An Ice Pack A Day Keeps The Doctor Away...

Yesterday, I wrote:

Three weeks ago, Justin woke up one Wednesday morning and couldn't walk. Fell right on the floor. He couldn't put any weight on his right leg. Travis had to carry him around the house and I planted him on the couch for the morning. Luckily it wasn't a school day. Anyway, when I realized it must be something more serious, I called our family chiropractor. She is amazing and I knew she could check him out and help us figure out what was going on with his leg. She immediately noticed that his knee was swollen and hot. She also could see that his one leg was bowed out a bit. So, she ordered an x-ray. She is a very conservative doctor and we knew she wouldn't order an x-ray unless she felt it was really needed. We went over to the clinic and Justin got his FIRST x-ray. After I assured him that he wouldn't need to grow a new leg, he was really excited about it. Mostly so he could see his own bones.

Later that day, after icing his leg and keeping off of it for a while, Justin could walk again. Hallelujah! Then we went back in so the chiropractor could read his x-ray. She determined that one of his legs is 3-4 millimeters longer than the other. Because of this, and the resulting compensation of the other leg, it has become a bit bowed. The next day she called to tell me that the radiologist had determined the same thing. They wanted another opinion and so we scheduled an appointment to see a recommended orthopedic surgeon. We have been waiting and waiting and now our appointment is tomorrow morning. In the meantime, Justin has been doing fine and only occasionally complains about his knee and leg. I'm so curious to find out what the doctor says. I'm hoping he only needs a little lift in one shoe to balance out his walking as he grows.

Now for today and my soapbox:

Travis came with us to Justin's appointment. I was really glad he was there because we had to wait a long time and could tag-team the kids. When the doctor finally talked to us, he said that he felt the leg length difference wasn't any big deal and that plenty of adults go walking around with an inch of length difference in their legs. What? No need for a lift in his opinion. Then he said that his concern was that Justin's knee was still swollen after 3 weeks. I agree. He started listing worst-case scenarios while Justin was getting really worried. What's that about? The doctor then said that he didn't really think Justin had any of those things. So he sent us home with stickers and a plan to come back in 3 weeks and see if there is any difference. What? Isn't that why we went to a specialist so we could get some answers? Frustrating. I have to say I'm glad to hear the length thing shouldn't be an issue for him and we'll just monitor that in the future. But for a "wait and see" for the rest? I could have said that myself. It felt like he was just guessing and I wanted to go to a specialist for some answers. I can see the merit in getting a 3rd and 4th opinion. Alright, I'll get down now...and go get Justin an ice pack.

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Sandbox

I love summer. I love the warm, dry weather. I love the sun. I even love the little rosy sun-kissed cheeks. I love running in the sprinklers with my kids. I love picnics under the swingset and trips to the beach. I love that the sun doesn't go down until LATE. Get the picture? I really enjoy this time of year. Except for one thing. You know, up until today I thought I loved sandboxes. But, now I'm not sure. Don't get me wrong, I love that my kids like to spend hours digging and playing in that beautiful Oregon beach sand. But I don't love cleaning off the kids afterwards. And changing a diaper...not the best.

Here's Tyler digging in the lovely sand and Justin with his friend and the water rocket.

Today I plopped them in the tub to play and clean off. But, I'm thinking this may get old after 2 or 3 baths a day all summer. Help! Do any of you have any tips that will help me to still like our sandbox tomorrow? I don't remember it being any big deal last summer...I must have just forgotten my secret to sandbox love.

Dinosaur Fish and Monsters

Travis took the boys on our ward's Father & Son Camp out on Friday. The campsite was up the Columbia Gorge right along the Columbia River overlooking the Bonneville Dam.

The boys were really looking forward to this boys weekend and have been packing for months. It was so fun for Tyler that he was big enough this year to join in on this fun overnighter with Justin and Travis.

Happy that they'll all fit in the small tent after setting it up in the playroom just to be sure....

I enjoyed being home ALONE for a whole day and a night. I don't think I have ever done that since we had kids. It was strange and wonderful at the same time. I had a lot to keep me busy and the time flew by. I bought a bunch of flowers the other day and had big plans to plant all 54 of them and spruce up the yard while they were gone.

It was 92 degrees for us on Friday and so I stayed in the shade as much as I could and then came in to cool off during the warmest part of the afternoon (and to catch up on all the 'Everyday with Rachel Ray' episodes I have recorded.) We have been in the 50's and 60's for the last two months, so this heat wave was quite the shock to the system. It felt so good to be outside all day in shorts. I hope the warm weather is here to stay.

I really enjoyed the time to myself and was ready to welcome my boys home Saturday afternoon. They had a fantastic time on their camp out and they had lots of stories to tell.

They camped just above a steep drop-off to the river.

Travis couldn't stop Tyler from balancing on this ledge above the hill.

Travis said the if he would turn away from Tyler at all, he would take off down the steep trail to the river.

Here are Justin and Tyler racing down to the river

So, Travis had to be on guard the whole time. Justin was old enough this trip that he could just go run with the other boys. He told me he went on 9 hikes and saw a big sturgeon jump out in the river. Travis took some walkie-talkies along and Justin was so happy to wear one the whole time. Travis liked it because he could easily find Justin by giving him a little call on the walkie-talkie.

Justin and Ty on the Columbia River

They all got to go on tours of the Bonneville Dam and the Bonneville Fish Hatchery and Sturgeon Center.

View from the campsite of the Bonneville Dam

Ty and Dad at the Bonneville Dam

Justin was excited to tell me all about the "Dinosaur Fish" they saw at the fish hatchery.


They learned that this type of sturgeon were alive during the time of the dinosaur during the Jurassic Period. Very cool!

Justin at the Bonneville Fish Hatchery

Here you can see how many fish Justin was feeding....

When they pulled into our driveway Saturday afternoon Ty and Justin were asleep. They were so surprised to see me when they woke up. I carried Tyler into the backyard so he could find all the new flowers. I showed him how to make the snapdragons talk. He was so excited and turned around yelling to Justin, "Come see the monsters, Justin!" That made all my hard work worth it!

Our Monsters

We spent the evening playing in our sandbox, mowing the lawn, and planting the last of my flowers. We even transplanted Justin's two bean plants he started as his kindergarten class project.

Today while we were eating dinner, we saw these black birds fly in and one of them started trying to steal my yellow flower petals! Then he'd fly across our yard and up into our neighbor's eaves. I hope he was taking flowers to his little bird wife! Otherwise, not allowed! Justin and Tyler laughed at me when I was trying to scare them away from my precious flowers. I think I may need to build myself a little scarecrow...I can't believe it!

Turn it up!

I just discovered this really cool online radio site. You can customize the tunes so you listen to only the music you love. Really nifty...

www.pandora.com

Happy Mother's Day!

Justin told me a while back that he had been working at school on a surprise for me for Mother's Day. This morning I got to open his package wrapped with paper painted with a spray bottle. He painted a picture of a pink dogwood tree and a poem.

My Special Mother

My mother is the most wonderful mother in the whole world! She is as pretty as spring flowers. She weighs like 60 pounds and I'm 3 so I think she's maybe 6 feet tall. Her favorite food is black licorice. She has a whole box for herself. Her favorite color is green. In the good old days, when my Mom was little, she used to open up a window and go, "Ooh, aah" at the thunderstorm. I think Mom looks funny when she jumped on the trampoline and she fell off. I wish my Mom would be with me alone every day. I wouldn't trade my mother for Dad!

Happy Mother's Day!
Love, Justin

Blast Off!

Today was a little bit breezy. So we raced over to the elementary school field to fly Justin's new kite. Justin ended up being quite the kite flying pro. He just about landed it on the roof of the school!

Ty chased the kite for a while and then the playground sucked him in.Although, I don't know who was having more fun flying the kite...Justin or Travis! Just look at that smile! I can tell we're going to have a lot of fun with this one at the beach this summer!

Happy Birthday Justin!

Today Justin turned 6 years old! Wow! Where does the time go? He is growing up so quickly. We love having Justin in our family! He is such a happy and fun boy!

He had a birthday party this afternoon at Out of this World Pizza & Play. He invited all his best friends and they had a blast!


I think they raced non-stop for two hours. They would come gasping into the party room asking for a drink and then would race back out to play.



My favorite part was when they were all excited to help Justin open presents and it was completely crazy for 5 minutes. Justin had been hoping for a Hot Wheels track. After he had opened three of them, he yelled out, "I'm the luckiest boy in the world!" We just had to laugh! Then after the last gift had been opened, one boy asked if they could go play again and I said "Yes!" They all cheered and raced out to the arena in one big clump. They would have left a cloud of dust behind them if we had been outside. Hilarious!


Tyler had so much fun running around with the big kids. He was so cute all day and would dance whenever anyone sang "Happy Birthday" to Justin.



After the party ended, Justin wanted to stay and keep playing. So, we stayed until he climbed under our cart to try to fall asleep because he couldn't run another step. Happy Birthday Buddy!

Trader Joe

We had a visitor with us for 5 days last week...Uncle Joe.

Joe with daughter Elana on Thanksgiving Day 2007

He was staying with us until his apartment in Portland was ready for him to move into. He is in the process of writing a book while my sister, Heidi, and their kids live it up in Hawaii. It just happened to work out that Joe was here to keep my boys company while I was gallivanting in California. I'm sure he got a lot of writing done with all the commotion I'm sure echoed through our house all weekend.

Many of you know of our love for a grocery store called Trader Joe's. Well, Tyler started calling Uncle Joe "Trader Joe". At first, I thought he just got mixed up, but then it really stuck. He'd ask me, "Where Trader Joe go?" "Trader Joe go on a walk?" "Bless Trader Joe" It drove Justin crazy and they started having "Joe wars". Justin would yell, "Uncle Joe!" and Tyler would say, "No, Trader Joe!". Over and over and over. I hope he feels loved. Oh, and Joe, you left your shoes....

Disneyland

Wow! We have had a busy week and I have lots of catching up to do. Let's start with the most exciting thing: I went to Disneyland over the weekend! Just me...and two of my good friends! It was a jam-packed, giggle-filled girls' trip weekend! I still can hardly believe it really happened! Who goes to Disneyland without their kids or husband? Oh, I guess we do! And we had a blast!

My good friends from high school, Lisa and Holli, drove from Las Vegas and picked me up at the airport in Orange County on Friday night.



We went to both parks at Disneyland that night and I just had to take a picture of the castle all lit up. A glimpse of the fireworks show was fun to watch from the Nemo line. But, no more Nemo would be allowed for Saturday after Holli fell asleep during the submarine ride. I don't think she is going to live that one down! The rides at night were awesome and the park wasn't too crowded so we were able to catch a bunch of rides. We stayed late at Disneyland and then stayed up late at our hotel talking. I loved it.

We woke up Saturday morning ready for a big day at Disneyland. We raced from ride to ride and tried to master the whole "fast pass" thing. Here we are looking "bug-eyed" at the "Bug's Life" 4-D show.


The roller coasters were so much fun! My favorite ride hands-down was the Indiana Jones one. We sat on the front row of our jeep and Holli was our driver. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. It was hilarious! I was trying to take a picture of Holli and the jeep was jerking around like crazy, so I kept getting a good shot of her knees. That only made us laugh harder! Here is a great picture of Holli laughing her head off. We really wanted to go on that ride again, but then decided that it would be hard to top that first time. Just looking at this picture brings it all back to me. I can't stop laughing...


I was all gung ho to go on all the rides. We came upon a really adventurous one in Bear Country. It looked like an obstacle course with zip lines and rickety bridges and tire swings. I talked both Holli and Lisa into going on it with me. After I assured them that "Yes, we can be that agile" we tromped up in line until we passed this sign.

We had to take a picture of me trying to get on a 12 and under ride. That was the only time at Disneyland I wished I was teeny-tiny again. That would have been a fun one!



More pictures of all the fun...this is us before we went on a turbo roller coaster with loops and all the good stuff. This one was better than colossus and the white roller coaster combined! Sorry, Lagoon!


I was brilliant and wore new shoes. Holli offered to let me ride on her back on our way to the car. I declined, so Holli dubbed me a mule and I kept walking. Though I have to say that on our hike to the car, we were sure someone must have moved our car miles away in the parking garage because it definitely wasn't parked so far away when we arrived that morning!

We were so tired Saturday night but still talked until we were just about falling asleep. Our hotel was so nice. Thanks, Holli! It was so nice to sleep without our kids waking us up during the night. We stayed up so late and woke up early enough, but I felt like I got more sleep than I have had in a while. Very nice!


My flight was supposed to leave at 10:30 Sunday morning so, we just ate breakfast at the hotel and drove to the airport. It ends up that my flight was delayed and I had to do a song and a dance to fly out of that airport at all. It was a little bit crazy, but I ended up scoring a better flight than on my original itinerary. I joke about it, but I really felt like I was inspired to talk to those I did in order to re-arrange my flight. Another reminder that it pays to listen to those quiet impressions. I arrived in Portland two hours later than planned, but we still had time to go visit Travis' sister, Nicki, her husband, Lance, and her cute one-year-old, Brynlee, in Vancouver, Washington. It was fun to see Brynlee walking and the boys thought she was so cute.

Thanks for making this trip happen, Holli and Lisa! I'm so glad we did it! It was so much fun to have non-stop girl-talk all weekend! I loved it and I think I could really get used to this whole girls' trip thing! Does anyone want to come to Oregon?