Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Good (bye) summer

Our summer was fantastic! We spent time away at the cabin, on the Rock N Roll (my parent's boat), and down at Susie and Karl's in Gig Harbor.

The weather has been spectacular and our family has been thriving in it. Anya had an amazing summer at Kelsey Creek camp, Skyhawks soccer camp, and Bellevue College camp. Elin had a couple small breaks from her weekly therapies so it was nice to just relax and not have to keep a schedule.

We spent five days at the cabin with our good friends the Freemans and everyone had a blast. 80 degree days meant lots of swimming and beach combing and forest play. The crab catching was lackluster this trip but we made up for it later. The dads were there for two nights and then the grandmas came up to help Kate and I manage the 5 bohemians.

Myles took some time off work this summer and the four of us headed up to the cabin for a short "family vacation",  The weather wasn't terrific but it made us stay inside a little more and hang out- which actually was a good thing. This was the first vacation we have taken as just us four. It was fun to interact as a family for five days. We are a pretty cohesive group!

Next we spent a few days aboard the Rock N Roll. We met my parents in Anacortes, and headed to Sucia Island immediately. The car ride up was not the best (at one point I sent a text saying I need a yellow sign in my car that says, "Caution, deaf child screeching." Elin doesn't like the car..... or basically anything that confines her- stroller, coats, hats, etc. We always have a binky in her mouth when we are driving anywhere just to quiet the screeching a little. I seriously think my ears are going to bleed sometimes. You might think, well that's because she can't hear. WRONG!!! She makes this terrible noise with her CI on and her hearing aid- so yes she can hear herself, granted it gets worse if they are off. I digress.....
Once again the weather was spectacular. The next day we headed to Deer Harbor on Orcas Island because they have a pool we can take the kids to. We spent several hours that afternoon with Anya and Elin in the pool. After that we had to drop Myles off so he could go to work on Monday and stayed the night at La Conner. Up early the next day we headed down the Swinomish Slough and got all the way to Kingston. It was 85+ degrees that day so the long haul was nice and cool with the breeze. Anya found a stage in the Marina park and put on a show. No confidence issues here. Yikes- check out the video.



We finished our summer off with a weekend down in Gig Harbor at Oma and Opa's house. We swam, went wake-boarding, and Myles even got me to go salmon fishing with him.



As far as health goes- we have had a nice quiet streak. Elin hasn't had any seizures since July 7th (knock on wood) and she has been progressing physically and cognitively. She has mastered getting herself back into a seated position from her belly and crawls all over getting up on her knees a little. We had her fit for a gait trainer (walker) last week and hope to have it by November. She responds very quickly to her name or other noises and people entering the room. The difference in her from just 3 months ago is remarkable.

So the summer was sunny in more ways than one.