Hope

This is Sam:

Sam is three years old. He enjoys Curious George, licking salt off french fries, and playing with puppies.

Sam calls Ivy "Baby Ivy", and last time we saw him he said, "Bye Baby Ivy". It was probably the most adorable thing I've ever heard.

Sam has cystinosis, an incredibly rare genetic disorder.for which there is treatment but no cure. 

This is Sam's brand new baby brother Lars:

Yesterday Sam and Lars's parents learned that Lars has cystinosis as well. 

If you know Stephen and Ashton, than you know that they work tirelessly all day to keep Sam and now Lars comfortable. It's no easy task. I believe the Jenkins family has visited the hospital more times in the past three years than most people visit in a lifetime. They've handled it all with grace and optimism, and I know they will continue to do so, but as you can imagine they want nothing more than a cure for their boys.

Because cystinosis is so rare, there is very little funding for research. The task then falls on the families of cystinosis patients to find ways to further research efforts. Here's where you can help.

Stephen and Ashton wrote this letter announcing "Sam's Hope for a Cure", the nonprofit organization they've created. You can visit the foundation website here and click the "How to Help" tab to make a donation. As the letter states, 100% of your donation will go to the Cystinosis Research Foundation and your gift is tax deductible. 

If your looking for a charitable cause to contribute to, or even if you aren't, I would strongly recommend helping Sam's Hope for a Cure.

HAGS!

The sun is setting on our time in DC.
While I'm excited to get back to my car, a real kitchen, Ollie, Ivy's own room, an actual mattress, a ceiling without holes, mountains and a normal schedule, I'm sad to leave.

It's been an incredible summer. Want proof? Ok! Picture time!

The Washington Monument. Well the bottom third of it anyway.

Jenny, Rachel F, Rachel R and Alpha at our freshman roommate reunion. On the east coast. Go figure. (Not pictured: Erin and Me)

The Space Shuttle Discovery at the Air and Space Museum Not a great picture, but it was totally rad.

The National Cathedral. It's beautiful, and we can see it from our apartment.

Fourth of July in Annapolis. It was hot.

Fourth of July in the City. We saw the last five minutes of the fire works. We were too caught up in our Good Stuff burgers to notice the time.

Stephen was on C-SPAN twice this summer.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I'll admit it. I cried.

The National Museum of American History. 

The National Museum of Natural History. The most crowded place I have ever been.

We will miss being five miles from these amazing places. We will miss the incredible food. We will miss our dear friends. We will miss DC.

Something on the internet unrelated to healthcare.

You're welcome.

Looks like we've made it

Yesterday I passed a man on the street. He was a sharply dressed man with a nice face. Nice, not only meaning handsome, but also kind. Five minutes later while I stood in line at 711, a sharply dressed woman with a nice face cooed at Ivy and offered to help while I struggled to fish my wallet out of the over-stuffed diaper bag. Another 5 minutes later I walked by sharply dressed man talking to sharply dressed woman, and I overheard her say, "My number is..." and it made me  extremely happy. I hope that they get married and have sharply dressed, nice faced babies.

In other news, we made it to Maryland in one piece (or three, I guess) and only slightly worse for the wear.

Kansas was flat.

Missouri was green.

The Rushforths took us in when we reached Maryland, and have not stopped helping us since we arrived.

DC is spectacular.

I got a brand new pair of roller skates

I feel like I'm letting down the youth of America/my generation by not occupying Wall Street, or any other street, so we had some friends over and held our own OCCUPY LONGMONT. And by occupy Longmont, I mean we occupied our condo in Longmont.

Gregg, Rachael, Stephen, Ollie, Jon, Growlbert and Allyson are sick and tired of the greed.

Our protest included some seriously rebellious activities like playing with puppies and eating ice cream. We really stuck it to the corporations by paying for parking and dining at no less than four resturaunts. That'll show em.

The weekend included what I assume are some actual similarities to the Occupy movement, like a high person to bathroom ratio. Maybe the similarities end there. I don't know much about what is really going on at these protests.





it tastes just like coca cola

Maybe you're still not convinced that a visit to the Walters would be an ideal vacation. I guess you don't trust me. But maybe you'll trust Amelia Largey, our most recent guest.

In a glowing review of her time spent here, Amelia said, "The local Safeway was surprisingly clean. The couch was very white. The air mattress was inflated, most of the time. The bathroom has a lock on the door. We ate."

We made sure to provide Amelia with all sorts of excitement. Ollie developed a severe crush and wouldn't go to sleep at night without giving her a kiss. Actually, he wouldn't go five minutes without trying to smother her with kisses. We got lost and drove half-way to Colorado Springs. We got lost driving to the mall. We ran out of the gas on the way to the airport, and she learned what it means to run and catch a flight. See? It's awesome here.

But the real highlight for me was our trip to the Denver Zoo. Two, childless grown women went to the zoo.

The resemblance between me and the mother hippo in this photo is uncanny.

We skipped the wussy hoofed animals and headed straight for Predator Ridge. There's nothing like being two feet away from a hungry male lion, or staring into the eyes of a discontent gorilla. It's such a thrill to be so close to a creature who could kill you in seconds. I love that thrill. That's why I own such a ferocious pet: