Having just been released from the hospital and with who knows how much medication in his system, he wasn’t very responsive during the short time we had with him. You’ll notice in the video below that he seems pretty distant and tired.

Back in Macon, Trey recently asked me if Peepaw was dead yet. I replied with “No, did you think he was?” Trey replied with an observation that was impressive for his age, “No, but he’s really old and misses Grammaw. I think he wants to go to heaven.”

The big question is: who looks better?

…and yes, I get bonus points for the shag rug in my portrait.

Heidi’s best friend from high school came with her husband and son who is Trey’s age. Between the two of them, the Randall’s gang of boys, and all the other kids, there was plenty of entertainment.

We had a small scale fireworks show (that still amazed the boys) and by the time the ball dropped all of the kids had passed from exhaustion at various locations throughout the house. Trey managed to hold out the longest but our little Superman finally crashed on the couch.

Being the day before the holiday the park closed early so our self-guided tour was a bit rushed. We still got to walk out on the boardwalks to an island in Lake Maggiore and spot a pretty large alligator hanging out in the sun. On the walk back we spot a gopher tortoise lumbering about. Trey had just asked me about a sign telling visitors to not bother the endangered reptiles and I told him we probably wouldn’t see one since they are so rare. Seconds later… tada!

Trey got to sail with me and his granddad and then later he and Heidi took Kenny’s kayak out for a spin as well (video below). Trey’s newborn cousin also joined us but he stayed on solid ground for the afternoon simply enjoying the fine Florida weather.

Trey’s favorite toys right now are Legos. Combine that with Star Wars and you’ve got something he can hardly contain himself over. He got quite a few Lego sets at Christmas and they were by far his favorite gifts.

Our friends Dr. & Mrs. Davis sent him a Christmas card with $10 in it and he had $5 he had already saved over the last couple months. I had a Barnes & Noble coupon for $10 off so I took him there and he bought a big $25 Star Wars Lego set he’d been eyeing for some time (and that I had previously said was out of our price range).

We came home and I helped him put it together. Then next morning, before we headed off on a 6-hour road trip he had me dismantle it all. He spent four hours of the trip putting it together on his own in the back seat.

Forget buying a car TV for my kid! I just hand him an pile of Lego bricks and he’s content for hours!

We gave Trey the job of handing out the gifts – a job he does with great excitement. He was always either jumping over himself to help Peepaw and Philip unwrap their gifts or getting a head of things and looking for the next gift.

Their teacher ended with a devotional where each kid pulled a figure from a nativity set and talked about its role in the Christmas story. It was neat to see how the kids enjoyed having their turn in the spotlight and how seriously they took the task. Nice touch.

We also got to spent a lot of time with Atticus, the newest addition to the clan. Trey felt really special getting to hold the fragile little dude in his lap.

As usual, when the whole gang is around you have to document it with the annual group photos. Here they are:

Last month Trey and I passed it again and she’s still there! Her bra and wig have been updated but she’s still there staring off into the sunset.

I was still recovering from my knee surgery just 10 days prior but I managed pretty well. Between that slowing me down and some confusion on my part of the time change to CST, we ran a little short on time. We only made it to Debord Falls, the first of the two falls. It was still a lovely walk on a crisp Fall day and the two of us had a good time.

A little factoid about the park’s name. It isn’t that they ever found a frozen head there. It’s simply that the mountain peak in the center tends to show frost in the winter and old timers thought it looked like a frozen head.

For a mere $5 you get a chilly 45-minute boat ride. Then there’s cheap hot dogs, hot cocoa, popcorn, and boiled peanuts. Plus free photos with Santa. This year Trey wasn’t as apprehensive about seeing the bearded man.

Once we made our way past the sculptures to the shoreline, he immediately forgot about them and focused all his energy/attention on playing in the water.

* photos & video from November 2011

We had to pull over into Chick-fil-a as soon as Trey spotted the Christmas creature. After he high-fived the guy we went inside where a normal human was dressed as Santa. Trey wasn’t interested in sitting on his lap for a photo op until he realized you got a tin of candy if you did. Then he was all for it.

Here are some photos from her funeral service and interment.

Trey’s lines were both in regards to a Christmas tree at the center of the production’s plot:

“Maybe we can decorate it with Spiderman.”

“I don’t think that captures the modern spirit.”

During their weeks of rehearsals Trey’s teacher had told us they were having a hard time getting him to pay attention and participate. We tried to encourage (and discipline) him into better cooperation during practice. However, after Heidi and I saw the play, we determined he was just bored. Singing hasn’t been a big interest of his and the long periods of dialogue in the play where he had to just sit there had him pretty disinterested. I kind of feel bad now for giving him a hard time about not paying attention.

When you watch the singing below, you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about. He really doesn’t seem to thrilled about what’s going on around him and he’s in his own little world entertaining himself.

I was taking photos for the venue so we got some great seats right up front. Trey was a little skeptical when the first 20 minutes were all about princesses: Belle, Snow White, Cinderella, Pocahontas, and more. Once Buzz, Woody, and Jessie showed up they had won him over. The show just got better and better with a great Pinocchio act, a cool Mulan fight sequence, and Trey’s favorite – the Incredibles.

Here are some of my pictures from the show. You can see more on the Centreplex’s Facebook page.

Bolingbroke is a tiny little town just across the county line from Macon’s Bibb County. The parade always ends up having quite an eclectic mix of participants. The usual boyscouts, ROTC, and high school marching band is of course present. You also get costumed members of the 1800s Club, Confederate Civil War re-enactors, a local pet cemetery, and an assortment of local churches (including the white Mt. Zion Baptist Church and the black Mt. Zion Baptist Church – seriously).

The most confusing parade float was a UFO trailer that featured Santa, the Virgin Mary, and Baby Jesus… as aliens. Weird.

Batman and Spiderman were busy fighting crime (Lord, knows Macon needs those two) so the only male characters that showed up were Captain America (who Trey calls Macon Man) and Captain Jack Sparrow – oh, and Santa Claus. Trey was still very happy to meet them and didn’t object to having his photos with a few all of the princesses, though.

The other day when Trey went out before supper to shut the coop door he was surprised to find all four hens roosting right outside on the railing of the deck! It turned out that he had inadvertently shut the door in the afternoon. Unable to get into their home, they headed up on our deck to find a comfortable spot to sleep for the night.

And here’s the 2010 one:

And here’s the 2009 one:

And the 2008 one…

In this video you can see Trey using his Spiderman skills to escape from their dog.

With my family in town Trey and I slept down the road at my great-uncle Tommy’s house. They were out of town and graciously let us use their place. Trey and I had a great time playing shuffleboard in their basement and visiting his horses in the fields out back.

Over the last year Peepaw’s mental health has deteriorated significantly. He gets very confused about his whereabouts and who people are. That sometimes leads to him getting very frustrated. He scared Trey a little on our visit when he mistook him for an unwelcome stranger in his house and gruffly told him to “Get out of here.” Trey was just as confused but seems to accept our explanation that Peepaw is just old and gets “mixed up” sometimes. Trey mostly shrugs and says “He’s just being silly.”

At one point Trey was showing Peepaw a Lego toy when Peepaw took it and put it in his mouth having assumed it was candy. Trey just thought that was hilarious and ran excitedly to tell me about how silly Peepaw was acting.

I do find it a huge reflection on my grandfather’s true character that as the dementia sets in, he has never become violent or verbally abusive. He sometimes get agitated but hasn’t sworn at anyone or yelled. In fact, several times he has apologized profusely after getting frustrated or being curt with someone.

You’ll notice in the video that Peepaw mentions bringing Trey home with him even though he’s already at home. That’s the biggest issue with his dementia – he usually doesn’t recognize that he is in his own house and gets upset that no one will take him home.

It’s always a bit of a downer to visit her there, but this time she is staying at the best home in the area: Wood Village. The staff are friendly and attentive, the place is clean, and it just has a brighter, more uplifting atmosphere that some of the others she had temporary stays in.

Heidi was working the holiday so only Trey and I made the trip up. We visited her twice and both times she was in good spirits and her health seemed to be improving. We’re hoping to have her home by Christmas.

Here’s a recording of the last minute before they fell asleep. It’s pretty funny to hear his friend saying that he doesn’t know how to fall asleep and then suddenly falling asleep as Trey explains how. Trey calls to him a few times and then slips off in to a deep sleep himself.

On this last visit, he bothered her a bit too much one day and she bit him. He came in crying but her teeth hadn’t even broken the skin. After a stern lecture about giving the cat some space we let him go back outside. What was he doing five minutes later? Carrying her around again. I guess she needs to bite him a bit harder next time to get her message across.

This is just a clip of a typical meal out back with Trey. For this occasion he was wearing his viking outfit and eating some leftovers I had brought home from Ruby Tuesday.

I stayed off it for a few days and went easy on it for two weeks. It was getting better and I thought I was on the road to recovery. One evening we walked down to the lake and on the way back it started hurting again. Something was tearing inside with each step and it got to where I couldn’t even walk anymore.

The next day I when to OrthoGA’s urgent care and had it checked out. Probably a torn meniscus was the diagnosis. The next day I had an MRI done and it was confirmed. A pretty bad tear too.

The menisci are ’semi-lunar’ cartilages that help disperse your body weight when you are moving. Since they are cartilage in the joint, they receive little blood flow and as a result don’t heal very well on their own (if at all). So my only real option was to have surgery to remove the piece that had torn almost completely off.

Yesterday I had the procedure done and it went well. It was my first ever surgical procedure and I had it done at Heidi’s own surgery center (she wasn’t allowed in the OR – and I don’t think she wanted to be in there). I’ve got about 4-6 weeks of rehab but I should be back to 95-99% in a couple months.

Yesterday I posted some images of Trey’s awesome Tygra costume. Here are some images of him at the festival playing around.

When I was growing up I LOVED Thundercats and now Trey is following in my footsteps. We’ve got the 1985 Season One episodes and Trey has been making his way through the vast collection.

You can’t exactly buy a Thundercats costume at Walmart, Target or Party City these days, so we had to go the DIY route. Heidi made Tygra’s whip out of yarn and some styrofoam balls we painted red. I made the Thundercats logo badge and we used some blue PJs that he is about to outgrow as the base of the outfit.

Unfortunately, Heidi was on call all day & night Sunday so I had to apply the face paint myself and take him to our church’s fall festival. I did my best with the red and yellow face paint we had. The final result ended up a bit more red than it should be. Even though it didn’t look spectacular, Trey thought it was the greatest thing ever!

Watch the video below and you’ll see the face painting process and Trey singing the “Fff-undercats” theme song.