November 26- December 2, 2012 (the park, a visit with a firefighter, the Grand Illumination and a bonfire!)

Sorry for the delay in blogging, my dear readers. December first, I threw out my back. Very badly. I'm finally starting to feel better.

This week, we spent a lot of time outside. We visited our favorite park for running and collecting things for our nature table.

Dino Boy!

This week at Girl Scouts, we had a local female firefighter, Jenny, come to speak to the girls. It was a wonderful experience. Meeting a firefighter in a setting such as this was also something I fondly remember from public school that I was sad Rainbow Girl was going to miss out on. Not any more!

Jenny showed the girls the different components of her gear, all the way down to how she sounds with her mask on. She also spoke about fire safety and answered many questions from the girls. 

On the way home from the meeting, Rainbow Girl said, "I did not know that girls could be firefighters."

WOW.

The time came to talk about how girls can have any profession that they want to! It's amazing what life discussions we end up having in the car.

On the same ride home, we saw a car on the side of the highway (going the other direction) completely engulfed in flames. Rainbow Girl said that we should call Jenny to help. 

The next day, Rainbow Girl had Spanish class in the morning. After nap, we prepared to go to the Grand Illumination. This is a special event where the city illuminates a million Christmas lights throughout the city, including a giant tree and many reindeer. We haven't been to the event since before the kids were born- although, they have gone to see the lights on a following weeknight. 

Rainbow Girl decided to write a letter to Santa to put in the "Letters to Santa" box. 

Her letter reads "Dear Santa, I have been good. I would like a candy cane please. Love, Skylar"

The area was packed. I haven't seen so many people in the same place since the Obama rally. Thank goodness the kids were good about holding hands and behaved while we made our way through the mass of people.

We mailed our Santa letters, went to the Starbucks, and went to the bathroom. All three things were in the same building, but took over an hour to complete.

Waiting in line for the bathroom

Then, we finally made it outside. Generally when we visit the lights, we go to the huge Christmas tree and take pictures beside it. This time, there was a band playing by the tree with a fence surrounding them, blocking us from the tree. Rainbow Girl was upset with that. We also always go find Rudolph. Always, one of the reindeer in the grassy area has a red nose. There were so many people there that we could not find Rudolph!! That was also upsetting.

It took a long time for us to get back to our car in the depths of the underground parking lot. We are looking forward to trying again soon and doing all that we wanted to do. (Starting with parking on the street.)

Now we come to Saturday. The day my back exploded. All that I did was pick up an angry Sugar Bear off of the floor in Target. I tried to deny it all day and tried to stay on my feet. Once I sat down, standing up was excruciating. 

I planned on having a welcome December bonfire that night, and did not want to cancel it, so I pushed through. With my mom and brother's help, Everything went on as planned.

Wonderful friends, magical fire, amazing conversation. It was fabulous. 

The next morning, I could not get out of bed. I am not exaggerating. My husband had to dress me while I was in bed, and it took over an hour to muster the strength to stand, and even then I was curved over like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. 

I went straight to the doctor where I was diagnosed with a bad lumbar sprain. I was prescribed a pain reliever, anti inflammatory and a muscle relaxer- as well as told not to lift over five pounds for two to six weeks. I was heavily medicated for the remainder of the day- and very thankful that my mom and husband had off that day.