturday, Laura and I decided to have a Hannah Montana sleepover. We ended up having 9 kids including our 2. The kids played pretty hard outside, and then came inside to watch some Hannah Montana. Although it wasn't in 3d, the kids were decked out in their glasses like it was. Later on in the evening we broke out the fog machine and disco lights to give our own unique spin on Hannah Montana 3d. I believe all the kids had a great time and were going just as strong when they woke up the next morning. I believe the ages of the kids ranged from 3 to 9 years old so we had a little bit of everything.

BIke Riding

Yesterday both of the kids road their bikes without training wheels for the first time. They made a few attempts last summer in the grass to do this, but never on the road for that long. Each of them pretty much took off as soon as we let go. Of course they still need to work on starting and stopping, although mostly just getting started. Laura and I are both so proud of the kids to just take off like that and keep going.

Donations

We've had several requests for other ways to Donate in Memory of Daniel, so we are offering another way that people might make a difference for families that will come to Cincinnati Children's Hospital for the same thing we did. Please visit this sight for different options on making donations. You can either do it online or print out a form to mail in. Under comments it wouldn't hurt to request that your contribution go to the RCNIC where Daniel spent the majority of his life. I'm going to post this on both sites to make sure anyone who wants to see it, sees it. Once again we'd like to tell everyone how much we appreciate the incredible response of love, support, prayers, thoughts, etc. in these difficult times. Here is the link to the Hospital's contribution sight. Once again, thank you.

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Donation Site

Western NC Getaway

This weekend, since I had the weekend off, we made one final attempt to get out of town before school starts back up in a week. We decided we'd take a trip to one of our favorite places to go when we want to get away....the mountains. We headed up to Brevard on Friday and had a very uneventful dinner at the Pisgah Fish Camp. We made it back to the hotel just in time to catch what I believe to be one of the most spectacular opening ceremonies ever, at least as I recall it. If you didn't get a chance to see this, I strongly suggest you seach this out either online or on the TV. We woke up Saturday morning and headed to Headwater Outfitters on the French Broad River where we had canoeing reservations. We had signed up for the 4 hours, 10 mile trip down the river. What a great choice of things to do! All I can say is that if you have never been, now might be the time to go. Not only is it a great way to have a great time with your family, I would also consider it to have some therapeutic value. There's nothing like paddling down the river with only you and the river, especially when you play the quiet game and get to really appreciate the meaning of silence. It's very relaxing and the kids did really well, both wanting to do it again when we finished up. The weather could not have been more perfect, hovering right around 80 the whole day. We definitely look forward to possibly doing it again once the leaves start changing. We made our way over from the outfitters in Rosman back over to Brevard and went to Sliding Rock. None of us had ever done this before although we were fully aware of what it was all about. Basically you slide down a 60 ft waterfall into an 8 foot pool of water that's around 45-50 degrees. Meghan and I did it first and I must say, this is quite a shock to the system, I think I was still gasping while Meghan had already made her way back to the rocks. Next Laura and Noah went and it went down about the same way. Lots of fun, although not quite a pretty sight as people don't exaclty come prepared to get wet, although they do anyway, and there's probably a few people out there who have no business being wet in public as it is! Although what matters most is everyone was having a great time. After a great day of water activities, we made our way downtown Brevard to enjoy what we all agreed was some of the best Mexican we had ever had. Not only was the service incredible, the food was perfect. Everyone crashed pretty hard after this day, but woke up ready to take one more adventure. We took the Blue Ridge Parkway back over to Asheville and headed into the Biltmore Estate. I must say this is a very impressive residence, although the House is actually much more like a museum and if it wasn't for the gardens, we agreed, we might have felt a little ripped off. But the gardens did not dissapoint. The variety of plant life blew away any other botanical garden I've ever seen. And for the most part the bloom were in great shape considering most of the southeast is in a drought. I would definitely recommend going to Biltmore if you haven't been, but be sure to hit the gardens while you're there. The easiest way to do it seemed to be as you are exiting you actually drive through part of the gardens and can park behind them afterwards. On the way out the road is lined for about a quarter of a mile at least of sunflowers which is quite a sight. All in all, this trip was a satisfying way to get prepared for the impending craziness which is the school year. At some point I'm going to try and put together a little slideshow from this weekend as well.

Another One of Us

I thought I'd take a moment to introduce everyone to another family member that some of you out there might be unfamiliar with.......Liza! Liza is our 12 year old Siberian Husky who has been with us through thick and thin. She unfortunately has gotten little mention because there's been so much going on, but we couldn't ask for a better dog. She's got one of the most amazing personalities of any dog I've ever come in contact. She's done really well with both the kids even when they were just weeks old. She rarely barks and if anything she might howl with the sirens should some come by the neighborhood. Anyway, I just thought we should share one our unseen members of the family that hasn't gotten her share of attention for quite some time.

Moving Forward.....

It's hard to believe it's been almost a year since Daniel was diagnosed as having CDH, and it's even harder to believe what we've all been through the past year. Since I was blogging before this time last year and have been ever since, I see no reason to stop now. Although this time after hearing a lot of feedback, I'll be sharing our lives with anyone who cares to check up on us. We'd really like to be able to stay in touch in some sort of way with all the people who's lives we've touched and who's lives have been touched by our family. Please don't hesitate to let us know how you are doing out there, be it the nurses, the doctors, the friends, the family, we want to know you are doing well just as much as you'd like to see us doing well. We left last Wednesday to go down to the beach to get away for a few days and try and start the healing process the best we could. Although we couldn't have asked for a better family trip, it was more like pausing all of our feelings and emotions for what's been going on until we got home. It's now been almost a week since we laid Daniel to rest, and I can't help but look back at one of the most powerful spiritual moments I've ever had as the Pastor spoke during the commital. It was truely a moving experience that words alone cannot describe. The most comforting thought in trying to move on is in knowing that all of Daniel's pain and suffering is now over and he is in a much better place now than you and I. But at the same time it's hard to move past that smile that lit up the room that Daniel would share with us as he heard Mom and Dad's voices come into the room. I keep that smiling face as my permanent memory of how Daniel was. So, with that said, please keep in touch, and we will be keeping in touch letting everyon know what's going on through our blog. I hope this finds everyone well......