BOSTON...and a heartfelt Thank You!

 First, and most importantly, I want to extend a huge heartfelt THANK YOU for all of the support, prayers and encouragement that was sent my (and our) way after my last blog post!  I received so many comments, calls, texts, emails and even a very sweet card in the mail.  We were so relieved to have good news to share and felt incredibly humbled by all of the people who have offered up their support in the journey to come!  Some of my family and friends expressed that they felt a bit hurt that we kept things so secretive...for that I am sorry...but at the end of the day we both felt that it was best not to worry anyone until there was something definite to worry about!  So....now to BOSTON!!!

We had a blast...

All bundled up...

Waiting for the ferry to the aquarium...

These little tuxedos were so cute haha...

Shark watch...

I think he likes us...

At the Children's Museum..

A whole room devoted to big vs. small...I told Aiden to pick out a chair that was just his size!!!

Dramatic play...

Listening to a story...

Checking out the gift shop..

Practicing his Salute in the hotel room..

A little fish face contest in the cab...

We crammed a  lot into a short period of time...we ate and ate and ate, we went to the hotel pool, took several naps together, did lots of snuggling, stayed up past our bedtime, and soaked up every moment of our celebration.  Aiden was too funny...he loves the Curious George goes to the aquarium book, so our entire experience was compared to George's...George got snapped by a crab at the petting tank so Aiden was afraid to pet the sting ray, George saves a baby penguin so Aiden wanted to get into the tank with the penguins...I just love the way his little mind works!

Aiden was, as usual, a fabulous traveler...and our newest adventure, potty training, continued with great success during our trip!  We had a wonderful weekend and would often look at each other with silent relief...I am so Thankful for my family, my friends, my adventures, my health, and for Boston...a weekend we will never forget!!!

Celebrating...

Tonight we are in Boston, MA and we are celebrating.  The Gunderson's have SO much to celebrate tonight!  Our prayers have been answered and we can all breathe a little easier tonight!  Leif and I are not the type of people to put our every waking moment, hardship, drama or worry out into the world.  We aren't perfect but at the end of the day we are beyond blessed and we know it.  We have had something weighing on our minds and in our hearts and thankfully, tonight, we are resting a little easier!  I wrote a blog ( that I never published) about the journey we were on and I will publish it tonight.
Very few people knew what was going on, and I apologize to all of my wonderful friends, but we made a decision early on to keep all of the details private until we had answers.  So private that my own mother, who I tell everything to, was just recently informed.  To read about how it all went down you can go here!
So....Tonight we are celebrating extremely positive test results.  No CANCER...our #1 fear and thankfully we are in the clear.  The tumor (in my head) is benign...the results were not perfect but they were positive.  We still have a journey ahead of us and there are still unanswered questions but the news is GREAT!  They incidentally found a cyst in my brain (which is benign also), I will see a neurologist, a surgeon and I will have the tumor removed and maybe even the cyst...but we are so, so, so happy with the news!  I left the doctor and felt like I was lighter...I felt like I was "me" again.  I was so happy, excited, and relieved that I cried.
We had decided to go to Boston for the long weekend...Good or Bad...we were going to enjoy our long weekend exploring "the North"...when we got into the hotel room tonight my husband looked at me and said "We are going to celebrate all weekend long" and celebrate we will!  Tomorrow we will visit the aquarium and maybe the Children's museum...we will see how much Aiden can handle...my little guy "celebrated" until 10:45pm tonight...and for once, adhering to Aiden's bedtime meant absolutely nothing to me...