Indiana Trip

I've had the pics posted for several days now; I guess I should finish the post and tell you what they are of!

We had a very eventful weekend. On Thursday morning I had two more medical tests, still trying to find out the cause of my abdominal pain. I had an abdominal ultrasound and something called a nuclear scan (also called a "HIDA scan", I heard). That one was interesting. You get something injected into your veins and have to lay flat on your back and not move for at least an hour. It can take up to two, but they got what they needed from me in an hour. I told Jim on our way to the hospital that morning that I had this overwhelming feeling that I was wasting my time with these tests. I figured they would come back normal and the doctor would have no idea what was causing my intense pains. But oh well, let's get them over with. So after we left there, we picked up Lena from the Possett's and headed to Indiana for the weekend. Here are some pics.

Thursday evening we had dinner with some Roemkes at Brians. Jim and Brian apparently thought it was twin day.

On Friday while Hilary and I grocery shopped for our Sister's Day party, Jim took Lena to visit his mom and Roger at their house.

Going for a ride.

Roger taught Lena how to drive the lawn mower.

Lena actually pet the horse! She has been afraid of horses, but it appears she is getting over it. She is much better with dogs than she used to be too.

Friday night Hilary and I celebrated Sister's Day. Sister's Day is actually July 15, but we wanted to celebrate on a weekend. We had a party at her house and cooked a nice dinner. We love cooking together whenever we can. Here Hilary is cutting the top off of a round of brie to see if it is hot enough for dipping.

Hilary's first margarita of the evening. We made them ourselves; best margaritas ever.

Mom watched Lena while Hilary and I cooked and drank. :)

Our spread. Spinach and Sprout Salad with Gorgonzola, Lemon Soy Swordfish (minus the avocado butter), Ginger Garlic Broccolini, and melted Brie with Crackers. Yum!

Lena found Aunt Hil's pots and pans.

And her shoe. This isn't the shoe Lena threw into the toilet. That was another one.

On Saturday we went to visit Grandma and Grandpa and swam in Grandma Sheryl's pool.

We bought her a life vest in South Carolina but it was so rainy that we never used it. We tried to put it on her in Mom's pool, but it didn't go so well. It's a bit too big and she could barely see over the thing! And anyway, I didn't feel comfortable letting go of her to let her float with the thing. So we took it off. She really prefered to be in the water with us than to float on her blow-up thing. She just loves the water. She will stay in and play happily until after her teeth start chattering and her lips turn blue from being cold!

On Sunday Hilary and I drove to Chicago to attend the Cardinals game that got rained out in April. Jim thought Hilary would have more fun than he would so he gave her his ticket. A nice Cubs fan offered to take our pic out front.

The view from our seats. Not good. It was like watching a baseball game from inside a cave. We couldn't even see a scoreboard from where we were sitting. Overall, we found Wrigley Field to be a very boring stadium. The Cardinals lost, 3-4. It was the first game of a double-header and we saw later than night that they won the second game.

So on Saturday our car broke down in Fort Wayne. Jim was driving on 69 when the car overheated. He pulled over and found that it wouldn't start. So we called a tow truck and had it towed to the nearest shop. Unfortunately, it didn't get there until 15 minutes before they closed on Saturday, so they didn't even get to look at it until Monday morning. We were planning on going home Monday morning, so Jim borrowed his dad's truck and went home (he had some meetings that day) while Lena and I stayed an extra day at Hilary's waiting for the car to get fixed. Fortunately, it was a simple fix and not as bad as we thought it would be. (We thought we were going to need a new car!) We got a new radiator, upper and lower hoses, and a thermostat.

The rest of these pics were taken Monday at Hilary's as we were waiting on the car. It was a nice day so we spent a lot of it outside.

Lena's little bubble machine. It is pretty impressive for a dollar store item. It cranks out bubbles like you wouldn't believe. It's so funny to hear Lena exclaim, "Bubbles!" when it starts up. She really wanted to hold it herself, but the bubble juice kept spilling out.

Playing with Aunt Hil's dog, Lucy. This trip was our first time meeting Lucy.

A rare pic of me with Lena. (I'm almost always behind the camera!)

She insisted on drinking out of a big girl cup.

Then she proceeded to spill ice and ice cold water all over Aunt Hil. Surprise!

She loves to chew on ice.

Mmmmm!

Giving the doggie a drink from a spray bottle.

Eating lunch outside. We did end up with a few raviolis in the pool.

I can never get used to the fact that I have a blond baby! After looking at some of her baby pics, I think her hair is getting lighter.

Yay, another pool! This one is Lucy's. Hilary cleaned it up and let Lena play in it.

Lena couldn't get enough of Aunt Hil. They had so much fun together.

The standoff.

Being goofy in the pool.

So on Monday as I was waiting to hear back about the car, I got a call from my gastrointerologist's office. Some of my test results came back abnormal. The nuclear scan was normal, but the ultrasound showed that I have gall stones. I was really surprised. I have family members who had gall bladder problems, but I didn't think about that being my problem. They told me that they recommend I have surgery as soon as possible to have my gall bladder removed. Within a minute of answering the phone, she was asking me when I wanted to schedule my surgery. Wow! I asked her if I could think about it and get back to her.

That night I did some online research about gall bladders and gall stones. I really didn't know anything about the gall bladder; what it is or what it does. I learned all of that and I read about gall bladder "attacks." I was amazed: the description of these attacks are exactly what I have been experiencing for almost two years now. I cannot describe what a relief it is finally knowing what is causing me such horrible pain. On Tuesday I set up an appointment to have a consultation with the surgeon on Friday. At that visit, I will schedule the surgery.

So on Tuesday Jim drove back to Indiana to return his dad's truck and pick us up. We had fun with our family, but it was nice to be home. This time especially, considering this was our last trip of the summer. With four trips, we were away from home 21 days from May 25th through July 14th. Crazy! It was fun, but busy. So we are looking forward to spending the rest of the summer at home. I will have my surgery and Jim will get his cirriculum ready for school in the fall.