More Fun in Mesa

And now, the final episode of last weekend's adventure in Mesa!
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Sarah, Jacob, and Dylan spent 6 hours visiting with their dad and great grandma Saturday afternoon/evening. They don't see their dad that often anymore, so they love spending time with him. And as for Great Grandma Carter, well, she is just their favorite person in the world!

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Another big plus was seeing their beloved pooch, Astro, again. Astro is a rough-coat Jack Russell terrier with bad mood swings. My kids adore him, but I worried he might someday bite someone.

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When Mark and I divorced, we sent Astro to live with Great Grandma, who loves him passionately and spoils him dreadfully. He's better off with older people.

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Like the children, Astro was very excited. He jumped all over the kids and sniffed them anxiously, as if he couldn't believe they were really there!

By the way, that's Jacob (age 17) with Astro in the top picture, and that's Dylan (age 11) letting Astro pull him along on a skateboard in Grandma's street. (Mom: "You were riding where?!") The black dog chasing them is Knox, who belongs to Mark's girlfriend Diane. Notice how he's floating in midair!

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At 8:30 Mark and the kids joined me at the hotel for a late swim. Although we've stayed at the Hilton many times, they still had to ride the glass elevator all the way to the top a couple of times!

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I stood on the balcony outside my room to capture this shot, after many tries!
The hotel was hosting a religious group having some type of revival which included many children and adults with handicaps. It was fun to share the pool with this sweet population and their helpers.

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I'm always so proud of my children in these situations. All 3 have an interest in and a gift for reaching out to those who have special needs.
Sarah, Jacob, and Dylan had a great time splashing with their dad in the pool, under the waterfall, and in the spas. As for me, I did put my feet in the water briefly, but I mostly enjoyed snapping pictures and relaxing on a lounge chair with my feet up.

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While there, Mark showed me a bump on his arm. He said it'd been there for 3 days. It was hot to the touch and hard as a rock. I told him it looked like a serious infection and he should see a doctor soon.
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After swimming, Sarah treated everyone to McFlurries at McDonalds, and then they returned to Grandma's house at 11:30 pm.

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At 9am Jacob called me and asked in a shaken voice, "Mom, can you come over here and take Dad to the hospital?"

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While watching Dylan outside on his skateboard, Mark had suddenly passed out, falling against a car and splitting open both his chin and the lump. Smelly lime-green pus began spilling out of it. Dylan was very freaked out, yelling, "Dad, are you okay?" over and over.

Mark nearly fell twice more getting to the house and collapsing inside. He said he didn't need help, but Jacob may have saved his life by calling me.

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I got Mark to the hospital an hour later. I couldn't stay, due to swine flu concerns, but he called to let us know he was okay. The doctor put him on an antibiotic IV (the infection had gone systemic), and the lump was cut open and cleaned out.

That was definitely not how I'd planned to spend my morning!

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I'm adding this shot of Salt River from Sarah's camera to show the cliff where the kids were taking pictures on Saturday. From this height the river looks like a creek, but it's a full-size river. You can see some of the rapids where many people go white-water rafting this time of year.

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We left Mesa at 6pm and returned home about 9:15 pm after an unexpectedly eventful visit!