Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Injuries and the rest of summer

 Well, this story involves several emergency room visits. Initially, it started as a broken arm. Hudson was scootering around the driveway. His scooter hit a rock and stopped but Hudson continued going forward. He ended up with a split on his arm. The next week, he was jumping around, tripped and fell. Unfortunately, with the cast limiting his mobility, he ended up smashing his face and needed stitches too. Then a week later, while up in Wisconsin, we decided that he needed to go back to the Emergency Room to get the stitches removed since they could not be removed at room. It was rather exciting.
 You can see his initial split from the Emergency Room before he went back to get his cast in this picture. He and Sara Beth were creating RVs for their critters.

 In addition to emergency room visits, Hudson's teeth started to fall out. He fell and noticed that one of his bottom teeth was new loose. He kept messing with it until it finally came out. He left the tooth in his bedside table drawer, but didn't notice that a $2 bill took its place for a couple days.
Don't get me wrong: the summer wasn't all about injuries. There were times when the kids got to play as well.
Or attack grandparents.
Or set things on fire.
One Satuday morning, the kids came running into our room saying "Something was dead in the driveway". Turns out there was a coyote that had died of unknown causes. Sara Beth post posthumously named it blossom. We planted a flower on its grave.
A giant windstorm blew through one evening. Our neighbors 80 year old tree fell down. We had some branches that fell over too. Hudson climbed on them while I chopped up the rest of it.
Hudson and his cousins got to hang out at the local part.
And I made some attempts and real photography. It would have worked a lot better if I didn't put my fingers in front of the camera lens.
We went up to Wisconsin to visit my Aunt and Parents. Aunt Sue's neighbor had several model cars which were Hudson's exact size.
Whenever there is a party, my Aunt brings out the party hats and animal masks. In this case, Sara Beth and I both had birthdays coming up.
Who wouldn't want to go to the dinosaur museum while in Kenosha?
Once we went up to my parents, both Sara Beth expressed interest in fishing. Once my dad heard that, he brought out the equipment.
After seeing what his sister was doing, Hudson asked for a fishing rod too.
Sara Beth and Hudson both went out in the boat with my dad. After some discussion about bait, it was decided that worms were ok to use as long as they were already dead.She went out in the boat and worked hard for a couple hours fishing.
All the practice paid off. Sara Beth caught her first three fish. She was not interested in eating them, so, after pictures, they went back in the river. But, the success of worms as bait was proven. Sara Beth decided it was ok to use them even if they were alive. The only requirement was that she didnt have to watch as they were placed on the hook.
There are a lot of flavors of custard. The kids enjoyed having the option of many different flavors for desert.
The boats was not just used for fishing. We also took trips out into Lake Michigan.
I have no idea what Sara Beth was doing when I took this picture. But I do know that she was not pleased with me taking the picture.
Everyone enjoyed the large waves.
Hudson held onto the painter so that he wouldn't fall off the front seat.
Hudson asked my mom to read stories to him several evenings while we were there.
The birthday cake from previous years has scarred our kids. As soon as my mom began to light the candles, both Hudson and Sara Beth ran for the garage to avoid the inevitable raging inferno.
We visited the county fair while in Wisconsin. All the rides were free with a ticket. I went on all many as I could without getting sick. Hudson enjoyed the rides he could go on.
Heather and Sara Beth were more adventurous but they also went on a couple of the more tame rides with me.
I think the kids favorite was when they got to drive the bumper car and crash into Heather and I.
Once we got back to Alabama, we celebrated Sara Beth's actual birthday. I think her favorite present was a cat-pillow named Pusheen.

Saturday, June 3, 2017

Parties

Another picture dump here. Catta looks so happy here. 
Rainey looks slightly more thrilled. But her dilated pupils reveal her true thoughts about the pose.

My parents came by on their way through to Atlanta. Sara Beth wanted my dad to read the American Girl Catalog to her for her bedtime story.
Hudson realized that he could fit into the cupboard, so for a few days he pretended to be a cupboard puppy.
I brought out my .22 to fire with Hudson and my dad. Hudson didn't want to try it since it was too noisy.
Hudson had an school concert. His class sang "The lion sleeps tonight"
Hudson got invited to a class mate's birthday party at CiCi's pizza. He got to try his luck driving in the video arcade.
I wanted to take some pictures of the rain and asked Sara Beth to be in a few.
A rare picture of all of us. We need to do these more often.
My cousin had us help out with a school project taking pictures with "Flat Nona".
Here is another one with Sara Beth holding "Flat Nona" under the waterfall.
Sara Beth and I ran 2 5k races this spring. In the first one, she completed in 43 minutes.
 In the 2nd, she ran it in 35 minutes and got a medal for 1st place in her age group.
After the race, she wanted to take a picture of me with the flower in my hair.

Sara Beth charges only 5 kisses for a hair cut.
Hudson had an Easter Egg hunt at his pre-school that I got to attend.
Here he is with all his classroom fiends checking out their haul from the great hunt.
On Easter, we did an egg hunt around our front yard. 
The kids sat down and got to examine their goodies.
They also got some "Hatchimals" from Memaw and Papaw, which is apparently this year's toy craze.
I came in one day to find the dinner list had been changed by Hudson to now consist of combinations of Macaroni and Hamburger

Heather's job had a "Touch a Truck" fundraiser where Hudson and I went around to sit in all sorts of equipment.
He had a blast.
But I think the Semi-truck was his favorite of them all. We went to that one several times during the day.
We got to watch Star Wars for popcorn cheese and fruit one night. It was a close call as to whether Luke Skywalker would be able to blow up the Death Star.
Sara Beth's Sunday School helped serve pizza to the church for a celebration one evening.