Their Hero (And Mine!)

Without a doubt, there is no man larger in the eyes of my children than Tyler. He is the unchallenged hero of their world. And on Monday, he took his heroism to even a higher level!

We had just finished a long, but really fun day at Playmobil Land and were heading out for home. Of course, you have to pass through the gift shop to get out of the park, so we let each of the kids pick a playmobil guy to take home. I told them they were not to open the guys until we got to the car. They were able to wait until we got TO the car, but then they were pulling the pieces out of the packages before their little rear ends even had time to drop onto the seat.

Suddenly there is panic in the back seat as Briggs realizes that the Dragon Warrior guy - that is supposed to be Sawyer's - has two left wings that attach to his back in stead of a left and right. "Run!" I say to Tyler. "Go switch it before they close and lock the doors!" Tyler hardly has time to protest since the kids immediately take up the cheer, "Run Dad! Run!" So Tyler - such a good sport - grabs the little plastic bag with guy and accessories and sprints from the parking garage back to the park entrance.

Since we had waited until the last possible minute to leave the park, and then stopped for potty breaks before the car trip home, the park is closed. However, much of the gift shop/exit building is glass, so Tyler goes to the window and starts tapping on the glass. There is a worker still inside. She comes close enough to the window to tell him they're closed and everything is locked. Tyler holds up the figure and tries to explain that there is a problem and he needs a new one. "I'm sorry. We are closed, " the worker tells him. "Come back tomorrow."

"I live three hours away," Tyler informs her through the glass. "I can't come back, I need you to trade it for a new one today!"

She is unmoved. "The money is all locked up."

"You don't need the register. Just switch the guy for me."

She tries another route, "The doors are all locked."

"Then how are you getting out?" He is undeterred.

She then points to the glass sliding doors that open inside of the park behind the locked five foot fence, surely thinking she has him there and is safe. And, most people I think would have accepted defeat here, but not Tyler! "Great!" he says. "I'll meet you there!"

"No, no! Sir?..."

But Tyler has already taken off. He climbs and jumps over the fence and dashes to the doors before she can escape. He makes it just ahead of her and the doors open. She tries to block him from entering with both arms up. She is not a small woman.

"I just need you to switch this guy for me. You can fix it in the register tomorrow. It's your mistake and I need you to make it right."

She protests some more, but can see he is not going to leave and is finally resigned to making the switch. Tyler thanks her, smiles, and jumps back over the fence, returning triumphantly to the car, winged Dragon Warrior in hand. I could have sworn he was moving in slow motion with some distant theme music playing.

It made it even more dramatic as we are still sitting in the parking garage and as the story is unfolding and the kids become certain that the worker had called the Poliezi and they are undoubtably racing down the street towards us, sirens blazing. "Let's get out of here," they're yelling. Adrenalin is rushing as they can't decide whether they are excited or scared to death that Tyler is going to be cuffed and dragged off to jail any moment.

Unfortunately, the parking ticket machine is not working and we are not sure that we aren't locked in. Tyler heads for the parking gate anyway. We'll see what happens when we get there. And maybe it was just because the park had closed, but the gate is up and we are able to make our escape - not only without having to pay for parking, but before the poliezi have time to get there and surround us. "And that," Tyler says. "Is why we pay our tithing!"

So it's a full day. We played hard, there were unparalleled feats of heroics, narrow escapes, and a Gospel lesson to boot. What lucky kids to have such a great dad! He even let us get McDonalds on the way home!

POW

Those who know me well will tell you that when I have a new baby, I disappear. I go into hibernation for at least a couple of months. Why? Because I basically become germophobic! I arm myself with lysol wipes and stash bottles of purell in every room, bag, purse, and drink holder and begin waging my own personal war on bacteria and the onslaught of viruses everywhere.

When Sawyer was 4 weeks old he got RSV despite my dedication to sanitizing and hiding out at home. So with Hayes having been in the hospital with immature lungs for 10 days, I took it up a notch. I washed everything in sight, I met the kids at the door and policed the dropping of shoes and backpacks at the door, the washing of hands with a hospital grade scrubby and then sent them off to change their clothes before coming near the baby. In three months I think I hit church maybe 3 times and still have not touched the commissary; having assigned all errands to Tyler. I have only actually visited my VT sisters once; preferring the drive by treat drop option instead the other two months. I did get out to the boys' basketball games, but sat away from other spectators and kept Hayes enshrouded in his car seat; sleeping soundly and safely.

And a week ago Sunday I took Hayes to the ER. And he had RSV. And we were there until Thursday. Prisoners of war.

The way I see it, my only options now are to either keep my school-age kids home with me (Porter had brought home a cough), somehow completely quarantine myself and Hayes, or just suck it up and deal with it. Germs are everywhere. At least I got to sit and read and watch movies for 5 days instead of facing housework and bills. And since I was basically tethered to the room and they wouldn't bring me meals since I wasn't the patient, I lost 3 pounds while there. There just might have been a silver lining. And Hayes is much better now. Still a little stuffy, but better. It's just unfortunate May is still so far away...

I'm a WHAT?

..A Spelling Bee Mom! Yes, it's true. I have reached official Spelling Bee Mom status! Crazy. I always dreamed of being a Soccer Mom, a Basketball Mom, taking my daughter to dance performances, etc...Never thought I would be cheering my kids on in their school spelling bee. It's amazing how intense those things can be by the way!

So Briggs was the first runner up in the Ramstein Intermediate School Spelling Bee. Very serious business! The base General was one of the judges and the winner goes on to district and then to Europeans. They started with 70 3rd through 5th graders and TWO and a HALF HOURS later, it was a fifth grade girl and Briggs! He probably could have won had we spent more than one or two dinners practicing!

Sadly, I didn't even bring my still camera. I took some video, but I really didn't expect him to win! So no triumphant photo, but he is loving his new-found popularity and I think was more excited about the $50 savings bond than the actual win!

Halloween

Yes that's right...Halloween! I'm just a bit behind!

Hayes Christian Jensen

Hayes was born November 9th, but it doesn't seem like it was that long ago! He's only been home for a week now. He was born at 38 weeks and was 7lbs 11 oz, but got to be one of the 1% who have immature lungs still despite his size and 38 weeks being considered full term.

He stayed in the NICU for 10 days while he was on a ventilator for the first half and then had an oxygen tube in his nose for the second half. It was 5 days before we even got to hold him which about killed us! They let me stay at the hospital with him though which was nice and we had Grandma Joyce here to take care of everyone at home when Tyler had to go back to work.

Now Hayes is doing great though and has had no problems since he's been home! He had to come home though to a house full of sick kids! So none of them have gotten to hold him yet without a hospital mask and we are going through purell like crazy and crossing our fingers that he stays healthy! He is one sweet little baby though! We're all smitten. He loves to sleep and only wakes up to eat every 3-4 hours. Now we just need to stretch that out at nights!

Berchtesgaden, Part2

Suited up to descend into the Salt Mines in Salzburg.

Our lodge in Berchtesgaden and the view below.

Swimming in the Konigsee.

Hiking through the Wimbacklamm.

Berchtesgaden, Part 1

I'm a little behind on my blog posts and don't know that I'll ever catch up, but here are a few pics from a trip to Berchtesgaden, Germany that we took in July. Berchtesgaden is in the German Alps right next to Austria. It's about 15-20 minutes from Salzburg. I had a few other pictures that I wanted to post, but our computer crashed and although it's up and running again, I'm still not sure where iphoto went. Hmmm. So until I figure that out, this is all I have for now! We went down with about 6 other families from our ward and stayed in a big lodge. It was a very cool lodge and fun to all be together. Several of the friends that came with us were mothers with deployed husbands, so the two days we spent in Salzburg, Tyler was leading around three wives (two of them expecting) and 12 small children. =)

Hitler's retreat (aka The Eagle's Nest). Apparently he was really quite afraid of heights and only really came up to show it off to other dignitaries and people with rank or power. Now it is actually a restaurant inside. It was incredibly hot the day that we went up, but the view didn't disappoint!

The is Helbrunn Palace in Salzburg. the king had quite a sense of humor, so all around the palace gardens are trick fountains. There were little boxes all over the grounds with switches to turn on hidden fountains. The kids absolutely loved it and the guide had a lot of fun getting them wet. Unfortunately, they were too wet to go into the palace at the end! We found a nice park instead, and I'm sure the kids enjoyed that more anyway!






If this gazebo looks familiar, it should! This is the gazebo from The Sound of Music.
This is overlooking Salzburg from the fortress in the middle of the city.

This picture doesn't quite capture the heat and humidity, but it was way too hot! Everyone in America, say a little prayer of thanks for the AC! There is next to NONE in Europe. About the only place you can stay cool in the summer heat is in your car!