Happy Birthday Catie!

Twelve years ago, in Corona CA we welcomed my parents first grand daughter into the world. My Mom had been holding a baby gift in the closet of her bedroom for almost 4 years in anticipation of this special moment. Cathryn was the answer to countless prayers and has been a blessing in our lives every day.

Chris wanted to do something unique for Catie's birthday this year. So she found a cooking school called the Way Cool Cooking School that offered birthday parties that included making soft pretzels, pepperoni pizza or calzone and fruit smoothies. The party also included cake and Karaoke. Joining Cate in her celebration were 7 of her friends from school as well as special guests, cousins Cory and Jamie who were in for memorial weekend. They were really good sports even though they were the only boys with all those girls.

The party was a hit with all the kids. The food all looked so good. I only wish there would have been enough left overs for the adults to try some. The party ended with gift opening and the girls taking over the Karaoke machine, singing and dancing until they closed the place down.

After the party we went home were Catie open the family presents. The highlight of the evening was an American Girl doll from her Uncles and Aunts in Wisconsin, an electric scooter from Mom and Dad and Tennis racket from Nik and a bike helmet from Alex. To view more photo's from the day, please feel free to visit our Wunrow family web site. Happy Birthday Catie, we love you!

Cabin Fever

Having a cabin on a lake is every Minnesotans dream. If you listen to the stories my kids tell, it's not so much a dream as an expectation. Well, we can't say we have a met this expectation we have accomplished the dream. My Uncle Doug does have a cabin on a lake in the woods of northern Wisconsin and he was gracious in letting us use it this weekend for a little R & R. His cabin is in a small town called Cumberland which in northwestern Wisconsin, a mere two hour drive from our house. It is situated on Beaver Dam Lake, nestled into a beautiful wooded area, overlooking the lake. A set of wooden stairs takes you down to the waters edge were you will find a small wooden patio with Appalachian lounge chairs for enjoying the view on one side of the stairs and a pier and dock for his boat on the other side.

Chris and the kids met me at work on Friday night so I wouldn't have to drive home only to turn around and drive right back through downtown again on the way to the cabin. We stopped for a bite to eat on the way up and arrived at the cabin just after sunset around 9:00 pm. We walked down to the waters edge and were able to enjoy the remaining colors of the sunset draining from the sky. After unloading the car we settled in for the evening. The cabin is awesome, room for all of us to have a soft bed to sleep on, full kitchen, wireless Internet, and a very nice stereo complete with iPod doc! We had my iPod playing music within minutes of walking in the door and between Alex and I had music going almost the entire visit.

Saturday was our one full day there. We spent a very leisurely morning reading, relaxing and having breakfast. Then we read and relaxed and talked some more. We did eventually carry Uncle Doug's canoe down to the water. He has a very nice Old Town Penobscott 16 ft canoe. Catie and I were the first to go out in it, Paddling to the west end of the lake, looking at some of the other cabins and watching some of the other owners putting in there piers and boat lifts. It was very peaceful, not too much motorboat traffic to worry about. I went out canoing two other times that day, once with Chris and Catie and once with Catie and Alex. That evening we went out for pizza at a local place called Sammy's. Really good pizza and amazing prices. We had two pies, bread sticks, salad and drinks and the bill came to $30, what a deal. We ended the night with a fire in the fireplace and the kids made s'mores for desert.

We all slept in on Sunday morning, with the boys staying in bed until 10. We had a leisurely breakfast before packing up and cleaning up. At about 12:30 we said said good by but not farewell to the cabin the lake. It was a much needed escape to rest and recharge our batteries. Thank you Uncle Doug and allowing us to share your retreat.

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day to all you Moms out there, put most importantly I want to wish the happiest of Mothers Days to Christina. It was a weekend all about Mom. On Saturday her biggest wish was that we "took back our yard!" Since the snow has melted and the flowers, tree's and bushes have come back to life, so have or dreaded enemy the weeds! In fact they had really taken over our yard and made it into their own personal heaven. So, All five of us pitched in and told the weeds, "You are not the boss of me!" The reality was, that for all of Saturday and part of Sunday they still were the boss. It wasn't until after noon today the we finally got the upper hand in the battle. I can now say with confidence Mission Accomplished. Now, I'm not on an Aircraft Carrier, and there are still parts of the yard were insurgent weeds are still causing havoc, but unlike our President I have a clear plan for victory over the next 7 days! ;-)

We started Moms day out this morning by making Chris a yummy breakfast. All of the kids pitched in to make it happen. We had Breakfast Borritos, Pancakes, Fruit Salad, Potato's, Bagels, Coffee and Juice. After gifts and cards were opened it was time to get back to work both inside the house and out. The kids did their chores and then joined me back outside for the conclusion of the yard work. Chris is really thrilled with how nice everything looks. You can now sit outside on the deck and enjoy the park like setting of our back yard with out the visual be disrupted by the nasty's.

We finished off Chris' Mothers Day weekend with a picnic dinner at the Excelsior Commons on Lake Minnetonka. It was warm today with a high of 85 degrees. We found a nice shady shot and spread out our blanket and chairs. There were lots of boaters out on the water already and the scene was very peaceful. After the picnic we headed of to our favorite local custard stand for a little desert. It was a nice way to finish The Weekend Of Mom. Happy Mothers Day Sweetheart!

The walking Hardware Store

Today Chris had her second post surgery follow up visit with Dr. Holte. It's hard to believe that three months have passed since that bitter cold morning in early February. Our lives have surely changed since that day and continue to do so for the better. The level of pain that Chris experiences now is virtually none. What discomfort there is comes form the healing process post surgery. The pain that she as dealt with from the last 5 years is gone. Praise the Lord!


Chris' follow up went well. The Doctors says she is right on track. The hardware is still solid and he is able to see that the various bone grafts are starting to knit with her tail bone and vertibre. This fusing of the grafts and her bone is the most critical part of the post surgery recovery. Some patients bodies don't accept the grafts and the fusion never happens. When we heard the storys during consultation that a procedure was not successful, it was generally because of this lack of fusion. In those cases the hardware is the only thing holding everything together. What the hardware is supposed to do is hold things in place so the grafts can fuse. So thankfully the early indications are that the surgery was a success.

I've included several photos of Chris' X-Rays in this entry. The top one is a view from the back which shows all the main hardware that was installed during the second phase of the surgery which went in from the back. In it use can clearly see the screws, brackets and rods that are holding the L5 vertabre and the tailbone in place. You can also see the snaps on the pants that Chris wore to the appointment! They are the little rings on either side of the hardware.

The photo dated 3-1-07 is the side view X-Ray taken on her first visit back in March. This was the week that we got 28 inches of snow if you'll recall. In this photo you can see the bone graft that is in the place where her disc used to be as well as the screw and washer that are holding the graft in place. The bone graft is kind of wedge shaped and without the screw could have the tendancy to slide out of place. That would NOT be good! In this photo you can also see how long the screws are that are holding the brackets and rods in place.The last photo dated 5-1-07 is the same side view two months later. In it you can see the bone graft is less clearly defined and actually seems fuzzy. This is a good thing as it shows that the donor bone is knitting with Chris' natural bone.