End of Summer Fun

*I swear, I wrote and published this post over a week ago.  But somehow it disappeared.  So I've recreated it to the best of my abilities.  Technology is weird sometimes!



We did really enjoy our last few weeks of summer vacation.  We finally made it to Carter Mountain for their summer sunsets!

Sometimes, Ryder is snuggly!

A lovely, muted sunset

One of the kids took this panorama shot, and it shows the crowds of people as well as the sunset pretty well!

Then a few days later, Craig's parents took us to a rodeo!  I wasn't sure what to expect of this, but I ended up TOTALLY LOVING it!  My only regret was that the kids got so tired we had to leave before I was ready to go!

Love this shot!

Country girls carrying the flags to start out the show

Craig took a lot of video, but very few still shots, so I don't have much to share on the blog.  But some of the highlights (for me, at least) included the "mutton busters"-- 6-year-olds trying to ride sheep!-- and watching a bull ACTUALLY stamp its feet just like they do in cartoons!  Who knew that was based on reality???  But I also just loved seeing how diverse it was, and watching the crowds go wild for any cowboy-- black, white or hispanic-- who could stay on a bull for 8 seconds!  THIS is the America that I believe in!  And it was fantastic.

And, double bonus, all this inspired Bentley to put on his old cow costume.  From when he was two years old.  And which he could still. squeeze. into...   We are not feeding that boy enough!

18-month-old Bentley, when the costume was too big still!

 I also started babysitting again!  This was pretty busy, because I had both Quinn and Theo all day for several days!  My own kids couldn't understand why they weren't allowed any electronics during the days when we had our extra guests!  But we managed to have fun anyway:

We busted out more costumes

And managed to dress like twins!

And occasionally Theo helped Bentley practice piano!

And of course, we always have a great time at the Manassas Ward Campout in Matthew's Arm at Shenandoah!

Not only were Bentley and Spencer excited to hang out again, I thought it was awesome that they were matching!

Craig took most of the kids hiking while I hung out gabbing with my friends

So, yeah, we had a very full and fun summer.  I'm sad to see it end.  But I'm not sad to see the days starting to cool down a bit...!

Autumn To Do Lists

You know how you can get in the habit of putting stuff off until some other, more convenient time?

I pretty much did that ALL SUMMER.  My car needs an oil change?  I'll do it in the fall!  Safety inspection due?  Save that for when school starts!  I want to paint the kids' rooms?  Definitely a task for after school is back in session.  Same with mopping the kitchen floor, washing go-gurt splatters off the walls, organizing my linen closet, and any number of other unpleasant tasks.

So school has started!  And I feel SO OVERWHELMED with all the stuff I'm supposed to be getting done now!  And to make matters even more complicated, I'm babysitting more than ever, so I really don't have any extra time just yet.  AND, all these awesome women moved into my ward and I want to hang out with them and get to know them and actually have some friends here in my ward.  So how am I supposed to have time for safety inspections or mopping???

Anyway.  My to do list is a mile long.  This is my last week babysitting, though, so I'm hoping to actually tackle all those projects next week.

Really.

I'm going to do it.

In the meantime, yay for school starting!

Look at those two big middle schoolers at the top of the stairs!

Ryder, Owen, and Colton getting on the bus

I DID manage to get my oil changed.  Even with Theo and Camille.  It took like two hours.  It was so awful.  This is one of the ways Camille tried to entertain herself...

And we did rearrange bedrooms!  Bentley is in a different room now, with bunk beds!  And Colton now has Bentley's old room all to himself so that he can stop waking up his siblings at night (now he's back to just waking up me and Craig...)!

Bentley's new set up.  Soon I'm going to paint this room.  Really!

Colton's new digs!

We did have one afternoon where I wasn't babysitting and Camille and I went to the pool, just the two of us, so that was pretty sweet!

Next week.  I'm going to be on FIRE.

Interpretation

Craig picked up coloring books for the kids from the Underground Tour of Seattle.  Here's Colton's very careful coloring job:

While Colton was putting on the finishing touches during church, Craig leaned over and whispered to me, "I hadn't realize that Seattle was settled by leprechauns!"

I nearly had to leave, I was giggling so hard.

Wildrock

Several years ago, a woman I used to chat with during swim practice told me that she'd taken her kids to a place called Wildrock and really enjoyed it.  I remembered that conversation but never got around to going...  Until this Saturday!

Now, it's kind of a shame that I waited so long, because it's really geared towards younger kids.  But we still had a great time, so better late than never, right?  (And the fact is, Colton and Camille were the PERFECT age for it; really, it's pretty hard to find a place that's fun for 4-year-olds AND 12-year-olds!)

Ryder was the first to complain that he'd already been here for a field trip and this place wasn't any fun at all.  Then he proceeded to run all over the place and have a great time.  Go figure!

This picture doesn't do it justice but these scrawny little butterfly bushes were TEEMING with butterflies!  It was awesome!

My kids indulged me by sitting in this nest for a picture!

Love that smile!

They had a bunch of rubber boots so kids could wade in the creek

Kendra caught this creepy crawdad thing

One of my better panorama shots.  I love how pretty it is here!!!!

I don't know which I love more-- that everyone was playing with this nicely, or the face Colton pulled when I told him to turn around and smile for me...!

Building a toy fire

 

Here you could pretend to be a vet!

Bambi is in very good hands here...

Love those blue eyes!

 

They made a ladybug home

A hobbit house!

I like that you can tell I was actually running!  Bentley and Ryder were trying to catch up to me, so I sped up a bit and Ryder yelled, "Oh, shoot, Mom's actually really fast!"  First and last time THAT'S ever been said!

This was an absolutely charming place!  My only complaint is that the gnats were terrible.  So I guess I'll have to take Camille back in the fall when there are less bugs to contend with!

48 Hours in Ohio

I decided that while Craig was gone at scout camp, I would go visit Rachael in Ohio.  I do better when I have another grown up to talk to, and was worried I'd get a bit stir crazy with Craig gone and four kids to take care of.  But THEN, our wonderful bishop told Craig that he would be spending Tuesday night at scout camp, so if Craig wanted to go home for a day, he could.  That was awesome for two reasons-- one, it was nice to have him come home for a bit.  Two, that was also Craig's birthday, so it meant we could celebrate together!  But the (very minor) downside was that I couldn't really leave for Ohio until Wednesday.  So that made for a very short trip!

This was just me taunting Craig with the birthday dessert I was making for him while he was still at Scout Camp-- mint brownies!  Yum!!!

We had beautiful weather in Ohio, so Rachael took me to some of their fun parks and their awesome library...  Marietta is a great town!

Okay, so technically this park was in West Virginia, but whatever.  Nice and big and fun, right?  Wild and wonderful, just like WV!

Same park, opposite side of it.  Those are my boys on top of that thing.

Ian snapped this great shot of Nolan and Colton together!

My kids LOVE sitting in their cousins' awesome chairs!

And, of course, we had to get ice cream!  This place, Cone N Shake was AWESOME!

Except Camille couldn't eat her cone fast enough, so once it got too melty I just threw it away.  Which made her sad.

The next day, we left Kendra in charge while Rachael's kids were napping, and Rachael took me on a tour of her brand new house which they have bought but not moved into yet!  It was AMAZING-- a 100-year-old house right on the main street, featuring four fully finished levels!  It was so big and old and full of character (in a really good way!), so I was really excited to get to be the first sister to see it!  Can't wait to visit again once they've moved (on Tuesday)!


We were supposed to drive home the next morning, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I would rather just leave that night and get home really late at night, rather than getting up in the morning and driving all morning with the sun in my eyes.  So while Rachael was cooking dinner, I was helping her but also yelling at my kids to pack up their suitcases and sleeping bags.

And then, while I was changing my plans, I figured that I might as well surprise Craig by beating him home, so then I went into full Sneak Mode: I had Rachael and Ian fill up my tank and paid them back cash.  When I stopped in West Virginia to fill up again, I used my Mom's credit card (and paid her back!).  And when Craig called to say Hi, I lied through my teeth.  He'd ask, "What's that noise?" and I'd say, "I dunno, guess my headphones are being weird."  When Colton started crying, I said, "Oh no, Colton just came up crying!  I'll call you right back!" and then made Kendra (my awesome co-pilot!) take care of him.  And once we were home and the van was all unloaded, I moved it to a different street so Craig wouldn't see it.  Bam!

Pretty clouds on the drive home

When Craig and Bentley walked into the house, we all yelled, "Surprise!" and got to see them truly jump and then be really excited to see us, so that was awesome!

It was nice to all be home and together again.  But I sure was glad that I could escape to Ohio for a little bit of that time!

Thanks for hosting me, Rachael and Ian!!!

Scout Camp

Colton's surgery was on a Tuesday, and the following Sunday Craig and Bentley left for a week of Scout Camp.  I was less than thrilled with this, since Colton was still crying a LOT at night.  But what could I do?

They left straight from church, so I got this awesome photo before we went to church:

THAT'S how an Eagle Scout does it, ladies!

I wasn't there for any of this, so I'm mostly just going to share a bunch of pictures.  Enjoy!

Dining hall

This was where our troop didn't know they were supposed to wear their scout shirts.  Oops!

Bentley had to build a shelter and sleep under it one night.  Fortunately for him, it did NOT rain!  (I heard he actually got more sleep there than back at the campsite with all the other scouts all staying up way too late talking!)

I *guess* this is pretty...

They seemed to have had a good time!  And they didn't even smell too bad when they got home!  Although Bentley has picked up some strange habits like wanting to wear shorts when swimming at the pool instead of his swimsuit, and thinking that I'm being a jerk when I tell him to shower.

Boys are weird.

But I'm glad they had fun.  And I'm glad they're home!