Summer vacation. Ours is drawing to a close for the boys. We have had fun this year and we are looking forward to sending out the summer with a bang next week. See, we are taking the boys to the Black Hills. We will be staying at a campground outside of Custer, South Dakota. Beaver Lake Campground to be exact.
This will be our first experience at a campground that is not national forest. I'm looking forward to having access to a shower and we are looking forward to having electricity too. The Black Hills are always fun, but this will be our first trip with the boys for multiple days in the summer. More crowds, more activities.
But for the rest of summer vacation, the boys have been at turns busy and not so busy. Here are some highlights:
Ripley's Believe it or not dinosaur fossil cabin.
Big Horn Mountains.
Dinosaur museum Thermopolis, WY
Dino museum
4th Camping.
Sticks in the fire.
Sprinkler playing
Bull Riding
Still happy.
Ferris Wheel with Turbo.
Kayak playing.
Lake fun.
River fun.
Mountain lake fun.
Truly, it has been a full, fun summer so far. We have a week to go and we plan on making the most of it. Black Hills here we come.
Put your spin on Summer Vacation and join Gretchen and Ginny Marie, they would love to have you!
It's a middle of the week sort of day. Nick's at a conference and I'm soloing it with the boys. So far, so good there. Now let's get to the question and answer part of the day:
1. The best part of waking up is____________________________________. My quiet time. I get about a half hour to 45 minutes all to myself in the morning. Time to read, check Facebook, do dishes, just zone if needed. I really like having some me time in the morning.
2. Given a choice, which animal interaction would you most like to experience (or for those non-adventurers...which would you dislike the least?)- Swim with the dolphins at one of several locations in the Florida Keys, a lion encounter ten minutes from Victoria Falls (Africa), or a day at a remote base camp high in the Big Sur wilderness via the Ventana Wildlife Society helping track California condors? I'd take the swimming with the dolphins. I want to go to the Keys and swimming with dolphins sounds like fun.
3. What is something you fear about 'old age'? What is something you look forward to? Fear: The infirmities of the body. Not being able to do the things I want to do due to limits my own body makes. Look forward to: getting to travel around this great country of ours--Nick and I want to take some road trips.
4. Hot sauce...are you a fan? If you answered yes, what's something you
make/eat that must have hot sauce? On a scale of 1-10 how hot is too
hot? I like some hot sauce--namely Franks hot sauce. I will add it to pizza, chicken wings and Jambalaya on occasion. I prefer a middling hot--about 4-5.
5. It's been said that children learn what they live. What do you think children learn at your house? Be honest, have fun, but keep it within reason, enjoy life, but take responsibility. Do a good job the first time. Manners matter.
6. What's your favorite movie with a number in it's title? The Fifth Element. It's a cheesy sci-fi movie with Bruce Willis, but it a ton of fun and we watch it regularly.
7. Saturday (August 16th) is National Tell a Joke Day...share one here. I'm so bad with jokes. Let's see...Yep, terrible at remembering jokes so I'll just let this guy tell you one
8. Insert your own random thought here. Today I'm annoyed. Annoyed at Facebook for screwing around with the messenger part of Facebook. Just the mobile part really. I hate that they are requiring me to download a completely different ap just to see a message someone sends me on Facebook. True I don't use Facebook messenger all that often, but it does get used. I hate having to have a whole other ap just because Facebook says so. I have text on my phone why use something else there? Just bugs me that Facebook is forcing me to have something I hardly use take up space on my phone. Sorry for the rant, but ugh. Stupid Facebook.
So we got through Monday (not that it was that bad) and are now safely into Tuesday.
Tuesday means random, so here we go:
Sleep has once again become elusive. I don't have ADHD, but is there such a thing as sleep ADHD?
So sad to hear about Robin Williams dying. He was such a fantastic comedian and actor. I remember introducing several friends to his stand-up comedy. They knew him only from his family movies and were shocked at the language he used in his routines. They could hardly believe it was Robin Williams. He will be missed.
School shopping this weekend. I can only hope I find some great deals for my kiddos. Thrift store shopping expert here. I think I have a pretty good list of the things I need to look for. After the thrift stores Target should be able to fill in the rest. The boys have two weeks til school starts. We all need to stop blinking!
Well that about covers my random--Be sure to link up your random with Stacy! She who is now Random Queen, or our fearless leader of the random!
We had a really good weekend. While I'm not thrilled with it being Monday, I can say that I'm OK with going back to work. I truly feel we had a weekend. Having three days will do that for you.
Our weekend started early because we took Friday off for our anniversary. The boys spent the night with my mom and we made steaks on the grill and had a good time together.
Saturday we got invited up to some friends of ours cabin. We have been invited before, but the timing has never been right for us to meet up. When they invited us for this weekend we were thrilled to be able to join them for the day.
Much fun was had:
THe one picture of all the kids looking my way at the same time.
Guinness had a good time too.
Rock hopping around a lake.
Look at me!
Thullee had a wonderful time too!
Quadruple Marshmallow S'more
In the last picture of Bruiser, you can kind of see his war wound. He lost a battle with a set of stairs adn banged the bridge of his nose, resulting in an instant bruise. The poor kid is going to hate the sound of the word cabin if we aren't careful. He has hurt himself at each cabin we have taken him too. Bubble wrap is looking more and more attractive.
Sunday was a quiet day around our place--naps were had, beer was brewed, Turbo went to see Guardians of the Galaxy. A good relaxing day. If only all weekend could be three days long.
Now on to MMMM. This week's theme is #1 hits from teh rock and roll era.
I choose 1988 to pick my songs from. I was a freshman in high school and just getting into music of my own--not mom's music from the 60s.
Guns N' Roses Sweet Child O' Mine: Number one for two weeks in September of 1988.
Def Leppard Love Bites: Number one for 1 week October of 1988.
Bon Jovi Bad Medicine: Number one for 2 weeks in November of 1988.
1. What would you say is the key to success? Persistence and loving what you do.
2. Have you ever been to the Florida Keys? Any desire to visit that part of the US of A? I have not been to the Keys, but would love to go visit. Nick was in Key Largo for research on his masters thesis and he really wants to take us there with him one day.
3. When and where did you last see a real live donkey? Monkey? Turkey? There is a llama farm by the interstate in our town. They have donkeys with the llamas. The last Monkey I saw was at the zoo last year with Turbo for his birthday. Turkey--the last live one I saw was a few years ago and it was a wild one at a game preserve.
4. An old Portuguese proverb says, 'Beware of the door with too many keys.' What do you think this means? Share an example of how this has proven true or false in your own life. Don't trust anything that is over complicated. Or don't trust something that isn't obvious. I worked with a girl who was a young single mother and she spent a lot of time pulling the poor me card and making the boss feel sorry for her while she took outrageous advantage of that sympathy. She seemed simple but was far more complex and devious that you would have thought from first glance.
5. Besides your home, vehicle, and special jewelry, what is something you keep under lock and key? My bicycle. It's transportation when the weather permits and since we live in a college town, it gets locked up to bike racks.
6. When did you last get keyed up about something? Last night. My hubby and I are discussing a sift in the sleeping arrangements of the boys. We want the same ultimate result, but our time tables for accomplishing it are vastly different. The discussion last night was lively.
7. Who thinks we need an easy one right about now? Key lime pie...yes please or no thank you? I like the tart sweetness of Key Lime Pie, so yes, please.
8. Insert your own random thought here. Even though it's summer and warm out, my morning chai tastes and feels really good.
Oh Tuesday, so far you have masqueraded as a Monday. Please stop.
On to the random:
Nick was a busy guy yesterday. His dad had knee surgery and he wanted to be available for his mom, so he took a personal day and because he can't sit still he made a new deck for us in our front yard:
From this...
...to this!
It's by our front door and tucked behind a boxelder tree and a planter. It's an area that's shady most of the time and was relatively unused, so now it looks so much better and we just need nice chairs to sit on there. I'm thinking it needs a couple Adirondack chairs...
I have two and half more weeks with kids at home. Only two and half weeks to figure out kiddo care. Then it's off to school for both off them.
Turbo had his sports physical yesterday. Poor kid had to get two shots. But he's good to go for swimming and track this year.
I am daily amazed at the words that flow from Bruiser's mouth. He can talk constantly. And about absolutely nothing. It really is impressive sometimes. Other times I just want him to put a sock in it. I love him, but I wish he was quieter.
This joke gets a lot of mileage at our house:
Then there's this:
And this could be my new motto:
Nick and I have an anniversary coming up--our 16th on Friday to be exact. How have 16 years gone by since we were looking so fresh faced into the future? More on that later.
Anyway have a great Tuesday. It can only go up from here, right?
Be sure to link up your random with Stacy! She who is now Random Queen, or our fearless leader of the random!
We had a good old summer weekend this last weekend. There was river floating and hanging out and BBQs. It was a really great weekend. Want to see:
Nick and Turbo floated the river in our town. Then on Sunday morning all four of us floated the river. It was a really good time. To bad the river level is dropping and there won't be enough flow for us to do it next weekend (barring another rain event).
We had three differnt bbqs this weekend. Friday night was with a friend of Nick's. Dinner was enjoyed, then an epic Halo battle ensued. Fun adn good times was had by all. Saturday evening we had Nick's folks over and it was pleasant, except for the fact I had a migraine. Then Sunday we went over to a friend's house for an easy time doing nothing. Again, a good time was had by all.
I truly love summer weekend like this last one. Now for a few more before school starts.
And for MMMM it's freebie week. What to choose, what to choose...
How about some summer fun?
Kenny Chesney Summertime:
I';m so happy it's Friday that I'm joining two different parties today. First Friday 5 with Emmy Mom.
5 Thoughts:
With August here, the craziness of July is over. I swear, July was the month that kept on going. We were so busy that we really didn't have time to enjoy until last weekend. I'm glad August is looking to be busy, but fun busy for us.
I really like chai tea in the morning for breakfast. The challenge is finding a decaf version. I can have the occasional caffeinated chai, but caffeine and I don't really play well together. Or caffeine plays too well with insomnia and they gang up on me. Either way I don't sleep so well when I've had caffeine. So decaf it is. Which is not so easy to find in our little town.
We are planning to take the kayaks out again this weekend. Last weekend was so much fun. Maybe a touch too much sun, but all around a good time.
We had a storm system move through last week and our temperatures have dropped back to the 70s during the day. It's really nice to have cooler temps. I get chilly in the mornings, but the rest of the day is nice and pleasant. We will see if these nice days last.
I need to go through the boys' closets and clothes to see what I need to fill in on our annual run to the thrift stores for school shopping. Sock, unders and shoes are about the only things I won't buy second hand. Everything else is fair game. The boys get one or two brand new things, the rest is thrift store finds. Neither has complained yet. I'm thankful for boys who aren't concerned with how they look.
5 pictures:
Hoping to go play with these this weekend.
Had so much fun last weekend.
Cooling off in the water.
Paddling back.
Some shooting will happen too.
And now for a few confessions:
My house needs some serious attention.
The dust dinosaurs are charging the dogs.
The bathrooms need some cleaning too.
The crazy house cleaning fairies obviously got lost again.
I really enjoy a good dark beer.
The coffee flavors and the dark chocolate flavors just work for me.
I like Scooby Doo too and I'm sad my boys have out grown him.
I prefer savory breakfast foods to sweet ones.
I need to figure out an exercise regimen that I can do from home, that isn't wildly time consuming and interests me. Not so easy to find...
I have killed (or had help killing) 5 spiders in the last week in our bathroom.
This gives me the creepy willies.
Not sure which is worse--the fact that we have spiders or the fact that we have enough bugs to keep that many spiders alive in our bathroom.
Either way "full boy shudder"!!
I could become addicted to salt and vinegar chips.
Kettle cooked ones. The regular ones are a bit overwhelming.
OK, that's a wrap for me this week. Go see Emmy MOm for Friday 5 and go see Aubrey at High Heeled Love for Friday Confessions.
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