Duck Creek: Day Five "Things get interesting"

Per excitement of the Bonfire we had the night before, Jordan and Adahi went about collecting wood to make their own. Just pretend of course. I knew they were doing that, but when the boys went up to tell Grammy all they said to her was 

"Grammy, we made a bonfire!"

Grammy:  "What?" "Where?"

J & A:  "outside, over by that big Marshmallow thing"

(that big marshmellow thing was a huge Gas tank)

JJ's mom's blood pressure probably shot through the roof. The misunderstanding was eventually cleared up you can see from the picture below what their "bonfire" was.

A bunch of sticks in a sort of pile.

Thankfully a misunderstanding or they could have blown the cabin to kingdom come!

Later they were building a fort

Unfortunately Adahi is not always the most coordinated, he was just walking along the log that was 2 1/2 feet high and he fell off right after I took this picture. I rushed over and he was lying on the ground holding his leg, he wouldn't stand on it.  I carried him in the house worried he broke his leg. As Cathy and I layed him down and saw a large swollen bump on the front of his shin, my worries were confirmed. He moaned in pain for awhile and still couldn't walk on it. So she took him down to an EMT place in the village, of course when they got there he hopped out and walked all around like nothing happened. They didn't think it was broken,but advised us to watch it because it was so swollen. She got it 

x-rayed on our way out of town, thankfully just a really deep bruise. 

(note before this event,  He had already gotten 2 large goose eggs on his head from bumping into things at their house. Since this event, he busted his lip in 4 places while jumping into the pool and got stiches. He is seriously a walking accident waiting to happen, but very very lovable!)

They even share a love of Origami

We went for a little walk and the kids ended up building another fort...

Tepee fort

That night we drove around looking for deer, we saw five deer, 2 fox,1 beaver, 2 blue jays,

 and a partridge in a pear tree...

quite successful hunt I would say!

Duck Creek: Day Four Good-byes

Tuesday was unfortunately departure day for JJ and Vanessa.

We managed a hike before they had to leave to go back to work. 

The sky was such a deep blue unhindered by city smog

I about peed my pants during the hike worrying about one of the kids falling down the steep loose shale cliffs. Some of them(actually all of them) teens included, 

weren't able to evaluate risk very well.

The peak of the hike--A waterfall that shoots out of a rock. -pretty cool

aah little Honovi, my hiking buddy

She is such a spunky funny little thing that has wormed her way deep into my heart. I was sitting across from her being thoroughly entertained as she ate her Ramen. I had to grab the camera.

She eats life with a similar intensity

Attacking her brother Mikey, 

"The Hills are Alive....."

"you have a little something on your chin"

This is Zach, he was our DJ   24/7 . I have to admit there were times I got a little Cabin Beiber Fever and I just might throw up if I hear Paparazzi one more time. But it's his way of interacting and it definitely livens up the place. As you can see from these pictures he can't even take a break for Smore's.

 happiest rocking out to his tunes

There was a nest of baby birds on the roof of the deck that hatched right before we all came to the cabin. They were quite the celebrities as we watched them daily being fed by their mom. The most exciting event in the Baby Bird saga was when one of the birds lost it's balance out of the nest and teetered on the brink of death for a few minutes. Luckily for the bird there was a Rescue Squad holding a blanket underneath should the worst happen.  Even more luckily, it eventually made it back into the nest. On our last day though, the nest was empty, appearantly it takes a full week for them to grow up enough to leave the nest. 

That's some tough parenting for you.

Suicidal Baby Bird

I have to take a break in my chronicals of the cabin for this....

When I told the kids today we were going shopping for school supplies, I could have sworn they heard me say we were going to Disneyland because I heard shouts of 

"This is the best day of my life!"

"This is going to be so awesome!"

"I'm like, in such a hurry"

I told them they only like it so much because they don't have to pay for it. 

I wish I had remembered my camera because they were quite cute each pushing their own cart and checking things off their lists. One of the few drawbacks to their school is the LONG list of supplies they need. 1 full page each. When I was a kid, my mom went to the supply room at the school and purchased a pencil box, crayons, scissors, and maybe a couple folders. Today, nearly 3 hours, 3 shopping carts full, and $395 dollars later we left Wal Mart. Yep, that's why I don't get excited about school shopping. 

The reciept, about 2 feet long, 

courtesy of one of the rulers we bought.

When I really think about it, I guess it is a small price to pay for their education, and a good deal more worthwhile than a day at Disneyland, which incidentally, that total would have paid for.... 

My consolation-- 

Best purchase of the day 

 a $5 reading lamp for each to clip to their bed

(Jordan's first one-- aah simple pleasures)

Duck Creek Day Three:

Monday was my birthday and I got the royal treatment. It started with waking to the kidlets yelling the Happy Birthday song outside my door. While JJ cooked some fantastic omletts, the kids spent the morning bringing me little Happy Birthday notes and drawings. One of my favorite quotes is from Laney " You are the best mommy in the whole wide Uneverise! I love you! You are the best if I could choose any woman in the whole Uneverise I would choose you. You are wonderful. I would never want you to die..." She also wrote 10 things she loved about me, # 9 was " I can't hate you." very sweet. There were even hand and feet massages while Vanessa did my make-up. I was quite pampered.  Of course that was just in time to go spelunking through some muddy underground caves. They reminded me of past Nutty Putty days. These were smaller though, which was a good thing since we forgot the flashlights. Thank goodness for cell phones and cameras, or we'd have had some disappointed little explorers. There we three caves. JJ , Terra, Isabel, and Simona were the only ones who ended up exploring the bat cave. Appearantly Isabel and Terra were terrified! So much for never being afraid of anything ever again. The other caves you had to crawl through which led to these......

This pretty much sums up our first few days here.

It explains all the laundry we've done and Isabel's melt down at how all her clothes "are being ruined-"

Isn't that supposed to be my line? She was just being dramatic, mud washes :)

There were some tight squeezes. I'll never forget laughing with Vanessa about our butts being too big!

 We stopped by a river and washed off our feet

 The kids are lucky to each have a cousin their own age

Jordan and Adahi 

6 months apart and about 6 inches

Laney and Chilali (shilaylee)

Isabel and Terra

Poor little Honovi, missing her buddy.

 I guess I missed the memo 4 years ago on having a girl.

Simona and Jordan two little pals

Love these girls

A lovely Birthday, I guess 32 isn't so bad. I just try not to think about 40 looming in the distance.