Flowers to start off a nice day. Edda, Jeremy and I went to Whole Food to see if we could snag some free samples. We did not.
Jeremy then started biking from the WF lot headed to a lunch-time party in Alexandria.
While Edda and I went home, put the groceries away and headed to the party via minivan. We met up with Jeremy to attend the famous Johns’s Memorial Day bash!
Then we headed back home where Jeremy made more food, chicken on a beer can.
Edda’s new shoes that fit her orthotics. Hmmmm, sexy. They are triple wide and still barely wide enough. We are trying them out on her for a couple hours a day to see if they hurt her foot. It’s weird they want her back brace on for 21 hours a day, but these shoe orthotics for 6 hours a day. I dunno.
Ruby loves to sun herself on the deck – even when I think it’s way too hot. It’s from her Texas genes. I remember her mother laying on the sidewalk in the full sun in summer in Austin TX just lovin’ it y’all.
I went to lunch with Debbie today. We talked a lot about Pilates. And nursing documentation and scheduling, Debbie does informatics in a hospital.
Hahahaha – a new candy store opened in Town Square. Funny & disgusting at the same time.
Quiet day today (for me and Edda). Much more interesting for Jeremy who bought a new bike today and he went all around Montgomery County on Ride-On busses. From Rockville, to Silver Spring, to Montgomery Mall, then to Congressional Mall and then back home. He is a public transit expert.
After he got home, we went to Rockville’s Hometown Holidays. Vince had already abandoned us all day – give him a twenty and he’s off with friends watching movies and eating hamburgers.
Jeremy got us all tickets (because of his service to the city) to the VIP tent which had this amazing potato salad and BBQ sandwiches.
Edda shows off her eating while sleeping talent.
As part of the VIP package, we got some tickets to spend at the food concessions. We got into the ice cream line.
Then we went into a new pub that opened downtown to have some drinks before we walked back home.
We are looking forward to a low-key three-day weekend. We aren’t going anywhere, we have a few things planned – some all together and some all apart, trying to manage happy moments together without driving each other crazy. It’s been a long week. Jeremy’s been a little sick and he had a tough week at work. Annual planning is coming soon in California, so there is a lot of prep for that and Jeremy’s been working through all the associated complicated issues with that. I’ve been slogging through the work week because my mouth feels terrible. I sometimes get these mouth ulcers that last for about 10 days. I’ve had these breakouts since I was a little kid, but as I get older, they really wipe me out. I feel like I have a mild flu, I can’t eat well, I can’t talk. Also, I’m a little under-scheduled, so that also has me feeling a little aimless and hermit-like. I need a little bit of deadline stress and reasons to leave the house to really feel happy.
I made dinner tonight – IKEA meatballs (with swedish berry sauce) and tater tots and peas. Dinner was very colorful and was super awesome delicious, but I’m not sure how healthy it was.
To counter my aimlessness and to complement my hermit-ness, I’ve taken to sewing more of Edda’s bandana/terry cloth bibs. She’s chewed through a number of them and also I need to make them for Edda’s schools because they are so handy. Really – this is what they need to invent – bibs for adults that don’t have bunnies/pastels or are lame and diapers for adults with velcro down the sides like those training diapers they make for 2 year olds so when the diapers are just wet, you don’t have to take off the whole pair of pants to change them. They figured out that taking pants off a 2 year old was a lot of trouble, but, trust me, really it’s a lot more trouble on a 12 or 30 year old.
I’m also trying to learn chess. I give this new hobby approximately three more days.
Look at this beautiful sunset!
Jeremy says good night!
Summer is finally here with the warmth and humidity. Jeremy is starting to look more and more like his father the first time I met him. I guess I met Bob when he was in his mid-50s, which Jeremy is now within spitting distance of.
Ruby had a tough time today on the evening walk. She started to not be able to breath well – hyperventilating. We got her to rest on a patch of grass while Jeremy went with Max to fetch a car. While they were gone, I was a little worried that Ruby might never catch her breath again. Doggie CPR? That frightened me, but then she stopped panting for a moment to sniff the ground around her and then I figured she was going to pull out of the breathing episode.
Ruby, being rescued during our 1 mile walk. Poor girl. Only climate controlled spaces for you this summer (AC went on in the house today!). And very short walks!
Remember Camp Greentop, the awesome sleepaway summer camp? Where Edda has to be quiet during the night because she’s have to share a small cabin with ten people? Well she’s been sooooo loud every night this week! So loud. Like yelling at us at 3 am. Any by us, I mean Jeremy.
Little girl! Be quiet! Maybe we should give her an Ambien. Hmmmm…..
Jeremy stayed downtown tonight for happy hour. Hanging out and drinking beer.
Vince had a school violin concert tonight. Due to the constraints on time, we busted out the Stouffer’s French Bread Pepperoni Pizza for dinner tonight. Vince thought it was excellent. I thought they were better when I was a kid, but I told Vince that the French bread pizza was more Donald’s thing. I really enjoyed Hot Pockets – maybe next week.
I think this might have been the last time I will go into the JW gym. Thirty years ago, I played the same violin in this same hall.
Jeremy is smiling, but really, he feels lousy. Another cold is going through the house.
Here’s the last piece. Vince is in the front row on the right side of the screen under the conductor’s armpit.
I gave Edda a haircut this weekend. Jeremy’s been struggling with Edda’s hair during the morning routine, I’m trying to make it easier on him. I left it just long enough to gather into a ponytail even though, really if you aren’t going to put it up, it’s better to be off of the nape of the neck with a cut that ends ear length. I think I’m going to have to cut it again next weekend.
Today we drove up to right across the street from Camp David. It’s glorious up there in the Catoctin mountains. Early spring with the pale leaves.
We were headed to a place called Greentop run by the League for People with Disabilites. They run a summer camp and a weekend a month with overnight stays for kids like Edda. They had an open house there today and we went and toured the facilities. They’ve been around since the mid 1930s in facilities built by the WPA. The camp was originally organized for people with polio. Now they serve people with all types of disabilities including adults, the longest camp-attendee has been coming to camp since 1962.
We saw the kitchen.
The cabins.
The pool, the rec hall. It was a rainy day. We had ice cream and bought all sorts of T-shirts.
We loved it. Jeremy loves the Catoctin area, he wants to go to camp there. We know nothing about the waiting lists, but we’ll look into it. Many questions were brought up – seizures? no problem. pureed food? no problem. diapers? no problem. gluten free? no problem. hates arts and crafts? no problem. The toughest part is the sleeping, Edda needs to sleep through the night without making noise. Hmm… she kind of does that. Mostly? Anyways, we’ll try. Maybe it’ll be ok.
The director said there are no goals at camp except to have fun. For some kids, success is just making it to camp. For other kids, success is participating for a couple of minutes in an activities. I’m hoping Edda has a good time. They have some openings for a weekend in December…that just sounds cold.
On the way home, we stopped off at a favorite pie stand and got an apple pie:
And some pickled eggs?
Kappa came down to see Vince’s violin recital.
Here he is prepping in the green room. Kara, Edda’s camp counselor from JCC, babysat Edda tonight, so it’s the first time Jeremy and I sat through a whole violin recital together as Edda dislikes recitals.
Vincie practiced and he did pretty well. I haven’t seen him play in a long time, I miss his lessons, and he usually practices after I go to bed. He’s a better violin player than I ever was. I never moved out of first position, but there he is – moving his fingers up and down.
Relieved afterwards:
Then we went out and met up with a few other Martins to have the usual Sunday night dinner on a Saturday night in a Chinese restaurant!
It was bike to work day – I biked to the Rockville Metro celebration with Jeremy and got a free bagel.
I visited Maureen at Edda’s old elementary school to give her Edda’s old jogging strollers and wheelchairs which Edda has outgrown. They are in a temporary holding school as the elementary school is being demolished and completely rebuilt. I miss elementary school – the kids are little and even though they all have intense needs, you feel like you can just pick them up and carry them with you and take care of them and protect them always. This is not the feeling I get in middle school.
Vince went downtown to meet Jeremy after work on the Metro (by himself!) to go to an art installation under Dupont Circle.
