Beach weekend

Before starting back up with our school routine, we spent a couple days at the beach.  The beach is a great, relaxing vacation spot for our family since it keeps kids of all ages entertained for hours!  And even though it's the middle of winter, temperatures can be in the 70s on a warm afternoon in the sun!  We lucked out and had a beautiful sunny day our first day in Aptos!  Unfortunately, only half the family got to enjoy the sun and sand since Isaiah was having a difficult time breathing.  He'd been battling a mild cold for a couple weeks and a few days before we left he began to run a fever.  He still seemed pretty happy though, and we'd had this beach house booked for months, so we decided to go anyways.  After texting Isaiah's doctor for advice, listing all his symptoms (thank the Lord that she is a close friend of ours), she recommended that we take him to an Urgent Care.  We called around a bit, making sure that wherever we went took MediCal (Isaiah's current insurance as a foster-child), and found that either the Santa Cruz or Watsonville hospital Emergency Rooms would be the best.  So I packed up Isaiah's papers and some books, toys and snacks and headed a couple miles north to Santa Cruz.

We were seen immediately (when you make it clear that your child is in respiratory distress they take your case very seriously) and ushered back to a room.  After a breathing treatment, a couple chest x-rays, a test for RSV (positive), a couple doses of different meds and some prescriptions to take to a nearby Walgreens, we were able to go back.  My parents drove the short 45 minutes from their house to join us for dinner that night and graciously watched the kids for a bit while Randy and I walked on the beach for the sunset (a very nice, beautiful way to unwind from the day)!  The weather wasn't near as sunny the next two days, but at least it didn't rain!  We got lots of time on the sand, watched a couple of football games that we wouldn't have seen at home (no dish/cable at home), and generally had some good family time the rest of the weekend.  Isaiah started improving immediately, and over the course of the next week recuperated completely!

Here are a couple pictures of the weekend, minus Isaiah pics (of course).  Hopefully our next family get-away, whether it is over Spring Break or summer, will include his smiling face since we are "on track" to sign adoption papers in late February or March.