Weary Travelers

I left off with Joe being sick the day we went to Knott's Berry Farm which was a week an a half ago. Well, the short version of the rest of our vacation is that everybody in our family, except for Austin came down with the flu, so we cancelled the second week of our vacation completely and came straight home. We've been home for almost a week now.

The longer version goes a little something like this:

Very early Saturday morning (after Knott's) Grant got a bad headache and started running a high fever just like Joe. They were both suffering 102-104 degree fevers and chills, aches and pains, exhaustion, cough, nasal congestion, etc. We had planned to go and see my cousins that day. After chatting with my cousin Stacey about the dilemma, we decided I would still make the visit with the kids that were healthy.

I had fun visiting with my cousins from my dad's side of the family. These pics are with my cousin Stacey:






Then we went to visit my cousin Denise from my mom's side of the family. It was fun to get to catch up with her and to see my cousin Lindy's boy, Santiago. He and Austin had a blast playing light sabers with each other:


Later that night Ada started exhibiting all of the flu symptoms.

Sunday, Joe, Grant, and Ada were all miserable, as well a my dad and Melanie. We all stayed home from church and watched a bunch of church movies all day long while the sickies sipped Gatorade, took a bunch of ibuprofen and napped off and on. Joseph got hit with the virus in the middle of the night. This photo was taken the following morning. You can tell some of us were suffering from a major lack of sleep:



Monday we sadly said goodbye to my dad and Melanie and her grandkids and stopped for the night in St. George at one of my dad's timeshare condos. We had planned to spend time with my Grandma and Aunt Karen who live in the area, but we had to settle for a quick picture at Wal-Mart.

Grandma only got to hug the healthy ones. I had a nice little visit with her and my aunt while Joe took all the kids to the bathroom for a potty break. Hans started running a high fever in the middle of the night, and the rest of the symptoms followed soon after.

We had originally planned to visit the Provo/Salt Lake area Tuesday through Thursday, where we were to have some big family get togethers with Joe's side of the family, say goodbye to Joe's little brother Jeff at the MTC, spend a couple of nights with Ledia, our Albanian friend, and try to search for Joe's sister Angela who is on a mission at Temple Square. For Fourth of July weekend we were going to visit Joe's family in Idaho Falls and sister Jana, and her husband and kids who live in Rexburg and then come home today. Because of our illnesses, we decided it would be best to cancel the rest of our trip to avoid infecting everybody we came in contact with. So last Tuesday, we drove up through Utah, said goodbye to Jeff through our car windows at a shopping center in Orem, and drove to Twin Falls, ID, where we stayed overnight in a hotel.

So close, yet so far: No final hugs for Uncle Jeff

Wednesday morning we loaded up the car a final time and headed all the way home to Pullman where we've been trying to recover. I got sick on Thursday, but without a fever. Jennabee got the full blown sickness on Friday. Austin is the only one who has managed to avoid the virus so far, but it ain't over til it's over...