A Florida weekend

We took a quick trip down to FL in June, for Rich's cousin wedding.  Jessica was a beautiful bride and we are so happy she has found a wonderful husband!

 Of course, the highlight of any FL trip is a chance to spend time with Andrew.  He is growing up too fast!

We brought Chase home with us, for a week, and had a great time!  I love spending time with my nieces and nephews...it does this Aunt's heart good!  The kids built a fort in the car, on the trip home.

 My mom and I took Kalee & Chase tubing again this year.  We had a great time and I LOVE floating down the river with Chase.  He tells me all kinds of 'facts' about the river, and the rocks, and the sky, and the trees, etc.  It is very informational :) and I love seeing how his mind is working!

 The worst part of the trip home was a call from my dad, saying that Jasper had been hit by a car!  Kalee and I were a mess the last half of the trip...Thankfully, all is well!  Jasper looked pretty rough when we finally made it home ~ he was HAPPY to see us walk through the door.  After a quick trip back to the emergency vet for another pain shot he settled down for the night.  I took him to our regular vet the next morning and after some x-rays she let me know that he was one lucky dog!  He had to suffer through 6 weeks of crate rest and NO playing, but he/we survived!  The pic below shows Midnight trying desperately to play with Jasper...but he wanted nothing to do with playing for about a week after the accident!

 He had some nasty road rash on his legs and his chin, and all kinds of little cuts everywhere...

 I snapped this picture after putting some cream on his road rash - he hated the cream and would pout after I put it on...I couldn't resist taking this picture, especially since he shoved  his snout under the blanket!

 A few weeks after the accident I took him outside to sit in the grass for a bit while Rich mowed the yard.  While we were outside my mom drove up the driveway - Jasper couldn't get close enough to me and far enough away from the car.  I would like to say that he learned his lesson, but he's pretty stubborn! 

Spacers!

Kalee sure likes to start things early...and following that trend is Braces! I can't believe my baby is getting so big! Oh, and someone really should have told me how expensive it is to have a kid! :)

Kalee was SO excited about the idea of braces and has bugged me about getting her spacers put in since the day we first went to see the orthodontist last October for a consult. The day FINALLY arrived, in June, for the spacers to be put in. Here are a few pics of my cute kiddo, on that day...

Still excited about the idea...
Not so sure about it, now! I told her to be careful what she wished for!

A few weeks later we went back and had an appliance put in her mouth, called a Herbst Expander. That was fun...ok, not so much. She actually cried during that visit - it did look quite painful. The appliance was MUCH bigger than we thought and didn't sit as close to the roof of her mouth as I thought it would, so it was pretty funny watching her try to figure out how to talk and swallow (we heard a LOT of slurping and sucking up of saliva those first few days/weeks)!

We went to McDonald's on our way home and she got a milk shake and a small fry. She was quite freaked out when she realized that she couldn't eat the french fries! But, all is well with the world now, as she has figured out how to eat (although we still hear the slurping sometimes). :)

The actual braces are supposed to be applied on October 3rd. She's not sure if she should be excited or scared!