Staying Healthy is Hard to Do

The last two weeks have been a struggle to keep everyone healthy with a short vacation in the middle.

SICK PEOPLE. It all started when Nate was feeling bad a couple of Fridays ago (the 11th). It turns out that he had a flu-like bug that lasted about 48 hours. Ben and Jenna both got it by the following Thursday (the 17th) and wound up missing two days of school. This had us a little worried because we had scheduled an extended weekend in Pigeon Forge over the President's Day weekend (to which Vicki kept saying, "Nate and I will miss y'all while we're gone").

Fortunately everyone was feeling better by that Friday night so we packed to leave. Unfortunately, Ben woke up the next morning feeling bad. This time his symptoms pointed to strep. We packed anyway and took Nate to his ball game (since he was sick the previous Saturday). This turned out to be a good thing because we could get Ben in to see the pediatrician where he could get a penicillin shot. He felt a lot better by the time we got to Pigeon Forge (with the exception of his rear end).

We had a great time while we were away (more on that below), but by Tuesday morning Jenna was beginning to feel bad. At least we were able to stop by the pediatrician on the way home where Jenna could get her own penicillin shot, but she wound up missing school yesterday. Vicki made a return trip with Nate yesterday because he woke up feeling bad with his own case of strep. I was feeling increasingly bad all weekend and wound up being at my doctor's office at the same time as Nate, though my diagnosis is a sinus infection.

Vicki has been feeling below par as well and went to see her doctor today. She's skipped all the bacterial stuff the rest of us got, but has to have some tests run next week.

WACKY WEATHER. The last time I wrote I said we were expecting more snow the next day. On that Wednesday (the 9th) wound up going to school an hour late and dismissing early due to the weather. The temperature dropped and we got a nice snow which closed school the rest of the week. Road conditions were so bad I wound up getting the day off Thursday (the 10th). This was a lot of fun because I got to go play in the snow with Vicki and the kids. Mom's farm is fairly flat, but there is one nice little slope for sledding at the entrance to where the big pond used to be.

That afternoon we gathered around the kitchen table and Vicki and I taught the kids how to play Spades. They caught on very quickly and we had a lot of fun.

To get back to the wacky weather, that weekend started a warm up. By Monday of last week just about all the snow was gone and we saw 60° weather most of the week. We could still see more winter weather, but I'd say we're well on our way to spring now. Last week was the second full week of school we've had since Christmas break.

NATE'S BIRTHDAY. Last Monday was Nate's eighth birthday. Between one of them being under the weather, Scouts, and basketball practice we wound up celebrating with a birthday dinner at home. He asked for a chocolate cake and Vicki outdid herself making one from scratch. Hard to believe he's halfway to a driver's license.

SOME TIME AWAY. We originally chose to get away last weekend due to the President's Day holiday. Our abundance of snow canceled the holiday, but not our vacation. As I mentioned above, we drove to Pigeon Forge on Saturday and returned Tuesday. This left us two days to relax and do a few things in the area.

Sunday we stayed in Pigeon Forge where we went to the Apple Barn for breakfast and new Titanic museum (this was really cool). That evening we had a great time visiting with the Arnold family.

Monday was Gatlinburg day. We tried the Pancake Pantry this time and then spent a little time browsing through some shops. After that we headed into the mountains where we hiked to Laurel Falls. This is a nice little hike and the boys enjoyed climbing all the boulders along the side of the trail. When we got back to our condo I took the boys swimming and Vicki went shopping.

Of course, one of the boys' favorite things to do is to take bubble baths in our jacuzzi as you can tell from the following comments.

Ben (after Saturday night's bath was over): "Wasn't that fun Nate? This is the best part of our vacation. Every night we have something to look forward to."

Nate: "Yeah, and breakfast."

Joe