Home.

We made it home!!  The last five days have been a whirlwind, but we are settling in to our new normal.  Last Wednesday, after discharge from the hospital, we headed back to the RMH to load up our car.  It was a hot mess trying to get all our stuff into the back of the Pilot, but we did it!  I even picked up Carson from the airport only 10 minutes late!  We made the long drive down to Oceanside to meet up with Kam and family.  The drive was wild with rain, heavy winds and rubbernecking in LA traffic, but we made it to the time share by dinner time. 

I got a call when we were about half way to Oceanside from Owen's transplant team.  His rejection scores came back ZERO!!!  I couldn't be more thrilled!!  So instead of turning around and heading back to Palo Alto (not that I would have), we continued our road trip South.

Kam had a great kick start to her fall break!  She went to Oceanside on Sunday with her Richardson cousins.  They went to the USS Midway, Yuma Jail, Music Museum, the Chicken Pie Shop and Knotts Berry Farm!!  She had a great time!!   We met up with everyone on Wednesday night and spent all day Thursday at the beach. 

I also have to give a shout out to Todd and Monica for hooking us up with their timeshare.. we had a fabulous 3 bedroom room minutes from the beach.. it was great!  Owen loves the swings at the hotel.

On Thursday morning, we headed to lunch on our way to the beach.  We love eating Fish n' Chips at the Oceanside Harbor. It's on our short walk to the beach and so delicious.

We got there in time to check out Justin, Ry and Tates castle before the tide took it down.

Owen stayed out of the water and loved being buried in the sand.  He has never loved the beach like this before.  He had a great time!!  The kids first built him a sand chair, or Throne.

Then they turned him into the Sandman {Spiderman's Foe}.  He missed his cousins so much!

I missed this man. :)

The kids were semi dressed for the beach.. Owen didn't have a swimsuit that fit and I assumed he wouldn't get in the water anyway.  He has never liked the cold saltwater and was always held back by a giant oxygen tank.

Turns out he's a beach bum.. just like the rest of us.  He loved the waves!!  He started by just getting his feet wet.

Then he was soaked.  He loved when the waves took him down and then he would play in the thick mud. 

The men built a big channel in the sand for the water to run into a giant hole they built in the sand.  Owen called it his swimming pool.  He loved walking through the narrow channel. 

Kam and the girls were leaping and doing cartwheels in the sand.  Here's my little yoga master.  We had so much fun on the beach together.  The weather was fantastic and we spent hours outside doing nothing but playing.

We came back to the time share to grill up steaks and bbq chicken.  Owen was jamming while he was waiting for his cousins to come.   The entire car ride he would sing Radioactive and Boulevard of Broken Dreams over and over and over again!

We made it home on Friday evening and worked hard all weekend to unpack, catch up on laundry and get things ready for our first real week at home.  Waking up at 5:30am this morning was a reality check, but it's our new normal.  I loved picking up Kam from school and hearing about her day.  I loved making a menu for family dinners.  I love waking up next to my husband in the morning.  It's the little things that I missed the most.   
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I'm working on the simple moments with family like I posted here.
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