Honestly, it felt really good to have a three day weekend to do whatever we wanted to... be it sit on the couch and watch
TV or venture out into the wilderness.
Saturday morning it was nice not to be awakened by an alarm. Still, it wasn't long before the pitter patter of
little feet woke us up. It was nice to just lounge in bed as a family for a few minutes before getting some breakfast.
Unfortunately, when Jax crawled up in bed with us, we quickly noticed that he was feverish. We got the inkling
that his mouth and throat hurt as well. Therefore, I gave him some Tylenol and spent a lot of the day just snuggling
him. We've learned that some of the best medicine is simply a warm body to snuggle in against.
Liam happily played about, and we did manage to clean up the playroom. Later that afternoon, Jax felt a tiny bit
better so we went to go get a few groceries. I kept him in the sling, so he was warm and content. He slept most
of the trip. Crabs were on sale, so Russ enjoyed them. Liam got some shrimp and I got some Sushi. Jaxson
was not interested in eating much more than a couple of crackers and a little juice.
Sunday morning we enjoyed some sticky cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Jax seemed better, so after a while we decided
to go fix up a couple of our existing Geocaches, and find a couple of new ones that others had put out.
It was a great day. The breeze was cool, and bugs and frogs along the trail were bountiful. We had pretty
good luck finding the caches we had on our list, and found our old ones to be in pretty good shape as well.
We only ran into a couple of small environmental challenges. The first was when Jax and I were attacked by a very
angry bumblebee. It was nice to discover that Jax did not have a bee allergy, although I had my cell phone in hand just
in case. I was also stung, but all our points of contact quickly went away. So, while Jax and I were battling
bees, Russ and Liam were apparently getting infiltrated by chiggers.
We were pretty tired when we got home, so we just got a couple of pizzas from Wal-mart to cook. Wal-mart pizzas
look pretty good... but we weren't impressed.
After the boys went to bed, Russ and I caught up on watching some episodes of Heroes via Netflix. We have to watch
them on the computer, but they come in really well, and if we turn the little loveseat around, we're pretty comfy.
Monday was Labor Day. Seems I'm always doing lots of Labor on Labor Day, but that's okay. I used the
day to catch up on several home projects. Russ was very helpful and even the boys assisted with a few chores.
I got the laundry all done, changed the linens, steam cleaned the den, changed the furniture around a little, and sewed up
a couple of costumes that I'd promised for daycare.
In the background on TV we were watching a show on Planet Green about making Greensboro, Kansas into a green community
since it was virtually wiped out due to a tornado. It was pretty interesting.
Sunday also revealed the Chigger damage. Liam was covered on all parts of his body except his face and arms.
Russ had a few on his legs too, so we figured it was when they were together sitting on a bench by the water. The thought
of Chicken Pox DID enter our minds, but since he'd been vaccinated agains that, pretty much ruled it out. Still, I had
concerns that because there were so many bites (and he was so uncomfortable) that I should probably get him into the doctor.
Jax, too, had some sort of odd rash on his back and chest. I thought that was just dry skin, but decided to call for
an appointment the next day.
Tuesday, Russ and I doubled up and took the boys to the pediatrician. First, Dr. Sheth looked at Liam's bites.
There wasn't much he could do for them, other than assuring us they weren't Chicken Pox. Then he looked at Jax's back,
raised his eyebrows and quickly said that was a sign of infection. Jax tested positive for Strep Throat. That
caused Dr. Sheth to go ahead and test Liam since it's very contagious. Yep, Liam was positive too. Off to the
drug store we went. Russ went to work.
Tuesday night wasn't too bad, although Russ and I were pretty tired. Wednesday morning, Russ awoke with a sore
throat. Jax seemed feverish again. So he decided to stay home, but I told him we'd better get ourselves checked
for strep too, just in case. Of course, getting in to see our doctor wasn't as easy as seeing the pediatrician, so we
had to go to Urgent care. UGH... two hour wait in a discusting waiting room stuffed with sick people. Not fun.
Turns out, we were both negative, so that's good. My turn to go back to work.
Never a dull moment... even when we don't anticipate any drama!
Friday Erin took Liam along to work for
a few hours while Jax and I stayed home and I did bills. After she got home I mowed the front yard. We ran out to do errands
later and to take Liam out to dinner at his favorite restaurant; Applebee’s, to celebrate the upcoming football season. I
had been waiting until payday to get a new office chair on sale at Target. We also needed some frames for a poster of Batman
Liam had and also a Boxer print I got Erin for Christmas.
When in Michael’s I thought we could get
some materials to decorate the wagon for football day the next day. We all had a nice meal at Applebees.
It helped because we had a letter from
the lady who was our photographer a few weeks back for family pictures. She locked us out of her website for breach of contract.
Erin and I printed her watermarked pictures so we could shuffle them around our coffee table to see which ones looked good
in a storyboard so we could them place an order. When Erin emailed about that I guess the
photographer had had enough of us because we criticized her work and we had had enough of her and her ego and inability to
be effectively communicate. I made an appointment for us to go to Target. I for one have had enough to do with photographers
for a long time.
Friday night Erin and I worked on the banners
for the wagon and made sure we were ready for an early start Saturday.
On Saturday we were out the door at 8 to
head to Lancaster Park
for team photos and a picnic. There was also a punt, pass, and kick competition. Erin had
fixed the team’s jerseys during the past week to fit a little better as they were purchased to fit with pads. Thus, they were HUGE on the little flag football players. Liam, being the shortest, needed a few extra tucks in the shoulders.
I walked Liam over early and, ironically,
we got photos from a photographer. This was more like a set up that schools do though, and it went smoothly. The team then
assembled and had a team photo. I encouraged Liam to do the punt, pass, and kick which he did his best at. We then ate a little
lunch at the league picnic and headed out as time was flying.
We were to be in the next county at 12:30
for the two scrimmage games the team was to play. Coach Billy had mentioned it would be neat for the kids to run through a
banner so Erin and I stopped by the house. Erin had an old flowchart that was big. We got
that ready with “Go Pax River Raiders” on one side and headed out.
After consulting with the coaches from
another team we figured out where we were going to play. After a bit the rest of the team started arriving. In the first game
the Raiders played the Beach Bucaneers from Chesapeake Beach. They were a small team and the Raiders got four scores to none. Liam came off
for a bit after his ear got smacked but he was a trooper and got back in and carried the ball once for around seven yards.
Luckily it was not really hot but the sun
was beating down on us. In the second game the Raiders played the Solomons Steelers and this team blocked harder and was bigger.
It was a close hour long game with both teams getting two scores. Liam’s buddy, Eric, made a nice “tackle” grabbing the flags
of a runner who was about to break away. The kids were exhausted by the end of the second game. We stopped and let the kids
play in the moon bounces that the league had put out. It seems to this point the whole family, including Jaxson, is enjoying
Liam’s football. We are all very proud of Liam for being such a good sport and trying so hard. He is still smiling and having
fun and he has very good coaches working with the little ones.
When we arrived home we ordered a pizza
and our friends, Bill and Janet, brought their daughter, Roselia, over for us to watch. Ro and Liam get along great and had
fun playing. What was funny was watching Jaxson. He was enamored by her this visit and followed her everywhere yelling O-E-Lia.
Erin and I plopped our sunburned bodies on the couch and I watched NASCAR as Erin drifted
off. Bill and Janet stopped in a little after 11 to pick up a sleeping Ro.
On Sunday Erin
made a nice breakfast and then we all went to the dog park. Rita did not last long, but Cleo got a good run in. Ash wandered
around to get pats on the head from the humans. The park was pretty busy and
there were even a couple of boys for Liam and Jax to play with.
We then dropped the dogs off and took the
kids to the Town Creek playground as they had asked to go the day before. We enjoyed the morning and playing with the kids
as well as doing maintenance on a couple of our geocache hides. We then stopped by Bay Books and got a couple of books for
the kids and ourselves including one half price on making a Will. We stopped and got a few groceries.
I then watched the Indy Car race while
we ate dinner. The kids were pretty tired. I played Batman and Robin with both of them and then Mom got them ready for bed.
Erin was so tired she went to sleep too and I watched a show about the world’s largest woman
. She lives in China and badly needed
surgery to save her life.
Back to work today. Erin’s going to take Jax to the doctor to get his staples out. Liam has football practice today, and we hope to get a game schedule.
