Fight! Fight! Fight! for IOWA!!

Andy and I met his family in Iowa City last weekend for the Iowa/Pittsburgh game.  What a great weekend! 

Before we left for Iowa City, we took Kayley to her pre-op appointments.  She was great during her physical.  Then we had to go to the hospital for bloodwork.  I tried to explain that they were going to poke her arm and take a little blood, but she didn't understand.  She told me no they wouldn't because she doesn't have any blood!  She did great while they took her blood.  She screamed, but didn't move her arm.  However, she was VERY dramatic afterwards.  There was a lot of crying as we walked out of the hospital and screaming that her arm hurt.  The kids have been in Iowa with my parents for a week and Mom said Kayley has insisted on wearing a bandaid at all times because of her hurt arm.  And she has complained that she can't do certain things (like pick up her toys I am sure) because her arm hurts so bad.  If she has her way, she is going to have us waiting on her for months after this surgery!   

After Kayley's bloodwork, Andy and I left for Iowa City.  Thank you again to Mom for coming to watch the kids and take care of Sox!  We went to the Wig and Pen when we got to Iowa City.  Oh how I have missed that place! 

We got up bright and early and were tailgating by 7:30am.  The game was awful for 3 quarters, but the 4th quarter more than made up for it!  Thankfully, we didn't leave even though we considered it.  After the game, Andy showed us why he was an all state kicker by kicking field goals with honey buns.  It was one of those things you had to be there to fully appreciate.  :-)  We hit another favorite place Saturday night - the Vine.  Great weekend!

Paul (a Thiel at heart), Butch, Chris,
Andy, Mitch and Matt

The Thiel boys and girls

Brotherly love?

All I can say is, it was late.

Sox - Two Partial ACL Tears

Sox had a rough week.  That is an understatement.  She was excited to see Andy and she jumped off the deck towards him and immediately pulled up in pain.  Andy took her to the vet and they decided they needed to do an x-ray to see if she tore her ACL.  If it was a complete tear, they would do surgery while she was already under for the x-ray.  If it was a partial tear, they would not need to do surgery, but she would be on very restricted activity for awhile to allow the ACL to heal on its own. 

A little back story - Sox had been limping and having trouble walking and jumping up into the car for awhile and we thought she was having hip issues or arthritis, etc.  Neither are good.

The vet x-rayed both of her hind legs and her hips.  Andy called me at work, sounding upbeat, and said he had good news and bad news.  I immediately thought it was a partial tear, but no surgery.  Considering our alternatives (partial or complete tear), this was good news!  Turns out, she had a partial ACL tear in both of her hind legs.  Because she had two, they needed to perform surgery on one to fix it and then the other could heal on its own while she was on restricted activity.  I had to ask what the good news was and he said it was that her hips look good and there were no signs of arthritis.  Sox had her surgery on Thursday and came home on Friday.  Hindsight is always 20/20 and I am thinking now that pet insurance may have been worth looking into!

Sox has to spend most of her days for the next two weeks in her kennel.  She is not loving it.  When she is out of her kennel, she has to be on a leash.  She has a long road ahead of her, but hopefully we can get her all healed.  We usually only panic when Kayley is running.  I will be a wreck when Sox starts running again!

On the Road Again

We had so much fun at Okoboji a few weeks ago that we decided to go back for Labor Day weekend!  The kids and I left Thursday night for Mom and Dad's.  Andy had a lot of things to get done around here so it was just me and the kids.  I wish Andy could have gone with us, but I put on DVDs for the kids and had full control of XM radio.  It was wonderful!  I listened to all of my favorite songs over and over and Andy wasn't there to get annoyed with me or switch it to baseball!

We left for Okoboji Friday morning and all rode in the Tahoe.  I told Dad I needed to get gas on the way and he said we should try to make it to Pocahontas because it is about halfway.  We looked at the fuel gauge and decided we had enough gas to make it to Pocahontas.  You probably know where this story is going.  I kept checking the fuel gauge and the mileage to Pocahontas and we always had about a 10 mile cushion.  Not a huge amount, but we should have been fine.  We were about 1.5 miles to 2 miles south of Pocahontas and I felt the cruise go off.  The conversation went a little something like this:

Me:  "Ummm, I think we just ran out of gas."
Dad:  "Really?  Well, don't hit the brake.  Put it in neutral and lets see how far we can make it."
Mom:  "WHAT?!?!  Good thing I have AAA.  I can't believe you ran out of gas!"
Me:  "I don't have any power steering either."
Kayley:  "Mom, look at the cow out my window."
Mom (looking through purse for AAA card):  "No power steering?!  Oh no!  You need to pull over." 
Dad:  "You lose power steering when you run out of gas.  Just keep going and don't hit the brake."
Drew:  "Mom, what happened?  Why did you run out of gas?  Why are we going slow?  Mom, did you run out of gas?  Why did you run out of gas?  Are we going to stop?"
Me:  "I think I should put my hazard lights on since we are going so slow now."
Dad:  "Yeah, that is probably a good idea."
Me:  "We are going to get pretty close."
Dad:  "Don't hit the brake."
Mom:  "I think we are going to make it!"
Drew:   "Mom, did we run out of gas?  Why did we run out of gas?  Are we going to walk?"
Me:  Wow, we are going to get really close."
Dad (as we are coming up to Casey's in Pocahontas):  "Don't hit the brake."
Me:  "I have to!  This is really hard to turn." 
Kayley:   "Can I have a snack?"
Mom:  "Don't hit that truck!"  (Truck was trying to turn out of Casey's).
Me:  "This is really hard to turn without power steering."
Me (as we are rolling up to the pump):  "I can't believe it."
Drew:  "Mom, did we run out of gas?  Why don't we have any gas?"
Kayley:  "MOM!!! CAN I HAVE A SNACK?!"

In my defense, there is something wrong with the fuel gauge!  I should have had 10 more miles!  Of course, we only laugh about it now because none of us had to get out and push or walk to the gas station (AAA would have taken awhile!).  It is ironic that I ran out of gas because one of my biggest pet peeves with Andy is when he drives on low fuel.  I get so annoyed with that.  Yes, I have heard plenty from him since this about how he has never run out of gas. 

Once we got to Okoboji, we unpacked all of our stuff and enjoyed the next few days.  The weather was a little cool for swimming, but Kayley and I still managed to spend some time on the waverunner.  The kids spent a lot of time at Arnold's Park, mini golfing and "fishing" off the dock.

We went back to Mom and Dad's Sunday night and went to the Labor Day parade in Dayton on Monday morning.  We told the kids they would get more candy if they waved.  They waved.  And they got a lot of candy!  Drew refused to pick up some of the candy that he didn't like.  I finally talked him into just picking it up and putting it in Kayley's bag.  He is so picky!

They still love the roller coaster

Couldn't get him to ride in a color other than blue

Drew reeling in his "fish"

Look at my big fish, Mom!

Ready to golf

I made it!!!!!

Right before she threw her ball in the water behind her

Drew refused to take a picture with Kayley

Waving to the vehicles in the beginning of the
parade...still 5 blocks away!

Can't leave a tootsie roll on the street!

Running back to his spot

Kayley holding Sarah's dog, Louie.