Spring Break in TN - Mar. 2011

So I took a little over 2 weeks off of work. I left Ocala on Sunday, March 6th I headed up to April's to help her get ready for the baby. We got up very early Monday, went to the hospital and she had the baby . Tuesday I left the hospital and went back to April's to stay w/my mom and Sashi. Mom has been keeping up with the laundry and feeding and walking the dogs and 4 puppies. I cleaned her house really good so it'd be ready when she came home Wednesday. We hung out and relaxed, Mom left to go back home Thursday night. I left Jacksonville Friday morning, and met Justin over near Lake City, so he could bring me the kids. They still had school that week, but were on Spring Break the next week. So Friday March 11th we head to Alabama to visit the Boohers. Thank goodness for GPS. I took I-75 up into Goergia a ways, but then headed west on a bunch of small highways. The traffic was actually really light, and the speed limit was 60 most of the time. So we made excellent time. As we got into Birmingham, I noticed a "Jason's Deli", like I had seen on Food Network. And vowed to eat there before I left. 

When we got to there house it was dark, but the kids didn't mind, they played in the basement most of the evening w/the XBOX Kinect. They are renting a really cool home. I had a lot of neat features specific to older homes. The backyard slopes uphill, and is rather wooded. It even has a tiny little creek running down the hill. The weather was perfect for being ouside climbing trees, playing in the mud. That afternoon Amory kindly volunteered to watch all 6 kids, and Lisa took me out to lunch for my birthday. Of course I talked her into Jason's Deli. I was surprised to see they had a yummy looking salad bar, and even soft serve ice cream. But I had to go with the famouse Muffalata. It was huge, so we got the veggie version and split it. Then we had to run to Walmart for some last minute roadtrip supplies. Later that day I was heading onto TN, and Lisa and her kids went to see her mom in Ocala. While at Walmart, she bought me some yarn & crochet needles, to get me started. She taught me a simple stitch, and I made a giant, green, asymetrical pot holder. I planned to learn more from Joyce when we got to her house.


Front - living space is on second level



Back of Lisa's house. Big deck is just off the kitchen.

Little stream

Beautiful tree blossom before puts out it's leaves

Huge blossoms, have many petals like roses. Wish
I knew the name.

Me and Lisa

Saturday night we made it to Nashville. I was an easy, short 3 hour drive from Lisa's in AL. That was nice. Stopping in the middle broke up the long drive. We went to church Sunday, and just Monday the Coots came to hang out for a few days. We played in the pool, and then papa took the boys on a "Boy Date". So me, Mom, Julie and Molly went to Pier One and then to Olive Garden to eat.




Me and Julie at dinner

  Tuesday, Julie and her 3 kids came to visit. Her and I took the 4 boys to play Laser Tag, and Molly stayed at Nana's. We paid for a 90 min session. In that time you get to do 3 different activities. First, we all played Laser Tag, which is a little tiring for mamas. The boys had a lot of fun. We played several rounds. Sometimes, the boys were against the moms, sometimes Coots against Ostermillers. Then the boys took turns climbing the rock wall.

After being there about 45 mins or an hour my phone rings. When I answer it all I heard was Molly screaming. First I thought she was hurt but then when I said hello, and no one answered I had a feeling it was mom's hip. Finally I heard Joyce's voice, she was crying, I could barely understand her, but I heard her say it was her hip. So I drove back home to help. Dad had gotten there just before me, and Mom was on the couch. She was a little calmer, and trying to reassure Molly that she was going to be okay. But Molly wouldn't stop crying. So I took her with me, and left Dad to stay with Mom. The ambulance arrived in the parking lot as Molly and were getting in my car, and that freaked her out more. We met back up at the Laser tag place, and we took the kids to Dairy Queen while we waited to hear any news from Dad. Eventually we went back to Mom and Dad's house, and the Coots went home. Later we found out that the ED physician couldn't get her hip back in the socket at all. So they got the on-call Orthopaedic physician to do it. He took her to the OR, and sedated her more than normal, and got it back in. But while she was still out, her twisted it to see if it was going to pop out easily again, and it did. So he put it back in, and woke her back up, and put an immobilzer on her whole leg. He told her she'd need another surgery very soon. I think they got home sometime after midnight.

 A few hours later, Cameron wakes me up to tell me her threw up on the way to the bathroom. I prayed it was on the linoleum in the kitchen, but no, it was on the carpet, and it was green. Ewww :( He spent all of Wednesday feeling yucky. He laid in bed with a fever, not able to eat or drink, having diarrhea and vomiting. Finally around 11pm, his fever broke. The next morning he was still puny and dehydrated, but looking a little better. He got some light food down, and ventured from his bed to the couch to rest and watch TV most of the day. He complained of his stomach hurting, but I thought it was from all the heaving. Later that evening, around 5pm, I wanted him to come outside so I could take his picture. He said his stomach was hurting more, so I just took Cody, I got some really cute ones of him.