So, here's my update. Matthew made counts on Thursday. He did great! So far, every week on Interim Maintenance I, Matthew's ANC has dropped by roughly half. This time, I fully expected that he would be so low that they would want to hospitalize him. Instead, they went up from the week before. I was so surprised! His ANC went from 700 up to 1150 this time. Way to go, Matthew! He seriously is one tough kid.
We're a big family, so we don't all fit in one cabin. A couple of months ago, we would have brought our trailer, and been happy we could hook up to the KOA's accommodations. But we sold the trailer to save on monthly bills. So, we signed up on the waiting list for two cabins, and we got picked off the waiting list. I was really surprised, because two families maybe could have gone in our place, but we decided to take it. We haven't been able to do anything fun as a family in a long time.
So, each cabin had just enough space to sleep four. We couldn't decide if we would take one, and put the kids in the other, or let the girls take one, while we slept in the other with both of the boys. In the end, the girls got their own cabin. Ours had a bathroom, a fridge, and table that could seat four. Theirs was just two beds (a queen and a bunk bed), and a desk with a single chair. They loved it, though! It was a tiny taste of what it will be like when they are on their own someday. Alaina kept inviting us over, or saying they were coming to our place. She had a good time with it, and talked about what it will be like to live in a dorm someday. It made it a little more real to me that we only have a few more years with her at home. These are the last few years that my family will be whole.
Allison had a great time with Alaina in their cabin. They liked to walk around the KOA, and enjoyed some extra freedom. Mikey enjoyed playing at the playground, but the most fun I think he had was when we went to the rec room and blew $5 in quarters. We played air hockey, fooseball, and pinball, and we won about 50 bouncy balls. Then we went to play miniature golf. That was fun. Mikey loves miniature golf.
Hope Kids provided some fun events, too. On Friday night, we went to pizza in town (Garden City, Utah. SO beautiful!). The pizza was delicious, but we didn't stay long, because Mikey's backpack had been leaked all over by the kerosene heater, and he had changed into a shirt that smelled particularly awful. We were all getting sick from the smell - especially poor Mikey - so we hurried and ate, then left so he could change. Saturday morning, we had a breakfast burrito with Hope Kids, courtesy of one of the families. It was delicious, but very cold still outside. Saturday was the second day after Matthew's Chemo, and that's when he struggles the most. The combination of that and the cold made it so that Matthew didn't even last through the entire line before he wanted to go back to the cabin. So, Justin hurried and ate his breakfast, and took Matthew back. On Saturday afternoon, Hope Kids did a little carnival that was really cute. There was a ring toss, magic tricks, darts, bobbing for donuts (donuts tied with strings, and then dangled over a highly strung rope, and the players have to eat them with no hands), a three-legged race, and pumpkin bowling, to name a few things. The kids all dressed up in their costumes, and went through the attractions. It was a good time.
We also spent some of Saturday on a nice drive. That seems to be our thing when we go somewhere as a family. We like to see the sights. So we decided to go to the next town for supplies. It was interesting. After we crossed the border into Idaho, we went through a few small towns, which were adorable. The houses were old-fashioned, but beautiful and well-maintained. Sprinkled into each town were also new, high quality homes. We often wonder what people do for work when they live in towns like that. We passed through a town called Paris, and Mikey was excited to tell people he went there, even if it was Paris, Idaho. Finally, we got to Montpiliar. It was like a step back in time. The main street had cute little stores, including a store that was both JC Penney, and Radio Shack. The hospital is also a thrift store. We stopped at a store called King's, which reminded me of a WalMart without groceries - sort of. Even more, though, it reminded me of the old Sprouse Ritz we used to have by my house when I was really little. We bought a few things there - some towels, which we had neglected to bring with us, and some cooking items, and a costume for Matthew. Then we went back to the KOA and relaxed.
All in all it was a good weekend, and it was good for all of us to get away, but as always, it's good to be home.
One of the highlights of the weekend was Alaina, Allison, and Mikey's extreme teeter-tottering. The next day I was telling one of the other moms about it, and she said she had heard the story from her husband. Apparently, they made news around camp for their insanity. As I was taking this particular picture, Allison was actually falling off of the teeter totter onto the ground. She landed on her back. I felt bad for laughing, but she was okay. Then I showed her how funny the picture turned out, and we had a good laugh.
This is one of my favorite pictures! The back of the Hope Kids t-shirts say, "Got Hope?" Which I think is an awesome thing! Matthew is wearing his here, along with the hat that my good friend, Lorraine gave him. She was in the Army for a long time. This hat is the hat the troops wore in Desert Storm, and she gave it to Matthew along with another Army hat. She says he can wear them on the days he is not feeling so strong, and they'll help him be "Army Strong." He looks pretty strong here to me, what do you think? He was marching his way to the playground, and he didn't particularly care if I kept up with him or not.
Spiderman this year. He'll be getting Chemo on Halloween, so afterward, we're going to trick-or-treat at the hospital. I have to work that night, so I don't know if they'll be able to take him out around the neighborhood or not. But this was a fun day for him.
My boys, bobbing for donuts. My girls did it later, but they only did it because they really wanted a donut. They made sure I wasn't around to take pictures of it.
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