Back to school

The day has arrived.  Who knew 6 and a half years ago that this day would get here?  The day that my gaggle of children are in school ALL day.  I have a flooding of mixed emotions.  A week ago I scheduled a "Back to school celebration for Mamas."  I was at my wits end and was so ready for them to be back in school and away from each other and all of the bickering.  I needed some girl time and something to look forward to!

This morning I was feeling the same way.  We were all ready and happy for school to start.  They laughed at the idea of me throwing a party when they returned to school.  I told them I would be here crying all day and missing them terribly.  They giggled and responded with a, "Yeah, right!"

My friends arrived, we ate, chatted, made mimosas and chatted more, until 12.  I cleaned up, went on a bike ride and came home to a quiet house.  It was almost eery.  I caught up on more chores, and got to work on this neglected blog.  Throughout the day, I kept pausing, looking around, waiting, for a sound, for a crash, for a giggle, a scream, fighting words, nothing.  It was weird.  I think I can get used to it, but wow, what a milestone! 

I promised the girls that I would be out at the bus stop waiting for them, and I was.  I was anxious to see them and hear about their days.  All three bounded off the bus with huge smiles.  All is right in the world,  they are going to be just fine.  All of their teachers are wonderful, I just can't believe I am handing off all of my babies to these wonderful ladies, who are going to influence them just as much, or more than Kent and me.

 

Birthday Celebrations!

Brayden decided he didn't want to have a huge, invite the neighborhood birthday bash this year.  He wanted to have a slumber party....not sure which is worse.  He researched on Pinterest and got an idea for his cake and he took over.  I could not have done a better job, it was amazing.  So proud of his angry birds design.

 

 

 

When the 5 boys got here we did an Olympic games tournament.  It was a huge success.  It was nice to see each boy excel at different games.  They were all happy with the results.

 

I can't believe my boy is 9 years old!  How did I get old enough for this craziness?

Pickleball

                                                Kent showing off his skills.

Our fabulous friends, Steph and Keith had their 6th annual pickleball tournament this Summer.  It is always a fun day that we all look forward to.  They grill, rent a bounce house/water slide for the kids and they had an organized scavenger hunt this year.  Everyone was thoroughly entertained! 
I missed it last year because I was in Nashville celebrating Kenzie's bachelorette weekend.  I didn't get to see Kent take home the first place title and the coveted jar of pickles.  :) 

        
                                                                 Brayden

Ellie, I don't know why she is standing like that.  With her tinkle issues this summer, I guess I should have been more concerned. 

                                   
                                                                      Danielle

                                                      Our nephew, Owen

Kelly ended up taking first prize this year.  Kent was bummed because his partner (they draw teams, mixed doubles, no spouses) had to take her son to the urgent care and the replacement wasn't quite as strong of a player.  They got knocked out right away.  My team got third, there's always next year!

Summer fun!

We rented a boat again this year out on Lake Coeur d' Alene.  It was a hot 90+ degree Saturday.  The kids were thrilled.  We hit the water and tubed for about 2 hours then we shut the motor down and had some lunch.  When I went to start it back up again, it made a horrible grinding noise. Over and over and over.  Long story short, we were stranded out on the lake for over an hour drifting toward the shore.  Kent jumped in and held the boat in place and kept us off the bank.  The owner came out on a pontoon boat, tied up our speed boat on the back, and we putted back to the dock.  It took FOREVER!  By that time we were done with the sun and heat.  It all worked out and they ended up refunding our money, so we got 2 hours of tubing and a lot of lake time for free.

                                                            Brayden ready to bounce and jump.

          Ellie, the little speed demon. 

                                                  Dani, the cruiser, likes to take it slow.

                                               Swimming with my babies.

                                           Showing Brayden how to dive, look at that form.  :)

                                                 He opted for a cannon ball.

                                                             Kent cannon balling in.

                          
                                                                Dani with a little jump.

                           
                                      Kent and the babies.  Memories were definitely made this day!

This picture cracks me up.  It looks like Dani is in jail, but she's hanging at the skate park.

Girls weekend!

 

Ahh, girls weekend.  The weekend I was looking forward to all year, and it didn't disappoint.  When I say girls weekend, I mean a weekend away with those girls that know you better than anyone.  Those girls that grew up with you, those girls who went through all of that drama time and time again and were there for you each and every time.  These friendships have endured for 20-30+ years.  I feel so fortunate to have found such true friends so early in life.  Who knew that in Kindergarten Jocey and I would still have so much in common 30 years later?

I digress, but this weekend gave me a break from my regular routine and I could be me, not the Mama, or the wife or the caregiver, or the fixer upper, or the therapist or the lost and finder.  I got to be me, the me that they know so well, and accept as is.

My weekend started Thursday morning at 3:16 am when I woke up and couldn't fall back to sleep.  I had a 6 am flight to catch so I just went with it.

Kathy picked me up, we headed to Meghan's house, then we were on our way to Meghan's condo in Sunriver!  I was beyond ecstatic.  My parent's had a cabin there while I was growing up, we spent a lot of time there and I hadn't been back for over 10 years.

It felt like coming home when we took that familiar exit and navigated around the round abouts.  I was like a giggly little kid.  That night when everyone arrived, I was so content.  We laughed until we cried, we talked about everything, put it all on the table, right off the bat mind you; husbands, kids, jobs, the funny, the dirty, the ordinary, the usually untalked about.  I LOVE my 'Couve girls and I can't wait until next  year, especially when Kym will be able to join us.

 

 

                                Cute Megs at 10 barrel after we hammered these amazing nachos.

                                                            Crux fermentation project

                                                      Our hiking trails.

The old road signs from when I was a kid, now a decoration in the village pub.  I wanted to take them home.  :)

 

There's my plane, 6am and ready to take off.

The girls and m in front of my family's old cabin.  This is where we stayed for a week on our senior trip.  Memories were made that week.  :)

 

                                                                   Pi & Lins

                                               On our hike, Jocey, Lins, Kathy, Pi and Megs

                      Kathy and I rode the tandem all through Sunriver.  The first hill we went down I discovered the brakes didn't work well, although the squeaked REAL loud.  A guy moved off the path and said, "Wow, that looks dangerous."  Kathy and I were dying laughing, we had everything under control.  It was an adventure.

                                                   Megs, Pi and Lins. 
Megs and Lins had cruisers, Lindsey was riding Meghan's husbands, which was a wee bit too big.  She was not thrilled.  Her arms looked like they were on ape hangers.  (you know, those bad ass handle bars that are on some Harleys).

                                                 The infamous river in Sunriver.

Pool time!  Cute Pi and Lins working the hats.

                        Sunriver airport that Kathy, Pi and I cruised by on our long bike ride.

 

Kathy and I cruised, Pi raced with her road bike and helmet.  :)  I love it!

 

Remnants from the hike. 

My overachiever

This is my boy, Brayden.  I have always thought that he was a good mix between Kent and I.  However, with this whole scouting thing, I can just picture Kent as a boy.  Brayden is such a determined, eager, honest, friendly boy, especially when it comes to scouting.

The honey and camp card sales took place in the Spring.  Brayden was the top seller for our pack of 56 boys, for both camp cards and honey.  He won a $50 Walmart gift card from the boy scout council for his honey sales.  It is now JULY and I was notified just last week that Brayden won an iPad for his camp card sales!  We wanted to surprise him, which meant that I  had to keep the secret for a whole week, until it was presented to him.  I am pretty sure he asked me at least 3 times if the winners were announced.  (We were supposed to find out in June).

I think he was in shock and disbelief, it was pretty sweet.  It goes to show that if you sell $1400  worth of products, you may be lucky enough to win the good stuff!  Way to go Brayden, we couldn't be more proud of you!

Bring on the screen time battles.  :)

River rats!

 With the 100 degree days that we have been having, we decided to hit the river one Friday night.  It's kind of crazy how warm the water temperature is now.

 Brayden steering his passengers around in the boat that Kent had as a kid.  The thing is so old, but in such good condition.  I don't know how it hasn't dry rotted after all these years.  But that's my husband for you, keeping everything neat and orderly.  I love it!

 

These pictures were taken right before Ellie came over to me, where I was standing on the beach and said, "I have to go potty."

Me being the lazy mom (and apparently dirty mom) that I am, said, "Do you want to walk ALL the way to the bathroom, or just go in the water?"

E:  "How do I go in the water?"  With a look of amazement on her face. 

Are you kidding me?  So somewhat sarcastically I said, "You go in the water and  you tinkle through  your swimsuit.  Make sure you leave your bottoms on!"

She scurries off and I proceed to put my camera away, and check my blood sugar, when I look up, not even two minutes later, to see Ellie standing on the shore, toes barely in the water, legs spread hip width apart with a steady yellow stream gushing out.

Oh my, oh  my, oh my god!  "ELLIE!"  (Thinking, I can't believe she is doing this, I can't believe I wasn't more clear, I can't believe there are two women standing five feet away from her pointing and chuckling.  I don't think I want to draw more attention to her.  I really hope she doesn't come back here to talk to me.  I really hope she goes directly out to swim....