Going to Winter Park/Estes Park

Last weekend my parents and I went to go atv riding in Estes Park. When we got there we met Karen, Brian, Madison, Ben, Colby, Nanna and Papa. We had to meet at the helmet place first to get directions and instructions. After the guy told all of the information that was needed, everyone started lining up to get helmets. What's funny is that I have a bigger head than my mom! I noticed that when my dad accidentally put my mom's helmet on me later on. It was too tight around my cheeks. Once everybody had a helmet with the right fit we had to drive twenty miles to get to the actual place. Once we got there, of course there was no parking spaces available. My dad's truck had a hard time parking backwards up the hill. And then when the guy asked my dad if his truck is a 4x4, I started snickering because I knew he'd say no and get all mad again because he should of got one in the first place. Instead my dad has a fat truck! Anyway when we got into the atv's and finally got going, it felt like riding my go cart. There were three atv's for all of us. One for Karen and Brian and their kids, one for Nanna and Papa, and another for us. We decided to go on the easy trail because Caleryn didn't have a car seat and I was super drowsy from the extra baclofen pumping in me caused by going up in the mountains. So we had to stop for a couple snack breaks. My mom thinks I'm like a diabetic! The easy trail had too many rocky places and not enough flat areas. The flat areas were the funnest to go on because you could go really fast and there would be huge puddles of water because it rained right before we got there. My dad was of course too scared of going the full speed (20 mph) when there was a big puddle in front of us because it would most likely get Caleryn and mom all wet. So my dad would gradually slow down until we drove over it. Now if I were driving, I would've just kept moving super fast and let everybody get all wet and then I would have yelled out, "Its shower time!" That would have been funny! But the downside into doing that is I would hear the two knuckleheads in the back seat yell at me. Anyway right after we got to the end of the trail and turned the atv around we saw Nanna and Papa pass by us. My mom thought it was so funny seeing that they were almost at the u-turn because Nanna and Papa were having back issues. Nanna said that the reason they could never catch up with us is because Papa was only going 6mph. After hearing that, I totally know how the conversation went. I bet it started with Nanna yelling at Papa, "Steve! Why are you only going 6mph! I'm sure you can go faster!". Then Papa says in a deep low voice, "What???". After we saw them, Caleryn fell asleep in the atv while we were going on the roughest and fastest part of the whole trail! Her head was slouching downward, so my mom held her head up so she wouldn't get a whiplash. We all couldn't believe that Caleryn was able to go to sleep with all of that shaking. On the way back, I was more awake because my dad finally started going really fast. Caleryn was a little fussy when she had to wake up and get in the truck but all in all she was a trooper and a very good girl during the atv ride. Once everybody got in the truck, my dad wanted to drive the atv longer to waste time because nobody else was back and he can't sit still for two seconds, just like his daughter. When everyone got back we went to the house that Karen & Nanna and Papa rented in Winter Park. Which was a two hour drive from the atv place and the highest elevation to boot. In fact, we were so high that the trees stopped growing and of course no railing on the edges of the road!  During the drive I had to get fed pouches because I was so out of it. My mom sat by me in the car and used the syringe instead of the pump. I felt a little better after I ate but it didn't last long until I would absolutely crash again. I think we were around ten thousand feet when we got to the house. My dad had to walk me in because there was no ramp. That night I didn't sleep too well because at around eleven my mom came and asked if she could sleep with me on the pull out bed instead of the couch and I said "yes". Then about a thirty minutes after she got in the bed I heard her loud snoring behind me. I was like, "oh yeah, I forgot that you snore like a bear! This is just great". This was of course all inside my head. On the next day, I get up and eat one of the pouches with the pump on my mechanical wheelchair. Then once my mom set my pump up I drove outside and stayed out there with my Papa for a while. Thirty minutes later I came back inside because I was getting hot and then after that, it hit me. I was back to feeling drowsy again. So I wanted to lay down on the couch while everyone else went bob sledding and fishing or something. My mom stayed at the house with me too because she was having a migraine. Then when they all came back I still felt drowsy, even though I just took a nap. Mom and dad were having trouble with my stoma feeding because the pump decided to start acting up then me and my mom was kinda sick of being there and was ready to go back to the apartment. Caleryn was not on board with the idea of going home. She had a little hissy fit because she didn't want to leave her cousins. Even though she was with them for four days! Mom decided to start throwing up in the truck then started hyperventilating cause she couldn't get enough oxygen or something, so that was real fun! Good times! Once we got back down to six thousand feet I started feeling more awake. I had so much fun during the atv ride. I think that I would have had a better time if I wasn't so stinking drowsy during the ride. Maybe next time before we go up high like that, we will ask Dr. Stratton to bump the baclofin pump down a little so it won't affect me as much.

The Renaissance Festival/This year's Fourth of July

Well its been a while since my last blog post and we have gone to a couple of places. We went to the Renaissance Festival down by Colorado Springs and then to Boulder Colorado for Fourth of July to check it out. The Renaissance Festival was a little bit different than it is in Houston. The place was not as nearly accessible as the Renaissance Festival in Houston because it was literally on the side of A MOUNTAIN! There wasn't as many stone roads either.  They were only stone roads by the entrance not along all of stores like Houston had. It was also very hilly. My mechanical wheelchair had a very hard time getting a firm grip because it kept on wanting to go down the hill. So I had to constantly fight my chair to go the other way. Sometimes my dad had to push the chair to the side because just trying to fight the hill with my joystick isn't enough. There was also a lot of tree roots all over the hilly ground which made it more difficult as well. I saw some other older folks that had to use scooters and wheelchairs and I was just thinking to myself how hard it must be for them too. Anyway there was one store that interested me but before we were able to cross over to the other side, we were stopped by a parade. Caleryn of course loved seeing the princesses go by and the King and Queen. When we got to the store I bought a cross necklace. For some reason Caleryn got a princess tiara even though she was acting really bad that day. We had the best corn on the cob, sausage on a stick and turkey leg. After dad took Caleryn on a couple rides we started making our way back to the car. We most likely would of stayed longer but it was too tiring trying to just get around. We got our annual Renaissance experience and were satisfied!

That same weekend, we drove to Boulder. I don't remember much about going to Boulder but my mom thought the town was cute. This Fourth of July, I didn't really participate but there were a lot of fireworks. How do I know? My parents told me, apparantly you can watch them from our patio and see all of Denver! Mom said it looked like there was bombs going off all over the city and we were being attacked. I don't like to go on the patio because my chair is too heavy and I feel like the porch might collapse. So I think I missed out on this year's Fourth of July. Hopefully next year I will pay more attention. 

Post-Operation Update

A week ago I went to my g-button follow-up appointment and I have gained back 6.5 lbs!!! That would usually take me forever to gain that much weight! Unfortunately my blood pressure was out of control for some reason after the nurse checked it manually 3 times. It was 164/110. Don't know what was going on with that but, oh well. I also have granulation tissue growing out of my g-button but the nurse put some silver nitrate on to help get rid of it. She said this happens all the time so hopefully it will go away. My mom has to put this cream on it three times a day now to help it along. So far so good!

Caleryn's 4th birthday party

Two weeks ago Nanna and Papa flew on a plane to visit us for Caleryn's 4th birthday party. The plan was to go have her birthday at the lake with a picnic party then go fishing. Personally, I have never been a big fan of going fishing because it's just hard to hold a pole but for some weird reason I actually wanted to go on that day. When I told my dad that I wanted to go fishing, he acted like he was having a heart attack. Of course, my reaction was to laugh because I have never actually said to my dad "Hey, I kinda want to go fishing". So I think that my dad was pretty flabbergasted that I said that to him. Usually, I would pretty much say "no" to him any time he asked me if I wanted to come. Anyway, the lake that we went to was about twenty minutes from our apartment. My mom had to go to the lake earlier to set up the table for Caleryn so it would kinda be a surprise. When we all got to the lake, Caleryn saw all of her presents and her strawberry cake sitting on the bench besides mom. Mom kinda of made a pretty good spread of different sandwiches, pasta, chips and dips, fruit and the best part, strawberry cake with an unicorn horn on top of it, which made Caleryn super happy. So overjoyed that I almost thought that she was going to explode because she had a big grin on her face and she was shivering her head! Then once she took the unicorn horn out of the cake and held it, she didn't want the cake! We definitely got a weird one one our hands. I actually kinda like it because that means there's going to be more for me. After we ate, my dad, Nanna and I went to the bank of the water to fish. Caleryn didn't want to go and stayed with her Papa. For about a hour of fishing and with little success, Nanna got tired and gave up. Then as soon as she left, me and dad started getting bites but we still couldn't catch a fish! I think it would have been better if we went to a lake that is less fished. Then after ten more minutes of fishing I got tired of it, which is probably good because I knew that he would want to fish all day. Caleryn got a lot of presents and I think she enjoyed her special day with Nanna and Papa.