Lovely "Lane Vacation"

Well, the Lang Gang has gotten bold & are on a "vacation," something that always seems to end in disaster. Our "vacations" seem to always involve injury and ER visits, arguments and time out, illness and car sickness. So, we are taking on this bad streak, hoping to break it once and for all.

We've left our many pets in the care of Ms. Barbara with Creature Comforts. Poor Laurie is still confined to our bedroom because her stitches were not ready to come out when I took her to the vet for her post-op checkup on Monday. I'm so glad Ms. Barbara is so well trained and professional. Laurie's just got cabin fever really bad.

Although our start of the "vacation," which I will now simply refer to as our "trip," was rough and, well, memorable, we're settled in and having a good time.

As what's normal for our trips, there's usually some sort of bad omen before we even leave. This time it was (1) a power outage the night we were trying to pack, and (2) Preston severely twisting his ankle, which will be looked at today or tomorrow by Nikki's parents who are both general practitioners. Lisa did about 90% of the driving since Preston's injured ankle is the driving one. She was VERY tired upon arrival, but handled a late dinner fairly well.

Once here, things began to settle. Oddly enough, Zoe, their dog, has the same problem that Laurie did, but not as severe. She's a bit down, not allowed in any bedroom or office. Hopefully she'll feel better soon.

Preston and Lisa were both very pleased with Phillip and Stephen's behavior at the upscale restaurant last night. It was a very late dinner and Stephen actually fell asleep. Phillip did not care for his meal, but was polite about it & no one got fussed at. Yeah, Lane Boys!!!

The only other obstacle to a great Thanksgiving would be the fact that Jason is sick. He held up last night fairly well, but you could tell he felt miserable. He went straight to bed when we got home around 10pm. We're praying it's a short-lived virus & that he'll feel better today - he's still asleep right now, as are all the adults except Lisa. Thankfully, the boys ate their breakfast, took their medicines, and are playing quietly. The 2 cats and dog are good to snuggle with while everyone is asleep. SpongeBob is on right now keeping the kids quiet and entertained.

We will miss Anne (Nikki's sister)  and her family for Thanksgiving, but can at least keep up through Facebook. I hope they have a good holiday with the Garcia's. I wish a Happy Thanksgiving to all. Pray for our trip to be free of any more injury or illness.

Poor Kitty....

Poor Laurie... I took her to the vet Friday because I noticed an abscessed area where an old wound had gotten infected. The plan was to put in a couple of stitches, start an antibiotic, and send her home that afternoon.

The boys and I went to get her Friday afternoon, but when they brought her out, she had a horrible area that was still draining & an incision over 2 inches long with lots of stitches. I was like, "OMG! What happened?" The vet explained there was a lot more dead skin than they realized, so the surgery was more complicated than expected. They recommended keeping her over the weekend since the surgical site needed to drain while healing.

We finally brought her home yesterday (Monday). She looked a lot better. We set her up in our bedroom so she wouldn't get dirty or injure herself again, but by about 8:00pm, I noticed she'd already popped a couple of stitches. The vet said to have her at the office at 7:30 this morning.

So, the kitty is back at the vet for the day. They will have to put in a different type of suture & we can get her (again) this evening.

Here's the kids waiting so patiently yesterday for us to bring her home... (Thank goodness for comic books!!!)

Good Times with Old Friends

Our family had so much fun last night. We met friends for dinner at Mr. G's, the new Greek/Italian restaurant in town. Stephen got some much needed time with his best friend and girl he's claimed he will marry when he grows up. They are just so cute. (They just have to be watched closely because she's just as fond of him as he is of her.) They are such a special family, though.... good, good friends.....

Sebastian Visits His Friends

Stephen and I took Sebastian out for a long stroll yesterday. I managed to capture a few cute pics when we stopped to let Sebastian visit his friends at a neighbor's house. It was a nice walk. After we visited with the other dogs, we went down through the Secret Garden, behind a neighbor's house, over to the back of our property, and up to our back yard. It was very cold, though.

Our Popcorn Kid (Stephen Quote of the Day)

"Mom, for breakfast, can I have something helfty (healthy), popcorn and a drink?" It was so cute, I handed him a piece of cheese and put the popcorn in the microwave. (Of course, smarty-pants brother said he'd make him spinach and orange juice with pulp--both of which Stephen loathes.)

.... 30 minutes later....

Stephen sniffs out the cans of Scout popcorn....

"Mom, can I have half of a whole bowl of chocwate (chocolate) popcorn?" Again, it was so cute, (the "half of a whole") I just smiled and said, "Go ahead, cutie-pie." He came back to make sure his bowl was "half of a whole."  :)