Conventions, Competitions and Bumble Bee Ranch

We had another busy, fun filled weekend in the desert.  Friday night was a late night dance competition for Kam and Owen insisted on joining us...he loves watching the girls dance.  We arrived home and were in bed by 11pm.  Saturday was an early morning wake up call to pack the car, pick up Gigi and head back up north for the girl's dance convention/competition weekend.  NRG is one of my favorite conventions the girls go to.  We checked into the resort, got the girls to their ballrooms and headed up to Bumble Bee Ranch for our favorite Hopekids activity of the year!

Owen took an offroad jeep tour, did a craft, flew a balloon kite and loved archery!  He has some mad "bown and arrow" skills.

After a bbq lunch, he wanted a little "face" painting on his arms and then we had to leave and get back to the resort.  My sister was holding down the fort at the resort and got us all checked into our rooms with the girls. 

We had an hour break between conventions and competitions.  Gigi had written some "break up" songs "for a friend" and had us laughing so hard.  We laughed, the littles tortured each other, the big girls got their hair and makeup done and our hotel room was a hot mess.  There were lots of fun memories made for sure.

We walked Gi and Kam down for their first dances and these two wanted their picture taken in front of the red carpet sign.... Owen was nudging Liv out of his photo op. 

Later, he shared the spotlight with Kam. I was so bummed I left my good camera in our hotel room.

Between Kam's dances, we ran over the resort pools and they had a little café poolside.  We ordered some dinner for all and it was freezing cold (for us.) 

Gi was done dancing earlier than Kam, but we had one more late night photo after Kam's last dance.  The girls crashed early and hard.  We were all exhausted.

Owen and Daddy relaxed in our room all morning and the girls were back at conventions by 9am. We checked out of room after the girls' lunch break and headed to the pool.  It was a perfect 88 degrees and we had lunch poolside.  So much fun.

When the girl's were done dancing, they changed into their suits and we let them swim for just a little bit. 

It was hot and the kids were exhausted.   We loaded up the car and headed home.

Two out of the three were passed out within five minutes.  The girls had a great weekend, learned a ton from their dance teachers and did so great at competition.  Owen had fun with Daddy and we all relaxed just a little bit when we could.  While conventions are super fun...I'm glad that we get a little break until Nationals in Vegas! :)

It was a great weekend.  Thanks to NRG, SAS and HopeKids!

Biospy Results

We are home.  What a whirlwind trip it was and we are glad we don't have to go back for three months!  Owen's biopsy went great... good pressures and biopsy results came back as 1A, mild (almost non existent) rejection.  YAY!  Owen had a quick 2 hour recovery and we were outta there.

Since we were both starving, we headed to California Pizza Kitchen (Owen's choice) for Linner (lunch/dinner).  It was pouring rain outside, so we may have overstayed our welcome until the storm passed.

Owen was looking forward to BINGO night at the RMH... his favorite night ever!!  There weren't many kids playing so he got his first pick of the prizes and we spent a good hour or so building his Lego's last night. 

This morning, we had an early morning check out of the RMH.. which consists of cleaning our room and getting everything packed up in the car.  We made it to cardiology clinic at the hospital by 9:30am. We had a great visit, all of Owen's labs looks great and we talked about some med changes.  Nothing too exciting.  We had a good chat about school and Dr H was very direct in his opinions.  He said not to let Owen back... let him have life experiences... let him fail... let him experience disappointments...let him have fun.  We have a meeting on Friday to discuss starting school.. AT school!!  EEk.

After cardiology, we had several hours to kill before heading to the airport.  We played with the train at the hospital.

We went back to the RMH to pay our bill and to play outside a little.

Then we headed to the mall to eat some lunch at Max's.  Owen had me draw a treasure map on the back of his menu and we walked around the mall looking for his treasure.  This was his favorite part of the trip!

We made it to the airport just in time to catch our plane home.  Owen was a great travel buddy and had everyone entertained, as always.  Our flight attendant was cracking jokes while doing his safety talk before the flight and Owen was laughing so hard.  He thought she was HILARIOUS!  Anyway, it was a successful trip and we got good news all around.  We go back to PCH in a few weeks for another IVIG, followed by a visit to Stanford early July for another biopsy and IVIG.  School, swimming lessons and Karate are a go .. life is good!!

Biopsy Time

Happy April! Yesterday was a day of travel from Phoenix to Palo Alto and we made it!  It was such a fun day with my favorite little travel buddy.  We were offered a room at the Ronald McDonald house  and Owen was thrilled!!  He had such a fabulous time last night.. it's one of his favorite places to visit!  We settled in last night with a movie on the laptop and Sprinkles cupcakes.

The airline lost our stroller, then found it in the rain somewhere...

This morning we woke up bright and early to make it to the hospital by 7:30am.  This is a creepy selfie that Owen insisted on taking,  He was so excited this morning... like SO excited!  As we walked into the hospital everyone was saying how adorable he was in his batman hoodie and dancing in the rain.  He turns to me and says .. "I've got lots of fans ... sorry you don't have any mom." 

The cath team was running behind schedule for another case, so we waited... and waited... and waited.  I finally just took him back to the cath lab and he drifted off into dreamworld with ease.  No versed.  No nerves.  Just puts the mask on and talks until his eyes roll back in his head.  Such a brave guy!

Thanks for the prayers.. there will be no April Fools Jokes today.  We are hoping for zero rejection and great results from this biopsy.  Today kicks off Organ Donation month and here is proof of the importance of organ donation!!