Virus has left the building

The Hat Trick got beat down by a nasty cold virus which, uninvited, nonetheless set up residence and quite overstayed its welcome. The boys pulled out of it okay but Miss Curly Sue teetered on the brink of pneumonia for a day or two before antibiotics set her on the road to recovery. All in all, it took about three weeks to recover to normal levels.

Geddy went out of town for a few days last week, returned to work Friday and immediately got called out for disaster relief to Kentucky, where some of the worst damage from the ice storm left up to a half-million people without power and/or water for dangerously long periods of time. G's company has a mill there, so that's where the team set up to distribute packages containing blankets, water, some food, toilet tissue, etc. to help those affected folks along. We missed him, of course, but he has a real gift for that kind of thing so we didn't mind loaning him out for a couple of days.

Larry found out Tuesday that he will have his braces removed next week and he is very happy. To straighten his teeth, he had to have his four baby canines removed, wear a palatal expander for six months, have four permanent molars removed and be in full braces for two-plus years. However, he will be completely done before he is a teen except for retainers, and his teeth look beautiful! He says he plans to celebrate with a sackful of bubble gum, and I don't have the heart to tell him how sore he will be for a few days.

G was off Monday, so he decided to treat us to a fun family day because he's been away a lot lately. We took the children to Barnes and Noble for some new books, then to see Paul Blart: Mall Cop (hilarious AND family-friendly). He then treated us to dinner at Taco Mac.

We are looking forward to a second family day tomorrow, when we will visit Callaway Gardens. Through the end of February, Callaway is offering free admission, and we are packing a picnic to keep it frugal. It will be nice to spend a sunny, relatively warm day hiking, relaxing, goofing off and enjoying nature, especially after being cooped up and sick for the better part of January.