Brendan suffered through Day 1 of “doctors week”. Today he had his endoscopy at the ENT’s office. It was just as horrific to Brendan as I imagined it would be, and three people had to hold him down. It was over quickly.

The good bad news is that the doctor could not find anything wrong. He scoped through his nose and down his throat and looked as his vocal cords. The doctor said that they looked beautiful. He removed the trach and ran the scope through the stoma and looked in his upper airway. It looked great too. There is no explanation as to why Brendan has so much difficulty without the trach in.

So going forward, Brendan’s ENT is going to have to consult with other doctors. He will present Brendan’s case at his next conference. He will consult with the cardiologists. Brendan’s next appointment isn’t until January 4th. So we are back in “wait and see” mode.

Brendan’s reward for his tortures today – his new transforming remote control batbot. He has already told BatBot that it is his best friend.

Trevor spent the afternoon with Gramma playing toys and baking real cakes. It was nice for Bill to be able to come with me for this appointment. Doctors week continues with the boys’ four-year wellness checkup with their pediatrician and FOUR immunizations!! The boys will be mad at me. Wednesday is a GI follow up.

Where did November come from?

This is going to be a giant post because it has been a busy week!

Wednesday, we rode the sky train to pick up Gramma. She made it with no travel troubles. Thursday was costume day for Trevor at preschool.
Trevor wore his Ultron costume.

Brendan dressed up to drop Trevor off at school. When we walked in, a little kid saw Brendan and says to his mom, “Whoa, Mommy look!!! There really is a REAL Batman!!!!” It was hilarious.

He likes the car at the school. (He had his batman shirt under his batman costume)

We hit the road Friday morning for our “Trip in a Trip” with Gramma. We arrived in San Diego just after 3PM and checked in to our beach resort. This was our room on the bay. (ground floor behind the pillar)

Our private “beach” on Mission Bay. Brendan was a little nervous about the sand on his toes, but he got used to it really fast!

We walked around Seaport Village and had a great seafood dinner on the water. After a night of rest, we headed straight for the ocean.
Brendan getting his first toe in the Pacific!

The water was a bit chilly!

Let’s get out of here, Daddy!!

Trevor was amazed

There are giant Kelp beds in this area, so the beach was pretty weedy with washed up piles.

Brendan was happy to just dig

Sand and water – Trevor loves it

Daddy and Brendan checking out the water

Gramma and Trevor got brave and sat down to wait for the waves to come in

Brendan thinks they are crazy!

Kelp-topus!!

After some showers in the hotel, we headed to Balboa park and spent the afternoon at the Air and Space Museum.

Helicopter Pilots

They put Daddy in a rather unimpressive hurricane simulator

Our family on the moon

Throwing Trevor in lower gravity?

Jumping boys!

Brendan and Daddy in a fighter jet, must be pulling big G’s

The Balboa trees in the park are amazing. We didn’t have time to really explore everything this park has to offer.

We had to make time for relaxing at the hotel.

The boys winding down for the night.

Or maybe not! They had to run around and watch the big steamer boat leave for its tour

In the morning, there was just enough time for burying Trevor in his pajamas

Already time for the drive home. Some lunch on the road..

The boys were so well behaved in the car. They really are good road trippers! They do hit a wall after a while and need to get out and stretch. We found a cool rest stop in a volcanic area where they could play in the lava rocks and cinders.

They would have played here for hours, but they would have been sunburned to a crisp.

Every vacation has one. 🙁

I was trying to get this post done last night, but was interrupted by a tiny earthquake at 11:30pm! It was a 4.1 magnitude afterschock from a quake centered about 75 miles northwest of here. There was enough movement to immediately know what was going on, but it only lasted a few seconds. Crazy!

And so we begin our 5th orbit around the sun with the cutest characters around… Happy Birthday Brendan and Trevor!

It was hard making the decision to not have a big party, but in the end I think it was a good day. The idea of birthdays is still pretty lost on a just-turned-four-year-old. Whenever someone would say “Happy Birthday!”, Trevor would also say “Happy Birthday!” like saying good morning.
They got some really nice gifts without an overload of new stuff, they had a blast with their crazy cake, and they even had a quick afternoon trip to the zoo with Daddy!

This morning, Brendan was trying to sneak a peek at a present while I was taking his picture!

He has envied a kid in the neighborhood for his big wheel. Now he has his own, and it is BATMAN! (Can you tell Brendan likes Batman?)

Ready to open!

Dig in!

This Lego set looks just like the Skytrain that they love to ride at the airport! We’ll be riding on Wednesday to pick up Gramma! They are very excited!

Trevor asked me for a “construction cake” this year and Brendan agreed with the idea. This “cake” was fun to make because it didn’t actually have to feed anyone, just look pretty. I had more cupcakes to eat.

While they waited for cake, they video chatted with Gramma and Grampa!

Brendan was OK with candles this time. Daddy had to help him blow them out.

Trevor went straight for the pure chocolate bridge.

Brendan looks around and says, “Hey. Where is my batman cake?”. Of course, this is the first I have heard of a batman cake, coming from a kid that won’t eat any cake.

It works, right?!

It was fun having Gramma at the party. 🙂

We had to do candles a few more times!

Candles, singing, cake eating, oh my

Trevor kept sneaking more bites. He would have gladly devoured the entire tray full of chocolate.

I have so much video to go through. I will put up some highlights another day.

Good night, sweet four-year-olds.