Visiting with Jen and Major

Our first time meeting Major was almost two years ago. We went again winter a year ago. We didn't make it at all last summer and that was just unacceptable. I love this experience for them and I love when we can spend time with Jen. She proclaims she is "not a kid person" but that she LOVES M&J so much and it really shows. It means a lot to me that they are close.

Unfortunately Major no longer lives a few towns away from us. He's about an hour away in New Hampshire. Jen and I finally nailed down a date for us to come up and visit and it was this past Friday. The kids and I drove to her apartment where we got to see where she lives with her boyfriend and their amazing dog Harley. They rescued him just before Christmas. He's 9 and was abandoned by his family. Seriously one of the best behaved dogs I've ever met. And the energy in him, you would swear he was only a year old. We played in the yard with Harley for a bit before walking to lunch near their place. We all had a nice lunch together where upon the waiter placing her cup of milk on the table it spilled everywhere. Even though she got a covered cup she managed to spill it two more times.

When we were done we got in our cars and drove to the barn. We greeted all of the horses that were in the field.

And fed them hay.

While Harley BEGGED for us to throw the big horse ball for him to fetch.

This horse had one blue eye and one brown eye

Jen brought Major back to the barn to get him suited up!

M&J helped brush him again

I think this freshness was a bit of foreshadowing of what was to come.

Jen rode Major for a bit

While I endlessly threw a ball for Harley. How can you say no to this face?

Then Jackson got a turn! He was so excited!

You can't see it in these pictures but Jen gave him the reins and taught him to steer. He totally had the hang of it. Jen still had a good grip of Major though.

Then it was Maddie's turn!

Then I asked Jen if I could ride. I've been dying to and was so excited when she said yes. When I was 14 I took english riding lessons from a family friend. 24 years later it really was like riding a bike. I was trying to get him to trot but he only wanted to run or walk. When he would run it was scary! I was pulling on the reins as hard as I could but he took a long time to stop.

The next time he started to run was quite a bit faster and he wasn't responding to me at all. I was bouncing all over the place until my left foot bounced out of the stirrup leaving me nothing to stand on. We were just rounding a corner and the centrifugal force pushed me over. I went down hard. The one thing I remember as it was happening was my head smashing on the ground. It really hurt. My head turned out to be the least of my worries. On the way down I twisted in the air so I landed more toward the right side of my butt then my head hit in the back and I continued to flip over. I'm pretty sure I ended up sitting up on my knees. I remember yelling for Jen to help as he was running but there was just nothing she could do. She and the kids came running over. A car happened to be driving by on the middle of nowhere road and saw me fall so they drove up to see if I was ok. I wasn't dizzy and I could move all of my limbs so I got up and we walked to the barn. Well, I limped. I was pretty sore. By the time I got back to the barn I realized my left foot was in some serious pain. I took off my boot and it didn't look too bad but Jen put some numbing cream on it which really helped. I sat for a little while then got up to put my camera back in the car to find the peacocks feathers were open. I was starting to feel some serious pain in my right hip/butt. It was difficult to walk with an injury on both sides! I had to get a picture though :-)

We hung around for a little while then I had to drag the kids away. We were going to visit Chris's Aunt that lived in a nearby town. We made it there ok. I felt ok driving but getting in and out of the car was really difficult. When we got there Chris's Aunt helped me get them out of the car and inside. Once in she waited on me hand and foot. She got me aleve and water and dinner and ice for my injuries and birthday gifts for the kids that kept them occupied while we were there. I didn't want to leave!

My mom was really concerned when I called her on the way home to tell her and like Chris's Aunt she said I needed to go to the hospital.

It took me an hour to get home and my mom met me there so she could take me to the ER while Chris stayed with the kids.

By the time we got there it was 9pm and they told us there was a 3 hour wait! We went and waited and 20 minutes later they called me into triage. I went immediately for an x-ray.

My left foot was only sprained and my pelvic bone was showing a "line" but the doctor couldn't tell if it was a shadow or a fracture. That's why they get paid the big bucks. But seriously I understood and he said the treatment would be the same if it was fractured or not...drugs.

After a trip to the drugs store I was home a little after midnight. I took one tramodol. I woke up a few hours later because Jackson woke up (like every night). Of course I had to go to the bathroom. When I got up to do that I felt horrible!! I felt drunk and had cold sweats and came very close to throwing up AND I was still in pain! I ended up sleeping on the couch. Since then I've only taken the ibuprofen. I don't feel like it's really putting a dent in the pain though. In the morning Chris was not amused that all this happened and wasn't sympathetic at all. He was calling me stupid and dumbass and idot and was generally grumpy. He left me home alone with the kids to go see Raffe's soccer game. My mom ended up coming up to pick the three of us up to hang out at her house all day. It was perfect. I got to lounge on the back deck in the sun while the kids ran around in the back yard with my parents and got to ride their little cars. We had dinner there, the kids got baths, then my mom brought us back home. We had a revolution game that night but I just couldn't get up and down all the stairs at the stadium so Chris took Raffe.

It's 10:20 Sunday morning now. I've been up with the kids since 8 and Chris is still sleeping.

So to wrap up how I'm feeling...I don't have any pain as long as I don't move. Getting up and down is agony. Apart from my foot and hip pain my tail bone is in a LOT of pain, my neck is killing me, and my inner thigh muscles are like jello (that would have happened if I had fallen or not!).