After dropping Bill off at the airport, we headed to the base to grab some dinner and watch Sesame Street Live presented by the USO.  It was a free show offered to military families.  It was a lot of fun.  Billy was hoping to see Big Bird, but he must have been asleep in his nest with Radar, his teddy bear.  He was a little  bit disappointed, but he really liked Cookie Monster singing, C is for Cookie, a Dunow favorite.  Baden’s eyes lit up when Elmo made his appearance. He started clapping and bouncing up and down.  He loves Elmo.  Grover, Zoe and Rosita were there, too.  They sang and danced and it was a lot of fun.  The show was about the separation anxiety that can happen when mommy or daddy has to go away because of their job.  All of the kids got a spinning light Elmo which is really cool.  It was a fun evening. 

Sunny day
Sweepin’ the clouds away                                           
On my way to where the air is sweet

Can you tell me how to get
How to get to Sesame Street…

On Saturday we went for a drive on Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park.  This is our favorite camping spot. We were there in June for a week.  This weekend the place was packed.  All of the camping sites were taken and all of the rooms at the lodges were full too.  We had a nice drive looking at the leaves and soaking in the beautiful colors of fall.  We had a picnic lunch at the Big Meadows picnic area and enjoyed the day. The boys loved running around and Billy got to climb a tree or two.  

Ah, weddings.  I love watching Who’s Wedding is it Anyway and of course, Bridezillas.  I have been to a few weddings, too.  Tonight, Bill and I attended a wedding like no other.  Bill got a call from his mom and she gave us a web site address.  This web site address took us to The Little Chapel of Flowers in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Bill’s cousin who looks like a young Bette Midler got married and we got to see the whole thing live. What a novel concept.  It was actually pretty cool to see Bill’s uncle walking his daughter down the aisle as Bill’s aunt looked misty eyed watching her daughter get married.  We didn’t have to get dressed up. We didn’t have to dance the Electric Slide. We didn’t have to bring a gift. The only thing missing was the cake and we love cake, but I guess it would have been virtual so it probably wouldn’t have tasted very good anyway.  It is amazing the things that we can do now via the world wide web and I am excited to have been a part of it.  Congratulations, Cynthia and Nathan.

Since it was a holiday this weekend, I mean general conference, we took the opportunity to go to Williamsburg, Virginia. We went to Busch Gardens and enjoyed free admission thanks to the Salute to Heroes program.  I was all set with an electric cart to zoom around the park.  We have gone to Busch Gardens every year since Billy was about six months old, but we never went on a Saturday and we will never go again. The line to get into the parking lot was crazy long.  Then when we got up to the park entrance there was no power.  Billy had to go to the bathroom, but there were employees that wouldn’t allow anyone into the bathrooms.  Luckily when we got into the park there was power, but England was clogged up with people having to go to the bathroom.  As I zoomed around on my cart, I got a lot of stares. I guess they were wondering why I needed a cart as if having my crutches by my side and a cast on my leg weren’t clues.  I learned that people always think they can outwalk an electric cart and then they stop right in front of you.  I almost had a few run in’s, but thankfully I was paying attention.  On the up side, Baden went on his first amusement park ride. It was the in the Land of the Dinosaurs and called Eggery Deggery.  My mom took the boys on the ride and they sat in a broken dinosaur egg. The ride went up and down in a circle.  Baden thought it was a lot of fun.  He also enjoyed the carousel.  Bill got to ride some roller coasters.  We also watched two shows.  Billy got his face painted and then almost lost it when he couldn’t win a life sized Spider-Man.  It was really a crazy day. We wanted to go to one last show, but the line was really looong.  We decided to head for the hotel around 7:00 pm, but it was like swimming upstream.  You would think that if someone is in an electric cart people would move out of the way, but no they don’t.  The worst offenders were people with the double jogging strollers that just plowed through.  I got in a standoff with a double jogging stroller and I finally told the lady move so I can move.  I was this close to  swinging a crutch around.  Finally we got out of there onto the tram. That was the best ride of the day.  Overall, we had a good time and it was good to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather.  The hotel was a nice retreat and even though the people that work at the Sonic in Williamsburg don’t know how to take an order, the cherry limeade hit the spot.  Busch Gardens is a great place, but never on a Saturday!

Baden is walking.  He has really started to pick up speed.  He always walked around the furniture, but then he started walking a few steps between the two couches.  Now he is everywhere.  His favorite place to go is up the stairs.  He started climbing the stairs on his birthday.  He giggles and laughs as he climbs each step.  Then his giggling becomes even harder when he is caught.  The next step is putting shoes on him.  He hasn’t really worn shoes except when we went to the Grand Canyon and he was only three months old.  It was because of the elements more than anything else.  Otherwise, it’s barefoot or socks.  Baden loves walking and he gets so excited.  We do,too. Billy is especially excited about his little brother’s newfound ability.  Baden still will crawl, but I think walking has given him a whole new prospective on the world and it’s full of things he can’t wait to get into.

Another week, another visit to the orthopedic clinic.  This time around more x-rays, stitches out and a new cast.  The ankle looks great even though it a rainbow shade of yellow, green and purple.  Getting stitches out is not suppose to hurt well at least in the experiences I have had with getting stitches removed.  This time it hurt!  The nurse told me it will feel like a mosquito bite, but it felt more like a mad hornet stinging me.  I was so glad that was over with and hopefully I won’t have to do that again. I finally got to see my x-rays so I could finally see where I actually broke my ankle and how the hardware looks. I wouldn’t advocate breaking anything to get hardware placed in your body, but Billy thought it was pretty neat.   My last cast was blue, nothing that would standout.  I almost got a green cast until I mentioned to the nurse how about red, white and blue.  I thought maybe he could wrap some blue, white and red casting strips and it would look pretty cool. Well he had a step up on me. He brought out the “designer” cast material and now I am adorned with red, white and blue with stars.  I am a patriotic person not to mention a military brat and now a military wife so this suits me to a tee. 

Today was Billy’s first day of Pre-K. It is hard to believe that next year he will be starting kindergarten.  He is going to Good Shepherd Education Center again this year. He had a really good experience there last year and he was excited to go back. His first day went well although he would have rather played with the dinosaurs instead of the sand play area. I think it will be a good year.

With all of the excitement around here I have blogged about my injury and birthdays, but this entry should have been shared a while ago.  At the beginning of the month we went to Ohio to meet up wtih our friends, Larry and Brooke Tarbox.  We have been like family for 13 years now.  After our departure to Maryland, they moved to St. Louis.  Anyway, we always talked about meeting them in Ohio (that’s where Brooke is from) and going to Cedar Point.  This is the first year we have actually been able to plan this trip so it would work out okay with everybody’s schedules.  We had a great time at Cedar Point. It’s an amusement park on the shore of Lake Erie in Sandusky, Ohio.  The skies looked like it may rain, but it turned out to be an awesome day.  I spent a lot of time watching Billy ride all of the rides in Kiddie Kingdom and Planet Snoopy.  Brooke and her daughter, Morgan were great sports and hung out with me as I watched Billy and pushed Baden along in the stroller.  Bill, Larry and Grayson, Larry and Brooke’s son, were in roller coaster heaven as Cedar Point has several top rated coasters.  I didn’t get to ride a lot of the rides, but I did enjoy “racing” on Cedar Downs and getting soaked on the river rapids ride.  Billy had a blast and got to meet Snoopy.  I wish we would have had more time to spend because the time seemed to go by way too fast.  We did have a farewell breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then it was back to Maryland.  The boys are road warriors. They are great travelers.  We didn’t have to stop too many times and they were kept occupied with toys and coloring books and the most important thing, snacks! 

Today is Bill’s birthday.  He has been playing Mr. Mom lately and doing a great job.  I felt horrible this morning when he woke up and I had nothing for him. I had no card, no present and not even a cake.  He spent the day cleaning the house. How fair is that?  I was thankful that my friend called this afternoon and after I told her that it’s Bill’s birthday she offered to pick up something for him so I told her a cake and some balloons would be nice.  It was a nice surprise for him.  I am sure he would rather be at work then dealing with me and the boys, but he is doing a great job of making sure we are all taken care of.  I really am thankful for him and hope that his birthday wasn’t too bad.

Yesterday, I went to the Orthopedic Clinic to get a hard cast put on my ankle.  That sounds easy enough, but obviously not for me.  I had more X-Rays taken and they showed I had torn some ligaments so a cast was not all I got yesterday.  I had surgery yesterday afternoon to put in a plate and screws to help align my ankle so it will heal correctly.  I have another “soft cast” on and will have it on for four to six weeks.  It is non weight bearing so I will be back on the couch with my leg elevated and ice packs three to five times a day for 30 mins.  I was surprised how fast they did the surgery and I am glad that since I did have to have surgery that it is over. I am also very, very thankful that my mom will be here on Saturday.  If there was ever a time I needed her, it is now. I move very slowly with the crutches and while Billy can pretty much do a lot of things on his own, Baden is a different story.  I am also thinking that having a one story home would be really nice right about now.  More updates later.