Pinewood Derby, part 1

Robbie and Brian have been working on Robbie's Pinewood Derby car.  He's named it "Exterminator".  Both have done research on how to make it faster.  They've worked hard and are excited to race it tomorrow.  It's been a fun project for them to work on together.

Basketball

Robbie had a practice in the gym where he will be playing his games on Friday.

 learning to screen

 After practice, Lydi fell asleep on the couch and Thomas wanted to cuddle with her:)

 On Saturday, we drove up to Malibu to see the Pepperdine v. BYU basketball game.

along PCH

at the game- Thomas is really liking this "selfie" thing

Thomas found a friend in the next section.  When he stood behind her, she would turn around and tap on the glass with her long nails.  He was quite entertained by it.

We are sad that we lost the game, but we had fun being there!

Our Week

Basketball season has started!  Robbie's team this year has 10 kids on it.  His coach has taught many different sports and works really well with the kids.  We are excited to see Robbie play!

Robbie had a friend from school come over to play.  They had a lot of fun together.

Thomas loves to play with his curls when he drinks his sippy.  I'm not sure what he's going to do when he finally gets a hair cut.

We spent a day at Knott's.  

Rob trying out the new 4D ride.

kids and Dad on the trucks

Thomas figured out how to turn on the sprinklers!  Lydi came running in to tell me.  Thomas didn't realize he could get out of them, so he just stood there and cried until I got him out.  His shoes are soaked. 

Patch Test

Robbie had his final testing done before he begins his OIT treatment.  It was a 24 hour patch test.  It replicates what happens in the gut if he were to eat these foods. 

Waiting for his patch to be made, they gave us a Candyland game to play.

They put the patch on his back.  The large patch has different tree nuts, small lower left patch is peanut, and small lower right patch is shell fish and white fish.  Robbie was nervous about having peanut on his back for 24 hours, so the nurse put it on a separate patch.  That way, we could take it off if it bothered him without taking off the other allergens.

24 hours later, we went back to the doctor to have them removed.  He made it 24 hours without having to take any off!!  He did turn red with the adhesive but that's not part of the reaction.   The little squares is what you look at.  The doctor rated the reaction 1-4 for each allergen.  

peanut-4

brazil nut, pistachio-3

pecan, almond- 2  

walnut, pine nut, cashew, shellfish-1

 white fish-0

 

We went over his blood test results (not all had come back yet), and talked about a plan of action.  Robbie will start on the SLIT program here in a couple of weeks which is for his environmental allergies.  After he's been on that for 1-2 months we will start with the nuts.  The doctor says he reacts to some of these nuts because they cross pollinate with trees and grasses that Robbie is allergic to.  So as we calm down the environmental allergies, his system will have an easier time becoming immune to the nuts.  The doctor thinks Robbie will test out of pine nut after being on SLIT.  We are so excited to begin this program and thankful for a doctor who knows how to help us!!

Country Music Hall of Fame

On Jan. 2 we headed back to Nashville to fly home.  We stopped at the Country Music Hall of Fame before we had to fly out.

Johnny Cash's old suit

Dolly Parton's dress

Smoky and the Bandit

The rotunda full of plaques in the Hall of Fame.

We had a great trip! It was so fun to see family and explore the Tennessee area.

Cumberland Gap

We visited the Cumberland Gap one day.  It's a narrow pass through the long ridge of the Cumberland Mountains, within the Appalachian Mountains, near the junction of the U.S. states of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee.  Famous in American colonial history for its role as a key passageway through the lower central Appalachians, it was an important part of the Wilderness Road.

Long used by Native Americans, the Cumberland Gap was brought to the attention of settlers in 1750 by Dr. Thomas Walker, a Virginia physician and explorer. The path was explored by a team of frontiersmen led by Daniel Boone, making it accessible to pioneers who used it to journey into the western frontiers of Kentucky and Tennessee. (from Wikipedia)

an old Civil War cannon

on the Thomas Walker trail to the "Saddle of the Gap"- main crossing point

mushrooms growing out of a fallen tree stump

at the "Saddle of the Gap"

Indian Rock.  Indians would hide behind this big rock along the trade route and ambush the travelers.

Pinnacle Outlook- you can see 3 states- We are standing in Virginia, and looking at Tennessee and Kentucky

walking up to Ft. Lyons from the Civil War

Not much left of the fort, but both Union and Confederate sides controlled the area at different points in the Civil War.  No battles were ever fought there because during bad weather, the troops had to leave or starve.

Kentucky/Virginia state line

Y-12 Science Museum

We went to a science museum with Grandma and Grandpa.

writing in Braille

figuring puzzles

They had a presentation about static electricity.  Lydi volunteered to help make lightning.

We got a turn to touch the ball and have static hair.

The audience really reacted when Thomas and I did it.  Thomas's hair flew up pretty fast!

using robotic arms

seeing what it's like to use gloves to manipulate objects in a contaminated area