And Now for a Happier Post...

Today we woke up before the sun to check out the inflating and launch of a dozen hot air balloons at a nearby festival.  This is something we've done in the past and it is always fantastic.  We love that spectators can get right  up close, seeing the inflating process within arms reach, feeling the heat from the torches, and watching the drivers in their baskets float directly over our heads.  It's hard not to get great photos at this colorful event, so I'll let the pics speak for themselves...

 We found our friends Sara, Arend, and Anja again!  We must like all the same nearby and free events!

After watching the launch and chatting with all the school friends we bumped into, we enjoyed a nice restaurant breakfast.  And then we came home and took naps. :)

A Monday We Were Not Expecting

Being a reader of this blog, you must know that I don't like to waste any time in transferring our pictures and memories to this digital format.  Often we'll go on an outing or vacation and the very night we return I'll be typing out blog posts.  Well, our big event from this week is something I am certainly not anxious to record.  In fact some of the sights and sounds of it are things I've been praying that God will take out of my mind so I can sleep at night.  But, we have some friends who may not yet know, so I will share Monday's accident for the sake of keeping everyone updated and in the loop.

At 12:30 on Monday, Delia took a nasty fall from some playground equipment at school and broke her left arm.  Unfortunately it was the kind of break that caused her arm to not really look like an arm anymore.  The staff and administrators who took care of her in those first scary moments are amazing because they stayed calm and reacted quickly.  They decided it looked so gnarly, a 911 call was necessary.  When a messenger came to my classroom to tell me Delia was hurt and in the office, I did not expect to find our school secretary on the phone with the paramedics discussing what to do when Delia "went into shock."  By the grace of God, I was somehow able to stay calm too and focused straight on Delia, praying out loud with her as the 911 team gently put her mangled arm in a splint and loaded her onto a stretcher.  And then we took our first (and hopefully last) ambulance ride!

Let me pause here and say that Delia is my hero.  She was so brave.  So tough.  So strong.  She was still and calm throughout the ordeal and barely even cried.  And she was in immense pain.  She hasn't been to school in a few days, but she is a bit of a super star right now.  We're learning news travels fast when you leave school in an ambulance!

At the hospital, we were prioritized and given a private ER room.  They quickly took X-rays and told us to prepare for surgery.  The most waiting we did was for Delia's stomach to digest the lunch she ate right before falling.  But, our ER nurses were wonderful, wheeling a small TV into our room and letting Delia watch a movie while the morphine kicked in.

They decided to try a procedure that would align the bones as best as possible and allow us to go home for the night and follow up with the surgeon the next day.  Neither Dave nor I wanted to be the parent in the room for the gruesome procedure, but Dave did it and is my second hero.  Delia was put under, thank goodness, because the things that happened during this time of bone aligning were the worst part of the day.  I will not go into any detail except to say that it was a huge success and the doctors who did this for Delia's bones are optimistic we won't need surgery after all.  We'll know for sure when we head to the orthopedics next week Wednesday.  Delia's arm is very swollen and bruised, so she was fitted with a big squishy cast.  A hard cast will come later and be worn for 8 weeks.  She can't wait to get a pink one that her friends can sign.

Since she was unconscious, the second longest time we waited in the ER was for her to wake up and prove she was going to be okay.  She had an IV, heart monitors, and oxygen nubs in her nostrils and she woke up dizzy, disoriented and puking.  It was hard to see our little one in this condition.

But, our story ends happy.  Once we finally made it home, over 8 hours later, Delia had perked up and was even smiling and cracking jokes!  The past 2 days have been surprisingly great!  She is only taking regular Tylenol for pain and is begging us to go back to school because she feels fine and is so bored at home.  We're going let her try a half day tomorrow, with her spending recesses with me.  She told me tonight as I tucked her in, "I'm SO EXCITED to go to school!!!", like it's a big vacation or something.  Ella made us laugh when her night time prayer was, "Please remind Delia to be safe and don't let her break her leg...or her other leg...or another arm."  AMEN, girl!

God is good and we have seen Him answer the prayers that a hundred friends have told us they're lifting up.  What a blessing for me to be right at school when this happened!  And that surgery, which seemed to be a certainty, may not even be needed.  Delia has very little pain and her spirits are high.  The staff and students at school have showered us with emails, texts and cards.  Even in this awful accident, we see God working for the good and we have nothing but praise that we've been so well taken care of by everyone-- from the school principal who first tended to Delia to the ER nurses to the long list of friends who have offered specific help.

I'll leave you with a few shots of Delia wrapped up in a soft cast and sling, but happy nevertheless.  Thank you, Lord, for your protection and goodness!!!

Big Trees Family Day

A friend from church tipped us off about this great Family Day at our favorite state park.  We decided that even though we were tired from the first week of school and there was no shortage of chores to do around the house, we'd go for it and make it a family outing day.  We're so glad we did!  This special event was fantastic and exceeded all our expectations!

Set up all around the Big Trees Visitor Center were booths, shows, and interactive displays...

The church friend who gave us the suggestion (Mike, in the above picture) is a reptile enthusiast and his booth did end up being our favorite.  He brought a wide variety of reptiles native to California-- snakes, lizards, tortoises, toads, salamanders, etc.  He had several out for people to hold, which surprisingly delighted the girls.  A Rosy Boa has been added to the list of future pets. 

After a Birds of Prey show, the girls each got to try holding this beautiful hawk.

At each booth we learned something new-- like, how the Miwok Indians made dolls, how to track Big Trees animals with their poop, how to cast a fly fishing pole (above) or how the local fire department responds and drives to fires (below).

The girls each created some bird nest art work.

 And we saw another great show called "Wild Things" where we were introduced to owls, skunks, eagles, vultures and even a rattlesnake up close!

 We even found our good friends Sara, Arend and Anja at Big Trees Family Day!  We watched the Story Teller Lady with them.

And then together strolled over to the talented face painting ladies who decorated the kids' faces and arms with flowers, hummingbirds and frogs-- true works of art that were sad to wash off in the bath.

We're thankful our friend Mike encouraged us to attend this neat event!  There was quite a bit of learning to be done and fun to be had  We stayed at Big Trees for 5 hours and never even got to the North Grove hiking trail we usually hit!  I think we'll have to make this a new "Survived the First Week of School" tradition!

Here We Go Again!

A Song for Summer 

by Ella

(sung to the tune of "Call Me Maybe")

Summer was very fun

spending our days in the sun

swimming every day

but now it's sch-ool time.

Beaches and whales are cool

but now it's time to start school.

Summer went by so fast,

but now it's school time at last!

Vi-sit-ing Re-ho-both

Camping in the wilderness

playing at the beach...

our summer was so great, BABY!

Hey!  Riding horses was a blast,

But, now it's school time.

Bring on the math!

Hey!  Mount Hermon ropes course was a blast,

But now it's school time.

Bring on the math!

And here we are, ready to dive into a new year of school!  Report-worthy this year:

-Our school switched to uniforms, so these colored polo shirts one, challenge our creativity/desire to show cute personal style, and two, keep my Photoshop skills fine-tuned, as I'll blur the school logo in every pic posted publicly. 

-The teachers both girls were matched with are sort of new to us this year.  We look forward to getting to know these ladies we don't know that well, but have heard good things about.

-Both Ella and Delia landed with at least 4 best friends in their class, so they're super happy.

-I've just been beaming all day because my first day in preschool was as close to perfect as I could have hoped.  God answered every prayer I anxiously lifted up to Him.  Amazingly, I have a whole class full of friendly, confident, respectful and happy kiddos!  Am I'm still love, love, loving my co-teachers and schedule.

-Dave was honored to be the speaker at the whole school First Day Chapel.  I've already heard from many that he did a fantastic job and I and the girls are very proud of him!

As Ella lyricized, "Summer's over" and indeed it was "a blast!"  But, as we start a new year, we look forward to all God has for us! (Bring on the math!)

"From the Mountains...to the Oceans White with Foam..."

God certainly did bless our travels this summer!  The time off has gone lightning fast and I think back on some of the cool stuff we got to see: canyons and crevices in New Mexico, Redwood forests in Mount Hermon, snow-capped mountains in Mammoth, and a churning ocean, home to wildlife galore this past week on the Central Coast.  It was a wonderful decision to conclude our summer with one last getaway, just the 4 of us, to soak in some epitome-of-summer activities.

  

We visited a string of 4 different beaches at Moss Landing, Aptos, Capitola and Santa Cruz, finding different treasures at each: jaw-dropping wildlife, fun beach play, scenery, surfers, etc.

We attempted to get this year's Christmas card picture one night.  Above and below are some shots to tease you.

We strolled along the Boardwalk WITH Dave for a change!  Since we already did rides at the beginning of summer at Mount Hermon, we just took in the sights and sounds this time.  And ate corn dogs and ice cream for lunch!

The girls were most excited to just play, so we spent one afternoon jumping waves and getting buried in sand holes.

A church friend was kind enough to let us borrow her boogie boards for this little trip, so we could test out if this was a summer ocean activity we wanted to invest in.  Dave went first, making it look so cool and fun.

But, when Delia went to try with him she was "tackled" (to use her word) by this huge wave.  She came out looking like a swamp creature-- covered in sand and tiny shells and with a bit of kelp even hanging off of her.  She was scared and wouldn't go back in the ocean after this.  Ella understandably wouldn't try either.  We will not be buying our own boogie boards.

A little snack and some snuggling fixed everything!

We also had to make a visit to our favorite ice cream place.  We tested the behind-the-counter girl's patience as we slowly made our choice from a board of 50 options.  We all went pretty classic, though flavors like cantalope, lavender, pina-colata, salted caramel, and s'mores were sampled or considered!

We did head back to Santa Cruz a second time.  The girls got to play on the obstacles that were left from an adventure race that was run the day before.

  

Then we tried out the neatest mini-golf course ever on the Boardwalk.  Delia called it "pirate golf" for all the cannons that kept going off and animated pirate guys.  We especially liked the 3 holes that were "underwater" and lit with black lights.

One last thing that made this little getaway really nice was the great hotel we stayed in.  It had gorgeous grounds and gardens and a great pool that the kids loved nestled in the middle of them.  Breakfast was included and we ate each morning outside by the waterfall and koi pond.

We are down to less than one week of summer left and most of those days are full of teacher inservice for me.  I think this time to relax on the beach and soak in 3 full days of quality time with each other was just what we all needed to bid farewell to another stellar summer and start our school year fully charged.