12 U 10 pt.3 ::drum roll plz::

Now, for the moment you've all been waiting for.......

After the funtivities were over up at the cabin, we all headed back down to Phil & Milly's house.  But did we just veg at the house cuz we were all dead tired?  Did we all just take naps and try to recuperate from the constant entertaining-of-kids which had occurred for the previous 4 days?

Not if this one had anything to say about it.

That's SM2003 explaining how this whole thing was gonna go down.  But first a wider shot of the decor.

The events are as follows:

1) Ring toss (no photos taken)

2) Treasure Hunt on the Shore of the River (SM2003 had buried some candy and little toys in the sand earlier)

3) Obstacle Course

Here is Mr. Thomas navigating the intense Tire Running portion of the obstacle course.  There were also  Army Crawling Under Chairs, Walking On Rocks, and Scooter Riding segments as well. 

4) Photo Booth

SM2003 had brought a bunch of funny dress up props.  Here are a few of my favorite concoctions.

5) Bobbing for Water Balloons:  Not as easy as it looks, folks.  Especially for a couple of the kids who were missing some front teeth.

6) Visor decorating! (aka, make your own party favor)

  

7) Then a lunch of "carnival foods" such as hot dogs, chips, drinks, etc.  And for dessert?  A Cupcake Decorating Station, of course!

Although the THOUGHT of pulling this off was exhausting, once it got going (I was feeding off of SM2003's energy there for a while) it was fabulous.  The kids loved it & will, no doubt, want to do it again year after year.  We are hoping that next time the older kids will want to help out at the stations more which would make it easier on us.

PS I highly suggest getting yourself a SIL/aunt like SM2003 ASAP. Just FYI IMHO.

12 Kids Under 10 pt. 2

Before I get on with it already, I simply must share the rest of the fabulous reunion we had with the Landerson side of the family in July. 

On day 2 of the fun, Milly added a falcon twist in the plans and we were off on a hike of epic proportions!  K, it was about a mile, but still.  It felt epic and that's what matters.

It was a bit chillier there than we had anticipated so we wrapped up in whatever we could find in the back of the cars (beach towels, blankets, Phil's jackets, etc.) and headed on our way.

Tbone was in his element.  He's not a "stay on the beaten path" kind of a kid.  We only lost him once at the very end when he "saw something in the woods and walked toward it."  I wanna cry for his future scout camp leaders. 

 

Beebs & Allybear....just seeing this pic made Beebee say "I wish they could come to our house" with a big saddy face.

Blane & Dotty!

A few of our more adventuresome explorers walked around Lake Wellington to the glacier.  Yes, it's a glacier...now shhh.

The Preston Family.  Cute as buttons!

A full view of the cute little lake, and the cute little girl.

Allybear wuvs me.

Blane & my other BIL, Joe were brave enough to do the rope swing across the way.  Due to the aforementioned glacier and my being a wuss, I just watched from afar.  Can you see him there dangling in the air? 

Brrrrrr.

VOTE VOTE VOTE

Please for you to go here and vote on the internet machine.

I don't really care which ONE you vote for, just vote for the best ONE.

Mkay?

And may the best ONE win!!!!

12 Kids Under 10= Enjoyable. Really!

I figured I'd better get going on my Utah/Bear Lake Reunion Recapping before we head off to Idaho and I take a brazillion more pictures.

In mid-July we set off on a two week adventure to Utah.  The first week was low key.  We hung around Logan & did the usual Logan things.  We also took a phone call that our dog was dying, but that's another story.

Then over that weekend we had a huge reunion with all of Milly's side of the family.  200+ peeps.  0- pictures taken by me.  Ah well...I saw some cameras though so if I ever run across any I'll be sure and post.  It was fun, especially after the lunch Milly & Co. (that's us) was in charge of was over.  A taco bar for 200 people is stressful, you gize!

Then the next week was just the Phil & Milly Landerson reunion up at Bear Lake.  This is where intense cousin bonding ensued.

Here is the best pic I got of all of the cousins in one place.

This one is more typical, however.

And this is what the JBird endured for most of the week in one form or another.

I think you know these people.  This is a view from their cabin.  5th hole of golf course right off the deck is a must when you're dealing with Phil.

You might think this is just a pic of two of my kids.  Look again, suckah!

We spent one day down at the beach where these single ladies sunbathed, swam and snacked all the live long day. We also rented a couple of jet skis for everyone's (except mine) enjoyment.  As you can see below, I was in charge of the babies.  That's right, I sacrificed freezing my butt off in the lake with the wind cutting through me like a knife to sit & hold the cutest babies ever.  I'm a giver like that.

 

Group shot on the beach!  I think this is 72% of us.

In between jet ski rides, Tbone kept himself busy by building this pile of sand. If you wanted to help you had to shovel it on there in a certain way.  He was quite specific. So....yeah.

Tune in next time for our hike (Yes!  We hiked!  Like, with our feet and stuff!) and, the piece de resistance.... the Cousin Carnival (You don't wanna miss this.  It's SM2003 at her finest!!).

Butthead Manor

This is how Beebs & her BFrenemyF, Sarah, entertain themselves during JBird's football practices.  

"Mommy!  LOOK at our CASTLE!"

Delightful.

Unusually Schooly For This Time of Year

The rumors are true.  School started today.

"What?" you say, practically dropping your drink you were casually sipping by the pool.

"Yes," I respond, adding in fake sign language so you understand me better.  "School.  Today.  Started."

"That can't be!" you exclaim. "It's only August 4th!  Summer is just now hitting its stride!"

"You're preaching to the choir," I reply, waving my hand in disgust.  "But look, they at least SEEM happy to be going back, don't they?"

Case Study #1

JBird Landerson.  First day of 5th grade.  New backpack.  New tshirt complete with creases.  Hair coiffed just so.  Teeth brushed and sparkling.  Big smile.  Excited to have lots of good friends in his class this year.  Loves school.

Case Study #2

TBone Landerson. First day of 3rd grade.  New backpack.  New tshirt complete with creases.  Hair...um,  still damp from his morning shower and looking dorkier than usual.  Teeth brushed (?).  Semi-smile (as good as I got anyway).  Promises to focus & listen to 3rd grade teacher (who seems quite young and has me worried she my not have encountered "someone like him" before).  Has two quiet, well-behaved girls from church in his class who I have already put on my payroll as full-time spies.  They are to report to their mothers and their mothers are to report to me.  Always gotta be one step ahead on this one.

Um...

School year 2010-2011 is underway!  You can rest assured I will keep you posted on any, ahem, developments and what not.  In the mean time I'm gonna pretend summer is still going and the boys are just outside playing from 8:30-3:30p every day.  New wrinkle though... due to extreme budget issues they are now charging 50 cents for each ONE WAY bus ride to school.  For you math whizzes, that would be $1/day/kid!  What???  So guess who gets to drive and pick up every day?  Thank goodness it's just a couple miles down the road, but still.  Buggy.  Luckily pick up time is right during Sonic's happy hour though (<---my Pollyanna is showing).

Overwhelmed & Overloaded

That is what I think of when I look back on this summer.

Overwhelmed.

Overloaded.

As I sit here watching "One-Hit Wonders of the '80s" on VH1 (#7 is Modern English's "Melt With You" by the way), I can not believe I'm even coherent enough to tell you all about it.  I know travelogues are boring but if I don't document this in some way, well, what is my posterity gonna know about the summer of 2010??  I mean, right?  Their future testimonies might depend on this post, you gize!!

I'll do a quick overview here today, with pictures to keep it interesting, and then I will go back in future posts and get more detailed (again, for my posterity, not for indulgent nonsense purposes).

JUNE 24

Photographed one of my favorite people of all time for her senior pictures while the boys ventured off to Cub Scout Day Camp.   I present to you Taylor.  I wish I were her when I was 17.  Funny, friendly, charismatic, spiritual, adorable....she's the total package.  If she didn't think it was so awkward I'd hang out with her on the weekends. 

(#4 is Tommy Tutone's "867-5309/Jenny" just FYI)

JUNE 26

Maggie has a vet appointment where a "full geriatric panel" was done on her blood, she got her yearly shots, etc.  Her blood work came back perfect & we started her on some arthritis medicine (which I promptly ordered 3 months worth of totaling about $180).  I know this seems random but it's important information for later.

JUNE 29

Fly to Las Vegas, where I meet Kimi, and we hitch a ride from Jespy to Bako for some Eclipse fun.  I didn't get my camera out, like, at all so click here for all the deets on that.  We ate at a restaurant three meals a day (my stomach still hasn't shrunk back to its original size), hung out with the Visors, saw the midnight showing of Eclipse about 2 feet from the screen, played games, chatted like school girls, saw Eclipse from a normal distance the second day, and ate way too many caramels.   I loved that trip.

JULY 2

Drive back to Vegas with Jespy & Kimi, hit the Pawn Stars pawn shop (Rick, Chumlee & the Old Man weren't there...bummer.  Neither was the disgusting son thank goodness) & fly home to Denver.

JULY 5

Drop Maggie off at our friends' house north of Denver and head to UT for a two week vaycay chock full of reunions & family fun.

JULY 6

Our friends call us and say that Maggie is "not doing well."  Her breathing had suddenly become labored & she wasn't moving or responding.  They take her into an Emergency Animal Hospital where it's determined she is in congestive heart failure.  After some discussion of options we decided it was time to let her go.  We all bawled & bawled all night and still have moments of sadness.  She was our baby before we had babies!  We've had her for 12 of our 14 years of marriage.  The worst part was being in Utah & having to make the decision but, at the same time, I'm almost glad I get to just remember her wagging her tail as we left her in Colorado.

It became more of a reality when we got home & she wasn't around the house.  I've had to stop myself from finding her before I got to bed or checking the back door to see if she's there waiting to go in or out.  I also hadn't realized  how much we dropped on the floor at meal times....we are total slobs.  I had no idea that Maggie had her own chores she did everyday (cleaning up our mess) but that does explain her being overweight. Oopsy.    She was a good dog & will be missed.

JULY 9&10

Camp Beaver (which is code for Gty's mom's side of the family's family reunion) in Ogden, UT.  Again, no pics taken by me.  I just enjoyed the meals, Olympics & night games and visiting.

JULY 11

My sweet Uncle Visor passed away after a four year struggle with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease).  I have never been so glad to have just been to Bakersfield in my life as I had just visited with him a couple weeks before.

JULY 12-15

 Bear Lake reunion with Gty's side of the family.  I will do an extensive post on this later but rest assured, there was never a dull moment.

JULY 16

I fly to LAX from SLC.  I meet my parents there and we drive up to Bakersfield for UV's funeral.  How adorable was he, huh??

JULY 21-24

Go to Girl's Camp.  More on that later.

JULY 24

HotPants & fam stop by on their way through Denver.  They were supposed to stay the night but decided to just stop for dinner & keep going.  Apparently driving with sleeping kids is easier & more pleasant than driving with awake kids....whaaa????    Fine.

Also on JULY 24

Gty & the boys flew to SanFran for some boys' trip fun.  They went to a Giants game, an Oakland A's game, toured Alkatraz and then headed up to Eureka where Phil's family lives.   This means Beebs & I have been here alone all week.  I've been decompressing from the summer's activities while trying to keep Beebs entertained.   But the summer festivities will continue on....

JULY 30

The boys return from their trip.

AUG 2

Beebs starts gymnastics.

AUG 3

JBird starts his tackle football season with four practices a week in August!  (TBone will be starting soccer soon too but I'm not sure of the exact date)

AUG 4

The boys start school.  5th grade for the JBird and 3rd grade for Tbone.  This is the first time I'm dreading it.  It's too soon to get back on a strict schedule and I feel like we haven't even been home.  Ah well,  unless I'm gonna homeschool I guess I don't really have a choice here.

AUG 17

Fly to Boise for my side of the family's family reunion.  Well, really my Dad's and AV's side of the family.  It'll be a good time.  We were waffling in our decision of whether we would go or not but now that the tickets are booked I'm excited.

Are you still reading this?  If so, you probably won't be surprised to find out that "Come On Eileen" was the #1 one-hit wonder of the 80s.