Summer has been hot in Sacramento, but full of travel and fun. We started the month with a relatively quiet 4th of July celebration at our friends, the Diffleys. Kids enjoyed water play while the adults enjoyed some BBQ, beer, and fireworks. Nathan and his buddy, Ian, were too sleepy to catch the pyrotechnics, but Madison soaked up all of the colorful and noisy show from a comfortable seat on the sidewalk.
The weekend after the Fourth, we made the trek down to San Diego with the Hockaday family. It was a lengthy van ride, but we somehow endured the hours and Zachary’s displeasure with being strapped into a car seat while we passed interesting sites such as the side of Interstate 5 and East Los Angeles. 10 hours after 
beginning our journey, we arrived at our condo on Mission Bay near Pacific Beach. The weather was perfect for most of the trip after a brief time with gray skies – low- to mid-80s and sunshine. Aside from enjoying the bay and the beach, we hit Sea World, Lego Land, and the World Famous San Diego Zoo (just a big zoo like most others, but it does have some Pandas). Everyone had a great time and Nathan and Zachary got their first dips in the Pacific Ocean. We were afraid that the cold ocean water would not be a favorite of Nathan’s, but he put up with Jim dipping his lower half into the waves on Mission Beach and in the bay. Zachary conquered the condo’s two stairs after a couple of days and was a challenge to corral in the condo and on the beach. The amusement parks were great fun for all of the kids and a nice return to childhood for the parents (although there was no such thing as Lego Land in the 70s or 80s when we were kids).
Just prior to our trip, we started Nathan on the ketogenic diet to take a shot at controlling his seizures some. The routine continues to change as the neurologist and nutritionist try to tweak the diet to find Nathan’s ketonic “sweet spot” for optimum seizure control. The tweaks continue and the ups and downs of seizure control can be very frustrating. Nathan also has had some bouts with vomiting (whether it is a virus or a reaction to the diet and other supplements is still a mystery) so our day-to-day stability remains constant chaos. But he keeps battling on and we hope to gain the upper hand on the seizure control at some point to give our little guy a break from all of his “activity.”
Madison has enjoyed more fun and travel than the rest of the family as she also took a trip to Disneyland with Uncle John, Aunt Kelley, and cousin Jennifer. They stayed at the Paradise Pier Hotel and hit Disneyland and California Adventure for three long days (Uncle John said that one day they were inside the Disneyland Park from 7:30 AM – 10 PM). Major props to John and Kelley for taking the girls and surviving with two 6-year-olds at the Happiest Place on Earth. Madison’s Sea World, Lego Land, SD Zoo, Disneyland, California Adventure funfest in a 3-week span rivals the amusement park travel many of us got in 3 years as kids. Who says today’s kids are spoiled?
To top it off, Madison will be going with Tricia and Zachary to Indiana at the start of August to wrap up the Summer travel agenda. The trio will spend time with Grandma and Granddad Axsom and Aunt Gloria and Uncle Kevin in the Hoosier State and Tricia will also attend her 20-year HS Reunion while she is back home. While the rest of the family is away, Jim and Nathan will be living the bachelor life back in Folsom. If you happen to participate in any poker game, BBQ, or swimming at the McCue home while Tricia is away, please keep it to yourself as Jim is attempting to make missing a trip to Indiana look like a sacrifice to redeem for later use (“I’m going to need only an hour or so for THIS fantasy football draft, honey. It really shouldn’t take that long.”).
Once the gang returns from Indiana, Madison starts up in the first grade at her new school (while Tricia gets to return to work). It seems like just yesterday we were trying to get words out of Madison and now she offers up plenty to point out anything and everything. Zach may not have a chance to get a word in with big sister around. Z-Mac has moved from cruising to walking in the last week. He usually gets about 3-6 steps before going down, so it is just a matter of time that he is running all over the house.
As Summer winds down, we will likely be back on watch to keep Nathan healthy (the warm weather makes things a little easier with fewer viruses that often develop into pneumonia in the colder months) and hope to get on top of the seizure control. Soon, we hope to have him moved to a bedroom downstairs – we are planning to convert the dining room into an office/den to open up our downstairs office/bedroom into Nathan’s bedroom/medical supply warehouse. Demolition is set to begin August 10, so we hope to have separate rooms for the boys in September. 
We hope this update finds all of our friends healthy and well. Thanks as always for your support, thoughts, and prayers.
Love, The McCues (Jim, Tricia, Madison, Nathan, and Zachary)
The weekend after the Fourth, we made the trek down to San Diego with the Hockaday family. It was a lengthy van ride, but we somehow endured the hours and Zachary’s displeasure with being strapped into a car seat while we passed interesting sites such as the side of Interstate 5 and East Los Angeles. 10 hours after 
beginning our journey, we arrived at our condo on Mission Bay near Pacific Beach. The weather was perfect for most of the trip after a brief time with gray skies – low- to mid-80s and sunshine. Aside from enjoying the bay and the beach, we hit Sea World, Lego Land, and the World Famous San Diego Zoo (just a big zoo like most others, but it does have some Pandas). Everyone had a great time and Nathan and Zachary got their first dips in the Pacific Ocean. We were afraid that the cold ocean water would not be a favorite of Nathan’s, but he put up with Jim dipping his lower half into the waves on Mission Beach and in the bay. Zachary conquered the condo’s two stairs after a couple of days and was a challenge to corral in the condo and on the beach. The amusement parks were great fun for all of the kids and a nice return to childhood for the parents (although there was no such thing as Lego Land in the 70s or 80s when we were kids). 
Just prior to our trip, we started Nathan on the ketogenic diet to take a shot at controlling his seizures some. The routine continues to change as the neurologist and nutritionist try to tweak the diet to find Nathan’s ketonic “sweet spot” for optimum seizure control. The tweaks continue and the ups and downs of seizure control can be very frustrating. Nathan also has had some bouts with vomiting (whether it is a virus or a reaction to the diet and other supplements is still a mystery) so our day-to-day stability remains constant chaos. But he keeps battling on and we hope to gain the upper hand on the seizure control at some point to give our little guy a break from all of his “activity.”Madison has enjoyed more fun and travel than the rest of the family as she also took a trip to Disneyland with Uncle John, Aunt Kelley, and cousin Jennifer. They stayed at the Paradise Pier Hotel and hit Disneyland and California Adventure for three long days (Uncle John said that one day they were inside the Disneyland Park from 7:30 AM – 10 PM). Major props to John and Kelley for taking the girls and surviving with two 6-year-olds at the Happiest Place on Earth. Madison’s Sea World, Lego Land, SD Zoo, Disneyland, California Adventure funfest in a 3-week span rivals the amusement park travel many of us got in 3 years as kids. Who says today’s kids are spoiled?
To top it off, Madison will be going with Tricia and Zachary to Indiana at the start of August to wrap up the Summer travel agenda. The trio will spend time with Grandma and Granddad Axsom and Aunt Gloria and Uncle Kevin in the Hoosier State and Tricia will also attend her 20-year HS Reunion while she is back home. While the rest of the family is away, Jim and Nathan will be living the bachelor life back in Folsom. If you happen to participate in any poker game, BBQ, or swimming at the McCue home while Tricia is away, please keep it to yourself as Jim is attempting to make missing a trip to Indiana look like a sacrifice to redeem for later use (“I’m going to need only an hour or so for THIS fantasy football draft, honey. It really shouldn’t take that long.”).Once the gang returns from Indiana, Madison starts up in the first grade at her new school (while Tricia gets to return to work). It seems like just yesterday we were trying to get words out of Madison and now she offers up plenty to point out anything and everything. Zach may not have a chance to get a word in with big sister around. Z-Mac has moved from cruising to walking in the last week. He usually gets about 3-6 steps before going down, so it is just a matter of time that he is running all over the house.
As Summer winds down, we will likely be back on watch to keep Nathan healthy (the warm weather makes things a little easier with fewer viruses that often develop into pneumonia in the colder months) and hope to get on top of the seizure control. Soon, we hope to have him moved to a bedroom downstairs – we are planning to convert the dining room into an office/den to open up our downstairs office/bedroom into Nathan’s bedroom/medical supply warehouse. Demolition is set to begin August 10, so we hope to have separate rooms for the boys in September.
We hope this update finds all of our friends healthy and well. Thanks as always for your support, thoughts, and prayers.
Love, The McCues (Jim, Tricia, Madison, Nathan, and Zachary)
