Two Down!

Chandler got her braces off yesterday, it was a successful treatment and other than wisdom teeth out later this year, she only needs 3-month retainer visits for another year and we will be done.  Hers are all paid for, too.

To be fair, I took Ben in for an evaluation.  He did not want braces and was fine with his little gap, though I decided I wanted a second opinion and I was the youngest of 3, time and money run out so often before the youngest gets stuff and often he is in second hand clothes and borrowing shoes because his feet have grown and I have not moved him up a size, he gets last choice pretty often and while I would have loved to not spend the money on another set of braces, I was not about to let that be the issue.

So, off we went, and he needs them, badly.  He has an underbite that is pretty well disguised at the moment because his lower teeth are tilting back as his lower jaw grows.  But when he closes his teeth together, they don't meet in the back.  We may be too late in getting him braces, there's a good chance he will need jaw surgery to correct it when he's in his late teens, but we are going to try.  Jake was in the same boat, opposite jaw.  His lower jaw was too short.  And we avoided surgery in his case, so I am hopeful. 

If Ben has to have the surgery, he will have to go back into braces afterward as well.  So we may get to pay for braces twice for him. But there's no sense borrowing trouble from some future date, it's a waste of energy to worry about it now.  6 years is a world of change in a child and a family, Matt may have a different job, better insurance, I may have a job by then-there could be all kinds of changes in our lives, no need to give it that much focus now.  Much.  I can't say I don't worry about it, that's a LOT of money and also not the least of it-surgery on my child.  No one can just shrug that off totally. 

Anyway, Chan looks great, if a little freaky.  Different freaky, not freaky freaky.  She has this teeny little mouth, so all I have seen for nearly 2 years is the brackets.  Now she has these little square white teeth in there!   And more of them and they are arranged so nicely.  It's a pain to budget in the initial down payment, but I have to say, it really is worth it for them to have not only the structural advantages of a perfect bite, but also to be so pretty!  LOL  Everyone wants to look nice and a great smile is no small matter to self esteem.

Cane Creek Canyon Finale

We headed out early New Year's Eve to go hike at Cane Creek Canyon.  The weather forecast called for clearing skies, but it never happened, we saw the sun once all day.  Overhead, the clouds were lined like the photo above, it was REALLY hard to focus while driving, we called them optical illusion clouds.

We arrived, signed in, headed out on the trail and stopped at the waterfall. In the first pool, about 15 feet down, there was a turtle on its back, we thought it was dead.  Jake climbed down to try to fish it out so Ben would not be upset to see it and when he moved it, it started struggling again. 

Matt zipped down to help and got himself soaked, but was able to flip the turtle back over and get him out of the water.  The poor thing had probably been swept over in the rain water and managed to land on his back, he was only just able to get his head above the water to breathe.  It was SO cold, we rubbed on him some and moved him back up the hillside.  The second set of falls is a 45 foot drop, he would have been dead for sure. 

We talked about moving him to the bottom of the falls, but turtles have a home range and if they get moved out of it, they can die.  The bottom of the falls would be foreign territory.

Look at that sweet boy, he was so tense, even seeing the turtle was moving all it's parts did not make him feel much better.

The first drop! 

We walked on back to the point and took the steep trail down to Linden Meadows and made tracks to our favorite campsite back at Creekside.  From there we headed toward Delony Hollow and climbed the trail to The Fin.

Ben and Chan were ZONKED all day, any time we stopped, they tried to nap.  On the way up, Ben had a relapse to 3 and wanted me to carry him out! 

Less than a mile in our 7 mile hike, Jake breaks out his snack.

Down at the creek, we met back up with the kids at Linden Meadows.  They go SO much faster than we do now, it's lots of hurry up and wait when they hike.  I imagine they could cover some major ground if let loose.

I felt rotten all day, I could not get enough air-all stuffed up.  That made my head hurt, which was made worse with any heart rate increase.  I took a couple rounds of painkillers to no avail.  I had taken Benedryl the night before and did not sleep enough to get that woozy feeling out of my skull and body and that was all I had on me to take for congested head.  I knew not to take more of it.  The only time my heart rate went over 50 BPM all day was when I was walking uphill or had consumed caffeine.  It was a good bit like being underwater all day.

The reunion is joyful.

At Creekside, our favorite little swimming hole is full and the campsite itself looks pretty bleak! 

We hiked up to The Fin and back out, the kids waited for us near Blue Hole and we made the push out together...for a bit.  We opted to take the Steep Trail out and they got WAY ahead again as Matt and I huffed and puffed and I lamented EVER being able to climb steep trails without feeling like I am going to keel over.

At the top, the kids were arranged in various poses of exhaustion, so at least they get tired climbing, too.  Just don't have the sense to stop and rest a bit to keep going...

Jake looks down for the count...

I perform the time-honored reflex test.

It LIVES!  It's annoyed, too.

Chan, in her final braced week!

This, being the only photo I have of all three recently, will be next year's Christmas card photo.

Matt attempts to jolt Ben back to action.

We walked back by the waterfall to check on the turtle and he was long gone, hopefully back home!  I slipped on the way down and CRACKED my rear end.  Luckily NOT on my mangled coccyx at least, but this morning I have a fist-sized bruise and it's very tender.  Waa

Before we left, Faye hooked us up with a TON of turnips and loads of greens and kale.  We have been cooking since we got home.

From the drive home:

It was a great way to end the old year, all together and outside...freezing.  It was chilly all day! 

When we got home, I had a final burst of energy and we got all the laundry washed and put away, including what we had worn hiking.  I crawled in to bed just after midnight, Matt had gone to bed ahead of me so he could get my side warm. 

When I woke up today, it was with another splitting headache and stuffed-up head, so I have walked 155 steps (it's after 4) compared to the 2 previous days of over 18,000 steps each day.  I hope THAT does not set my standard for the new year.  But, sometimes a thing is merely a thing and not a omen.  Today my thing is achy head.