Rose Garden

Jack and I have been doing quite a lot of bike riding lately. One of our favorite spots to stop is at the Bon Air Rose Garden in Arlington. The dew is usually still on the roses and they sparkle in the sunlight. It is awesome. So this morning after our bike ride, we went back to the apartment and grabbed everyone who was awake and brought them back in the car. They loved it!

There is also a playground at the Rose garden that looks quite a bit like a pirate ship :)

And their bird houses probably won't fit any birds in it, but it sure looks cool. There are ceramic tiles all around it. Very artistic.

Here is just one angle of the gardens. It is huge. This is probably about a third of it. 

More Fun at the Park

Sorry. I know there are a million pictures just like this, but I love my little man, so I keep taking more. We had a good time at the park this morning. We were there at 7 o'clock this morning, so we had it all to ourselves. 

I love these two pictures. He is so cute when he is climbing. He is really really good at climbing up on just about anything. This is a mushroom seat at the park. He loves them. 

And the below pictures just can't be beat. He is such a character!

And Jack loves swinging. I made him swing in the bucket swing this morning because it was the only one in the shade. 

Tony's family is visiting. I haven't been taking me camera all the places we've been going because everyone else has been bringing theirs, so I will get some pictures from their cameras and post soon. We have been having a blast, and Jack LOVES his cousins. He is going to be devastated when they go back to California. 

Fun Day

So after Zumba this morning we played a game of Lord of the Rings Monopoly with Claire and Mel (our cousins). It was a really intense game full of fortresses and giant spiders. I forgot how long a game of monopoly can go. But it was really really fun.

Jack and I went to the park after his nap because he was tired of being inside. I love the picture below because he is just peeking around the corner. He is so darn cute!

And here goes my little daredevil. 

And this is a cute little log tunnel that have at the park. We love this park because it is super nice, cute and gated. 

And below is Jack's favorite spot in the whole park. This is the swing he picks every time. (Even though there are 2 baby swings). He would rather hang on really tight to the big kid swing so that he gets the best view of the cars going by on the nearby street. I stopped worrying about him falling when I tried to get him off the swing and couldn't get him to let go. He gets a pretty good grip on that thing. But I pushed him in the swing for 30 minutes, stopping occasionally to see if he was done. Finally, at six, when I stopped the swing again, he reached up and grabbed me and we headed home. I really enjoyed watching him enjoy the swing so much today. He was just so happy and relaxed. (He was probably imagining the wind in his hair if he could drive a convertible or a motorcycle). 

More Shirtless Tony

I know how much you guys have been enjoying the pictures of Tony without his shirt on, so here are some more. You're welcome.

He got his groshong chest port out on Tuesday. He had to wear the bandage for 24 hours after the surgery. We started to get worried because the bandage soaked up a lot of blood, and then it started to pool at the bottom. Kind of gross. But it did finally stop bleeding. 

He now wears a large bandaid over it to protect it from getting infected, but here it is without any protection. Kinda looks like he got shot, right? (By a small bullet, but still...) We are excited for this new step in his recovery.

In some extra news, he only has to take 1 immunosuppression pill a day instead of 2. They told him today at the doctor. That means he is a huge step toward being able to eat whatever he wants, and go out in public again. So somewhere in the next 1-3 months, he may be "back in business." 

I'm free, I'm free.......Dang it....

This picture is shirtless Tony with his port still in.

And the above picture is for Captain America purposes. This is the before picture. Look for the after picture in about a year. :)

Tony got his port out today. He has been "un-borg-ed." Sadly, they wouldn't let him keep it as a souvenir. They told him not to change the dressing for 24 hours, and not to get it wet for 7 days. (Notice the blood pooled at the bottom of the bandage. Kind of gross). But he is extremely excited to be able to take a normal shower in a week. It has been more than a year since he has been able to do that.   

Kings Dominion!!!!

Dad and Tony were very nice and watched Jack for me on Thursday so that Mom and I could go to Kings Dominion! Shelyn and Colin were able to come with us. It was a blast!

Everyone was making fun of me because I was running from ride to ride. It was the perfect day because it was supposed to rain all day, but it didn't. Forecast said there would be thunderstorms by 4, and it didn't start raining until we were pulling away in the car. (I prayed hard for this. I really wanted to be able to have a rainless day at the amusement park). But because it was supposed to rain, no one came. The longest we waited for a ride was about 15 min, and that only happened twice. Most of the time we walked right on. 

The picture above is us standing in line for the intimidator. The picture below is of the intimidator. I have never been on a ride this crazy. Afterward, mom said that she was pretty sure our bodies weren't supposed to do things like that. There is one point in the ride where we almost blacked out. Silly g-forces. Needless to say, I loved this ride. 

My other favorite ride was the volcano. It is one where your feet dangle. You do tons of flips, and twists and turns. We did this one multiple times as well. It was a riot.

Because of the lack of lines, we were able to hit all of the rides that everyone wanted. We were also able to play in the waterpark for about an hour. They had a few really good waterslides, but the lines were much longer in the waterpark than everywhere else, so we moved on. 

At the end of the day, Colin and mom went to Boo Blasters (a ride that is similar to the buzz lightyear ride at disneyland, where you ride in a car and shoot targets), to see if they could break each others records. Shelyn and I headed to the Dominator, (the other awesome, huge, fast roller-coaster that was right next to the entrance of the park). (The dominator is the one pictured above. This is when Shelyn and I went on it in the middle of the day and there was no one in line when we got up there). We were able to ride it 5 times in a row without having to get off of the ride. The attendant let us just stay in our same seats as people exited and a few would get on. (No one wanted our seats because they were in the middle). We decided that this was a pretty good way to end the day. 

The Zoo!

Jack loved the elephant. I would like to think that he recognized it as looking similar to his stuffed elephant. He kept reaching toward it.

There is an awesome cheetah in the background. Mom and I wore matching shirts!

We were very fortunate. We debated even going to the zoo because parking is so expensive. But then we found some parking just around the corner for free. It was only 2 hour parking, but that turned out to be perfect for us. I think next summer Jack will be more interested in the animals. 

Clapping Boy

Grandma Watson wanted a picture of Jack clapping, so this is what I came up with. Isn't he so cute? He is pretty proud of himself all the time, so he actually claps a lot. 

Ultimate Bike Ride

We did an awesome bike ride today. We started at our apartment in Falls church and then climbed on the beautiful trail that runs into DC. It is a gorgeous and fairly mild bike ride into DC. We passed a rose garden and then hit Gravelly Point (the planes from Reagan Airport take off right over your head). Then we headed to the natural history museum to see the free butterfly exhibit (It's only free on Tuesdays)

Jack loved the butterflies. He kept reaching up toward them. One came down on his level and he chased it around for awhile. 

We then headed for the botanical gardens (by the Capitol building), but we stopped in the sculpture garden for this sweet picture.

Then we wrapped around back to the Tidal Basin where Tony picked up mom and Jack. Their grand total in miles biking was 17.3 miles. We were really impressed by Jack's easy-going attitude during his long bike ride. 

After Tony, Mom and Jack headed back, Dad and I took the more direct route back home. There are more hills, so it is a harder trail, but more direct. Our grand total in mileage was 28.9 miles. It was a perfect day for biking. Beautiful weather. Low 70s and a light breeze. Who could ask for anything more? We are taking Tony to the Rose Garden tomorrow because that was a pretty light ride, but it is really beautiful and fun. Thanks for letting us borrow your bikes Norm!

Summary

I did a quick summary for the ward newsletter about Tony's journey the last year. (Very quick summary). I am planning on writing a better/longer one letter. Here it is:

On May 11th 2012, only 2 months after our son Jack was born, Tony was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic Syndrome (which is a form of Leukemia usually found in people over the age of 60). Needless to say, this came as quite a shock. The chances of someone with this form of cancer being under the age is 40 is only 0.2%. We were told survival rates were not great, but reminded that usually people suffering from this particular cancer are much older than Tony. The doctor informed us that Tony needed to be taken to the hospital immediately to start chemo. When we asked how long he would be in the hospital, we were shocked by the answer: it would take at least a month. We knew absolutely nothing about Leukemia, but we learned quickly. We learned that chemo was not fun, but it got the job done. He got a week of an 3 day chemo, once every 6 weeks after that. We were told that he needed to get a bone marrow transplant. So we started the search for a match. There is a 1 in 4 chance that a sibling will be a match for a trasplant, so we began testing his siblings. (He has 5 siblings, but one has a heart condition that makes it so she couldn't donate, so she wasn't tested). None of his siblings were a match, so we turned to the registry. (The Be The Match registry is for people who want to donate). After a bit of waiting, we were informed that he had a perfect match in Germany. We set a date and Tony prepared for what the doctors told him would be a procedure he would never forget. The donor was put under anesthesia and they took bone marrow through a needle in his back 50-100 times. Then they flew the marrow(stem cells) overnight to us here in the states. Tony had to undergo radiation and chemo before his immune system was compromised his body enough to accept the new donor cells. He was still feeling alright on the day of the transplant. They put the stem cells in through the port on his chest, and (because they are smart) they found their way into his bones, and starting producing more bone marrow. The next couple days is when Tony started getting worse. He says it was 50 times worse than he could have ever imagined. After 5 weeks, he was stable enough to come home. In the next couple months, he contracted viral pneumonia, bacterial pneumonia and cdiff. (Because they don't want the new cells to attack his body, they keep his immune system suppressed, so it is a lot easier for him to get sick, and a lot harder for him to get better).  But now, a little more than a year after he was diagnosed, he is feeling like a new man. He has more energy, and is able to do a lot more. He is also finally cancer free!  He has also loved all this extra time he has been able to spend with Jack while he has been on disability from his work. His doctors think he should be able to go back to work around September. Through this whole adventure we have been so incredibly blessed. We are within 10 minutes of some of the best doctors in the US, and we have the very best ward family anyone could ever ask for. Thanks for the love and support. 

Weekend of Fun

Jack loves reading in his little book nook. He talks to his books and makes some pretty awesome faces. 

Our apartment pool is now open. We enjoyed the kiddy pool. We are trying to teach Jack to float on his back by the end of the summer. He is already at the stage where he voluntarily sticks his face under the water. It scares me every time. 

We also got the opportunity to go sailing this weekend on the Chesapeake.  It was a blast. It was the perfect weather for sailing. 

Here is a picture of Tony at the wheel.

Dad and Bishop riggin the sails.

Jack really enjoyed the boat...until it started moving. It was difficult for him to keep his balance, and that really frustrated him. He was also very tired. He slept for about an hour on the boat. 

Here Jack with his turn at the wheel. 

Hanging out on the beautiful sailboat in beautiful weather. 

We also got to go kayaking for a few minutes before we headed back to Virginia. What a wonderful wonderful day. Thanks Bishop!