[I am hoping to add photos to this tomorrow, after we have gone back to Walt's mother's place, where I apparently left my camera when we left last night. I sincerely hope it's there because I had some wonderful baby photos from the day!]
It takes a lot of work to get her ready to go out. We were at Walt's mother's assisted living facility. She had just finished her lunch and was all dressed to leave. They gave her the last breathing treatment and we loaded a couple of bottles of water, a hat to keep the sun off of her face, sunscreen to block the sun's rays, a sweater in case it got cold, got her into her wheel chair, packed up her tank of oxygen and headed out to the Alice Nan's car.
The tank of oxygen went in the back seat and Great Grandma went in the front, the water went next to her, her hat sat in the back, and the wheelchair went in the trunk of the car.
A mile away, Laurel was giving Brianna her mid-day feeding and they got her dressed and ready to leave. They loaded some water (for Mom), some Purile so everyone could sterilize their hands before they touched the baby, a hat to keep the sun from burning the baby's head, long pants and a jacket in case it got cold, and a diaper bag in case of the need to change her diaper. They put her stroller in the "way back" with the dog Akila, and her put car seat in the back of the car, and set out.
We met at Shoreline Park, a lovely grassy park which overlooks the ocean, which was filled with sailboats on this beautiful, clear, sunny day. We got there first and went to find a place to stay. Tom followed very soon and parked right next to us.
All the shady places to sit were taken so we found a tree and kind of stood under it, Alice in her wheelchair, Brianna in her stroller. Alice's blindness is the result of macular degeneration, so she still has some peripheral vision, and she could somehow see Bri, all but hidden in her stroller. Alice made all the right noises and Bri was sleeping. I took pictures. [which are in my lost camera, but Laurel sent me the photos she took, so I can add some photos to this entry after all]
Finally, Tom suggested we go for a walk, so we set off, Laurel pushing Bri, Tom holding Akila on the leash, Walt pushing Alice and Alice Nan pushing the oxygen tank, with me following behind taking pictures of the strange procession.
We got to one point and Bri began to cry. Laurel decided to walk with her. I followed the stroller. Tom, the dog, Walt, Alice and Alice Nan followed behind us. Laurel put Bri on the ground and got her dressed a bit more warmly. She seemed to like being on the blanket unfettered by blankets and dark car seat.
She was doing so well, that Laurel decided to hand her over to TuTu to hold. This was an event to equal a red carpet publicity walk, with everybody taking pictures of everybody else. I even got a brief movie of TuTu's first conversation with her great granddaughter. We took a 4-generation photo (Alice, Walt, Tom, Brianna), then a Sykes family photo (Alice, Walt, Alice Nan, Tom, Brianna), then a "Sykes Women" photo (Laurel, me, Alice, Alice Nan and Brianna), and just other cute pictures along the way
(These were taken with my cell phone)
[If I can't find the camera, I may shoot myself]
(taken with Laurel's camera)
Bri finally got fussy, so Laurel picked her up to walk to the next shady spot. I followed with the stroller. We got there a bit before the others, so there was time to put her on the ground again and just let her look up at the sky. I got a lovely photo of Laurel with Brianna at ground level.
When it was time to leave, we headed back to our cars. Tom disassembled the stroller and packed Bri, in her carseat, into the car while Walt got Alice loaded in the front seat with all her paraphernalia in the back.
Tom folded up the stroller and put it in the back of his car; Walt folded up Alice's wheelchair and put it in the trunk of Alice Nan's car. We made plans to meet at Tom & Laurel's for lunch again tomorrow and we all got in our cars and left the park.
The only difference was that Brianna was crying, and Alice was not.
* * *
While I have been writing this entry. Alice Nan and Walt have driven back to Alice's to check for the camera, but have not found it. They checked every place that is still available to check at this hour of the night, but no luck. The only place left to look is the dining room, which doesn't open until 7 a.m. I am sick, sick, sick that I have misplaced the camera.
It's bad enough to lose my wonderful new camera, but the photos and video from today are irreplaceable. In the long journey of Brianna's life it's only two days worth (and most of those are on Flickr anyway--and Laurel also took lots of photos today), but I am sick at heart to think that my photos may be gone for good.
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