This week we spent four days at the YMCA of the Rockies, about an hour away from our home, courtesy of the GRACE program. GRACE stands for "Giving Respite And Comfort to Everyone", and this year their focus has been on families dealing with pediatric cancer. We stayed in a 3-bedroom vacation home, all of our meals were provided, and many activities were available free of charge. Liz says that her favorite part was not having to cook or do dishes for 4 days. Funny enough, even though we could eat for free at the YMCA dining hall, whenever the kids spotted the fast food restaurants in Estes Park they would ask, "Can we eat at McDonald's? Can we eat at Taco Bell? Can we eat at Subway?" Sorry kids, maybe another time.
Considering it was mid-October in the mountains, the weather was nice and we were still able to enjoy some of the fall colors. The view from our front porch was amazing, you can get a taste of it reflected in the windows in some of the pictures below.
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| "Vespers #23" our home away from home at the YMCA |
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| We were soooo looking forward to getting away and taking a break from the grind of our routine. This trip to the YMCA really hit the spot. |
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| Our kids loved virtually everything about the trip and even managed to get along reasonably well. |
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| There's a beautiful walking path around the lake in Estes Park. At one point on the trail we saw dozens and dozens of elk, many of them up close. A few nights later an elk was eating outside the kids' bedroom window. Its antlers were banging against the wall as it ate, which woke us up. |
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| Of course the best part about lakes is throwing rocks in them. |
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| Even Mikey got into the rock throwing action. You can see the rock he's throwing in this picture. |
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| There goes another rock. His throw isn't that great, so his rocks mostly went straight down. |
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| Putting around on the miniature golf course. |
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| Brooklyn mostly enjoyed eating the golf balls and climbing on the rocks. |
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| Lots of fun rocks to climb near our cabin. |
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| Can't tell if they're sitting on a beehive or the Death Star. |
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| The kids called this rock the "Bear Cave". If there were any bears that wanted to sleep there, clearly they have grown tired of little children climbing into their bed and have long since moved on. |
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| The top of the "bear cave". |
In addition to climbing rocks and playing in the dirt, we spent time at the pool, the library, the craft center, miniature golfing, reading, playing games, and ending each day with popcorn and a movie night at our cabin. With so many fun activities available, we made a conscious choice to try to strike a balance between going out and having fun and just taking it easy and relaxing.
As we get back into our daily routine, we're trying to figure out how to continue physical and occupational therapy for Michael. We've been very fortunate to have excellent therapists coming to our home over the last two and a half years to help him as he tries to learn skills we take for granted, such as walking and feeding himself. Brooklyn, who is fifteen months old and is two years younger than Michael, has now surpassed Michael in most of his physical capabilities. It's really eye opening to see how quickly and naturally a child learns these fundamental skills that Michael still struggles with.
We found out recently our insurance has decided to not pay for in home therapy for Michael anymore. They decided that since he's obviously well enough to go to preschool he is no longer "home bound" and doesn't qualify for in home therapy. Never mind that in home therapy costs the same as outpatient therapy. Or that outpatient therapy just isn't feasible for Michael or our family right now. We're appealing the insurance decision and are investigating other avenues to see if we can get funding for his therapy. In the meantime, we're super grateful for his therapists and that we were able to get therapy funded longer than we originally expected. Also, he gets brief visits from some therapists that visit his preschool each week, and we'll continue to work with him on our own at home as best we can.
