First Day

A run down of the day's events...

Jack popped his head up to greet the day at 7:00 and soon woke Sam too. They both woke up happy which is surprising considering it was nearly midnight before they fell asleep.

We hit the beach and Sam ran wild while Jack stuck close to his Daddy. He still doesn't think the ocean is that great and after a little while he was ready to head in and nap. Jack and Jody snuggled up for a four hour nap. Yes, four hours.

Sam stayed on the beach all day. I had my chair pulled up to the edge of the water where he was running and jumping the waves. Suddenly a big wave knocked him down and he rolled over in the water. My heart sank, I screamed for him and I was up and out of that chair in .5 seconds. I grabbed him and he just smiled, sand caked all in his hair and plastered to his face. I turned to see Mama and Allyson laughing. Apparently my exit from the lounge chair was a little lacking in the grace category.

Later, Cade, Sam and I headed to the house to clean up. I told the three older boys I'd take them to the park before dinner. Sam and Cade were to go straight to the outdoor shower to rinse off. I went to put my bags down and saw Sam climbing the stairs heading inside. I told him he was suppose to be in the shower with Cade. He took a few more steps up and realized what I told him and turned to come down. The next thing I heard was a loud bang and I saw my child flipping feet over head down a flight of stairs. I can't describe that feeling. Pure panic and horror. I screamed his name, he stopped a few steps from the bottom and the proceeded to begin tumbling again. I reached him as he hit the last step and I grabbed him fully expecting a broken arm, gashed head or worse. His elbow was the only thing bleeding. Thankfully, he only scuffed his belly and scrapped his arm and elbow pretty bad. He also had a knot beside his eye with a small scuff mark. I am amazed that he wasn't badly injured. He literally flipped down 12-15 wooden steps. Thank you God.

Later, Sam told Ally about his fall. His exact words were, "Ally, I fell down. I was flipping and Mommy was screaming, but I feel better now."

Oh and speaking of steps, Jack fell down the last few steps inside yesterday and has a lovely bruise under his chin and a small carpet burn on his lip. Man am I glad we live in a ranch.

The big boys and I headed to the park and walked out on a dock looking for fish. Cade spotted a lizard on the back side of a rail. It took a good ten minutes before we could get Cannon to see it. Sam still couldn't spot it. Later we saw some small crabs along the water's edge and Cade and Cannon saw them pretty quickly. Again, Sam couldn't spot them. Cade, in a very serious, matter of fact voice said, "Um, Lala. I think Sam may be blind. You might want to see about getting him some glasses."

After dinner, Ally and I took the kids back on the beach. We ran races and searched for shells. Jack took a spill and insisted on running the rest of the time holding my hand. So we ran, holding hands, his other arm pumping like a serious sprinter as he yelled "Go! Go! Go!" He still managed to wipe out at least three more times even while holding tight to my hand. I'm not sure how that happens, but then again, I am talking about Jack.

On the way back towards the house Landry and I were pulling up the rear. A lady, probably in her seventies, was walking toward us. She gave me a very strange look and appeared to be looking down her nose at me like those annoying people do when my children are misbehaving in a check out line and they feel I need their judgement or approval. Anyway...I looked ahead to see Allyson shaking her head in embarrassment, Sam by her side. I asked her why that woman looked at me like that. She said it might have had something to do with my son seeing this lady walking in his direction and in his best "scared to death" voice yelling "Ally, Ally" while pointing at this lady and saying she "was gonna get" him. Apparently she scared the you know what out of Sam for whatever reason. I gave him a little lecture on "just because someone is walking in your direction doesn't mean they are going to get you or that you should point and squeal in fear."

What a beginning to the week. As I say often, never a dull moment. Why should vacation be any different?.