Friday Update

Papa C. is still at Baylor Heart Hospital, Plano, and is making progress. Wednesday was a rough day, but he is doing better now, and we are all so relieved. As of right now, we don't know when he will be going home, but considering it's about 150 degrees outside (!), he may not be in too much of a hurry to leave his beautiful room there, even if he would like to get disconnected from the 50 wires and multiple machines he's harnessed to. Rachel's Mom is throwing her a 21st Birthday barbeque on Sunday, so depending on Papa C's situation, we hope to go to Georgetown to celebrate. Kevin and Rachel longboarded to Chipotle, and also down the apartment parking garage ramps - fun! Once a Mom, always a Mom, I asked him "are y'all wearing helmets?" Ugh! Gong Gong & Pop Pop made it to Ruidoso, where I am sure they are enjoying the cooler weather and scenery. (No new photos this week, too busy!)

Tuesday 6/23

Papa C is doing well. His wonderful sense of humor was back tonight, his color looked good, and he was not in too much pain. He seems to have great nurses. His meal choices read like a TGI Friday's menu! We told him the Longhorns would win one for him tonight, and it's 5-1 in the bottom of the 8th inning, so looking good. GG & PP leave tomorrow for a month in Ruidoso. Back to watch UT beat LSU to tie up the college world series..

Update on Papa C

Papa C's cardiac ablation procedure was completed this morning at Baylor Heart Hospital in Plano, and Papa will be staying there four days. That is one beautiful hospital, his room is nice, and the staff is wonderful. If you asked Papa C, having to go without his coffee this morning was probably the hardest part! Papa C, you're in our prayers, and we wish you a speedy recovery! Sure wish those Longhorns could've pulled off a victory over LSU tonight for you, but they'll get 'em tomorrow night. Went to see Emily Elbert in concert at the Unity Church in Arlington Sat. night - she is such a delightful talented lady!

Summer's here...

It's supposed to be 100 degrees this weekend, and it sure felt that HOT last weekend at the race! Papa C came out to the track on Saturday with a couple of friends, and they almost melted in the heat. Here are a couple of photos of Papa C's friend Jack's two beautiful grandchildren, who were oblivious to the temperature outside.

3rd night in a row...

After 2 exciting nights, I was settling in for a normal one last night, when Kevin calls and says "there's a tornado heading for us." I turned on the weather radar map online, and sure enough, one of those RED hook-echo formations those meteorologists are always talking about, smack dab over my first-born's apartment. Not much a mom can do but sit there and watch that red blob as it slowly drifts on by, waiting for a phone call from the stairwell of their apartment complex, "everything's fine now." Tonight's getting ready for a race, followed by two days at the race track... we're not young enough for all of this excitement...

A couple of exciting evenings

See photos above.... no, Danny is NOT one of the two riders safely traveling on 2 wheels on the dirt, he's the OTHER one in the photo...This was in the late evening, and into the night. Having a new SLR camera is a little like having a dirt bike, there's always a list of "wanna haves" Just in case Shannon reads my blog, she'll know just what I mean. I "wanna get" a tripod and a zoom lens for getting really good racing photos. These shots were from Tuesday night at the practice track. LAST night was another exciting night... we stood on the porch and watched an amazing storm blow through, cracking trees in half and blowing leaves and limbs all over the street. Our yard was spared, but others on our street weren't as lucky. We should have been inside, huddled under a mattress, but it was JUST SO COOL to watch the dark clouds zooming past and swirling around, and believe it or not, I stood there thinking, "I've raised my kids, I can stand here and take my chances and watch this if I want to." I think I slept about an hour total last night; there was rain, lightening and thunder ALL night long and into mid-morning.

Back to work to relax...

We worked hard this weekend, painting the back of the house (finally done!), replacing a large shrub/small tree that had died, cleaning, etc. Again, Papa C's cardiac ablation is scheduled for June 23rd, and he'll be in the hospital about 4 days (Medical City, Dallas). Danny rode at Village Creek and did ALL of the jumps out there for the first time. He likes his job at RPM Cycles, even if he does have to do all the errands that nobody else wants to do! His schedule is perfect for a teenager: M-TH 12-6 and 10-6 on Saturdays, unless it's a race weekend (only 2 left before summer break). Kevin and Rachel met some people at their apartment who work at Dell, and they've been playing water volleyball and grilling at the pool. Ahh, beats the heck out of painting the back of the house :) I've been experimenting with spot metering with my camera at sunset, to get silhouetted foreground images, like the pond image, above. Pop Pop has been playing in senior pool tournaments in Richardson, and enjoying that alot. I hear that Kelley and her new puppy, Gunner, are doing well! Hope everyone has a good week!