Small Town Life

We stayed in a cabin on our trip. It was a little tough to find since there were two addresses for the place, I guess the owner lives at one address which happened to be on the other side of the hill from the cabin. The owners are pretty trusting, they leave a note out front letting you know where the key is when you get there. We did meet the owner, he was riding his horse and let the kids pet him.Our little cabin in the woods.
Plenty of deer to watch.

Road Trip

We decided to take a quick trip up to see Mt. Rushmore and the various sites up North. Its a "quick" six hour drive from us. In the chaos to get out the door I thought that I forgot the battery to the camera. All photos were taken with a phone. Someday we'll have to go back with a real camera. (The battery was in the camera bag all along, it wasn't until we got home that I found it)
Emma knew all the presidents on the mountain, she had studied it last year. Jack was most impressed with the exhibit that let you pretend to dynamite parts of the mountain. We stayed to see the faces lit up at night, but we were tired and needed sleep.

A Tribute

In second grade I got a Michael Jackson poster for my birthday. I'm pretty sure I was giddy with excitement and then lost interest within a week. In fact, for some unknown reason I stuck the end of a banana on his nose and it stayed there for weeks. Maybe I was psychic and could foresee all the nose jobs the King of Pop would later have.

In the car today, the song "Billy Jean" came on and I told Jack I listened to it when I was his age. He kinda laughed at me and then broke out some cool moves in the car.

Bicycle Ride

After so much rain/cloudy weather we left the house bright and early for a bike ride to the park. I figured that I could wear the kids out with fresh air and sunshine.

We met a friend of Jack's at the park and managed to stay for almost two hours. If that didn't tire them out, surely the mile to and from would do the trick. Emma was in a generous mood and let Jack's friend ride her bike home. I wondered how long it would take before she realized she had to walk all the way home.

I must have been in a crazy place, because I offered to let Emma ride on the bike with me. Mind you, I have Lily sitting in the kid seat behind me. Emma climbed on the bar between the seat and the handlebars. Yup, she didn't last too long sitting on that bar. I told her as I was slowing down that she needed to "hop" off the bike as soon as I stopped. Did that happen?

In a perfect world, she would have gracefully hopped off as I glided to a full and complete stop. Instead, she clung to the bike like a howler monkey which meant that I couldn't reach the ground without tipping the bike sideways. With Lily on the back, the bike gave up the fight as it could no longer defy gravity. We all took a slow motion tumble in the grass.

Not one of my brighter ideas. Emma and Lily didn't sustain any injuries and Emma went on to jog the rest of the way home.

Hail

We've been having the strangest weather lately. Late yesterday evening, we had a sudden burst of rain followed by hail mixed with sun. It was the hail that made Michael and I run downstairs and move the cars inside the garage.

Clean

Last night as I was tripping over toys putting the kids to bed, I informed the kids today would be "cleaning day".

Response?

"Didn't we just clean last week?"

My house cleaning has been VERY fuzzy since we started work on the basement. I had a perfectly valid excuse not to dust. Why dust when it's just coming back tomorrow?! (This applies to all areas of cleaning) Well, my excuse has no validity, as dirt is going to happen, basement or not.

How many times can I sing "Whistle While You Work" before my kids offer to cut up an apple for me?

New Battery

After having the van die four times in five days...I went and got a new battery this morning. It wasn't a big deal, luckily the dealership was able to get it done in 45 minutes. I was on a tight schedule having already told the kids we could go to the 10 AM free movies.

It all worked out great considering we were 15 minutes late to see Journey to the Center of the Earth. We sat in our seats just as they were going in the cave. Right on time as far as I'm concerned. The kids were really well behaved...let's see how the rest of the day pans out.

Dead Car

You know it's Summer when...you haven't driven your car all day and when you go to use it, the battery is dead.

I usually keep the lights off in my van so I don't kill my battery. I woke up early and needed to get something out of my car and I actually needed to use the light to see in the car. Well, one thing lead to another and I forgot to turn them off. (Even after Michael reminded me)

As I was about to head out to deliver dinner to the missionaries, I discovered that my key fob wouldn't unlock my car. My hand hit my forehead when I realized that *I* was the culprit in the mystery of the dead car.

As we were about to jump start my car, I was trying to figure out how to open my car since the doors were all locked. Michael looked at me and said; "Um, your put the key in the door." Yup, it's Summer and my brain is officially mush.

Blogger Blahs

Since the kids have been out of school for SEVERAL weeks, I've been a bit distracted. I usually try and find the humorous anecdote of the day and share semi regularly. I was so excited to see the end of school, that I neglected to see how long Summer is.

I was on a basement jag, but we've hit the wall on that project. Perhaps I need to see the light at the end of the tunnel before I start heading that way. We still have plenty of painting to finish...I'm so tired of painting. We have been enjoying what has been done, we're now able to sit on the couch and watch movies.

To top off the blahs of the last week or so, we've been have rain on and off making it feel like the Northwest. We've even had a couple tornado sirens go off. No, we didn't have any near us, but we have had a bit of hail. That gets the heart pumping when you hear the sirens.

Here's to a better effort at blogging more regularly.

Water

My neighbor got her pool out and I swear that my kids could hear the hose turn on from inside our house. I think that Lily had her suit on before she even asked to go play. What do you think of the kids and their "Charlie's Angels" poses?