The Fort

Back in June I was cleaning out the garage and realized that my lumber pile was taking up WAY too much space.  One day I chopped most of it up and gave the kids a box of nails and a couple of hammers.  Before I knew it, several neighbor kids had congregated at our house and a fort was being built.  For days kids would show up and hammer away.  Our kids were still in school through the end of the month, but neighbor kids who WEREN'T in school would show up in the morning and ask to work on the fort.  I'd have to shew them away and tell them to come back in the afternoon when our kids were home.  I'm still not sure how they planned on getting the walls of the fort to connect or stay together, but the important thing was that they were outside in the beautiful sunshine, using their hands and their imaginations and not sitting in front of the TV (or as we call it, the Idiot Box).  After about a week I had to break the fort apart because it has been laying on our front lawn burning up the grass. 

It's bittersweet because within less than a month, the Kleckners, Johnsons, and Newlands all moved away, leaving Ethan with three less good friends on our street.  In fact, he has no more good friends on our street, but luckily he still has best friends that live in the neighborhood.  It was a short summer, but a good summer for memories. 

Field Day

A perk to year round school (oh how it PAINS me to say that) is that teenagers are already out of school in June so they are available to babysit while I attend end of year stuff with the kids.  That's the only way I was able to do field trips and field day.  Field Day was the day before school let out and I was excited to go help Hailey's class.  Lauren tagged along with me and felt like such a big kid and blended right in with the first graders.  I was assigned about nine kids to take around to the different stations and it really was a lot of fun!!  There was a bounce house obstacle course and moon walk, popsicles, marble grab, duck duck goose, hoola hoop relay, wet sponge relay, and a station to get sprayed with the water hose.  The weather was gorgeous and it was sweet to see Hailey interacting with her friends.  There was a time during the day when my heart swelled and I realized exactly why I think school is so fantastic for kids and I realized that I would never ever homeschool my children (not that homeschooling is bad, but for us it isn't the way to go).  I'll save that for another post, but it really did make me happy to see the kids playing and having a fun time together and everyone working as a team.   

Applebees Fieldtrip

A few days before school was out, I got to chaperone Ethan's grade to Applebees for lunch.  I had never heard of a class taking such a fieldtrip, but earlier in the month he came home with a permission slip with a few kids meal options for him to choose from.  He checked off "mini cheeseburgers" and was pretty excited about the ordeal.  I have to admit I was very impressed with how organized it all was.  The servers sure didn't get paid what they should have because they went above and beyond the call of duty and made the experience a lot off fun for everyone.  I love chaperoning fieldtrips when I can because it's a good chance to see my kids in their natural element with their friends.  So far, I have been blown away at what social butterflies each of them are!  Jacob and Issac from Mrs. Nichols class sat at our table and the three boys laughed the entire time!

Hailey's French Program

Hailey completed her second year in the French Immersion program at school and has completely flourished.  We love getting to hear her speak French, but it's not that often because she is very timid to do so.  She doesn't realize she knows the language if she is not in an immersed setting, speaking with another fluent speaker.  Her comprehension of the language is just about fluent, and her speaking ability isn't terribly far behind.  At the end of the school year in June the first and second grades put on a combined program where each class got to show off what they had learned, mainly through song.  I won't lie-  it was a terribly long program and why the school didn't decide to split it into TWO separate nights is beyond me.  There wasn't nearly enough seating, the auditorium was burning hot, you could barely hear anything because of the blaring fans at the back of the room, and we actually had to sit through some duplicate songs from different classes.  But, getting to see Hailey up there made it all worth it.  We ended the night by tradition of going to Baskin and Robbins for ice cream.  We sure are proud of our little Mademoiselle Hailey!!

Father's Day 2013

Fathers Day this year was pretty simple and low key, and it followed suit as with most other years.  We made Dad's traditionally tie earlier in the week and covered it with pictures of the kids, and we took the traditionally Fathers Day picture before church.  That afternoon Dad got to take a nap and then we had steak for dinner.  The best part of the day, as always, is the reading of the "Thoughts On Dad" book.  The book is filling up nicely and it's always a lot of fun to look back over the years and read old questions and answers to see how the kids evolve.  Lauren's answers this year took first place for being the funniest!!  You can see the video of it HERE. 

The kid have never been in school over Fathers Day, but since we are on year round now they got to+ make him some cards and gifts.  Hailey made him a card in French and a painted rock that he has sitting in his office.  She also gave him a Wackamole game.  Devin got him a rocket (that we still need to go launch), Garrett gave him a new grilling apron, Ethan gave him some new fishing supplies, and Lauren gave him Otter Pops.  That's what she wants to give him every year! 

As you can see, the kids had the atomic high sillies all night long and Devin wouldn't keep his clothes on.  It's a losing battle with that one!!  After presents we had delicious chocolate cake with strawberry sauce.  I think Cody had a pretty good day!!

Lava Hot Springs- Day 3

I got up early and made a pretty dang good breakfast burrito buffet for everyone.  Cameron and Bree, Kara, Grandma and Grandpa all showed up at the house a little after 9:00 and we all chowed down.

We had originally tried to schedule a time when all six grown children and their families would be in Lava and overlap each other.  Long story short, it ALMOST happened but didn't quite.  But knowing that there would be a morning when all eleven grandkids would be together, we decided to do a photo shoot of just the grandkids and grandparents.  I put my photog skills to use and out of 147 shots and lots of test lighting, this was the best one.  Shhhh....don't tell tell but we are blowing it up and framing it and giving it to Jane and Allan for their anniversary in September.  And thanks to Lance, we got all the kids laughing in a lot of the pictures.  In some of them, the kids were laughing TOO much.  I'm not sure what he was doing behind me, but he got them all smiling so I don't care!  After the shoot I grabbed each of our kids individually and snapped some of them because our formal living room photo wall needs a little updating.

Garrett 2 years old

Devin 3 1/2 years old

Lauren 6 years old (next month)

Hailey 7 1/2 years old

Ethan 9 1/2 years old

After playing all morning and then eating sandwiches and leftovers for lunch, everyone wanted to head down to the park for a water balloon launching war.  Several years ago Lance made these incredible water balloon launchers and we have used them quite a bit over the years.  So the guys spent the morning filling water balloons for a mid-day attack.  Since Garrett hadn't had a nap the day before and because my allergies were KILLING me, I opted to stay behind and let him sleep.  I ended up lying down with him for a couple of hours and staying inside made me feel a little better.  I hated to miss out on the fun, bu Cody took the camera and took some great pictures. 

At 3:00 Cameron and Bree had to hit the road to make the trek back to Colorado Springs.  Soon after they left, Megan and Tyler showed up.  Megan drove all the way from Indiana with her trusty dog Max (whom the girls fell madly in love with) and was touring all over Idaho while on break from being a professor.  Tyler had been called out a couple of days before to fight a wildfire and we weren't getting out hopes up that he'd make it at all.  But make it he did, and it was so good to see them.  It's just too bad that everyone wasn't there at the same time. 

We decided to go tube the Portneuf River before coming back for a late dinner.  Yup, Cody and I took all five kids down the river and it was soooo fun.  I miss doing that kind of thing in Texas!  And thanks to my trusty Samsung waterproof camera, I was able to catch some of the action while we went down the rapids.  Garrett tubed like a boss on the first ride down, but on the second ride down he was too cold and wasn't as happy.  He never cried, just kept yelling "Me get off!!!" 

It was almost an incident free activity, but halfway down the second river run Grandma flipped out of her tube on a very steep/sharp rapid drop and cut her head really bad on a rock beneath the surface.  It bled PROFUSELY and poor Carson saw the whole thing and then saw his grandma draped over her tube as she tried to get her marbles straight again, all while blood poured all over her and the tube and into the river.  Hailey, Garrett, and I didn't see it happen because we were quite a ways down the river already, but thanks to the help of several other tubers (to of which happened to be EMTs) they got her to the banks and someone called for an ambulance.  Because it was a head wound and so much blood, it was hard to tell the extent of the injury.  But the paramedics cleaned her up and treated her and the Grandpa drove her the thirty miles to Pocatello to get stitched up at the ER.  She had a CT scan and a concussion was ruled out, so several hours later we had her back at the house with us.

Being shuttled back up the hill to tube the river AGAIN!!

I swear I should compete in the Baby Holding Olympics.  It's amazing what all I can do while holding a baby, including walking up muddy banks with a baby and giant double tube in tow.

After Jane and Allan left for the hospital, Megan, Tyler, me and the kids walked about a mile to a part of the river where the warm spring met with the cold rover water.  It was fun to ump in and play in, although the kids were a little leery of the fast moving water.  I broke my shoe when I jumped in, but that's what I get for wearing flip flops.  I absolutely love swimming in naturally fed water.  I think that's why Schlitterbahn is my favorite water park above all others.!!

Aunt Megan sharing her shaved ice with Garrett.

When we finally made it back to the house, Lance and Courtnee put the final touches in DELICIOUS slow cooked, pulled bbq pork sandwiches.  They were amazing!!  Every played, made 'smores, and Tyler and Cody taught the kids some new card games.  It's just a matter of time before they teach them poker.  That seems to be an Andrew right of passage!  Jane and Allan finally made it back at 10:00 and we all stayed outside and sat by the fire for another half hour before we decided it's been a long day and everyone was exhausted.