items floating in air

when playing minecraft i got exploded by a creeper. i ran back and all of my loot was floating just to the height i can jump at. i jumped up because normally when you walk thru your items you collect them, but they stayed floating. i kept walking around and i would be at least 3 blocks or more away from the items and they would start randomly filling into my inventory. it was frustrating because i had iron gear and could not retrieve it and even got exploded 2 more times and experienced the same thing in my 

effort to get the original explosions items.