Camping

Our First Camping Trip

"Leave nothing but footprints. 

Take nothing but pictures. 

Kill nothing but time."

I have been so excited to introduce the world of camping to my kids and this past weekend we were finally able to take our first overnight camping trip.

...and let me tell you - 

it was a wonderful experience!

(this was Mia's face the entire trip - nonstop smiling!)

Shortly after arriving at our campsite ,a storm started to roll in, so we went to the docks and watched the boats come off the water.

...then we went and had ice cream at Boondocks - a grill and bait shop at the campgrounds.

After our ice cream, we went back to the tent.

We relaxed on our sleeping bags, listened to the rain pitter patter against the tent, and made funny faces at each other every time the thunder rumbled.  

It was lovely.

It wasn't long before the storm passed and the sky was ablaze with a beautiful, fiery sunset!

As the sun sat, we roasted weiners,

(There's "Hollywood" in the background - dancing like a diva)

and made 'smores.

(notice Mason nibbling on the chocolate.  he doesn't say he made 'smores, but he says he made crackers and chocolate)

(there's "Hollywood" again...)

(here's Mia eating her "smore")

(this was her face right after her very first bite of a graham cracker.  she looooved it!)

After dinner, we played at the park...

and hung out at the campsite - 

playing ball and lighting sparklers!

Me and my baby girl.

"Hollywood" spent a good portion of her night taking pictures of us on her camera.



As the day came to a close, we snuggled up around the campfire...

...and I couldn't stop thinking about how lucky I am.

....the kiddos sound asleep.

The next morning, Mason was up and ready for the day at 5:30 and we had to convince him to go back to sleep, which he did after a short back rub.  A couple of hours later, it was rise and shine time.  The kids were up, sitting around the fire, eating their muffins.

I moved from calling her "Hollywood" to "Curly Sue".  The humidity was doing wonders on her hair!

(Makayla fell down and got a boo-boo on her knee the night before and this is a picture of her showing Mason, wanting some sympathy from him.)

After eating breakfast and packing up our tent, we headed to the beach -

(Makayla practicing her swimming)

(Mason so intently watching people launch their boats)

What a great time we had and such wonderful memories were made!

We are already looking forward to the next time.

(my kiddos lovin' life!)

P.S.  

Some things we need to bring with us next time that we didn't bring this time:
Garbage bags

Jiffy Pop (I CANNOT believe that I forgot that!)
Mace (...you never know)

Games (like a deck of cards)

...and we'd also like to bring some friends with us next time!

Popsicle

Oooooh, momma!  This popsicle!!  It's sooooo good!

mia's first popsicle

Did David Die?

Just when I think all the kids are asleep in bed, I jump into the bath tub for 'me time'.  5 minutes into the soak, the door cracks open.  It's Makayla.  I invite her in.

She sits down next to the tub, asks me if my water is hot and if it feels good, and begins lotioning her arms and legs.

She talks for a little bit and I listen. 

She tells me that she thinks she got bit by a fly today on her leg but isn't sure how that would have happened since she was wearing tights.

(yes, only my daughter would wear tights on a 90 degree day and fit into a 12 month size bumble bee costume)

After several minutes of her talking about her fly bite, she decides to go deep.

Real deep.

Out of the blue, she asks me if David died.

She is referring to my Uncle Dave who died two years ago around Christmas.  To read more about that, you can read these two blog entries.

Ecclesiastes 3

The Next Place

This is how our conversation went:

Makayla - Did David die?

(i love how she calls him david)

Me - My Uncle Dave?

Makayla - Ya, the one who gave me that squirrel.
(he gave Mason and Makayla Rocky and Bullwinkle stuffed animals and how she remembers that, i have no idea!)

Me - Yes, he did die.

Makayla - Why?

Me - I don't know, honey.  God has a plan for everybody.

Makayla - Did he have a big belly?

Me - Yes, he did.

Makayla - Is that why he died?

Me - No, I don't think so.

Makayla - Daddy has a big belly (nodding). When is daddy going to die? 

Me - Oooh, not for a long time.  Daddy will probably be a grandpa to your babies before he dies. 

But, honey, people don't die because they have a big belly.  

(not wanting her to think that every person she sees with a bigger belly is going to die)

 Wouldn't you miss daddy if he died?

Makayla - Would you?

Me - Yes, I would miss him very much.

Makayla - When will you die?

Me - I don't know.  Would you miss me?

Makayla - Yes!  (wide eyed) But I would have to be the boss and daddy wouldn't listen to me ever!  I can't wait to be the boss.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank goodness she changed the subject after that last sentence....asking me if it hurts when I shave my legs.

Out of that whole conversation, two things amaze me -

1.  That she remembers my Uncle Dave the way she does.

2.  That she somehow associates big bellies with being a cause of death.

It's conversations like this that I try oh so carefully to choose my words correctly and appropriately.

Whewie!

See this?

This is my living room right now.

"ugh" is right.

Ridiculous.

Embarrassing.

Real life.

Don't judge.

It may be messy, but at least it's "clean".  I have 4 bottles of Clorox wipes throughout the house and a can of Lysol on the counter 24/7.
(when i get overwhelmed by looking at the clutter in the house, i think to myself that my house must be clean and free of germs & dirt because my kids didn't get sick one single time this past year.  it makes me feel better to say things like that)

It's the clutter. 

I just couldn't keep up with it this week.

And I don't want to make excuses, but throw Kevin's working 3rd shift on top of our super busy schedule this week, and the clutter/toys/junk moves to the bottom of the list when it comes to priorities.

Let's start with Thursday (because that's as far back as I can remember)

Dance Class!
Makayla had her first lesson in dance.

*it was so fun to watch these cute, giggly, little girls*

Makayla joined a summer class of tumbling and jazz.  

After her first lesson, she was in love!  She loved the studio, she loved her teacher - Miss Audra, she loved watching herself in the mirrored wall, she loved getting a sucker at the end of class, she loved it ALL.  

...and now let's move on to Friday.

Relay For Life!

This is our 3rd year in participating and being a part of Logan County's Relay for Life and if I can help it, I'll never miss a relay.

(i've noticed since having three little kids, i can't keep up with the picture taking like i used to.  a few of these pictures are taken from a friend and wonderful photographer - ann.  thank you!)

Miss Makayla and KJ coloring with chalk.  This was right after Makayla and Mason got their faces painted - a ballerina on Mak's cheek and Spiderman on Mason's cheek.

 Our dear friend, Nicole, who has fought her own battle with cancer, played an important role in making this year's Relay for Life so successful...and Friday night, she did a very brave thing - she cut her looong locks of hair to donate to somebody in need.

She's a beautiful young woman.

Brave, inspiring, and selfless. 

We're proud of her.

...and now let's move on to Saturday.

St. Jude's Warrior Dash!

The Warrior Dash is a 5K mud run with 15-20 obstacles giving participants a dirty and extremely fun way to raise money for St. Jude.

It was an awesome adrenaline rush and 

totally & completely exhilarating to finish the race.

We are looking so forward to doing it again next year!!

I'm so thankful for the memories that were made on Saturday with my husband, brother in law, and sister in law.

...and now let's move on to today - Sunday.

Father's Day!

We started the day off with going to church and continued with the series "The Pursuit of Joy".  It was a good way to start the day.

Then we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Curry's house for lunch and the kids got to play with their cousins - Tyler and Brennan.  Makayla had Tyler did a lot of playing "house".  Makayla was the baby and Tyler was the daddy.  It was cute.

Last year, I asked Makayla a few questions about her daddy and wrote her answers down.  This year, I asked the same questions to her again and I also asked Mason.

Note:  I did ask the kids separately so they couldn't copy answers.  It's apparent that their visits to the pet shop with daddy are important to them!

Dad - A son's first hero, a daughter's first love. 

Kevin is blessed!

*************************************

We've been busy.

Busy having fun.

Busy learning.

Busy enjoying life.

...and now I'm going to get busy picking up this clutter that has been staring at me for the past hour while I've been writing.

(although it drives me *bonkers* to have my living room looking like it does, 

dance classes, 

relay for life, 

running in the warrior dash, 

and celebrating father's day 

is a lot more important than making sure my living room is picked up and presentable)

In just a short while, we're going to head over to Grandma and Grandpa Allen's to end this beautiful Father's Day!