Wednesday Hodgepodge on Thursday

I'm a day late to this party, but still wanted to participate.  I used to a long time ago and found it again and thought why not?
So here are the questions:
1. "Summer is like childhood. It's full of warm memories and gone too soon."~Kellie Elmore  Agree or disagree? Share something you loved about the summers of your childhood. Looking back on my childhood I do remember it a lot like I remember summer.  Full of long days, time to myself, freedom.  It does seem to short looking back, but was oh so fun while it was happening.

2. Are you a fan of auto racing-NASCAR, Indy, Stock, Grand Prix, etc? Ever been to a race in person? Any desire to do this?  Do you know a lot about cars? Do you notice particular makes and models when you're out and about? Not a fan of any of the auto racing.  We do however love the British car show Top Gear. All I know about cars I've laerned from them, which admittedly is not too much. As for noticing cars--I notice cars like ours.  And the abundance of said cars when we get a new car.

3. What's something you think is too serious to be joked about? Or do you think anything and everything is fair game? It really depends on how the joke is made.  Anything can be funny, but being funny without being mean at the same time is a skill.

4. July 29th is National Lasagna Day. Are you a fan? Do you have a great recipe, and if so where did it come from? If given a choice would you choose a plate of lasagna or a plate of spaghetti? Lasagna is appreciated at our house by 75% of the family.  Bruiser is still not so sure of the mixed up foods. As for a choice--I think I like lasagna a bit more than spaghetti.

5. What's a simple pleasure you'd miss if it were not a regular part of your life? Reading.  Reading is a pleasure for me, maybe a necessary pleasure.

6. If you could be the CEO of any company, which would you choose? One of the publishing companies--getting to have access to books on an unlimited basis, that sounds like heaven.

7. August is just around the bend...bid farewell to July in exactly seven words. A roller-coaster ride, but never not fun.

8. Insert your own random thought here.  We just had two days of rain and clouds.  It was really nice to see the sun today.

Link up with Joyce from From This Side of the Pond and have fun with the question!

Ponderables

Things to ponder:

1. Why is it so hard for kids to get up for school and so easy for them to be up at the crack of dawn on a weekend?
2. Why does each and every drink require a new cup?
3. How can clouds hold so much rain?
4. Why are scones so very yummy?
5. Why are Hidden Object games my catnip?
6. Why are five year olds so very picky about food?
7. Why does a cold beer on a hot day taste so good?
8. Why don't dryers fold the clothes too?
9. Why can't I sleep through the night, or why does insomnia like me so much?
10. Why does time zip by so fast on a weekend, but so slowly during a work day?

Have a great Wednesday!

Tuesday Random Time

How did it get to be the end of July?! I'm not so sure I'm ready for August.  It's another busy month for us, but most of that busy is fun stuff--an anniversary, birthday (mine), school shopping, and a mini vacation.  Then school starts August 25.  Looking at it that's a lot to fit into the next three weeks. Never a dull moment around here. 
Now on to the random:

• Cups.  The cups that two boys can go through in the course of a day at home. Because they can't actually refill said cups.  Must get a new one for every drink. The only relatively good thing is they do tend to get dirty cups in the sink--most of the time.  I'd be far more annoyed if I had to hunt them all down constantly.
• This was my weekend:

• Well, maybe not all weekend, but we made a startling amount of laundry--so many towels...
• Bruiser is feeling better--he wanted to go to school today.  So off he went.  Coughing, but otherwise feeling quite chipper. Now to hope the bug has run it's course and no one else gets it in our house.
• This one is for Nick:

• And every morning Most of the house feels this way:

•  I'm on the hunt for skillet meals.  Anything that does not involve the oven. It's gets hot enough in the house without adding a hot oven heating up the kitchen.  So skillet meals.  Got any suggestions?  Other than Hamburger Helper--trying to cut back on precessed foods and salt.

So that about covers my random for the week.  Be sure to link up your random with Stacy! She who is now Random Queen, or our fearless leader of the random!

Now That Was a Weekend and MMMM

I finally feel like I had a weekend.  It was busy, but fun and we got to enjoy the great outdoors.
So what did we do this weekend?  We went and bought another sit on kayak.  Yep, Saturday was a trip to Cabelas for a kayak, a backpack for Turbo and some other sundries. 
Traffic was awful and we ended up going home on the old highway.  This took us through several towns and we did stop for lunch at Red Robin.  The food was good and the boys were pretty good too.
We are now the proud owners of:

Three kayaks.

Sunday we went to play with our new toys:

Trying out the true kayak.

Bruiser swimming

Turbo paddling around.

We all came home tired and a bit sunburned. It was a good day.
Sadly this morning Bruiser woke up with the fluish thing Turbo had last week, so he's home with Nick resting and trying to get better.
So how was your weekend?

And now for MMMM.  This week the theme is musicians from your hometown or state. I am from Wyoming.  WE haven't produced very many star musicians.  The one I can thing of off the top of my head is Chris LeDoux, a former rodeo star and western singer. He was well known on the rodeo circuit and came to national prominence when he was mentioned in an early Garth Brooks song.  After that he recorded a song with Garth.
 Here's Whatcha Gonna Do With a Cowboy?

Chris LeDoux with This Cowboy's Hat:

So there you have it, Wyoming's contribution to music.  A small population--the smallest of any state--will do that for you.

Friday 5--Summertime!

Woo Hoo it's Friday and I get a dishwasher!  Doing without one has been not so fun.  I didn't think I put that much in the dishwasher, but I sure have been doing tons of dishes since the stupid thing crapped out.  Anyway on to the Friday 5.

5 Thoughts:

1. Dishwashers are wonderful things.  I truly did not realize how much I really used it until it wouldn't work any more.
2. I now have something to look forward to.  We are taking the boys up to the Black Hills and staying in a campground and taking in the sights the end of August.  Just before the boys go to school. Sort of a last hurrah for summer road trip.  We will finally be taking the boys up there in the summer and checking out all the touristy things that can be done.
3. 4 weeks til school starts here. $ full weeks of freedom for the kiddos left. Summer is just zipping by. Here's hoping we can enjoy what's left.
4. Turbo is back among the living again.  He got sick on Monday, with what we thought was just a sore throat, but by Wednesday morning he was coughing, stuffy and miserable.  Summer flu sucks.
5. I have totally been sucked in by Castle--the TV show.  I love the interact of the characters and the story lines and all.  It's just a show that clicked for me.  It's awfully nice that TNT runs the reruns so often.

5 Pictures:

A brighter me with red hair.

Hanging in the hammock

Bed Head!!!

My hollyhocks--so multicolored!

Swim Lessons!!

 Toss up your own Friday 5 and link it up with Emmy Mom!

 

Spin Cycle--Parks and Recreation

My thinking on Parks and Recreation is split between the national parks we love to visit for the scenery and the park that is a block from our house.
We love visiting national parks and have a goal of visiting all the national parks west of the Mississippi before we can't travel any more.  If we make that goal early, we will be looking at the national parks east of the Mississippi.  Unofficial in that goal is that the parks be in the contiguous states.  If we make Hawaii and Alaska, we will visit some national parks while there, but I know we won't visit them all.
The National Parks we have visited so far: Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, Arches, Canyonlands, Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, And Death Valley. We will be making the trek to others as we can plan them.  Summer raod trips are made for visiting National Parks.

Rocky Mountain National Park

Death Valley

Grand Canyon.

As for the park just a block from our house, we enjoy having it there.  It's a great place to send Turbo to walk Thullee.  I spent two summer running around it, until I stopped running because I hate running. The palyground equipment leaves something to be desired:

It's more modern art than something kids can actually play on.
Our kids do find some of the park equipment fun:

Even the big kids.

So do you have a park you love to visit or do you like visiting national parks? Put your spin on Parks and Recreation and join Gretchen and Ginny Marie, they would love to have you!

Bruiser

Bruiser is getting bigger every day.  So hard to believe that in 5 weeks he heads to kindergarten. Here he is having some fun in the last few days:

At the Pirate Birthday party

On a treasure hunt.

Arrrggg, Matey!

Shooting the bow

I can do it!!!

Chilling in the hammock.

Lazy days of summer

He is a true joy to be around.

Get Random!

Totally Tuesday and totally time to get random!

• The heat has hit us.  We are approaching 90 during the day.  The only thing that saves us is that it hits the low 50s at night and thus cools off nicely.  Yep, 40 degree temp swings are normal for us here.
• Turbo has a sore throat.  No fever, but he can't talk or swallow.  Nick will be taking him in for a check to make sure it's not serious.  I'm hoping it's not serious. We shall see.
• Loved this:

• We are planning on adding to our toy collection this weekend.  We want one more kayak.  Then we can all play in the water and as hot as it's been the water sounds pretty nice.
• Grammer is so very important:

•  So our dogs:

• And for those of us who remember:

 Have a great week and don't forget to link up your random with Stacy! She who is now Random Queen, or our fearless leader of the random!

Blah and MMMM

Still not over the blahs that have taken over my motivation.  This last weekend I accomplished nothing.  Absolutely nothing. Oh, dishes got done and the kids are still alive and fed and relatively clean.  The same thing can not be said for my house.  I just could not motivate this weekend.
Nick was very busy with the 3D archery shoot he helped to put on.  He was up at the shoot Friday setting up.  All day Saturday registering people and then shooting the course himself and then again Sunday morning for the competition. He did well enough to get third place in his group. 
Bruiser had a birthday party to go to yesterday afternoon and he had a blast.  Pirate parties are always fun.
Otherwise, I didn't do much of anything.  It got hot and I think my tush got glued to the couch.  Oh wait, I did do one thing--I colored my hair again.

From this too...

This.

I really do like the darker better.  I also repainted my toes.  So I got some self grooming done this weekend.  Not a stellar accomplishment, but hey, it works.

Now for MMMM--It's a freebie week!  So let's see what we have to listen to today:

Don Henley The Boys of Summer:

Will Smith & DJ Jazzy Jeff with Summertime:

Jo Dee Messina Heads Carolina Tails California:

What are you feeling the Monday morning?

Friday 5

I'm so ready for the weekend. Just have to get to the magical going home time.  This was a long week--not because it went slowly, but because I just felt off this week. Any way, time for Friday 5 with Emmy Mom.

5 Thoughts:

1. I have a major case of the blahs right now.  My motivation got up and went on vacation without me. Mid summer blahs?  Maybe.  Coloring my hair might help me feel brighter...
2. Bruiser is loving his taste of school. This Step Ahead program is pretty great.  He's excited to go every morning and babbles incessantly about what he did and who he got to play with. The only down side is he now eats constantly when he get home. I'm not sure why he has such an appetite, but he does. Growth spurt, being busy, who knows...
3. Turbo got rubber bands to got with his braces this week.  He was less than enthused.  I'm not sure why he dreaded rubber bands so much, but he really didn't want them. How ever, he has them now.
4. Turbo has been reading Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief. On his own, from a real book. I'm so very thrilled that he likes it. He even likes reading in the car. When I can't read, that is.  He would totally prefer mom read out loud on trips.
5. We have five weeks until school starts again. And the Back To School bombardment has begun.  Walmart is all set up with displays and the sales are starting.  If I start shopping now, I'll lose the stuff, or it will get used before school starts. Trying to wait until closer to the day. 

5 pictures:

Someone's ready for the zombie Apocalypse.

With my sweetie at Bull Riding.

Super Moon!

Even Batman goes to the dentist.

Growing up so quick.

So do you have a Friday 5?  Link it up with Emmy Mom!

Spin Cycle Picnicking

I like the idea of having a picnic basket and going on idea picnics, but the ideal doesn't happen.  We do eat outside often though.  Side of the road picnics on our many road trips:

Spring Break 2012

Fall mountain dirt road jaunt.

There have been others--we will bust out the portable stove, or just do sandwiches.  It's fun and we love being in the mountains--especially the fall.  Few bugs, and good weather make for fun trips down the dirt roads to check out the sights. And for us the sights can include:

We are very lucky to live in a very beautiful part of the world.  WE try to get out to enjoy our greater "backyard" every chance we get.  We usually take food with us when we do and that results in "picnics" even if they aren't the basket of food kind of picnics.
Do you picnic?  Spin it up and link up with Gretchen and Ginny Marie, they would love to have you!