A Great Day Out . . . in so many ways . . .

Praise the Lord for today . . . at 11:45 I got to the hospital to remove the impedance tube from my nose!! HOORAY!!! It was not a fun night - again, I'll spare ya the details but it was terrible . . . and it is over!!!

We decided to take a much needed break from the hospital and hotel and headed to the local mall - Cherry Creek. Over the last few days, we've met a sweet woman who traveled to Denver alone. She was really interested in going to the mall as well so we adopted her for the day. We really enjoyed checking out the new stores (and yes - I'm in a wheel chair - it's a huge mall and after all the tests and lack of medicine this past week, I have the lung capacity of a flea)

We decided not to go into "BCBGMAXAZRIA" . . . Janice (our new friend) said, "If you can't pronounce it, you probably can't afford it!" What a hoot . . . and have you ever heard of a frozen yogurt bar? It looked like a lot of fun - a whole bunch of yogurt flavors then a bar full of toppings . . . sort of like a self serve Cold Stone. We were getting hungry so we headed over to Johnny Rockets for some yummy hamburgers, french fries and happy ketchup . . .

We finished walking (or riding) around the mall and then hit a road block . . . this is a choice between two tasks (back to Amazing Race analogies) . . . we heard about a light parade happening in down town Denver . . . we had to decide to navigate a bus system we had no idea what to catch or where OR flag a cab . . . we went with the cab . . . and it was not easy . . . and it was cold . . .

You can BARELY see my mom at the end of the light path in a stripped shirt - had to catch her in the act . . . and can't add sound but you'd hear Janice and I cracking up at the fact that not a single cab passed as soon as she decided to take her street side position BUT at last, we were able to find one, hopped in and rode downtown. We had to walk a few blocks but the show was amazing . . . as close to Macy's Day Parade I'll ever be . . . they need no more words . . . I'll let the pictures speak for themselves . . .

The parade ended with a visit from Santa (the most real looking Santa I'd ever seen . . . who knew the North Pole was in Denver?!) . . . we flagged a taxi (like experts this time), rode back to the hotel, wished our sweet Janice a good night and hunkered down for the evening.

I'd been texting Travis for reports of the Apple Cup and was thrilled to find it on TV here in Denver!! I caught the last few minutes and screamed a whoo hoo . . . GO HUSKIES!! Could this day have been any better?

We are really feeling all the prayer and support here . . . everything is going so well - friendly people, a comfortable hotel room, competent doctors and nurses, funny experiences, a nice time of bonding for my mom and I, happy reports from home . . . it's really going so well . . . thank you so much for your part in our journey!