The First Big Adventure in Arkansas

We traveled to Arkansas to visit my family for Christmas. It's quite different than any visit we have had to Texas... and it has been AWESOME! There is so much to do with my family. We jumped on the trampoline, played slam ball, swung on the swing, made smores and a dutch oven dinner, played darts (which I have won almost every time), ping pong, Apples to Apples, and also got to experience the first Walton store and Walmart museum (which was really interesting, actually). Today was the real adventure though. The boys went golfing, so my sisters and I stayed home and played Mario Party, had a dance party, did darts, slam ball, and then went for a bike ride.

I was really excited to ride bikes. The boys were home from golfing, so Zach wanted to come with us. I was looking forward to riding bikes on all the hills, coasting down the hills, getting an adrenaline rush and stuff. I wasn't expecting any real danger because I feel confident with my ability to handle the bike. However, when we went to the garage to get the bikes, I did say, "Everyone get a helmet," which no one wanted to do, and I was talked out of wasting our precious time to look for one for me. I checked the brakes on my bike and noted that the back one wasn't working, so I had to be careful. But the first one seemed fine, so I wasn't too worried.

As we started out, we had to go uphill to get off our street. It was a beast. When we got to the top, I decided we should go down this street that ends in a circle driveway, thinking it would be safer because there were only two houses on the street and pretty much no traffic. Not being familiar with the area, I did not think about the steepness of the hill or anything of that nature. I led the pack of us going down the hill, at first whooping with excitement with the rush of coasting down the hill. Looking back, this whole experience is funny to me.

My whooping turned into terrified screams as the hill got steeper and I realized that my brakes were not working. Period. My first thought was, oh crap I am not wearing a helmet. Then I started screaming at Zach that my brakes weren't working, but of course, he couldn't do anything for me except laugh. I got to this slight uphill part that made me slow down a little, so I started feeling better about it and thought, ok, I won't die. I was still going really fast, and then I went down hill again and picked up even more speed. As I approached the circular driveway in the end, I saw that there was a basketball hoop knocked over on it's side, but that there was still room to go around it as I made the turn to go back up the hill. I still wanted to stop (and also wasn't sure I could made that sharp of a turn), so I started dragging my feet on the ground until I thought my ankles might break off and picked them back up. I finally got to the quick turn to go back up hill, but I didn't make it. I slammed into this small pole, falling off the bike and landing in a thorny bush. My right leg was completely twisted in the bike, and I felt like I couldn't move my leg. I thought I broke my knee. But I didn't :) After I got over the initial shock of falling off my bike and not being able to move my knee, I got up and walked around. Zach saw the whole thing, and he tried so hard not to laugh. I'm sure the crash looked ridiculous. Emily and Krista arrived after I had already fallen, and they were concerned that I had hit that basketball hoop and knocked it over. Now that would have been a crazy crash. It was really funny when Emily asked me if that had happened.

But I walked the whole way home, and by the time I got home my knee felt a lot better. I tried to keep myself moving all day so I didn't let it tighten up. I even still went swimming this afternoon. Now that I have slowed down and have let my body rest, I am kind of in pain everywhere, mostly in my right leg though, and my neck and back just feel shaken up and slightly in shock, but I feel really lucky that my crash wasn't worse. It really wasn't as bad as it could have been, and the more I think about it, the more I laugh at myself. It's just so dumb and funny, and for some reason it makes me happy lol.

Tomorrow we are going to Crystal Bridges (art museum), and I am so excited! Then we have my family's ward Christmas party, then it's Christmas Eve, then Christmas! Merry Christmas everyone!