Ok a little background first... I found our hotel back around October'ish when Amie & I were looking at places to stay together for our kids surgeries in January. I wanted the full kitchen, we both wanted the pool, & when I was talking to the Holiday Inn reservation people the guy told me about our hotel. I told Amie about it & we were sold. So we started staying at the StayBridge in Lincolnshire, IL. The first trip in January it was just us 2 families. Then in March it was just us (cause Amie's friend got her the family discount at a Marriott...who could pass that up?). But this trip we are here with SIX other families!!! Yes, folks, count em...SIX!!
There was us, Amie Moller & her family (Zac is the one with the nevus), Christine Melton & her family (Josh with the nevus), Beth Nagel & her family (Sully, the nevus-owner), Nadia & Roberto Carraro with their daughters (Taelor with the nevus), & Maggie Mangold with her family (Reid with the nevus - who has surgery the same day as Brooke & will have the removal surgery the same day, too!)
So the 4 of us (me, Amie, Christine, & Beth) knew we'd be spending a LOT of time together, but we decided to have a pizza party the night before surgery. Well once we found out all these other people would be at, or around, our hotel we thought we'd just make a big nevus get-together out of it.
We told everyone about our get-together & in the end there were about 43 people there!!! So what started out as a 4 family get-together turned into about a 9 family event!! And get this, even Dr. Bauer & his office manager were there! Yup, darn skippy right they were. It was so great. Dr. Bauer's office had to cancel our pre-op appt with him on Thursday and then again on Friday cause he was late in surgery. So he did a quick check over her to make sure she was well enough for surgery. Thankfully enough, though, this was day #2 of her not coughing or sniffing. So we were good to go for surgery!
We had a great time in the dining area of our hotel. They were so accommidating to us & we were all so thankful to them!! Here are a few pictures from the night...
Brooklyn, Katie (Christine's daughter), & Cece with her mom (from Hong Kong - they are living at the Ronald McDonald house for over a year while Cece has her surgeries!!)
You can't have a big party & expect no one to get hurt. The person that got hurt at this particular party just so happened to be my child...of course! She was running around so much & making such sharp turns that the edge of the post just came & jumped right out in front of her!...
She was ok though with a little ice...
The Whole Group!!!
Ok...so starting from the bottom left are: me & Brooklyn, Maggie Mangold with Reid, Amie Moller with Zac, Christine Melton with Josh, Beth Nagel with Sully, & Dustin with Cali. The top row from the left are: Dr. Bruce Bauer, Eric & Cherry with Cece (from Hong Kong), the King Family, Adam & Katie Melton, Sylvia (an adult with a nevus who lives in the area), Stephanie (soon to be) Burmeister & her son, the O'Bryans (who were also there for surgery), Nadia & Roberto Carraro (from Canada) with their 2 kids (Taelor in stroller), & Reid Mangold's dad. Whew!!!!
And the 4 Amigos...Christine, Me, Beth, & Amie
It was SO fantastic to be there at the same time as these 3 wonderful ladies. The sad part about it though is that the next time we'll be together again will be July of next year for the Nevus Outreach conference, and then who knows after that. I wish we all lived closer...
It was SUCH a great night & I'm so glad that so many people were able to come!!!
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