Drew's birthday

Double digit's! And what a busy day Drew's birthday was yesterday. We had soccer pictures, soccer games, and a boating/tubing birthday party. She wanted to go to Vasa Park on Lake Sammamish. We went at about 1:00pm and had lunch, cake, presents, then swimming and boating. The weather was partly cloudy, with one very stubborn cloud that hung out over our heads for a good hour.

All of the girls had a great time. They named all of the ducks in the park, went down the water slides, and played on the merry-go-round. And Gillian adopted a pet lady bug.

Deschutes

Last weekend was spent at the Deschutes river in Oregon. Our friends, the Valentines, have big professional rafts and we had a blast. Drew and Gillian sat in the center of the raft so they would not fall out. Gavin and I braved the front of the raft and got thrown out a couple of times. Of course Darren was hard at work in Scottsdale so we drove with they Peays in their camper. Gillian came up in the truck cab at one point and said that the kids were complaining about her stinky feet. I took a whiff and it was pretty gross. Turns out she hasn't been wearing socks with her favorite boots. She's only had the boots for a couple of months and they have holes in them and they now reek. She insists on wearing them every day. So I cleaned her feet with wet wipes--they still stunk. It was the hand sanitizer that finally did the trick.

Maybe I'm losing my mind

So yesterday I went to get an abdominal and pelvic ultrasound because of constant kidney problems, UTI's and bloody urine. Ultrasound showed nothing abnormal of course. So I guess I'm imagining the pain. Then I'm supposed to get a cortisone injection in my neck, which is proven to be messed up according to my MRI and my pain level. So maybe I'm not crazy. And then there's my nose, which is definitely broken, crooked and needs surgery soon. Darren told me last night that he thinks I stop breathing at night between my snoring. Could explain why I'm always so tired. Who knows? Sleep apnea? Hypochondriac? Anyway, yesterday I must have been very distracted because as I was working around the house I thought I needed a cup of tea, as I usually have throughout the day. So I brewed myself one in my travel mug. Then 5 minutes later I found a full cup of warm herbal tea in my white mug and was thoroughly confused. I don't even remember making it. But it was definitely still warm, and I don't remember making it. Hmmmm. Today will be a better day.

Mental Health Check

First day of school. It has been a very stressful few days of high anxiety. So I thought that today I would take a rest on my first day of peace and quiet. That didn't happen. One thing led to another and suddenly I was in a frenzy of work, errands, business errands, etc..... So, not restful, but quiet.

Drew was so worked up yesterday about her wardrobe (or lack thereof) that she called me on my cell while I was running Gavin somewhere and here's how the conversation went:

Drew- "My hand hurts"

Me- "Why?"

Drew- "Because I was biting it."

Me- "Why?"

Drew- "Because I'm sad."

Me- "Why?"

Drew- "Because I want to be Gillian!"

Me- "Why!?"

Drew- "Because she gets all my old clothes and now she has a closet full of clothes and 3

drawers full of clothes!"

Now do you see why I need a mental health day?

Gillian's first day of second grade
Drew's first day of fourth grade
Gavin's first day of eighth grade

Banks Lake

Our annual trip to Banks Lake was very exciting this year. We left on Saturday the 22nd. So we got there and set up camp and then it was Sunday. We took it easy and drove to Dry Falls, which is like a mini version of the Grand Canyon.

Then Monday was filled with tubing, wakeboarding, wakesurfing, and waterskiing. Wakesurfing is when you use a small surfboard and surf the wake very close behind the boat. Your feet aren't attached to any bindings, which is why it can be dangerous when you fall and there is a board on the loose. So on Tuesday I got a board to the face, breaking my nose. It hit me so hard. When I felt my nose and saw all the blood my first thought was that I was sure glad there were no sharks in the water because surely I would attract a ton of man eating sharks with all the blood in the water. Then I thought "This sucks, I can't surf tomorrow." Then I thought "I sure hope Darren circles around quickly because I'm feeling light-headed." So Katie and Kristin pulled me in the boat, Gavin got out his first aid kit and Darren drove me back to shore. We had to drive 45 minutes to the ER where Xrays confirmed that I had a broken nose. I knew it was bad when the first thing Darren said when he saw me in the water was "We will have to call a plastic surgeon when we get home."

So I rested on Wednesday and got back on the board Thursday.

Gavin is getting quite skilled at surfing and he loves doing it, just like his daddy.

We also had fun cliff jumping.

And Gilli can do the splits with one leg buried in the sand. Very cool...

On our way home we stopped by our favorite diner. Burgers, fries, and the Three Stooges. It doesn't get better than that.