Leonard Family Around the World Adventure

Here you can see even with our plan to pack lite - still piles of stuff.

We have most of Pam's family coming for dinner – this is usually a great event and I am looking forward to it – even though Pam is stressed as usual. We are making 2 turkeys one in the BBQ the other in the oven. It is a very chilly morning so eating on the deck is probably not likely. Maybe I will start the fire pit later. The high def feed of the morning game on Fox is not working – I called Comcast and left a message for a callback – it has been an hour no returned call. In the mail last night there was a post office notice for a signature required package – probably the new phones – I wish I had been here to receive them as I have a lot of configuration work to do to figure out the geo-location picture and GPS functions. I will pick them up in the tomorrow morning. I also started experimenting with a social networking tool called ning. I might actually use this tool for our trip in addition to the blog – just have to see. Pam's parents just arrived so I will close this for

I had an early Dr. Appointment Monday with a Rheumatologist – a Dr. Culver. I was very impressed by him - for the first time in a long time I felt that someone might actually be able to help me and his manner was very assuring and calming. He drained my knee of 12oz's of fluid, gave me a cortisone injection and ordered numerous labs and I had a lot of blood drawn. His initial inspection of the fluid showed no crystals that would be apparent if indeed this was gout. He is leaning towards a diagnosis of Psoriatic Arthritis of type Spondylitis. He changed my medication and assured me we would know more next Monday. I am anxiously awaiting the results – but for the last 2 days I have actually been able to sleep and walk again. I am much relieved with the thought that at least I will be ambulatory on out trip and still might undertake more rigorous activities like surfing, swimming, etc.

I made it back to town from Philly late Friday night. My body was still on EST but stayed up late to try, still up early Saturday. Allysha had a soccer game and Aria had a surf contest. Allysha's team played well and won 3-1 what a difference from the last game they played – good passing, aggressive play – it was fun to watch. Aria originally was slated for the short board but ended up surfing long board also. She advanced to finals in both events – the only Scotts Valley girl and only one boy – Nathan, advanced to finals. It was a long day and Aria was cold and tired by the time she surfed in her long-board heat at 4pm – conditions were great most of the day but started falling apart. She was a real trooper and fought her way out – gave it a good try – had some bad wipeouts, emerged with a bloody foot and still decided to surf in the short board heat at 4:45. I was very proud of her – the coach actually gave her the option of pulling out of one of the finals but she surfed both.