Of water bottles and trips to the ER...

Yesterday at 4am, the older four kids and I set off to the coast to go birding with friends. We stopped at the top of the street to pick up a family going with us, and our early morning trip was officially underway. And 3 1/2 hours later we were the first ones at the Leonabelle Birding Center in Port Aransas. Excitement was in the air!

We got seriously started around 8am. There were so many birds! And many which we have never seen because we don't live next to such a large body of water. I was photographing birds. The kids were being quizzed by our Young Birders Club leaders about field markings and differences between species. We were having a great time!

We were spending some time at the top of this tower, which overlooked the whole birding center, observing bird behavior and looking through the spotting scope for a good thirty minutes. When we decided to move further down the boardwalk, I started down the stairs behind my friend and some of our kids. Suddenly I felt my ankle roll and I knew I was going to fall. The stairs were steep and it seemed like I was headed straight down which would have meant I would knock down my friend and three young girls. So, I threw the water bottle in my hand into the canal and grabbed the handrail, twisting to keep from flying down the stairs. Immediately, my knee felt like something popped and I was in excruciating pain. After laying flat on the stairs for awhile, the pain subsided long enough to get up. Hannah was sad that I had launched her water bottle into the home of a large alligator, but we took a picture of it floating away as a memory.

My first thought was sit down and cry. My next thought was the kids and how they have looked forward to the trip for a year now. I wasn't bleeding or anything really bad, so I put a smile on my face and decided to act like nothing happened.

We kept on, seeing cool birds, taking nearly 600 photographs, laughing and learning. After three hours we took a break for lunch and we stopped at a grocery store for some Motrin. I think that is when the pain really started to hit. My knee was freezing up too, not wanting to bend or flex.

We met back up with our group at 12:30pm. I was hurting really bad, I couldn't have probably identified a house sparrow if I had to, much less pay attention to small details in the field markings between different plovers. So I went to sit in the car. Eventually, it was decided that we would go home without going to the beach front portion of the trip. The children were gracious and understanding.

As soon as I got home, my mom came and got me to drive me to the ER. Elliott was hanging out with the kids. We got right in at the ER. X-rays showed no breaks, tomorrow I will have to call my old Orthopedic Surgeon for a consult and MRI. Today I am laid out on the couch, thankful my husband has been working hard to get our church services on the web streaming live to watch.

Earlier I decided to try to capture the likeness of a bird we saw quite a few times at the coast with my watercolors. Here is my version of a Great Blue Heron. :)