Year 4, September 1st-2nd, 2019: Labor Day Weekend 2019, Part 2

On Sunday, I was exhausted, but I attempted to get up and get ready for church.  But just as we were ready to load up, I felt a sudden urge to vomit.  I haven't felt like that in ages! Well, come to find out, cymbalta doesn't play nice with tramadol for me.  They both fall into the SSRI category, although cymbalta is for anxiety and tramadol is for pain management. Usually I'm pretty good at double checking interactions ahead of time, but I was desparate for pain relief and thought the two medications were in different categories.  But it knocked the wind out of me, so I sent the family along to church without me and crawled back into bed. And because I hadn't slept well the night before, I spent most of the day in bed until Mike and Pam came around 3pm.  I didn't join them on their boat ride, but watched through the downstairs glass doors as they went past with the kids taking turn on the tube.  I'm grateful that these Johnsons are laid back and don't think poorly of me for taking it easy and not socializing much this time around.  I am usually very much part of everything and soaking up time at the lake.  I did make it back upstairs for early supper and by then, the tramadol was out of my system and I was able to eat, albeit very slowly and carefully.  I had eaten toast and bacon for breakfast, and then a couple of GF graham crackers (more like thick graham cookies, with just the right texture and a hint of sweet, so it didn't make me gag like normal salty crackers do), and a sip or two of gatorade for lunch. I think Sunday was the day I realized that one of the reasons we went up was so that I wouldn't feel like I had to do anything and could really recover.  I asked my friends and when you have a chronic illness, any time of procedure will take longer to recover from than your average person.  So, I slept and slept.

Meanwhile, the others went to church, and even Keturah and Abishai got to enjoy some time in a class during the sermon.  I think they stopped and got ice ream on the way home or something. I'm not sure what they did before Mike and Pam came up, maybe get dinner prep started (hamburgers) or played on electronics.  Then they enjoyed their time on the lake.  Dinner time with Mike and Pam, and then I can't remember what, but I'm sure the pictures below will remind me.

Monday we slept in a little and then slowly got ourselves ready to leave.  I think we left the cottage around 11am.  It felt nice to leave when we wanted and not be rushed by others' schedule.  They drive home went well, despite a few slow spots due to pockets of construction.  We managed to only stop once, maybe twice? I think we only stopped at the CFA in South Bend again.  Mostly because I slept a lot.  I was still in a lot of pain and just wanted to get home. I think we got home around 5.  We unpacked everything right away and started laundry.  I think we had some leftovers for dinner and an early bedtime. We did come home to the backdoor being locked (meaning Benaiah remembered to lock it after letting the dog in and out), the dog's food and water bowls full, the dishwasher empty, a load of uniforms were washed, and no food and not many dirty dishes left out.  We also found these mysterious white pumpkins with gold initials left in certain spots like next to the brown chair in the living room, next to Justin's couch, and on my desk.  We wondered who left them there.....Benaiah was of course at work when we got home, so we didn't get a chance to ask him until the next day. I was very, very pleased that Benaiah has made it to almost adulthood a very responsible young man! For awhile there, I wasn't so sure.  And now I have hope that the others will get there, too.  Yeah!

The lighting is too bright.  The infection areas were very firm and hurting a lot.  But there's Mr. Scar, post op Day 4.

Ron, Nina, Mike, Pam, Jared, Justin, Keturah, and Abishai enjoying an afternoon on the lake, while I'm all cozy in bed trying to get some sleep and not throw up. Both Keturah and Justin each did one round on the tube.  The screen was open so I could hear their voices coming across the lake, too.  I'm so glad we have a great family that likes to share with us!

There goes the next one.

Have fun!

A little homework that was supposed to be due by Monday but got pushed to the next Friday because Mom got too busy to go over new lessons.  Homework before screen time.

A little stir crazy boy.

Time for a nap?

Preschoolers and their cheesy smiles! Love it!

Little boy hanging out with a sick mommy while he has some screen time.

Abishai was a little jealous that the big kids got to go out on the tube, so Jared attached the tube to the kayak and took him out in it, nice and slow.  At first he didn't have a life jacket on and I'm so glad that was quickly amended.

Look how far Jared took him out!  If Gary was here, I don't think this would have happened like this.  It's deep out there! And Abishai panics when he's in a life vest.  Thankfully, he does know to stay in the tube.  I'm glad he had a little fun though.

Come back!

Watcha doin little guy?

Just seeing if this would float.

The tube makes a great drum!  Watch my music show everybody!

Round and round in circles.

Time to fix the shore line so they can bring the dock in for the year.

Is this how we eat ice cream?  Just scoop the ice cream out of the cone and leave the cone?

He's very innovative! And he knows what he wants.  Blue moon ice cream!

Too bad there weren't more men around this time to bring in the dock.  I'm guessing it was a little easier though to undo it than to put it out.

I made Keturah help clean up the toys, too.

Nina's right hand little guy, Abishai, keeping her company.  She's an awesome grandma and listens to the kids well and asks lots of questions. Abishai was her buddy all weekend.

These are the beech nuts(?) that were falling off the trees like rain and it sounded like rain!

The nieghbors a few doors down are adding a second story to their house (actually third story because they also have a walkout basement. They just started a week ago with a crew of 3-5 guys. It's going up quickly!

I didn't get a picture of the dock fully pulled up, but yes, the boat will now sit right up against the shore until they pull it out of the water in two months.

Pretty flowers growing up at the edge of the water.

Sleeping beauty.  And Jared and I slept on the bottom bunk with Abishai up top.  Strange, but it worked better than the other bed!

My 9th grader is growing a mustache!  And he's just as goofy as ever with his smiles and dimples.

This is our "are we home yet?" faces. Pretty much sums up the day.

The End