Father's Day Weekend: Saturday
It appears that Father's Day this year will actually be Father's Day weekend as today I was awarded with a bunch of gifts from the wife and kids. Kristy got me an inflatable kayak and the kids got me a bunch of family camping gear, including a tent and some air mattresses.

I was a bit down on the kayak idea, only for the reason that it seemed like it would just add clutter to our garage. But the kayak is inflatable and will break down and stow away into an over-sized backpack. The kids love the thing... they bounced in and out of it while it was still partially inflated. Then we took it out on Pine Lake for its maiden voyage. See below for some pictures:

After our kayaking activity, we traveled down to the Coray's for a very disappointing barbeque (Spencer should not be allowed near the grill). The cousins, per usual, all had a grand time playing together... and we had a hard time peeling our kids away from Jenna's vast inventory of toys.

(Update Mon Jun 25 17:13:23 PDT 2007 // fixed grammatical errors)

Unanticipated Anaphylactic Shock
On our way back home from the movies last night we stopped by McDonalds (for the primary purpose of breaking a $20 to make change for the babysitter)... I bought a hot fudge sundae. I asked for a packet of the chopped peanut topping, but they were all out. I saved the sundae until we arrived back home, whereupon I chopped up about 12-15 roasted almonds for a sundae topping. We paid the babysitter, I ate the sundae, and then we went to bed.

About two hours later I woke up with a feeling in my throat like something was stuck halfway down my esophagus. It reminded me of the feeling I get when I don't chew something well enough (accidentally of course) and the result is a partial obstruction that makes its way down the esophagus slowly and roughly. The feeling was painful enough to wake me up, so I got up and drank some water and then laid down waiting for the feeling to go away. But it didn't go away. In fact, it got worse. My sinuses which were clear when I awoke, became clogged over the course of the next 10 minutes. My airway became restricted to the point that it became a great burden to move air in and out of my lungs. Kristy woke up and wanted to call 911, but the feeling passed and soon I was breathing ok again, albeit still with some minor difficulty. But it was pretty dire there for a couple of minutes.

I've actually had this feeling before when I have eaten almonds but not this severe. I've always figured it was just heartburn. I was about to go back to bed, but Kristy (at the behest of Dave, who I called) insisted that I drive down to urgent care. So I did. The doctor on call gave me an injection of steroids (Prednisol?) and a prescription for some additional steroid intake as well as a prescription for a couple of EpiPens. I'll make an appointment with an allergist next week to do a follow-up and get tested.

I'm a bit stunned to say the least. I've been eating almonds for pretty much my whole life. I love the Blue Diamond roasted and salted varieties. So... why now? I'm almost 38. Why not when I was a young man? Weird.

(Update Mon Jun 25 16:45:22 PDT 2007 // fixed grammar mistakes)
(Update Fri Jun 29 12:10:20 PDT 2007 // fixed spelling)