The Perils of Snowboarding

Hubby broke hisself snowboarding on Sunday.  He caught some air and fell onto his right shoulder, then went tumbling down the mountain.  Somehow in the attempt to stop himself he whacked his right ankle.  There was  no one around.  He boarded to the bottom of the run, where he finally got the attention of the ski patrol.  The clinic on the mountain was really crowded, so he asked them to give him a ride to his car - despite my protests that I would drive up to get him - and drove himself home. 

From there, I drove him to the insta care clinic, where x-rays showed the ankle was cracked and he had a separated collarbone.   You can see in the picture how the shoulder on the left (his right) has a hiccup in it, you can see the bump of the collar bone sticking up.  The one on the right connects smoothly to the top of his shoulder.

I had been texting the girls at home to reassure them and told Red there was now going to be a bump on Daddy's shoulder.  She was very upset to hear this and so I sent her the above picture.  The conversation went like this:

I was sitting in the clinic howling that she was totally okay with the bump, yeah, whatever, but OHMIGOSH DAD IS NAKED!!!  She told me later that she was worried he'd lost his pants.  Why she decided the above picture of his shoulders would indicate he was naked I do not know.

Hubby ordered a boot off of Amazon, it came Tuesday and was much more convenient than having to wrap the ace bandages around the splint he received from the clinic.  Also, the clinic put him on crutches and told him to put zero weight on that ankle.  The crutches didn't work at all, since using them to keep the weight off his ankle was pushing up on his separated shoulder.  

Hubby went to the doctor today, we held out for an appointment with the Sports Medicine guy instead of just a family practice guy.  The ankle and shoulder should both heal 100%. 

The worry was that he was causing further damage to his ankle by hobbling on it.  He has pretty much just been hopping around, or walking on the heel of the boot.   The doctor said hobbling on it will make it more sore, but it won't damage anything as long as he uses the boot and doesn't do anything stupid like snowboarding, gymnastics, or kick boxing.  

Hubby had to cancel his travel this week, and missed the first couple days of a whoop-de-do conference.  He leaves tomorrow for the rest of the conference and refuses to use a scooter because he thinks only crazy Walmart shoppers use them, so he's going to be hobbling around a huge conference center.

In other news, Blondie and Bones participated in a Schooling Jumper show on Saturday. Since we/they are Eventers, not strictly Jumpers, this wasn't completely their thing, but it is like one of the three events that Eventers do, the stadium jumping part. 

Since it was a schooling show, it ran behind, and there was a lot of sitting around.

Even when you line up to go, you're waiting and waiting, and there's a lot of standing around.  This is Blondie on the right, and her friend on the left.  They're making a heart with their hands.

Jumpers are all about speed, though, and since Blondie and her friends were competing with women and horses who are all about the jumping; who are racing around pell-mell and cutting all the corners, they were all kind of out of their league.  However, some of them ribboned, Blondie and the other girl we came with both ribboned at the lowest level they competed at - cross poles, which was a pleasant surprise.  Neither ribboned at the next level, and then because Bones has been a little stiff looking, the trainer suggested he and Blondie were done.   I went up in the stands to watch.  

This is Blondie and Bones, in the middle of the picture, getting ready to go in for one of her rounds. Her friend is behind her, framed in that gate.

And Blondie and Bones on the Cross Poles

The other little girl did one more level, but on that one it was getting even crazier and crazier with everyone jumping high and then zipping around to the next jump like their tails are on fire.  But she did very well and didn't knock anything over.  If it would have been an eventing round, instead of a jumping round, both girls would have received zero penalties.  Everyone had a fun day.

Because Bones has been a little off, I went out on Tuesday to meet with the horse Chiropractor while Blondie was in school.  He adjusted Bones and suggested she skip her lesson the next day and not ride him for a couple days.  Since we  usually go out on Thursdays, I went out with Blondie yesterday to work on his scratches, and found a new big patch that he won't even let me touch.  I think that might be why he's been "off."  Blondie used her Zen thing to calm him while I worked on two of his feet.

What makes this a neat picture is how picky he is about having his head even touched. He won't tolerate his ears being touched, he doesn't put his nose down to be petted.  So to have him put his head down into her chest, and let me rip the scabs off his feet is pretty amazing.

Good Break

Our school district gives the kids a whole week off at President's Day.  We have spent most of those weeks visiting my parents, at a condo they rent in Oceanside, CA.    Hubby always wants to go to Disneyland for at least a couple of days.  We spend the rest of the time on the beach, or loafing around the condo and the area with my folks.  Blondie has become a fan of the thick milkshakes at Ruby's Diner at the end of the Oceanside Pier.

Blondie spent two days on the boogie board.  It was much warmer than usual, I actually went out with her and didn't even have a wet suit.  After her time in Oregon, Blondie has become a boogie board master.  She even got Red out for an afternoon and the two of them really had fun.

This year our Disneyland trip seemed especially magical.  We spent two days at Disney and passed the night in Anaheim.  The crowds were the lowest I've seen in  years.  I assume it was due to the measles outbreak.  I am opposed to other's misfortune resulting in our benefit, but there isn't too much I can do about it but benefit from it.  So we did.  The girls are old enough that we don't even go into Storybook land or Toon Town, we mostly bounce between the rides they like.  Thunder Mountain was open this year, which is a treat, because it often has been  under renovation when we've gone in the past.   And Red rode every ride we pushed her to go on.  Always before she has dragged her feet for Space Mountain, the Haunted Mansion, and Tower of Terror.  Actually we didn't get on the Tower this year, just timed it badly.  But we went on everything else, though the California Screamer is her favorite.  As we were walking around on the 2nd evening, the girls and Hubby were ahead of me and I saw this:

I know it's blurry and not the best shot but I think it is the first time I have seen my two girls just walking around being buddies like this.  They are not very physically expressive toward one another.  When one is feeling companionable toward the other, the other for one reason always seems prickly.  To have them both feeling companionable at the same time is pretty unusual.

Hubby said his goal was to get bored, and he didn't really make it.  

It was a really lovely vacation, it is just hard to balance wanting to stay longer, and wanting to come home.