San Diego, California

We left the chilly temps of Minnesota with my parents and were greeted by 70 degree weather in San Diego, CA.  We rented a house in Normal Heights that had a hot tub/pool right outside in the back yard.  This was clearly our best decision of the trip!  The kids swam for hours and hours in the pool and the adults loved the hot tub.

Our first day we went to Pacific Beach.  The sights and sounds of the water were wonderful.  The temp of the water was a cool 60 degrees which made it just too cool for swimming.  Surfers were everywhere but had the luxury of a wet suit. 

Mike was hoping to surf for the first time but decided not to after rescuing an unconscious surfer from the waves after a bad fall.

Grandma and Taylor Ann

This was the kids' first visit to the Pacific Ocean

We then made our way to Ocean beach for a meal at the famous "Hodads" for  burgers, malts, and fries.

The walk out on the pier was cool and breezy.

Day 2 was a very special day as we celebrated Taylor Ann's 8th birthday.  Our day began at the Richard Walker Pancake house in downtown San Diego followed by a trip to the world renown San Diego Zoo.

The Rhino was Mike's favorite.

The Giraffes were beautiful.  There was a new giraffe that Mike, my parents, Taylor, and Carter got to see that was only 6 days old and was nursing from it's mother.  The baby in the picture above was born in May and was named Penelope.

Taylor Ann is 8!!!!!

The Koalas were my absolute favorite.

Grandpa and Carter by the Koalas

 Taylor loved the beautiful flamingos

Hailey and I stood in line for 45 minutes to see the giant pandas.  This is a 9 month old baby and it's mamma.  

Birthday cake by the hot tub….what could be better………….

how about a gondola ride through the Coronado Bay.

Mike surprised me with a date night on the Coronado Bay and dinner downtown!

Day 3 we hiked on Point Loma.  The views were great!

We explored the tide pools at low tide for a couple of hours.  We saw an octopus, a sea star, sea anemone, crabs, and snails

Our final day was spent touring the USS Midway.  The kids earned their junior pilot wings.

 This fighter jet was in the movie Top Gun and is aboard the USS Midway on the flight deck.

So long San Diego.  We loved every minute!!!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night

 The Miedema Christmas was held at the Zeinstra home in Holland.  Hailey graced us with her holiday flute concert to start out the party

 Mallory, Auntie Julie, Macey, and Allison Joy

 Family Picture!

 Michael, his mom, and sisters

 The kids and their Calvin Christian gear

Grandpa and Grandma Vis with all 11 grandchildren.  BLESSED!

2013 Christmas Programs & Baking Club

 So very good to be home for Christmas in 2013

 Calvary Church: Christmas Around the World

 Calvin Christian School Program

 Hailey was a dancer for the play: Dude, you hear what I hear?

 5th Grade Baking Club

Happy Birthday Carter Dean! 6 Years Old!

 Happy 6th Birthday Carter Dean!!

 This year we celebrated in Edgerton with family and friends in the Edgerton Christian Elementary Gym.  Carter was thrilled to have space to play all sports; a pretty easy request to fill.  We played soccer, baseball, football, and basketball.  He was so happy!

 The games were set up boys against girls.

Carter is the "man" of the Miedemas'

 When we returned to the twin cities, we had to celebrate with Carter's best buddy: Isaac.  Carter chose is most favorite place to eat: Osaka!

This is Isaac and Carter

 We also had house guests over the weekend.  Jeremy, Leanne, Cullen, and Larkin were at our house for all the fun and excitement of Osaka.  We joined Leanne in celebrating her 30th birthday!!

Isn't she the cutest, chubbiest, ball of love.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Happy Thanksgiving!  We are thrilled be back with our family this year for Thanksgiving.  Carter was back to being happy and healthy for our trip to SW MN.

Illness

Health is something that I often take for granted.  We had a pretty rough couple of weeks at our house that started with just a nasty cold for Hailey and Taylor, but ended with a whole lot more for Carter Dean just before his 6th birthday.

Carter had the same cold as Hailey and Taylor, but also then had the stomach flu with days of fever.  Just when we thought that he may be feeling a bit better he began to start limping and complaining of arm pain.  We found that his wrist joint was extremely swollen as well as his ankle joint.  I then began a head to toe exam which I then found a petechia rash all over his legs.

After consulting Dr. Daddy, Dr. Quale, and the clinic it was clear that a trip to the ER was necessary to check platelets and a CBC to see what was going on.

As Dave and Daddy suspected, Carter was diagnosed with HSP (Henoch-Schonlein Purpura).  It is caused by an abnormal response of the immune system after a virus.  The symptoms matched Carter's: abdominal pain, joint pain, purple spots, nausea, and headaches.

Also, while in the ER it was noted that Carter had a very slow heart rate and an EKG revealed that he has 1st degree heart block.

The pain and rash lasted approximately 10 days and the joint swelling migrated to almost all of his joints.  We were able to control the pain with ibuprofen and tylenol.  We also continued to monitor kidney function with can be a complication with this disease.

We saw a pediatric cardiologist where he received an echocardiogram which revealed a completely normal heart.  The conduction problem was still there.  We will continue to follow EKGs to see of the 1st degree block persists.