Getting to Ohio

Ahh, the late summer "ick!" Nothing like it ~ luckily (for me) what I had came and went quickly and by mid-day Friday I was back on my feet. Sadly that was unlucky for Kylie...

Because I had been sick I didn't get to go to preschool for our teacher workday to prepare for the first day of school this week. But by later in the day I felt okay and told Ian that I'd be fine to take Maya to the kennel for the weekend so that he could work as much as possible before we packed into the car and headed out to Akron. So with both girls in tow, I head out.

Now of course Kylie is crazy about Maya and proudly holds her leash as we walk her into the check-in room at the kennel. I'm concerned about getting Maya all the way in the door because Kylie is kinda blocking the entrance and as I pull the dog inside I fail to notice that my sweet baby's hand is not clear. So I proceed to head up to the counter and I hear this piercing wail from Kylie. Yep, horrible Mommy has let a heavy metal and glass door close on her little one's pinky finger. I tried to remain calm as I opened the door and noticed that her finger was red and purple and pretty flat.

I'm not even sure what I said about Maya at check-in, but I know I got out of there pretty fast. By the time we got home, I'm not sure who was crying more, Kylie (who was in pain) or me (who was feeling awfully guilty about letting her get hurt). She wouldn't use her finger at all, so we weren't sure if there was anything broken or not. Ian called our pediatrician and made the first appointment he could so that we could have her checked out. The crying must have worn her out because she crashed while eating lunch (this hasn't happened since February).

After beating myself up some more on the guilt train, we headed to our doctor's appointment. Of course by the time we got there the Tylenol was kicking in and she was moving it just fine... But just to be sure he sent us over to the hospital to the imaging department for X-rays. About an hour later we were headed back home with the relief of no cracked knuckles or torn tendons and the reassurance from each doctor/nurse/x-ray technician that we talked to that we weren't the first (and won't be the last) parents to close a door on their child's finger.

Did we mention that we had intended to be on the road to Akron by 5? By the time we got home, got our stuff and Adam & Traci's loaded into the car it was 7. Crazy as it sounded, we still figured we could make it to our hotel ~ a mere 470 miles up I-77 ~ by 2:30 or 3. But after the adrenaline of the afternoon faded, none of us were going to make it much farther and we settled in at the first hotel with vacancy that we found in Charleston, WV.

At least the stop broke the trip up some. Saturday morning we headed out and finished the drive with just one stop. When we piled out of the car at the rest stop we were all pleasantly surprised that you can be outside in the sunlight without melting. The high temps in Ohio while we were there all weekend were in the upper 70s! I had forgotten how to dress for such temperatures! Even Kylie was flourishing in the warmth of the sun and none of us wanted to get back into the car.

"Who me? Okay, I'll come, but it sure is nice out here in the sun! Let me just gather my (or Aunt Traci's) things..."

"I've got my stuff now, let's roll!"

We arrived in time to catch the second half of the VT game before our family reunion. Ian had missed so many games last season that I didn't have the heart to make him miss the first one of this season, so we hung out at our new hotel room and watched the game. And of course our little one and her daddy were sporting Hokie colors to support their team!

"I'm a Hokie fan forever Daddy! Thanks for getting me a new cheerleading uniform! I just wish that Tech's colors were pink instead of maroon..."

"We won! Victory tastes good!"

And then there was the reunion ~ where I'm sure everyone was as excited to see me as they were to see Kylie...

to be continued