O Whatta Day!

I am simply in LOVE with my Thomas Magnum!

For all you Hank fans out there, you are going to have to wait a bit for a current blog entry on him. For the moment, it's the weekend here at CHOP and not a whole lot of IMPORTANT THINGS get done or decided on the weekend. For now, Hank's holding his own, which is a 'boring,' WELCOME thing (right, Jefe?). Some good news: he's been taken off the meds that were purposely elevating his heart rate, which held back the bradying for a bit. The nurse tonight said that Henry's only brady'd a couple times today but snaps right out of them. Which is great. I'm happy. She's completely in LOVE with Hank and was downright GIDDY about getting to hold him and rock him and hang out with him 1:1 overnight. That's JUST as good as mommy... if not BETTER, dare i say, cuz Mommy usually SLEEPS in the middle of the night. That is... when she's not waking to go to the ER (mini joke there...)

BUT NO - - THIS BLOG ENTRY is about the crazy fun-filled day not only *I* had, but my charming loveys Sam and Thom had at home in NY. Let's start with ME.

Kathie, my cousin in Maine, noted on her Facebook status on Friday that she was headed to Maryland with her daughter Tia and would miss her hubs and son. I joked that MD was pretty close to Philly, let's meet. The next time i heard from her, she texted me on my phone that she would be in the Philly airport later that afternoon for a three hour layover, too bad we couldn't see each other. I was convinced that we COULD, but before bolting to the airport, i posed the question to the six or so people in the RMH office: "What are the chances that i could hang with my cousin at the airport during her 3 hr layover?" Three heads all nodded emphatically NO followed by "that will be nearly impossible. Ever since 9/11..." Yeah. I got it. I remember fondly the days when you could greet your traveler at the gate with a hug! Those days are no more...

Well this predicament quickly migrated into another text inquiring "Hey... what if you drove to MD to see us and watch Tia compete? It's about a 3 hr drive. If you're up for it." I was a little wishy-washy about making the drive, and of course for leaving Hank, but decided in the end to go for it.

I'm glad i did. I got up at 5:30 and was on the road by 6:10am. I really love when i'm driving in the dark morning and get greeted by the rising sun. Such a cool feeling. I arrived to the Convention Center in the heart of Ocean City, MD by 9:30. Parking was HORRENDOUS. The place was packed. I found a spot in the back of the building. I quickly discovered why so many cars....

Every stinkin' cheerleader in the WORLD was at this competition. Okay - not literally - but there were a LOT of girls at this thing, all in their fancy ponytails and big color-coordinated ribbons and snazzy outfits. And the place was LOUD! Oofah. The music is booming, people cheering FOR the cheerers!!!! I found it all oddly exciting. I do NOT think it's my scene, by any means, but it's definitely something fun to experience. Tia was TOTALLY into it. She looked so cute and GOOD out there, doing her flips and round-offs, when she wasn't the base tossing a girl into the air! I can't help but remember Tia, readily and fondly, when she was just a BABY, a toddler, a little girl... and now, budding into a WOMAN (haha... i crack me up). Love that girl!

We left the convention center around noon to find some eats. We drove around a bit and ended up at a place called Higgins Crab House. It looked good from the outside. All You Can Eat signs... Kathie and i were up for some seafood, being at the BEACH, after all. She got a crab cake and i got fried shrimp. Her crab cake was puny (but GOOD) and my corn-on-the-cob side was most likely a nuked frozen cob. Bummer. And it was kinda pricey, especially for the amount we got. Not HORRIBLE, but not great either. Tia probably lucked out the most, but she was still hungry and was hankerin for some ice cream, so we did just that. How can you not get ice cream, too, while you're at the beach!? Tia actually got a WHOLE OREO in her "Oreo crush" ice cream. CHA-CHING!

From there, we went back to their hotel room so Tia could change, then the three of us went out on the beach! Tia joined her gals and Kathie and i chatted, sitting on one of our wedding tablecloth tie-dyes! It was breezy and cool, but warm in the sun. It was fun to see people out. And of course before leaving, we had to dip our toes in the BONE-CHILLING water. HOOEY! And i saw crazy cheerleader girls in their bikinis IN THE WATER earlier!!!

Crazy cheerleader girls.


So then i called it a day. I had a three hour drive in front of me and wanted to see Hanky-poo a little before turning in. I pulled into CHOP's garage at 7:30 and came up to Hank, bright eyed (AND bushy tailed - ha). I snuggled with him for a while, singing my favorite, James Taylor, and chatted with his night nurse.


Today was one of the best days i've had in a while. It was so nice to drive in the sunshine, eager to see my cousins, and even got to laugh pretty hard with Kathie on the blanket on the beach. I was wondering how Sam and Thom were fairing in Corning today, with our friend Melissa watching them, and i came home and logged on to my computer to **SEE** for myself!

Melissa rounded off my already-awesome day with even AWESOMER (!) photos of the boys (start from the back of this album) from their day together. Melissa's husband Bruce and their son Jordan even came along too! The boys were SUPER LOVED all day. They took them to Sam's favorite place in the WHOLE UNIVERSE (his words!) - THE PARK!!!! I love that my bugger digs being outside so much. Thom's getting a great taste of it too. I can already see them hanging out in the treehouse Ron built! It was a sunny day at home too.

I'm full of love and happiness when i write this post. I have it good. It's as simple as that. Everyone in my world ROCKS. You all really do....