Bless Your Heart!

Monday before last I picked Miller up from school and he slowly walked up to me and said, “I have a cold and an ear infection.”  He had been a little stuffy when I took him in that morning, but I guess it got worse.  When I got him home and opened his lunch box I saw that he had not eaten his pizza and left his Capri Sun untouched, I knew he was sick.  Uh-OH!  I went ahead and took him into the doctor and he was diagnosed as having an Outer Ear infection and a cold.  Yep, he diagnosed himself.  What can I say, he is a genius!  He had ear drops for 5 days and we thought we were back in business. 

This Monday when I went to pick him up from school and he was asleep in the office.  His teacher had let him go up to cool off because he had gotten hot at recess and had a headache.  Turns out that he had a fever.  Womp, womp womp!

The next day was supposed to be the end of school beach day for his class and he still had a fever so he had to miss it.  He was absolutely devastated.  I took him back to the doctor and this time he had a sinus infection.  Poor baby!

Meanwhile Jackson was able to go on his class’s field trip to Blue Lagoon!  He even got to ride to the ferry dock with his teacher. 

It took another couple of days for Miller to get better.  The stuff that came out of his sinuses was crazy.  He had to be so uncomfortable to have all that up there in his head.  He is still on antibiotics, so hopefully this will kick it to the curb!

The next morning Jackson woke us all up at 5:00 am because he was itchy.  It was dark and I just put some lotion on him and told him to go back to sleep {it was dark in my defense}.  When he got us all up around 5:45 we saw why he was so itchy…SEA LICE!  Sea Lice are jellyfish eggs that get into the skin.  No Bueno!  Cortisone cream and Benadryl are the only things that help.  Despite these he was still so uncomfortable!  Poor baby!

I counted from the top of his leg to the knee he has 112 bumps on that one spot alone.  I think he has between 500-600 over his body  Can you imagine having 500-600 mosquito bites?  500-600 bee stings?  I feel so bad for him.  He started feeling better yesterday, but still has a fair bit of discomfort.

This morning I was reading with him and noticed yellow crusties around his eyes.  Off we went to the doctor, again!  We now have eye drops and some prescription cream for the sea lice.

We have some visitors here now and the boys need every bit of energy for all the fun they have planned.  Hopefully the whole family will be fit and fine for the Fourth of July!

Flashback Friday Hydrangeas Baby

This time of year I always think of Hydrangeas.  They are my favorite flower and we had some gorgeous Hydrangea bushes in our last house.

One of our bushes had such a variety of colors on the same bush.

We were really lucky to have established bushes that were in a perfect spot for them to thrive.

Hi! I’m a lacecap Hydrangea!

One day we may have hydrangeas again…or maybe not!  Thankfully I have pictures.

When I was looking at the hydrangeas, these were in the same monthly folder.

AWE!

Those are some sweet babies.  They are still sweet and will always be my babies, but it is just not the same, when they wear nylon sports shorts all day and have an ever present layer of dirt on them.  Thankfully I have pictures.

World Cup 2014

These boys are over the moon excited for the World Cup, or as Miller says it, “FIFA World Cup Brazil”!  Knowing their love for soccer and Miller’s love for Geography I got them the Panini World Cup Sticker Album.  They have had a blast getting the stickers, adding them to the album and trading the duplicates with their friends.

They know so many of the players and it is neat to watch them recognize players during the games.

We have watched more than a few games already. 

{Miller has swimmers ear last week and since it was so hot, there was nothing to do but stay inside.}

We were invited to a party for England vs. Italy.  Although Italy prevailed, our English friends still managed to have a good time anyway.

When the US has played we have been ALL IN!

We’ve got flags, signs and even had an All American dinner on Sunday night.

The first American goal came within 35 seconds of their opening game against Ghana.  Allen came through the door as we were going bonkers!

Our American shirts have been getting pretty much worn non stop these days!

The US plays again on Thursday and I know we will be right in front of the TV cheering on the Red, White and Blue from the Bahamas!

It’s H-O-T!

Hurricane Season started a few weeks ago.  They predicted that it would be a pretty mild one this year.  I sure hope so.  It’s just that I’m not so sure.  We have had a lot of hot weather already.  I just checked the weather for the week.

Yes, at 11:24 it is 88 and feels like 102.  It will be hotter this afternoon.

Hot weather = hot water.  Hot water = hurricanes.  Eek!

This is the weather underground water temp map.

When it’s like this we can a) stay inside or b) go in the water. 

I think I see a string of beach days in our future!

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

The boys school always does a Summer production for the entire school and I always adore it.  This year it was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  I haven’t seen the play in  quite a few years and I loved this production.

Here are Elvis and the beggar.  Miller’s hair was a masterpiece, but alas humidity did it’s thing and it was not very Elvis-like by the time he took the stage.

Per tradition, the littlest cast members perform first.  They are so darn cute!  There are always a couple crying and all of them are anxiously searching for their people in the crowd.

Then several other classes performed.

Then it was time for Kindergarten to perform “7 Fat Cows”.  They were so cute!

Unfortunately a rude parent stood up in front of me and I couldn’t see any more of Miller’s Performance.  Boo for rude people.  Yeah for cute Kindergarteners dressed as Elvis!

 

Shortly after that Jackson’s class performed “Grovel, Grovel”  They did a fantastic job.

Jackson is quite a shy child, but in these performances, he does so well.   I love seeing him perform.

The rest of the cast finished off the play.

Then it was time for the finale.  The entire school {including teachers} performed “Any Dream Will Do”

And with that they finished the school play.  Good job boys!

Island Hopping: Getting There

When traveling to the smaller islands of the Bahamas, there are a few options.  One option is Bahamas Air.  It is notoriously late, but is the largest regional airline.  It also has the biggest planes.
There are also several small operations, Pineapple Air, Southern Air and Flamingo Air.  None of those really inspire confidence in me, so we chose Bahamas Air.  It is only a 30 minute flight, so how bad could it be?
We took a Dash 8 aircraft because it was the biggest.  I don’t like to fly, but it is necessary at times, so I just do it.  Here we are on board with about 50 people.  All is well.

Despite my father being a pilot and my mother being a stewardess, I get motion sickness while flying.  So embarrassing, but it’s true.  Keeping myself distracted is the best for me.
Jackson and I are looking at the sunrise out the window.

Miller and Allen are too.
I had just closed my eyes to catch a few minutes rest when Jackson asked me what that smell was.  I thought because it was an older plane, it was just bad exhaust smell so I told him to just breathe through his mouth. 
Shortly after that I hear a commotion from the seat behind Allen and Miller.  Two women were very upset and pointing out the window.
You know those times in your life when time just totally stops? 
The engine right outside Miller’s window was on fire.
Not smoke, but fire coming out of the side of the engine.  I immediately started praying.  In my mind we were going down.
So many things go through your mind at a time like this: When do  we put on our life jacket?  I’m a stronger swimmer than Allen, so should I take Miller? How many rows to the door in case I have to count and can’t see?  What is the safest crash position to be in with the boys?
Allen was very calm.  The stewardess was very calm and reassuring.  The woman behind Allen was having a full panic attack.  All the passengers were on edge.  After trying to put the fire out with the built in fire extinguishers, the pilot shut down that engine and the fire went out. 
Then we were flying on one engine. 
Just one.
I thought we would kind of tip over since the engine on one side was still going.  We kept going.
Another minute or two later the pilot came on and said that the situation was under control and that we would be landing in Rock Sound shortly.  I had to explain to Jackson what was going on and that the pilot was doing his best to get us there safely.
One great thing about this situation is that when you have your kids with you you aren’t allowed the luxury of panicking.  Staying as composed as possible was my only choice and I did it for them.  We prayed harder than we have ever prayed.
It was probably ten minutes after the fire that we landed safely in Rock Sound, Eleuthera. After we landed, Allen took this picture out of Miller’s window.

That hole is where the fire was coming out.

I waited over here for Allen to exit the plane.  Since I had left my camera on the seat, he waited to get it for me.  So glad I didn’t lose it on the plane.
See the smiles of the people getting off the plane?  Every one of us was all smiles.

We were about 50 miles south of where we thought we’d land, but that didn’t matter.  We happily took a taxi the rest of the way.

I could go on about how emotional it was, but let’s just say I’m not ready to go yet and I’m so thankful that we made it there safely.  Thank you God!
We pretty much had to take Bahamas Air home.  I wasn’t getting on a smaller plane, the ferry wasn’t until Thursday and I knew we would be on a different plane. 
Also, I had to do it for the boys.  They needed to see that we were going back up and despite feeling uneasy we were going to do it again.  Miller must have said 50 times, “This is my first Bahamas Air flight that didn’t catch on fire!”  At full volume.  Out of the mouths of babes…
A few days later, one of the local newspapers ran this story.  It is pretty vague, but somewhat typical of news stories here.  Another article is here.
After having some time to process things, I know one thing for sure. I’ll never fly on a single engine plane in my life.  Ever.  Flying is a risk, but so is crossing the street.  I’m not in control, so I just have to make the best choices I can and hope for the best.