Year: 2011

Edda had a wonderful time at Camp JCC this summer.  Edda rediscovered her love of water and being in the pool and ended the summer with a deep, golden tan.  Vince also got to attend – he was not in the same group as Edda, but there were kids with disabilities integrated into his group and it was a wonderful experience for him as well.  Edda’s inclusion counselor, Jennifer, was wonderful and so responsible and kind it’s hard to believe that she’s only 16.  Camp ended weeks ago and we are still singing camp songs and Vince still has his swim test bracelet on.  We are looking forward to next year!

We are sitting here awaiting the arrival of Hurricane Irene. While I was working today, I looked outside my office windows at all the huge trees in the backyard and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that none of them will fall on the house during the wind/rain storm.

We are just back from the glorious Northwest! We visited my parents in Portland and Jeremy’s relatives in Seattle and had a wonderful, relaxing time. Due to some scheduling issues, I needed to travel alone with Edda across the country starting from Baltimore with a connection through Phoenix and finally landing in Portland. Throughout our travels through airports, jet ways, and security lines, I always asked for help from the nearest person when I needed an extra pair of hands. No one turned me down, no one looked at me strangely, all six different people I asked stepped right up and held Edda by her shoulders while I folded her wheelchair, looked for her shoes and/or went to the airplane bathroom. Humanity can be really wonderful.

Jeremy, Edda and Vince in front of Mt. Rainier!

 

Vince took movie making at camp. This is his masterpiece.

Last week, Vince went to Hershey Park and rode his first roller coaster (which was the Comet – there was no vomit) and it looked like:

While he was frolicking, Jeremy took me and Edda on a date to the closest pickle bar at the Woodside Deli:

I let Vince go without taking a bath/shower for over 3 weeks. I mentioned this at dinner the other day and Vince countered with the fact that he has been in the pool at least twice a day and that he was clean because of that. Denise mentioned that perhaps people pee in the pool? We all looked at Edda who smiled as if to say “Who, me? I never pee in the pool.”

I can see a glimpse of an older Vince in this shower picture – I think he is even using soap.

I had been wrestling with Edda for over an hour to get her to fall asleep. Jeremy came in and took my place, scooted next to Edda and in 5 min, she was snoring away.

I love my neighborhood – we can walk to a lot of places, the neighbors are fabulous and I can practically throw a rock from my driveway to I-270. OK, the last one is not so great, but I can’t have everything. Our neighborhood had a great National Night Out – a block party BBQ. Someone brought sangria!

The local firemen came by and gave out hats:

Edda enjoyed meeting McGruff:

I have found that happiness is just finding the right mixture of sloth vs activity. Too much sloth – usually sleeping and surfing the web too much and I’m cranky and the house is dirty. Too much activity and I feel stressed and overwhelmed. This past weekend was sliding into too much sloth, so I had to find some projects to keep me occupied. I decided to fix the bathroom door which was slowly becoming unhinged.

Wood glue and matchsticks.

Stuff sticky matchsticks into stripped screw holes.

Have crazy dog try to pull matchsticks out of said stripped screw holes.

Yell at dog.

Sometimes I think my life is just one long conversation about poo. Jeremy actually had to establish a rule – no talk about poop at the dinner table (this includes any talk about farts as well). In this house, this is actually a difficult rule to follow. Anyways, Edda is having poo problems. Mainly getting the poo out. Poor girl, makes her not comfy. Jeremy thinks it triggers seizures. We will now track both poo and seizures on the calendar. Other people track birthdays, swim meets and dr appts – we have all those plus a few extra!