Broken Wrist !

We had an exciting week-end ... Azra fell on Saturday and broke her wrist. We spent most of the day at the emergency room and they gave her lots of pain medication that seemed to work, but also made her very hazy. They also put her arm in a temporary splint. Today we went to an orthopedist who took another round of x-rays and put a more permanent cast on. We go back in three weeks for more x-rays and to replace the cast. She has to wear it for six weeks total. She says it doesn't hurt as bad as the first day, but she really can't do anything with it. Now she is just taking a lot of advil instead of the more serious pain killers and plans to go to school tomorrow.

She got to pick the color of her cast ... and choose purple, which goes with her outfit today, at least!

Tubing

This was the last week-end of summer for us because Miran and Azra start classes on Monday and even though my classes don't start until the following week, I have to report to campus this week for lots of faculty and coordination meetings.

So to get in a last summertime activity, we spent today tubing on the Green River, about two hours west of Charlotte. We just rented inner tubes and floated down the river for about three and a half hours. There was a nice mix of about half slow rapids and more gently flowing water. No paddling was necessary, but if you wanted to control where you were floating you had to use your arms a bit.

It was a lot of fun, even though this was a relatively cool day for this kind of activity and it actually poured on us for about half an hour in the middle. Azra and I were so cold we were shivering. But I can't remember the last time I was cold outside so it was refreshing. I forgot to bring our camera so we didn't even get a picture of us before or after. So here is a random picture of people tubing on the Green River I found online. This is pretty much what our day looked like (complete with a cooler of drinks and snacks in a separate tube tied onto mine) ...

Uncle Miran

My mom and sister Cecilia and her daughters stayed with us the last three nights on their way home from the big Florida adventure. This morning they all went home. But in our short time in Charlotte, we went to the Discovery Place children's science museum and to an outlet mall (with a carousel). I didn't manage to get any pictures of these fun activities.

Miran is wonderful with the kids and came home each day with an activity in mind for them. One day he engaged their help washing his car (Azra and I were impressed because he barely lets us touch it).

Here are the girls helping him spray cleaner on the tires ...

And here is Maggie scrubbing away at the windows...

The next day he came home with bubble solution and wands which the girls loved playing with in the back yard. They had a little trouble using the wands themselves, but when Mom and Cecilia spread the bubbles, they loved running through them and trying to catch them. Here is Ingrid on one her more successful bubble making attempts ...

Florida III: Christening Formals

On the last day of the trip, we all went to the Christening of Michael Salvatore Aresco, and we took lots of pictures because everyone was dressed up so nicely.

The Makases ...

The Arescos ...

The Andersons ...

My mother with her daughters and grandchildren ...

My father with his four grandchildren ...

Florida II: Tallahassee

These pictures are from the few days we spent at my father's house in Tallahassee. My sisters Jessica and Elise both happened to be in town so we got to see everyone.

We went on the Wakulla Springs boat tour, as we always do when we go Tallahassee. It was very hot, but we enjoyed seeing the turtles, alligators, manatees and lots of birds.

Aunt Elise read the girls the book Hippos Go Berserk, which we all remember reading to her a million times when she was young ...

After Maggie's bath one night Aunt Jessica helped (as she is wont to do) ...

The girls enjoyed a horseback ride ...

And then helped feed the horses as well ...

And we all enjoyed a taste of the Gunzburger beer in the Gunzburger glass that Elise brought home from her trip to Europe earlier this summer. Of course this was a special event for a table full of Gunzburgers!