The moms were floored by the garden and I've had a few surprising trips out there myself this week so I thought I'd provide a few pictures of what we're harvesting right now...

The cucumbers have stopped their proliferation but those in the garden are HUGE. Check out POTD. I made a delicious feta/cucumber recipe yesterday, thanks DW. 

And the toms are out of control. I have little Sun Gold's that taste better than candy, and lots of heirloom varieties. I made gazpacho this week, delicious. 

The most surprising are the squash - remember I realized in retrospect that I don't even really like zucs? Worse yet, the plants have grown like crazy and while they continue to flower, the veggies are surfacing. They appear, grow about 2 inches and then rot out. So the other day I cut down a ton of the growth. I couldn't do a clean swipe, don't ask why, it's like I can hear them crying. Anyway, I was out getting a cucumber last night and was almost taken down by an ENORMOUS zuccini. I have to get out to take a picture. You aren't going to believe it. I could make a dozen loaves of bread...

Never a dull moment in '08, that is for sure...so the much anticipated dads/NYC, moms/Chicago visit went down last weekend and ours took an unexpected turn.

First, the dads had a blast. They toured the big apple, saw the sights, took in a 13 inning Yankees game, ate their hearts out, and washed it all down with several Dewars. The perfect guys weekend.

The gals had a fantastic start - lunch at Table 52 was even more spectacular than expected. We walked off our indulgent meal with a stroll on Oak Street and Michigan Ave. Great shopping, perfect day. Friday night we met more family in town at Old Town Brasserie and had a wonderful evening.

Woke up Saturday to my mom experiencing more curious bruising on her body, in fact it had escalated further with the addition of red blood spots all over her legs. After several calls to various GPs and our doc in the family, she is advised to get a blood test (immediately) at the emergency room. We didn't really sweat it, headed down the street to the closest hospital on our way out to do some shopping.

Note this is a bit long, but I've condensed...

Doc reviews bruises, takes blood and tells us we're going to be looking at the platelet count. Normal levels are 150K - 500K but anything over 100K is OK; under 10K is considered serious. She says no need to go into more details, lets wait for results.

Doc leaves. Doc returns.

Mom's count is 2K. As in two thousand. (Later, after she is checked in to her room, several nurses and a PA come to see the "2K platelet patient" because they've only read about levels this low in textbooks).

Understandably, my mom wants to go home. Don't you always want to be home when you're sick? She wants to get on the first flight back and check into a hospital there. Doc says with her levels so low, she is at risk of spontaniously bleeding out.

Que first wave of extreme panic, (for both of us).

Doc speaks with the hemotologist (blood doc), who thinks it is ITP which is a virus that could be caused by a low grade fever or lupus, lymphoma or leukemia.

Que second wave of extreme panic, (for both of us).

Ultimately, we convince her to check into the hospital in Chicago. It helps that the doc says we'll have to sign forms saying we'd be leaving against their medical counsel since if she were to fall, get into an accident, etc. she would die.

You got it, third wave of extreme panic.

She finally gets a room at 5pm and we nestle in for what will be a five day stay. I'll skip ahead to the good part...she is OK! It was ITP but not connected to any of the scary "L" words. While very slow to respond (which is normal), her platelet count finally did start to bounce back and she tearfully shouted to anyone who would listen "I'm a 28K!" on Tuesday night. By Wed morning she was a strong 66K and could safely wander the streets without any danger.

And, as it turns out she did go shopping immediately upon being released from her wheel chair, gotta love her enthusiasm.

A huge, scary experience. The blessing was, outside of the platelet count, she felt fine so we catered in all her meals and ate really well; MIL was in town (remember, it was moms weekend?) so we had a big party in the room Sat night; my sis happened to be in Milwaukee visiting a friend and came by Sun morning to say hello; and my dad flew in Mon to do bedside duty and I hadn't seen him in months. So if you eliminate the life-in-danger part, it really was still a great weekend.

Never a dull moment...

What could be better than a boys' weekend in NYC, spent enjoying a Yankees game and steak dinners? A girls' weekend in Chicago filled with gourmet meals, shopping and enjoying the outdoors! Chris surprised the dads with flights to NYC and tickets to the Yankees game for Father's Day earlier this summer and the time has arrived. Meanwhile, the moms are jumping on a plane and visiting me. 

It is sure to be a fun time for all, just hard to say which adventure will be better. We're looking forward to it! A full recap when the excitement comes to a close :)

In spite of myself, I can't get enough of the Olympics. I'm totally enraptured by Michael Phelps (join the legions, right?) and find myself practicing my dolphin kick now that I'm back in the pool once a week. I have a little way to go, especially since I can't hold my breath five yards, let along five body lengths. But I am inspired. I'm reaching a bit further in my freestyle stroke and building endurance. Each week I start with my longest leg, this week a 400. Good news is I'm not training for anything so plenty of time to improve :) 

I'm really excited for the upcoming marathon event. It is fun to see the best compete against each other. Women's cycling was pretty good too. 

At the end of the day, a little dose of the Olympics never hurts. It creates a nice, warm "Go America" feeling that seems absent from most of us these days. USA!

Cheers!

Early start today as the boys all ran the half marathon. It was a 6:30 start time so really early rise. Perfect day though, cool at the start and probably didn't get above 70 degrees at the finish. Everyone did really well, hubby had a PR with 1:53 (average hr: 152). Check out his sweet runner's stride featured in picture of the day. They ran on the ABTA team which we'll be raising money for this fall during marathon season. 

It was weird to sit out. In fact I can't remember ever not running with the group. Stella, Vicki and I cheered them on though which was fun. 

Off to eat a big breakfast as if I ran 13.1 myself!

Oy - I've completely fallen off the face of the earth. For a variety of reasons, work has taken over my life and I still haven't come up for a breath. In fact, right now I'm trying to coordinate a previously confirmed camera crew to tape the Jonas Brothers in Madison Square Garden tonight. Late this afternoon I got word that they are no longer allowed on site. Awesome. 

No rest for those solving the world's biggest issues I guess...

The only real news I've neglected to share recently is the amazingly enormous storm we had on Monday night. Two storms actually, and potentially a tornado. Biggest either of us could ever remember. As the tornado sirens went off in our neighborhood we rushed upstairs to the biggest window in the house to search for funnel clouds. 

Now I realize that we've always been taught to head to the basement for shelter, AWAY from windows, but when the world is being blown sideways right before your eyes, it is hard not to watch. 

Everything at the house, with the exception of my poor tomato garden, made it through pretty much unscathed. I restaked all the plants after the first storm and another one hit in the middle of the night. It wasn't until last night that I was able to spend any time fixing them. Aside from a few casualties, I think they should be OK. We'll see. 

Off to see if we can get our crew backstage. Rock on.