RAGBRAI getting closer

Our summer is going fast, as I'm sure all of your summers are. Grace and Michelle went golfing with me tonight, which was fun. We've been doing that a little lately--Grace really likes the golf cart and cheering the rare put her dad makes. She goes in tomorrow morning to get her new "magic shoes", which will be quite a bit bigger than her current pair. For those of you wondering what magic shoes are, they are the braces she wears on her feet and ankles for support and to keep her feet from rolling inward when she stands. We took to calling them magic shoes when she first got them last summer to make them sound more exciting than braces. Her new pair will go past her knees and almost halfway up her thighs. I doubt she'll like them, and they probably won't be comfortable, but they'll provide more support and keep her knees from bowing in--which they've started to do quite a bit. The good news is that she's still standing a lot and much prefers to do so than sit. We also went for a bike ride today as a family, and it made our thoughts turn to RAGBRAI, which is less than a month away. As it gets closer, it's looking like Michelle and I are going to ride the first day. I know we've said this, but just to make sure, all money that the RACE4GRACE team raises from here on out will go to FSMA and it's search for a cure and treatment for SMA. While we greatly appreciated everything last year and put it to very good use, we no longer are accepting any money that's raised--it's all going to FSMA.

Summer Is Here

Summer is here for Grace and her mom! Grace is still going to go to Kathy's one day a week this summer, mainly because she likes playing with the kids so much. Otherwise Grace and Michelle have a pretty full summer planned. They went to the library yesterday, and they're signed up for some kids activities at the Sioux City Public Museum. Grace also got to go to her "swimming lessons" yesterday for the first time in a few weeks--she'd been under the weather so much we've been cancelling her swimming appointments. Also, we just got a power lift installed in our mini-van--this will be great for hauling her Dani around. Finally, Grace beat both her mom and dad in her first ever game of Candyland last night.