Last Ditch Vacation

Since we have plans for a big "family" celebration vacation later this year, we decided to take a short vacation with just the punks this past week to San Antonio...one of our favorite places to visit. We decided to make use of our Six Flags season passes and make that our main activity while there.

Just like when I was a kid, our boys really like hotels. We probably could have gone across town to a hotel with a pool...and they would have loved it just as well. We made good use of the pool within an hour of our arrival.

I love watching the punks play in a pool...with everything they have. They seriously love water! I also like to (and this may sound totally creepy, but not intended to in the least) watch their bodies as they swim. They are so unique...and I love noticing the differences in their body structure as they grow and develop. They are beautiful to me.

All boy...and yet stunning...

Every little feature screams "I am fearfully and wonderfully made." And I couldn't help but notice how Steve and I share our eyes with each one of them...the green eyed pair...

and the blue eyed beauties...

We're pretty happy to be their parents...and downright giddy to be away on a little vacation with some of the funnest people we know.

After swimming, we went down to the Riverwalk.

...ate some great mexican food...

did some sightseeing...

...and of course, we had to at least drive by it...

Then back to the hotel for um...play. Seriously one of the reasons the boys love hotels is because I let them jump on the hotel beds...and one of their favorite things to do since they were little boys is jump from one bed to the next seeing how high they can jump.

And of course there's the wrestling.... Like I said...all boy.

Monday morning we got up and went to Six Flags.

I used to love roller coasters when I was a little girl...and even into my twenties. Somehow with age, my body has not followed my heart and I don't handle the coasters too well. I was bound and determined that I would ride some coasters with the boys...part of their enjoyment is seeing me scared and hearing me scream (sounds sadistic, but they love it)...and I wanted to experience it with them. After dry heaving after the first three rides, I decided to just be the photographer for the rest of the day.

This was the boys' favorite ride...Superman. They rode it a total of 9 times over the course of the two days we were there.

I opted out of this ride...for obvious reasons...

Another favorite was Scream...again opting out. Caleb was sure to remind me that this was the same ride where the girl got her feet cut off in Ken-tuc-kee when one of the cables snapped. Thanks son.

Back again on Tuesday...more rollercoasters until the water park opened at noon...

We all rode this together...and although I had trouble getting started, I "beat" because I went the farthest...shocker, I know.

All I could think when I saw this was...wow, imagine how much pee is in there.

I rode this too. The boys tricked me into this...saying it was really a mild ride and that the intertube didn't go very high up on the sides. Uh...wrong. I saw my life flash before my eyes...up on the left....on up on the right...and up on the left...you get it. After I was able to swallow again, I realized that was one of the best feelings I had had in long time.

That night we ate mexican again...shocking again I know. They had a mariachi band that was pretty good...

...and a really weird Davy Crockett mannequin playing the fiddle on top of a replica Alamo wall. I would love to have been in the restaurant planning meeting that day.

Wednesday morning the boys got to do what they wanted to do from the first day at the hotel...use the luggage cart. I'm telling you...they are easily amused.

Before heading home, we went to the Alamodome and watched the Cowgirls in training camp.

We came home...closer as a family and feeling blessed we were able to enjoy so many fun things together...making memories to last a lifetime.

Ahhhh, summer...you never hang around long enough.

I Know You Don't Deserve This

I know this is supposed to be Sweet Design Wednesday but I'm so behind on posts, I just decided to throw this one out there because something made me think of it today...and since for about the past 3 weeks I've been having memory issues probably related to this, but possibly related to menopause (since I'm blaming any shortcoming on my part these days on that even though I have no definite evidence that I am entering menopause), any time I think of something that happened in the past, I'm probably going to blog about it...even if it's not a great memory because it's a memory and one day I probably won't have any of those anymore... between the family history of Alzheimers and MS...I'm basically screwed...and yes that was the longest run-on sentence in history...so sue me...I wasn't an English major, but I always did really good in English...or is it 'did really well' in English?...I probably should have majored in it. So anyway, I was reading something today about "kids pooping in pools" and it made me remember the time when my kids were younger...and summers were spent just finding a suitable pool where they could play in the water without drowning and I could either play with them or play with the other mothers that were there because seriously playgroups are more about the moms than the kids...and if anyone tries to tell you differently, they're lying....I am not even kidding.

Anyway, this one day we went to a small community pool that was mostly 1-2 feet all the way through and had lots of things to play on for the kids...like this...

This is around the time Caleb had just finished potty training...so basically it was our first time at the pool with him wearing a swimsuit with no swim diaper. I think you can see where this is going...and it's not going to be pretty.

At some point during my in-depth conversation with my playgroup friends about politics or world peace or 'can you believe that Justin Timberlake left Britney Spears for Christina Aguilera...talk about moving from skank to skankee' and other important things like that, they started blowing the "get the heck out of the pool because someone pooped in the pool" whistle. I was ticked. Why would someone bring their kid that wasn't potty trained and let them loose in the pool when we were all enjoying such a nice play day with our friends and now we're going to have to listen to them all whine and cry because they have to get out of the pool?

I called Cody out of the pool, then picked up Caleb to take him to our chairs to wait out the "cleaning"...and I noticed his swimsuit was a little brown around the bottom edges. Oh my gosh...my precious little munchkin was the pooper! HE CLEARED THE POOL! Did I announce this? Did I apologize? Um, NO. I wrapped him in a beach towel...asked him loudly where everyone could hear..."do you wanna go pee-pee while we have some time to kill?" He was starting to say he pooped in his pants...but I started talking really loudly and walking very quickly toward the restrooms so he couldn't be heard. I would not be that mom. I got him cleaned up...but the evidence was still lingering...if you get my drift. We had to call it a day.

What did I learn from that experience? It was going to be a LONG time before I let the boys go swimming again without swim diapers. Caleb finally talked me out of them for camp last year.

Oops, He Did it Again

You might think this story originated today. But you'd be wrong. This story originated on an early day in August of 1972. That would be the day my Mr. McFearless was born...with a penchant for all things daring and adventurous. I've heard the tales of his exploits as a boy/teen growing up... things I doubt even his mother knows all about. Tales of sitting on the end of a tractor that is headed up a steep hill and jumping right before the tractor topples...and tales of finding his way on top of his church where he and his sidekick played. This and more found its way as a way of life for my Mr. McRisky and eventually led to his choosing a career where risk is a daily calling. I knew this going in. And I admit I liked it. I liked the fact that he was brave and strong...and took chances. I still do.

What is a much harder pill to swallow though...is that both my punks were evidently born with the same gene. I think it was in between the birth of the boys that Steve stumbled across this, and it seemed to validate every daring, risky stunt he had ever pulled. I read the book too, and as much as it scares me to say it...I want the boys to live their life passionately, with adventure, and bravery...and yes, risk. I want them to have warrior hearts and fight for what is right and just. I want them to climb trees and mountains...and travel long roads for a good cause. I want them to be roller-coaster loving and fast go-kart driving...and to face their fears with The Sword in their hand. I want them to be high-divers and long-jumpers...ahhh, yes...JUMPING.

Why on earth would you slide when you can jump? That feeling of falling through the air is only rudely interrupted by a wrong landing...a crack and an ankle that is now pointed sideways instead of straight. Such is the story of a 12 year old warrior boy who grabbed his ankle, popped it back into place straight...and has a tremendously high pain tolerance.

Today started out as any other day...me going in to wake up the boys for school. I knew both of them would bound out of bed because Caleb had a field trip to go to, and Cody had his end of year party at a local park. Cody jumped out of bed and donned his most comfy shorts and his grade-level tee. Caleb turned over and told me he didn't feel good...he had a headache and was sore all over. I told him he was probably sore from football camp they had just finished the night before...to get up and get dressed and I would get him a Tylenol to help with the aches. As soon as I felt his head though, I knew there would be no field trip for my feverish youngest warrior boy today.

On the way to take Cody to school, I called to make an appointment for Caleb. We've gone through too many Fridays of being sick without going to the doctor...only to suffer through the weekend before being able to get some meds on Monday. Told Cody I would try to make it to his party at some point during the day.

Caleb tested negative for strep and flu...so evidently a virus of some sort... we're very familiar with this routine. As I'm walking out of Caleb's doctor's visit, I get a call that went like this:

"Hi Mrs. Pierce, Cody has taken a fall here at the park and his leg is hurting him quite a bit. We think you need to come get him." I'm thinking...okay, he's probably sprained his leg or something...it happens and he'll get over it in a day or two. And then she adds, "And the school nurse is on her way too. She thought we might need to call an ambulance."

Now is when I don't want him to be a warrior boy...I want him to play nicely with his friends, fold his hands, say his prayers, read a book...and how about SLIDE down the bouncer slide instead of jumping!

So today ended up being the polar opposite of a normal day (although it's becoming more of a norm for us it seems)...and a day we spent here...again...just a closer location this time...

...with this

and after x-rays and a CT scan...this...a fractured fibula...

...and a fractured ankle,


and some good pain meds.


And why is this punk here with me?


'Cause there was no time to run him home to fight off his virus. Good thing we ended up at the hospital. Poor boy...brother had to one-up his sick day.

So after the wrapping...

and splinting...

...we got to do this...


Our living room now resembles a M.A.S.H. unit...


for the crippled and infected.

After being home for a couple of hours, I went out to find this...


Cody's teacher had brought by Get Well balloons and stuffed our mailbox full of handmade get well cards, Sudoku puzzles...and candy from his classmates. So sweet.

We are adjusting to a new look...


and trying to live with the fact that our summer is going to be way different than we had planned.

We follow up with an orthopedist next week...and find out if there will be a surgery with a cast, or just a cast. Neither will work with the season passes to Six Flags and Hurricane Harbor they received as Christmas presents. Neither will work with swimming, or mountain bike riding...or playing an impromptu game of baseball or football on the ranch.

Would he do it again? Tonight when he was asking for more pain medication...no. Ask him again in a few days...he might possibly say 'yes.'

They can't help it...they take after their dad and they're wild at heart. It's a treacherous combination.