4/16

On Sunday we had a "Big Family Reunion" with the Soares family, Cousin Elaine and her family are visiting Maui from Massachusetts!  The Chins, Chiarellas and Soares family all met up for dinner.  The kids all had a GREAT time playing.  The Chin girls had met them earlier in the day and gone hiking in Iao Valley so they were pretty much chasing each other around and playing all day long!  Good thing the restaurant that we went to had a place for all of us to eat outside and the kids ran around on the lawn between bites of their food!

The Dunes in Kahului, April 15, 2012

After dinner we brought Goomba back to the Chin-stead on Sunday night.  For some reason, nobody in the house slept well, so Goomba was hesitant to wake up on Monday morning!  I dragged her out of bed at around 9:45.  Her vitals were totally fine, she ate a good breakfast and we went off for a check on the garden plot.  She trudged the long walk to the plot and plopped down in the trusty chair that we bring with us.  She did not do any gardening today.  My edamame plants still look pretty chewed up, and my garden neighbor told me that it might be little white moths, but did not tell me how to get rid of them!  We were out in the sun and wind for about 40 minutes before trudging back to the car.  Ray found us and wanted Goomba to walk back to the plot so that he could take some pictures, but Goomba was having none of that!  She did get out of the car and snap a shot at the garden entrance, but that would have to do!

                                                     Goobie's garden, Napili, April 16, 2012


After a short rest and some lunch, I started to make the coveted WON TON!!!!  She was watching me, telling me how to add ingredients.  I subtly had to leave the room for a few minutes and when I returned, sure enough, she was cutting up scallions!!  She cut up several ingredients and then sat back down until I finished chopping.  Then I said "you have to add the sesame oil and the other wet stuff so we get that right" so she did, and she mixed it all together with her hands, too!

She was then able to rest in the chair for a while longer until the kids came home.  One time, she got up quickly and had to sit back down because she got dizzy, but this was the first time I had seen her do that since she came.  We checked her BP, and it was 116/something so it must have just been a quick move that caused her to become dizzy.  She recovered after a few minutes and some deep breathing.

Won Ton Therapy, April 16, 2012

She assembled only a few won tons, so we could make sure we got the mixture right.  Of course they were DELICIOUS!!!  They will be even better on Tuesday after the ingredients get a chance to meld together.  We will assemble them all on Tuesday.

She said she was very tired today, but she accomplished a fair amount, I thought!  She rests frequently, but she gets up and participates in things, too.

We have 2 of the therapists (OT and ST) scheduled for next Monday to evaluate her, and I am expecting the third one to call today to schedule her PT eval.  She is not excited about going back to therapy, but Ray and I think it will be a good motivator for her to move more and build up her endurance.