County Fair II

Ah, fries, brats and a comfy lap! Anna loves to eat with Aunt Laura.

Ed walked quite a while to find Grandma a Turkey leg, which she thoroughly enjoyed.

The kids rocked out to live music, the band played the country song "Little Sister" and the song with the apt lyrics "Play that funky music white boy."

Enjoying the county Sheriffs display- Jay is his brother keeper. The charges? Disturbing the peace, of course.

The family. I wish my Photoshop skills were better so that I could lighten the faces without losing the sunset. If you click it you can get a better view. The kids played some games on the midway and scored the stuffed pug that Anna is snuggling in the photo.

Sadly my camera batteries were spent before the end of the adventure. We visited the animals, skipping only the goats. Mom loves to look at all of the animals and tell us stories about growing up on the farm. Later Ed and I took the boys on a promised bumper car ride while Grandma, John and Anna ate elephant ears and cotton candy.

County Fair I

Yesterday my brother Ed and sister-in-law Laura agreed to go with us to visit the Lake County Fare. Having someone to push Mom in the wheel chair on big adventures makes big trips possible with the whole family. We all had fun and ate lots of the sort of food you only find on the midway of a fair.

My brother Ed, chauffeuring Grandma at the Fair. Grandma's wheel chair got us rock-star parking.


John and Laura check out our tickets. JJ can't wait.
Our first stop was to visit Meg and Eddie who were volunteering in the commercial building. Meg is doing face painting.
The Queen Mother and Princess Anna enjoy delicious lemonade in the floriculture building as Royal Guard Uncle Ed fans them to increase their comfort.

The current fair grounds are likely to be developed in the next few years, so we really wanted Mom to visit the fair this year. More pictures will follow...

Summer daze

Picnic on the porch

with Grandma
Swim lessons, JJ with his friend John
Ben floating
JJ, John and their class

Summer activities have been crazy. Ben and JJ have swimming twice a week and t-ball. Jay has a reading class on Saturdays but homework sessions during the week that require us to go to the library. I love the library, but taking the 3 kids there while I search for specific titles is not fun. We have cub scout stuff going on about three times a month. Anna is a good sport and happily doesn't seem to notice that the activities are not specifically for her.

We try to kick back in our free time and relax. The other night John worked late so we had a simple picnic on the porch.

Fall Out

Mom is recovering from her fall, but it seems to have had a bigger effect on her psychologically than physically. Over the past few days she has been really pondering her life and her membership in the "help I've fallen and I can't get up" club. Mom's cousins La Verne and Aggie both fell last year and were lying alone in their homes for long periods of time before they were discovered and helped. Both cousins now live in the same nursing home.

In contrast, we were with Mom moments after her fall. After making sure she didn't have any obvious fractures we sat her up. Anna played found the novelty of having Grandma on the floor great fun and played. Rubber ducks were lined up to sing. My sons brought her water, pillow and a teddy bear for comfort. It was an odd but sweet little party in the bathroom while we waited for someone to come and help to get Mom off the floor. There were some tears but much more laughter. When my sister-in-law arrived, Mom still sitting on the floor said "Did you bring a cake? Can't you see we are having a party?"

Now Mom is really reluctant to leave the house. She feels less sure of herself than ever. We have plans to go to a friends house for dinner and I know it will be a battle to get her to come along. I also know that sitting around will not help her recover her physical well being or her confidence.

I am really frustrated with care providers at this point. I have a sense of urgency - but no one else seems to share it. We have been waiting on a referral for physical therapy that the doctor wrote for Mom weeks ago. Allegedly they were to be delivered by mail. I have made 2 calls to the local "Caregiver Resource Center" for referrals to someone who would help suggest some modifications to our home to make it more Grandma friendly- I have yet to speak to a live person. My calls to find a specific model of toilet safety bars have also been fruitless. Tomorrow I will have to make more calls.

Woops

Ben says "I'm a starfish!" Well, as close as you get to a starfish in the Wisconson Dells.
Deer Park...

Anna was "Crazy about horses!"

Damnit. It's be another month since my last post. I really do mean to post more often.

I will try to catch up a bit. Summer has been a blur of camps, t-ball, swim lessons and family events. Mom had a "mini-stroke" the day we were to walk in the Fourth of July Parade with the Cub Scouts and head to the Wisconsin Dells. Mom is tough- she refused to stay in the hospital for testing unless we went on our little vacation. So we left and my brother Doug had to deal with the hospital primarily.

We had a reasonably good time away. The Dells really are "Kiddy Vegas" as my sister-in-law calls them. We stayed away from the big outdoor water parks because of the number and ages of our kids.

We enjoyed a visit from big brother Joe last weekend. Follow the link for Panini Kristan fun. I was remiss in getting photos.

Mom had been doing well- we had made it back to the therapy pool last week- until she fell in the bathroom on Wednesday. Fortunately she did not break any bones. She is sore and bruised but recovering well. For the time being she needs more assistance and I have to help her in the bathroom and with her personal care. I am beat but really grateful that she wasn't more seriously injured.

Our next adventure will be trying to modify our bathroom to make it safer for Grandma.