We love going on "One Buck Wednesday" where we not only get into the fair for only a dollar, but many things we wouldn't normally be able to afford are only a dollar too, like the carriage ride and carnival rides! So much fun!
My mom drove separately to the fair this year and hung out with us for a few hours (we also met up with my brother and kids for awhile), but we kept stayed until evening because we were having so much fun! I think we were there over seven hours!! My feet were sure tired by the end, but it was worth it!
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The six days following the fair were busy ones for us, as our church hosted our denomination's annual General Synod. The pastors and elders of all the churches would meet during the day and then there would be a dinner and message each evening that all were invited to. We went to almost of the evening dinners and meetings, and we also helped at several of the lunches for the men by bringing desserts, helping to setup and cleanup. Additionally, I was on the committee for the Ladies Tea which was lots of fun and I got to use some of my Photoshop skills to design the programs and name tags. But sorry, no pictures from Synod.
That weekend during Synod, my nephew Stephen came up for a couple nights. We enjoyed seeing him and it was fun for him to come to church with us on Sunday, especially since that is the time of the year we're often going alone since Kevin is gone fishing most of the summer. It was kind of funny because we were just a couple minutes late for church, but it was packed out because of all the extra people for synod and there was nowhere to sit in the back. Our pastor saw us come in and mentioned that there were still some spots up front. We went up....never guessing that it would be the VERY front pew! Yikes! I've never sat that far up with little ones! I gulped, but it was a little late to turn back at that point. And then sure enough, not five minutes later Jake started throwing a mild fit because he wanted a drink of water. I thought, "Oh no, it's going to be a horrible morning! How are we going to manage this in the very front row and not disturb the whole church plus all the visitors!?" Amazingly, after we got that drink of water (plus brought one back for Ben who insisted he needed one too), the kids settled down and did wonderfully for the rest of the service. Phew! It was a close call!
Also somewhere in those for days, my friend Rachel called to say she was in town and would love to get together. I was exhausted from everything going on, but I couldn't pass up a chance to see Rachel as we only see each other every few years. So we met up at the playground down by the waterfront in the 90-degree weather so we could visit while our kids played. I was soooo hot (it was about a week and half before Lizzy was born!)!
Rachel's kids go to bed a bit earlier than mine, so she headed home and I had the spontaneous idea to take the kids to the fountain just a few blocks over so we could cool off. Thankfully, the swim bag was already in the van as it often is during the summer, just so we are prepared for things like this!
We weren't there five minutes when my mom showed up. She just happened to be driving through downtown and looked over and saw us! Too funny! Jake never worked up the courage to go in the water, but the older two sure had tons of fun.
Abby spent several days out with my in-laws in Grayland. She had so much fun and they really enjoyed her too. When she came back home, she arrived with a surprise - a blackberry pie! She had picked the berries with Grandpa and made the pie herself with Grandma's instruction and supervision! I was so impressed! I've never even made a pie myself - ha! :)
On August 10th, just five days before Lizzy was born, the Gardner family all headed up to the Seattle area for a family outing on my cousin's boat. We'd tried to find another day that would work as it is more difficult to do on a Sunday since we have church, but that was the only day that worked for everyone (well, except Kevin!) and I didn't want to put it off anymore weekends as baby's due date was getting closer and closer! Anyway, it ended up being a hard morning at church, the kids took forever to eat their lunch, so by time we got to my brother's house so that he and his kids could car pool with us, we weren't in a good mood. Then we got stuck in crazy, stand-still traffic....on a SUNDAY! I said to my brother, "I just knew this was going to be a bad day!" I had no idea how much worse it would get....
My parents and my sister and husband were quite a bit ahead of us in my parent's car. As we hit even more traffic, we tried to communicate with them to see if we should go another way. We tried to talk to my dad who was driving, but it was strange - he wasn't really talking much and didn't have any suggestions. Very weird for my dad as he knows all the back-ways anywhere in WA and OR from all his years as a bus driver and he loves to try to figure out how to make it around traffic. We talked to my sister on the phone and she mentioned Dad almost had an accident so she didn't want him to talk on the cell phone. My brother and I were pretty irritated at the whole situation - we were two hours late to meet my cousin and aunt!
Then, as we pulled into the parking area of the marina, thinking that my parents should have been there for quite awhile ahead of us, my phone rings. My sister says, "We pulled over at a Dairy Queen and I think Dad might be having a stroke!" Oh my word. Talk about scary. As she gave us more info about my Dad's condition (slurred speech, couldn't get out of the car by himself and needed help walking, confusion, etc), we told her to call 911 immediately even though my dad had told her not to. I was crying and freaked out at this point. Thank goodness for GPS, we were able to navigate over to the Dairy Queen, took turns praying as we went, and arrived at DQ to the EMTs checking my dad out. They found that he had a fever - I can't remember how high it was, but it was very high. They wanted to take him in, but we opted drive him to ER ourselves. We spent the next few hours in the hospital courtyard, worrying about and praying for my dad and trying to keep all the kids out of trouble. Finally, it was decided that my dad had a several leg infection that gone untreated (because he never goes to the doctor!). We were relieved that he hadn't had a heart attack, but the infection was severe (especially with his past heart issues), so he would need to be admitted. After some discussion, it was decided that my mom would stay with my dad while the rest of us went down to the boat and took a little trip out on it since the kids had been so excited to go and since the immediate scare with my dad was over.
In all the hubbub, I left my camera in the car so I have no pictures, but we enjoyed a lovely couple hours in the evening on the boat. And even though it wasn't the long boat ride over to Lake Union from Lake Washington and dinner at Ivar's as we had originally planned, we still had a very enjoyable time. Cousin Paul took us to a little cove on and the guys and kids all jumped in and swam around and played. I was quite surprised that Abby and Ben were brave enough to go into the huge lake (the bottom could not be seen and we were far from shore! [they wore life jackets]), and even more surprised when little Jake finally decided he would go out in the small kid-sized inflatable raft. Apparently, those swimming lessons they'd had the month before paid off and gave them the confidence they needed! They had a lot of fun playing with their cousins Hannah and Solomon. I wish I had pictures! It was another terribly hot 90s-something degree day and I wished I were not so pregnant so that I could jump in too! My sister and I did end up getting to dangle our feet in the water and that at least cooled us off a bit. :)
We arrived back at the marina at sunset and then headed back to the hospital to see my dad and pick up my mom to bring her home. I think we made quite the spectacle - five adults and five kids trying to quietly traipse through the hospital at 10pm!! We finally got home just after midnight...what a day! My dad ended up being in the hospital for two nights and then had a long recovery at home for several weeks. He was supposed to have returned to work the next week, but had to remain home with his leg elevated often as it ended up taking his body a long time to get rid of the infection. It was nice that he ended up getting to be here for Lizzy's birth five days later and hang out with us a lot during those first few weeks.
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| Watching the Seahawks game |
1 comment:
So scary about your dad! Glad it wasn't a stoke. Now that I'm closer, the next visit will hopefully be longer!
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