Weekend Trip to K-Town

I don't want to go into our whole life stories...I mean if you are reading this I hope you are not some random person out there, but who knows!  But anyways, a little background for my NMO friends (since after all this blog is all about my life and how the disease affects things for us, and how we overcome those struggles and live our lives to the fullest!) I know, it's emotional blah blah blah, moving on!  Paul and I met at school in Kearney, NE almost 6 years ago (HOLY COW!) Now one of my little sisters goes to school up there, and my best friends parents live close to there as well...so family trip!

It was pretty relaxing, NOT! It started off with Paul supposed to be taking a half day at work, but apparently being an accountant means you can't take time off at the beginning of the month, end of the month, or anytime during quarters close.  So he ends up getting home 3 hours later than planned - so on the road we went.

I think in college the drive took me about 4.5 hours, but with the boys it takes about 5.5 hours.  B went to sleep before we were even out of the city (we hit rush hour traffic leaving).  Z hates his car seat, and I think has only fallen asleep in it 2 or 3 times (EVER!).  He was good though, read a few books, chatted to buddy, etc.  B woke up about 3 hours in, we stopped at Taco Bell drive through and were on our way.  We got to Kearney around 11pm - yuck!  Braden slept downstairs and was not falling asleep right away.  He kept asking Jimmy why he cut the Moose's ears off (they have a few antlers hanging on the walls).

Driving up to NE...very eventful

Saturday we woke up to a yummy breakfast and then went to the Lopers football game.  Before hand we walked around the campus and went into the bookstore.  We ended up buying the boys a t-shirt and hat for about $20.  They had a sign up about getting 4 free tickets to the game, so of course I asked, and we ended up getting our tickets to the game for free (STEAL!) I am so glad we stopped in and spent the $20 on stuff for the boys instead of tickets.  The Lopers ended up winning their first ever MIAA conference game 34-20 (making their record 1-7...hopefully the baseball team has a much better season!!).

Brothers at the football game

With Aunt Bryce at the football game

Family silly face

We tried to get a good family photo, but Zach still wanted to be silly

After the game we went to Come & Get It (Only my most favorite BBQ place in the whole country) for lunch.  DELICIOUS! I should have taken a picture of my loaded pork bake potato for y'all to see how amazing it looked.

Then it was back down to Melissa's parents for the evening.  Jimmy and Oly (Melissa's brother and dad) were shingling the roof while we all sat outside, drinking some beers, listening to the Huskers Game - When in Rome do as the Romans do.  Braden was very interested in what they were doing, and wanted to help.  He also was very concerned for Jimmy and Oly's safety:

"Uncle Jimmy, what's your brother doing on the roof" - Referring to Oly
"Uncle Jimmy, are you sure you should be up there.  You better get down before your mom spanks your butt"
"Be careful! Don't fall!"

Helping rake up leaves

Learning to cut Shingles

Pretending to help shingle

I guess since this blog is about our lives, and NMO is a big part of that, I should mention the parts where it just gets in the way and I want to scream!  One of my biggest symptoms/side effects from my attack in November of 2010, is that my legs/feeling in my legs are SUPER sensitive.  Like anything, there are good days and bad days.  On the good days there is not much difference, but on the bad days I can feel everything, and nothing feels "normal", or the way it should (ie a shower can feel like knives stabbing me).  Well Saturday started off as a not so good day, and quickly turned into a horrible day for my legs.  While we were sitting outside enjoying the weather and company, there were little gnats and boxelder bugs flying all over.  To a normal person they are just annoying, for me, every time one landed on my legs it felt like I was being stabbed with a sharp needle! Horrible! I looked like a freak freaking out every time one touched me, swatting them, waving about...I looked like an idiot. 

The next day we took the morning pretty easy.  Ate breakfast, said our goodbyes and headed up to Kearney for a last visit with a few friends.  We were able to make an last minute stop to the park out of town to see Coach Day's Wife and kiddos.  The boys got to run around a bit before sitting in the car for almost 6 hours.  We grabbed lunch and then we hit the road.

Car ride was fairly uneventful.  B didn't fall asleep until the end of the drive.  But the beginning was not too bad.  We talked and told stories, he asked a lot of questions, sang and danced, played games on my phone, you know the drill.  Z was pretty quite at the beginning, but for the last almost 2 hours was on and off crying.  I think at one point I told him it was okay and he yelled back at me something that sounded like "no it's not okay".  Side note: for those of you who do not know, Zachy is really not talking yet.  He has a few words here and there, but is working in therapy for 2 hours a week to help with his speech. 

Sweeping on the way home

Despite the late start to our trip and the boys being so over tired and over stimulated the whole weekend (equating to fussing, yelling, and children who cannot be reasoned with), the trip was great and it was nice to see Melissa (since she moved away from us a few months ago), her family, and Aunt Bryce...but...it's always good to be home :)

Home Sweet Home!