Here we are, on the road: We’re in Sunnyvale, California

April 20, 2014 Lorraine’s report

Hello again from Santa Clara, the Elks Lodge. Today is Easter, and we would like to wish all our Family & Friends a very “Happy Easter”. May God’s Blessings reign down on each and everyone of you.

So this week has been extremely busy. Kaitlyn has been off all week for spring break. That means we’ve had her most days, and with a broken foot, she has been pretty tired. Not used to having her foot in a cast. And, the first day back in spring break, the teachers had her go out to play and she got sand in the cast. After two days or so, the cast had to be replaced, it was pretty miserable for her. So they replaced it, at least she got a good scratch in before they recast it.

We just got back from the Elks Lodge for Easter Brunch, followed by an Easter Egg Hunt. Katie had fun, found a bunch of eggs, and even gave her new friend some of her eggs.

It has been hard for Dora, their dog also, she lost her eye, they put in a prosthetic eye, but she got an infection in the tissue around the eye. She started another infections, and Susy had to take her back to the Vet. Poor Dora has had to take a whole bunch of medications. Man, it has been one thing after another for them. Poor Dora…

So that’s it for me, Hope everyone enjoys this joyous day. He is Risen….Thank you Lord for all you have given me…

Hugs,

Lorraine

4/20/14 Chuck’s report

First off, Happy Easter to everyone. This week was spent with us being grand parents to Katie, she was on spring break from school, and finishing up my doctor visits at the VA. Luckily, both were completed with no issues or problems. I got good news from my blood tests and even found out my hearing aid issue was that one wasn’t working properly and it was sent out for repair. All finished with my VA doctors until we return in November, yea.

This past week was our grand daughter Katie’s 9th birthday, my brother Gilbert’s 57th birthday and my brothers Brian and Bradley’s 60th birthday. Happy Birthday to all. I don’t understand how my brothers are getting so old and I’m not, must be the side of the family I came from, ha.

Last Sunday was Katie’s birthday party at the trampoline place. She was pretty sure she could play in a couple of places but when she checked in they told her that she couldn’t play in any of the different areas while wearing a cast, that wasn’t good news at all. After a few tears and some re-arrangements, everything turned out fine. I think she had 14 of her friends show up and most of them tried to spend some time with her outside the play areas, that was nice. Plus they had a few games set up for the kids too, coloring contest, pin the tail on the pony and such. Seeing as how there were prizes for the winners, even the boys got involved on the games. And of course, there was the cake and opening of the presents too and even the adults got involved in those. But all too soon, everyone left and we had to clean up so they could get ready for the next birthday group coming in that afternoon. I think there were 4 birthday parties going on at the same time as Katie’s, don’t know how many that afternoon, busy place for sure.

Monday I had to run to the VA, had to be there by 9 am and wasn’t sure how bad the traffic might be so I left about 8:00 and needed most of that time due to traffic. The big thing today was the dermatologist, haven’t been checked overall for three years, no issues here though although they did freeze a few spots that looked like they could turn bad.

Later Lorraine and I ran a few errands then picked Katie up from day camp. She was pretty tired and complained about sand in her cast, she was playing in the sand box and they had sand around all the slides and swings. We tried to brush out as much sand as we could but she was still complaining about it.

Tuesday I had my VA hearing doctor check out my hearing and hearing aids. She found the left one wasn’t working too well, might have been why they didn’t work for me, ya think! Anyway, she is sending it out for repairs and will send it to us when we are in Washington. This doctor visit was at 2:30 and today being Katie’s actual birthday, her dad picked her up from day camp and they went out for lunch. Later he dropped her off at our place as he was teaching a class that night and after Susy got off work we headed out for her birthday dinner at Black Angus. Afterwards we stopped by Susy’s house for opening presents, a long day for Katie and Susy too.

HAPPY 9TH BIRTHDAY, KAITLYN.

Wednesday we had a quiet morning and picked Katie up from day camp earlier. Later we had dinner at the Elks lodge, meat loaf. I’m always a bit leery about ordering meat loaf as you are never sure what you are getting, this one wasn’t too bad although it was over cooked.

Thursday was back to the VA for me, my primary doctor visit. She went over my blood test results and was very pleased with the sugar, cholesterol, in fact all the tests. The only thing she could “complain” about was my weight, I’ve gained a few pounds over the winter. So I’m back on a strict Atkins once again, I really want to get down to 200 lbs. vs the 220 I’ve been carrying. Wish me luck!

That afternoon Katie and her dad went to her doctor and they replaced her cast, it was rubbing and the sand was still bothering her. Sounds like there was quite a bit of sand, I can understand why it was bothering her. Anyway, she has a different cast and it’s pink just like the original one. Of course, it’s rubbing in a different spot and, as everyone who has ever had a cast understands, she is itching inside too. After Susy got off work, she, Lorraine and Katie dyed Easter eggs. I tried to stay out of that but it sure was noisy with lots of laughter. I even got one made for me, called it Papa’s UGLY egg.

Friday was the last of my VA doctor visits, this one was with the eye doctor at 8am, early. Once again I left an hour before and this time the traffic was lighter and got there almost 30 minutes early. I got my eyes dilated and they checked for detached retina once again, not my favorite test for sure. Good new about all the tests though, only issue was a slight change in my prescription.

Later we ran a couple of errands before we picked up Katie from day camp again, we even found a hair dresser place for Lorraine and I got a hair cut there also. Lorraine and Katie had a good play date and we even managed to do some of her math homework. Later Susy came by but Katie spent the night here with us.

Saturday morning was a good time with Katie, lots of playing and watching kids shows on TV. Lorraine and Katie got ready for pictures, they were going with Susy for their annual Mother’s Day photo trip. Of course, there was some shopping involved too. I borrowed Susy’s rug shampoo machine and cleaned up the larger throw rugs in the rig, too big to wash in a machine and it was pretty dirty. It was even a nice day, I put it outside to dry some so it didn’t have to dry in place.

Mark picked up Katie so it was just the three of us for dinner later. Lorraine and Susy stopped and picked up BBQ for dinner, good stuff. We watched a DVD movie later, The Wolf of Wall Street. Not a kids movie and for sure too much bad language and I’m not a prude. But it was supposed to be a real life story, those folks live a different life for sure.

Today is Easter Sunday and we are going to have breakfast here at the Elks Lodge with Susy, Mark, Katie, Lorraine and me this morning. So guess I’ll go through what pictures we have taken this week and add some here then try to get this posted.

The weather this week lived up to what they forecast, it was nice. No sign of rain although we do get lots of morning dew. We did get the car washed this week, it was getting lots of bugs on the front end. And with the spring weather, lots of pollen and such around, Loraine and Susy are both having issues with their allergies.

Our travel plans have us leaving here tomorrow morning, starting our trek North to Washington. We plan on making a couple stops in Oregon but guess that’s next week’s blog.

At Katie’s party on Sunday.