Locust Grove Night

October 16, 2011 By 3 Comments

Our trip is off to a great start so far. We were loaded and on the road just after 8:00 this morning and made great time, only stopping at a few rest areas and to get some food for Jesse. I brought some leftover stir fry for myself since I’ve heard from several allergy friends that cold leftovers really aren’t that bad. I keep intending to give it a shot, but there is so often an easy opportunity to borrow a microwave. We spotted one in the guard station at one of the rest areas and Jesse asked the guard if we could use it. Having a hot lunch when we jumped back in the car made me one happy passenger!

Hot lunch

We had an easy drive and enjoyed spotting the bits of fall color as we headed north. We hope to see a whole lot more fall color before this trip is through.

Fall color

Unlike last time, we made it all the way to our destination without the car breaking down on us. We decided we wanted to stay in the same hotel that we broke down at on our last trip since it was so nice and cozy. And it’s comforting to be in familiar surroundings and know exactly what our room will look like when we get there. And we even left our car battery in our car this time!

We checked in and had some time to relax and get settled before dinner. I packed leftover lasagna to reheat in our hotel room. Leftovers are so much easier than trying to find a place that will accomodate my allergies, and I’d rather not risk eating something that will make me feel crappy while stuck in the car all day the next day. Jesse says he never gets tired of lasagna so I figured that would be a good choice.

Lasagna dinner

After a super hot shower using as much water as I wanted, we are just chillaxing while we wait for a couple of TV shows we wanted to watch tonight. We have a much longer driving day tomorrow, but I think we’ll be as rested as we can be for it.

Filed Under: Allergies, Travel

Meet the Burkhalters

September 5, 2011 By 1 Comment

We left the farm and were on the road early this morning. We are spending the night in Knoxville, Tennessee because we weren’t brave enough to try to drive straight through after our experiences on the way up to Ohio. Plus the weather got pretty terrible. It was fine all the way to Kentucky and then it turned nasty making driving no fun. We’re used to the rain, but not used to it being so cold when it’s raining. The first thing we did when we checked into our room was turn on the heater.

Ohio barn

However, we did have a fun lunch date to look forward to today with John and Rhonda. Rhonda had jokingly said on our way up to honk as we passed their house since they live right off the interstate. We thought about meeting them then, but we were really in too much of a rush to get to our destination after all the car problems we had. So we decided to plan on doing something together on our return trip.

We “met” John and Rhonda online quite a while ago. John has CF and is around the same age as Jesse and we were really looking forward to getting to meet them in person. It’s still funny to me to meet someone for the first time, but already know what they look like and know so much about them from Facebook and blogs. We hit it off with them pretty good and really enjoyed hanging and chatting with them. We mostly talked about normal people stuff, but transitioned easily to talking about IVs and clinic visits. It was a good time.

Me with Rhonda

Our guys were careful to follow the three foot, no contact rule and sat on opposite sides of the table at lunch. Besides, standing with crossed arms makes a more manly looking pose for a picture anyway.

Jesse with John

We had originally thought that we would just meet at any convenient place we could find off the interstate and I was going to bring my own food with me. But then Rhonda did some research to find a place that she thought would be better for me to eat with my food allergies… which I thought was so sweet and thoughtful of her. She suggested PF Changs which I had heard is really good at dealing with allergies, but had not been there before today. So it was an extra special treat to eat out and be with new friends. (More about how awesome my experience was with eating there soon.)

PF Changs

Then they were even more sweet to buy us some baby items for our future foster children. We were so surprised that they would have thought to do that for us. This was one of our very first gifts too! They got us two sets of onesies… one for either a boy or a girl, a bottle, a pack of baby plates, and a package of diapers. How thoughtful of them!

Gifts

Thanks for spending part of your day with us Burkhalters, we really had a good time with you guys! Hope we can do it again sometime.

Filed Under: Cystic Fibrosis, Travel

Nuggets: Headed Home

September 4, 2011 By 3 Comments

We are packing up our things, hoping to be on the road tomorrow morning. As much as I love being at the Sipes’ farm, I’m ready to be home to our normal routine. We’ve had a very good visit with Grandpa and Grandma. We’ll miss being with them as well as many other fun things that we’ve done here…

:: I’ve already said this, but I’m still excited about the super fresh produce that has shown up at the house.

Lots of tomatoes

Everything that has come has been extra tasty and I have thoroughly enjoyed them!

Huge tomato

I’m thinking that when I get home I’ll just sit in my own living room and wait for people to bring me over some veggies from their gardens. What do you think?

Red peppers

:: Since we ended up staying into September, Jesse ran out of a couple of his prescriptions. Of course our awesome CF coordinator, Sue, was able to call in what we needed to the local pharmacy. I like the cute, old-town look and feel of the Galion pharmacy.

Quay

:: We’ve been eating lots and lots of raspberries all week. They were on special for only $1 per pack, way cheaper than home. We made sure to enjoy plenty of them while we could.

Raspberries

:: Guess what else I found? Pepsi made with real sugar. Now, I know I can get this at home every once in a while when they decide to come out with it, but I decided to take advantage of it being on sale and buy some. The kind I usually buy is caffeine free so I’m happy to have the option of caffeine when I want it. Plus I’ve always preferred the taste of Pepsi.

Pepsi

:: I got a good gardening lesson yesterday. We walked across the street to Don’s to see how things grow.

Don's gardenYellow beans

Of course, I knew that carrots and potatoes and onions grow under the ground, but I’ve never actually seen them growing!

Onion

We saw all types of vegetables and even got to dig out a potato and a radish. We liked the tall sunflowers too.

Tall sunflowersRed sunflower

We came home with potatoes, turnips, a radish, tomatoes, and a cucumber… that I picked!

Picking from Don's garden

:: Jesse helped out with a lot of chores this week. The first time he mowed, he wore a tank top and completely fried his neck and shoulders. Yesterday, Grandma set him up with a long sleeve shirt and a hat to avoid him getting more sun on his sunburn. He looked like a regular farmer.

Farmer Jesse

Grandpa wanted to help Jesse clean out the mower properly when he finished. I thought this was a sweet picture of Grandpa catching a ride on the side of the mower down to the barn with Jesse.

Mower rideRide to barn

Jesse also fit in some trash burning. He was looking forward to that chore the whole drive up here. There is no trash pickup here, so that’s the way to get rid of it.

Trash burning

:: My chore has been cooking. We’ve really enjoyed having meals with Grandpa and Grandma. Jesse had one special request meal while we were here… Grandma’s beef and noodles. She made that for him yesterday so he could enjoy one of his favorites.

Beef and noodles

:: Lastly, more produce! There were boxes full of produce to greet us at church this morning. We were instructed to take plenty so that it wouldn’t spoil.

Church produce

A lot of our produce this week came from farmer Bill. He even had a few butternut squash set aside in his car especially for me. I can’t wait to try them when we get home. I told him I REALLY appreciated all these yummy veggies.

Me and Bill

We are coming home with enough fresh veggies to last us a while. My list includes: radish, turnips, potatoes, cucumber, tomatoes, red peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, and butternut squash. Hooray!

Produce to bring home

Happy Sunday 🙂

Filed Under: Family, Nuggets, Travel