ER's and Road Trips

Our PCS was going way too smoothly.  Something was bound to happen.   So, in true 'my husband is deployed/tdy' form, Andrew and Gavin were wrestling in our newly empty home and Drew sprained his elbow.  At 6:00pm.  The night before we were supposed to make our cross country road trip.  AND I still had a house to clean.  

After debating whether his injury was really bad enough for a trip to the ER (don't judge, you parents know you all do it too!) and asking him numerous times if his arm hurt (I should have known due to his constant crying and refusal to use his arm) I dropped my dad and Gavin off at our hotel and Andrew and I headed off to the Toumey ER.  If any of you have ever set foot in Toumey's emergency room, you know it is not a pleasant place - there was even a shooting there a few months ago.  Nice, huh?  So very grudgingly, I carried Andrew to the front desk and signed him in.  Poor baby's elbow hurt so much that he screamed the entire time we sat in the waiting area. One of the security guards even came over to check on us and Andrew screamed, "NO! NO! NO! NO!" when he tried talking to him.  I'll never say this again but thank goodness he was so loud and cranky because I think the staff moved us up on the priority list.  After about ten minutes we were called back for his vitals and then headed to a room to wait on the doctor.  Three hours later and after a very difficult x-ray (I almost cried.  He looked at me with huge eyes and tears while we held him down on the table and said, "Mommy help me!  I be good!!!" SOOOOOO sad.), it was determined that he only had a sprain.  They wrapped his arm up (he thought it was cool because we told him he looked like a robot) and we headed back to the hotel where I dropped him off and proceeded to go back to our house to clean.  What a lovely end to our time at Shaw!

Second to last night in our house.  The boys took over my bed.

The boys eating dinner where our table used to be.  Minutes before the elbow spraining incident.

Poor Andrew

iPad + Netflix + Spiderman = Happy(er) Andrew

Leaving the hospital.  He's happy because he thinks he's a robot.

I'll spare you the details about our cross country drive.  In summary : 2,915 miles in six days covering thirteen states, a senior citizen, two toddlers, a three hour detour due to Missouri River flooding, Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park, one speeding warning in Nebraska, numerous potty breaks, and no pants wetting incidents!  Enjoy the pictures!  

At a rest stop in Tennessee.  Tennessee has the best rest stops!

After a long day of driving, our first night at Arnold AFB in Tennessee.  Great lodging on a lake! 

Old school playground. 

See Drew's left arm?  He wasn't using it because of his sprain :(

I haven't seen one of these in forever!  We were hesitant to let Andrew on it because of his arm but he did okay.

Andrew's first potty break sans a real potty right outside of Whiteman AFB,  MI

The boys eating pizza at our lodging at Whiteman AFB. 

Mt. Rushmore!  It was nearly impossible to get the boys to take a picture.

Gavin throwing out Spiderman webs and Andrew making the 'cool' pose.

Timeout at Mt. Rushmore.  The kids were running around like crazy and driving me crazy.

"I'm strong!"

Why do family pictures always turn out like this?

Western United States is so beautiful.  We had to take a picture off the side of the road in Wyoming.  

Andrew enjoying nature in Yellowstone.  

Old Faithful

Sleeping like a king in a king size bed in Bozeman.

All in all, it was a very successful PCS and I can now cross Mt. Rushmore from my "Things to see in my lifetime" list.  Hmmmmm, now how can I work in a Taj Mahal and pyramid road trip?