Gee, I wanna go to O....o...crest!

Bottom row, second from the left. Look at all those pegged jeans! 1994.

I worked at Camp Oakcrest the summer of '94 and I went to the 50 year reunion last Friday. It was exciting to see friends, and have memories come gushing back. It was a shaping time for me--I loved the counselors I worked with!

As counselors we lived with the girls in cabins. I was racing trying to find a cabin that had my name left on the door's edge where all counselors signed their names. It was so exciting -- I was giddy -- a lot of the doors have been painted, but, looky here....There I am. Oskaloosa--that was my name.
I looked over to James who was doing his best to not look bored-- "Did you realize how much fun you were going to have?" He smiled. I should have had him open his eyes when I took this.

Waiting for survivor, the zip line. What's with the glow?

I didn't tell James I was going to go, so he didn't get a shot of me flying through the air, and then slamming into the mattress that's lashed to the tree at the end of the line.

Sushi and Bub-- Bad photo again, but they are soooo cool.

Aspen and Paisley--I had just screamed in their ears at seeing them and was finishing off my second Hello Dolly bar. Talk about memories that flood back with taste.... Bad lighting this time? Nope just the photographer.

Lyric and Minnie--yes and their real names are Tricia and Melissa--I looked it up in my scrapbook. Yep that's right, I've gone on a mission, gotten married, born 5 children, taught school, traveled some, and the only scrap book I've ever put together was 11 weeks of summer when I was 19. Go figure.

The lodge!Going down the water slide with Duckie--I noticed all this dried mud and dirt on the way up--I'm such a grown up! I got stuck too but I'm chalking it up to the water not being turned on.
I stole this off of Sushi's blog, Elmo and 2 month old baby, me, Apodo, Idgie, BooBoo and Sushi.

The current counselors sang for us, in the program, and there was a slide show where we all screamed and sang a lot. I really would have liked to see a guitar but maybe they've moved on from that folksy stuff. It was such an enjoyable night and it made me realize that at one time in my life, I used to like 12 year olds and I used to have fun with them. This week in Sunday school we played commandment bingo with mini marshmallows. See I can have fun.

I pulled out my new guitar on Sunday and taught Addie and Ben the song, Children of the Light. I can't find my capo so we sang really low.... "We are on our wa...a...ay"

Jennifer Hatch comes for a visit!

It was a week or two ago....but totally blog worthy....

We talked and talked non stop just like the old days and Marisa and Tressa stopped by for a hi. These boys were both surprise babies--only 11 days apart. Come again Jenny--I had a great time.

But so cute! Samuel looks and sounds like Elyse when she was a baby. We played with Elyse a lot then.
Addie and Elyse. Jennifer doing some close ups. She's got a photo eye, I tell you...

The posing duo.... Should we take a stroll down memory lane? For me and Jennifer's sake--also because I never gave her these prints--click and save Jenny, and my guilt will be washed away.

Halloween when they were just 6 monthsish--on the pinto bean carpet!
Around 2ish. With Ben and James.... and those rug rats now..... Along with the every other weekend neighbor child....

Another Halloween? I was so sick that Halloween I put Addie in her costume a few days after while Elyse was over to take some pictures. It was a rough photo shoot for Addie, and Elyse was just lending support.And a personal favorite...at Addie's three year old "pink" party. She and Jennifer made Addie this horse--which we still play with. Come again. We'll for sure stop by when we go to Lagoon!

BONUS...

Sunday school lesson test run. Your testimony growing with the Holy Ghost (yeast). I took a larger jar for the real thing but the whole lesson had me reeling...Guest Parents? maybe? for this week? Thank goodness the church is true; this class has me telling myself that over and over and over.....

Hobby....

I arranged this after I posted on Sunday. With my one year (book's) worth of experience (17 years ago) at layouts, it's getting easier...
Did I really graduate from high school 17 years ago? That number seems big and it's also the age that I graduated at....

Paige.....

Paige spent last weekend wondering if her parents are qualified for the job.

We went to the park...and she slipped on a step.
Numbing gel and five stiches later.....

and a free ice cream cone from the Arctic Circle across the street, and she was peachy.

The very next day we visited Grandma and Grandpa Mair and Paige found Grandpa's stash of medication. Did she swallow any? We weren't watching so she went to to the emergency room for some "observation". How cute is this girl getting observed? Paige, I swear we're up for the job. Another chance please? If you asked her to show you her stiches she did this. The camera is useful to entertain while waiting for the dr. to take the stiches out.

That's all for this busy girl, who is now two and ready for more ice cream.

ps--I started this post on Friday, but I couldn't get to the internet to publish until tonight. More to come though: cabin, swimming lessons, Jennifer Hatch, birthday, birthday, birthday (oh and my triathlon minutes, nuts)!

pss--more hair blogs...up to 4 now. How many can there be, really? Am I to pick a favorite and be loyal?

A Triathlon? ahuh.

Marisa was all a buzz talking about a triathlon (the Jordanelle) and I didn't even pay attention thinking, there was no way. Then I was swimming with Amber on Wednesday and she crunched some numbers for me after we did 7oo meters. She said that the swim was just one more length. Well if you put it like that, maybe.... I've been doing this swimming blitz lately.... so I went home thinking about it.....

I love the internet. In a half an hour I found,

*the race maps with mileage marked

*a blog of someone who had done it,

*a flickr type site where some one had posted all the pictures from last year,

*a training schedule.

*and a registration form.

I got sucked in. Plus the start is at Rock Creek State Park! Tom did you see that. Only 5 miles from the cabin. It was providence--meant to be.

So who else wants to do it? It's an invitation and it'll be fun....I'm doing the sprint one that is a half mile swim, 13 mile bike ride, and a 5K. And if you can't swim, Vanessa taught me over the phone--she could teach you too.

The training schedule said "from the couch to the race"--my hope.

I went to a cycling class this morning--WHAT HAVE I DONE?

Hair blogs and Eclipse Spoiler.

Through blog hopping I found a blog for little girls' hair. It was fun to scroll through and find the past dos to try on Addie. Paige, too, but hers needs to grow. I posted links on the side if you have a little girl and need some new ideas or inspiration. What a great idea that was--dang, missed my chance. Here's Addie with a do good enough for swimming lessons, lunch and Kindergarten. It was cold today!

I finished the book Eclipse from the Twilight series. The general plot was WEAK, the theme of sex before death was annoying, and it portrayed the idea that women need a strong man to protect them from themselves and their poor emotionally charged, immature choices.

Now I did finish it, and I'll admit that I could have put it down at any moment and didn't, but this book was whinny and went on and on and on.

A 10 line play for a synopsis and spoiler.
Bella: I'm being hunted-make me a vampire quick-but let me sleep with you before you do.
Edward: Nah, I'm old fashion and want to marry you first--plus I could kill you--
Bella: Nah, you love me too much to kill me and besides I love you so much that I want this for me--
Jacob: She loves me too--really.
Bella: yeah I do but I won't admit it because it I want it all! TWO men wanting to kill each other over ME--and to sleep with Edward.
ACTION PART-- Vampires and werewolves kill, protecting Bella.
Edward: You love me and want me? Okay, I guess... kiss kiss
Bella: Stop kissing me, I'll respect you and, sigh, marry you instead. The least I could do....let's not tell Jacob.
Edward: oh, but I will.....
Jacob: I'd rather be a dog forever.

There you have it. You know the whole book. The word infinitesimally stood out after the author used it more than once.

What's gets me is the idea that Edward is the new Mr. Darcy, someone to drool over. Are you kidding me? He has nothing to offer except his imprinted like possessive behavior, immortality and fast car/running. Although--there are some who are not big readers and this series has got them reading...yea...it's up and onward from here I tell you.
As far as having a young teen read this? I say no because the material seems so suggestive, I kind of think that that's fueling the fire for this series. What do you think? I did skip New Moon--A friend mentioned that the third covers the second pretty well and I didn't feel like I missed anything. Actually New Moon sounded depressing. Hey Stuart, what did you think of Eclipse? Really that bad huh? You're just tasting Mandarin oranges for the first time? Oh, you seemed a little young to be reading. Enough of my rant. Now more pictures.

This is us at the cemetery over memorial day. Can you believe the size of this family? Unreal.
This if for Grandma. She got a new cat, Oreo, and I think these pictures have meow!The planter I can't stay away from--and yes, Stuart is napping inside.My cute cousin Melissa came to dinner last night and the kids loved her! She told them to come to California and we'll all go to Disneyland... They think it's a great idea! Jessica too--friends, you know.

Siblings! Hug Power!

Events and Mental Chatter.....

Forgive me my faithful clickers....My muteness is not usually a characteristic I'm known for. I'm trying to pin point the reason and I've come up with: Too many changes. Here's a list and I did say reasons but I really mean excuses.


The first thing: The Boy is now mobile. He's rolling and skooching everywhere. Blogging is hindered because I have to sweep (not really) so much more so his belly doesn't do it for me. He's just like a dog--finding scraps on the floor--'ohh a snack for me?'.... Here's the bottomless pit after taking on a cookie.






The second thing: Season change. So the flower beds that I've ignored for the last two years are my latest obsession. I'm out there ever night deciding which volunteer flower/weed can stay and what goes. My inner wannabe gardener is emerging. Plus the wee ones want to be outside too and at times they go unchaperoned but other times I leave blogging on the computer to look after them as well--especially when there's a cougar in the area.



The third thing: Paige is chattering away. She used to do this airy Allison Kraussy babble that had intonation and meaning but was completely undecipherable--and then all of a sudden--she's says stuff like--"Stewy's eating that" "I want a gink" "I want open the gate" And so I have to get up from blogging and do whatever she orders because I can finally understand what she's saying and I'm only too happy to pacify her, and well, she knows I understand her too. She just got her first hair cut--here she is with cute Ryleigh. I got my hair cut too and it's been rave reviews all the way around so Thanks Brynn. Hope you had fun on your trip!





The fourth thing: Addie is going through a million milestones a minute and I'm in awe daily.

1. picking up her bike and just pedaling and riding. How about that? Of course I have to take pictures and tell her I'm going to blog about it...

2. She's reading books too... real ones--like Dr. Seuss and writing long sentences and lists. The kindergarten program was a week or so ago and I watched the top of her head sing and say poems.

3. Friends and friends and more friends. We live in an older area so we haven't experienced a lot with that because it has always entailed arranging play dates or groups....Well, with a bigger kid--kids just show up to play. How about that? We're bringing in the entertainment. It's wonderful -- just keep it outside, and of course I go out to monitor those flowers/weeds at the same time.

4. She's doing hair now too, her and Paige's. And as much as I want to say--oh let me just fix that right there--I just smile and tell her how adorable it is. I'll post some pic of that when she does it again.




The fifth thing: Benjamin regressment--now that sounds really bad but the kid has peed at every one's house in the neighborhood and in every bedroom in our house and especially on the floor RIGHT IN FRONT of about 10 different toilets! I realize it's a phase and I need to be understanding but this is always the test of my day--if I can keep my cool during these events. And this equals laundry and that equals less time I'm monitoring my monitor. Other times Benjamin needs more stories and attention so he doesn't test his bladder size....his favorite one..."Mom, (or Dad) can you count to 100 with me?"

The final thing: The Boy is weaned! And with that my new exercise plans have been implemented. I've been doing some classes, and swimming but it's so early--I'm whining now--so I crash about 9:30 or 10:00 at night, an optimal, blogging hour. I'm doing a swimming blitz at the moment -- my pool just set up the long lanes and I can swim forever before coming to the end and deciding to: swallow a ton of water with freaky flip turns or, take-a-longer-pause-than-I-need-to-catch-my-breath break. It's super fun. Anyone out there want to join me?


We went to the zoo for James' second job, wink, wink. We had a great time and ran into Vanessa and the Suttons and also Dave Michelson's mom and dad. This is us at the bird show.

So, there you go, a mega post with a bunch of excuses. Thanks for not giving up on me. If I can commit to anything: it's to post at least once a week during the summer.


Oh and my thoughts on growing kids? I've reached a point during the last couple of weeks where I can no longer fit all 4 kids in the tub at a time....I know it was a push to begin with, boys, girls, babies, kids, but really--do they have to grow up? Addie now loves to to soak all by herself--lucky gal. She's living now.