Pictures from yesterday:

Bill put up the Christmas lights on the house on Sunday. Trevor saw them on Monday and said. “Christmas lights? That means it is Christmas time?” I said, “Yes, it is the season”. He says, “Now I can play with the Christmas train!”
He has quite a memory. He often sees the Christmas train on the shelf in the garage and occasionally asks to play with it and I tell him, “It isn’t Christmas time.”
I couldn’t say no this time.

Today Brendan had his EKG/Echo and checkup with the cardiologist. He gets an A+ on everything. He screams and fights the tests, but he was otherwise a very good boy. I got him his Paw Patrol buddies as a reward and he was one super happy camper. He kept giving them hugs and kisses.

Then he put his trach cap on his big toe and bit it off.

The doctor talked about Brendan’s long term plan too. He hopes to see the trach come out next summer and then they would consider doing his final big open heart surgery the following summer (2016). There is so much that could change, but it was nice to have a tentative plan.

The bad news to share is that it looks like we picked up another viral infection this weekend. Brendan had a rough boogery morning and has an elevated heart rate while sleeping. This evening Trevor had a 101 degree fever. 🙁 I hope they can shake it off quickly. Bill just started an antibiotic to get rid of his cold that settled in to his chest and won’t go away. So far I am feeling fine.
I don’t want a sick-kids holiday!

I didn’t know I had big plans when I woke up this morning. Yesterday, I saw a picture on a friend’s facebook wall of a cool slide and decided that I had to take the boys there someday. Then someday turned in to today! We drove about 35 miles to get to this park, but it was worth it. The road trip part is fun too.

Brendan found a gila monster in the park!

It is a slide! This sculpture/slide was done so well, I love it. The boys loved it too!

Gila Monsterishness must be contagious

A concrete tube full of sand is very entertaining

Other than the giant gila monster, this place had the U.S.A.’s largest sundial. (not that impressive to me, I didn’t even take a picture) It also was a big district full of shops and restaurants. I think Gramma would have loved it.
We walked around a while and found a second playground.

There were lots of nice fountains and gardens

The boys were running on the bridge

“where does this go?”

It was a great morning and it gave Bill time to put up Christmas lights on the house and do laundry today!

It is “Friends and Fun” picture day! We met up at the Challenger Space Center today out on the west side of town with some local but far away friends. The center was kind of a dud for the young kids, there wasn’t a lot to grab their attention.

Trevor thought he was on the moon in the front entry though.

The big glass elevator started behind a giant American flag, then went up four stories.

There were a few things to touch, but it was mostly hands-off exhibits and a lot of areas were not open to the public without getting the special guided tour.

There were some very nice murals on the big walls, and a giant foam block building area where Trevor wanted to stay all day, but Brendan didn’t like it and wanted to go.

We went back to our friends’ house for lots of outdoor playtime and tons of silliness.

I pushed Trevor and Olivia all around the backyard in a bike trailer. When we were done, Olivia had a bit of a static electricity problem.

We had a wonderful meal (Thanks Adrienne!!) and even managed to get all four kids to sit at the kid table for a few moments to eat! Jack had to dress up like Buzz Lightyear while all the kids worked on emptying his closet. Brendan loved it!

Brendan loved the pug named Duke. I think Brendan was doing a better job begging for the dog treat than the dog!

We brought home two very very worn out boys. They loved having play time with friends – the grown ups did too! Thanks Josh and Adrienne, Jack and Olivia for being awesome hosts today!