Nobby again

We got to see Nobby Reed again tonight.  They played at Trucks, Taps and Tunes at The Essex Experience (formerly the Shoppes at Essex Center).  Gene had to clue me in that 'Taps' was beer as I had no clue.  I knew they had food trucks and music....

Anyway, it was a beautiful evening--picture perfect, really.  Chris came over and we headed out.

The band was playing when we arrived.  It was pretty sunny so we had to go past the pavilion and we were not close enough to see well, but the sound was good.  Gene was able to get Casey on the wifi so he was happy with his maps and listening to the music.

Chris and I checked out the food trucks.  I had eaten a late lunch and was still pretty full (I had the weird kind of episode where I get shakey like low blood sugar but I was craving protein so I had some leftover chicken cordon bleu).  We decided to get ice cream from Sisters of Anarchy.  I don't remember the fancy name but it was a very yummy chocolate chip.  Rich and creamy with yummy chocolate chips and in a waffle cone.

Saw our friend Lynne Moon.  She is good friends with Nobby.  We also saw our Child Life Specialist, Jenni, from UVM.  Casey used to have her running all over the hospital looking for certain movies that he just HAD to have and then didn't even watch, lol. She is very nice.  She's in the Comfort Zone now and we don't get to go there anymore because Casey has aged out.

Eric (drummer for Nobby) came over to chat with us at break.  He and Casey have become good buddies.  His 7-year-old son was there so he had him come over and meet Casey.

We stayed past 8 and left while the band was on their last song.  We would have stayed to chat with Eric again but we wanted to get Grandma O'Neill a sundae from McDonald's and Nurse Elizabeth was due for her shift at 9PM.  Hit McDonald's and brought the sundae to Grandma.  Gene and I went in for a minute.  She ended up coming to the door with her walker to way to Casey.  Oh, and Casey got to see Roxy for a minute!

We got home a few minutes before Elizabeth arrived.  Casey was very wired, lol, but eventually he fell asleep 

SMA Awareness Day 15: Nobby Reed at Westford Green

• Couple of things to mention that are mention-worthy.

• Julie tried on all of Casey's pants/jeans/lounge wear and we ruled out three pairs and tagged three pair to be re-evaluated in December :)

• I made brownies with chocolate chips and vanilla chips.

• Gene made some sort of green/yellow bean with bacon and potato soup.  I guess it's something his mom used to make.  No one seemed to have a recipe so he wung it and it was really good!

• We broke out Julie's sewing machine.  Months ago I bought a bunch of fabric squares and some terry cloth to make Casey new 'spitters.'  (Spitters are cloths that we use mostly when the boys are up in their chairs to catch their--you guessed it--spit.  Casey's go on on his chest, under his chin.  It saves a bunch of suctioning because his spit comes out and we can wipe his mouth).  I had planned on doing a 'Tom Sawyer' with Julia because I have no clue about sewing.  I figured that if Julia (not to be confused with Julie) came and saw us having fun, yet struggling, she'd jump in and finish the job for us.  Turns out Nurse Julie knows what she's doing and did some herself.  When Julia came she helped, too, but out of kindness, not out of 'trying to get in on the action.'  So we have 8 new spitters.  

We had plans to go to see Nobby Reed at the Westford Green with Kathy and David Day, so we had stuff to get ready.  No one was motivated to make a picnic supper but I packed some brownies.

Casey snuggled in his new hoodie

 It was pretty chilly so we dressed accordingly and brought blankets for the boys.  We headed out with the boys, and Aunt Chris.  Julie followed in her vehicle and we met David and Kathy there. 

When we first got there, we saw a woman and two pygmy goats.  The goats were adorable!!  Spent a bit of time talking with her and petting the goats.  Both the boys liked them, although one of them put his whole muzzle into Casey's mouth!  I guess I was with the lady and her goats for a while because lots of people were coming up and chatting and then leaving and one man gave one goat back to me and said, "Go back to your mommy."  Ha ha.  She gave us her card and said she'd love for us to visit her barn.  She brings her goats to nursing homes and hospitals as therapy.  She also has people visit at her barn.  For some dumb reason, I didn't take any goat pictures!

Casey had a grand time tooling around in his power chair.  We only had him on speed one, or two at times, so he could be cautious.  Sometimes he's get stuck because the ground was soft but we'd just yank on his chair and it would go.  He really thought he was hot stuff.  He was duded out in his new sweatshirt, hanging with Julie and Kathy (and me) and listening to one of his favorite bands, feelin' fine  :)  When we went around the back of the stage, Eric (drummer) and Ray (bass player) all gave a wave to Casey, which he loved.  

Me and Kathy dancing with Casey

Cool duo

This is the only pic of the band that I took and it was getting dark...

We all had a good time.  Aunt Chris got some food that she liked from a vendor that had a mini deli.  I shared my brownies.  Lots of chatting and catching up going on.

It started raining right as we were heading for the van so timing was good.

We had the boys over night so we got them ready for bed, I read some Wonder, and then we all snuggled down.  I put an extra quilt on the boys because it was pretty cool out.