Sticks and Stones Did Break My Bones

It should not have come as a surprise to have a few medical issues arise in my family this summer.  This seems to be a theme that shadows my life intermittently.

Izzy can proudly add broken bones to her medical history list.  While playing a pick up game of basketball at camp, she hyperextended her fingers and heard a pop.  After swelling, bruising, and persistent pain, one of my orthopedic colleagues said he thought it was likely broken.  He facilitated getting Izzy seen the following day.  Luckily she only had to buddy tape the two fingers for several weeks which meant a much more limiting injury.  Below is the x-ray of her two tiny fractures.  One is were the curser is located.  The other is in the same spot on the other finger.

Upon returning from the farm during fair week, my knee gave out in the 1st of two airplanes.  I had to use the seats to hobble out.  Once on the jetway, I walked without issues.  The next flight though I could not find a comfortable position.  The same issue occurred but plagued me getting out of Logan airport.  By the time we got home in the taxi, Izzy had to help me walk as I could not bear weight.  We dug out crutches from the basement (glad I held onto these things) and waited to see if there was quick improvement.  Something similar happened a few years ago which panned out to be a sprain with me improving in a few days.  Sadly, this did not seem to be the same story.

It is times like these that I'm grateful for my ortho colleagues in the Cerebral Palsy program.  I picked their brains about what happened and where to go from here.  They hooked me up with a brace which helped tremendously as my knee gave out anytime I tried to bear weight.  One of them then started texting an ortho colleague in the adult medicine world about seeing me.  I later learned the orthopedist he was text was, not only on vacation, but one of the orthopedists for the Boston Red Sox.  They saw me the next day and had an MRI arranged that night.  Diagnosis... torn medial meniscus.  

Now I'm in frequent physical therapy with daily exercises to do at home.  I'm happy to say I no longer need the crutches or brace to walk.  I'm able to walk at home but not long distances which makes any sort of exercise challenging.  I am meeting with orthopedics the week after Labor Day for a discussion of surgery or no.  My fingers are crossed that I continue to improve but know there will be issues moving forward with whatever is the ultimate decision.

As always, I try to look at the humor/bright side in this experience.  Coco has been an ever constant comforting companion.  She seems to thrive in my limited mobility and often gets pet whenever she wants/needs it.  I've gotten to use the complementary electric scooters at the grocery store.  The kids have been disappointed in not being allowed to drive it.  I was also given a temporary handicap placard.  If I had to squeeze out of my car one more time after another person parked inches away from my door with crutches (that don't bend mind you), I was going to scream.  Try doing that on one leg!  I learned that with this, you do not have to pay for parking either.  I might be sad to see this one disappear with time.

 

Micah & Victoria's 9th Birthday

I've felt over time that last summer birthdays get overlooked for several reasons.  We are drained from summer activities, friends are often out of town/on vacation, etc.  This year Micah and Victoria asked if we could celebrate when back on the farm for the fair as their birthday was less than two weeks later.  They looked so forward to celebrating with extended family which is not something that has happened in the past.

Each one loved what they received which is always a warm, fuzzy feeling for both parties involved.

One of Micah's favorite gifts was Kanoodle from the Dieckmans.  He worked on this relentlessly while there to get to the last challenge.  He now wants the next version of this independent game.  It was a great gift for my introverted guy.

 

2021 Gage County Fair

The Gage County Fair continues to be a summer highlight.  This year's fair was better than last year's which was limited due to the pandemic.  Given ongoing COVID concerns, the fair wasn't exactly the way it's been either.  A theme I've noticed is a decline in numbers of 4-Hers as well.  What this means long term is yet to be determined.  As long at theirs a fair, we will continue to enjoy time spent with extended family here.  The end of the fair included awards night with Izzy, Audrey, Micah, and Victoria receiving special recognition with their projects.  Everyone had at least one item selected for the State Fair as well.

We focused mostly on sewing which likely stems from 1) their mother enjoys sewing, and 2) that is what I can help the with the most.  It's been fun to watch all three of them grew and learn.  Though this was Micah & Victoria's official first year in 4-H, this was their third year sewing.  Prior to this, they entered their projects in open class.  I have learned that Micah can only sew 2 or 3 seams before he's done.  With a bit of planning, he was successful in sewing two items; a pair of shorts and sleeveless shirt.  Boy was he excited to see that his shorts won champion in Steam 1 for craftmanship.

Victoria, on the other hand, can sew forever.  She is slow and steady and is quite good.  I'm interested in seeing where she's at in the future compared to her older sister.  Her Santa sweatshirt was completed in a weekend with the buttons left for her to sew when they visited Oma & Opa for a week.  She got those buttons sewed on in two days!  Victoria won reserve champion in Beyond the Needle and champion in Steam 2 for construction.

This year I let Izzy choose what she wanted to sew and provided some guidance on fabric choices.  Her craftmanship was wonderful.  She still struggles in time management which led to her sewing the day before the modeling contest on the farm.  We are lucky Oma has most everything we need for such scenarios.  She has since decided that mom's opinion is not so bad in what styles look best on her body.  We've since been brainstorming what she wants to do next year.  Hopefully we do better in the realm of time management!  Izzy took home reserve champion in Steam 2 in construction.

Last year Victoria entered the King Arthur Flour competition and won despite her cake breaking in two.  This year she had dreams of winning it again.  What would be the chance of that happening?  Much to her surprise, she again won with her angle food cake.  We learned a lot on how to make your cake light and airy with a learning video that accompanied our recipe.  I was worried we took her cake out of the oven too early.  Turns out it was just right.

Prior to leaving from our trip back for the modeling competition, the kids flooded cookies with royal icing to enter as decorated cookies since these could be frozen until we returned.  Four cookies were required.  Each decided on a theme for the four cookies; Victoria - Valentine's Day, Micah - Halloween, and Izzy - Easter.  My favorite was the lip cookies.  The rest of the family enjoyed snacking on Oma's famous sugar cookies the rest of the time.

All three made finger knitted blankets.  Micah has to be reminded near daily closer to fair to get his completed and even had to finish a few rows on the airplane.  I guess under pressure he did well and was happy to have done better than his sisters who had won several more awards.

We have dabbled in epoxy for a few years.  After exploring ideas, the kids settled on game molds.  Izzy created a tic-tac-toe game, Victoria dominos, and Micah Tetris.

The kids begged me to enter the costumes I created in open class since they were entering projects in 4-H.  The judges must have like Victoria's Elvis costume as well.

Following awards night, we hit the midway for rides and game.  This year's midway may not have had as many larger rides.  What they didn't have, they made up for in games and charisma.  I've not seen them hand out extra turns or prizes as freely as other carnivals.  This made for a very enjoyable night with everyone walking away with desired trophies.

The kids decided to split up to conquer the rides.  Victoria and Audrey paired up with Izzy and Amelia making another pair.  This is the ride they seemed to flock to quickly.  Each went on this ride more than once.  Micah did as well but said he wasn't going to repeat it.  I'm grateful for getting some Dramamine in him before he did so.

All the grandkids partook of the large slide with these three doing repeats as well.

The Dieckman basketball skills were on display.

With a larger family, ensuring we won was easy in these racing type of games.  The winner was Oma.  In true grandmother style, she let Victoria pick out a prize as she was the last grandchild who hadn't won anything.

The culmination of rides was the large Ferris wheel.  Micah didn't want to go as his belly was still bothering him from the large swing ride.  He therefore hung out with Oma who snuck off and shared a funnel cake!

There was a discussion about the boys attending the Demolition Derby rather than the midway.  After learning that the event they wanted to watch didn't occur for at least an hour after the gates opened and lasted ~2 hours, they vote was to defer for this year.  Much to our amusement, we were able to catch a bit of the show from the top of the Ferris wheel.

The end of the night is marked by a few funnel cakes.  We obviously weren't the only ones with the same idea either.  Requests were for a traditional funnel cake (powder sugar) and an Elvis one (peanut butter, chocolate, and bananas).  Those things were gone in mere minutes.  The only proof is Opa standing in line to order.  Until next year....

Kansas City Mini-Vaca!

A short one week after the 4-H modeling contest, we returned for the Gage county fair.  After a whirlwind of tagging and entering exhibits, we headed south to Kansas City for a two day mini-vacation with one of my best friend's, Jess, and her family.  Our first stop was Worlds of Fun.  We had planned this months in advance.  Though we tried our best to make this without hiccups, we had no control over the weather.  It was 98 with a heat index of 107.  While that was not lovely, it sure did clear out the amusement park.  We never waited more than 10-15 minutes for any ride.  Worlds of Fun also opened up free cooling refreshment stations so no one went without water.  Add in Jess' purchase of evaporating cooling clothes, we didn't fair too bad.

Still a favorite... the Viking Voyager.  Water rides definitely helped beat the heat.

After getting a few less adrenaline flowing rides out of the way, most of the crew wanted to ride Prowler, a wooden roller coaster.  Micah hung back with Jess given his level of motion sickness.  But after feeling left out (and the super power of Dramamine), he jumped in line when the kids wanted to ride it a second time.

It amazes me how some rides never cease to age.  The Taxi's are one such ride.  I enjoyed them as a child and so did the next generation.  Everyone wanted to drive by themselves.  Five kids and three adults did not come out equally.  But then again, the older girls didn't want us driving with them anyway.

After we had enough of rides and heat, we headed to our hotel for so much needed pool time and food.  A nearby pizza place fit the bill with a delightful Boulevard beer.

The following morning we walked over to Union Station and checked out the Museum of Illusions.  None of use knew what we would encounter.  Some illusions were expected.  Some were new.  And some we never figured out how that was done.  Along the way there were explanations when needed.

This was the most loved illusion by everyone.  This was a series of mirrors separated by equal open slots.  One person sat on one side and another person on the other side.  The reflection was the combination of what those two people looked like.  It took some time to ensure faces and details were lined up correctly.  But once done, the results were hilarious.  Here is Micah and Rowan.

Jess and I

Victoria and Izzy

Ever since going to Patriot Place with Micah during February school vacation, he has been asking to see Arrowhead Stadium the next time we were back in Nebraska.  Jess set up a private tour right before heading over to Kauffman stadium to watch the Royals play.  Victoria was persistent about buying this Swarovski crystal football.  Anything with bling is for her.

One of several box seats/suites were toured.  This would certainly be the way to watch any football game in a Midwest winter.

Mike, our tour guide.  He was a good fit for our herd; calm, steady, and able to engage with our wide age difference.  He made this tour special by allowing us to each hold one of the Super Bowl rings.  

Model reenactment of the Chiefs winning play in their first super bowl victory.

Our last Kansas City activity was taking in a Royals baseball game.  Our tickets were along the first base line.  However due to the continued heat from the day prior, most people either didn't come to the game or moved to shade.  And so we gave up our seats to squat in shade for comfort reasons.  Joe did try to sit there for a bit but came back saying the seat was so hot he couldn't tolerate it.  Nonetheless, our view as as good as can get to watch the game.

Sluggerrr, the Royals mascot, took to soaking fans with a water gun during one of the breaks.

No matter where we are or go, Victoria will always find what fits her the most.  At the baseball game, she met up with one of the Royal's cheerleaders (KC Crew) who was putting on tattoos for anyone interested.

Another one in the memory books with my friend Jess.  I wonder what our next adventure will be.  I'm grateful for the years of friendship no matter the distance and time.  I love that our children also have a developed fun relationships with each other too.