Our annual trip to Amarillo took place over the holiday weekend. It really is nice to get away from the big city and visit this smaller Texas town, population 200,000 give or take. It’s a very laid back atmosphere, and the drivers are sometimes a welcome break from those here in the Dallas area, though sometimes my Dallas driving skills do surface. They do drive very slowly up there.

The last 2 trips were utter failures. A quick recap.

May 2007 Mason nearly severed his finger causing us to visit the ER for reattachment, stitches and cut the trip short, (no pun intended) returning home the next day.

November 2007 Thanksgiving trip, Mason caught the mother lode of all cough/colds in his chest so we opted to again cut bait and leave early, commuting home during prime time Thanksgiving dinner hour and dined on grilled cheese sandwiches when we got home that night.

He decided to keep the streak alive.

We BBQ’d at a family friend’s farm as we do every year. Mason intently watched his older brother, and cousin light firecrackers, covering his ears and giggling intensely as every one exploded. (I pulled them aside prior to their fireworks show to explain the pain associated with a firecracker going off in one’s hand… I pulled that from personal experience.)

Again! He shouted each time.

They were happy to oblige and his eye contact with them was spectacular. Eventually the firecrackers ran out and it was on to other things. Rashele and I took turns chasing him thru the grass, in addition to playing a new game called Ladder Ball, Ladder Golf, or in Texas - Aggie Golf. (sorry Matt)

Then all hell broke loose.

He started scratching.

He started coughing.

He started wheezing and breathing was becoming very labored.

His eyes, again like in previous severe allergy reactions, started to swell out of his head.

He looked and sounded like a wheezing, asthmatic, red-eyed tree frog.

Rashele and I quickly huddled and got him in the car and were en route to the pharmacy for Benadryl. As his breathing became worse, the plans changed and we were off to the ER.

My gut told me they were going to do exactly what I had planned to do back at the hotel…. a dose of Benadryl. But their version would require we wait 3 hours and be billed $150.00.

But I digress.

As we were on the way to the ER I shuddered to think what we’d see. Knowing it was the 4th of July and it was 930pm I expected a waiting room full of Amarillo-ans (Amarillii?)with missing digits, eye sockets that were once occupied by an eyeball, or junior with a nasty burn from a roman candle showdown.

Thankfully we beat the crowd. There were only a couple of people ahead of us. One of which was a grown man (read: someone old enough to know better) holding large amounts of gauze on his bleeding head. As his wife glared at him, I overheard her mutter something to the administrator about a stupid trick in a golf cart gone bad.

I assume alcoholic beverages were involved.

We eventually made it into a room and waited for an eternity for a nurse and doctor visit. Vital signs were taken, oxygen levels measured. Shots of steroids and Benadryl given. (HA!)

We’re not quite sure what triggered it, but suspect it was the OFF insect repellant that we sprayed all the kids down with. We had been meaning to get an organic substitute to use on the kids prior to the trip but it was lost in the day to day shuffle of things to do.

We looked over the OFF! ingredients. They are listed as:

15% Deet
85% Other

Nice. Nothing like providing a lot of detail.

We’re off to the allergist again and taking the can of OFF! with us, they’ll be able to pull a sample from it and administer a test on Mason’s back to see if produces a positive or negative reaction.