Day 3: IKEA, Kristen’s Baby Party

Busy day. We went to Baltimore, met up with friends from Hawai’i, who now also live stateside, and make my first trip to the wonderland that is IKEA. Those guys are SMART. They make it really easy to spend lots of money. Babysitters, in-store cafeteria, pencils and pads of paper… It’s amazing. I found myself getting seriously sucked into the gotta-have-it American materialist mentality.

We’re going back tomorrow to maybe get some furniture. =)

Then, we went to a party Kristen’s parents threw for her and her hubby and their new baby. They’re in from TX, and all of the family friends and old friends were invited. (Kris and I were friends in high school and after.) I got to do a little catching up with her and her brother (my only “little brother”), and with an old friend from high school (Sara!), as well as with other friends of mine (actually, my friends’ parents, whom I now consider friends). A good time until I started dying from cat exposure.

So, home we went. And I coughed up a lung.

That night, Grandpa (who had been refusing to go to the hospital) expressed a need to see a doctor. So Mom and Dad took him. He was admitted with low blood pressure and renal failure. They hooked him up to lots of antibiotics for a respiratory infection, and he started getting better right away.

Day 4: Melissa’s Birthday Party

I coughed all night. David even considered moving out to the couch, it was so bad.

Grandpa’s situation improved.

David and Leah made Melissa’s cake, and we had the afore-blogged party.

Day 5: We didn’t go to the beach.

Between me being sick and my Grandpa spending a couple of days in the ICU (thanks, all you well-wishers), we decided not to go to the beach.

So, we stayed home and played games instead.

Day 6: I have bronchitis.

Seriously, that was the big news of the day. I stayed home coughing and coughing, then went to an urgent care clinic and got my Dx. Then I went to a drugstore and got my drugs.

They moved Grandpa to a regular hospital room from the ICU.

Sarah was my friend in high school – she was a year ahead of my in school, and did things like field band and color guard with me. I was there for her 16th birthday party, just before things got really bad for her. I haven’t kept in touch, but I’m glad to see how well she’s doing. Read this article!

I never realized how pretty this little town is.� I’ve spent years thanking my lucky stars that I escaped small town life… but there’s something to say for the quaint.� Nothing in my neighborhood is… quaint.� It’s ghetto.� Some pictures (I know, they don’t really show the town):

We’re on a road trip! Well, we’re actually in PA, on our way to SC. We’re staying a week in Myrtle Beach. =) Here’s us getting ready to leave Indy…