This past weekend, we took a little getaway to Houston, Texas for some time with family and to catch an Astros game! In my search for water-related fun in the area, I stumbled across The Woodlands Resort and I'm so grateful I did!
I'm getting a little ahead of myself, though. Let's start at the beginning of the trip, shall we?
It all began with a stop at Buc-ee's, as always!
Brayden looks forward to our Buc-ee's stops almost as much as the trip itself! When I ask if he loves Disney World or Buc-ee's more, his answer is always "both of them"!!
Within a few hours, we arrived at The Woodlands Resort. Check-in isn't technically until 4 p.m., but guests are invited to begin swimming at noon on check-in day. To my surprise, our rooms were ready and they were placed right next to each other as I'd requested! Perfect!
Our previous water park attempts this summer were mostly rained out (we were 2 for 3 on rainouts), and I knew I wanted to find a place to stay that had more than just a swimming pool.
This place was perfect and totally fit the bill! It wasn't a full blown "water park", but we still had a lot of options and had we had a blast, too!
They even had a few fire pits around for evening smores! So fun!
Our rooms were nice and spacious and the balcony view of the woods was incredibly relaxing.
After dropping off our bags and checking out our rooms, we headed for the pool!
Brayden seriously wasted zero time and jumped right in!
I am so glad he has overcome his fear of enclosed "twisty slides". He loves them now!
There was even a lazy river at this resort, which we took full advantage of.
Midway through our float, we spotted another "twisty slide", so we paused to let Bray have a little fun.
That evening, we enjoyed a few smores by the fire pit. They were delicious!
I'm a huge fan of burnt marshmallows. Anyone else? :)
Notice my marshmallow stick - it was stuck! Hah!
The following morning, I enjoyed the sunrise from our balcony, then we checked out of our resort and drove to Ihop on the way to Minute Maid Park.
Brayden thought it was hilarious that he had five pancakes for five years old! He ate them all, too!
Strawberry banana pancakes is where it's at.
Meanwhile over at Minute Maid Park, we arrived just as the doors were opening! Perfect timing.
We also spotted our friend Mickey along the way!
Apart from last year, I have a photo like this with Brayden from every single Astros game we've been to since he was born. Such a sweet memory!
We also met up with my brother and sister in law.
Before long, it was nap time. I'm shocked at this kid's ability to sleep anywhere, and he got a good hour long nap in!
Ice cream in a helmet is always a must at the ball park. :)
They won!!
We had a blast and I so enjoyed this precious time with my sweet family!
On our way home, we stopped at - you guessed it - Buc-ee's again!! :)
Where will our next adventure take us? Hopefully to Great Wolf Lodge! We planned a trip there last fall, but due to Hurricane Laura and Hurricane Delta, we had to cancel our plans. Second time is a charm, right? :) (Let's cross our fingers for no more hurricanes!)
Hello blog world! Long time no see! It's been insanely busy around here, but I realize that's not a good excuse because everyone is busy. It seems like every time I think I have a chance to sit down and put together a post, something else happens and it just doesn't come together. I am making an effort to be better, though! I love blogging and it seems to be a part of who I am...so even if the posts are random and scattered, they will still be there!
On to this past weekend's festivities - I RAN A RACE!! In person!
Although the details and logistics of running said race didn't come together until the night before, the stars aligned and I was able to make it happen. I knew I couldn't miss out on our areas 4 miler on the 4th of July, so my dad agreed to stay with Brayden and off I went!
Had to pull out the traditional skirt! Love it!
It wasn't "hot" by any means (because we were graced with a cloud cover) - but it was humid...so so very humid!
The sight of a bib on my shirt and other runner's feet around me made me so very happy!
I also LOVED the addition of a "fireworks" start! This runDisney fan approves! :)
Overall, this race was a really good one for me. Nothing hurt, nothing felt off, I didn't breathe funny and my heart didn't act crazy. I also knew ahead of time that I wouldn't PR this race and I was ok with that. I'm nowhere near the speed/pace I was a couple of years ago and that's ok. Hopefully once our Orangetheory opens back up, things will improve even more. (Not corona related but Hurricane related.)
I managed to keep pace during the race with a runner ahead of me and it was pretty smooth sailing to the end. I pushed myself to an extent I was happy with - without overdoing it - and was incredibly happy with the end result!
My official time was 35:14 was with a pace of 8:51/mi. I was 5th in my age group and 17th woman overall.
It felt SO nice to be back, I just sat near the finish line and watched/cheered on runners and listened to the music while attempting to cool down.
After the race, I showered then met up with my parents and Brayden for breakfast at Waffle House. Seriously, their waffle with peanut butter chips is my all time favorite. So good!
Brayden is growing so big, so fast and will be starting kindergarten this fall. I made it my mission to make this summer the most magical one yet and I think we've done a pretty good job with that! (More to come later with our summer shindigs.)
That evening, Jason joined us after work for a 4th of July celebration at the park. I was sad it rained literally the entire time, but we still had fun!
The fireworks were great, too!
On Sunday, our church had a BBQ potluck dinner, complete with waterslides for the kids.
It was fantastic and Brayden had a blast! I loved matching him for church that morning, too!
The weather on Sunday was 100% different from Saturday's which I was grateful for! It gave me a little time to sit outside on the patio and enjoy the gorgeous weather!
On Sunday evening, we drove downtown to the lake to watch the fireworks there.
They had food trucks set up as well as a commission of people handing out small American flags.
This time, we met up with some of our friends and we had a blast!
My friend Jane and I were pregnant at the same time, so these two are only 6 weeks apart. It's been so much fun to watch them play together over the years!
We stayed long after the fireworks were over, just talking and catching up. It really was great to see our friends!
As a last minute addition on Monday, we had my parents over for hamburgers! None of us were working, so it all came together perfectly!
It was yet another beautiful day, so enjoyed dinner outside on the patio. I just love days like this!
This past weekend was a great one and definitely one I'll remember forever!
How did you celebrate the 4th? Run any races? Watch any fireworks? Spend time with friends/family?
Hi there! Long time, no blog. I promise I have a good reason, stay tuned to find out!
Jason's hospital journey began on the day we were leaving Walt Disney World. It was a Tuesday and he woke up with a pins and needles feeling in his fingertips and toes. Jason thought he slept funny or something random, so he didn't mention it to me. (We realize now how big of a mistake that could have been, but in this situation it was ok.) After arriving home that day, we unpacked and attempted to return to the groove of things. It was that evening when Jason told me about his symptoms. I was concerned (of course) but didn't want to panic so I told him if it worsened, I would take him to the ER. Honestly, the fact that it was his bilateral hands and feet threw me for a loop. I'm an oncology nurse so that didn't ring "tumor" in my head and I just didn't know what to think. (Let's be honest here - because oncology is my specialty, every time one of my family members or myself have a symptom, the first thing going through in my mind is oncology symptoms!)
The next day was Wednesday and Jason said everything felt exactly the same. We were both so confused about what was going on and again, I told him if it worsened we would head to the ER.
Enter Thursday morning, the day everything changed. Jason woke up and was incredibly wobbly on his feet. I was still home, thankfully and hadn't yet left for work. He also said that the "pins and needles" feeling had increased to the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet. True to my word, we headed to the ER at the hospital where I work.
We spent a total of 11 hours in the ER between Jason being poked, scanned, and examined. He had blood work, CT scans, a lumbar puncture, and MRI's and after the ER provider spoke with the neurologist on call, they decided to admit Jason to the hospital for two nights at minimum. Their fear was that he might have a rapidly progressing syndrome called Guillain Barre. It's rare, they don't really know why it happens to some people and not to others, and it can cause respiratory paralysis. In short form, they basically told Jason that if GB is what he had, he was likely exposed to a virus somewhere and his body turned on itself and started attacking his peripheral nerves. Thankfully, his version of GB was caught super early and never progressed beyond his hands and feet.
Over the course of his hospital stay, he was blasted with crazy does of IV steroids. The neurologist on call did a full exam and told Jason he would be fine "in time". Because we were dealing with nerves, who knew how long "in time" would be. On Saturday of that same week, after two nights in the hospital, Jason was discharged home, still feeling the exact same way he was when he arrived and the providers were pretty much shaking their heads because all of his testing returned normal. His physical symptoms in his hands and feet were there as well as a lack of reflexes (super weird) and difficulty walking up and down stairs (think spaghetti legs here).
We also didn't feel the need to just sit in the hospital when there wasn't anything anyone else could do. Instead, I began researching additional provider options. You see, the neurologist Jason saw in the hospital was very good, but it's near impossible to get an appointment at his office due to the crazy amount of patients he sees. I knew our next course of action needed to be an out of town neurologist, so I began to dig.
I believe that some things happen for a reason and I do believe our paths cross with others at certain times for a reason, too. So, as we were leaving the hospital on a Saturday, I randomly happened to bump into my physical therapist who was just returning to her car from a run. She shouldn't have been around work that day and neither should I but there we were. When I explained what was going on with Jason, she asked if I'd looked into the Neuromedical Center in Baton Rouge. At the time I had not, so that's where I began my focus. Around here, people tend to point to Houston for any and every medical problem and that's great for some things - but I just didn't have a peace about Houston. As a nurse, I know that following your gut feeling is important and Baton Rouge was where my gut feeling was leading me. Along this journey, I also had two additional confirmations about the Neuromedical Center in Baton Rouge, so I knew I had made the right call.
Once home from the hospital, I specifically asked on facebook for prayer for a quick appointment and you wouldn't believe how shocked I was when I called on Monday morning and was offered an appointment for Wednesday afternoon of the SAME week. During our appointment, I was discussing Jason's case with the neurologist and he asked why we traveled so far to see him. (It's literally 2 hour trip there.) When I explained about our situation with the home neurologist, the Baton Rouge one said "we're not much better here!" I told him I had literally called two days ago to make the appointment and his response was, "well, sometimes things just open up!" WOW.
By the way, the Neuromedical Center is HUGE. It's literally like the same size of the hospital I work in and they see neurology alone! Wow!
After a lengthy discussion and evaluation from the Baton Rouge neurologist, Jason was diagnosed with something called AIDP (acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy) which is essentially Guillain Barre. Currently scheduled are appointments for a nerve conduction study as well as physical therapy with the PT who recommended the Neruomedical Center in the first place! He was also told that this will be a "wait and see" game, so that's what we are doing. Waiting, seeing, and praying! Since all of this, the tingling/pins and needles feeling has changed and now Jason feels a tightness or pressure type feeling in both hands and both feet. Also, normal functioning and sensation has returned to three of his fingers, but he still has a bit of a ways to go. Nerve endings can be slow to regenerate and that’s the place we are in right now.
Throughout all of this, our family, friends, and church family have been phenomenal. Jason had so many visitors while in the hospital, people offering to bring us food, flowers, even a deck of cards! Our church sent a bouquet of flowers that were purple and yellow for the LSU Tigers and after they were delivered, our children's pastor and his daughter (also our friends) arrived with a yellow LSU tiger balloon animal (complete with lumbar puncture wound on his back)! Funny thing is, they had no idea that what type of bouquet had just been delivered!
Even though we have walked through some deep waters with all of this, I have literally felt God's had on it all. We are believing for a full 100% recovery so life can return to normal around here.
What a way to return home from vacation, huh? Jason says we probably shouldn't vacation to Disney anymore...and I just think he's crazy! (He's joking, of course!)
If you guys could keep us in your prayers when you think about it, that would be wonderful! We appreciate all of the prayer that has gone up on Jason's behalf so far and we definitely feel the love. God bless!
