Colin's Hit List

While we were on vacation last week, Colin seemed to be very accident prone. It seemed like everytime we turned around he was hurting himself. Luckily he didn't sustain any serious injuries, and mostly only needed a few loves and band-aids to make everything better.

This is Colin's black eye and bruised cheek from falling off his bike.

And here is a list of some of the fun he had on vacation:
*Fell out of bed at the hotel.
*Fell down 4 steps head first at the hotel while going to breakfast.
*Slipped on the pool deck at the hotel and fell down while going to open the door for daddy.
*Fell off the stool while playing air hockey at the beach house.
*Smashed his fingers while playing air hockey.
*Fell off his bike in the street after somehow making it between two vehicles and down the steep driveway. He scraped his head, bruised his cheek, got a black eye, skinned his knee and the top of foot.
*Walked into the corner cabinet door in kitchen and scraped his brow.
*Walked into one of the handles of the foosball table...just another bruise.
*Tripped over a scooter in the garage and landed on the floor.
*Slipped on garage floor with wet feet.
*Fell off bar-high chair and scraped his legs on the way down.
*Touched a hot light bulb and burned his finger.
*Bonked head on underside of bar.
*Jabbed by American flag stick in the side while climbing the stairs.
*Fell off the stool while plaing air hockey again. (Yes he had to stand on the stool to be tall enough to play.)

*Bit by his brother (don't ask).

I am sure there was more. We were gone for 8 days and he certainly came back with his share of bumps and bruises and scrapes.

The other kids didn't have quite so many incidents, but Jordan did his fair share of falling down the stairs (at least 2 or 3 times) and tripping over his own feet. (I guess that happens when a 6 year old has size 2 feet.) Luckily everytime he fell, he jumped up pretty quickly and said, "I'm alright."

We also had an ocean wave that snuck up on us while we were playing at the beach. We thought we were a pretty safe distance from the waves that were coming in. All of a sudden a wave came in that just kept coming. All of us had to run, especially Jordan who was playing in the water at the time. After the wave had gone back out I realized how far up it actually came. It actually washed right over the entire area Lauren had been sitting and playing just seconds before. I am so glad that Tim was right there to grab Lauren and move her back, while I grabbed the boys hands and ran. Of course then I ran back into the water to collect some of the shovels and buckets that the kids had been playing with as well. We never saw the waves come as high as that one for the rest of the time we were at the beach that evening.

Lauren's scariest incident happened in a matter of seconds. Since there were big windows in the beach house, there were blinds with long strings. One morning, dad opened the blinds and didn't think to tie up the strings. Tim and Lauren had been looking out the window and I asked Tim to do a favor for me. He had only been away from Lauren for about 30 seconds when Lauren started crying. I looked over at her and noticed she was all wrapped up in the strings of the blinds. Luckily it was just her legs and feet that were wrapped up, but it made me realize how fast accidents of strangulation could happen with things like that. It took a little bit of maneuvering and pulling to get Lauren untangled, but she was just fine.

With all of these incidents, I realize how precious life is. Colin could have been hit by a car when riding out into the street and falling off his bike, Lauren could have been strangled by the strings of the blinds, Jordan could have been swept off his feet in an ocean wave. I know these are pretty drastic and unpleasant thoughts, but I know things like that do happen. We do the best we can to keep our kids safe, but accidents do happen. I feel so blessed that we were all kept safe while on vacation and none of these incidents were serious accidents. I know the Lord was watching over us.

Hopefully my next post will be about the fun times we had while on vacation.

Isn't It Great To Be A Boy..

We made it to Portland today. It was actually quite a quick trip. We made excellent time. However, we had a first today.

We stopped at the first rest stop on our trip in hopes that it would be the only rest stop needed before reaching our destination...Great Grandma's house. However, it wasn't meant to be. Within about 2 miles of passing the second rest stop, Colin announces from the backseat that he has to go to the bathroom REALLY BAD! He said, he was going to wet his pants. Of course right as he announces this, we drove by an exit with many gas stations and fast food restaurants, so I told him we would get off at the next exit and hopefully there would be someplace he could go. Of course, I also said that if we couldn't find a bathroom, he could just pee in the bushes. (Okay, I didn't really think that would be the case. So we get the next exit and Colin is practically dancing in his car seat so I pull off. There was no sign of a bathroom anywhere, so we just pulled off the road. Tim and Colin jumped out of the car and Colin got to pee in the weeds at the side of the road. Then they got back in the car and we got right back on the freeway. It really was the perfect stop since the exit was one of those that went off the freeway and right back on and no other cars were taking the exit.

Colin thought it was pretty cool to get to do this. Of course we reminded him that we only let him do this because it was an emergency. Jordan thought it was cool to watch someone pee in the weeds. Of course we spent the next 10 minutes talking about how cool it was to pee in the weeds. Then they started talking about peeing on the beach (which is where we are headed tomorrow) .

A little while later, Colin once again announced he needed to go to the bathroom. Of course, there was not rest stop in site and we were only like 20-30 minutes from Great Grandma's house, but he had to go NOW! Of course he said he would go in the weeds again. Needless to say, we found a gas station at the next stop and he didn't have to go in the weeds.

My boys now know they can pee in the weeds. I hope they don't take advantage of this ability.

Cousins get together

It has been a long time since my sisters and I have all been together. Today we got that chance. This also meant that all the cousins got to see each other and play. We went out to an early dinner and then went back to grandma and grandpas to play and get some pictures. Based on the amount of dirt on the boys when we got home, I think they had a fun time playing together.

Unfortunately, my camera battery died right as the kids started to go crazy, so I think I missed a lot of the action shots, as well as pictures of us sisters.

At the Park

Since the kids had a ton of energy today, (even after climbing the wall at REI), we decided to take them to the park to try and run them a little more ragged in hopes that they would be a little more well behaved when we went out for an early dinner with the rest of the family. They ran a bunch more, but they just seemed to keep on going. Unfortunately, they were still loud and busy at the restaurant. Where in the world do they get all their energy. I only wish I could have as much energy as them.

Lauren loved this toy and probably played on it nearly 10 minutes before moving onto the next thing.

Jordan's Photography

While we were at REI today, Jordan took the camera from my purse and started snapping pictures. These are just a few he snapped. He takes similar pictures at least once every couple of months with the camera at home when he manages to get his hands on it. His past pictures have ranged from pictures of star wars toys he finds on the computer that he wants, to the video shelves in our family or Colin running around in his underwear. Well here are a few from REI today that he took.

Rock Climbing

We went to REI today to let the kids climb the Pinnacle. After seeing what it entailed, Colin decided to just watch, but Tim, Jordan, Natalie and Malia suited up with their harnesses and climbing shoes.

Jordan and Malia
Malia climbing the wall.
Jordan climbing the wall.
Natalie made it to the top.

No pictures of Tim. :-( He made it to the top too.

School is Out

Jordan has officially finished Kindergarten. He has done well this year and learned so much. His writing and reading has improved so much. He is growing up so fast.

Jordan playing a relay game during Field Day.

Some of Jordan's Kindergarten classmates and his teacher, Mrs Delgado.

Mrs. Delgado and Jordan.