Another Trip to the ER

Can we buy stock in a hospital?!!

Two months ago I was in for shoulder surgery, and three weeks ago Jack fell and cut his head earning two stitches for his work. Porter, not wanting to be out done by his dad or his little brother, stepped up his game this week and broke his arm. Having already been stitched, glued, stapled he can now add casted to the list!


Porter, Megan and Jack were being very helpful as we were bark dusting our back yard with the help of the church youth group and our home teacher (David Weiler) - shoveling bark into wheelbarrows and sweeping. It was a miracle that everyone was doing yard work without being asked and without complaints. The dream ended when Porter jumped out of the back of a pick-up truck. His foot caught on the cord that hooks the tailgate to the truck bed which sent him head and arms first instead of feet first. This was a souped-up F350 pickup truck and a good 4+ feet off the ground. He put his arms out before he hit the driveway and snapped his left forearm. The bone didn't come through the skin but it was very close.


Porter was scared and a little in shock as he didn't cry but looked up at me and said, "help me, dad." David and I immediately gave Porter a blessing and took him to the ER and parked in our soon-to-be "Reserved for McKeehan Injuries" spot. I picked Porter up and carried him into the ER where they immediately took us back to our soon-to-be "Reserved for McKeehan Injuries" room.


Once they hooked up the IV and had the medication flowing we took X-rays and the doctor re-set his arm with a loud CRUNCH that made his dad's knees buckle a little. Porter was so deep in his medication that he didn't feel anything and didn't remember the doctor even fixing it.


The drug the doctor gave to Porter was described as "the closest thing to an acid trip for a 7 year-old". As he came out of the drug induced coma he mentioned that he saw fish swimming around the room, saw Mario from Mario Brothers walking on the ceiling, and that David and Dad both turned into robots. He also asked me what it is like being an adult? I gave my response then asked him what he thought it would be like and he said, "I think it would be fun because you get to stay up later than anyone and you get to eat chips while you are up."


Porter was a complete stud! He did not even cry! He came close when the doctor put in the IV as he admittedly doesn't like needles. If you ask him, he'll tell you the worst part about it is not being able to go swimming for the rest of the summer as he has missed this week's swim lessons, and will miss Oma's pool in two weeks!


David gets the "Buddy of the Year Award" for first of all being over to help spread the bark dust, then helping with the blessing, driving us to the ER, and hanging out for two hours until porter got his cast on.

Disneyland!!

This past April we took the kids to Disneyland for a week! Tiff and Seth and the Washburn Clan joined us as did Oma and Opa! We got the California Pass (Disneyland and California Adventure, Sea World, Universal Studios, and the Wild Animal Park) and saw most of southern California in the process.

Highlights:

Spending time with our awesome relatives was so much fun! Don't get me wrong - we woulda had fun without them - but it made it soooooo much more fun with them all there! Most days we broke into two teams - Porter and Conner (aka:the Meatball) on the scary/crazy ride team, and Megan, Jack, Eli, and Dallin on the other more tame ride team. The adults broke up based on who was feeling like they could handle "California Screamin" seven times in a row, or "The Tower of Terror" even once, or who wanted to spend time on "It's a Small World" or in "Bugs Life Town".

Disneyland:

We loved exploring with Jack so wide-eyed and excited for everything! The Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaser ride/game was fun as the fate of the universe was in our hands as we engaged in an intergalactic battle against the Evil Emperor Zurg! We rocked his world!! Space Mountain and Splash Mountain were also big hits and by the second time through we knew where all of the cameras were and made sure to put on our brave faces for them.

Oma and Opa treated us all to a night at Goofy's Kitchen where we got to eat with many of the Disney characters. At one point Goofy came over and started rolling on the ground with laughter at one of his own jokes. Jack saw him on his back thought he wanted to wrestle! He took a running start and while Goofy had his hands over his face, Jack flew through the air and body-slammed him! His knees came crashing down and nailed Goofy square in the goofballs! Goofy just grunted and crawled away...

Sea World

At Sea world we sat in the "Splash Zone" and let Shamu and other killer whales splash us! We watched the animals shows and had fun touching and feeding the sting rays - they were slimy! Seeing the dolphins was also fun.

California Adventure

Besides having the coolest, most scariest rides (like California Screamin' that porter and I went on 7 times in a row and Daddy had to stop because he was getting a little light-headed) it also had the tallest ride at Disney - Mickey's Ferris Wheel (with a view of the whole park). What made this ride different was that the cages slid back and forth while at the same time rotating in a giant clockwise circle. This proved to be a little frightening for Megan who immediate grabbed the sides of the cage and let us know of her discomfort. As our cage began to slide the second time Megan began, "Daddy I don't feel so good - I think I'm going to barf." Thinking quickly I observed my surroundings and tried to distract her when I found the perfect antidote - Uncle Seth. Uncle Seth was sitting across from Megan and me, and he had his legs up on our bench bracing himself. Just as Megan started to moan again I said, "Megan look at Uncle Seth - he has a big hole in his shorts!" She looked down and saw the hole and started to laugh because she could see his Spiderman Underoos!! he quickly covered up, but the damage had been done - Spidey had saved the day and Megan laughed the rest of the ride!

Universal Studios

This was for the most part a disappointment - other than the fact that they had by far the most animated characters for Jack to give hugs to! When he would see one he would run full speed and jump into their arms. In a 20 minute stretch he saw/hugged Curious George, Shreck, Woody Woodpecker, Dora the Explorer, Marty the Lion from Madagascar, the shark from Jaws, Bart and Lisa Simpson, and his favorite - Sponge Bob Square Pants!

Wild Animal Park

Feeding the exotic birds as they would land on our shoulders and arms and eat the nectar out of our hands was very cool. The petting zoo was also a hit as it had reindeer in it. Dad's favorite was the large male lion laying on top of an old truck and staring hungrily at Megan!

In addition to having an overall great time, Porter and the Meatball really bonded - spending as much time together as the could whether on rides, at dinner together, or playing video games in the car. We also loved seeing Eli and Dallin with their awesome expressions as we went from one section of the park to the next! We loved spending time with Oma and Opa and Tiff and Seth too as it allowed for some adult conversations and for games each night! It also meant that we didn't have to eat all of our meals at McDonald's! We can't wait until next time!!

iCarly

I know, it's been over a year since I've blogged!!! Not that I haven't had anything to blog about, just haven't made the time to do it! Well, I think I'm back! This is my new goal anyway:)!

So this one better be good! According to my kids it is! Since Sean started working for a company owning several radio stations he's become the coolest dad ever! Whenever a celebrity/musical group come to town they often do interviews at one of the radio stations and then give a little mini concert and sign autographs for whoever works there. Well, this Tuesday Sam from iCarly (Jannette McCurdy) was in town. We let the kids miss a couple of hours of school (a bonus in itself) picked up their aunt Destiny and drove to Sean's work to meet her. It was all very exciting...Jannette sang 4 songs with her band (she is just starting a career as a country music singer, not bad by the way) and then met with everyone there to sign autographs, take pictures and answer questions. I was really impressed with how nice she was and the time she took to talk to each person who came to see her!

Porter and Sam (Jannette McCurdy)

Megan made an origami frog for Jannette.

Jannette was really sweet and played with the frog for awhile and named it Goog after Megan's stuffed animal Goog (seen here in the picture above and below). Then she put the frog on her head for the picture below. After I took the kids home Sean went back to talk to Jannette to thank her for being so kind to our kids and she was showing the frog to her band. That made Megan so happy!

Destiny and Jennette McCurdy

Jennette signed Destiny's iCarly shirt, but I think Destiny's highlight was when Jannette told her how much she loved her shoes and asked her where she got them!

*I tried uploading the video we took of her singing, but there was an error message everytime I tried :(.