Omaha Trip, part 2; Saturday Morning Breakfast

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Omaha Trip, part 1; Friday

Hobbie Family Reunion

This is the 6th year we've had a Hobbie Family Reunion.

My dad's parent's, Walt & Gladys Hobbie, had 3 children, Larry, Sharon, & Gary.

Here's the breakdown:

Larry

My folks, Larry & Connie, live near Flandreau SD

Steve and I have 5+ children (the plus includes the foster baby :)

My sister Heather & Dan live in Brookings SD and have Aubrey & Coby

Sharon

Sharon & Lee live near Minneapolis, KS and have Cory, Kyle & Megan

Cory & Tabatha live near Kansas City, Missouri and have Noah & Samuel

Kyle lives in Wyoming and has a dog and a tiny motorcycle.

Megan & Bill live in Olatha, KS and have Isaac, Sha'uri & Eloise

Gary

Gary & Judy live near Flandreau SD and have Amber, Anthony & Austin

Amber lives near Flandreau SD and does not have dog or a tiny motorcycle

Anthony & Nikki live in Mitchell SD and have Haley & Natalie

Austin & Angela live in Houston TX and have Braylon.

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Those are the people we party with at the Hobbie Reunion!

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Packed & Ready to Go

In case you were wondering,

this is what a minivan packed for a weekend for 8 looks like.

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Backseat Traveling

Anthony, Riley & Taylor

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Watching

Grandpa Larry, Uncle Gary,  Amber, Aunt Sharon, and Kyle watching the kids swim at the hotel.

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Uncle Lee with his "swimwear" on.

He said that no one should go swimming unless they wore the proper swimming attire.

Then he promptly put a swimming diaper on his head like a swimming cap!

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Hot Tub Time

Taylor, Heather, Coby, Brittney, Dan, Hayley, Riley , Zeke & Kyle

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Just A Blur

I tried to take a picture of the kids playing in the pool area but this is all I got.

Which makes sense, since that is pretty much how we saw them.

Supper

 After a fun afternoon of swimming, we all went back to a hospitality room and had Taco Soup (kind of like a taco flavored chili that you put on top of corn chips and then top with whatever taco toppings you like). Nikki also made some spectacular fruit pizza and veggie pizza that you can see in the picture.

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Cookies

Everyone had two valentine's cookies with their name on it.

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Bed

Then some people stayed up playing games and others went to bed. I chose bed because I was exhausted from all my traveling.  Our kids all went to bed easily because they were so tired. They baby went to bed but she didn't stay asleep. She would wake up every half hour/hour and cry and scream. I think she was really disoriented and scared. It made for a long night.

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Valentines Day

I am not, nor have I ever been, a fan of Valentine's Day. So now you get in on my little rant.

Steve and I dated for almost 3 years and have been married for 13 years. We love each other but we also argue and disagree sometimes. It doesn't mean we love each other any less. It means we love each other enough to express what we really feel. We don't have the fear of divorce looming over us because neither of us would consider it. I love the security in that and I don't doubt his love for me, even when he's not "doing what I want" because I know he still has our family's best interests at heart.

That being said, I think Valentine's Day is a crock because I don't want one day a year when a significant other feels socially and financially obligated to spend time and money just because of what day it is. I want a spouse who shows me throughout the year that he loves and cares for me. And Steve does that. So why would I need him to purchase something for me today just because everyone else is. I'd rather he pay attention to what I want or need and suprise me with it on any regular day. And Steve does that.

But for those of you who actually enjoy Valentine's Day, that's fine for you. Just make sure your significant other appreciates you on other days too and you're not just financially boosting Halmark :)
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Happy Valentine's Day!

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Omaha, NE

We made it safely to Omaha and had lots of fun with family - swimming, chatting, playing and eating. But everyone was really tired so I've already got 4 kids and a husband sleeping, 1 kid watching TV and only one kid still out playing games. We're heading to the Air & Space Museum tomorrow at 9:30am. Pictures and more stories later :)

Money :(

I'm missing a lot of money. $238 to be exact. It was for our St Paul hospital trip. It's a long story that I don't have time to tell now since I'm supposed to be repacking the van for our Omaha trip. So I'll tell it later.

Zeke's Medical Update

Here's how our day went and what we found out at Gillette Children's Hospital in St Paul MN:

We arrived at the hospital at 1pm on Thursday. We checked in and completed all the current paperwork.

First they checked us in and gave us a buzzer just like at Olive Garden so we know when it's our turn in the next area. Then we went to Height and Weight. If I remember right, Zeke was 3ft 7 inches and a healthy 56 lbs.

Next came X-rays. Brit, Tay & Sophia stood behind the glass window with the technician and I stayed right beside Zeke. They did lots of X-rays of his hips, knees and legs. They're really good so the whole process only took about a half an hour. The picture shows a couple of X-rays of his hips. You can see the bones, screws, plates and also the protective shield placed during the X-rays and then removed. When the kids were looking at this particular X-ray, Zeke asked why there was an egg in his heart. "Well Zeke," I responded, "That's not an egg and that's definitely not your heart!"

 Then we were sent back to the waiting room until our buzzer rang to meet with the Orthopedic doctor. Once we were called to our consultation room, we met first with the nurse. Then we waited.

Then the Physician's Assistant came in to visit with us.

 Then more waiting.

Eventually, the orthopedic doctor came.

 The doctor checked his legs/hips throughly, watched him walk and asked me lots of questions. Here are some of the things we now know:

• Zeke's bones are now completely healed after his surgery and they look great.
• He still doesn't have full range of motion in his knees (90 & 98) but the range that he does have is great for the time frame since surgery.
• We have another appointment scheduled for August 25th at Gillette. They will take X-rays again and then determine if we & the surgeon think that the wire holding his kneecaps in place needs to be cut. If it does, then that will be done during the procedure to remove the pins and plates.
• The surgery to remove the pins and plates will take place sometime in Sept/Oct '11. It's a minimal procedure and should only require Zeke to stay overnight at the hospital and shouldn't cause him too much discomfort or time to heal.
• Zeke no longer has to wear his AFO's (braces for his feet/legs) all the time. In fact, he can even walk without them if he is stable enough. He will still have them on for most of his long distance walking.
• The orthopedic doctor wanted Zeke's AFO's readjusted to give him a bit more flexibility so we headed to the ATD department and waited some more.

 Zeke decided to give Taylor a chiropractic treatment while we were waiting.

Once the AFO's were readjusted by heating, cutting, forming and adjusting, we were free to go!

The whole clinic visit took 3 1/2 hours.

We left at 4:30pm, just in time to catch rush hour traffic all the way back across town!

We got home around 9:30pm last night.

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Made it home from St Paul. More later - too tired now.