MLK weekend at the beach

With the long weekend for Martin Luther King, we decided to head to the beach.  The boys had school on Friday, but didn't on Monday.  The plans were going back and forth, and getting super complicated... Eddie and dad were invited to hunt at a camp about an hour from the beach.  Long story shortened- I ended up driving to the beach by myself with the boys and the pup.

I was debating taking the boys to school on Friday so I could workout then go home and pack and then pick them up and go from school, but the more I thought about it, I was ready to get going.  After a zumba class Thursday morning, we came home and the boys had a snack while I ran around taking a quick shower and getting all packed...

In no time, we were on the road, ready to go! Everyone did great in the car on the way down! Andy had to peepee several times.  I think his problem is when we go outside (which is 99% of the time with him). he doesn't fully "drain" it (so gross, I know... sorry), so he has to go again within the hour.  But, we were in no hurry and stopped when we needed to and made great time still. 

We got there around 5:00 and I was carrying everything in and up to the rooms while watching the boys and "opening" up the house.  The boys came running up to me saying that Hank pooped in the house.  Huh? I immediately thought that Andy did, but they insisted it was Hank.  Well, when I found Hank, he had rolled in something... poop? Dead animal? WHO KNOWS?!?! But it was awful.  It was so foul smelling.  I was SO mad at him.  Hank is a really good dog and I haven't gotten upset with him in a really long time.  I took him outside in the freezing cold and sprayed him with the hose, all the while yelling at him "BAD DOG...." I couldn't find the shampoo in the outside shower, so I squirted conditioner all over him and then sprayed him again with the hose.  By this point, my hands were numb and the boys were standing in the door way with their eyes huge at mommy yelling at her pooch.

I brought him inside to my mom's shower, which has a detachable head and gave him a shower with good smelling shampoo.  He felt terrible though-- you could tell... he was embarrassed....

After got everything carried in and the dog taken care of (grrrr...), the boys both climbed in my lap to snuggle-- it was pretty fabulous!

We played in the basement while waiting for my parents to get there.  Cal was pushing this baby around, calling her Baby Margaret... so sweet!

Then he rocked her, telling her she was a sweet baby....

Then I look over and see Nug with his leg stuck in the baby high chair.  atta boy...

 Then Andy picked up a stuffed animal and said it was his baby.  He said to me: "mommy, be quiet! my baby is seeeeeping!!!"

Tucking in the bambino... be quiet, mommy!

The boys were excited to see Grandma and Grandpa and did some snuggling while waiting on dinner.

 Friday morning, as karma for skipping school, Andy took a spill on his bike.  I wrote about that in this post, to make this one less lengthy.

The boys eating some lunch together....

 I love how much they love each other.  Cal was SO worried about Andy after his fall. 

We went to a teacher store/toy store-- holy cow.  It made me want to teach again! Everything you could ever want or need for your classroom was in this store! And they have some great educational games and toys.  The boys each got a toy for being so good (Cal got something football related and Andy got a soccer related toy...).  We came home and practiced with our new letters.  Cal had so much fun spelling words.  

Hank and I made up after the first night and he was still feeling really bad about the incident, so he was snuggling on me to keep me warm.....

Cal and I played some killer games of Candy Land! I like this game... it doesn't take forever and it's still cute... even after this many years! It was COLD COLD COLD down there, so we didn't spend too much time outside while we were there... lots of inside fun!

 Andy took refuge under my dad's legs... I think he felt safe down there... or something...

Eddie and dad got back from their hunt Saturday afternoon and the boys were excited to see them! Cal did some back surfing before bed...

When we were outside, we had to bundle up big time.  Andy always loves a golf cart ride with grandma.... I would rate this in his top 3 favorite things of all time....

One of Cal's favorite things of all time would be playing with Hankers! I absolutely love every single thing about this picture. 

Mom and I took the boys to the aquarium one morning to burn some energy.  It was very empty so the boys had a blast running from exhibit to exhibit!

They have a tank there that is floor to ceiling glass and filled with fish and sharks, etc... it is really quite amazing.  Andy could have stayed in front of this for hours.  He was entranced by it all.

There was some of the workers in the tank doing some maintenance and they would come over and wave to the boys.  Andy was frozen in place watching them in there.  

The gift shop had a little gift set that had sharks and a scuba diver and other under water animals, so grandma, being the fun one that she is, filled the sink with water and let the boys play.  They had a blast getting wet with their new toys!

Football was on Sunday night so we watched that-- always a high light for Cal!

We had quick baths and then they got to watch a little more of the game before going to bed.

Andy and Grandpa snuggled on the couch some before it was time to head upstairs.  Love this picture!

We had a great time at the beach, even though it was cold!!! We just love being down there-- makes us all so happy! We came home Monday afternoon and then Eddie left Tuesday morning EARLY for the week.  It was a long week, my friends, with a 2 year old waking up 2-3 times a night.....yawn!!! But we all survived!

 

Let's FACE it

 For Martin Luther King weekend we went to the beach... that post is coming up, but one event from that weekend deserves its own post. 

As you can see from the above picture, Andy took quite a spill on his bike when we were there-- the first morning, actually.

He hopped on his bike to ride down our driveway, onto this other little street and got going too fast.  It happened right in front of me, and it was like it was in slow motion.  I still see it perfectly in my head when I close my eyes and think about it.

He was gaining speed and I said "brakes, Andy! Brakes!" He was kind of screaming a little and then turned his handle bars as hard has he could to wrong direction and went flying off of his bike.

His face hit first and then bounced and hit again.  I ran as fast as I could to him-- I thought teeth were knocked out, or bones were broken-- the way he landed on his arm looked like it could have broken.  

I ran inside carrying him screaming like crazy (he was screaming- not me..haha).  My mom was with me and Cal and Hank, so she, bless her sweet, amazing heart, carried Cal's AND Andy's bikes, and got Cal and the dog back to the house, while I ran inside.

After assessing there was no serious damage, we had a little snuggle time... my heart was breaking. 

Andy cried and whimpered for quite a while, which, honestly, isn't like him at all, so you know he was really hurting-- and I am sure it scared him a ton too-- it scared his momma!

After he was felling better, he LOVED the mark on his face! He would walk by mirrors and look at himself and laugh and laugh.  He would turn the camera around on the phone to see himself:

My dad and Eddie were off on a hunt and were coming down Saturday afternoon-- I was sending Eddie the pictures with updates on Andy.  Eddie replied to the above picture: "seriously. " hahahaha

I should mention here, he OF COURSE was wearing his helmet! Unfortunately, the helmet offers zero coverage for your face! My father in law called and suggested I require him to always wear a football helmet when riding toys.... not a bad idea! 

Thanks to a whole lot of aquaphor (we SWEAR by that stuff, by the way), his face was healing incredibly fast.  Soon, most of the road rash was gone, and all that remained was the scratch on his nose and forehead-- and the nose scratch really looked like some adorable freckles- ! hahaha

We came home from the beach on Monday then, that afternoon, the boys were playing football upstairs-- they typically run from our room down the hall into the playroom.  Cal was taking a break and sitting on the floor and Andy kept running.  Well, I heard a LOUD noise, then Andy really screaming-- not his mad scream, but his "I am hurt scream." Cal came running out of the playroom and said "Andy really hurt himself!" He said he ran into the window sill.  After further questioning, it was determined that Cal "helped" him hit the window sill (translation, Cal tripped him as he was running........).

He hit the ledge nose first.  He had a HUGE dent in the top of his nose-- huge.  I seriously thought it was broken.  I looked like a broken nose to me-- not that I am a pro-- but there was no blood, so I figured we were okay. 

The bruising started almost immediately and it swelled some, but both the swelling and the bruising have gone down- yay!

Also- can we get a huge thank you, Lord! that he didn't go through the glass window? Ohmahgah, that would have been so so so bad.  Cal is fully aware that what he did is awful.  Gotta love brothers, right?

 I went to the gym Tuesday morning and as we were getting out of the car, Andy turned his head to look at a passing car and my hand was there to get him out and I poked him right in the eye.  Bad, mommy.  This poor kid can NOT win!

His lack of sleeping and his messed up face earned him a spot in my bed (he woke up at 4 and refused to go back to sleep.  Eddie was out of town, and I was too tired to protest... plus, isn't this a sweet face to wake up to??)

 I know I just have to FACE it (see what I did there??) and know that with two boys, this will be the first of many many injuries....that doesn't make it any easier though!!!!!

This post brought to you by aquaphor.  ;)