4th of July 2016

4th of July is usually one of my favorite holidays. Hmpf! But this year's festivities were not quite to festive. 

The day started with rain. Phooey! We got ready in our red/white/blue and headed to the parade. But, on the way the rain began to POUR down. Cam turned the van around and went back home. After about 15 min. the rain let up but most of the family didn't want to go. Party poopers!! 

So, I took Sis and George and just the three of us had a lovely RAIN FREE time at the parade. Plus, Grandma and Grandpa met us there. 

After the parade we hung out at home and got our festive food ready. Then off to our first stop of parties. Thank goodness we have friends that invite us over. We had fun visiting with the first group of friends and then headed for our second party. 

We also had a lovely time at party number two. We had a delicious dinner! Just as I finished my dinner Cam announced that we had to go. Go? What?! Already?! Hmpf. Well, I was annoyed but Cam had to work the next morning and yes he does get up early for work. Blah, blah, blah. 

So...we were home by 8:00 PM. Great! Only 2.5 hours until we could see the fireworks from our house. Tick Tock Tick Tock. Finally I couldn't wait any longer....meaning that I was too tired and the kids were bugging me so I went to bed. Poor Cam was only woke up about 57 times throughout the night with loud fireworks going off. Our city has a ban on them but apparently nobody was following the law. 

The next day the kids said they saw lots of great fireworks from their bedroom windows. I saw none. Oh the joys of getting older. 

I'll leave you with a good "It's a Dog's Life" photo. Sis was giving Rocket a "Noogie". Ha!! 

Mr. P is a Teen

Mr. P is officially a teenager! 13!!!! Woot!!

He celebrated a few days early with his best buddies. The nicest group of kids. And I can tell you that as boys get older the parties get easier. I fed them dinner and dessert and breakfast and then rarely saw them. They played outside and played video games into the wee hours of the night. 

Brother love. 

On Mr. P's actual bday I took the kids to a local burger place and went to the park for dinner. Cam was working. Boo! 

Then to assert his independence as a teen he went out of town for five days on a trip with his buddy. We really missed him but boy did he have fun! 

Happy Birthday Mr. P! You are smart and hard working and your recent report card is proof.....3.95 GPA with English/Literature and Math honors classes. I can hardly believe you passed me up in height this spring. You are growing like a weed...or a teenager. You are a beautiful boy...handsome and stunning. I cherish any one on one time I have with you to chat. You are compassionate and loving and that shines through in discussions of world matters. Your future is bright and I am enjoying watching it unfold. 

Camping With Friends

We kicked off summer with a camping trip. Ten families from our kids' school booked sites at a state park. In all there were 26 kids! 

This was the first time we had tent camped since Mr. P was a toddler. That camping trip was a disaster! But, we were ready to try again....or at least I was ready and Cam was willing to come along. Plus, no we didn't have the extra money to rent a trailer this time. 

The good thing is that we have all the tents and camp stuff that we needed. Packing the van was a big job! We had to bring fire wood which took up a lot of room. And we brought the kids' bikes. And we needed two tents, seven sleeping bags, overnight bags, pillows, blankets, camp stove, tent shelter, coolers, food, and the list goes on. Plus, seven people and two dogs! It's a miracle that Cam and I are still married after packing that lot up. Ha! 

The destination was magnificent! We were located on a beach with old growth trees and all of natures beauty. 

Setting up camp was A LOT of work. Worth it but still I was a hot sweaty mess by the time we had everything unpacked, put up, made up and set up. Happy Hour!

The kids all slept in the big tent...now know as Taj Mahal. Its HUGE with three wings. The nice thing about not sharing a tent with the kids is that I didn't care that it was a disaster the whole weekend. And the dogs slept in there too. 

Cam and I took the little tent. We had a blow up mattress to sleep on and it was cozy. I would have slept fine except that Cam COULD NOT SLEEP. Which means that every 15 min. when he would loudly turn over and exclaim that he couldn't sleep, I too would be awake. Next camping trip he is bringing a sleeping pill. 

The tent awning is new and I loved it. We will use it lots this summer for shade and in soccer season it will be great for rain cover. 

There is nothing better than sitting around the campfire. 

Next best thing is camp breakfast. Toasty fire, hot drinks and kielbasa on the webber. Oh it's SO good.

Pancake cooking in your pjs. The best. 

Cam cannot say anything about my outfit since here he is. 

The kids had a blast at the beach. 

And they really had fun riding bikes. Those kids must have rode over 100 miles. 

From sun up till sun down they rode bikes. 

Mr. P was the big kid of the group. The next closest in age was Moses and then the rest of the kids were younger than 10. Mr. P did a great job of watching out for the little kids and playing with them. A few of the kids took a liking to him and followed him around. He loved it! What a good kid! 

Two nights was not long enough. It was long enough for Cam but not for me. Especially because packing up and heading home is only part of the work. The real work is once you're home and drying everything out and then putting it all away again. I was beat by the time we were done. This is the kids in the van on the drive home. Apparently they were tired too. Ha! Scroll up and compare the two photos...on our way and on our way home. Hilarious!

Summer Time

Summer has arrived! We are settling into our summer routine nicely.

But, first some catch up on the past month. It was busy!

All school year long I had worked as a substitute teacher one day a week. Very occasionally I worked two days in a week. Then the end of the school year approached and teachers were asking me left and right if I could sub for the. The end of the year brings testing and report card prep so the need for subs is high. I decided to be brave and just go for it. I ended up working nearly every day for the last five weeks of the year. Some were half days which allowed me to get Tuba off the bus on the days that Cam worked. It was a little crazy to work so much but we all pushed through knowing it would be short lived.

Turns out it went great! Cam was a huge help and picked up a few extra chores around the house. The biggest help came in the form of making lunches and breakfast! Cam was awesome! The kids were great too. On the mornings that Cam was gone they helped us get out the door on time. I kept telling them the extra money I made would be for our vacation so they had good incentive to help out.

There were a few crazy moments too. One morning Moses told me he had no clean shorts. Well, he did have clean pants but he didn't want to wear pants. I informed him that he would have to wear pants. In the car I noticed that he had on shorts. He told me he got them out of the washing machine. The load had just finished and he pulled them out....and wore them wet. Oh!! Good thing they were quick drying fabric....but ewwww!

Now summer is here and we are in full relax mode. Lots of playing and reading and summer fun going on.

In the past week we have gone camping (pics coming soon), begun swim lessons, deep cleaned bedrooms (my favorite way to start summer), celebrated a bday (more pics to come soon), caught up on yard work and paperwork and household chores, slept in and even watched several movies.

We are ready for more fun!

A few pics from Cam's sister's visit in early June.