The morning before school starts a group of neighborhood families meet at 8am for a bike ride to Price Chopper for donuts.  I think this tradition has been going on for a few years but this is our 2nd year participating.  My kids love this!  They had their clothes laid out and the bikes ready to roll (actually Reece slept in her outfit because she was afraid of not having enough time to get ready).  In fact, I was getting in trouble for not waking them up earlier than 7:20 to get to the meeting spot!  I woke Reece up and she popped out of bed and said…I really need to wake up…I’m going to do a few karate chops to get myself awake.  Ummm…Ok…an interesting way to start the morning but nothing surprises me with this crazy girl!!  I sooooo wish I had a video of that karate chopping session!

Most of the time the little kids can’t make the trip to the grocery store in its entirety because it contains a few inclines that tire them out.  Last year Reece rode in a stroller and this year she was riding Drew’s bike all the way there.  This shows you how much she has grown in a years’ time!  I was so proud of her this morning.  She rocked it on that bigger bike!  Drew is not an expert at bike-riding so he stuck to what he loves best…a razor scooter.  Jake took his newly remodeled bike hand-me down from Morgan and Morgan borrowed Brooke Dearmore’s bike.  Usually we will drive our cars to the starting point just in case kids are too tired to make it back but this year I was braving it and fully confident we could make it.

Last year we had a few bike issues…so we just stash them in the bushes and come back to get them later.

This big group invades the price chopper bakery, cleans them out of donuts, and takes over every table.  It’s super fun and I’m happy our family gets to be a part of it!

You may notice that Morgan is not in our group picture.  She was scheduled to babysit a little girl and her mom was picking her up at 9:15a.m.  She wanted to get home and get some toys packed up for her and be prepared so she went ahead and left on her bike.  A few minutes later my phone rang and Morgan was on the other end crying pretty hard saying she had gotten into a bike accident and she was hurt.  I quickly asked my friends to look after my other 3 and ran to find Morgan who was just past the grocery store in the grass by the nearby apartments.  Apparently, she had started picking up speed and it scared her as she approached a golf cart passing so she hit the hand brake but it was the front wheel brake which caused her to flip over the handlebars. She had a bloody lip and scrapes on her face and was holding her arm.  I was immediately afraid that she had fractured her wrist as she has in the past and passers-by were asking if we needed help.  Her teeth were in tact and she was able to walk so I started walking the bike as she walked beside me.   We still had quite a walk to get home.  Soon our neighbor Jackie pulled up and got Morgan home for me in her car and I continued walking the bike.  I ran into another neighbor (Morgan’s friends Ava, Ellie, Clara, & their mom Jessica).  I told them what happened and they offered to help me by loading up the bike in their car and taking me home to Morgan.  THANK YOU FRIENDS!   When I arrived home to Morgan she was very upset and given her history with fractured wrists, I knew we needed to get to urgent care for x-rays.

Even with a broken wrist…teenagers still find a way to use their phones!The urgent care doctor confirmed a buckle fracture in her right wrist.  She stabilized it with a piece of foam and an ace bandage to save us money and sent us on our way to the Ortho Doc.  By noon, she was casted and home to complete her babysitting job (thank you Brian for babysitting!).  He had been in Miami and as he always does, he calls me when he lands in KC.  Unfortunately it wasn’t a fun conversation as I had to beg him to get home quickly to babysit for Morgan so I could take her to urgent care.  ugh!

She chose a lime green cast to go with Aunt Jenn’s wedding colors and should have it off 3 days post wedding – a 4 week healing process.  MoMo, I know this is not the way you wanted to start your 8th grade year but I can’t tell you how proud I am of you being so brave and amazing.  You are so tough and I am so thankful that these are the only injuries you sustained.  Whatever you may need help with – I’m on it.  You are going to be back to normal activity in no time and I am praying for a perfect recovery.  Feeling so blessed you are ok MoMo.  I love you.

This will be a back to school donut run we will never forget!