I wouldn't know where to begin...

I certainly couldn't sum up the last week in one blog entry. For those of you waiting for hilarity to ensue, sorry to disappoint you. The Bat Mitzvah was fantastic. Karina did a nearly flawless job and her chanting was beautiful. She actually said she was considering Shellhevet (what comes after Hebrew school) if you can believe that.

There were no disasters at either Friday night or Saturday's services. The classic from Saturday was Rabbi Maurice's blessing, which roused great laughter from the crowd. He spoke about the "Karina look." I can't remember exactly what emotions he combined to describe the Karina look, but the assembled agreed that he completely nailed it. Dawn was quick to point out she has had that look since birth.

The party also went off without a hitch. The DJ made a few minor goofs and I headed off a cake smearing incident slightly too late, but all in all, a great time was had by all. The most entertaining we the 'White Pips' made up of Nicholas Smith (Northridge, CA), Hank Mailander (Eugene, OR), and Brandon Miller (Reno, NV). That is a heck of a play date to arrange on a regular basis.

Sunday morning, after all the other friends and relatives were off to the airport, we packed up and headed to our beach house at the Oregon Coast with Smiths and the Seehafers. I got to take Monday and Tuesday off from radiation for the occasion.

Monday we drove up to Newport and met Dawn and Lynette and the boys at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. We even got someone to take our picture all together (all 16 of us). I made the kids matching tye-dye shirts because that is what one should be doing when they are getting ready for a huge event.

Tuesday we went tide pooling and hung around town. The kids also went boogie boarding. Not for the faint of heart when the water temperature might be up to 55 degrees. We stayed up late at night playing Settlers of Catan with the 6 player expansion pack.

Wednesday and Thursday were not quite as fun for me as I had to ride the shuttle in to have my radiation. Kelly dropped me off at the hospital in Florence at 7:45 and someone picked me up there around 1pm. It is about another 40 minutes from Florence to Yachats. Four hours each day really took it out of me and I napped the bulk of Thursday and Friday.

I was awake for Bob Smith's dip in a tide pool. He was down at the coast with Mary and Greg and all the kids (Kelly had to work Wed-Fri). He came back to the beach house and after looking at him for awhile, I asked, "Are you wet?" He had, in fact, slipped into a tide pool that was deeper than he was tall, so it is good that he was okay, just wet.

Greg pointed out that this trip was about not taking things for granted, like the ability to see, or the ability to taste/swallow food.

All in all, very little interchild spatting and all of the adults were amazing. I feel bad because I was not much of a contributing member of the group. No cooking, no shopping, and very, very little clean up by me. Even though I know that is what friends are for, it still makes me feel guilty.

The Seehafers left this afternoon after helping us schlep the remainder of the stuff down from the beach house. I would highly recommend the beach house rental as a way to vacation, even if you don't go with a dozen people.

I sent the Alumni Band Silver and Blue update and caught up on some of my email (I had 103 new today...) I should go make a shake, too, as I'm pretty sure I won't get enough of this mac and cheese down to make a difference. I have lots of shake recipes courtesy of the dietitian. They all start with: 1 scoop protein powder, 1 instant breakfast, whole milk and fortified milk. Yum.. Well, they might be yum if I could taste them.

I have one lead on tube tops, too. Thanks for that, Kate!

15 treatments down, 20 to go!

Love you all!
Kiara