out door fun

Our neighbors had several people living therem including the oldest daughter's family, with a couple of children.  They were moving out the other weekend, and they GAVE us this totally cool electric jeep for the kids! 

We were shocked, but of course took it, when he convinced us he would just throw it out or give it to someone else, as they didn't have room to take it.  THANK YOU NEIGHBORS!

 The kids love riding it

 gideon is always trying to get someone to play ball with him, no matter what kind of ball it is.  Usually it ends up being ryan or I because the girls are content to ride bikes, blow bubbles, or draw with sidewalk chalk.

 ooops, daddy got caught sitting down

 Sydney has this jumper/romper outfit that i LOVE and I had to put a picture up of it

 This was Gideon's invention, which I find rather brilliant.  Trampoline basketball.  Olympic sport anyone?!

gideon the helper

 Every once in a while ryan gets a wild hair to do some organizing, so when he decided we needed to go through Gideon's clothes, he was right there to help.

 do not be fooled, he was not joyful throughout the entire process

 He also wanted to help cook some this summer.  He did top ramen all by himself, with just me watching

Notice the kid scissors to open the bag =)  after he was done he declared he was like a "jedi chef!"

Sydney's set of wheels

This summer the kids decided to teach sydney how to ride a big bike.  she decided this was the appropriate attire to protect herself while learning.  Pajamas, knee pads, Isabelle's helmet, sunglasses, and of course princess gloves, and no shoes.  It was excellent planning if I do say so myself.  Oh, and elbow pads too.

 she's obviously working hard.  At least at keeping her outfit together while the other 2 push

 One time around in the garage, around the corner, and she was done.

camping #3

It was so wonderful to wake up to the sound of water on the sand, and birds and wind.  I was the first one up, so I walked the dog around looking for some wood.  I found enough to start the fire.   I had the fire going and was starting the water, when a shirtless man came wandering down the lane holding what looked like a jug of apple juice, mostly gone.  tobbie  freaked out barking of course, as he'd spent most of the weekend barking.  The man said he would pay me $8 to get him to leave him alone.  I of course stood by the dog and let him go on by.  He was talking to himself and wandering around.  I thought he was either drunk, high, or very mentally unstable.

 He was at the other side of our spot then turned around and started yelling over at me, but I couldn't hear b/c Tobbie was still barking.  Thankfully between the barking, and the man yelling from the other side of our tent, Ryan got up.  So the man stated asking Ryan if he'd drive him to the other side of the lake, and he could pay him $8.  Ryan politely said no, and the man wandered down to our beach site and plopped down muttering to himself.  We weren't sure what to do, but by then the kids were getting up.

 I was driving the kids over to the bathroom when the security truck pulled down our lane, so I slowed down and rolled down my window, telling them about the man.  Apparently that is who they were looking for, and of course the "action" happend on our camp site.  By the time I came back with the kids the man was still sitting on our beach refusing to leave with security, and the police were pulling up.  For once we hadn't called them that weekend!  But he felt strongly attatch to that spot on the beach, so he had to be arrested and taken away.

 As you can see from these pictures it didn't take away from the children's morning, in fact I think they rather enjoyed it.  It was quite difficult to keep their attention on the fire when 20 feet away a man was peaceably being taken into custody.  We ended up laughing at what an incredibly bizarre camping trip it turned out to be.

In the end though, it was really a lot of fun and we have some great memories, though God gave us some we hadn't counted on!

camping #2

 As all girls love to do, we get down on the "beach" and collect seashells

 Ryan showed the kids how to skip rocks

 or plop rocks, as it usually turned out

 good times in the tent

Everybody got a chance to catch fish, though they were only little guys we were trying to get.  They all wanted to get the worms for daddy to put on the hook, which mommy was all to happy to allow someone else to doit got hot in the afternoon and there was a great swimming area that was nice and sloped gently. The kids could comfortably lay down and play but it was deep enough to swim, though they could all stand up toohi to mommy on the shore protecting the camera and dog

Isabelle bought herself a snorkel, goggle, and flipper set with her birthday money.  She was excited to get to try them out

sand angels

These sandy kids rinsed off and we went back to the tent to spend a nice evening.  The kids all fell asleep instantly, thank goodness, because as the evening went on, things got more interesting!  Night fisherman moved in around us, which wasn't too big of a problem, though slightly annoying.  Ryan fell asleep at 11 and I laid down, hearing everything that went on around us.  As the night got longer, so the fisherman got louder, and I'm sure the drinks were flowing.  2 guys in particular would occasionally scream and swear at each other agressively, then stop for a while.  At some point some one turned on their music loudly with base going, though not as bad as the night before.  By the time Ryan woke up at 3:30am, those two guys were pretty much constantly screaming at each other, and I of course was awake for it all.  So my loving husband called the police for the 2nd night in a row.  The police came and were able to get them to leave, though I'm not sure how b/c I'm sure they were very drunk by then.  I finally fell asleep to get a good strong 3 hours that night.

the two sides of camping

for those of you who haven't heard my diagnosis was endometriosis and I don't need any further treatment unless/until I begin to have quite a bit of pain. So for now, I suppose I'm back to my normal self. Now, onto camping.

Camping in my family always meant good fun, lots of food of course, quiet, calm nights around the campfire, etc.  Great memories.  So we went to Lake Afton for the first time only about 20 min from our house.  Small but very pretty.  We picked a spot by the playground, swimming area, and bathroom (very important).  We got set up and ate some dinner, and built a campfire, and enjoyed the evening together.  This was going to be great.

 To me, this looks like a beautiful, peaceful place to be.  Then the neighbors came.  Long story short, they had blaring rap music, swearing of course (the music and the screaming people) and base that was rattling my teeth.  3 hours later we called the police to ask about noise restrictions and quiet hours, and who to call.  When the police came, or any other vehicle, they would turn their music down drastically or off altogether.  In short, they didn't get caught.  So at 12:30 am, when Ryan, Isabelle, and I were all starting at each other in the tent, we called it.  within 10 minutes we had the tent and all of our stuff packed up and we drove back home to sleep.

 Try #2.  We went back the next day determined to finish out our camping trip.  We thought about just staying home, but the weather was so nice and the permit we'd bought was goood until 6pm, so we went back and found a DIFFERENT spot at the lake.  Also nice, but further from bathrooms, swimming, and playground.  No neighbors though  =)

 
 We gave it some time and thought it would be good so we pitched the tent.  The children of course had to help with the poles (aka, sword fight that we put an end to when peple's heads and bodies were getting stabbed)

 
 I was hard at work holding the stakes.  I was always the best nail picker-upper for my dad when I would "help" him too.

This was going to be good.  We could tell.  Stay tuned for part #2 of camping