Tag: firsts

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Paddle boarding & Nissedalen @ 50 years

✅ Paddle boarding!!

We spent the day celebrating 50 years at Nissedalen today.  The weather was absolutely perfect and the lake water was warm enough for me to enjoy being in it.  If you know me at all, that’s a pretty big deal!  With summer (sort of) winding down, today was a great day to attempt the next major item on my recovery checklist – paddle boarding.  Jake rented a couple of boards from a local shop and his cousins let us use their trucks to transport them to the lake.  When the little kids weren’t using them, a few of the adults gave them a try.  I was thrilled to not only get up without falling off the board, but keep my balance while paddling down the shoreline and back! Hooray for another recovery item checked off!

Group shot – 4 generations!

Grandma Lois & Papa Dale with many of their grandkids (and spouses) and great-grandkids!

One note about the coloring of the pictures.  The smoke in the air from the fires out west was intense.  These have been tweaked a bit just to tone down the yellow tones a bit – and they still look hazy!

Shecklet #2 also got up on skis today! Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of him, but he wants to go again, so I’ll try to capture one next time.

The rest of the day’s photos can be found here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/kT3NcQ9JhhWmu5878

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Back to school night

Or afternoon.

It’s day 4 of VBS week, which means it’s back to school night for the kids. Time to find out who their teachers are, drop off the supplies, and in the case of Shecklet #4, get an idea as to what the building looks like. All four Shecklets will be at the same school and on why same schedule for the next three years. Yeah for that!

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Just like riding a bike

It’s been a while since I’ve written about my recovery.  I continue to make gradual improvements in areas that most people would never notice.  Things like balance and fatigue continue to be areas I hope will keep getting better – albeit slowly.  One major victory to celebrate today though, is that I rode my bike!  No balance problems, no major sensory issues (while riding,) and I was able to keep up with my 5-year-old who has become quite confident on her bike as well!  We rode two miles tonight – down to the “big park” and back.  Hooray for both of us!

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West coast traveler

Shecklet #1 is on a week-long trip with his grandparents visiting his uncle and aunt in NV as well as seeing some additional sites in CA and AZ. He’s been taking lots of pictures and enjoying seeing a different part of the country. We’re looking forward to hearing more about his travels when he gets home.

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1st track meet 2018

We signed Shecklets 1, 2, and 3 up for a month-long track season in a neighboring suburb. Today was their first meet. They each had three running events and one field event.

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Eye check

At Shecklet #4’s 5-year well visit yesterday, the doctor noticed something about her eyes that she wanted double checked by an ophthalmologist.  When I called to set up the appointment, they had one for this morning.  Everything checked out just fine – no concerns.  She did a great job reading letters and following directions.

Random side note.  I compared #4’s 5-year stats to her sister’s 5-year stats and #4 is 2.5 inches taller than #3 was at age 5!  I had a hunch she was taller, but didn’t realize it was by that much!  It will be interesting to see if she continues to grow at the same rate!

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Physical Therapy – baseline

I had my first PT appointment on Friday and have my second one, tomorrow. The assessments I went through were comical. When you only have one balance nerve to keep you upright and you close your eyes while standing with one foot in front of the other, you fall over. When you close your eyes and turn your head from side to side, you fall over. When you try walking with your eyes closed, you can’t walk in a strait line and your physical therapist has to stop you before you run in to anything. Looking at my current abilities, I suppose there are two reactions I could have had – laugh or cry. I chose (and continue to choose) to laugh.

Based on my performance, you can probably guess what kind of exercises I was given to work on. Twice a day, I need to stand with my feet staggered, eyes closed, and move my head. I also have to turn 45 degrees and then back to my original position with my eyes closed. During testing, the therapist saw that my eyes make a slight jerky movement when they move from right to left. She gave me an eye exercise to work on that issue as well.

As part of the review of the appointment, my therapist asked how realistic I thought it would be for me to work on the exercises she assigned on a daily basis. My response was, “I’m extremely motivated.”

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Indoor jumping

The local mall has trampolines with harnesses set up for kids (and some adults) to jump and flip on. We took the Shecklets tonight to give it a try.