Maryland

    Anyone who knows Grandma Barb will understand that a day in Grandma's life is about a week worth of adventures in mine. She's a busy lady and brings sunshine to everyone around her. Sunshine and giggles. This week was no different. It was filled with special surprises, sweet treats and a whole lot of fun. I decided to write in list form because I can't possibly tell you all of our adventures, my fingers would get tired and this would be way too long, so here it goes
    Day one. Lucy arrives, She has anxiously been waiting to see her cousins and has bright eyes. The boys let out a big sigh....here comes Lucy. (I love her so much, she is adorable and gives the boys a run for their money) Houston got  a tick. They were helping Grandma set up croquet. Houston was whacking the trees with his stick and Lucy was using the stick as a hammer....I think the tick entered at some point during this time. I found it right away, we went straight to Grandpa Bob and he took it off. He said it hadn't really even nestled in good. Thank goodness for short hair.
    Day two. Uncles and Aunts arrived. I got to see my East coast family. I hadn't seen my cousins for about five years, they grew up! It was so good to see all the aunts, uncles , cousins and the new addition. Malia! the most beautiful, quiet , happy baby you've ever seen. (Waylon is handsome, Malia is beautiful!) Everyone hit the tiki bar, immediately after dinner...everyone except Courtney, myself and the kids. We went to Ritas (ice, custard, happiness) and got a gelati. It is the best frozen treat. We hit a little snag when Houston shut Lucy's fingers in the door. Luckily I had already gotten the ice cream and that calmed her down. Phew!
    Day three. Grandpa Bob's birthday party. I got to see all of my favorite Marylanders, eat delicious food. Cupcakes, Cake. It was such a great time. We partied hard. Waylon got plenty of cuddles and we finished off the night with the best crab balls, made by my momma. Also I think I ate 4 cupcakes that day they were so good. Before bed I tried the cake....oh the cake! It was amazing.
    Day four. Everyone had to go home. We went out on the boat and Grandpa Bob had the idea to take Lucy on a treasure hunt. She kept talking about it and she told us all the treasure we would find, if we only looked. So we hid a shiny bracelet on the shore. When Lucy found it she said, "now lets find my necklace." It was very matter of fact, like she expected nothing less. She is hillarious. Meanwhile her dad and mom had missed the boat, so they were rowing after us to see the hunt. When they finally made it, the treasure hunt was over (we never did find a necklace!) so I offered to help row them back. This is where we discovered that it is impossible to row a rowboat (at least for us) without exposing your teeth and gums. Seriously, we all tried rowing and when we would be concentrating, we would start to bear down on our teeth showing our gums. I don't know if it's because we're just a strange family or if this is some sort of weird phenomenon. I personally choose to think, it helped us in an aerodynamic way. I'm sure that's it.
    Day five. Kayaking with Houston. He loves to be outside. He is true outdoors man. Love that kid! We had a crab feast that night. We had soooo many crabs caught off the pier. It was delicious, but my skill at breaking them open is....well I need some improvement. I end up eating all the claws, because it's easier for me to open. I know all the Marylanders would be like "WHAT!" you're eating the claws....well like I said I need some more skills cracking those bad boys open. It's hard work!
     Day six. Hershey park. Where do I begin. We had so much fun. It was way hot and humid, but that didn't stop us. We drank slushies, rode the roller coasters, went down waterslides. I witnessed one of my children peeing in line and totally denying it. Do you remember being a kid, thinking you were sneaky. It turns out you weren't fooling anybody. I realized that on this day. As my kid told me to step over the yellow puddle, then told me he had no idea how it got there. He just shrugged his shoulders and said "weird." We had fun though. We went to the tour area after. I got a little history lesson on the Hershey family and then eneded the day by designing our own candy bar. We got to choose the chocolates, the add ins and then follow it through the assembly line. It was my highlite, so cool! Then we were able to design the carton and see how many people before us had made the same candy bar, thanks to Hershey and their marketing information. It was very interesteing. We were exhausted. Poor Grandma, sat out most of the day with Waylon, she didn't even go on one ride, I guess I hogged all the fun. She was such a good sport and she drove us 3 hours there and 3 hours back. I know, she's Superwoman! For souveniers, Wrex chose a Hersheys Cookbook and Houston chose a hat that looks like a hamburger.
    Day seven. I spent most of the day recovereing while mom had to go to work. I got all the kids haircuts, we went a little shorter because it was soo hot and with ticks around, the shorter the better. Their haircuts turned out a bit militant but they're still so darn cute. I started sorting some of moms old family photos to organize them. I made enchiladas with our still left over food from the party. Bob said my burritos were spot on, I must've missed the mark because I was going for enchiladas. They are so silly. Love my east coasters!
    Day eight . We took the boys to the pool on base. They had to pass the swim test which was swimming across the pool and treading water. Wrex is a fish, I knew he would pass. He gave up the treading water part 5 seconds shy of his mark and had to start over. He is so stubborn .Houston really impressed me though. He has come so far this summer. I was so proud of them both. They had a blast, riding the waterslide and cooling off.  Later that night more cousins came down with another boat. We made a Resse's pie with Wrex's cookbook. It was yummy! They are going fishing today.
   So as you can see, we've been busy. This is just glossing over our adventures. We have had such a good time. We head home tomorrow, Ian misses us, but we sure had fun! Thanks for having us Grandpa Bob and Grandma Barb! It was memorable, as always.

Scrapbooks

 
 Last week was so peaceful! That Day Camp was awesome, I loved it. The boys on the other hand...they had a great time although they might not admit it. The boys went to a fish hatchery, a roller rink ( which they totally got schooled by the local kids) they had a water slide that was doused with Dawn to make it more slick...yeah they had fun. More importantly, I had quiet. It was lovely, I read a whole book, I know, boring. It was so great.
  That weekend we had frequent thunderstorms. So the kids  and I started a new project. Scrap booking! I've never gotten into it before, it seems tedious. I prefer photo books on shutterfly. I make each boy one at the end of the year, they call them their year books. Anyway, I thought the boys might appreciate making their own scrap books. Not likely right? Well I bought them red and blue (their favorite colors) blank scrapbooks.  Then I got primary colored papers, cool boy stickers and printed out 90 pictures of our adventures so far. I told them they can basically do whatever they want, use the pictures, don't, I don't care, it's their book of memories.
Wrex made one page only, it emphasized our road trip from Salt Lake to Durango and has very few pictures (mostly stickers) on it but it's pretty creative and thoughtful.  Houston went scrap book crazy, he made 4 pages over the next few days, he cut out almost all the background of his pictures and put moustache stickers on his brothers. I helped him put things in chronological order and then we printed out the journals I've been letting them type and pasted them onto the pages. I'm pretty pleased with them, I think this will be a big part of our "art class"  this year. I love catching glimpses of how their little minds work. I hope they will treasure these books because it is their own creation, not something mom did, you know? Again, more memories in the making.
   Well, we are off to Grandma's today. We have an evening flight and have to change planes in Denver.  It will be just the boys and I spending the week in Maryland. They are so excited. I am excited to take a shower and shave my legs without going into a yoga pose. (Our shower is tiny) Here's hoping Waylon sleeps on the plane...

Parades, Ceramics, Alarms, Oh My!

I have a better picture but I think this one really captures the experience.

   I'm still here! Just checking in! I feel like my adventures this week were probably the same as most of my friends back home, I thought about skipping the writing about it but I really like having it all written down. This was when I'm old and gray and I boast how I breezed through motherhood gracefully someone will have proof to say "nut uh!" It'll probably be my mom.
    Fourth of July was beautiful in Bayfield. I read in the newspaper that they have a parade through town and thought, we never go to parades, that would be fun!    Yes, well I found out why we never go to parades. I packed waters for Waylon's bottles, sunscreen and all the necessary things a baby would require. All the menfolk in the family, brought themselves (how clever of them.) So we get there and with half an hour to spare, my family spots shade by a dumpster and snags it. Not I! I am here to see the parade, so I sit my toosh on the curb in the hot sun and wait for it to start. Now it has come to my attention that in California there are a lot more rules, for instance I'm pretty sure you have to stay out of the street during parades. We found out when it started (can you hear the whining already  coming from my family, it's hot, my legs hurt, I need water!, where's the bathroom!) that the kids are as close to if not in the middle of the street as the parade goes on. So yeah my perfect spot in the sweltering sun was overcrowded but, I should've seen that one coming. As long as everyone is  having fun. The highlight for me was Ian pointing out his foreman in the beginning of the parade riding the largest mule, I have ever seen. You just don't get to see your coworkers on mules very often in California. I also got a kick out of seeing the owner of the True Value sitting behind us, he was kind enough to offer me his chair. I finally broke down and scouted some food and drinks for the family.When I got back, Wrex was a light yellow color. It was clear he needed some shade and a cool drink. We ate pizza, drank our cold waters and soon everyone was ready to jump on the bounce houses. They had a really nice small town festival afterward, where firetrucks were hosing kids down and people were walking around with giant turkey legs. It seemed everyone knew each other and after a while we felt like we had  enjoyed enough festivities for one day. It was really great though, I don't think I'll go to many more parades now that I know that the menfolk don't really appreciate them, but hey, it was an adventure!
    That weekend Ian had to drive to Salt lake city after work on Friday to go to class. He has class once a month and the drive back to Salt Lake is about seven hours. We were suppose to have thunder storms so I planned on taking the kids to this paint your own ceramic place that I had heard about. My mom use to take us to kids and paint all the time as kids, I think I know now why we were always broke! My kids painted their first creations within 20 minutes. Wrex painted his mug mostly black and Houston painted a rainbow monster (one of his specialties) on a cereal bowl. I was in the process of painting a mug with Waylon's foot print on it when they informed me they were finished. I told them to pick out something small so I could finish....so when I checked out my bill was roughly $24 each. I almost had a heart attack. This little collection of mugs and bowl cost more than my dining set. Awesome. I felt sick to my stomach. We had yet another errand that day, we had to go to walmart. That errand ended with the boys somehow setting off Ian's truck alarm (Ian had my car to get better gas mileage.) The thing was I didn't know you could set off the alarm with out the key less entry. Or how you could stop it. I tried putting the keys in the ignition, the truck started and died immediately. I called Ian, he answered but we didn't have a clear connection....After several minutes of honking and Waylon waking up terrified, the truck stopped. When Ian finally got a hold of me, I didn't feel like talking. I was overwhelmed. We went home, it started to pour I fell asleep to the parent trap, and Wrex and Houston in my bed. At about midnight, Ian came in and jumped on all of us. I would have been scared senseless had I not been in a strees induced coma.  He wasn't suppose to come home till Sunday evening. Class had been canceled Sunday and he sensed I needed an extra hand. He's a good man.
     So you can see why, it took me a few extra days to write this. I had to re coop. I am happy to say that this week I found a day camp that I registered Wrex and Houston for. They are there right now, rollerskating!  I have had the most peaceful week. Waylon is really not so tough, when it's just you and him. It turns out, he really will nap if his brothers aren't here to poke at him. I've even been reading a book, it has been lovely. So I am off to pick up our ceramic creations. I was also waiting to post this so you could see them. They better last until my kids are in college.

Trailer Living

  We stayed close to "home" this weekend. With new fires popping up everyday we didn't want to wander in the wrong direction and we weren't sure which direction would be wrong! We are so grateful that all the fires near us are small and mostly contained. We're praying for all the folks that the fires have truly devastated their lives. I remember the California Wildfires and I imagine that's how Coloradao Springs is now. Down here it just smells like a campfire. The fires that have been near to us are the Little Sand Fire, Escarpment Fire, Weber fire, Lightner Fire and the Stateline Fire. Sounds like a lot but actually, last Tuesday we had a lightning storms that sparked 20 new fires in our surrounding area and the fire department quickly put them out. So I feel pretty good about our situation.
    So you see, we though it was wise to stay close to home. But I did have a few adventures....I started the weekend at "Old Tymers Cafe" It was taco night, which sounded good to me. When the waitress described their tacos,  I thought she said they're about the size of taco bells, but I think she meant they rivaled  taco bells, they sure weren't like any tacos I was use to.  When she brought them out she asked if I wanted anything on the side like mayonaise! Um no, maybe sour cream  though. Ian laughed at what I had expected taco night to be....Oh yeah, we're not by the border anymore....
   That night Ian got to work graveyard at the airport, he was very excited about it and I had a hard time getting to sleep but all was good. The next day I took the kiddos to "Doughworks"in Durango where they sell donuts and bagels and other deliciousness. I thought Ian could catch up on sleep and we would take an hour excursion to get donuts. Again, the menu, tricked me! When I saw breakfast burritos, I just couldn't help myself, So I ordered one....Ok I get it now, this is what Tex-Mex is, I don't think I like it.
    Good news though! We got some innertubes! Wrex figured out a way to con the kids here into giving him their innertubes everywhere we went. He somehow convinced them that the noodles were better, even though the noodles were worthless floating on in the river. He showed all the kids how to use them as a blow/squirt gun, by blowing into them as if they were a tuba and squirting people, then he would just walk away with their inner tubes. This little shananigan became embarrasing for me, so we got some  innertubes of our own. Well played Wrex, well played.  So the boys floated in the watering hole and we found a stream across the street. It has small little "rapids." They love it! the water is maybe 2 feet deep, but it works.
     So I made calzones this weekend. Yep! in my trailer! made the dough from scratch.  They came out great but it was very tricky with a next to nothing countertop to work with. I took a picture just so  you'd believe me. The kids  wanted to make it more challenging, so they decided, to play "Just Dance" on the wii, while I made dinner. I felt like I conquered quite a feat, that day. After that, I started the "everybody must clean their own dish rule" So far it's worked, I just feel like I don't ever stop doing dishes.
    OOOOOhh I also made brownies last night! I used the family style package and I added 1/2 cup of Hersheys syrup and a can of sweetened condensed milk, it made this gooey delicious creation, and they were ready just in time. Wrex had gotten into a squabble with another child around here and I felt they made a good peace offering.
    So it feels like we're in a normal routine. I never thought anything would be normal about living in a trailer but we're doing normal stuff. We played a family baseball game in a nearby field and Ian took the kids to float in the stream so I could nap yesterday. Waylon dodn't sleep much the night before. But all this is stuff, I imagine we would be doing at home, if he didn't have a job on the road. That's why we did this, to have some normal family time and it's working.
    Okay but my last adventure of the weekend was this. I couldn't sleep last night, (probably because of my nap) and I kept hearing a plastic bag rustling. I couldn't figure out what it was, could it be the trailer rocking in the wind? No, why would that cause a bag inside to make that crinkly noise? Then I started thinking of animals, of course, first I thought of a snake because the boys saw one earlier. But that's stupid, it wouldn't make this noise, then my mind went to ...mouse. Could they get in the trailer? I don't see why not, then I started getting nervous (Ian is asleep by now because it's just about midnight) Then something patted lightly on my feet...OH DEAR LORD, I jumped so high! I woke up Ian, he thought I was dreaming. We took off all the blankets, nothing. I looked for the bag, couldn't  find it. We turned the lights off. Ten minutes later, I'm still listening and this little buggard flaps right on my head. It was a freaking moth. A huge one, but still. I woke Ian up just to prove it to him and to have him kill it. So, that's my tale. It scared the bee jeezus out of me. Now I have to go grocery shopping. I'll try to have more interesting things to tell you next time. Never a dull moment.

Waylon , in the wondow! Hos favorite spot in the trailer is looking out of Houston's bunk window. It's pretty silly if you're walking by, and you see this little munchkin staring at you.