Operation Mend and UCLA

The family headed out to Los Angeles on April 13th for Jae's first surgery with Operation Mend. We were housed on the UCLA campus at the Tiverton House for 9 days while Jae had reconstructive plastic surgery on his face and mouth. He had surgery on Tuesday, and was already back out and about Wednesday afternoon playing the role of the typical tourist.

The surgery went better than Dr. Miller expected, although, we will be heading back out to UCLA at least once more for some fine tuning. Jae continues to work super hard at physical therapy every day. I've attached a link to a video describing the program and it's first servicemember they treated.

http://www.uclahealth.org/body.cfm?id=730


http://blip.tv/file/409686


As you can see, there are some amazing people out there, and we cannot thank these indviduals enough. They are literally CHANGING people's lives. Thank you Mr. Katz, Dr. Miller, and everyone involved.

We were able to see some of the most famous sites in Los Angeles while we were out there...thanks to our amazing sponsor family, the Simons. We got to see the infamous Hollywood sign, the Kodak Theatre (where they hold the Oscars), Muscle Beach at Venice Beach, Malibu, Rodeo Drive, Santa Monica, and the list goes on. We had a lot of fun...

The "Pretty Woman" Hotel

We also got to visit the Getty Musuem, which is nestled into the top of a mountain overlooking Los Angeles. The view was absolutely amazing! Addison got to play in the Family Room, where there were a handful of things that she could play with relating to art at the museum.

Addie LOVES the "wa-wa"

We just kept saying..."How can there be such beautiful mountains, beautiful beaches, and a fun city...all within 20 minutes of eachother?"

Objects in mirror are closer than they appear!

Addison spent a little while rebuilding some architecture...

And finished off the afternoon in a comfy antique bed with the spanish version of "Goodnight Moon"!