Sesame Street Live

Sesame Street Live returned to town and we thought it was only fitting that Claranna share in all the fun that her big sister and brother have been able experience. All the kids had a great time at the show. With all the lights, music, singing, dancing and the bright-eyed smiles on the little kids' faces, it's hard not to get caught up in the magic of the moments. We really enjoyed our afternoon with the Sesame Street gang!

A Swing Set, a Lawnmower and the ER

Friday evening was a bit eventful around here. Mark was gearing up for a barbecue with friends by mowing the lawn. As he was mowing under the swing set, the middle swing became hooked on the lever that engages the mowing blades on the lawnmower. In hindsight, Mark will tell you that he should have stopped right away instead of quickly trying to free the swing. Suddenly the swing set flipped over on Mark, striking him right on the back of the head. He began bleeding right away and ran up the deck stairs and into the house as fast as he could. I didn't see the accident happen, but fortunately, I was right there to help him when he came into the house. Those of you who know Mark well should remember that he can't handle the sight of blood and becomes faint very easily. Mark was really lucky that he didn't get knocked out or pass out while on the lawnmower.

When Mark came rushing into the house with a handful of blood and more blood running down his neck, I didn't know what happened right away and Mark was freaking out a bit. He said the swing hit him. I thought maybe he was injured by a swing chain while he was driving underneath the swing set. I know that head wounds can bleed a lot, so I wasn't too worried about the amount of blood and was more concerned with trying to figure out if the cut was deep enough for stitches once we got the bleeding stopped. I called my RN neighbor to come over and take a look. While we were waiting for her to come down, I looked out the window and saw this:
A swing had not hit Mark, the entire swing set had!! Seeing the swing set on top of Mark's lawnmower changed the game a little bit and I knew we were headed for the ER. By the time my RN neighbor was here, I already had another neighbor on the way to watch James and Claranna. Ella was at the farm "helping" Grandma Judy, who had her knee replaced the week before. Mark and I set off for the ER. He made it into the car okay, but the ride to the hospital was pretty exciting.

Mark started acting goofy, breathing funny and getting sleepy-- all of which are signs of head trauma. I really wasn't sure if he was goofy because he was about to pass out or if his behavior was a result of his injury. I had to make him keep talking to me by asking him questions for our entire trip. After rolling down the windows and getting a lot of air, he seemed to be a little better. Still, I knew that he wouldn't be walking into the ER. I drove up and helped him into a wheelchair. Inside the ER he was okay until after they took his BP and put him in a collar. Then his fingers started tingling and he got very faint again. This little near fainting episode earned him an opportunity to upgrade from a wheelchair to a stretcher. He took a ride down the hall on the cart and was roomed quickly. Fortunately, by the time we were settled into the ER most of the bleeding on Mark's head had subsided. He was a given a neurological and physical exam and after a little bit of time, the neck brace was removed. The doctor offered to staple Mark's head closed, but I think that nearly caused another fainting episode! So, Mark opted to have a bigger scar and not get the wound closed. Instead, we instructed to wrap it so it wouldn't open up again while he was sleeping.

Here's a pic of Mark when he was feeling better in the ER. I conveniently had my camera in my purse. : ) Mark was told he would have a big headache and a lot of soreness in his neck and shoulders. Luckily, he hasn't felt too bad considering what landed on him.

On Saturday, Mark was able to finish mowing the lawn with our slightly damaged lawn tractor. Our funny and caring neighbor brought Mark a little head gear to make the job safer! We are so thankful that Mark will be okay. Luckily he was wearing his trusty Twins cap when the swing set hit him. He clearly would have had a larger blow and a bigger gash if not for the protection of that cap. Now that our big worries of the accident are behind us, we have found a little humor in the event. Though, thinking of the "what if's" is pretty humbling and we are counting our blessings that we have a funny story to tell.

James

Mommy: "James, how come you're sleeping on the floor tonight?"

James: "Because Daddy let me!"

Watermelon!

June Fishing Fun

As usual, I am very behind on posting about all our activities. Near the end of June we took our second annual trip to Long Lake for a little fishing fun with my family. Our kids and their cousins had a ton of fun making memories with Grandma and Grandpa. All the kids, minus Claranna, went out for a great night of fishing. The kids dropped their lines in the water and the fish seemed to hop right on. It's the kind of fishing that is really exciting for the kids and keeps all the grown-ups too busy. There was also time for swimming, tubing, campfires, making s'mores, doing sparklers, playing tag, swinging, taking walks, hiking, fish cleaning, fish frying, fresh corn and a grilled steak dinner and storm watching. We also ventured into the nearby towns for some mini golf, lunch on the lake, go-carting, and bumper boating. Everyone, big and little, had a great time!

The big boys (Mark, Chuck & Greg) had a awesome time driving go-carts, bumper boats, and tubing. Sometimes I wondered who that trip to the fun park was really for... I'm pretty certain it was more for the big boys.

We took some time to do a little sightseeing on the way there and home. Everyone has to stop and see the "Worlds Largest Ball of Twine Made by One Man" at least once in their lifetime. The real merry-go-round and teeter-totters might have been more of a highlight for the kids than the ball of twine during that little stop. We also went to the Walker Art Center Sculpture Garden and met our friends at Minnehaha Falls Park on our way home. It was a great and jam-packed little getaway. The kids are already excited to go back again next year! Here's our trip in pictures...

Milk Wagon

Who wouldn't want to buy milk from this crew?

We survived another year in the "Milk Wagon". I had split days this year as our family went out of town this past weekend for a retreat. The kids and I worked on beautiful Friday morning with the help of Grandma and Grandpa. Both James and Ella are now expert milk servers. Mark helped me finish out my day of service on Sunday and we nearly melted in there because of the heat, humidity and the sun reflecting off the stainless steal counter. Yikes! We wisely asked Grandma to keep the kiddos at home where it was cool and it wasn't my most favorite birthday activity.

Craft Time

Ella wanted to create some crafts the other morning and she thought it would be fun to use things from our recycling bin like newspaper and a cool whip container, among other things. She is so creative that she came up with several little functional projects. While I was upstairs folding laundry, this is what appeared on my kitchen counter:

She peeled off the label and the evidence that she took the time to clean it out nicely was shown with a few remaining soap suds inside. Now this lovely vase will grace my windowsill for awhile. It was thoughtful of Ella and it really made me smile that she would think of this very "green" idea. Her daddy's proud too!