Vacation was awesome, and I'm ready for another one! I'll start by saying that the best thing was that I didn't have a single breathing problem the whole time I was gone. After the first night I didn't wheeze, cough, need a breathing treatment, or anything. I haven't felt so good in a while and it was nice. I don't know if it was the weather, the sea air, or maybe it's something in my house or environment here making me sick but it was really, really nice to breathe semi-normally for a week. Not to mention it gives me hope that this is reversible somehow, to some extent.

The kids were freaking awesome. I honestly can't believe how good they were. I thought I was a bit insane taking four kidlets on a sixteen hour car trip, even if we split the drive into two days. However, they surprised me and reminded me why it is that I adore them so. They were four little angels, mostly. We stopped the first night at a friend's house who happens to live halfway between here and there. She doesn't have kidlets, but mine were right at home at her place. They particularly loved the cats. And the games. And the chalkboard (oh who am I kidding they LOVED the chalkboard). And the badminton... okay, they loved her house and they were really upset that we didn't come home the same way and we didn't get to see her house again. But we left up there late in the evening which would have put us to her house somewhere around 3 or 4 a.m... somehow I didn't think she wanted to wait up for us until then, regardless of how much she might have missed me.

It was really great to see her, if only for a night, and it was a nice little preview of August when I'm going back to visit her alone. Can't wait!!!

I had no idea how beautiful Maine is! SOmeone should have informed me, really. I've never been that far north or east before, and I have to say I was quite impressed with the natural beauty. The sea was really freaking cold, but still refreshing and beautiful. We found a nice beach with some cool tidal pools that were warm and shallow enough that even the baby could play and splash and we all had a great time there. The kidlets got to fly their kites on the beach, it was perfect! We built sand castles, and all that other fun beach stuff, and now the van is forever coated in a fine layer of sand.

On the fourth (or so) day the weather turned and really sucked quite frankly. I had planned that day as a "down day" anyway, as I figured I'd need some down time to recover and breathe. Turns out I didn't need down time (yay!) so we went and rode the Narrow Gauge Railroad which the boys loved, and went searching for lighthouses. We found a few and had a famous "Mommy Adventure" getting lost looking for a few more, then we stopped at a little seaside place for fresh lobster. It was great, even if the dinner did cost me over $100.

All in all, it was an awesome, awesome trip and I'm so glad we took it. It helped me feel a little more confident about myself and the ability to travel with this stupid disease. I have to say I was really worried before we left, but I worried needlessly.

Today we're off for some fourth celebrations, cookout and maybe a boat ride (paddle boats or something) and fireworks tonight.

I would say it's good to be home, but considering my breathing problems have returned already it's really not. I'd rather still be in Maine lol.

I've got that Go-Gos song in my head now... Vacation all I ever wanted - Vacation, have to get away. Oh yeah. I'm cool.

We are going on "vacation." Six of us. On a trip that involves 16 hours in the car before reaching our destination. Yes, we're insane.

We're leaving Tuesday for a trip to Maine. One of hubby's teams is in the regional championships, and it happens to be in Portland, ME this year. Our hotel, gas, and hubby's food are paid by the team so the kids and I are tagging along for a "free" vacation. I put free in quotes because I have so many things planned that are most definitely NOT free . Still, it's nice to have the gas and hotel covered, those were the big expenses.

We're going to stop on the way at my dear friend's house who happens to live halfway between here and there. I'm super excited about that, because I haven't seen her for YEARS! And this summer I'm going to see her like three times! We're just going to eat and sleep there Tuesday, and again on the way home (probably, we haven't decided that for certain yet) but still it will be nice.

So, today I'm freaking a little about all the last minute things I need to do before leaving town for a week. Like stop the mail and make sure I have enough of all my prescriptions to last until I get home. I'm a little concerned about the oxygen situation, because I don't have one of the portable concentrators. I have a tank that is portable, but it will only last for a couple of hours so it's not something I could like sleep with or whatever. I should have asked at my last doc appt. if I could get one of the portable ones for trips but I didn't think of it until it was too late. So hopefully the nebulizer will be enough for the week and I won't have any really bad days.

My saturation levels have been up considerably. I have a home health nurse who usually only comes and takes vitals once a week and recently I've been up at 95% on ROOM AIR! That's really, really good for me. So maybe the new drugs *are* working, although it's really hard to say without a CT for confirmation.

Anyway, hubby only has one game per day and we intend to spend the rest of the time vacationing. I've booked us for a whale watching tour, something I've always wanted to do and never had the opportunity. It's costing an arm and a leg with the six of us, but oh well. I can't talk my 16yo into going with us. He said 16 hours in the car with the other 4 kids didn't sound like his idea of a good time. Can't say I blame him really. I might be regretting it myself by about hour 10.

So we leave Tuesday and I won't post while we're gone. How long we stay depends on how well hubby's team performs. We'll be there at least until June 30, and potentially a few more days.

Hubby had another tourney this weekend, so I decided to tag along with the youngest two. We went to the zoo by ourselves on Saturday - I was feeling adventuresome - and we had a great day! Youngest is now 18 months, and BOOOOOOOOOOOO is his word for any large animal. I think it came from us telling him that cows say "mooooooooo" but now he will point at horses, cows, whatever and yell, "I do see BOOOOOOOOO!" and if he's not in his car seat then he'll start jumping up and down as he points. It's terribly cute.

So, you can imagine what the zoo was like... Walk up to the moose exhibit...
Jumping up and down...
"I do see BOOOOOOOOOO!!!" with much pointing and jumping.
Me: Okay, let's go see another boo
Baby: Bye BOOOOOOOOOO! (accompanied by frantic hand waving)
Walk up to the bear exhibit...
Jumping up and down...
"I do see BOOOOOOOOO!!!" with much pointing and jumping.

All day long. I also had the foresight to grab some water guns at the Dollar store (4 for $1, hard to beat that!) and took a bag full of them with us. I think we had about 8 total, and every time we stopped for a potty break we filled them up again. So 4yo and me spent a lot of time squirting each other (and baby) all day, and passers-by were very jealous. It helped us stay cool, and gave me a way to distract them when they got cranky.

But, the amazing part is that we were at the zoo all day long, by ourselves, and it didn't totally wipe me out. I did all right! I had to stop and rest a few times, mind you, especially on the hilly areas and I was dragging that wagon up the stinking hill to the train ride... but really I was okay. Hubby finally joined us at around 5:00, and we left and both kids crashed in the car as soon as they got buckled up. Really, they were both very well behaved and it was a great day.

Today I took them to the park for a few hours while hubby finished up his tourney, and wore them out completely again. Again they both crashed as soon as they hit the car, which made for a very peaceful drive home (2 hours from tourney to here).

Now, however, mama needs to recover for a day or two. I can really feel it tonight, that tired to the bones feeling... but it's not a "sick" feeling, just a tired feeling that I think is completely normal even for well-breathing folks after a weekend like this.

Well, 4yo needs mama to put him to bed so I guess that's all for now. Happy Father's Day to the daddies out there.

I was just out in my garden, and those pictures really must have been from a couple of weeks ago because my plants are much bigger and not nearly as sad looking now. Well, maybe the peppers still look sad. I don't know why. Poor little peppers. They have their very own Yellow Power Ranger guardian, how can they be so sad and pathetic?

My eggplants are also very slow to grow up... I've never grown eggplant before so I don't really know what to expect from them but it seems like they are the same size they were when I planted them like a month and some change ago. The green peppers are doing well, and the corn is much bigger than those pictures portray. The watermelon are coming right along, and the strawberries are going crazy! I forgot to include pictures of them so you'll have to take my word for it. The tomatoes are growing up nicely too, so I'm looking forward to some yummy uncontaminated tomatoes in my summer forecast.

Today has really been a rough day emotionally. I don't know why some days everything seems to get to me, and some days I'm just fine. I guess that's just the nature of the beast but I hate when I'm snippy and depressed and short with everyone. I really make every effort not to be. I guess no one is happy and chipper all the time, but it would be nice wouldn't it? At any rate, I had a little nap and felt a little better so the evening has been a little smoother than the early part of the day. I'm still looking forward to bedtime tonight.

I wanted to share some garden pictures...



The tags from photobucket don't stay, unfortunately, and I'm just happy I can figure out how to get a picture in here. Note the sad peppers, the happy weed, and the poor yellow Power Ranger (guess who's been helping Mom in the garden?)


Cabbages and lettuces and chards, oh my!


This one is actually a few weeks old, and has the corn and watermelon in there somewhere... they're much bigger now.


My youngest two.