Ski weekend

We just got back from a fun weekend in Bend. We took off Friday and got up to the mountain in the early afternoon. Annikka and Eila got all bundled up.

From Jan/Feb2012

Mt. Bachelor is a huge (and kind of expensive) ski area, but they have one nice little lift that's free for everyone. So Annikka and I strapped on our skis to play around for a little while.

From Jan/Feb2012

Annikka's taken a couple of lessons this year, but she's not able to ski on her own. She can glide, and she can turn slightly, but she can't consistently make a wedge, which means she can't stop on her own.

But Annikka wanted to ride up the lift for the first time ...

From Jan/Feb2012

... which meant that I grabbed her under the arms and took her down the hill four different times. It looked like this:



... and she loved it.

From Jan/Feb2012

After that, it was back to the hotel from some swimming.

From Jan/Feb2012

Pool time gave us further insight into our little Eila's personality. At one point she sauntered over to the hot tub (with no one but Annikka in it), paused ever so briefly, and jumped right in (literally). Dana quickly scooped her up from beneath the surface. We were freaked out -- watching your toddler disappear over the edge of a pool is terrifying -- but Eila was ecstatic. For the rest of the night, she carelessly leapt into the hot tub and the pool. In fact, she got angry ("no! no! no! no! no! no!") if we held out our arms to catch her.

From Jan/Feb2012

Oy.

On Saturday I got in close to a full day of skiing, and Annikka took a lesson. Dana selflessly made three (!) separate trips from the hotel up to the mountain. It's a good half hour each way over snowy roads. Thanks, Dana!

After skiing we went to visit our friends Garret and Lynette who now live in Bent. We got to meet their cute new son, eight month old Louie.

From Jan/Feb2012

And Eila got to terrorize their dog Chase.

From Jan/Feb2012

It was great to see them and their beautiful house in their awesome neighborhood.

Sunday morning we got up, ate our complimentary breakfast, and spent some more time in the pool. Then we packed up the car and made the snowy drive home over the Santiam and Tombstone passes:

From Jan/Feb2012

Lots of snow made the driving slow. But thanks to the outback and our studded tires, it was a smooth drive, as evidenced by the zonked nutjobs in the backseat:

From Jan/Feb2012

From Jan/Feb2012

A new look

From Jan/Feb2012

Annikka is super delighted with her new haircut. What do you think?

I don't think she fully understood what bangs were until I cut her hair and showed her. But now she loves them.

REMISSION!

Today was Eila's first post-chemo appointment. She had another round of ultrasound scans and xrays, and like everything else she's gone through, these are getting easier for her to handle each time she does them again. She'll still have many more in her future, so hopefully this trend will continue.

From Jan/Feb2012

From Jan/Feb2012

No chemo, but she did still have blood work done today.

From Jan/Feb2012

It was good news all around - her blood cell counts looked good, and all her images came back clear. So that means that Eila is officially in remission!!
The next step is to schedule the removal of her port. Hopefully this will be within the next month - then we won't have to rush to the ER if she's running a little fever anymore.

From Jan/Feb2012

Eila said good-bye to Dr. Hines (above) and Dr. Thomas (below). We'll see if she recognizes them again in 3 months when she returns for her next set of scans/x-rays/blood tests.

From Jan/Feb2012

Midnight snack

From Jan/Feb2012

Eila was running a temperature again tonight, so we were back in the ER enjoying this midnight snack. Things were much quicker this time around, not sure if it was because we were experienced now or because we didn't wait for her to pee.

From Jan/Feb2012

Now we'll all get a little sleep before heading up to Portland because she's got her post-chemo appointment today.

That's right!

We made it up to Hoodoo today for the second time this year. Annikka had her second lesson of the year (third overall), again with Mika. Last time the teacher told us that Annikka needs to learn how to turn and stop.

Today, she learned how to turn to the right:



Once we learn how to pull a left turn and to stop, we'll be able to actually get on a chairlift and try getting down a (very small) hill. I'm really proud of Annikka, and I think she might actually be having some fun.

Gorgeous day at the mountain, by the way. Great views of Three Finger Jack, Mount Washington (below), Black Butte, and the Sisters (also below). Plus the snow was clean and somewhat groomed.

From Jan/Feb2012

Good stuff.

Wobbler, again

From Jan/Feb2012

Eila has really enjoyed her time at home with Grandma, Grandpa & us, but today she returned to daycare for half a day.

From Jan/Feb2012

From Jan/Feb2012

She had a great time, no problems keeping up with the other kids (she's now the oldest one in her room). We're all really happy that it went well and look forward to returning her, and us, to the old schedule. Hopefully she can stay healthy.