How do you spell vacation? S-P-R-A-I-N

So we are on vacation right now. Tyler went home today, he had to get back to work. It would be more of a vacation if I had not severely sprained my ankle the day after we arrived in Montana.

Thursday, July 2 - fly into Spokane, Washington, Tyler's dad picked us up at the airport and off we drove another 3-4 hours to Missoula, Montana. {so thankful for the portable DVD player we purchased for Maggie, even though she napped a good portion of the drive}
Got to Missoula in time for dinner with Tyler's Montana family and to celebrate Grandma Pearl's 80th birthday.
Friday, July 3 - drove up to Big Fork, MT on Flathead Lake. It really is God's Country, it is so amazingly gorgeous!!! Friday afternoon, jumped into the FRIGID Flathead Lake. Big Fork is at the mouth of the Swan River where it pours melted glacier water into Flathead. I can't remember the last time I got in water that cold. Friday night: rolled my ankle coming off the steps of Uncle Jen & Aunt Regina's house and heard three good, loud pops. Trip to "Local" ER at 11 pm at night. 45 minutes away in Kalispell. Yay!

The rest of our trip has looked something like this:
-doing everything (and at the same time mostly nothing) on crutches. I never knew how PAINFUL they are - my armpits will never forgive me!
-everyone wheeling me around in a wheelchair when we go on big outings, I just can't do crutches for distances more than about 50 yards.
-me being scared in the wheelchair as people wheel me around dangerously close to hills, water, stairs, etc. They sure think it's funny to let me go flying down hills...
-LOTS of explaining to strangers what the deal is with my leg. I wish it had been doing something exciting, but I was just walking.
-too too too much sitting. The first two days I had to have it elevated and iced, the next several days up and heated. and I'm supposed to stay off it as much as possible.
-Amazing feelings of helplessness. I don't think I felt this helpless after my c-section with Maggie. I can't use my arms because I have to use my crutches. I can't carry anything. I can barely go up and down stairs. I can't play with Maggie or her cousins whom I hardly ever get to see, which is one of the most disheartening things about the whole ordeal. I can't drive, help much with dishes, cooking, cleaning, etc.

Here is a photo essay about my ankle. Pictures of Maggie will have to wait for the next post.

Here's a good picture of the swelling on the knob. The knob area was swollen by the time I looked down within seconds of rolling it. It was a little scary. The funny thing was I didn't fall all the way down to the ground. I just rolled it and hopped onto the other foot. Yowser!!!
In the ER checking in. It really hurt!
On the way home from the hospital at 1 a.m. The swelling in the rest of my foot had not started yet.
One of many times I got to just sit on the deck and ice my ankle. So exciting!!!We all went to the 4th of July parade in big Fork. Talk about small-town Americana. It was so cute! Uncle Kenny got me a wheelchair to use while we were in Big Fork from the local nursing home. You can see the swelling starting.
The bruising started to set up shop around Monday. We went to Lake Mary Ronan, where Tyler's family used to vacation when he was little.

My ankle at Lake Mary Ronan. It was really chilly that day, and a little stormy, but it cleared up when we pulled up to the resort.
To be continued...