Camping

At the beginning of August, Luke and Tom went to Luke's first Cub Scout camp. It was good to get some one-on-one time, since sometimes he seems to suffer from third-child syndrome.

We slept in lovely canvas tents, with state-of-the-art air conditioning (open the flaps). They did have metal cots and mattresses, which made for better sleeping. The mosquito nets really weren't all that necessary, since the bugs weren't too bad that weekend.

We went swimming in a very cold pool, but couldn't go out in a row boat on the lake, because there was too much wind that day.

He got to do all sorts of fun stuff like making and racing rubber-band paddle boats (shown here), and learned about knots, spiders, plants, and trees.

The food was decent, and they had the coffee available for adults 24-7.

Caribou, it was not.

The thing he was looking forward too the most was getting to shoot BB guns. I guess he hadn't ever shot anything more than a Nerf gun before, and every boys likes guns, right?

The Boy Scouts take safety VERY seriously, and I think these BB guns had a hard time puncturing the paper targets, but he still thought it was cool.

He did seem a little disappointed that there wasn't much noise to them. Just a little "pffft". His aim was pretty good.

At the end of the weekend, Luke said what he liked the best was archery. I think maybe it was because of the non-noise of the BB guns.

Even though he is right-handed, they tested his eye-dominance (which eye you naturally favor to aim), and he ended up shooting the bow and the BB gun left handed.

He got to ride a pony, which he thought was really cool. We could tell that Emma was going to be jealous when she heard.

The camp staff was very enthusiastic, and very goofy. Perfect for a 7-year old boy's sense of humor. It was a great weekend, but we were glad to get home, and Melissa was glad to have us home.

Okay, this post will be my monthly "I need to vent" post. There hasn't been a moment of down-time in so long, I forgot how it felt to sit for a few minutes on our comfy couch and watch tv, and it was only a few minutes. So, after we arrived home from our Adventureland trip, which was very fun, yet exhausting, Tom and Nicholas had to pack to go camping for four days, yea for them. Of course that means that I get the crazy three alone for four days, grrrr. So, we survived with few mishaps and today I thought I would have some free time at last. Well, I got up and went to yoga, which I had been looking forward to all week. It was great, but only 1 hour long, and I needed about 23 more hours to feel refreshed. I did some school shopping, alone, thank goodness. Then I took Emma to her yoga class and came home to Tom making chicken soup. Of course, it sounded like a good idea earlier in the week to make the broth from chicken bones, so the house was steaming and the kitchen was a disaster. Then I had to make the noodles. The kids love home made noodles so I had THAT mess to deal with as well. (along with the breakfast mess that hadn't gotten cleaned up yet...) I had too many helpers, the puppy pulling on me and dough up to my elbows. We sat down to eat in the steamy dining room, every one was crabby from not enough sleep and too much together time. As I dove into cleaning the kitchen and washing dishes, Charlie comes dashing in and says that he might have had an accident in his pants, then he clarifies, "A long wet pee." Ugh. So as I was cleaning up Charlie and the floor, Hershey is trying to get into the bathroom to get Charlie's wet clothes. (Hershey loves to chew on the kids' dirty underwear and Charlie's wet pull ups from the night before--I am sure you are cringing now! The dog digs thru laundry baskets to find them!) I send Charlie downstairs to get ready for a shower. I kindly asked Nicholas to take the dog outside while I get Charlie cleaned up because Hershey is at my feet ALL THE TIME, he definitely loves me the most, yea for me. As I was helping Charlie with his shower, I hear Hershey thumping down the stairs. He dashes in the bathroom and jumps in the shower with Charlie. ARRGGG. I guess Herhsey is getting a shower too. He was thrilled to be in there until he realized he was staying there until he was cleaned, then he wiggled and bit until he was set free.

After that was all done, I only had the rest of the kitchen to be cleaned (which Tom helped with) three loads of laundry to fold, 2 more kids to get showered and put to bed. I am not sure why things seem so crazy these days, but I am barely keeping up. I fantasize about having a few hours with nothing to do but read a book or listen to some relaxing music and meditating, or maybe finish a baby blanket for my great-niece, who was born over a month ago. I don't anticipate things getting any easier when school/work starts, but at least I won't be stuck at home with four kids and a puppy. Stuck seems like a drastic word, but after 3 months of togetherness, we are more like stuck together, not such a great feeling for one who needs her space to feel normal! I suppose in 20 years I will be lonely and wish these times were here again, but right now, I could use a week feeling lonely. (It used to be, "I just need a day where I am not responsible for this crew, well, it has officially become a week!) Tomorrow is a new day! I will just take a deep breath and do the best I can! All done with my rant. No more crabbing on the blog for at least a month, I promise.

The day after...

Okay, this is really backwards, read below and it will start to make sense.

THE FROG HOPPER, ONE OF THE FAVORITES!

Aunt Jen, Uncle Brian and their brood.

The Wallisch portion of the Molln/Williams group, and what a fine looking family they are!

Aunt Jen waited in line, not once, but TWICE to take her neices on the log ride. The squeals were audible from a one mile radius from this point!

Pretty Chloe!

Here are the random pics I talked about below, I am still trying to figure out the layout of this website. I guess I can't complain for something free...

Adventureland Trip 2009

We just returned from our annual Adventureland trip, and oh, did we have fun! Our group of 19 welcomed #20, miss Chloe Marie, age 2 months and Adventureland novice. She did great! Especially appreciated were the smiles and coos she gave one of her favorite aunts...

The cousins swam and played in the arcade until they could barely keep their eyes open. My four were sleeping within seconds of hitting the pillow each night. I guess now I know how to get Emma to fall asleep at night! We will just have to move into the Adventureland Inn.

Here are a few of our crew on Molly the Trolley, a favorite of the kids (the trolley takes us from the hotel to the park)

Maddie is an honorary Molln/Williams family member, she has been coming with us every year and is a joy to be around!

The best part of this weekend was that there were NO medical emergencies! Ha ha! I actually saw the EMT that misdiagnosed me last year while at the park. I thought about asking if he remembered me! No hard feelings, of course.

Luke was his dare devil self, going on the silly silo and the outlaw roller coaster. Nicholas seems to be in awe of Luke's adventurous spirit, but he still decides to take the safe route like his mama!

Emma added the outlaw roller coaster this year to her list of "I did it!" rides. Charlie wanted to try everything, but he wa"not quite tall enough". I feel like I said that a million times! He made new friends on every ride, mostly girls between 4-7 years old. He is so outgoing! Nicholas played it safe and chose the safer big kid rides, but he made up for this safety and decided to eat a bit of everything in the park, he eats more than I do!

I will let the random pictures tell the rest of the story, enjoy!