Service Project and the Unfortunate Aftermath

 

 What an awesome young man our Connor is.

He helped out a friend with his Eagle Project by making stairs on parts of a steep trail at Camp Camorah in Island Park.

He worked hard with the others.

 And ate fire-roasted hot dogs to end the project.

Soon after, Jed and I got a call saying Connor had fallen while rope swinging, landed wrong, and messed his ankle up real good.  He was in a lot of pain and couldn't put any weight on it.  Connor had to be carried quite a ways back to the vehicles.  We told the leaders we'd meet them at the hospital.

So here we are at the ER trying to figure out if his ankle is sprained or broken.

X-rays were taken.

He didn't mind that at all.

Doctor says the x-rays look good - no broken bones.  Yay.  But his ankle is sprained very badly.

Nurse wrapped it up and told Connor to stay off of it completely for a couple of weeks.

Crutches are gonna help him get around for awhile but he'll be just fine. Good thing Connor likes to read a lot because that's about all he'll be able to do

After three hours, we were on our way home. 

...but not before we topped the day off with some Blizzards from Dairy Queen. 

Our Summer Project

Our first project of the summer was to make a sand box for the kids. We had an area in the back of the house that was just dirt and weeds so we figured that it would be the best spot to use. So here are photos of our project from start to finish:

First: We had someone come and dump a huge pile of sand on our driveway.

Second: Outlined and started digging a big hole for the sand. Since I didn't want to wait for Jed to have a day off work to get going, I put the kids to work with me. Let's just say progress was slow. Digging dirt is hard work!

The kids did their best on a really hot day. After about an hour or two we were exhausted and went and got snow cones to cool us down. I decided perhaps it was better to wait for Jed. A few days later, Jed and Connor dug the rest of the hole while I was at work - sooo sorry that I missed that. (I was being sarcastic there.)

Three: We went and bought some railroad ties and began cutting them to fit our sandbox dimensions and then put them into place. Man, they were heavy!

Jed used me as a stablizing weight while he cut through more railroad ties. Although I think they weighed almost as much as me.

Good thing I don't suffer from allergies with all of the sawdust flying around.

Setting the ties just right.

Jed and Connor begin hammering corner brackets to keep the ties snuggly in place.

As you can tell, our dog did a good job giving moral support to everybody.

More hammering.

Connor loves doing anything that involves a hammer and nails.

The first box level was done and the guys began shoveling dirt loads of sand into the wheelbarrow. Meanwhile I start filling in dirt around the ties.

Dumping load after load.....

.......after load of sand.

We filled up the sandbox to the top of the ties and thought that we would stop there. However, we still had a lot of sand left and many unused ties so we decided to create a second layer to make it deeper. Rigdon woke up from his nap and is checking out daddy's work.

More hammering....with Rigdon's help. Baby see, Baby do.

Rigdon loved working along side his daddy.

Such a hard little worker.

Just about done with the frame.

Happy kid.
The next day Jed and Connor again loaded more dirt in the sand box while I was at work. Again, I didn't mind missing that part at all.

Done!
Our sandbox is already being enjoyed by our kids and the whole neighborhood too.

This smile made it all worth it.

Now I'm just rubbing my hands for my next project.....landscaped flower beds and a rock path by the sand box and this area of the yard will be complete!