Day Three in the Frozen Tundra

A wonderfully full day with friends.

We drove to Madison today to meet up with Bill and Carey's son, Matt.  He took us to the 11:15 service at his church, Black Hawk. 

The church is so huge that police were needed to direct traffic and aid people in exiting the parking lot.  

+++Pictures from google images

After the service, Matt took us to a nice place called the Heritage Tavern for brunch.  It was expensive but so, so good!

+++Pictures from google images

Once we got back to Oshkosh, Zack and I jumped right back in the car and headed off to the Krueger's for dinner and a visit.  Eric was there with his wife and three kids and Zack had a ball roughhousing with the Ethan and Ty.  

We got back to the Holtz's about 8 and watched some of the Olympics pairs skating.   

Day Two in the Frozen Tundra

And my goodness, it was cold out today!  

BUT - that did not stop the crazy northerners from Wisconsin take part in their beloved sturgeon spearing.  

The call came in about 10 that Emily's boyfriend had speared the largest sturgeon in the past 4 years!  A 6 ft 3 in, 155 pound monster, estimated to be about 100 years old!  

A once in a lifetime catch for sure that may net him $6,000.  And as a bonus, five full buckets of fish eggs (caviar) was taken out.  

Meanwhile, Carey and I ran to St. Vincent de Paul and the Dollar Tree.  Then, in the afternoon, we went to the newly beat arena to watch the Valley Christian basketball game.  The arena was just built to accommodate the farm team for the Milwaukee Bucks called "The Herd."

After the game, we meta couple of Zack's friends at West End for some pizza.  

Then, Zack went with his friends for a couple hours and we went to a bar to meet up with Ben and Emily to congratulate him on his catch.  It was PACKED with sturgeon spearing partiers!!!!  

We rounded out the day by watching the women's short program in the Olympics.

Yeah...We're Here

We few into into this this afternoon

Yep...back in Wisconsin for my yearly physical.  

I was so fortunate to find a $40.00 flight to Milwaukee today and another $40.00 flight back to Orlando on Monday.  I grabbed the deal and ran with it. The direct flight was supposed to leave out of Orlando at 12:30.  We live about 10 minutes from the airport,  so I called an Uber Driver about 10:00 thinking it would take somewhere around 15 minutes to arrive.  Imagine my shock when it said, "arrival in 3 minutes.  We were nowhere near ready to go so it was all out craziness to get out the door in just 3 minutes and then...I left my cell phone behind (because of course I did).  

The drive was smooth and check-in was a breeze. And even though I did not pay the price to reserve our seats, we still ended up sitting together - in row 6.  I think our flight actually left early and we landed in Milwaukee 1/2 hour early at 2:00.  Unfortunately, after that pleasant surprise, we ended up waiting nearly 45 minutes for our luggage.  

Carey picked us up and we arrived back at her place at about 5:00.  I took a quick shower, we had spaghetti for dinner, and then cozied up under a blanket to watch the opening ceremonies for the Olympics.  

In Loving Memory

This death has hit me hard and I thought it needed a place in my blog.  

I met this family last year when the son joined my 2nd grade class in January.  

I remember how excited they were to be expecting again.  After having two older boys, the excitement multiplied 1000 fold when they found out it would be a girl.  

Her mom called her "a dream come true."

Trinity Murphy Estrada, 4 months, passed away January 28, 2018. 
It’s time we must say Goodbye
And we don’t understand why-
Today is the day we must
Lay our Trinity to rest…
Everyone knows she was the best…
The best baby daughter,
The best baby sister,
The best Granddaughter…
She was our miracle, our dream come true. 
We have to remember Trinity never really died- 
For in our hearts her spirit forever lives…

If she could talk I know she would say “Mommy, Daddy, please don’t cry, for I’m not gone… I’m flying high…I’m that new twinkle in the sky…I know one day, I’ll see you again…Until then, hold your heads up high, and remember I’m standing by the light of the moon and the sunlight in the sky. So be strong my family, and it won’t be long until we are in each other’s arms again.”

Another Week Gone By

This week was interesting.  On Wednesday, we got a visit from a big wig of the Orlando Magic who is coming back on the afternoon of the 24th with some of the players. They will be conducting drills and activities with the kids and on Thursday, we were sent this permission slip to send home to the parents. 

I understand what their objective is...I just think the wording needs work. "Your child may be seriously injured or killed???"  Seriously??  

This week saw another cold snap.  Thursday and Friday I had 4 students absent I am assuming because of the cold.  In Wisconsin, they'd be laughing if a student stayed home because it was 30* in the morning.  After using the oven to cook dinner, Sadie found the warmest spot in the house. 

She is so dang adorable - and she's a little snuggle bug

Rounding out the week was a family gathering at Manny's in Daytona Beach last night to celebrate Zack's birthday.  

It is so nice when we can all get together - it rarely happens.  Chris and the boys left about 1/2 hour before we did but ended up getting home about 15 minutes after we did.  They ran into an accident near Altamonte Springs.  Meanwhile, I had seen the traffic warnings and took the 417 to the 528. It was such a nice pleasant, traffic free drive and only took a few minutes more than taking I4. I'd love to take that way all the time but, unfortunately, it involves about $6.00 in tolls.  

Exciting week ahead...

Happening Lately

Oh my poor, poor neglected blog.  

I blame it mostly on the fact that I do not have a working camera right now.  

I have my phone but then I do have a way of transferring those pictures to my computer other than uploading them to Facebook and then saving them to my computer.  Not good. 

On my to do list is getting my camera situation fixed. (But my life lately...before working two jobs no money, since working two jobs no time) I'm going to try to get the internal battery replaced in my expensive camera but I'm really disappointed that, for a camera that cost so much money,  the battery quit after only 2 years.  The battery in my cheap point and shoot lasted about 6 years.  

At the beginning of December, Zack and I met C.J. at the City Walk Cineplex and we saw The Disaster Artist.  

After the movie, which I really enjoyed, we walked over to Toothsome's and shared a $13.00 birthday cake shake...yummy!

Christmas break was shared between putting in my seasonal hours at Universal and relaxing.  I had a full week off from all three jobs and it was heavenly.  C.J. and I went to the Cineplex to see Coco on one of the days, I took Zack to Fudruckers one of the days, we used a gift card for Steak and Shake on New Years Eve, and then Zack got the flu. 😟

On Thursday, January 4, I went with Jon to his orientation (more like a borientation...lol The Office reference) at the University of Central Florida. I was shocked at just how big UCF is. Largest enrollment in the country at nearly 66, 000 students.  

After he registered for classes, he very kindly took his good ole mom out to dinner.  It kind of reminded me of Zack's basketball playing days when we would drop him off and then run to get something to eat before the game started.  I miss those days.  

The first week back from break was good - but YES - my kids are STILL driving me crazy with the unreal, ridiculous things they tell  me - ALL DAY LONG.  Example: "Ms Koeck, I have a lot of white on today.  I have a white shirt, white socks, and white shoes on."   

Friday, we had a half day.  The whole 2nd grade was treated to Subway sandwiches because we won the Christmas door decorating contest.  The manager of Subway came over to judge and agreed to provide the sandwiches for the class who had the  winning door. However, our 2nd grade team went with a "North Pole" theme so he could not pick just one.  It was well appreciated because springing for 75 turkey sub sandwiches with chips and a cookie is not cheap.  Our doors were great though (my door is Mrs. Claus)

And lastly, on Saturday we met C.J. at City Walk, grabbed a Margherita pizza at Red Oven and then went to see Jumanji.  

I think we're caught up now...phew.  

The Doctor Phillips Saga - Testing Positive for the Flu

Zack does not get sick often but when he decides he has had enough of not feeling well, then he insists on seeing a doctor right away - as in, "I do not want to wait even another minute."  

Such was the case last night.  For a couple days he has been experiencing cold symptoms with a cough.  Yesterday, he added a low grade fever to the mix along with a headache and worsening cough.  By last night, he was coughing so hard, he gave himself a nosebleed.  That was it!  He was determined to be out the door ten minutes ago. 

I was much less enthusiastic as I had been up at 6 (after 4 hrs of sleep) and was with Jon all day at the University of Central Florida for his orientation. But, no amount of talking would convince him to wait - so out the door we went at 9:30 pm.

I had been to the ER at Dr Phillips 3 times before...twice for ear infections for Zack and once when I had diverticulitis.  Both of the ear infection experiences were great (as great as a trip to the ER can be).  We were put in an area called the fast track and were in and out in less than hour.  Of course, the diverticulitis trip took longer because it involved a CT scan and some IV antibiotics.  But still, I had no reason not to expect a similar experience on the fast track.  

The first indicator that things were not great was the parking lot was full!  When we walked in, we were not directed t the fast track...because there was no fast track.  We walked in about 9:45, registered, and they bought Zack back to triage.  He came back about 20 minutes later and said they had shoved something up his nose and that he did not like that!!  So I knew they had tested him for the flu.  

Then we waited...and waited...and waited.  By 10:45 we agreed that if he was not called back by 11:00, we would walk out.  In the meantime, I noticed they were calling a few names that got no response so I think there were others who also got fed up waiting.  We got called back at 10:55. 

Then we waited...and waited....and waited.  Finally, at 11:31, the doctor walked in and introduced himself.  Then the "conversation" went something like this, "I don't know if someone told you this already, but you tested positive for the flu.  There is not much we can do for the flu.  We can give you Tamiflu but it is not going to take your symptoms away but will shorten the duration of the them.  We will also prescribe an anti-nausea medication and a cough suppressant, okay?"  He turned and walked out the door. He stopped suddenly, came back in, and checked Zack's throat, ears, and listened to his chest.  Said only that his throat was nice and red (probably from coughing) and then walked out at 11:39. 

Then we waited...and waited...and waited.  See a theme here?  One half hour later (12:10)!!!! I walked out to the nurses station and (politely) asked if we might have been forgotten about????  The nurse replied, "I will check."  Apparently, that took 25 minutes because she did not come back with the prescriptions until 12:45!  

Then we grabbed our stuff and ran out of there!

Now I just hope I don't get it.