Colonial Fun

It was another swim meet weekend for us last week as Samuel continues on the Long Course Circuit (50 meter pools). He has done well and has qualified to go to Junior Olympics in nine of the eleven events!

We love taking advantage of the travelling for swim meets to go places and do things we wouldn't normally do. This trip we stopped in Williamsburg VA for some colonial fun! Our first stop was the Yankee Candle Company flagship store. It was so cool! I love Christmas and they had a Christmas town inside where it snowed every 4 minutes!


AND, we even got to visit Santa's Workshop....

Where Samuel and Savannah were able to check out their names in Santa's Naughty and Nice book!

Since Santa was away on vacation, the kids could not resist exploring!

Then we learned how to dip our own candles! At 99 cents each, this was a fun experience and a great souvenier for the kids to bring home!

Then we made our way over to Colonial Williamsburg to wander through colonial times.The kids thoroughly enjoyed this visit and I would love to take them back and make a full day of it.....but maybe when its a bit cooler! Temps in the 90s were no fun!I am thinking this would work for encouraging chores to be done before school..... :)

.....and maybe for discouraging arguing with your siblings!

Savannah was so excited to bring Elizabeth along with her. She begged and pleaded for a colonial costume for her and Elizabeth, but at over $150, mom has now agreed to pull out the sewing machine and make one!

We loved this old tree! I have no idea how they grow like that!

Joshua added a powder horn to his collection on this visit, and next time he goes, he wants the tri-corner hat! He has loved this era ever since 4th grade! We finished off the day with cool drinks and wandering through an air-conditioned store to cool down. I think it was safe to say, this was one of the kids favorite trips!

Little Drivers

We spent the weekend of my birthday getting in a bit of much needed beach time and some relaxation! Chris stayed home with Shelby and Caleb while I took the three youngest to visit Chris' parents and play. Thanks to Chris' sister, Cathy, who made one of my all-time favorite cakes....lemon pound cake! I don't think she even knew how much I liked it! We were able to spend 4 hrs. playing at the beach and then PawPaw taught the kids how to drive his golf cart. They loved it! And being the family photographer, I love the great pics I got of PawPaw with the kids!

We also stopped by our favorite ice cream place on the way back from the beach and then ventured across the street to see the goat playground. I hate that I didn't bring my camera along! They have a bunch of pygmy goats and chickens and we even got to feed them. I have sadly finally admitted to myself that my kids are city slickers even though I stil consider myself a country girl at heart.

We got home Sunday night and Caleb had baked me a cake and made dinner (albeit mac and cheese). He and Chris had even cleaned up the house. It was a fun ending to a great weekend!

4th of July Fun

The day started out with our annual bike parade down to the pool. Savannah was the only one who would decorate a bike this year.....I guess the others are just too cool for that! It took much bribery (a free snowcone from the snack bar) to convince Savannah to attempt to ride her bike. After crashing earlier this year and drawing the equivalent of a drop of blood, she has had it parked in the garage collecting spider webs.

After a few hours of swimming in the pool to cool off, the kids entered the hula hoop contest. I think Savannah lasted about a minute before hers fell to the ground.

Samuel was a bit more coordinated and hung in there for quite a long time, but in the end, the hopping on one foot while hula hooping did him in! Here he is going to his happy place! :)

Of course the favorite part of being at the pool is hanging out with friends. Typically the boys spend half of their day playing Redemption at these tables on any given day.

We did our fireworks on July 3rd down by the river. It was a good thing, too, because the 4th ended up in thunderstorms and a torrential downpour, so all firework displays were cancelled. Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera along, but the fireworks were incredible!

***HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!***

BLOBBING!!!

While we were playing here at home, the boys were having a blast at scout camp! Joshua came home and could not wait to tell me about his experience on "THE BLOB"! If you click on the picture, it will enlarge it. Then look very closely, slightly to the right of the blob and higher up than the tower, there is a small peachish colored ball. THAT would be Joshua! He believes he was "blobbed" higher than any other person at scout camp this week! His assistant scoutmaster who weighs about 4x Joshua's weight jumped off the tower and landed on the blob, sending Joshua sky high into the air! Because I am a mother, my first thought was "you could have died!" Sometimes it is a good thing that moms do not go to scout camp!

Golfing Fun

While dad and the older boys were gone to scout camp last week, Savannah, Samuel and I had a week-long party! We finished of our week with a trip to the mini-golf course. Samuel, ever the competitor, was the winner. Both kids walked away with injuries....Savannah tripped twice and stubbed two different toes while Samuel tried to leap the stream and ended up falling in and scraping up his elbow! But it was still fun!

Unfortunately, there wasn't much shade to be found at this course, so we paused wherever we could to get out of the sun! We were hot and sweaty but we had a great time and finished off with a trip to get frozen yogurt, which makes everything better!

In Case You Didn't Know.....WE SWIM!!!

Samuel with his gold and silver medals from the State Games!

Savannah at the first meet of the season proving that she has not forgotten everything she learned last year!

I am so glad our kids do swim team. I don't have to worry about them one bit around water and I am glad that they have found a good form of exercise that they can do for life. Joshua did the swim test at scout camp and was thrilled to pass off at the highest level, which means he can do "the blob" (the big air pillow in the middle of the lake that people can bounce you off of). Chris is always surprised at the scouts who cannot swim. It is so hard to learn to swim as an older beginner, so thankfully, the kids don't have to worry about that!

So, if the truth be told, I really don't get much done around the house in the summer since I am always at the pool! There is no place I would rather spend my summer!

Weekend Fun(....and my incredible shrinking family)

Samuel participated in the state games this weekend amidst heavy preparations and mass exodus of three members of my family to scout camp. It was held an hour and 45 minutes away, and hotels were pretty pricey, so we decided to just drive there each day. All in all, it was a great meet for Samuel! He ended up with one gold medal, one silver medal, one 4th, two 5th and one 6th place finish in his events. He is now qualified for 6 events at the state junior olympics which will be held in July! Savannah's favorite part of the meet was that instead of heat winner ribbons, they passed out rubber duckies to the top finisher in each heat! Samuel made sure to get her a "princess duck" because he is that kind of a big brother!

Since it was just the three of us, we took our time coming home and stopped at all the overlooks and rest stops along the way. It was fun to watch the kids exploring and having a blast being silly!

When we got back home, we took report cards in to our local bowling alley where they gave us coupons for FIFTY free games! Now I just need to buy bowling shoes and we will be in business all summer long! Anyone know where to get cheap bowling shoes?

Of course Savannah, being the girly girl that she is, was all decked out for this trip to the bowling alley! She bowled for the first game and then turned cheerleader while Samuel bowled another game.....it was too funny!

I love spending time with these kids! They are so sweet and fun and it is neat for me to have this time alone with them!

...And More Awards!

Joshua was selected for the Citizenship Award and the Health and PE award at the end of this school year.

Of course, he said the PE awards was SOOOO easy to earn: all you had to do was dress down, follow directions, and play sports all day! And I loved that he was chosen for citizenship, because in my mind, that epitomizes Joshua. He is a model citizen; he genuinely cares about other people and he has a way of making the world a better place because he is there.

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE THIS BOY?!!!

Happy Father's Day!

Everyone should be so lucky to have a dad this cool!

My dad is my greatest hero.

When I was 3 or 4 years old, he took me fishing. My brother and sister and I were playing in the reservoir while he fished, and I went out a bit too far and ended up in over my head. I remember dropping to the bottom of the reservoir and sitting down Indian style in the mud. Then I blacked out! Next thing I knew, Dad had me on shore and was frantically calling my name. As the story goes, he asked me what I was doing down there and I told him that I was waiting for him to come get me!

My relationship with my dad is epitomized by that story. He has never given me any reason not to trust that he will always be there for me. During high school we moved alot. I went to 3 different high schools. By the third high school a teacher took pity on me and told me that I needed to get more involved or I would hate living in our small town. She coached the volleyball team, so she asked me and my sister to be managers for the JV and Varsity teams. I knew NOTHING about volleyball, but I quickly learned how to take stats! My dad would come and sit in the stands and I figured he was just coming to see the games because it was a small town and there was nothing to do. One day during a break between games I went over to talk to him and asked him why he came to the games when I knew he had plenty to do at home. He said "I came to watch my daughter take stats!" At the time I found it hilariously stupid, but now I appreciate his desire to be involved in my life.

Adventures were dad's specialty and he could take any old day and turn it into an adventure! Even something as mundane as cutting the lawn involved us because he would lay out a maze and cut it into our grass! All the kids in the neighborhood loved to come play at our backyard! Saturday morning hikes were a fun pasttime when the weather warmed up. We caught frogs and snakes and scorpions, climbed mountains, waded across streams, turned over rocks to look for bugs, hunted for arrowheads, forged trails, camped out, and swam in lakes. When the leaves turned color in the fall, Dad made sure that we got up to the mountains to hike amongst the colors. The love I have for nature today is a gift that my Dad gave to me.

When I went away to college, Dad did not forget me. I remember getting letters in the mail that were written on letterhead from his school or posted in Caliente where he worked. It was neat for me to see that because I knew Dad was writing because he wanted to write me, not because Mom told him that he should. I could just see Dad sitting in his office on lunch break taking the time to write me a letter. I love that he cared enough to always send words of wisdom and advice and confidence in my abilities.

Over the years, I have realized what an incredible thing it is to be a father. More than anything, I believe it is a choice. Thank you Dad, for choosing to be the best father you could be, even in spite of not having a father who set an example for you. I was so blessed to be a part of your family. I love you!

It's OVER!!!

We have survived yet another whirlwind year of school in our household! One that put all five of the kids in different schools and threatened to destroy their mother! I have never been more happy to say goodbye to a school year in my life!

We now plan to spend the summer sleeping in, lounging by the pool, doing summer swim team, playing together, and using up Samuel's gazillion mini-golf coupons that he got for being a good student!

I LOVE SUMMER!!!!