Labor Day 2017

We had a nice Labor Day. We just took the kids to the beach and chilled out. Kids wanted hot dogs for dinner. Simple and fun day.

Last day before school!

Cubans on the beach

Irish in the water

Beach playground

Also ran into Kristina, Darren, and Maxim!

Kristen and Kevin

Darren and Maxim swimming around

Kids playing with rocks and water

Maxim, James, and Miranda

Cape Cod - September 2017

Great-grandma Ruth recently moved into a posh retirement home. So this weekend, Kevin took the kids to visit, and also helped Grandma Kathy move into Great-grandma's old house. I stayed home to catch up on stuff before school starts.

Friday lunch with Great-grandma

Grand Aunt Mary and Great-grandma

Friday Grandma took the kids to Follins Pond at her old place

Saturday, Kevin, Steve, Mike, and Chris helped Grandma Kathy move. How lucky to have so many strong helpful men in the family. Katie took the kids to Grandma Kathy's new place. After phase 1 of the move was done, some of the helpers went to Bayview Beach. 

Mike and Katie at Bayview Beach

Bayview Beach has a dramatic low tide

Bonfire at Grandma's new house with lots of the family (photo by Nesie)

Grandma and Nesie getting some love at the Bonfire

Grandma snuggles

Mary photo bomb!

Martha Clara Vineyard with Erika and Rob 2017

Super fun Sunday at the vineyard with Erika and Rob! (All made possible by our amazing neighbor Carol who jumped in when our babysitter bailed.)

Doing a wine tasting at Martha Clara. Love the wines!

Everyone is having fun.

Rob and I also got ice cream.

Sunflowers!! We should have have jumped into the field.

Nolan's Pool Party 2017

Yes, this is the summer of pool parties. Lots of fun at Nolan's though!

Nolan going down the slide

Ella, Nolan's little sister, is Miranda's buddy

Weee!

A little solo time.

Great news! Miranda is moving into Ella's preschool class!

Boys playing in the yard. First grade, I hope you're ready for them.

Barbies have pool parties too.

Digging with little Kacy

Water guns and crazy games.

Mrs. Maloney visited!

They love her and they missed her.

Fire Island 2017

We took a brief little family break on Fire Island this week. We hopped on a ferry and went out to the skinny island for a day of hiking and beach. Sadly, our hiking was cut short because James and I were being eaten alive by mosquitos- especially strange because it's usually me and Miranda that get bitten. But Kevin got to finish the hike on his own, and we all had a lovely time playing on the beach and in the ocean waves. We even got to pose with some friendly swans.

Sunken Forest Pre-hike

Miranda being carried back

James and I killing mosquitos

Kevin hiking alone

James burying his sister

Building tunnels from the ocean

Working on a dam

Perfect little sand hole

So sandy!

Never getting clean

On the pier waiting to go back

With our friends, the swans

Mom's Kidney Cancer Update- August 2017

Mom had a series of doctors appointments recently that included scans. We went to her appointment on Friday to talk with her oncology doctor and nurse. All the areas in her body remained the same except her liver.

 

Mom was feeling pretty sick on her most recent visit

It's been 4 years since my mother was originally diagnosed with kidney cancer, and 2.5 years since it came back in an advanced stage. Since June 2016, she'd been on a great new drug combo Lenvima + Afinitor, but with the growth on the liver, the doctor has decided that it's no longer a good option for my mother to continue to take it.

The doctor gave her the option to return to Torisel + Avastin, which she originally took in September 2015 and which gave her few side effects compared to the other drugs. As I explained back in the November 2015 post, it's an IV drug combo of temsirolimus (Torisel) and bevacizumab (Avastin). Temsirolimus is an mTOR inhibitor. It blocks the effects of a protein called mTOR, often over active in cancer cells that makes the cells divide and grow. Temsirolimus is also an anti-angiogenesis drug. Bevacizumab is a different kind of anti-angiogenesis treatment that targets a cancer cell protein called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF, which helps cancers grow blood vessels).

Drug combo choices

Solar Eclipse with Christina, Hudson, & Aria 2017

Christina, Hudson, and Aria came to visit us yesterday. We played in the house a little, then we went to Port Jeff to show them around, play at the newish park there, and get some Italian Ice.

Miranda, me, James, Christina, Hudson, and Aria

In the Mini-Van!

Too many Mini-Van adventures!

PJ Rocketship Playground, the Merry-Go-Round

The Treehouse

Italian Ice time!

Despite Herculean efforts, we weren't able to get solar eclipse glasses, but a family lent us a pair and we were able to see the eclipse for a moment. It was only a partial solar eclipse here so it did not get dark, and the eclipse was in no way observable without glasses. With the glasses, you could see the partially obstructed sun.

 

Me, helping the girls see the eclipse

Christina, helping the boys see the eclipse

Candace's picture of eclipse (glasses on phone camera)