Which I didn't. Friday included a last minute trip to the grocery where I grabbed yet another bag of marshmellows...which are now sitting in my cupboard awaiting a lovely fall bonfire.
The camper was packed. The bikes were loaded. Supper had been eaten around 5:00 and all we were waiting on was daddy to get in from doing chores.
The children and I were showered so we wouldn't have to worry about that little inconvenience that night right before going to bed.
All was going well....and then Jack threw up all down the front of me. Right before we walked out the door to head for the state park where we were going camping.
I changed my clothes, mopped up the bit that had made it to the floor, grabbed a towel in case of a puking emergency on the way to the campground, and followed my little family to the pick-up.
What a lovely start. About 40 minutes into our little jaunt to Hueston Woods I glanced back at Jack to see a funny look on his face. He pointed to his mouth, I shoved the towel in and out it spewed. By that time I was wondering if we really needed to be going camping.
After all, we were camping with an old group of friends and between all of us we had 14 children (I think) ages six and under. Um-hmm. We have no problem keeping busy when we're all together. And to think that the annual campout started back when not one of us was married.
Anyway. We kept going. We arrived at the campground and had the privelege of setting up our camper in the dark. Not that that's unusual. The only campout we made it to while it was still light was the one that we had to pick up our camper from the repair shop on the way to the campout. It was a shocking experience for all involved. We have a very bad reputation of always being late.
Back to the weekend.
Camper set up, we all joined the ring around the campfire. Our little family ate hotdogs (except Jack) while the rest of them were wisely putting their children to bed. Finally bedtime came for our children as well.
Unfortunately, Jack didn't get the memo. I was up with him several times during the night while he vomited and experienced a most lovely case of diarrea (which he is still experiencing...any suggestions?!) Needless to say it was far from a restful night for Jack and me. Somehow we managed to not wake the rest of the camper, which included a couple of my friends.
The next morning I simply wanted to crawl back in bed. I don't do too well after not getting the proper amount of sleep. I didn't though. I crawled out of bed, got the children presentable, shoved them out the door (gently of course), and managed to get outside myself in a timely manner.
In a matter of minutes (I wasn't even out of the camper yet) Will was crying on the playground due to some little fellas who decided to gang up on him and his cousin. Seriously. One fella said, "Let's get that one!", tackled Cade (my cousin's son), and the other little guy started punching. I didn't witness it all, but was given the lowdown from my friend who did witness it. What is this world coming to? What are we teaching our children if they take out an unsuspecting five year old just for the fun of it? I have a hard time blaming those two little guys. Where were their parents?
Sorry about that soap box. Stepping off.
The day started off with a bang. All the children of the 14 who could ride bikes hopped on and were riding well before breakfast was ready. It was the sport of the weekend.
Breakfast was eaten and Jason headed off toward home. We have animals, you know, and animals must receive their proper care as well. Kind of a nuisance, but the life of a farmer who has some livestock.
Before long (about noon) it was pretty clear that the two little boys of our family desperately needed some additional sleep. They were tucked in bed with a minimum of clothes on as they were filthy dirty, and I tiptoed out the door with high hopes of both of them sleeping for several hours.
Jack agreed to my plan. He fell asleep and stayed that way for at least an hour. :) Will, on the other hand, was not the least bit interested in my plan. In fact, when I checked on him about 20 minutes later, he had a lovely piece of his sleeping bag in his mouth. Yep. He actually chewed a little piece of fabric off his sleeping bag and was munching on it. That's our Will.
Betsy kept the rest of the children entertained by drawing smiles on their fingernails and topping them off with acorn hats.
Jack finally woke up and I leisurely took him to the bathroom (in our camper). I was just ready to start getting him dressed, or perhaps I had his shirt already on (it's kind of fuzzy), when Betsy (Jason's cousin and my good friend) came to the door and said that Addie had wrecked her bike and I needed to get there.
I told her that I would be there as soon as I had Jack dressed.
She firmly informed me that I needed to get there NOW.
I heeded her instructions.
I stepped out the door and could hear Addie's screams from quite a distance away. Jack was shoved into Betsy's arms and I took off at a slow canter. If you know Addie, you would know that she would be screaming because of a little scratch on her knee. I didn't expect it to be anything more than a scratch that needed a bandaid slapped on it.
I was wrong.
She wiped out while going down a nice, long, gradual hill. The children had been cruising down it at high rates of speed all morning and we just didn't watch. It's one of those things that it's sometimes better for a mom to not see. We can't tell them to not do the things that children do.
She had been riding with two other girls, Ella and Kaitlyn. According to reports, she got too close to the edge and tried to get back on track. Didn't work.
Perhaps my first clue of her questionable driving skills should have been earlier in the day. A sweet little boy in the campground came cruising into the playground on a gator. As a true gentleman, he proceeded to give rides to all the children. He went so far as to even let them drive it. Poor Addie. She wasn't driving very long when she smacked into a post. The little boy assurred her that he had done the same thing before and let her drive it again. Bad move on his part. She turned, drove just a little bit, and smacked into a tree. And that ended her driving career.
Anyway.
The lady who picked her up had the good sense to apply tons of pressure to the cut on Addie's chin and by the time I arrived on the scene the bleeding had pretty much stopped. Good thing. I'm not a huge fan of blood.
Turns out, I'm not a huge fan of seeing exposed jaw bones, either.
The lady holding her asked me if I wanted to call 911 or if we would prefer to just haul her in. I kind of chuckled and said that I had some band-aids in the camper. She pulled the towel away and my mind was quickly changed.
I sprinted to the nearest pick-up (I didn't even know I COULD sprint, let alone while carrying my six year old), the driver piled in (yes, I knew him :) ), and my cousin shoved her way in as well....after she had raced to my camper to grab my purse.
Off we went. Poor Jack and Will. They were left to fend for themselves. Not really, though. I knew that Betsy would take good care of them for me.
Before even reaching the exit of the campground, Addie started to drift in and out on us. Her eyes kept rolling around, and it was clear to me that we needed some help. Just as Simon was calling for a squad to meet us en route, we met an ambulance and managed to get them to stop.
I think the guys inside thought I was nuts when I told them that my daughter cut her chin open. :) All it took for them to herd us to the back was me pulling the towel away. Somehow, seeing a little pint-sized jaw bone (about 1/2 to 1 inch of it) exposed, and seeing little flakes of asphalt on the pearly white bone, was enough to get them convinced that we needed some help. The poor lady who was waiting on that ambulance to get to her. She took the next ambulance to the hospital and ended up being right down the hall from us.
Addie was terrified. Being placed on the bed in a real-live ambulance was enough to drag her out of her shock. All she could say was, "Mommy, you will not leave me. Mommy, I'm serious. Mommy, don't let them hurt me."
It wasn't very fun.
They got us to the hospital in seven minutes and there was a bed waiting for her.
While waiting for the doctor she said two things that I don't think I'll ever forget. "Mommy, did I get a scratch on my chin?" and "Mommy, can you paint my fingernails?" She's never even had her fingernails painted. :)
At first check, her right eye wasn't working right and she answered a couple questions incorrectly. Simple questions. How many brothers do you have and....I don't remember the second one. I wasn't in the room at that point. I had to, um, take a little break in a different room. And no, I didn't pass out.
We waited for a while and finally Simon headed back to the campground while Kara stuck around to keep me company. I will forever be greatful...er..grateful...or...however you spell that word.
The doctor came in and told Addie what she could expect. The numbing process was worse than the actual cut was, I think.
Once it was all numbed up, the doc scrubbed and scrubbed and used tweezer thingys to pick out the asphalt that was on the bone. I know. I didn't watch. I perched on the chair that they provided for me and talked to Addie. Something about that process simpy grossed me out.
About 35 stitches later, we were sent on our merry way. But we had to call for a ride and it was nearly 45 minutes before the ride showed up. It was Jason, who had hoped to catch us still stitching.
Back to the campground we went, just in time for supper. Poor Addie. She chomped into a pepper and screamed. One glance into her mouth and we discovered why. Her back tooth had snapped off. Not bad, but definitely bad enough to cause some discomfort.
She was such a trooper, which was a miracle in itself. I stuck her in bed that night with a dose of ibuprofen, expecting her to be awake in the middle of the night crying with pain. Didn't happen. In fact, it was about 10:00 the next morning til she had another dose.
The next morning we discovered something else. The tooth right in front of the snapped off one was cracked. Cracked enough that it was hanging on only because it was still attached at the gum. Monday evening she FINALLY got that little piece to chip all the way off. She was pleased, I was not.
A couple days later, when she complained of yet another tooth hurting, we discovered that it, too, was broken. Aaarrrggghhh.
The camping weekend didn't go exactly as we had planned. It was pretty rough. We still had fun.
Addie was back on her bike Sunday acting as if nothing had happened...but the hill was banned. Silly paranoid moms anyway.
We are so thankful that it was only her chin and three broken teeth. Not ideal, by any means, but we were told that she landed mere inches from a 4x4 post. Her head barely missed smacking into it. Only God.
Anyone have a football helmet or three for our children to wear while riding bikes? While you would think that her little accident would deter her from any and all hills while perched on a bicycle seat...it didn't happen.
Monday evening...a mere two days after her stitch-up...we caught her riding her bike off the ramps attached to a trailer that was sitting in our driveway. And she hit the camper at the bottom of the ramps. No injuries, but her mother informed her that there would be no more ramp riding...at least until the current cut had healed.
Now? Two and a half weeks later? The stitches have nearly all dissolved. We had to trim her 'beard' :) a couple times as they were coming out, but otherwise there was no problem with the healing. Only God. Only God could possibly create our bodies in such a way that a mere two weeks after being able to see a jaw bone the cut is completely healed.
Praise God for his protection on our little girl that day...September 10, 2011.
