My 1st Car Crash!

On Saturday, I was in my first car crash. Not my fault either. My mother-in-law was with me and we were headed back home after out shopping. Here's the story. I was at a stoplight in the left turning lane. A red pick up truck was beside me in the right turning lane. We had a green arrow, so we started turning left. After we turned (passing the turning lane and 1st straight lane across the street), my M-N-L said, "Brandy, that woman is not going to stop." This woman in a HUGE suburban in the far right straight lane ahead, speeding at least 55-60mph crashed right into us. I attempted (in my thought process) to beep the horn, slam on brakes, and just do anything, but it was way too late. She creamed us and then my Pilot did a 360 and came back towards the turning lane I originally started in to t-bone the red truck that was initially beside me. What a whirlwind!!! My heart was pounding and I was SO *ticked off* to say it nicely. I stormed out of my truck and made my way across 3 lanes of traffic without looking for moving cars and gave that woman a few good paragraphs of how I felt!!!!!!!! I cannot express in this blog how angry I was and I am still trying to maintain my composure when I tell others about this accident. It infuriates me so badly. The woman admitted to me that she was on her cell phone. That makes me even more mad. I am not sure she even knew there was a red light. Are you kidding me? Did she think this would make me feel better?! THANK GOD, Chase was NOT in the truck with us! I seriously think I would have hurt her. No one understands the rage that was inside my body for the first few minutes. Don't get me wrong, I was extremely THANKFUL my MNL and I were able to walk, talk and get ourselves out of the truck, but I didn't realize all of that until 5 or so minutes later. I was so irate that this woman made a dumb mistake and put us at risk. After Rich and Chase arrived as well as my family, they began towing and cleaning up the scene and that seemed like FOREVER! Our bodies felt like they were on FIRE! Everything was burning. We dropped Chase off at the house and my Mom and Rich took us to the doctor. My knee got bandaged (it continued to get worse as time passed) and my MNL's elbow got bandaged (it looked like my knee). We both had burns on our chest, arms, stomachs, back, and I have black bruises and burns on my pelvic area. I was so thankful I wore my seat belt because my body lifted up during the impact that's how the pelvic area got so banged up. I also have bruising on my right leg and my MNL has very sore feet. Good thing the doctor was nice and prescribed us Vicodin! Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we heal and get things sorted out. I am very heartbroken that I have lost my beloved Honda Pilot, but our lives were SAVED because of the safety features this truck possessed. I firmly believe that. We would not have been able to independently walk out of this crash if I owned a car. That lady was flying didn't hit her brakes until she was a couple of feet from crashing into a telephone pole on the grass. The police officer was amazed that she didn't even attempt brakes. My next vehicle will definitely be a SUV and will possess the best possible safety features just like this one! I will miss you PILOT! Thank you for taking one for the team!

*above* you can see Rich's Tahoe in the distance....but the other SUV on the road driving is where she initially hit me and I spun back around this way to hit that truck

*above* you can see the orange spray paint....those indicate my front 2 tires....as you can clearly SEE I was almost finished making my left turn. (the car in the distance straight ahead in the straight lane is the where she was speeding like a bat out of hell) ....if I was this FAR into my turn you KNOW her light was RED for a LONG time! NOW you must understand why I was so irate with her! I didn't deserve to get drilled like that and neither did the red truck.

This is what my leg looked like this afternoon. It looks a lot worse in person. The camera was having trouble focusing on it. My knee cap looks like a marshmallow.

This was my knee yesterday at the doctor. It continues to get worse. Yesterday it was swollen up like an elephant knee.

Lil' Vincent Van Gogh

Saturday morning we took Chase out front under the tree so he could paint his canvas for his playroom. I started the "mix" of colors canvas first. I used all 4 colors that are used throughout his playroom (red, blue, orange, and green). He had the best time creating his artwork and he did it all by himself. He was very proud of the finished product and so were we. Maybe sometime soon he can't paint the "individual" ones; one color per canvas. I will arrange them all in his playroom.

He started out dotting the brush

It was cute when he decided to lounge while painting!

I held it up for him towards the end so he could finish

self-portrait

This was the self-portrait that Chase and I made for last week. We hung it in his classroom.

Snack With Chloe

Chase shared some veggie sticks with Chloe while outside! After dinner, he gave her half of his popsicle. She's one lucky pup!

Not Feeling Well AND Water Table

I found this water table on sale, YIPPEE! I set it up today during a quick lunch with the intent Chase and I would play with it after we got home. I got a phone call from Chase's teacher a few minutes after 3pm during one of my visits and she said that Chase was sick. I went to pick him up and he was the most pitiful thing I had ever seen. He was stripped down to his diaper sitting on one of his teacher's lap, sucking a paci, and holding her finger. As soon as he saw me he went into hysterics. I almost teared up myself. Apparently, he woke up crying from his nap and she was able to settle him back down for a bit, then he woke back up and "got sick" everywhere. They took his temperature and low and behold, he had one. While I was gathering his things, he almost got sick again. We waited just a few minutes because I wanted to make sure he felt well before I put him in the car. I put him in the carseat without his clothes and laid his "blankie" on top. Go figure....he "got sick" in my truck. Eww...Gross! Once we got home, I had to unlatch the entire carseat and carry him out in it, so I wouldn't make a bigger mess. I bathed him and we lounged on the couch for a hour. I eventually asked if he wanted to go outside and he began to perk right up. He was eager to be outside and even asked for some "crunch, crunch." I knew that would be the first thing he wanted to eat. Every time he gets sick he starts off with crunchies. He eventually played in the water table and we had a picnic dinner outside together. He seems to be much better, I think.

Library, McDonalds, Pet Store and Toy Store!

Chase and I headed to the Children's Museum on Thursday to celebrate the Week of the Young Child, but plans changed. Instead we found ourselves at the public library, McDonalds to eat and play, the pet store and finally, the toy store. I think Chase was pleased with visiting his most favorite places. After all, this was the week to focus on him and his community. I think we paid tribute!

"Mommy, I see Nemo, Mommy!

Chase was fascinated by the bunnies

Bouncing through the store

I really wish that he had a kitchen. He loves them so much.

Thomas the Trike Time and CARS gear!

Since we were in the car for a 3 hour trip back home from the beach, we spent some quality time outside before dinner. Chase briefly rode his trike before spotting a neighbor playing basketball.

I'm not a huge fan of character clothing. I never have been, really. BUT somehow Chase owns just a few key pieces of character clothing. It all started when we visited Thomas the Train back in October. Someone else bought him 2 Thomas shirts while we were there. Then for Christmas, Aunt Rie-Rie gave him Thomas Crocs. Before we went to the beach in March I spotted a vintage Elmo and Cookie Monster shirt. I CAVED...mainly because they were less than $5 at the store. After I realized they had Cars Crocs, I knew he would want them and my Granny got him the Cars racing shirt for Easter. I'm still not a huge fan of character clothing, but he loves his crocs!

Too Cool For School

Chase was ready for the day.....he put his shades on upside down. I LOVE it!!!

Alligator Adventure

Saturday was our day to return back to Greens-BORING! On a serious note, Greensboro is not that bad :o) Prior to heading out, we wanted to take Chase to Alligator Adventure. I think we all LOVED it. I was completely amazed at how many alligators they had. The coolest part was witnessing the alligator feeding. The lady walked on the pier and started banging her hand on the rail, instantly the alligators started to swim towards her. They throw out raw chicken for the alligators. In order for the alligator to get a piece, they had to "jump" out of the water. Many of the alligators did pretty well, jumping up where their front feet were out of the water. It was neat. We learned some awesome facts about alligators. The most interesting is they can survive and most often eat once a year and that 90% of what they eat becomes alligator. 90% of what humans eat becomes fat.

If you ask Chase about the Zebra, he will tell you that, "Zebra night-night." The second time we visited the Zebra exhibit he was lying down taking a rest.

The alligator in front is eating his chicken!

If you click this picture to enlarge it you can see the alligator in front of the girl making his move to jump up!

It was weird seeing some of the alligator's mouths wide open!

Chase and I watched the Lemurs for about 10 minutes. He laughed hysterically. He got a true kick out of watching them jump back and forth onto the trees, rope, and glass. He said, "Monkey funny Mommy!"

This HUGE 200lb tortoise was on the other side of water when we stopped to see him. Maybe he was attracted to the red stroller (well I can't say that for sure, because I'm not sure they see color), but regardless, he walked, very slowly towards us and stuck his head through the 2 wooden posts. It was so cute to hear Chase talking to him. I but someone has touched him before considering there was no glass barrier, but we didn't take any chances!

Resort Playground