This is our family photo before we left home. Brent was here as he house sat to mind the dog while we were gone.
Molly looks quite sprightly for being woken up at 8.30pm!
Our first stop was Sydney. Paul's dad and brother came to the airport to see us, and meet Molly for the first time.
Then it was time for the long haul to LA.
The kids were excellent. Jasper has always been a WONDERFUL traveler. I think it helps that we tell him that, so he does what is expected! He eats, watches TV, and sleeps sleeps sleeps! It is a really good thing. I was worried that Molly would be a nightmare, but she travels like her brother!
Between Sydney and LA, there was a baby across from us who cried, whinged and screamed most of the way - nice and relaxing - I just wanted to stand up and shout "it's not my baby!!". She was a dream!
Here is what the kids and I looked like when we landed in Boston... our final destination. Jasper looks SO happy and excited to be off the plane!
We spent one night in Boston (well, technically it was Swampscott) with a wonderful friend, Leighsa.. THANKS!! We were not very good company that night.. we tried and failed with a CAPITAL F!!!
That 12 hour time difference was not fun for any of us, especially Jasper.
After that first night we drove up to Maine (and by "we", I mean Paul). We stayed with another dear family, the Youngs. They have 3 great kids, and the youngest has FA like Jasper. They are the same age, and have the same FA complementation group. We got asked at one point if they were twins... kinda cute and freaky!
Here we all are at the desert of Maine. It was an interesting trip... who knew there was a desert there!!!
From the Youngs it was time for Camp Sunshine. It was great, as always to see our FAmily and catch up! 2 years was too long!!!
I have a million photos, but will only post a few..
Jasper and Paul both had their birthdays at Camp. Jasper was super excited... Paul was not so much when the "boys" got him up on stage during dinner to embarrass him!! They were both great days!
Here is Jasper blowing out his birthday candles at Camp. He is sitting on his favourite counselors lap, Tori.. well, one of his favourites!!
As usual, we have Jasper's mouth swab done for a study our favourite Germans are doing into the early detection of oral cancers. We always have a photo taken with Ralf and Eunike. This time, we took them Aussie chocolate!(they always provide delicious German chocolate for us!).
They always have an ice-cream sundae night at Camp, and this year there was a bit of a whipped cream fight... needless to say, Jasper got it right in the moosh!! (and loved every second of it!)
The masquerade ball resulted in the greatest turn around in history... Molly was SUPER tired (Camp does not encourage sleep at ANY time of the day or night!!). We dressed her up as a little Moo Moo, and took her up to the dance in her stroller thinking we would make an appearance and take her back to bed. WELL, she was having NONE of that!! Once she heard the music, she wanted out of her buggy and grooved away for HOURS!! it was very cute, and she slept extremely well that night!
There are a million more photos on FaceBook, but I think that will do for now!
After Camp we went to stay with our American sister and her mad crew... the Flynn/Gummoe family. With us there, we had 4 adults and 10 (yes, T E N) kids!! It is busy, but it worked!!
Here are some of the kids at Fort Williams - lots of old forts, and a lovely place to walk around and have a picnic lunch if you get the right weather (which we did!).
These are the FA kids that were with us.
(L - R) Wesley, Jasper, Julia and Jorja (twins) and Jordan at the front. The girls all belong to Doreen (my American sister).
Here are my 2 best girls - Jordan and Molly.
Gorgeous!
Ohm here is ONE more Camp photo... These are some of the people that mean the world to us.
We are in "couples", so left to right, Paul and I, Sean and Kristin (aka the YOUNGS), David and Samantha (our UK FAmily), and Shawn and Doreen (aka the Flynn/Gummoes). Our entire trip (all bar the first and last night) were spent with these wonderful people, and just thinking about them makes me smile!
We got to spend 4th July in America for the first time. The FAmilies in the photo above all got together with some of Doreen's neighbors and had a great BBQ, then we went to see some great fireworks.
Molly's Aunt Kristin bought her a beautiful dress in honor of the holiday, and she looked so beautiful!!!
Here is our gang at the fireworks (kids and all!)
Me and my babies!!
We did go to a theme park, FunTown SplashTown, but I didn't take the camera there... I went on scary rides. ME, on scary rides!! (WHAT was I thinking!)
We did try to go blueberry picking... epic FAIL! The season had opened, but the blueberries weren't ripe.
There was a LOT of Wal-Mart shopping. I mean A LOT! It is super cheap, so why not!!!
There is so much more that I could report on, but my brain is fried now, so I might try again later on another post!
Jasper has had more blood work since we got home. His platelets last time had dropped to 120 (normal range is 150 - 400), so this was a concern for us. It was the lowest they had ever been, and we were obviously concerned and wanted him rechecked.
Well, his latest platelets were 110. In the grand scheme of things, this is not a real change, but it is not a move in the upward direction, so back we go in October for more blood work!
Fingers crossed we get an upward movement.
All his other counts were ok. Red Blood cells were just under normal, but only fractionally, and it was all pretty consistent from last time.
Please leave a comment for Jasper if you can.. he likes to know people realise that he is "famous"!
thanks for reading.
Brooke
