Vacation

We are so glad we went ahead and went on vacation, I'd have to say it was a success! It's always bittersweet to come home...we're anxious to have the comfort of sleeping in our own beds and getting back to eating a normal amount of food, but hate to leave the warm weather, relaxation and lack of commitments. Add to that, we are coming back to snow, no fun!  I'm taking advantage of the plane ride home to write the blog since we'll be jumping back into our crazy schedule with both feet as soon as we get home.

We've discovered a few things that we hadn't factored in, but overall everyone had a good time. It was definitely more mellow with fewer outings than years past, but that was ok and I think it's what we all needed (especially since I got a head cold the second day we were there). Jake wasn't as active or adventurous as Luke, but we didn't expect him to be. We realized right away that we had to really monitor Jake's activity level since just walking around in the pool or playing in the wave pool took way more energy than it did for anyone else. The first morning we were there, he went out in the wave pool with Luke, Todd, and my brother Ryan. After about 30-40 minutes, he was wiped while Luke lasted another couple of hours. Wearing the scuba boot over his old brace worked really well and gave him the support he needed for his leg in the water.

We had purposely not planned much and intended to just take things as they came, but discovered that Jake needed the routine of knowing "what was going on when" and struggled without it. Needing to know his schedule was one of the affects of his stroke that started back in the hospital.  We do a pretty good job of it at home but our vacations are usually on a much looser timeline, so we had to make some adjustments.   Our first day when we said we were staying at the pool until about 3:00 and it got to be 3:15-3:30, he was constantly looking at his watch and telling us what time it was.  To help him become a little more flexible, we gave him the list of things we'd be doing that day with ranges of times.  That worked out well  and  was an easy accommodation to makes things easier for him.

We all loved floating around the lazy river, even my Dad who had rotator cuff surgery a month ago. Jake was a little hesitant the first time around, so Todd and I took turns walking with him while he floated in the inner tube. Within a few days, he was floating independently and asking to go.

One of my biggest concerns was the beach.  In the past Jake has always loved morning walks along the sand and playing in the surf.  This resort is huge with very lush vegetation and several pools, so the beach wasn't "right there" in view so our usual daily activities never came up.  The one day that we decided to venture down to the beach, Jake got into the water a little but mainly just had fun building a sand castle and helping Todd dig a big hole to bury Luke.

We were so glad we decided to bring Jake's wheelchair. There was a TON of walking around the resort and there are all these cool elevated walkways, so it made getting around a lot easier. It also allowed us to get off the property and walk 15-20 minutes to dinner which would have been impossible without his chair. Surprisingly for as much as he rode, his walking really improved over the week. We were at a Mexican Fiesta on the beach and he needed to go to the bathroom. It was too hard to push the chair through the sand so we helped him walk. As soon as we got to the sidewalk, he just took off, walking better than we've seen him in a really long time. It was so great to see.

The other thing we discovered was how dependent Jake was on Todd and I. Both my parents and my brother/his wife offered to take him to do something, even if it was just get into the pool right in front of us, but he preferred to stay where we were. It was more apparent than it's been at home but we figured it had a lot to do with being out of our regular surroundings and routine. He got a little better about it later in the week, but it wasn't something we had anticipated.

Our trip ended with an hour flight delay, so we spent a little more time in the airport than we would

have liked. We got a nice surprise when we got on the plane though. A friend of ours is a pilot for Frontier and knew what flight we were on. He had contacted the pilot who came out and said hello, welcomed the boys over the PA system, and invited them up to see the cockpit. They thought that was pretty cool.

It was wonderful to spend a week together with some good quality family time, lots of laughs, and enjoying the sun. Yes, it looked a little different than years past, but that's ok, we are a little different.