Icy Weather - Sick Kids

On Sunday the weather decided to warm up a bit.  It had been rainy all weekend but I decided it was time to get the kids outside for some fresh air and exercise.  We went downtown Soldotna and walked along the river.  Jaedyn was feeling pretty weak and sat down a few times on our less than 1/2 mile hike, but I think it was good for her nonetheless.  (I asked her when we got home what she had eaten before our noonish walk and she told me that it had been very little - that is probably why she was so weak and tired.  She perked up after a good meal.)  We tried to play at the park a bit before we went home, but it was just too nasty out and with Jaedyn feeling poorly I decided it was best to go home.  The snow was up to our knees in some places in the park and everything was wet and slick from the rain.  The kids' snow clothes were all wet too.

On the way home I drove up our street which has a long steep hill.  About 1/2 way up my tires were spinning but I was slowing down and I just couldn't get traction.  About 3/4 of the way up we stopped.  If I tried to go forward, I just went backward down this awful hill.  It was too high to try to back down on the ice, so I just had to sit there.  Fortunately between a random Bureau worker who was coming to put gravel on the street and my husband who responded quickly to my call, I didn't have to wait long.  I took Tim's vehicle home with the kids and he worked with the Bureau guy to get the van the rest of the way up the hill.  I'll have to get a picture of the hill sometime soon to post...

At the end of last week we helped care for four children of our friends whose baby is in Portland getting intensive care for lung problems from birth.  The dad went to visit the mom.  The kids were sick and their 2 year old got the worst of it.  She was doing okay but had fevers and was sleeping a lot.  On Tuesday I saw the dad with the kids (I only had them until Saturday), and the 2 year old had progressed into pneumonia and they were admitting her to the hospital here.  Sheesh.  That family can't cut a break.  You can keep them in your prayers. 

Yesterday our son, 6, started with a cough...  today he felt bad enough that he stayed home from school.  Probably the same thing, but hopefully he'll pull through it fine.  The other older kids were pretty much over it in a week.

I fell twice on the ice yesterday.  My stupidity.  We woke up to a new 8-9 inches of snow and it coming down like a blizzard, but it cleared up.  Problem was the ice that was under it now couldn't be seen.  It was my stupidity because I have ice cleats and just was too lazy to put them on...  No worries.  I wasn't hurt.

I hope you all are doing well and having health in your family and not having ice problems...

Carol