We Laughed... We cried....

Before I tell my TITLE STORY POST... today was our first day of home school. We are easing into the school year. We went and got new school supplies ... along with the rest of our city ... at Wal-Mart last night. The kids were so excited. You would think I was buying them ALL TOYS. They were just giggling and thrilled about cheap notebooks (not even trapper keepers... remember those?), paper, pencils, etc. Aidan was busting out of his SKIN to start school. He was so excited!!
We started our day with a BACK TO SCHOOL breakfast. Eggs and Bacon.... YUM. Then, we hit the books. Not too hard though.... We finished by lunch and then headed to the Mountains! FIELD TRIP on the first day!


Our kindergartner :-)

Our 2nd Grader

They all still have on their PJs :-) Aidan has on his Hulk PJs... Love the Hulk face he is making. People often ask me what I do with our younger children during the "school day". Well, you see Addie back there. She was coloring. I got her a few little work books. Abel was upstairs with Daddy. He was working from home this morning.

After lunch, we went to the Mts. We laughed, we cried, we fell, we pinched, we had to change clothes, there was blood, sweat and tears... but we HAD A BLAST. We laughed so hard when we left that I thought I might have to change my clothes too :-)

Here's how the day went down....

It started OH SO SWEET...
The kids LOVE going to the Mts.... It's all about the ROCK THROWING. I had such a great time sitting on the BIG ROCKS...just delighting in the kids and Ted throwing rocks. I, of course, was taking pictures.

I love the adventure that comes out in Aidan when we are on trips like this. He was the ultimate in exploring! It was too cool.

This was Abel's first time to the Mts. He loved it. He will really enjoy it when he realizes he can THROW the rocks. I constantly had to keep the rocks out of his mouth!

Abel clung so tight to Ted. It was a precious sight! He feels safe in his Daddy's arms.


Let the falling begin. Aidan fell into the water. He loved that he was soaking wet.

Avery fell in too. But you can tell by her face... she was COOL with it. (The water was COLD). but she laughed... good sport!

Addie fell too. But before she fell, she stuck her head in the water. IN THE FREEZING COLD water. Not sure why she just did. The reason she is crying here is because she just fell and during the fall, she lost a shoe. YEP... it went floating down the river... we could not find it because it went down in some rapids. (and I loved those shoes...BUMMER)

SO PRETTY!

We decided to get in the car and go to a flat area. We get there and we take the stroller out for Abel to sit in. Ted takes Addie to the bathroom and I have Abel next to me and I am just watching Aidan. I am laughing at him and loving how ALIVE he feels in this setting.

He was ON TOP of the world... jumping off of rocks... ALL BOY!

Again, with the HULK FACE... TOUGH KID... right?

Right about this time I hear "Tracie... Tracie, Tracie, Tracie". It's Ted. I look towards Abel AS HE is falling OUT OF THE STROLLER. Yes, face first on the gravel. I felt so bad. He is such a climber and he wasn't buckled in. He does a face plant. That's gonna leave a mark...

Then I hear Ted say "Bear"

PAUSE... ok.... this is where the wires in my brain get crossed. I see Abel. I am picking him up... his nose is bleeding. I somehow get Sharks and Bears mixed up and think "OH NO... clean up the blood... the bear is going to smell the blood and come after us!". All I can do at this point is react... I PINCHED TED. I grabbed his arm so tight and said "Gather the kids... run to the car... go go go". Ted said "Stop!" (telling me to quit pinching him). I was pinching harder (not even realizing what I was doing). Aidan by this time sees the bear (who is across the river... it is close... but NOT THAT CLOSE). Aidan (who was hulk just a minute ago) is now CRYING. HARD. Avery starts running and wipes out in the parking lot. Abel is crying (as blood is running from his nose). Addie... not sure what she was doing... knowing her, she was enjoying every second of it!

We get to the car and I start wiping up the blood with a wipe, looking over my shoulder, hoping Avery is not bleeding as well. (Great, more blood to attract the bear). Aidan is crying even harder now. Then we get in the car. I realize ... that is a baby bear, not even a HUGE BLACK BEAR (but I know... if a baby is there, the momma is close behind). I also realize it's not blood that the bear smells... it is food. As we are all in the car, Ted and I look at each other and just BUST OUT LAUGHING. BELLY, GUT LEVEL, PEE IN YOUR PANTS start laughing. I started telling him how I realized it was sharks, not bears, that are attracted to blood... which made him laugh even harder. We are all in the car ... buckled in... and other people are getting out of their cars to get a closer look at the bear (ok, now that is crazy!).

Meet the bear...

Even tonight as we crawled into bed, Ted started laughing and I knew what it was he was laughing at...

It was such a great time!

AND on the way home we got the best news! Julie's mom's cancer had not spread and was completely removed when she had her surgery. PRAISE JESUS!