The Sports Injury Cont.....

New information is that Kiera's sprain is a Stage 3, the more serious kind in that it involves torn ligaments. Dr. Hohl, Orthopedic specialist, decided on immobilization to promote healing. The result, a pink fiberglass walking cast for three weeks. Same logic applies; if it doesn't hurt to walk on it then it is OK to do just that.

After just a few days she is more than ready to lose the crutches, but we will be careful. Check up in three weeks. Kiera is feeling fine and her pain is minimal.

Sport Injury

Kiera on the couch with her wrapped ankle and crutches. Preliminary xrays show no obvious break, but we have the referral to see an ortho doc tomorrow to have a closer look, just to be sure. And to get the news of how long in the splint and wrap, and how long off the ice.

I won't describe this accurately, and I won't use the correct figure skating terms, but something along the lines of right foot toe pick planted, cross left foot behind (but NOT a "Crossover"), catch the left foot on the right, fall forward wrenching the right ankle. Ouch! But Kiera was quite the trooper and, oddly, a bit of a natural on crutches. And how many of us (none) could glide across the width of the rink on one good foot with fellow skaters on each side? The initial swelling was a bit alarming, but leveled off quickly and within a couple hours. Once she was home with her foot in this position she said it felt much better. And the trip thru In n Out Burger, with milkshakes included, didn't hurt.

Happy Easter!

Chocolate Marshmallow Bunnie Heads! One of two days of the year, Christmas morning being the other one, where the eating of chocolate before (or instead of) breakfast is part of the celebration.

Saturday we drove to San Diego for a celebration of Tommy's 12th Birthday. His birthday present was an iTouch and he got lots of iTunes cards. We had hotdogs and Dave's amazing chicken and a fun time with family and friends.
Tommy and Patty as he gets ready to open yet another card and gift.

Jessica, Kiera and Waffie watch Tommy unwrap.

Kiera and Waffie. We picked Waffie up on our way. Our friend Sharon is doing a wonderful job of foster parenting the Waffster. He plays with Max the cat, who is twice Waffie's size and Neiko the Labradoodle who is many many times Waffie's size. But that doesn't intimidate the Waffster who regularly attacks any body part of the big dog that he can reach.

You can see Kiera's injury under her left eye when she fell prey to a wildly thrown "sticker ball" ie; seed pod from the trees at school. In this part of Southern California in particular the use of these sticker balls for sticker ball fights is a fond memory of many people young and old alike.

Soccer with Jenna

Last weekend Kiera and I went to watch Jenna at soccer. And she was focused and attentive and only took water breaks as instructed. All a little amazing for a group of four year olds.
I'm sure Shannon's photos and video will be better than mine.

The group listens to their coach.


Allyson hanging out while Jenna scrimmages.

Water break.
Kiera and Jenna and the always popular bubbles in the backyard.

Easter Egg Coloring in Modesto

Saturday the 4th Kiera and I deserted Mike and made the road trip north to spend a quick weekend with Shannon and family in Modesto. High on our list of things to do was Easter Egg coloring. Sunday, while Shannon worked the girls and I all tackled our hard boiled eggs out on the patio. We had a nice sunny mild, but warm, day to work in.
Kiera and Jenna well into the project by the looks of the drying eggs.

Allyson supervising and holding various egg coloring tools.

Jenna working with the roller and egg paints. This was an especially cool feature that allowed for painting on the egg before dipping.

Kiera showing what happens when you not only use your fingers to put eggs in and out of the dyes, but hold them there. It washed off after about a day.

Some of the end results. The addition of white vinegar, per the box instuctions, transformed our coloring results from pastels to brights.

I had a fun conversation with the massage therapist at our chiropractor's on Tuesday. Nancy's family's tradition, her family is from Central America, involves a long process of carefully poking holes in eggs in the months leading up to Easter and draining the contents while preserving the whole, now empty egg. Her mother keeps these in boxes reserved for individual family members. The egg coloring involves dying these hollow eggs and carefully inserting confetti, or plain flour. Each family member is responsible for his or her's alloted eggs. Come Easter morning there is a lively time throwing the eggs at each other!
She thought hard boiling eggs and dying them sounded odd. Her version, while she admits can get quite messy, sounds like fun.

Happy Anniversary

Today is the Sixth Anniversary of the day I got my car. Silly, yes I know. And no, the car does not have a name, I'm not that bad! Last week one of our insurance reps for a product we offer at the credit union was in town and she came and took me to lunch. When we walked outside my car was parked across the street and she commented that she remembered when I bought that and Oh My, it still looks like new.

And looking at this photo taken the day I bought the car I have to agree, it still looks just like this. I have to admit I was a little superstitious that buying a car on April Fool's Day might not be a good idea, but it has not seemed to be a problem. And while I am most likely inappropriately bonded with my vehicle I would compare this attachment to one similar to what a person might feel for a pet. So that maybe it isn't quite pathological.