Hearing aids for Ralphie!

Ralph is getting hearing aids! Isn't that exciting?

Ralph, Ruby, Thomas, Jordan and I made our way to Kansas City Sunday afternoon. This time we stayed out by the speedway. I think we'll be staying there from now on as it is more family friendly than our usual place in Westport.

After we checked in and relaxed for a bit, we had some dinner at Wendy's. By the time we got over to Cabela's to check out the fish and animal displays they were closed! :( A little trip to the Russell Stover outlet and a box of Bloopers made us all feel a little better.

We checked out and left by 8am on Monday to get to Ralph's 9am appointment on time. You won't believe me but we arrived at 8:45, were called back about 5 minutes later, Ralph was seen by the ENT and we were out the door by 9:10. Ralph's hearing aid consultation was not until 1 pm so we put Ralph and Ruby in the blue wagon and walked over to the park. I needed some time to nurse Ruby and decide what to do for 4 hours.

The kids had a great time at the park for about half an hour. Then I decided to go up to the speech department and see if they could bump up our appointment time. It can't hurt to ask, right? Guess what? They took us back almost immediately! Jordan and Thomas stayed with Ruby in the exam room while I went with Ralph to the sound booth. His sound booth testing confirmed the results of his more recent tests.

Back in the exam room Ralph had his ear molds taken. We talked a bit about the hearing aids and picked out colors. We also talked about the money. I was pleasantly surprised. I've always been under the impression that hearing aids were prohibitively expensive. They are pricey, but not out of reach. I still have to contact our insurance company to see if they provide any coverage. The hospital has a generous discount program if our insurance won't pay anything.

We will be picking up Ralph's hearing aids next month. And then one month after that he will have another appointment to check them out again. We will not have to pay in full until that 2nd appointment.

I'm so pleased to say that we were done at Children's Mercy by 11am. I left my favorite pillow at the hotel so we headed back there. Now we had time to go to Cabela's since we were done so early at the hospital. YAY! My goal was to wear the kids out before we started for home. The drive always goes much quicker when the little ones are asleep.

Pictures...reverse order again. Grrr.

Getting very, very sleepy

Signing "animals!"

You can't get this close to the action at the zoo!

Party boat!