Just Monkeying Around

After returning from our Indiana trip, we decided to embark on a project to provide a play structure for the kids in our side yard. Research into available products showed that plenty of monstrocities that include castles, forts, and climbing walls are available to take up an entire yard. It also showed that the cost of buying a simple monkey bar/swing combo is not practical.

So, Jim drew up a sketch/plan to build a play structure and consulted with Pop. After some minor tweaks to the design and despite the lingering doubts from Tricia that the pair could build a structure that would hold up without getting hurt or breaking the structure in disgust, it was "go time." The July 4 weekend was the proposed building time.

Saturday morning involved buying lumber, pipe (for the monkey bars), hardware, and an assortment of "swingset supplies." Then, the hard work started. The bars were assembled on Saturday and most cuts were made in preparation for assembly on Sunday. The second day saw the project come together. And, with some help from friends and neighbors with heavy lifting/holding, the play structure was completed on Sunday evening.

Big thanks go out to Pop (Jim's dad) for his help in the design and construction and for providing the tools (and some of the liquid refreshments) for the project. The kids love the play structure (Zach might warm up to swinging soon) and Madison and Nathan have enjoyed the swings immensely. We have even had friends over and the structure is holding up fine for now.

Planes, Trains, & Automobiles (or Wheelchairs)

Nathan has had a lot of excitement since May. He finally recovered from his last pneumonia and broken shoulder, although he has still not gotten back into ketosis for seizure control. He started summer school for a few weeks, and then we went to Indiana to see the Axsom family. Of course, it was quite an adventure, as everything in Nathan’s life usually is.

We chose to fly Frontier airlines to Indiana since they had the lowest fares and what we thought were the best flight times. For future reference, Zachary does not like red-eye flights. But, Nathan thoroughly enjoyed the airplane ride and especially liked the personal tv screen in front of him which flashed constant advertisements. He cooed most of the ride. But, what we expected to be the end of our rough night en route with 3 kids, ended up being just the beginning.

The airline busted Nathan’s wheelchair. Nathan’s wheelchair is more than a chair – it is his livelihood. The chair helps him to sit upright and hold his head up – two things he cannot do on his own and both critical for his health and safety, not to mention comfort. It is also his transportation. We knew that flying with his chair was a risk, but we had done it once before and really had no other choice. The most surprising part was Frontier’s complete disregard for the damage they did to his chair including an attempt to “cover-up” the damage. The story gets even more disheartening as the Frontier manager in charge at Indianapolis shrugged us off – telling us to leave our info with an associate because she had many other customers that she had to attend to. The best response we could get was that we had to leave the chair at Indianapolis and they would call us when they weren’t so busy. Yet there was no commitment to fix it, pay for fixing it, or acceptance of accountability for the chair. They also broke the handles off of Zachary’s stroller and told us that stroller damage would not be covered. It is now 4 weeks later and we still do not have it resolved with Frontier although we did get it “functionally” repaired the week after we returned.

I won’t bore you with the details of our next several days of logistics, other than to give a positive plug for an amazing rehab equipment company in Ft. Wayne, IN. Hamilton HAS went above and beyond in customizing a “demo” wheelchair (Kidcart) for Nathan’s use for the week. They did all this for a nominal labor fee since we did not know if Frontier was going to cover our costs. Midwestern hospitality was at its finest with these genuine people who really cared about the child and not the money. The chair was not ideal for Nathan’s needs, but it was an acceptable stand in – and certainly better than we expected given our situation.

Unfortunately, the next day Nathan’s feeding pump malfunctioned. This is his life support. He cannot eat through his feeding tube without a feeding pump and therefore this problem is classified as an emergency (at least in my book). It is too bad that Apria employees in the Midwest do not have that same Midwestern hospitality as the wheelchair company. They give the same shoddy customer service they give in California. Again, I won’t bore you with the details - after 10 hours of phone calls we did finally get a replacement pump (with a bad battery back-up). We chalk this up to more of Nathan’s (and my) daily trials and tribulations.

So, on with our vacation (vacation, yeah right). We did manage to have a nice time visiting friends and family. It thunder stormed just about everyday that we were there, so some of our plans did not pan out. But we did get to spend a lot of time with my sister (Auntie Glo), brother-in-law, and parents which was the real purpose of the trip anyway. The kids all enjoyed real Midwestern thunderstorms (and lawn mowers). We visited a very cool science museum one day and enjoyed a few down home “cook-outs”. Nathan stayed healthy which was our biggest wish, even though he missed his creature comforts of home and his nurses. The trip ended successfully with an uneventful return flight and with Nathan ecstatic to see Sandy, his nurse, again. He cooed for hours once reunited.

Well, since it has taken me so long to write this update, I will wait to post an entry with the highlights of our July trip to Disneyland & the beach at a later time. Oh, and if you have not already, check out Jim's entry below about his whirlwind getaway with brother-in-law Kevin during our Indiana visit.

Love, the McCues

Fighting Irish and Betting Indians

During our trip to Fort Wayne, I (Jim) had a chance to get away for about 24 hours with brother-in-law, Kevin. On Friday afternoon, we headed northwest from Fort Wayne to South Bend where Kevin’s mother, Midge, provided a rapid-fire tour of the Notre Dame campus. Her “hang tag” helped with parking and access into a couple of administrative buildings and her knowledge of the “lay of the land” allowed for us to see lots of things in a short amount of time.

We started in the football building where my appointment with Irish head coach Charlie Weis was not found by the receptionist (the communication for the meeting was as successful as the 2007 Notre Dame offense), but we saw his patio and then went on to the larger facilities that house the National Championship trophy, Tim Brown’s Heisman Trophy, and an enormous weight room for the players.
From there, we hit the Joyce Center which houses the Irish hockey team’s home ice as well as the basketball arena. Inside the facility is also the Notre Dame Sports Hall of Honor, which houses past uniforms, awards, photos, and plenty of other memorabilia from the glory days. It was pretty awesome to see sections honoring Knute Rockne, Heisman Trophy winners, national championship coaches and teams, and even some honored athletes from other sports programs at Notre Dame.

Sports turned to art as the tour took us to the main administration building which sports the legendary “Golden Dome.” The interior is amazing with murals and a stunning rotunda. All of the art and history housed in a building that makes the university go on a daily basis seems strange when one thinks of all of the technology to keep a school running in the 21st Century.

The next stop was the basilica, an amazing church that reminded me of the basilicas in Europe. From the large central portal where mass is held to the big pipe organ and ornate pews, the basilica was an intimidating building that seems to humble visitors who enter. Sticking with the religious theme, we then walked over to the Grotto. A very spiritual setting, the Grotto is like a half-cave that houses rows and rows of candles that are lit in prayer or memory of loved ones, friends, and others. It was a powerful experience walking by the candles and taking in the atmosphere with cards and pictures of loved ones left by people after lighting their candles.

After that experience, the stadium and bookstore harkened a shift from the Catholic Church to the Church of Football and Merchandising. Shirts were bought in hopes that the atrocity of the 2007 season is an aberration as everyone is now unbeaten again. The final stop outside the stadium was along the grass leading to the Hesburgh Library building that hosts “Touchdown Jesus” on its side – a Notre Dame icon almost as well-known as Rockne.
In all, the 2 hours on campus were awesome, especially considering that we covered so much ground and just about all of the important landmarks at Notre Dame. Having spent four years at a much newer university (Pepperdine’s Malibu campus opened for student enrollment in 1972 whereas Notre Dame was established in South Bend in 1842), the architecture and ambience were an obvious throwback to a different time and a very different collegial atmosphere.

The tour concluded, we headed back to Midge’s apartment to prepare for the next phase of our adventure – the Four Winds Casino Resort. The first stop was at the home of Kevin’s brother, Wayne, just a short drive away near South Bend in Granger where cold beers awaited before changing cars and hitting the road again (Kevin and I had the beers and Wayne drove). Our road trip took us north into Michigan and then west along the Michigan border to New Buffalo on the shore of Lake Michigan. We ventured down a road to view million dollar homes on the lake that look out toward Chicago (if the weather was better, we might have been able to look across the lake to see the Sears Tower and downtown Chicago) and the million dollar views of the lake.

As it was, we concluded our trip into the neighborhood and headed to the casino. The Four Winds Casino Resort is a luxurious casino and hotel opened in August 2007 by the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians (http://www.fourwindscasino.com/). Nestled in the woods of New Buffalo, it boasts a large gaming floor (it would be the third largest gaming room in Las Vegas) and a great atmosphere. I hit the Pai Gow table and spent about $20 for a few hours of entertainment. We also feasted at the Copper Rock restaurant (try the prime rib, it’s delicious) before heading back to Granger to finally end the day’s travel.

On Saturday, after a hearty breakfast, we concluded our South Bend get-away with a trip to the National College Football Hall of Fame. Packed with memorabilia, displays, and interactive exhibits, the HOF captures the history of the college game and the legends that played it. The evolution of equipment, uniforms, players, coaches, and the way people enjoy them is displayed in great detail and in a manner that is easy for the casual to die-hard fan to enjoy. My only complaint is that the HOF had no display or mention of George Pepperdine College’s 38-13 victory over Nebraska-Wesleyan in the First Annual Will Rogers Bowl Classic in Oklahoma City or of the school’s undefeated 1947 season.