I had to laugh when I saw this in the kitchen tonight. I think maybe Derek is getting tired of taking antibiotics. I'm pretty sure that isn't even all of his pill bottles. He's been a real trooper all through this, but after taking 3 capsules, 3 times a day for over 2 months, he's bound to be getting sick of them. We still don't know for sure how long he'll continue to be on them. The biggest complaint he makes is about how nasty his antibiotic burps taste. It is really good to see him off his crutches fianlly. He is able to walk around the house without his walking boot, and he gets to take that off for good in a couple of weeks.

It's amazing how quickly life can turn on a dime. One minute everything is great, the next, you are being told your son might lose his leg. It looks like it will all be fine eventually, but man, what a couple of months.

Hiking Deep Creek

Rachael immediately knew how she wanted to spend her coupon. She wanted to go hiking. You have to remember, though, that we live in North Central Texas, not Colorado where scenic hiking trails lurk around every bend in the road. Anyway, I started trying to think of any place pretty to hike that didn't involve a 6+ hour drive. We live off a road called Deep Creek Road, named for an unusually deep creek that runs through the area. There's a bridge over the creek a few miles north of here where the creek is in a cut about 40 feet below the level of the road. Rachael and I drove there and climbed down to the creek. We walked a mile or so along the creek and it was gorgeous. I couldn't believe I'd never climbed down and walked it before. We had a great time, but Virginia would have had a heart attack if she'd seen some of the climbing we had to do. I am sure we'll be heading back soon. Rachael is already making plans for her next coupon.

Kevin, likewise, knew exactly what he wasnted to do with his coupon and never deviated for a second. He wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese's. I don't think he cared half as much about the pizza as he did the games. We had a great time, though.

Derek had a much harder time. His first choice was to go geocaching ("treasure hunting," as he calls it). Unfortunatley in this case, that often requires "hoofing it" over some fairly rough terrain, something not terribly practical for someone on crutches. I convinced him to defer that to a later date. So instead we went to Cabella's. This is not so much a shopping trip as an adventure. We looked at the stuffed animals, including a full-size elephant, the tank full of native Texas fish and turtles, and all kind of goodies. In the end, Derek decided he really needed a wrist rocket, and he is having a blast with it. He keeps hoping to sneak up on a wild rabbit in the evening when they come out in abundance, but so far, he hasn't managed to get a clean shot at one. Rachael will be mortified if he ever gets one of her cute, little bunnies.

Time Management

I've been struggling with prioritizing my time lately. I can't accomplish everything I want/need, so I'm trying to make sure I do the most importnat things first and leave the lesser stuff for later (never?). Of course, scheduled things like work always seem to come first since I am committed to them at a given time each day. Time with my family is not scheduled, so it sometimes doesn't get the priority it deserves.

All that to explain my little experiment. I've given all three of the kids a coupon like the one above. They get to pick the activity of their choice (within reason; I already had to nix Medieval Times for Derek as being a little out of my price range). It will be really interesting to see what they all come up with.

Rachael lost a friend

This weekend, Jennifer Stephens was killed in an automobile accident. The car Jennifer was riding in was in a head-on collision with an 18-wheeler Sunday. Jennifer played Rachael's mother in their ballet performance of Anastasia two years ago. She was a very sweet and quiet girl and I know she will be missed.

Rachael has had to deal with death before, but it's always been pets or great-grandparents that lived far away. This was the first time it's struck a person that was part of her normal life. She is sad but is handling it very well.