Recovery Time and Family Time

06/29/16 - 11/29/16

I spent my summer recovering and rehabbing from a hip replacement surgery. One nice thing that came out of it was that I got to spend a whole lot more time with family than I have for a while. I stayed at my mom's house. I think she really enjoyed the first couple weeks after the surgery when I needed her help. Luckily, I recovered much quicker than I had expected. I was already taking mile long walks less than a month after the surgery.

My sister Denise lives close to my mom, so I was able to spend a lot of time with her and my brother-in-law Sam as well. Sam and I like many of the same computer games, so we spent many evenings playing these games. They have a dog and five cats. So I practiced my wildlife photography on the cats.

My sister has twin girls Amanda and Andrea. I was able to attend Andrea's wedding to Michael. I volunteered to housesit for them while they were on their honeymoon. However, the house came with two dogs and three cats. But everything went real smoothly. One of the cats, Phantom, even decided my lap was one of the best places to take a nap. Andrea plays the flute in a band in St. Louis. I was able to attend one of their concerts and Andrea had a few small solo pieces. It was only the third time I've ever got to see her perform.

Amanda and her husband Dave bought a new house while I was here. I helped them clean up their old house to rent out. My surgeon probably wouldn't have liked to see me climbing ladders and painting ceilings so soon after the surgery. I was also able to attend a house warming open house at the new house. Amanda also hosted the whole family for Thanksgiving. She put out quite a spread.

I also got to see my brother Dave and his family quite a bit. He has a daughter Hayley and a son Tyler. Hayley plays hockey for Lindenwood University - Belleville which is in the next town over from where my mom lives. So he and my sister-in-law Angel came down several weekends to watch her play. I was able to tag along and got to watch a few of the games. I also made a trip up to the Chicago area to visit them. There I had a chance to watch Tyler play in his men's hockey league.

I had hoped to get a few short trips in, but didn't get it done. My sister and I did take a day trip to Casey, IL where they have a bunch of record holders in the Guinness Book Of World Records. You can see the photos from there in the next photo set.

I really didn't pick up my camera too much during the summer. In fact, only the photos from the concert and hockey game were taken with my camera. All the rest were taken with my iPhone. The first two photos below were taken while I was housesitting for my niece. I did a lot of walking this summer and the next two photos are a couple of creatures I encountered during my walks. The next four photos are from Andrea's concert. Note that it was a Halloween concert and that's why there are people in costumes. The next seven photos are from one of Hayley's hockey games. The last six photos are of my sister's cats.

And now it's time to get back on the road!