Acid Reflux?

Michael made it to school last Friday. He even made it to school yesterday. He didn't make it today, though. Enough is enough. I made a doctor appointment to get down to the bottom of this. They stuck giant cotton swabs down his throat to check for strep. They had him pee in a cup. They took 4 tubes of blood from his little bitty arm to test for allergies to wheat, gluten (hmm... sounds familiar) and several other things, Crohn's disease, and I can't remember them all. They took x-rays of his sinuses and ruled out an impacted sinus cavity. Dr. Holland gave him Flonase for his allergies. She said that was most likely what was causing the headaches. She told us to start him on Prilosec, put him on only bland foods, and no carbonated drinks. We also have to return next Tuesday at 7:30am for an abdominal sonogram and something called a KUB which is apparently an x-ray of his abdomen.

When he went to bed tonight, he said it felt like someone was stabbing him in his stomach. I gave him a Zantac because we can't start the Prilosec until tomorrow morning. It could still take up to 4 days for it to make any difference when he does start taking it.

Let's pray he can get up and go to school tomorrow!

Tabitha and Alberto

Here is a picture of Tabitha and her new dark hair with Al. Why the dark hair you ask? She wanted to match her eyebrows. Thought you might enjoy this picture while I update our Spring Break Vacation. Michael stayed home sick today... again. He missed Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday so far this week. He believes he can handle going tomorrow. We'll see...

Red River Vacation, Day 2

We got up and headed to Red River this morning. My neck is hurting so Lisa will drive Charlie's truck today. The girls want the truck because there is more room in the back seat. Charlie will ride with Danny in Lisa's Camry with the boys in the back seat. Somewhere along the way, Tabitha decided to moon the boys. Michael and Daniel both came on the radio saying they were scarred for life. Lisa and I laughed for miles at the thought of our boys "freaking out" at the sight of a girl's behind. In a few years they'll be wishing to see it.

There is some spot along the way that stinks to high heaven. There are thousands of cows and they let it be known that this is their home. I have never smelled anything so horrible for so many miles in my life!

We stopped at a Dairy Queen along the way somewhere to use the bathroom. The place was packed and I saw at least one Arlington High School sweatshirt on a boy inside. Small world.

It seemed like the drive would never end, and then we came along to some beautiful snow scenery. We drove through some of the windingest roads I have ever seen. They went on for miles. Some spots were only wide enough for one vehicle to go through. It seemed like we were in the backwoods or something. We saw maybe 2 other cars on the road the whole time we were on this stretch. We were on these winding roads for so long, the girls had to get out and make yellow snow by the side of the road. We lost the boys and we lost radio contact when we stopped. Thankfully, they pulled over and waited for us.

When we finally arrived at the condo, Lisa told Danny that he signed for the wrong room. Danny just looked at her and said, "What's the difference?" So, I signed for room 216, got the keys and away we went. Lisa and Danny had the keys to room 212, with Lisa griping at Danny all the way out. Now, the way we had planned this, Michael and Daniel were supposed to stay with Lisa and Danny in their 2 bedroom, 1 bath condo. Tabitha and Katie were supposed to stay with me and Charlie in our 2 bedroom, 1 bath condo. Upon entering the rooms, we discovered that one of the "bedrooms" was off the main living area with no privacy. Condo 212 is on the outside of the building facing the back of the main condo building. There is a balcony, but you have to go out on the balcony and turn to your left to see the pool and the beautiful mountain view. There is a flat fireplace on one wall, and the closets are small. There is a small tv hanging from the wall. There is also a lot of noise coming from the condo above. Condo 216 is on the outside of the building facing the mountain. You can see the view from the big picture window on the side wall and from the balcony. There is a corner fireplace with 2 sides and a small hearth. There is a large tv hanging from the wall with a built-in DVD player and VCR. There is a long closet in the hallway with mirrored doors. There is another long closet in the main room where the "bedroom" part is, and another large closet in the actual bedroom. There is no noise coming from the condo above. Hmmm... I think I see why Lisa was telling Danny that he signed for the wrong room. She wanted the nicer room... I mean, this is her anniversary weekened, right? I have no problem with this. So, I tell Tabitha that we will just take condo 212 instead. Now Tabitha is upset. She also wants the nicer condo and this is her birthday present, so she wants her way. I have a headache and don't really care where I sleep... I just need something to eat. We didn't stop for lunch again.

With a lot of considering and contemplating... this is how it worked out. Lisa and Danny moved into the bedroom in condo 216. Michael and Daniel moved onto the couch in condo 216 (it folded out into a bed). Charlie and I got the main room "bedroom" in condo 216. Tabitha and Katie got condo 212 all to themselves. So we have 4 adults and 2 children sharing one bathroom, and 2 teenage girls sharing 1 bathroom. That works out. The girls took one of the 2-way radios to their room so we could stay in contact all the time. Mostly we were together, but during the night, we wanted the girls to be able to get ahold of us in case they had an emergency. We also kept a key to their room so we could bolt in on them at any time.

Now that the room situation was settled, we decided to venture out to see where we wanted to eat dinner. First we went to Texas Red's. There was an hour wait. My headache was not getting any better, so we left. We walked down the street, took a few pictures and headed for the Timbers restaurant. No waiting here. Yeah! Michael and Daniel enjoyed playing bandits while we waited for our meal. We had a balcony seat, which was nice, except people kept coming up behind us and the railing, so we had to scoot our seats forward, so they could go out on the balcony outside to take pictures. During the meal, one of the waitresses asked if she could prop the door open because the staff was hot. I said no. There was a 30 to 40 degree wind that blew in every time someone opened the door. We would have been miserable. She was not happy about my answer, but I didn't care. She wasn't going to make us uncomfortable.

After dinner, we went to the grocery store and picked up a few items. We wanted to stock up for breakfasts and lunches in the coming days. Danny and the boys went to the candy store to stock up. We carried our goodies back to the room and settled in for the night.

Red River Vacation, Day 1

Charlie took Kimie over to Grandma and Pops' house, I took Michael to Lisa's work, and Julie (Pug Mom) came and picked up Rocky last night. It was a very quiet evening at home.

We left the house about 8:45 this morning and after a quick stop at the post office to mail our tax return, headed straight to McDonald's for breakfast. Lisa called us before we got out of the drive through and said they were somewhere in McKinney and had already eaten their McDonald's.

It was a pretty uneventful drive. The girls talked for awhile, and then requested music.

Tabitha and Krysten were texting and discovered that Krysten was in Decatur at the Whataburger as we were driving through Decatur.

We met up with Danny, Lisa, Daniel, and Michael at a gas station on the other side of Wichita Falls. We all had a potty and junk food break and hit the road. We let Danny take the lead because he had a radar detector. We passed by an 18-wheeler hauling hay on the side of the road. He was surrounded by a fire truck and several police cars because his load of hay was on fire. At this point, we passed Lisa and Danny when there was a cop on the other side of the road giving someone a ticket. Danny slowed down, but Charlie sped up. Danny pointed him out, but Charlie kept on going. This started a race between Danny and Charlie and we got up to 100 mph going down the freeway. Lisa and I were talking to each other on 2-way radios and screaming. It was fun and scary at the same time.

We made it to Amarillo around 3:00, checked in, rested a little and headed to dinner. We didn't stop for lunch so we were all very hungry. We ate at The Big Texan. Home of the free 72 oz steak (if you can eat it in an hour). That sucker was huge. Our waitress was an idiot, but the food was good. The boys got free hats with their meals. We enjoyed the gift shop and we were very thankful we went early because the line to get in the restaurant was out the door when we left. Lisa and Danny dropped Tabitha and Katie off at the mall. They were headed back to the hotel to have some alone time on their 17th wedding anniversary. We took the boys back to our room. We decided to walk to the movie theater behind the hotel to see "Wild Hogs". When it was time to go to the movie, the girls called and were ready to leave the mall. We couldn't send Lisa and Danny back to pick them up, so Charlie went. We had to go to a later movie. The theater was packed and we had to sit on the 2nd row under the screen. It wasn't comfortable, but the movie was hilarious!!!

We walked back in the freezing cold to the hotel. Lisa and Tabitha were jumping on our bed.Apparently, this is their wide awake time. We visited for a while and then Michael wanted to get online to play Runescape. Just a lazy evening in the hotel room.

We were awakened at 2:00 am by screaming girls and slamming doors. The teenagers next door apparently had no adult supervision. We discussed what to do... bang on the wall, call the front desk, scream at them through the wall... finally Charlie got up and went over and knocked on their door. They didn't answer, but they looked through the peep hole. This got their attention, because there was no more noise after that.

Peaceful sleep...