Not A Good Day!

I woke up this morning, not feeling well. Like I was coming down with something. After Cooper's nap I took the kids to Adventure Kids so I could grab a bite to eat with Patti in Dallas. On my way home from Taco Diner, on Hillcrest right past 635, I was in a car wreck. A car was U-turning at a place where you aren't suppose to U-turn and about 2 or 3 cars has stopped suddenly. The lady driving the Volvo slammed on her breaks and I really was far enough behind her to be able to stop, but I couldn't! Bam! Smack in the back of her, it wasn't too awful, cause I was able to stand on the breaks, but then a lady driving an accord SLAMMED into me. I think then I bounced back into the Volvo, but I'm not sure! I was sandwiched in between the Volvo and Accord. I was so shocked, you never expect it to be you, but you see the accidents all the time. The pictures show the damage a little. The under side of my Pilot is pretty beat up too. Something is leaking, the muffler is crunched and rattles and makes a bit of noise when you start the car. It does still run, I was able to get it home. I'm still thinking God that the kids were not with me, I would never be able to forgive myself for putting them through that. I cried after it happened, I was shaken up and so very grateful I did not have my precious babies in the car. Neither did the other two ladies. We were all thanking God for that.

The most ironic part of this is I just got my car out the the shop just the day before. When my folks had the kids the weekend of Feb. 14th my dad scratched and did a tiny bit of damage to the right fender of the car. It didn't bother me, but it did Brian, he didn't want it to rust. So I got it fixed last week and we picked it up yesterday at 1130am. Then, smack, at 130pm today I was in a nice accident. My luck must be pretty bad right now. I think I'll stay home, in bed on meds for a few days. It's 930pm and my back hurts, my right leg/knee hurts. This really does suck!

Brian and I took my Pilot back to the shop that fixed it. We told the guy Chris that was helping me that we had a minor detail we wanted to talk to him about on the car. When he looked out the window, he said Oh, SHOOT! What Happened! He said this happens all the time, more than you'd think. Just my luck. It was pretty funny. I've already called the insurance company and should get a call back tomorrow about what to do next. Oh, the life of a rental car driver. I hate rental cars, I just pray it's better than a UGO or something crappy like that.

But yet again, I am so very thankful my babies were not in the car with me.

Dino Valley ~ Glen Rose, Texas

On Tuesday, Michelle and I took our kids to Glen Rose to see the dinosaur tracks. I got to her house and loaded my car seats into her rig and we left. We got to Glen Rose about 12ish and had lunch, then off to see the tracks. It cost $5 per adult/kid 13 or older. So for $10 we entered the Dinosaur Valley State Park and off we went looking for tracks. The map indicated that there were 2 maybe 3 different areas of tracks. We only went to two areas. It was just about 95 degrees and really sunny. We loaded Cooper and Major into their strollers and started on our way. The first track area was down a stone step stairs leading to the Pulaski River. The tracks were in the water, so the kids could have stood in the tracks... but we didn't take swimsuits, do they just looked at them. Michelle carried Major down, Michael, Mavrick and Isabella all went down to check it out. Isabella really had no idea what she was looking at and really could have cared less. I stayed up top and took pictures of them walking down the rock cliff of sorts. Cooper and I stayed with the strollers and talked to the folks coming and going. Then we were off to site #2. The map was very, very hard to read, so we ended up walking way, way out of the way to site #2. Through high grass, sand and tons of bugs. Michelle and I had to carry the boys because the strollers would have been a nightmare to drag down that way. We got to the site, you had to cross the river on big rocks to get to the tracks. The tracks were really awesome to see, just to think dinosaurs were there and the way the world was. Amazing. But again Bella had no care in the world about what she was looking at. Michael and Mavrick really did love to see the tracks, I just wish it wasn't so hot and we could have stayed around the area and throw rocks in the river or put our feet in it. Or I wish we would have had our swimsuits and I wish we left the babies at home with the grands. It was really a beating with the babies. If I ever go back it will be when Cooper is 5 so he'll know what he's looking at and he can walk and swim and I can enjoy it too.

Splash Pool Fun

This past Monday, Brian took the day off to spend with the kids and me. He didn't get a chance to take Isabella to the splash pool, that's one of his favorite Sunday afternoon things to do. So we went Monday afternoon. Isabella has become a little fish, she loves the water and is doing really well in the small pool, Cooper had a great time, he's really becoming a hand-full so it's always nice to have Brian at the pool to keep up with a kid. I signed the kids up for swimming lessons at a woman's house in Plano. They 'test' on June 22, then we'll see where we go from there. I'm excited to get Isabella some true lessons from an actual teacher who knows what she's doing. She's gonna love it.

Morning Mayhem

This morning Bella and I were outside in our front yard putting up some July decorations, when all of a sudden a semi-large dog ran into my house!! I screamed at Brian to get the dog before Jewels saw her. Jewels has a large dog syndrome and would probably try to attack, in her small Pomeranian ways. Anywho, Brian got the dog and dragged it back out the front door. When all of a sudden a red headed red faced 7 year old boy named Evan ran up trying to catch his dog. Sam was the dog and he was a young dog, he was fast!! Evan ran away trying to catch Sam. Then he came back by the house saying he was going to go home and tell his baby-sitter that Sam had runaway. Well about 2 seconds later Evan came back around our house crying! He had no idea where his house was. No idea what street it was on, no idea what his house looked like. So I begged Brian to get in my car, catch the dog and drive around to find Evan's house. That sounds easy, Right? Wrong! This poor kids, didn't know his phone number, really didn't know anything. I was feeling a bit defeated. Brian came back without the dog and he was going to look up Evan's folks on our HOA website. I jumped into the car to drive around looking for Sam, we found him by the swimming pool about 3 blocks from our home. Then Brian called me he found Evans home address! We thought. But No, again not so fast. Evan's folks had just divorced and his parents sold that house and his father moved to a new house in the same neighborhood, just a few streets down, JUST ONE WEEK AGO!! And his mother was in McKinney. He knew both his parents worked at a hospital. He thought his dad may be a doctor. We didn't know what else to do, 45 minutes later. So Brian called 911 non-emergency number. Told the lady what was going on and they send out 2 officers. When the first officer pulled up, so did Evan's uncle. They had been looking for him as we were looking for them. The uncle even drove by our house when Evan, dog Sam, Bella and I all sitting in the car. Just one amazing morning.

I was really thinking, I need my kids to know where they live from a very early age, I want them to know their phone number, I want them to know more about their surroundings than this poor Evan did. But once we put the pieces together, Evan had no chance of knowing anything that he didn't know before the divorce and his father moving. He couldn't have know where he lived in one week, he couldn't have know his phone number in one week. He couldn't have done any better than he did. He did great.

The police officer said we did the right thing by calling them. Brian wasn't sure if we should, but once we were stuck and had no other options, that is what we had to do. I think I learned a lot. One thing is to really get to know my neighbors more. Brian and I are very friendly people and so are our kids. So that won't be hard. My heart really broke for Evan. I'm sure he would have known where he lived in his other house, but with all that he and his 4 other siblings went through over the past few months, I'm sure they poor kids are a bit on edge. And then he got lost. The saddest/funnest part of this is they lived directly behind us about 2 homes down. Really, we share the alley, and are two houses from one another. But put a kid in a situation like that and they are bound to fall apart. The fear that sweet little Evan felt, I'm sure his heart was racing and his mind was rolling as 7 year old minds do. I'm sure he received a lot of love when he returned home. His uncle was shaken too, so I'm sure he'll have a story to tell his mom and dad when he sees them. I'd love to be a fly on the wall for that story.

I plan to take a few dozen cookies over this next weekend to introduce myself and see how Evan and Sam are doing. Sweet Evan, I hope his heart has stopped racing.

South Padre

I can now officially say I've been to South Padre. Our trip was very fun, uneventful and successful! Patti and I left Dallas on Saturday morning about 945am and arrived in S. Padre about 1030pm. Yes, that is a long damn time in the car, but we did great considering what all we did. We stopped 3 times for Starbucks Black Tea (Patti has an addiction to it and now I do too). We stopped for gas and a potty break. We stopped in KINGSVILLE (Amberly!!!) to go to the King Ranch Saddle Shop to just say we did and it's a very nice shop. We went to Harlingen to pick up Kristi at the airport and ate at Chili's (we had 1.5 hours to kill!). Then off to S. Padre. Time went by really quick and it usually does with good company! We woke up the next morning and spent the entire day at the beach. I'm the dumb a$$ that didn't put on enough sunblock and got burnt! We went to dinner and watch the sun set in the bay. Woke up the next day, back to the beach, all day, except I stayed under the umbrella and under towels and slept the day away. Gosh, that felt so awesome! Then off to dinner again. The woke up Tuesday morning and headed to Alamo, Texas to pick up Patti's mother in law who is 93 year old! You would have never know she was that old, she was a spunky lady, cute as can be! We drove home and honestly I can say I'd do it again in a heart beat! I was able to sleep all night without waking up and I got to sleep in and then go to the beach and just lay there. It was a wonderful trip. But did you know that South Padre does not have a Starbucks?!? How crazy is that?

1st day on the beach

Patti at dinner Kristi at dinner
Us... 2nd day on the beach

I was sleeping under all the towels and umbrella!
Patti and I at dinner

I don't look like her daughter, do I? LOL!!