A Piece of Lake

Our friends, the Morris', recently got a new boat. Shaun had wanted one for a while and found a great deal on a sweet one. They invited us up to Bartlett Lake after I self-invited us onto his new boat (I'm famous for the self-invites but it works well for everyone: I have fun, and the other people get to spend time with me).

The girls were really excited to go, so it was sad to see the weather report showed that it would rain. Fortunately it didn't and we headed out on Sunday morning with lunches and drinks packed up.

Hayden and Taylor have been great friends for a while and Ellie has recently bonded with Colton, so it works well for everyone, especially since Matt and Shaun are close and Savannah and Holli are great friends.

This was the girls first experience on a boat and they loved it. Shaun zipped us across the water to a calm spot near some cliffs (the scenery is beautiful) and dropped anchor. The kids were life jacketed up and then we asked who wants to go in first.

No sooner did we ask did we hear a splash: Ellie had jumped right in!

She had never been in a lake before but she didn't need any encouragement or peer pressure. That girl is gung ho - love her attitude.

All the kids got in, but Hayden dind't like to jump in because the lake is "dirty". She didn't want that water on her face. Actually kind of makes sense.

All in all it was a fun day and we got off the lake just in time as the rains came soon after. Thanks, Shaun and Holli!

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The Tooth Fairy's First Visit

I picked Hayden up from school and she told me her tooth was loose. I thought she was either joking or she didn't understand what she was talking about or something (in my mind kids didn't start losing their teeth until they were 6 or 7).

At a stoplight she showed me an sure enough, it was loose. Later that evening, I was on a work call in our study and I heard screaming in the kitchen. Apparently she had bitten into a banana and it created some blood which either scared Hayden or it hurt.

Then the tooth just came out. Savannah was with her but I missed it.

That night she put it under her pillow and in the morning, she saw that the Tooth Fairy had left her a whole dollar!

And the Phoenix Tooth Fairy likes to leave the tooth as well, she doesn't take them, in case anyone was wondering how they do it in our neck of the woods.

Ellie Breaks Her Collarbone

On my way home from work to pick up Ellie from school, I got a call from Savannah saying the office had just called to say Ellie got hurt. This is somewhat routine, they call for just about anything to be on the safe side.

But when I arrived, I instantly knew something was wrong. Ellie is usually all smiles, and even when she has a bad fall, she stops crying after just a minute or so and is back to being happy. 

This time she was curled up in the arms of the front office manager and still crying, about 20 minutes after the call. Not good. Apparently she had been playing and twirling around and just lost her balance and landed square on the side of her shoulder.

Hayden and Mommy comfort Ellie at Urgent Care

I immediately took her to urgent care where they x-rayed her and determined there probably was a break, but that we needed to get her into a pediatrician in the morning to confirm since they would have better equipment for kids.

That night we gave her some motrin but it was so tough for her to sleep. The poor girl could not get comfortable in bed so she woke up several times screaming in pain. It was heartbreaking as a parent to not be able to do anything to take care of your little one in pain.

More X-Rays

The next morning Savannah took her to get more x-rays and they confirmed the break in her right collarbone (a hairline). 

There is no remedy for this so she just had to grin and bear the pain, not fun. Savannah made a small sling for her which allowed her to keep it still. 

Every day the pain has gotten better and better, but we would often see her reach for it or say, "My boo-boo hurts, Dada." It made me hurt too.

Fortunately she is tough and just about back to normal now (2 weeks later). All the while, she kept her trademarked Ellie smile.

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Hayden's First Day of Kindergarten

Getting to Hayden's first day of kindergarten was no picnic. In fact, it was straight out of the movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.

We were in Wyoming the day before for the 80th birthday of Savannah's Grandma, Sonya. The party was on Sunday afternoon and the only way we could make the party and get Hayden to her first day was to fly in and out of Laramie (via a small prop through Denver). We usually fly to Denver and rent a car for the 2 hour drive to Laramie since it is often easier and cheaper, not to mention faster after accounting for the layover.

We should have known it would not be good when our flight from Denver to Laramie on the way in was delayed by 2.5 hours.

So on Sunday after the party, we got to the Laramie airport and the plane arrived on time. Yay! We were going to make our connection in Denver!

Then Savannah said: "Huh. Those pilots are really looking at the landing gear a lot." The tiny Laramie airport is situated so you can see the airplane right outside the window of the "terminal".

Yup. They were looking at the landing gear a lot. Because it was broken. Flight cancelled. Connection missed. Hayden misses first day. Everyone cries. Much sadness. It goes with out saying that the airline was United.

But no. Then came the hero of the story who would not have it that way. Pop left a dinner with friends and family to drive the four of us two hours down to the Denver airport, one way. We get there just in time for the last flight to Phoenix, a 9pm on US Airways (yay! Way better than United!!). The US Airways accepted us from the United transfer and the agents even moved us around so we could all sit together.

The girls were really tired but Hayden made her first day of kindergarten!!! Thanks, Pop!