Monterey Getaway

By far my favorite thing we did on our trip.
All three kids loved it... all three.  And, I will readily admit that I cried under my sunglasses multiple times during our ride.  It is one of those kind of things that we've always wanted to do,
but never have been able to do with Gracie.
Serious bucket-list type moment... it was beyond fun and so very special. 

We kicked off our two week spring break with a quick family getaway to Monterey.  We spent two nights and three days... just the perfect amount of time to really enjoy ourselves and not overwhelm Gracie, who often has a difficult time transitioning when we travel.  She did great the first day and night, had a really hard time day two (but did have a good couple of hours while we were at the aquarium) and then rallied for our third day!  Overall, a HUGE success in our family for getting away like that in the first place!  The boys had a blast, too, and, I have a feeling, will be asking when we are going back for a long time!

Three happy kids on our drive down.

Little Miss Thing all excited and happy in the hotel room...
that was a good start considering how stressful a hotel room can be for her.

We stayed at the Portola Inn and they have a kids' pirate program. 
Preston took their treasure hunt very seriously.

Walked all down the Pier and the kids fell in love with the parrots!

 We took a long walk along the water. 
Gracie was not thrilled with the constant stopping to look and take pictures.
She wanted to keep moving!

We had a great dinner at the brewery at the hotel. 
Since we were able to eat outside, Gracie didn't stress out at all!
John had to get a picture of the fire pit and his beer sampler!

The hotel's breakfast buffet... way more than we could possibly eat!
Gracie was not thrilled to be at breakfast... thankfully she perked up at the aquarium. 

Monterey Bay Aquarium
Gracie was a huge fan of the Aquarium in Long Beach and this one was no exception.
We did, however, have to forego our plans to eat a late lunch in Cannery Row as she wanted no part of anything that afternoon.

Love this shot of our littlest man soaking up his first moments at an aquarium.

While Gavin and Gracie were zonked out (one napping because he needed it, the other crashed due to being stressed out), I took Preston to the pool to play.  He had the whole place to himself.  It was freezing... our boy is crazy!
For dinner that night, we took a chance that Gracie would snap out of it and had dinner at an AMAZING Italian place not too far from our hotel.  Turns out it was on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, too! 
The Lasagna and pies are so good. To.Die.For!!

Swanns on a surrey ride! 
By far, the best part of our trip - - a surrey ride along the coast on a stunningly beautiful day.
We all loved it... and the fact that Gracie loved it as much as she did made all the rest of us love it even more!
PERFECTION!!!
We even had the suction bungee-corded across the backside of the basket since it was too big to fit inside. 
It all worked out!

One of my most favorite days!
(This was the first collage I made on a collage ap on my phone and posted to Instagram.  Not loving that barcode in there!)

Celebrating a Stable Spine

In a stunning and miraculous turn of events, Gracie's scoliosis has remained stable (her kyphosis deteriorated slightly) over the last four months.  This was so unexpected - - so unexpected, in fact, that I literally almost feel hung over from the (wonderful) letdown of anxiety and emotions. 
These findings, coupled with her linear growth and weight gain has resulted in her surgeon saying, "She bought herself some time."  Today started with us thinking we were setting a date for a complete spine fusion and ends with at least six more months surgery free.  We will take it!

This is not something we take lightly... we know that this surgery will happen, it's just a matter of when.  We chose, despite popular medical opinion (well, her current team's opinion... our SoCal team had varied opinions), to postpone last year when her surgeon recommended we move forward at that time.  Gracie needed time to just "be" and not deal with another complex invasion of her body.  We were afraid, that at her weight, it wouldn't be as safe and healthy to go through that kind of trauma.   The urgency, in our opinion, was to do everything within our power to increase her caloric intake, manage her nutrition better and get some weight on her... something that had been impossible her entire life.  I made it my mission (not that I hadn't before), but there was even more at stake... buying time for her growth before stopping all growth through her spine.  It was the right decision for her on every level.