Family Vacation - Day 2

Tuesday morning dawned bright and early - literally.  The house we stayed in didn't have window coverings in many of the rooms, so Ethan was up before 6.  At least he snuggled in bed with us for awhile before we all started moving.  Then Anna, his loving sister, agreed to play "planes" with him for a long time before we left the house for the day.

The youngest in the family was pushed to his limit several times during the week, and ended up taking a car nap each and every day.

Tuesday we had planned as our "Door County Day".  We wanted to stop in Sturgeon Bay in the morning, then continue on to Whitefish Dunes State Park for lunch and the afternoon.  At one point while planning this trip, I mentioned a toy store to the kids.  Well, that was enough for them to be excited about spending their hard earned money.

Unfortunately, though, they had been spending their cash on little things here and there during the last couple of months and didn't have very much left, at least not enough for a real toy store in a tourist hotspot.  In the future, I don't think we will plan on the kids bringing along spending money on trips; it just makes for too much time and energy spent on something that doesn't have much lasting enjoyment or meaning.

Here are a few good parts of that morning, though ... Kate was able to add to her collection of "little animals"; Ethan wisely decided to buy nothing instead of spending money on something he didn't really want; Anna did NOT get a stuffed animal (although she really wanted to).  Plus, Anna used her walker to walk several blocks on the sidewalk.  She actually used her walker quite a bit every morning of our trip; her stamina is certainly increasing.

Next stop ... Whitefish Dunes!

After our picnic lunch, we had planned to split up for awhile with one parent playing games with Anna while the other parent hiked with the other two.  Then we would all join up again to visit the beach.  But then ... Kate and I were checking out an information station and noticed a flyer mentioning an all-terrain wheelchair as well as a beach wheelchair that were available for guests to use.  We talked to the rangers at the nature center and got ourselves a sweet all-terrain wheelchair to use for the afternoon!

We started making our way down one of the more popular trails, seeing some of the examples of indigenous shelters along the way.

It didn't take us to long to realize, however, that we had a tired 4 year old on our hands.  So we took one of the beach access trails and spent the rest of our time at the beach.  I love that our family has lots of experience with flexibility :)
 

The kids started out slowly testing the waters of Lake Michigan.  It was c-o-l-d!

Then everyone opted for some playtime in the sand, either being buried by dad,

or by making sand angels.

Being buried by dad just once wasn't quite enough :)

It was about this time that we ran into another family from McFarland ... seriously!  Last year when we were in the Badlands in South Dakota, we ran into TWO families from our small town; this year it was only one.  However, this family was not only from McFarland, but one of the parents happened to be one of Anna's former nurses on P4.  Small world!

The next time I turned around, Kate was venturing farther and farther into the water.

 

And then Ethan fell into the water, and then into the sand.

Before things progressed any more, we decided it was time to head back and return the wheelchair.  The kids got cleaned up, sort of, before we visited the nature center.  Then we went back "home" for a dinner around the campfire.

Hot dogs, roasted peppers, and s'mores made for a very yummy dinner indeed.

And who doesn't love a good campfire for throwing sticks and leaves on?

The kids spent the rest of their energy (they still had some left?!?!) on the playset in the yard.

Some led the imagination story.

Others discovered they could happily swing in a regular swing.

While still others found creative ways to slide.

No matter what they did, their goofy sides shone through very brightly.

This day ended with a few different games inside and then a much deeper and longer sleep for everyone than the previous night ;)

Family Vacation - Day 1

Monday morning we loaded up the van and embarked on our travels to Door County, WI.  Although we have heard great things about the peninsula since we moved to Wisconsin 16 years ago (!), neither Matt nor I had ever been there.  We figured we could double up a trip to some of the natural highlights of Door County with some of the places to visit in Green Bay and, voila, this year's family vacation was planned.

The first stop this year was the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay.  After getting distracted for awhile by the possibility of spending their allowance money in the gift shop, everyone was finally excited to see the actual trains.

One of the special trains located at this museum was an authentic Big Boy.  (Boy, was it big!)

Some of the trains had the cabs or cars open for exploration.  Matt, Kate and Ethan, explored the cab of the Big Boy while Anna and I checked out a Pullman Car.

This boy loved all of the gears, levers, and wheels.

Part of our admission included a train ride around the grounds.

It was a beautiful day for this kind of an open car train ride.

These kids would have preferred to stay and play with the model train set-up for much longer, but we tried our best to balance the activities designed for kids with the exhibits tailored towards adults.
 

The outdoor shed of exhibits was also exciting, but by that point the kids were slowing down.

Matt, the biggest train lover in the family, stayed to explore a little more while I took the kids over to the train themed play area.

 

 

The museum really did a nice job of providing plenty of kid-friendly activities throughout the grounds.

 

From the railroad museum, we traveled the last 40 minutes or so to our rented house.  We have learned over the last few years that finding a home to rent through airbnb or vrbo works really, really well for our family.  We're not at a point where camping for vacations makes sense, and the cost of a hotel is pretty similar to the cost of the rentals we find.  The space of a whole home, the convenience of a kitchen, and being able to put people in their own rooms to sleep makes for a happier family :)

The home we found this year was about half way between Green Bay and Sturgeon Bay, right on the water.

There was a playset in the yard, a big deck, and a beautiful view of the sunset every night.

The house was a great find for us!

Kate, more than the other kids, loved the water.  She could be found standing at the top of the stairs, sitting at the bottom of the 40+ steps down to the water alone or with family, or walking along the shoreline.

More pictures of our adventures at the home will be sprinkled throughout the next few posts, but to end the first night, we discovered a copy of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in the supply of DVDs at the house!  Watching the movie was a perfect way to end the day, especially since we had just finished reading the book the previous weekend.

Monday was a great day, but more memories were to be made on Tuesday!

End of the School Year!

The girls wrapped up their school year on Friday, June 2.  What a year it was!

 

(Yes, Anna is holding on to a stuffed gorilla that is wearing a t-shirt.  He is even buckled into her walker.  Don't ask :)

When did this child get so old?

In preparation for the end of the school year, Ethan and I worked and worked and worked in the garden on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  The boy helped me haul and spread quite a few loads of leaf mulch on the garden.  He told me that he liked to help with this because he got to use his wheel barrel and his gardening gloves.  Awesome.

Tuesday morning, Matt, Ethan, and I joined another class and some other families to watch the first of the week's play performances in Anna's classroom.  What an experience those kids had!  Anna did a great job in her role; I'm sure her former speech therapists would have been suitably impressed.

Thursday morning I realized that it would be my last hurrah with Ethan before summer, so we opted for a bike ride/picnic lunch.  A beautiful day for some beautiful memories together :)

Thursday afternoon we picked Anna up for one more appointment for the year.  Every six months we meet with the endocrinologists to get a very precise growth check, as well as a discussion regarding Anna's thyroid levels and adrenal insufficiency.  Those last two are pretty stable these days, but this appointment's discussion focused on Anna's growth, or lack there of.  Although Anna grew again during the last six months, she didn't grow very much.

To put things in perspective, when Anna was 6 years old, she measured at the 50% for her height (and weight, actually).  When she turned 8, she had dropped down to the 20%.  Now she's at about the 5th percentile for her height.  Because of the growth hormone tests from last summer, we know that Anna's body isn't making enough growth hormone (due to radiation damage to her pituitary gland), but we were all waiting to see just what this meant and decide whether or not to start growth hormone therapy.

At Thursday's appointment we learned that not only does growth hormone make you grow upwards, but it is also important in building muscle (thus the appeal of illegal growth hormone to professional athletes).  However, we also know that kids who have been treated previously for cancer have a slightly higher risk of developing a secondary cancer if they are on growth hormone therapy.  So we had to decide if the benefits outweighed the risks.

After doing a bit of research on our own, and talking things over with Anna, we are going to go ahead with growth hormone therapy for her.  Because of the red tape surrounding this kind of treatment, it will take a couple of months before she can actually start, and then it may be awhile before we actually notice any difference.  To be clear, Anna will never reach her initial potential height, but with supplemental growth hormone, she may grow taller than four and a half or five feet.

Enough of that.

Friday we opted to join Anna's class for Mr. K's last day of school tradition - a class water fight.  We knew about the event a couple of days in advance so that Anna could be prepared with a water gun instead of being required to run back and forth with a cup full of water.

She got pretty soaked while still in her wheelchair, but was more successful when her walker arrived.

 

After school, we had a picnic lunch at the library, then went inside to get registered for the summer reading program, before ending our McFarland time at an ice cream social.  Whew!  What a day to finish the last week of school!

The weekend was full of more gardening work, packing for our upcoming family vacation, and one of our semi-regular book club meetings.  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was a great book to read with the family, and an even better book to discuss with a bunch of soon-to-be 5th graders :)