Feb 17 - Busch Gardens

I spent the day with Gretchen and Pierce at Busch Garden Tampa today! We had a great time! Since we will not be making it to Disney, this was a great substitute -- actually I think this was more fun!

PS Pierce was such a great sport to ride on all the kiddie rides with his sister!













Gretchen with the star of the "Critter Castaways" show -- Jane!

Feb 16 - Great OT session for Sarah

Sarah had a terrific occupational therapy session today! She was thrilled to be inside this cool lyrca sack swing spinning, swinging, bouncing, the works! She was really using her hands well to brace herself.

In talking with the OT, Cheri, we are moving forward with thumb splints for both of her hands. I did not realize how unsteady those joints were and how important they are to her being able to balance on them during transitions. So she will be fit for those on Tues when we go back to Shriner's Hospital to get her new orthotics. So exciting!

Feb 14: Valentine Show

The kids had a wonderful surprise in store for me on Valentine's Day! They made up a play called "The Enchanted Forest," designed a set and used Gretchen's paper dolls as the puppets. Four Rett moms were visiting for our Girl Power 2 Cure Mothers Advisory Board meeting for a few days, so they got to see it too! :-)

The moms surprised me with a cake and gift for an early celebration of my 40th! It was a wonderful day!

Feb 10 - NJ visitors

We had some special visitors today! Late this afternoon, Gretchen's good friend Lilly from NJ came over to play! Her grandfather lives in St. Pete and they were visiting him. She came with her mom, sister and grandpa.

A few words from Pierce:

We went to the park today. There were a lot of other dogs there. Two of them were catching a Frisbee people threw into the water. There was also this small black Labrador puppy that was playing with Zoe.

Then we went home and ate dinner outside. The food was really good. And after that me, Gretchen and her friend Lilly and sister played around.

Feb 9 - Shriners and Swimming

What a way to start off the week! Sarah and I left bright and early to get up to Shriner's Hospital in Tampa -- about an hour away to have her fitted for some new orthotics (foot braces). They were really great. Sarah was calm and relaxed. She sat so well for her xrays. And good news, no spine curvature or hip issues. She looks terrific!

They marked up her feet with magic marker and I thought it was so cute how she crossed her feet in such a nonchalant way.

Then we went home to grab the rest of the gang to head to swim therapy with Sarah. They get to get into the warm pool too! Maggie (our sitter) came as well and got into the water with everyone to help out. THANK YOU MAGGIE!

Gretchen really made some headway on her swimming! I am trying to post a little video of that here -- hopefully it will work.

Feb 8 - Papa's last day

It was a beautiful day today for Papa's send off! We spent the morning at a little beach by our house. The walk over is really neat, through a little neighborhood called "Driftwood" that has a neat trail through to a little bay. Gretchen cooked up lots of scrumptious meals in her coconut pot. Sarah walked all over the place barefoot and giggling! She kept turning towards the water and wanting to stick her toes in! She was really excited.

Peter got to soak in a few more rays before heading back to NJ where a nightshift awaited him immediately upon his return. We miss him so much!!!!





(Pierce calls this one "The Water Elf" aka Gretchen!)

Day 7 - Ft. De Soto Park Beach

Well it finally inched up over 60 degrees! And since it was Peter's last day here, we just had to go to the beach! There is an amazing state park with a dog beach, so we all got to go, Zoe included.

First we walked around the bunker/fort area, then got some ice cream and then headed to the dog beach. The kids and Zoe were in heaven -- how much better can it get? Tummies full on ice cream, a warm sunny day, water, and dogs! Sarah was soooo happy watching all of those dogs. Zoe was shy at first, but then started to run and chase and play.

Pierce and Gretchen played in the water, even though it was soooo cold.

We ended the day with dinner at the 4th Avenue Shrimp Store.

Sarah has been amazing. A ton of stamina to go through all of these long days full of activity!

Day 6 - Florida State Fair!

We canceled our canoe trip today because Sarah was sick last night, so instead Maggie (our sitter) stayed with sarah and we ventured out with Pierce and Gretchen to the Florida State Fair! Something Sarah would have hated for sure -- way too much chaos.

It was really fun though for the rest of us! First stop, the pure breed dog tent, where they had dogs up on all of the tables for everyone to pet! Then we saw a shark show (Gretchen got a bird's eye view from Peter's shoulders). Then a bear show and a sea lion show... we had fresh-squeezed lemonade and funnel cake -- a must for the fair!

We loved the pioneer village and bought some beautiful hand made baskets.

On the way out we saw a tent with giraffes! He got soooo close -- what a wonderful experience!

Day 5 - Venturing out in the cold! only 45 degrees today!

We had planned to go to the Florida State Fair today, but is was soooo cold! So instead we hopped around from place to place and warmed up in the car in between. It would not have felt so cold if we had the right kind of clothes! One of the pics below, you can see Gretchen's inventive fashion for today's weather!

We started off at the St. Pete Pier, hitched a ride on a trolley from the parking lot to the end of the pier...Sarah LOVED the trolley ride. At the end of the Pier there is lots of shopping, so the kids each got a cool necklace and Pierce got a shark T-Shirt. We also saw about 15 pelicans and a neat ship anchored at the end of the pier. Then we attempted the History Museum and the Botanical Gardens, both of which we skipped because the price was just too high for what it was --

so we ended up at Boyd Hill Park, walking the trails to an island and through the marsh -- we ran into an alligator! yikes! (see last photo) -- I had goose bumps the rest of the walk and startled every time a leaf moved!

Day 4 afternoon- Wild manatee chase

Well, across the bay from where we are staying we see a power plant... a passerby tells us that the manatees hang out in the waters there in the winter because it is so warm. So we venture south, then over a 5-mile long bridge, then past the orange groves and cattle ranches and palm tree nurseries....then into nowhereville...all following the plumes of white smoke from the power plant. On the way we spy some cool para-surfers (name?) and then an hour later stumble upon the manatees. Sure enough, there were about 20 or so lounging in the 77 degree water in the front of the power plant -- you can't see them in the photo... we were freezing, the wind was blowing and we wanted to jump in that warm water too!

There was an educational center for some refuge where the kids did some puzzles, learned more about the manatees and got "charged up"with" superpowers!

Then we stopped for dinner... and a tiny dessert! :-)