We had a rough night last night, with Rachel and Ben both being awake in the middle of the night. James moved Ben to his crib, where he continued to whoop it up for a while. Rachel was upset because she was caught with her light on and was cranky and felt cold, so she started banging her head and other parts of her body on her bedroom wall. So we were all up for a while and felt tired today. Thankfully, everyone was able to go back to sleep at one point or another.
We had a pretty good day today, but I was really ready when the kids' bedtime rolled around. Ben was emotional but we could tell he was tired and just needed to be in bed. Rachel dawdled (as per usual), and finally we got her all tucked in and prayed with her and gave hugs and kisses just before 8.
I headed downstairs to the kitchen to chill out for a little while and read some online news. I was there for about 5 minutes where I heard "Mom? Hey, Mom?" Gritting my teeth, I said "I'll be up there in a minute." And then I shook off my irritation and went to her room, where I asked "What's up?"
"Can I have a drink of water, and can you sit with me for a while?" I didn't feel like sitting in her room because I just wanted to be by myself (I'm an introvert, so I need that alone time to recharge). But it didn't take much for me to do that, and I know she likes it, so I stayed.
She made a few quiet comments to me while I was there, and just before I left, she said "I love you, and I love spending time with you, too."
I'm so glad I said yes.
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
One Year Ago
One year ago today was the worst day of my life. It was the day that I walked in to Ben's bedroom to get him up for school and found him unconscious on the floor after vomiting during the seizure he was still experiencing. We didn't know at the time what was happening, but rushed him to the ER in town (he had another seizure during the drive), where they stabilized him, ran a CT scan (during which he had 2 more seizures), then made arrangements to transport him by ambulance to the Children's Hospital in nearby Tacoma.
Here he is in the ambulance:
I'm sure it was very disorienting for him. The last thing he remembered was probably being in his room that morning before the seizure started. I had heard him chattering a little shortly before I had gone in there and found him, so it hadn't been long. But then it was probably really strange to wake up in a hospital room with a tube in his arm and machines all around and people staring at him, some of whom he knew, some of whom he didn't.
He stayed awake for about half an hour before he crashed again for several more hours. We had ordered pizza from the menu for him in case he woke up hungry. He woke up again a little before 7, and we were able to get him to eat, first with some persuading, then with more enthusiasm.
Not too long after dinner, a tech came by to do an EEG on Ben's brain so that they could try to determine if Ben was still experiencing unseen seizures or if there was anything else they needed to see in his brain activity. We were skeptical that he would be able to attach roughly 2 dozen electrodes to Ben's head at all, much less in a way that they would stay adhered long enough for him to run the test. And we didn't think Ben would stay still long enough for the test, either.
Much to our surprise, the EEG tech got every single one of those electrodes on. He had such patience, and when Ben would start to move around, he'd just wait until Ben settled back down. He reapplied a few that Ben loosened, but when all was said and done, everything was on that needed to be. They were hoping to do both waking and sleeping EEGs during that time. I sang to Ben and played some videos on my phone to keep him still during the waking part, then he fell asleep partway through, so it worked out perfectly to do the sleeping EEG, too. We were thankful to God for helping Ben through that.
It was shortly after 10pm when the pediatric neurologist came to go over the results of Ben's EEG. They had had 4 other children with the onset of seizures in the hospital that day, so she was quite busy. It turns out that he was still having little seizures in his left and right frontal cortexes. That, coupled with the lack of a fever or anything else preceding his seizures, indicated that he had epilepsy.
Interestingly, this neurologist started out as an autism specialist before moving into neurology, so in addition to treating Ben's epilepsy, she also performed a more thorough evaluation on him, and his diagnosis was changed from PDD-NOS to Autism. Both are on the autism spectrum, but Autism is a clearer diagnosis.
We've had to make adjustments in Ben's seizure medication, changing to a different one that caused less behavioral issues. His sleeping patterns have not settled back into the regular good nights of sleep that he was getting before his seizures started. His focus at school was totally shot for a while, which is why he was assigned a one-on-one paraeducator. He's doing much better now in school. We're hopng to figure out the puzzle of sleep and get him back into good nights of sleep on a more frequent basis.
Above all, we are thankful that Ben has not had any more seizures since that day a year ago. About 40% of people do not have any more seizures once starting medication. We are so grateful that Ben is in that group.
And I'm glad that a day that started in a such a terrible, horrible, no good very bad way was able to end on a mostly positive note with a little boy who was doing much better.
One more picture - here he is back at home the next evening. You'd think he would have been exhausted and would have crashed rather rapidly for the night.
You would be wrong.
Here he is in the ambulance:
I still vividly remember how terrified I was to find him on the floor, stiff and whimpering, unable to get any kind of response from him. I tried to sing to him in the car on the way to the ER but could hardly get the words out because my throat was thick with tears. I was so afraid that he was dying, or that he would survive but that something happened that would affect him permanently and change who he was. I got out of the car at the ER drive-up to take Ben in while James and Rachel parked the car. Rachel said to me "Mommy, your face is all wet." She didn't seem to take in the seriousness of what was happening. And in a way, that was a big blessing.
We waited and watched while the medical team got him hooked up to tubes and machines and checked out his vitals. He tried to pull away when they went to put the IV into his arm, and it was good to see a little fight in him. They took him for his CT scan, and brought him back to wait until the ambulance was ready to take him to Mary Bridge Children's Hospital. While we were still in our local ER, the wife of James' former boss, who worked at our local hospital, came down with a nurse friend, and they asked if they could pray with us. I appreciated their calm presence and their ability to pray when it was hard to form words in my own mind.
My mom came to pick up Rachel and take her to school for us. The ambulance arrived, they fastened Ben's carseat onto a gurney and got him buckled in, and I rode with him to Mary Bridge while James followed in our car. Ben cried out when we went out into the cold air to load him into the ambulance, and it was like balm to our souls to hear.
We traveled to Tacoma, then we waited in a room in their children's ER until a regular hospital room was ready for him. We had several people come in to check on him and ask us questions, and some of them would say "He's going to be just fine!"
I was not going to trust and believe that until I saw Ben's eyes open and could see him interact with us and know that he was really still in there. I just needed to see it for myself to feel better.
The medicine that they gave him at the first ER to stop his seizures worked, but it also made him extremely sleepy. So it became a waiting game to see when he would wake up.
After taking Rachel to school, my mom had stopped by our house to get a few things for us, then picked up breakfast and brought it to us. She waited with us at the hospital after that. James' parents came over from Bremerton and waited with us, too. The hospital chaplain stopped by. I wanted to ask him "Are you new here?", because although he was well-meaning, he didn't quite seem to know what to do. It was strange. Ben stirred in the noon hour when the nurses came to mess with his IV, even giving a protest, then he went back to sleep.
Our friend and music pastor, Patrick, came over to be with us, too. By that time, it was mid-afternoon, and I was on the phone with my friend Jennifer, asking her to take Rachel home with her from school (her boys go to the same school). And while I was in the hallway, Patrick stepped out of the room and gestured to me, and I knew my little man had finally woken up. I walked back in to see such a beautiful sight:
He stayed awake for about half an hour before he crashed again for several more hours. We had ordered pizza from the menu for him in case he woke up hungry. He woke up again a little before 7, and we were able to get him to eat, first with some persuading, then with more enthusiasm.
Not too long after dinner, a tech came by to do an EEG on Ben's brain so that they could try to determine if Ben was still experiencing unseen seizures or if there was anything else they needed to see in his brain activity. We were skeptical that he would be able to attach roughly 2 dozen electrodes to Ben's head at all, much less in a way that they would stay adhered long enough for him to run the test. And we didn't think Ben would stay still long enough for the test, either.
Much to our surprise, the EEG tech got every single one of those electrodes on. He had such patience, and when Ben would start to move around, he'd just wait until Ben settled back down. He reapplied a few that Ben loosened, but when all was said and done, everything was on that needed to be. They were hoping to do both waking and sleeping EEGs during that time. I sang to Ben and played some videos on my phone to keep him still during the waking part, then he fell asleep partway through, so it worked out perfectly to do the sleeping EEG, too. We were thankful to God for helping Ben through that.
It was shortly after 10pm when the pediatric neurologist came to go over the results of Ben's EEG. They had had 4 other children with the onset of seizures in the hospital that day, so she was quite busy. It turns out that he was still having little seizures in his left and right frontal cortexes. That, coupled with the lack of a fever or anything else preceding his seizures, indicated that he had epilepsy.
Interestingly, this neurologist started out as an autism specialist before moving into neurology, so in addition to treating Ben's epilepsy, she also performed a more thorough evaluation on him, and his diagnosis was changed from PDD-NOS to Autism. Both are on the autism spectrum, but Autism is a clearer diagnosis.
We've had to make adjustments in Ben's seizure medication, changing to a different one that caused less behavioral issues. His sleeping patterns have not settled back into the regular good nights of sleep that he was getting before his seizures started. His focus at school was totally shot for a while, which is why he was assigned a one-on-one paraeducator. He's doing much better now in school. We're hopng to figure out the puzzle of sleep and get him back into good nights of sleep on a more frequent basis.
Above all, we are thankful that Ben has not had any more seizures since that day a year ago. About 40% of people do not have any more seizures once starting medication. We are so grateful that Ben is in that group.
And I'm glad that a day that started in a such a terrible, horrible, no good very bad way was able to end on a mostly positive note with a little boy who was doing much better.
One more picture - here he is back at home the next evening. You'd think he would have been exhausted and would have crashed rather rapidly for the night.
You would be wrong.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Unforeseen Dangers
I'm blogging a lot about our children lately. I guess that's because they're a big part of my day, and my emotion is often driven by what's going on with them. Blogging is a way to process events and, sometimes, unburden myself from things that are swirling around in my mind, or share about our life to help people understand what it's like.
Last night, I was upstairs helping Rachel with something when I heard the worst kind of shriek from Ben, followed by scared crying. If you're a parent, you probably (unfortunately) know that shriek - the "I hurt myself and it's still hurting, and I don't know what to do about it" panicky cry. I ran down the stairs and found him in the living room with a block hanging off of his lip.
It was one of those big Megabloks, the chunky kind that are for younger children. He likes taking 2 of the blocks and putting them together, then pulling them apart, or taking a stack that I've been putting together and taking ALL of them apart. He sometimes uses them in the bathtub, too.
Neither James nor I had anticipated that there would be danger inherent in these blocks, since they're too large to get all the way into his mouth and become choking hazards. But Ben likes to chew and bite on the blocks, which weakens them, and he had caused one of the pegs to get a crack around part of its base. It opened enough to take in his lip, then clamped down.
I managed to get it off of his lip, but his lip was cut either from the block itself or the processing of removing it. Blood ALL OVER, holy cow. It took about an hour, during which we debated going to Urgent Care or seeing if we could stop the bleeding at home, before we got it to come to a stop. The advice to put direct pressure on a lip wound for 10 minutes would not work with Ben, but I was able to do it in short spurts and also got him to suck on an Outshine popsicle, which helped the bleeding to slow down. He also chewed and bit on a cool wet washcloth, which helped to slow things down and absorbed some of the copious amounts of blood. And eventually, we left it alone and watched, and the blood clotted and he stopped actively bleeding.
YIKES.
Sometimes we just can't anticipate the things that he can turn into a danger for himself or others. He got ahold of a glass from the kitchen counter while I was following him downstairs to the kitchen after a diaper change, then dropped it when he saw me, sending glass shards all across the kitchen floor. He took an aluminum can out of the recycling bin last year and cut his thumb so badly that I took him to the ER because I couldn't get it to stop bleeding. I now have a medical superglue to fix a cut at home if someone gets a cut like that happens again, but I couldn't put it on his lip. He'll eat candles, deodorizer beads, pencil erasers, tips of marker pens and all sorts of things.
It's so hard to try to keep one step ahead of him, and sometimes we're not. And then we feel bad when he hurts himself, but we also realize that there's only so much we can anticipate and try to protect him. And we continue to pray that he'll develop a sense of safety so that his environment isn't so hazardous for him and we can one day take down baby gates and remove child-safety locks and stop having to lock all the interior doors of the house so that he doesn't get into our rooms and get into something he shouldn't.
Last night, I was upstairs helping Rachel with something when I heard the worst kind of shriek from Ben, followed by scared crying. If you're a parent, you probably (unfortunately) know that shriek - the "I hurt myself and it's still hurting, and I don't know what to do about it" panicky cry. I ran down the stairs and found him in the living room with a block hanging off of his lip.
It was one of those big Megabloks, the chunky kind that are for younger children. He likes taking 2 of the blocks and putting them together, then pulling them apart, or taking a stack that I've been putting together and taking ALL of them apart. He sometimes uses them in the bathtub, too.
Neither James nor I had anticipated that there would be danger inherent in these blocks, since they're too large to get all the way into his mouth and become choking hazards. But Ben likes to chew and bite on the blocks, which weakens them, and he had caused one of the pegs to get a crack around part of its base. It opened enough to take in his lip, then clamped down.
I managed to get it off of his lip, but his lip was cut either from the block itself or the processing of removing it. Blood ALL OVER, holy cow. It took about an hour, during which we debated going to Urgent Care or seeing if we could stop the bleeding at home, before we got it to come to a stop. The advice to put direct pressure on a lip wound for 10 minutes would not work with Ben, but I was able to do it in short spurts and also got him to suck on an Outshine popsicle, which helped the bleeding to slow down. He also chewed and bit on a cool wet washcloth, which helped to slow things down and absorbed some of the copious amounts of blood. And eventually, we left it alone and watched, and the blood clotted and he stopped actively bleeding.
YIKES.
Sometimes we just can't anticipate the things that he can turn into a danger for himself or others. He got ahold of a glass from the kitchen counter while I was following him downstairs to the kitchen after a diaper change, then dropped it when he saw me, sending glass shards all across the kitchen floor. He took an aluminum can out of the recycling bin last year and cut his thumb so badly that I took him to the ER because I couldn't get it to stop bleeding. I now have a medical superglue to fix a cut at home if someone gets a cut like that happens again, but I couldn't put it on his lip. He'll eat candles, deodorizer beads, pencil erasers, tips of marker pens and all sorts of things.
It's so hard to try to keep one step ahead of him, and sometimes we're not. And then we feel bad when he hurts himself, but we also realize that there's only so much we can anticipate and try to protect him. And we continue to pray that he'll develop a sense of safety so that his environment isn't so hazardous for him and we can one day take down baby gates and remove child-safety locks and stop having to lock all the interior doors of the house so that he doesn't get into our rooms and get into something he shouldn't.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Watching Ben in P.E.
I had a chance to sit in on Ben's P.E. class on Monday. The physical therapist leads the Monday class and gives assistance and directed tasks for the children to follow. She had assessed Ben in September and he qualified for the PT assistance, and she invited me to come visit to see how they do things.
I was surprised by the roller coaster of emotions that I felt while I was there.
I was surprised by the roller coaster of emotions that I felt while I was there.
- Joy - In seeing Ben, sitting outside the gym while waiting for the previous class to leave. He was doing such a nice job sitting and waiting, and it makes me happy to see his little smiling face.
- Anxiety - While watching Ben twist around and try to get away, or run off from his paraeducator.
- Embarrassment - When Ben doesn't want to perform a task (or maybe doesn't understand, but I suspect a lot of it is our German stubbornness distilled to perfection in him).
- Guilt - Over the embarrassment and wondering if it's wrong to be embarrassed when your child with special needs acts up or can't manage.
- Pride - When Ben performed tasks, some of which he performed really well. This particularly is true when it's a task that he's had to work on, like throwing and catching a ball.
- Admiration and Gratitude - For the therapists and paraeducators who work so patiently with all of the children.
- Love - All the time. But especially when he ran up to me during class a few times because he wanted to see his mom.
I was sitting there thinking about how easy it is for some kids to just go to PE and play. I wish everything wasn't such a challenge for Ben. He loves to run, and jump on a trampoline, and bounce on a big ball, but the structure can be difficult for him. I know that it's important for him to learn, but I wish that it wasn't so hard for him to learn everything.
Monday, October 14, 2013
Letting Go of Dreams, Ours and Rachel's
When we found out that Ben had significant delays in nearly every area of development, we went through a grieving process. We had to let go of a lot of our expectations and hopes and dreams for him. We realized that life for and with him would probably not look like what we had thought it would. Growing up and making friends, playing with other boys at recess, having conversations and other things as basic as those are the things that I dream and hope for Ben now.
It's not impossible that Ben will progress cognitively to the point where he can have normal friendships and relationships. But it's hard to set our hopes that high, because then if the future doesn't resemble anything like that, and if Ben is dependent on us for the rest of his life and isn't able to live independently, or go to college, or drive a car, or get married, or have children, and those are dreams that we held, it would be like having to give them all up again and go through the grieving process once more.
I still have days and moments where I grieve the loss of The Big Things, because I don't expect them to happen. There's a part of me deep down that still holds out hope for them, but my goals are more realistic and, hopefully, attainable. I want to be able to have conversations with Ben. I want him to be able to express to some extent how he's feeling and to tell us what he needs. I want him to know how very much we love him, and how much God loves him, and how special he is. I hear stories of people whose autistic children just suddenly started to speak in sentences in a very short period of time, and they started to catch up in school and were able to be mainstreamed. It would seem like, if that were going to happen for Ben, we would have seen that start by now. But I don't know. I'm not God, and I don't know what the future holds.
Yesterday, Rachel said "It's sad that I won't get to be an aunt." And we talked about how Ben might progress enough to be a dad one day, but that he might not. I told her that she could still be an aunt if she gets married and if her husband has siblings. She said "Yes, but it won't be the same kind of aunt," meaning an aunt by blood vs. marriage.
Rachel has had to give up on a lot of dreams, too, and that makes me sad for her. I know that she would love to have a sibling (especially a sister) with whom she could play, more than just running around and being silly. She loves Ben very much, of that I have no doubt. But I wish she didn't have to miss out on the closeness and companionship that siblings can have. Sometimes it feels like we've failed her by not giving that to her. But I know that she has much to gain from having Ben for a brother. I just hope that she is able to realize that as she gets older, and that we continue to see in her the positive qualities that having a sibling with special needs can develop in a child. Things like compassion, empathy, a desire to help others and emotional strength.
It's not impossible that Ben will progress cognitively to the point where he can have normal friendships and relationships. But it's hard to set our hopes that high, because then if the future doesn't resemble anything like that, and if Ben is dependent on us for the rest of his life and isn't able to live independently, or go to college, or drive a car, or get married, or have children, and those are dreams that we held, it would be like having to give them all up again and go through the grieving process once more.
I still have days and moments where I grieve the loss of The Big Things, because I don't expect them to happen. There's a part of me deep down that still holds out hope for them, but my goals are more realistic and, hopefully, attainable. I want to be able to have conversations with Ben. I want him to be able to express to some extent how he's feeling and to tell us what he needs. I want him to know how very much we love him, and how much God loves him, and how special he is. I hear stories of people whose autistic children just suddenly started to speak in sentences in a very short period of time, and they started to catch up in school and were able to be mainstreamed. It would seem like, if that were going to happen for Ben, we would have seen that start by now. But I don't know. I'm not God, and I don't know what the future holds.
Yesterday, Rachel said "It's sad that I won't get to be an aunt." And we talked about how Ben might progress enough to be a dad one day, but that he might not. I told her that she could still be an aunt if she gets married and if her husband has siblings. She said "Yes, but it won't be the same kind of aunt," meaning an aunt by blood vs. marriage.
Rachel has had to give up on a lot of dreams, too, and that makes me sad for her. I know that she would love to have a sibling (especially a sister) with whom she could play, more than just running around and being silly. She loves Ben very much, of that I have no doubt. But I wish she didn't have to miss out on the closeness and companionship that siblings can have. Sometimes it feels like we've failed her by not giving that to her. But I know that she has much to gain from having Ben for a brother. I just hope that she is able to realize that as she gets older, and that we continue to see in her the positive qualities that having a sibling with special needs can develop in a child. Things like compassion, empathy, a desire to help others and emotional strength.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Organization is Awesome
I started to write this as a Facebook status update, then realized it was getting a bit wordy (as I am known to do sometimes) and thought "This seems more like a blog post." I figured I would make it a blog post and try to get back on the horse so that my 2 blog followers would have something new to read here.
I'm finally making a new To Do List template for myself so that I can keep organized and on track with not only keeping the house clean, but making headway with organizing and decluttering, which makes me happy. I saw a template on Facebook sometime last week, I think, but can't remember for the life of me who posted it and was unable to find it after probably 45 minutes of searching. So instead of wasting more time, I'm just making my own because I didn't quite like the templates I was finding.
I also decided I'm going to create a Master To Do List that details what I want to do each week (or day of the week), month, quarter and year. It's so easy to forget things like "clean windows" or "clean out freezer" if you don't do them on a weekly basis, plus I want to have one main list where my regular tasks stay the same for my own reference, without the things I would add in each week for doctor appointments, trips to specialty stores, and other things that are more random.
Yesterday, I reorganized the bottom half of the big storage cupboard in the kids' bathroom, which is basically our overflow pantry because the one in the kitchen is the size of a very small coat closet. Things become a jumble in there easily, and when I bring home groceries, they sometimes sit for a few days until I can make room for them in the pantry. Those bottom two shelves look really good, and I'm hoping to get the top half done today. That's a bigger task because it includes moving the medical and supply items one shelf higher and the food that's currently on that shelf one shelf lower, so that they are harder for Ben to reach. So it's a little more involved, but still quite doable.
I made a rather ambitious list of things I'd like to get done over the school year, and one of them is getting back into regular scrapbooking so that I can finally start to enjoy that hobby again. But my list also includes lots of reorganizing and decluttering, and just making our house less full of "stuff" that we don't use or need. If it's in good shape, it will be donated. Otherwise, it's going into recycling or trash, depending upon what it is.
Getting a space tidier almost makes me giddy, it feels so good. One would think I'd get a natural high from it that would drive me to clean like that all the time. But life doesn't always allow the extra time to work on those things. Thankfully, it does right now!
I'm finally making a new To Do List template for myself so that I can keep organized and on track with not only keeping the house clean, but making headway with organizing and decluttering, which makes me happy. I saw a template on Facebook sometime last week, I think, but can't remember for the life of me who posted it and was unable to find it after probably 45 minutes of searching. So instead of wasting more time, I'm just making my own because I didn't quite like the templates I was finding.
I also decided I'm going to create a Master To Do List that details what I want to do each week (or day of the week), month, quarter and year. It's so easy to forget things like "clean windows" or "clean out freezer" if you don't do them on a weekly basis, plus I want to have one main list where my regular tasks stay the same for my own reference, without the things I would add in each week for doctor appointments, trips to specialty stores, and other things that are more random.
Yesterday, I reorganized the bottom half of the big storage cupboard in the kids' bathroom, which is basically our overflow pantry because the one in the kitchen is the size of a very small coat closet. Things become a jumble in there easily, and when I bring home groceries, they sometimes sit for a few days until I can make room for them in the pantry. Those bottom two shelves look really good, and I'm hoping to get the top half done today. That's a bigger task because it includes moving the medical and supply items one shelf higher and the food that's currently on that shelf one shelf lower, so that they are harder for Ben to reach. So it's a little more involved, but still quite doable.
I made a rather ambitious list of things I'd like to get done over the school year, and one of them is getting back into regular scrapbooking so that I can finally start to enjoy that hobby again. But my list also includes lots of reorganizing and decluttering, and just making our house less full of "stuff" that we don't use or need. If it's in good shape, it will be donated. Otherwise, it's going into recycling or trash, depending upon what it is.
Getting a space tidier almost makes me giddy, it feels so good. One would think I'd get a natural high from it that would drive me to clean like that all the time. But life doesn't always allow the extra time to work on those things. Thankfully, it does right now!
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
January Blog A Day: #28 A SURPRISE!
Surprises don't come along often enough, I think. Surprises are awesome when you're able to pull them off.
When I saw this topic for day 28, I knew just what I was going to write about. I had a great surprise last year when James planned an overnight trip to Southern California for our 12th wedding anniversary in September. He'd gotten us tickets to see and hear John Williams conduct the L.A. Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. He had planned the whole trip, arranged for his parents to stay with our children, booked the plane tickets and hotel and kept it all on the downlow so that he could surprise me with a really memorable present and a much-needed getaway for us!
Before the concert and right after we left the airport, we headed for one of our favorite and very much missed restaurants in L.A. County, Aloha Food Factory in Alhambra. We met up with our friends Heather and Jon and had such a great visit!
I had the kalua pig plate, which also has white rice, teriyaki grilled vegetables and awesome macaroni-potato salad.
After lunch, we went to our hotel by way of a cupcake shop called Dots. Believe it or not, I'd never been to a cupcake shop before. I've always just made my own.
We took the cupcakes to the concert, along with food we picked up at Trader Joe's for our Hollywood Bowl picnic. I liked their cupcakes but ultimately felt that I could do better! After Dots, we went to the Embassy Suites in Glendale.
We found our seats and got settled in with our picnic food. Here we are, waiting for the concert to start:
We had such a great time! We'd been to the John Williams concert twice while we were living in L.A. and really enjoyed it. He's so incredibly talented, and he puts on a long concert with several encores. He does a mix of well-known tunes and more obscure pieces from popular movies. I had no idea that he composed the music for Fiddler on the Roof, but we got to hear a song from that film among many others.
There were also several songs from the Star Wars films. Whenever one of those songs started, or the love theme from Superman, out came a bunch of light sabers that moved with the beat of the music. I sure wished I had one! Next time.
We flew back home and happily reunited with our children. It was such a quick trip, but really refreshing. It was so nice to have a chance to just spend that time together, being able to talk and not talk (Best in Show, anyone?) and enjoy some quietness and relate to one another as just a couple and having a break from Mom & Dad duties! And it was wonderful to see Heather and Jon again and have the opportunity to catch up with them. We packed a lot into what amounted to 22 hours in L.A. Would love to do it again sometime for a little longer!
When I saw this topic for day 28, I knew just what I was going to write about. I had a great surprise last year when James planned an overnight trip to Southern California for our 12th wedding anniversary in September. He'd gotten us tickets to see and hear John Williams conduct the L.A. Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. He had planned the whole trip, arranged for his parents to stay with our children, booked the plane tickets and hotel and kept it all on the downlow so that he could surprise me with a really memorable present and a much-needed getaway for us!
Before the concert and right after we left the airport, we headed for one of our favorite and very much missed restaurants in L.A. County, Aloha Food Factory in Alhambra. We met up with our friends Heather and Jon and had such a great visit!
I had the kalua pig plate, which also has white rice, teriyaki grilled vegetables and awesome macaroni-potato salad.
James had an island plate, too, but with orange chicken instead of kalua pig. After our island plates, we split a 2-pancake order of Macadamia Nut Pancakes with a creamy vanilla-pudding-like syrup. SO GOOD. I was disappointed that I didn't have any room for some shave ice, because theirs is like biting into super-soft snow instead of crunchy bits of ice like a snow cone. But I was extremely satisfied.
After lunch, we went to our hotel by way of a cupcake shop called Dots. Believe it or not, I'd never been to a cupcake shop before. I've always just made my own.
We took the cupcakes to the concert, along with food we picked up at Trader Joe's for our Hollywood Bowl picnic. I liked their cupcakes but ultimately felt that I could do better! After Dots, we went to the Embassy Suites in Glendale.
Really cool huge water feature in the lobby, and there were koi and little turtles in the pond at the bottom. I like Embassy Suites because you get a suite (obviously), plus they have great complimentary breakfasts with cooked-to-order omelets, bacon, potatoes, fruit, cereal, pastries and lots of other yummy yummy stuff.
After we got our things put away and got ready for the concert, we stopped at Trader Joe's and then went to the L.A. Zoo parking lot for our shuttle ride to the Bowl. That was the best way we found to travel there when we used to live in L.A. It was only about $3 per person (or maybe $5?) for the round-trip ride, you don't have to hassle with driving in traffic or the nastily crowded Bowl parking lots that are so hard to exit afterward. Also, the buses go the back way and there are security and police officers that hold up traffic when a bus is coming through, so you get in and out pretty fast.
We had such a great time! We'd been to the John Williams concert twice while we were living in L.A. and really enjoyed it. He's so incredibly talented, and he puts on a long concert with several encores. He does a mix of well-known tunes and more obscure pieces from popular movies. I had no idea that he composed the music for Fiddler on the Roof, but we got to hear a song from that film among many others.
There were also several songs from the Star Wars films. Whenever one of those songs started, or the love theme from Superman, out came a bunch of light sabers that moved with the beat of the music. I sure wished I had one! Next time.
We didn't have enough time to visit our old Sunday School class and still make it to the airport in time, so instead we enjoyed a delicious breakfast, then drove around Glendale for a little while, going past the apartment where used to live and some of the houses we admired. We also admired the palm trees, which I really miss!
We flew back home and happily reunited with our children. It was such a quick trip, but really refreshing. It was so nice to have a chance to just spend that time together, being able to talk and not talk (Best in Show, anyone?) and enjoy some quietness and relate to one another as just a couple and having a break from Mom & Dad duties! And it was wonderful to see Heather and Jon again and have the opportunity to catch up with them. We packed a lot into what amounted to 22 hours in L.A. Would love to do it again sometime for a little longer!
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