WALL FAMILY

In September Rylee got really sick. It started out as a cold but they always start out that way for him. Because he has asthma the cold usually travels to his lungs and causes fever, coughing and difficult breathing. This particular time was pretty bad and we decided to take him in to the doctor. She didn't like what she was hearing and had us go to the hospital overnight for observation and to get an X-ray, looking for pneumonia. What they found was worse, he had a partial pneumothorax. He got it from coughing so hard that it put a small hole in his lung, leaking air into the plural cavity. That put pressure on his lung and it collapsed. He ended up staying 5 nights before he was finally sent home on oxygen. This was a scary time for all of us but Rylee made the most of it. He flirted with the nurses, sang and played when they put the vest on him to break up the mucus, acted like a tough guy when they put the IV in, played a lot with the computer taking silly pictures and...

Our family had the opportunity to take a short trip. The original plans we had didn't work out so we switched things around and decided to go to Glenwood Springs. We first visited Glenwood Caverns which is an adventure park and caves high up in the mountains of Glenwood Springs. The kids had so much fun there! They had thrill rides, 3D movies, cave tours, music entertainment and more! Our kids rated this as a 12 on a fun scale of 1-10! That night we camped overnight then did a little shopping. Then we were off to hike to Hanging Lake. This place was so beautiful! It was a long uphill climb the whole way and we were all feeling it but once you got to the top it all felt worth it! It was a short fun filled weekend but we had so much fun together. We really needed this time away together to just enjoy things!

This was Dylan's first year to play football and Rylee's first year of baseball. Dylan has played baseball for 3 years now but this year was his least favorite. He also had a slow start with football but in the end he decided he liked it! He is number 42, right in the middle of the photos. Rylee had a lot of fun with his coach pitch baseball team, I'm sure he will want to do it again next year too.

Keith, Pan and Angela come to Steamboat every year.  They live in Thailand and get summers off from work because they work at a school there.  Keith used to be our landlord.  We met him when Dylan was about 3 years old.  Even though we dont rent from him anymore we have remained friends and we adore them.  They are great people and friends!  The kids also love it when they come. We had a barbeque one day at Kirk's dad's house. We goofed around more than we helped...sorry guys!   This summer was so hot and dry.  We found a good place to dip our feet in the river.  I am not a fan of rivers but this year it was so low that it wasn't deep at all.  It was a nice way to cool off and have something to do that didn't cost anything.

Kirk and Rylee both have birthdays in July.    We didn't do much for Kirk on his birthday, he just wanted to relax but we did make him a dinner a cake and gave him lots of kisses...  Rylee on the other hand wanted a party, of course!  We had to wait til the weekend for the party but we celebrated on his birthday at home.  He also got to pick his dinner and we made him a cake.  Plus...Presents!!!  Rylee chose to do a bowling party again so we invited some friends and family. The kids at one point got them to turn on the disco lights and music and they were dancing.  I didn't get a great photo of it, here is the best I have...  Grandparents came too!  Grandma Teri made this army helmet cake for him. He really enjoyed his birthday and the party!    And here is his official BIRTHday... Wow, how long ago that seems!