The whole family is still fighting a little bug, but symptoms have been very mild even for Brendan. Our biggest enemy is cabin fever or boredom, so we went playground scouting again. I have seen this place from the road every time I go to Joann, so we went to check it out.

It has this giant snake of climbing ropes for younger kids, although it is still too advanced for the boys.

There is this 50ft tower of climbing craziness for bigger kids and adults. I can see Kayla and Ashley dangling on there.

They have nice playground equipment, but the boys didn’t care for it much once they spotted something else…

GIANT splash pad. I did not realize that it would be running today. I can not keep my boys away from splash pads. Good thing I had dry clothes in the car anyway.

The perfect shirt for Trevor… the bottoms reads, “My Parents”. That is how I feel today!

We were right next to “The Waffle Fry Store”

The boys inherited a cool bike trailer from Jack and Olivia because Jack is too big for it now. It will be perfect for this year’s Christmas light-seeing bike rides with both boys.

We did a test ride down the street.

Bill had to weld a custom mount to get the trailer to work with the three-wheeled bike.

And last, Brendan wanted to update everyone with his vocal skills. He says a lot of great words now but it is hard to catch it on camera. Trevor was in a time out (you can hear how he feels about that in the background).
He keeps asking for “Big Robot” because he wants to watch the movie “Iron Giant”.

Happy Thanksgiving! We sure do miss all of our family today and wish that we could be with them on this holiday. It was 85 degrees and sunny here today, it would have been the perfect place for everyone to be this year! 🙂

We so appreciate the Newton family for including us in their Thanksgiving this year. We felt pretty special, Tammy went out of her way to set up special things for the boys, and she cooked an awesome meal!

Taylor helped the boys color at their special table and make ornaments

Trevor said that he was eating out of a wheel! Brendan gobbled up lots of mashed potatoes and gravy before he started giving everything to the dog.

It was a great time to be outside playing with the hose. Trevor is trying to get the water with his “smacker” aka ping pong paddle

Brendan has only been to this house a few times before, but he remembered that there were cats and he was on a mission to find them!

Trevor ate lots of whipped cream for dessert

And then he started feeding the dog

Cody built the boys a giant couch fort just like he used to do when he was little

Can you spot the Trevor?

The tackled Cody to show their appreciation for the awesome fort.

The car ride home claimed one over-tired little boy. The other went to sleep easily too.

The whole family is fighting off illness. Symptoms have been very minor and we are doing everything we can to stay healthy. It was good to spend today with friends and we hope everyone gets well and stays well!

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!