On The Road Again!

Our nephew, Matthew Milholland, graduated from Lewiston High School over Memorial Day weekend, an event we were not going to miss. Caitlin and Dayton drove to Yakima that Saturday and spent the night with us. Early Sunday morning we packed into the Mountaineer and headed East. We arrived in time to meet up with many other Raines family members who also made the trek to celebrate Matthew's success. Once ME was comfortably settled in Polly and Steve's home, a bunch of us walked up to the event, hosted at Lewis Clark State College.

After the formalities, Polly and Steve hosted a great post graduation party with a huge spread of food and drink. The weather was perfect so many classmates joined Matthew in their yard to help celebrate. It was a great time for everyone. We spent the night in a local hotel, a good test for us for the following week. After another quick visit with the Mils, we headed home to Yakima around noon on Monday.

Last Thursday, ME and I drove over to Seattle for a couple of days. Caitlin's "white coat" ceremony was that evening at a theater downtown near Seattle Center. Upon completing their second year of medical school, students are given their first white coat as they prepare for clinical rotations. It was an incredible event with 14 family members there to help Caitlin celebrate. We all went out to dinner afterward at the Old Spaghetti Factory. I hadn't been there since college days!

Friday morning I took MaryEleanor to the UW Medical Center. This time she was a visitor, not a patient. We went up to inpatient rehab where she had spent seven weeks starting her recovery. When ME left the U in December of 2008, she was on a stretcher. She proudly walked onto the floor and was met by all of her therapists and physicians. She spent the next hour talking with them all, eye to eye. It was as rewarding for them as it was for ME. Her room was empty so we popped in to show ME how/where we had signed her the name on the ceiling. What a treat.

ME needed a break so we headed back to the hotel for a little R&R. Caitlin had invited us to have dinner at their condo that evening so ME wanted to rest for a while. We had a great time at dinner with Caitlin and Dayton. Polly and Steve were staying with them so they added to the fun evening. The really cool part was that ME had to negotiate going up a flight of thirteen stairs to get to the condo. I put a gait belt on her and Dayton and Steve escorted her up. Coming down was a bit more of a challenge but ME handled it well.

Saturday morning we popped over for a quick visit with ME's Mom. The mission for the day was to do some serious shopping at the outlet mall in North Bend. Caitlin and Dayton headed off in one direction with ME and I made a bee line to my favorites. Within a couple of hours we accomplished our goal. After saying our goodbye's, ME and I headed home.

I won't say traveling with ME is a piece of cake as it calls for alot of logistics. However, after going overnight two weekends in a row, we have it down pretty well. It will only get easier as ME progresses.

Congrats to Caitlin on her white coat and best of luck with her boards. Paul is headed back to the Hoh this summer. It was great to see him this past weekend as we don't know when he'll be able to venture out of the forest this summer.

What a great way to kick off the summer!