Memorial Weekend around these parts was different for us this year! David came home from work early Friday to pack for Germany. We had such a wonderful afternoon that I decided he should play hooky from work more often. ;) We went to lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings, enjoyed spending time together, and ran some errands. I don't remember the last time I laughed as hard as I did with him on Friday!
Friday also started Freedom Weekend Aloft in our area. Each year Freedom Weekend has a lot of cool activities and fun stuff for families to do over the weekend. They have hot air balloons each year, too. We live near the area where the balloons were going up so we parked ourselves on the back porch with some drinks and music and waited for those babies to fly!
My mom dropped Macy off Friday morning while she hung out with her friend Mecia. Macy enjoyed waiting on the balloons!
Marley wasn't so sure about the balloons- and actually, it turns out he probably wasn't feeling that well, either.
Even Jovie got in on the action! That girl loves to lay out on the deck. Every once in a while she'll want to venture off, but for the most part she is content to just sit and watch. :)
While we were waiting, David's friend Jeff got a splinter. I went through my plethora of nursing knowledge to tell him all about flesh-eating bacterias that you can get from a simple splinter. David was a better friend and actually removed it for Jeff. :) What are friends for, right?
Finally the balloons started popping up over a house down the street.
We thought it was so cool that we could see so many of them! It was definitely a treat and very cool to see! But then it got even better as this particular balloon started floating our way:
This balloon floated right over a house in my cul-de-sac! What?! We were waving like crazy people and everyone in the basket was waving back. We were just sure this balloon went down in our neighborhood. So to prove we actually are crazy, we hopped in the car and went to find it, ha!
The balloon landed right behind our neighborhood and it turns out we aren't the only crazy people around- everyone was stopped in their cars and we could see people piling into their cars to hunt balloons down, too.
We had a great night, but night soon turned in to Saturday morning and I had to take David to the airport. I've taken David to the airport most of the times he's had to fly to Germany and it just hasn't gotten any easier! I'm proud to say I only cried a little and it's probably because I knew my mom was on her way to my house to spend the rest of the weekend with me! Mom and I went shopping on Saturday and I got some cute things. I'll have to hunt them down later and take a picture- because in true mom fashion, all of my stuff is already put away. :)
The hot air balloons are supposed to fly every day of the weekend so mom and I thought it would be fun to cook out chicken so we could be out on the deck when they took off. Mom thought it was the neatest thing! The winds were shifting just right on Saturday and balloons started flying over MY house!
All of the neighbors were out in the cul-de-sac watching the balloons get lower and lower, and waving at everyone in the basket. The baskets were so close you could holler at them and they'd yell right back at you!
One of our favorite little neighbors, Kate, spotted this pink and purple balloon and told me I just had to take a picture of it for her- so here it is, Kate! (I'm with Kate, I think this was one of the prettiest balloons we saw!)
And then we saw TWO balloons go down in our neighborhood. So like the crazy people from the night before, we all piled in to the car and headed to the action!
I got Kate and Jake to pose in a picture with one of the balloons, and you can see how big the balloon actually is! The balloons also have Balloon Chase Teams- I thought the resembled storm chasers- because they would drive like maniacs trying to find their balloons.
And this was the other balloon that landed in our neighborhood:
Can I get an amen?! I was so excited to see my Clemson Tigers on a balloon! And no, there were no Gamecock Balloons around! :)
I had to get my picture with the balloon and the guy kept lighting up the fire to keep the balloon straight up. That fire was hot! I have no idea how they can stand being in those baskets on 90 degree days with that fire. Of course, we had to get a shot farther away:
And this picture gives you a good idea of how big the balloons are, too! The guy who owns it had a SC flag (palmetto tree and moon) put in the very top of his balloon and he let me get a picture of it. How cool is this picture?
The rest of our weekend was spent with Marley. My poor boy. I started noticing on Saturday that he wasn't eating his treats and wasn't eating very much. I didn't think much of it until Sunday when he was completely lethargic, not eating, not drinking, and would take a few steps and then just lay down. We knew his belly was hurting. We got him to drink about 5 spoonfuls of chicken broth and that was it. He looked like he felt miserable. Mom and I went ahead and ran some errands, did a little more shopping, but I just knew something wasn't right with him.
Sunday night, he finally pooped and right after that we packed up to head to the emergency vet. Sorry for the graphics, but his poop was covered in blood and to add to it, he came inside and threw up all the chicken broth he had swallowed. We got to the emergency vet around 10:30 and the place was already packed. I don't know if it was the holiday or just because it was a weekend, but it was so busy. We waited for about an hour before they saw us and Marley threw up again on their floor. I held it together for a little while but cried in the waiting room. I have no idea how I can work with teeny-tiny babies in the NICU, but I can't handle an emergency vet! :) Marley's my baby, I suppose. :)
He was so pitiful. The doctor came to look at him and started throwing words around like, "pancreatitis, long-stay hospital" and I was freaking out. My husband is in a completely different country and I can't call him and my baby might have to stay in a pet hospital??! I am so glad my mom was here to be with me and help me get through this. I can't imagine if I had had to do this on my own...
They did some blood work and looked at his stool sample. Luckily his blood work looked pretty good. The only thing abnormal was his hematocrit and essentially just showed he was dehydrated. His stool sample found a roundworm which means his heartworm meds are not working. (Definitely ticked about this one. I make sure to give him his meds on the same day every month so this shouldn't have happened. I'll definitely be calling the company....) The doctor said roundworms can cause diarrhea but not the blood. She did say their could be another parasite they missed on the slide because they only get one sample and other worms- hookworms- can cause bloody diarrhea. Either way, he was a sick little boy.
They ended up giving him 3 shots and a fluid bolus and sent me home with 3 different meds to give him. Two of which we had to give every 2 hours last night! So mom and I were up every two hours giving Marley his meds. :( He has perked up a little today. A little more hungry- he's on a diet of chicken and white rice for 3 days assuming he keeps it all down- and a little more playful. He's not fully back to his extremely playful attitude and he still doesn't want to drink any water, but he's working on it. (He does like chicken broth...)
Mom took him home with her today since more of my family is around to watch him and take care of him. I have to work a few nights this week and since David isn't here, we thought this was the best way to get him better. I miss him already and I did cry a lot when he left! But I have a sweet girl here who must know I'm sad because she has been laying right next to me since I sat down on the couch. :)
So needless to say, my memorial day will end quietly by myself with my kitty and hopefully some sleep tonight. It's been quite a weekend. I'm looking forward to things being quiet for a while. ;)
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