mr. d vs. a hill

The hill won.

I bet this is the last time he skips church in favor of a bike ride!

Ironically, he had this hat on under his bike helmet. Luckily, he was wearing his bike helmet.

After his crash, he was taken to the hospital and was discharged a few hours later with a separated shoulder, a right side covered with road rash, stitches above his eye and a lot of "maybes" (i.e. maybe you have fractured ribs, maybe you have a fractured sternum, maybe you have a punctured lung). We went home until the morning, at which point he woke up and couldn't breathe.

One collapsed lung later, he was admitted to the hospital.

It must be the pain meds making him smile.

week at uncle jed's house

Let me just say that I love vacations. The vacations I normally love are the fly-somewhere-new-and-see-as-much-as-you-can sort of vacations. This year we drove north to my brother's house. A went to summer camp with her cousin while J and Z spent the week running around outside with the other cousins. Mr. D and I spent the week sleeping, reading, eating, talking and laughing at the kids.

Best. Vacation. Ever.

My favorite things:

Swimming.
The kids running outside as soon as they wake up.
Hearing the kids playing and laughing outside until they collapsed at 9 or 10 at night.
Impromptu soccer games with the dads.
Sitting around and reading. And eating. And eating some more.
Uncle Jed taking the kids fishing.
The snowball fight in swimsuits after fishing.
Neville the Deer Stalker.
A (aka Miss Independent) having a fabulous time at camp.
The many hours the kids spent on Uncle Jed's tire swing.
The kids riding the little Jeep until the battery died.
Z plowing over the plants and into a tree while driving the little Jeep.
Having the entire family together on Friday.
Staying up until 1 in the morning multiple times, talking and laughing with Jed and Casandra.
No RA for the entire week.
Resting.
The amount of love I have for my family.

Seriously. Next summer I think we are just gonna move in to their house.

I'm waiting for the camera battery to charge so I can upload the hundreds of photos and post a few. Or twenty. In the meantime, here are a couple of the trip up and back:


Z had to stop and pee about 7 times.


Mister never-take-a-nap slept almost the whole way home.

p.s. i need a sitter

My friend Mary (whom I used to go see the Harry Potter movies with back in the day) found this article on The 25 Greatest Harry Potter Characters.

Let me say first of all that I love the Harry Potter series so much that I have actually lost track of the number of times I have read it. This is a great article, pretty spot on (Yes! Luna Lovegood made the top 10!), with some great wit and quotes. This is my favorite part of the article, in reference to Molly Weasley (one of my favorite characters):

In the final book, we get an emphatic reminder that Mrs Weasley is a considerable witch in her own right, and more than capable of bringing the hurt when called upon to do so. Just because someone is red-haired, a bit dumpy or fond of cardigans, it doesn't mean they can't kick ass. There's a valuable lesson there for us all.

I can't believe I haven't seen the last movie yet. I. Need. A. Sitter.