Jul. 25, 2022

So I am thinking about renaming the blog. Maybe The Summer That I Had Bad Luck. Or The Summer That I Went West But Not Outside. Or Mom Runs Away And Blogs From Secret Locations. I see options.

Considering I wrote this whole blog yesterday and went to post it and I got a 404 Error, let me see where to start...(maybe 404 Error is another potential name. 🤔)

So where I left off was all of us happily settled into lunch and about to check in early to our condo here in beautiful Sun Valley (really Kechum), Idaho. And before I start into my complaining rant, I have to say that this place is truly stunning. Like you could be a "I only love the beach and will never love the mountains" person, but even those people would absolutely love it here. It's like Mayberry from the 1950's married wherever the Sound of Music was filmed and had a perfectly beautiful mountain town baby. More on that later.

So we check in last Tuesday, a day early, and immediately meet up with our BFF's (The Fischer Family) who got here a day before us. (I will have to share more later about how this whole summer came to be over the dinner table last January!) So my dear friend Paige, who is impossible to describe in a sentence (or 20), had been here for a mere 24 hours, and had already managed to broker a deal for not one, BUT TWO, bikes for the boys as we planned to rent them when we got here bc the kids all need new ones. But in Paige's head, well, we might as well flush $20 bills down the toilet with the daily renting fees. And as someone who obsesses over the fresh food in my fridge and what to cook so I don't waste a dollar and 23 cents, I love her for it!

The quick version to describe Paige would be like THE most epic thrift shopper who married Oprah and had a baby, and then that baby was raised by Mother Theresa. (that's the fastest version I can come up with!) So naturally she spent hours on FB marketplace looking for bikes, proceeded to make BFF's with the two locals who were selling the bikes, went to see them and then arranged for them to be held for us until we got there. We scored two legit awesome bikes and the boys have already ridden more hours since we got here then they have in the past 5 years combined. It's so awesome. 

On Wednesday & Thursday we caught up on work and also explored the area with a mini hike and bike ride "into town". The reason I describe this as Mayberry is it's such a safe, small little town (3k population), and in a matter of minutes you can walk or ride your bike and be on the town square, getting ice cream, hitting the market or simply window shopping with your dog, who I should add, can go EVERYWHERE here. Even to the grocery store! One more reason to love this place.

Speaking of the grocery store, Shawn and I were down there Friday night to get (you guessed it - those of you that know Shawn - steak. Steak every Friday for maybe 15 years? #creatureofhabit) and we literally ran into our kids. They knew we were "around" and found us at the meat counter to grab a credit card for some ice cream, and off they went. It's just so cool and they feel SO independent! 

Thursday night we all met up for our first evening hike up Dollar Mountain. Let me save you some reading time. Shawn runs like Rocky to the top of whatever thousands of feet it as if he's simply jogging to the mailbox. I get about 1/3 of the way up (after stopping for extra altitude breaths and to "take in the scenery") and suddenly tweak my knee. Like it hurts so bad I have to slide on my rear down the mountain kind of tweak. 😠

Friday morning we knock out some work calls (I am having a love/hate with the time zone difference!) and set off as planned to Red Fish Lake to rent a boat for the afternoon and again, every single direction was just stunning. Macy made it all of 120 seconds out on the boat before begging us to turn around b/c she gets sea sick (it was choppy that day and she did spend the entire first night of our Disney cruise last year vomiting all over our cabin, so she's not totally bonkers for being fearful), but the boys loved it and Luke was brave enough to jump into the cold water and it was an all-around super fun time.

By the time we hit the hay late Friday night, Macy was telling me she just didn't feel well. Despite her "Covid comeback" (she went on a few runs, swimming, biking - having a ball) she was suddenly feeling awful again. Terrible sore throat. Ear pain/pressure. And just totally miserable. (You moms of teenagers will feel me here. There's a miserable child. And then there is a female teenage miserable child.) 

By late Saturday night, she was begging for mercy and I took her to the urgent care and we spent a few hours people watching, only to be told her covid and strep were negative, likely a virus. I was bummed. I wanted SOMETHING to turn her around bc Sunday was the day we had planned for months. The day we had booked both families to go white water rafting, something I have never done and DREAMED about doing together since we took our first out west trip in 2014. But alas, Mom and Macy stay home and the boys and Fischer's head out for what I hear was just an amazing day. Sweet Macy must have apologized 6 times an hour that we had to miss it, but it just wasn't meant to be...we will make it happen before our RV heads East again!

However, Shawn had THE most epic day on Saturday. Like the kind of day that when I tell you about it, you will know that he just wants to move here. Like, just not go home, sell off the house and all the things inside and stay here. He gets up. Goes for a nice long run with Denver. Comes back and shares the news that he just found out there is some luxury sports car speed racing event nearby. I don't know a lot about cars but words like Lambos and Biggoti's (sounds like whatever you dip in your coffee) were literally able to go over 200 mph on some straight aways a few miles out. He and Luke hop in the car and head out. Saturday night, we ride into town to get some pizza to go, and we see this guy running in a vest, like the kind you wear when you are running for a long time, and we notice people cheering ahead of him and someone videoing him on a bike behind him. Naturally, I ask what is happening and we find out that he is the first person to finish a 100 mile race. That started at 6pm, the night before. As in he started at 6pm on Friday and was finishing 26 hours later, on Saturday. Like didn't sleep but literally ran ALL NIGHT. I can't even wrap my mind around it. Shawn thinks it's the most epic thing of all time. #moving

By Sunday night, Macy cannot even sleep bc she is just so incredibly miserable and in so much pain. I am lying awake wondering what on earth is happening bc she had the positive COVID test on the RV over a week ago, then a negative one at the hospital, and now she is starting to get a low grade fever. Did she just get sick AGAIN, right after COVID, when we've basically been trapped inside for two weeks?

This morning we are up at 6 and first to walk into a new urgent care, and as I type, she has taken one gigantic Augmentin horse pill and can take another one in a few hours. She either has a bacterial infection that can be common post COVID, or she has mono. We will know if she has mono if she breaks out in a rash by taking these meds (google this rash -it's no joke). They took her blood too but both will take a few days. Yall. Just pray it's the bacterial route bc otherwise, she is going to feel like doo doo our entire trip. And I can't even think about the teenageness of dealing with that rash. (I do have to add that despite missing out on a few things, she is my most favorite person to hang out with (shhhh...don't tell the boys!) so forced time with the two of us is something I will always be happy about...I just hate that she has to be sick on this trip. 😥)

I did call back three times today to see if they'd be willing to give her a shot of steroids as I have heard multiple accounts of this exact post-COVID illness, and that this steroid shot turned them into brand new humans. We'll see how tomorrow goes.

Other than the boys falling and scraping off some skin and Jude getting shoved backward and hyperextending his knee by some giant dog, everything else is great. We are here through the rest of the week and I am praying that not only will Macy feel like a new woman tomorrow morning, but I will find myself white water rafting before the week is out. 

Jul. 25, 2022

Jul. 25, 2022

Jul. 25, 2022