Clumsy

I can kind of shake my head about this now but during the week of the  anniversary of Nathan's diagnosis when I was already a bit on edge, the middle school counselor called me.  She called to tell me that Julia's teachers were worried about the number of times she falls down in school.

We already knew Julia was a bit clumsy but what the school was telling me was a different level of clumsy.  They said she fell getting up, sitting down, and sometimes when she was just sitting at her desk.  Sometimes multiple times a day.

We decided to just observe her for the next several days until her appointment the next week.  We saw nothing.

So, the day before the appointment, after she had gotten through an important audition, I talked to her about it.

She was pretty mortified and described the different things that happen to her.  Mostly, that she has size 10 feet, is 5'8" and gets tangled getting in and out of the desks and picnic tables she sits at.  She also falls if she drops her pencil and tries to reach under her chair to get it.  She sometimes trips up the stairs as well.

I took her to the doctor who did some small tests but agreed that she's just growing fast, and bigger than her peers.  She's 99% for her height.  If she stops growing she'll still be in the top 95% in height of all women.

I asked her to think a bit before she gets up.  She does tend to be over-eager at times and I think she jumps up before her body is ready.  Her school is an art-integrated school where they are very hands on and constantly getting up and about during class time.

I know, by now, I can't react regularly to medical things with my kids.  So I guess I handled it all ok for me.  I'm glad she is A OK.

Spring Break 2015

We've been wanting to visit New Orleans to see my sister-in-law, Anna, for a few years but had been dissuaded by the high air fares and finding time to visit.  I finally looked it up and discovered it was a 18-19 hour drive for us.   Luke discovered he had enough points from business travel for a free hotel and so we were set.

We were able to leave on a Thursday morning due to school conference schedules and so we drove about 12 hours on Thursday and then Friday drove part of the way and stopped for lunch in Lafayette to have lunch with friends there.  They told us about a very large, very old live oak nearby so we stopped by to see it.

After that we were off to New Orleans.  We arrived and quickly discovered how hard it is to navigate the busy one way downtown streets but we got to our hotel and Anna came to meet us.  We walked down to the river.  There was a riverboat that had a steam powered calliope.  There was a very lengthy recital and after we got over the inherent flat notes it produced we really enjoyed seeing and hearing it.  It was something I had never seen before so that's always cool.   Here's someone else's video if it.

We had dinner and then some beignets for dessert.

On Saturday we took the streetcar to Anna's place.  We then got back on the streetcar to go to City Park.  We needed some breakfast and so sampled our second beignet joint.  We walked around the park and Anna took us to see the "Singing Oak" a tree with giant windchimes.  It was awesome.  Here's a little video clip.

We hung out under the tree for a long time.  It was supremely relaxing.

We walked a little more and then headed out to get some po'boys for lunch.  We stood in a really long line and the food was well worth it.  It was the first of many outdoor meals we had, which was wonderful in and of itself.  

We headed back down the french quarter to our hotel and relaxed for a bit.  We then picked a restaurant on the St. Charles streetcar line.  The streetcars are older and the windows open.  It was a beautiful night so we enjoyed the ride and then had another meal outside.

Our ride back was slightly less lovely...the streetcars were all very full and we squeezed ourselves on only to discover a large bachelorette party on board.  They were very loud and decided to scream at the top of their lungs every time the lights onboard blinked.  It was...an experience anyway!  We got back to the hotel and Luke and Anna went to go get a distinctly New Orleans drink at the bar that originated it - a Sazerac.

Sunday we slept in and headed back out towards Anna's for brunch.  We had a great meal (mine had a fried green tomato) and then we decided to go see the garden district.  We stopped for some refreshments and then went to a nearby old cemetery.  Julia's ankled had pretty much had enough walking at this point (she has flat feet...custom orthotics..but a lot of walking still hurts her).  We went to go catch a streetcar but they were so full they wouldn't even stop.  We decided to get on the wrong way and then catch one further down the line.  We eventually did so and then headed back to the hotel for a rest and then brought some dinner in.

Monday, after a third beignet joint sampling,  we went to a state park with a swamp and bayous.  After some navigational challenges we arrived and walked for a bit.  There was an elevated boardwalk to walk on in the swamp. We saw some gators and and interesting birds along with the cool swamp vegetation.

We left the park to go an a swamp boat tour.  We saw lots of gators and Julia and Luke even held a young one.

We went back to the park to go on a different trail and had a wonderful time.  Our favorite times as a family are always walks/hikes like these.

We drove back to the city and met Anna for a drink and then had some dinner.  

Tuesday we had a leisurely morning and a nice brunch followed by a walk down by the river and a visit to some of the historic museums.  

We headed back to pack up and have one last meal with Anna.  We had some po'boys again.  We all agreed they weren't as good as the first place but had another beautiful night to eat outside.

Wednesday and Thursday we drove back home.  Lots of Texas in that drive!

It was a fabulous trip!