Adventures of Duck Creek :Day One

JJ's parents recently acquired guardianship of 5 of their grandkids. With Zach being home,  they are starting over with a family of 6 again.  As crazy as it is, they are happy to step in for their family.  Since we hadn't seen these precious cousins for 4 years, we rented a cabin in Duck Creek Utah for week of bonding time.  And bond we have. The kids were instant friends starting with our Friday night 2 am check in that woke their sleeping cousins, created much giggling and one grumpy granny--oops.

I have to say this place is awesome! A spacious cabin with great mountain views of pine trees and marsh fields. There is plenty of room to roam and explore--something I feel my kids have been deprived of too much in their childhood. The kids have had two rules: Explore with a buddy and stay within sight of the cabin. Being set on a hill they have had plenty of space for adventures....

 Isabel and Terra (born two weeks apart) are two peas in a pod. They came back in the first hour of the morning telling us about their adventure trudging through marsh waters and a barbed wire fenced to see some horses of a neighbor. They felt so empowered from the whole experience, they swore they would never be afraid of anything ever again. When I suggested that maybe I should accompany them in the future to ask permission to pet the horses,  Isabel said, "I don't know Mom, it's pretty intense. "  Appearantly too intense for me.

The TerraBell Duo

(See all the knotts)

Unfortunately, these too (nicknamed TerraBell)  are a little too clever for their own good sometimes. Later in the morning, Terra wanted to climb up a tree out front. Unfortunately the nearest branch is about 12 feet off the ground. Isabel said she didn't think that would be safe --good girl. But once convinced, she masterminded the plan on how to get her up-- doh!. There was some thin nylon rope laying next to the tree. They tied the rope to a frisbee and threw it over the branch, then they tied one side of the rope around her waist with about 10 knotts (" to be safe") Then all the kids pulled on the other side of the rope hoisting her up until she could climb onto the branch. JJ's mom and I were in the kitchen making sandwiches for lunch while all this happened right under the noses of JJ and his dad, noses which were buried in their smart phone and laptop respectively. They were on the deck with a clear view, but didn't notice until she was already in the tree. JJ at least had the sense to grab the camera before reprimanding them with the admonition of "very clever, but very stupid!"  

Crazy Girl in the Tree

Our other Favorite Memories of the day

Aunt Vanessa the Make-up Guru of the family

did rainbow eyes on all the girls. 

Spending time at the lake

The girls caught these Dead fish with their bare hands!

While we took rides on a friend's pontoon boat

JJ and Mikey went about building their own

JJ and the girls trying it out

It wasn't as stable as he would have liked, but he only had some thin rope and an hour. Give him a day and He would have had a sailboat :)

Even setting aside the fact he's my husband and best friend,

 there is no one I would rather be stranded on a desert island with!

The kids all got a wooden box from Grammy to decorate to be their treasure box

Every night the kids share treasures they found from their day!

Needless to say it's been a hit

And of course the best part,  just spending time together...

JJ and his sister Vanessa

Isabel with Grammy

I have to admit, I was a little apprehensive at how it would be with all of us in one house together for a week. 

-- But I have been pleasantly surprised...... so far.

Cha Cha Cha Changes

The time has come, the kids are finally out of school! Hooray! But with that, came the realization that my little Jordan is going to be a 1st grader. I'm entering a new era of life in which my kids are all full time schoolers.  Part of me is excited as I look forward to some new opportunities for growth, but the other part is astonished at how quickly it's all happened.  I felt the full significance of this as Jordan came striding in to the march of "Pomp and Circumstance" wearing his little graduation cap and I got this horrible flash forward to the last of my babies graduating and going off to college. That was when the tears came pouring down my cheeks no matter how hard I tried to stifle them.  After all, I met JJ 12 years ago and it hardly seems like any time has passed.  But before I start hyperventilating, I try to remind myself, it is some time, and to enjoy it while I've got it.  Especially precious moments like Jordan asking me as we walked into Scooptacular to celebrate, "Mom can you tell them that your son graduated Kindergarten today?" He was so proud of himself, and I couldn't have been prouder of my little kiddo.  I am so grateful to have those 12 years left.  Now that it is Summer-- let the games begin!

Oh, how I love this little guy!

With his teacher Miss Coffey

And Mrs. Rosendahl who filled in when she Miss Coffey became acting Principle.

He loved them!

I am also super proud of my Girls. Laney was the student chosen in her class for the Principle's Award representing Academic achievement and Character for the year! Way to go Lane!

Isabel got a certificate for being in the top 10 of the school for AR reading points with 322-

courtesy of the land of Fablehaven and Percy Jackson. Great Job Isabel!

Most of All, I am proud of their good Character...

And here they are, wearing it with pride!

Bon Voyage!

Now that we FINALLY got approval from the HOA to store our boat on our property, we decided to move it to California. This weekend our little nameless sailing vessel got a new home at a storage facility in Oceanside, a mere 3 ½ miles from the harbor. Although we have many fond memories on Lake Pleasant, we feel our boat is destined for greater adventure out in the blue beyond. This weekend we took it out for it's maiden voyage.

We weren't sure what to expect, our first and last attempt at sailing with the family in the ocean started with Laney screaming over and over, “I want to go back, I want to go back,” and ended with the whole family “losing their cookies” so to speak. That was 4 years ago, and right after we bought our boat-- not a great time to discover we all get sea sick. But the lake was different, and it's gotten better through the years. I was a bit nervous history might repeat itself, but thankfully it didn't. Everyone was fine. At least now we are smart enough to keep our heads up and stay out of the cabin.

Saturday was a little narly, a couple of rogue waves brought a bit too much vertical action for my taste, (we didn't take the kids out that day), but Monday and Tuesday were beautiful and calm-- I am proud of Laney, she “got back on the horse” and truly enjoyed herself. When I think of our boat out on the ocean, I can hear it singing the words from Annie “I think I'm going to like it here.....”

Now,..... what to do with that big space on the side of our yard? Any suggestions?

Now that it's hobnobbing in Cali, I think our boat needs a name.

 So far it's unofficially been:

"Very Small Rock" (any Monty Python fans out there?)

although funny, I haven't been able to commit...

Ideas???

What I like to see, nothing but blue horizon stretched in front of us...

Although, I admit, I still am comforted at the sight of land behind us. Someday, I'll be able to let that go--- maybe.

"King Triton must be in a friendly type mood"

 

You know, when JJ first suggested we get a sailboat, I thought he was crazy...

Now, I'm glad he's a little crazy!



Weekend With Friends Part Two

I'm always a fan of a good surprise, So I plotted with Blaine to keep our visit a secret from Tamra and the kids.  It was a little dicey for him trying to hurry the family through Costco to get home to meet us, but it was priceless hearing her excitement as my kids walked into the kitchen nonchalantly carrying groceries from the car.  (See below)

They live minutes from the beach-- sad for them huh?

So fun seeing them reunited playing with their buddies like ol' times

Getting drenched and dirty-- yep- just like ol' times

Her jeans were soaked, I don't know how she could stand it!

We were so tired that night from 3 hours of sleep we got that morning, we ended up crashing at their house.

Playing kickball and soccer at the park the next day

Anya and Bella excitedly showed the kids all the snails in their front yard. Yes, snails are foreign entity to my little desert rats. They nicknamed their play "Going Snailing. "  JJ offered a cash bribe to anyone willing to put one on their nose. I disapproved of taking advantage of the kids for personal entertainment, especially when he ended up having to pay them in Euros. But they said they didn't mind. I love these photos of Anya.

Anya--Going Snailing!

Cade Oliver-- or "Cado" as the nickname goes.

He is the cutest little guy. Such a sweet disposition. The jury is out on who he most resembles,

but he has Bella's cute little lips!

Pretty Momma!

I enjoyed much baby snuggle time!

After four years of being carpool buddies we sure miss seeing them every day,

but it's nice to see them settled and happy.

And... it just gives us more excuses to visit California--

We'll definitely be back!

That afternoon we head back to my folks and enjoyed more time playing on the beach.

Here is JJ going in for a swim, and.....

Coming out 5 minutes later. It was cooooold!

And even more beach time on our last day

I just love sitting on the beach watching them play

I get a little Deja vu of my childhood beach days

Burying his arm in the hillside

The kids found over 3 hundrend mini clams-- They counted them all

I loved watching the little clammy bodies slurp out of the shell looking for food.

What's a beach visit without a burial?

Despite the rocky start we had such a nice trip and a thankfully uneventful drive home!!!

Weekend With Friends Part 1- Bumps on the Road

Since our dear dear friends moved to Cali a month ago our kids, and admittedly myself have been heart sick to see them. Tamra just had her newest baby a couple of weeks ago. We decided to head over to my folks last weekend so we could stop by and see the little bambino. I was happy to discover they are a mere hour from my parent's house ( as the JJ drives).

Unfortunately we got a bit of a late start Friday due to Jordan's music recital, and even more unfortunately we heard the rumble of our tire blowing out a meger 30 miles past Gila Bend. (I remain unconvinced it was not due to the oil changers ineptitude at tire inflation. Either way it's them or their tires crapping out after less than 2 years. Curse you Fletchers!) So we pulled over and got to work getting out the spare and tools and discovered we had no jack. Talk about unprepared, we must have forgotten to replace it at some point. With nothing but sage brush to prop up the car, I began waving our glowing cell phones for aid. Might I say there are a shortage of good Samaritans out there. The only ones left come in the demographic of Mexican men between 40-50 years old . A semi driver stopped first, but could offer no help, and after about 45 min. of flagging, another guy stopped to help and lent us a jack. Even after all that time, we were back on the road before the highway patrol made it to us-- so much for road side assistance. Thankfully our good Samaritan who had also lost a tire on that stretch informed us of an all night tire place in Gila Bend. Sooo... after getting a new tire we were back on the road at Midnight and ended up crawling into our bed at my parents house at 5am-- just in time to see the sunrise. Oh happy day!

All the waiting and late night driving gave us a chance to reflect on the numerous other times we have found ourselves stranded on the side of the road ....There have been many....

--Our first little car left us out of gas several times until we realized the gauge was off and ¼ tank was really empty. It continued to strand us as that margin of error marched from ¼ tank to ½ tank throughout the years of ownership.

--There was the time the transmission went out, when we were driving JJ's Dad's car home from a trip for him. We limped along off the freeway and into a hotel parking lot. When we got off the phone with JJ's parents, we came outside to a charred front of the car surrounded by the police and the fire department. Apparently it spontaneously caught fire while we were calling. Luckily someone near by had an extinguisher and put it out before it burned all of our stuff and/or exploded. Twin Falls, Idaho you will forever live in infamy. (note: it actually ended up being a blessing in disguise for his dad, as insurance companies pay for fires, not broken transmissions)

--Then there has been the trailer on our sailboat-- a consistant source of adventure, starting with the first tire we watched burst into flame in our rear view mirror, come loose and roll along side us as we pulled over, with a final turn in front of us as it ended in a collapse on the side of the road. (I swear I am not making any of this up).

--Our “sailing” trip to San Carlos began with the barrings going out on one of the trailer wheels, 10 miles outside of phoenix (which took an entire day to fix) , ended with two flats on the drive home through Mexico (note: those llanterra tires are not to be trusted) and contained two days in the middle of being stranded out on the bay with a broken motor and not one lick of wind.

There have been others, but these are some of our favorite memories.  As I thought about them, I realized we were able to work through all those moments with some resourcefulness, patience, and the help of Good Samaritans-- oh, and a lot of laughter-- which I guess is the recipe for managing through most of life's bumps on the road.

--It also helps when the destination is well worth the trouble,  in this case, it definitely was...
see Part Two for details....

Flowers for Mother's Day

This year I got flowers for Mother's Day-- a whole yard of them.


My parents were in town last week and my Dad helped us color our backyard. Now our backyard, as big and wonderful as it is, has been a source of embarassment at how horribly we take care of it. --Well, we are turning over a new leaf (no pun intended) and I decided it's time to crack down and cover those army barracks with something more inviting. The whole family pitched in and spent saturday digging, planting, dirt mixing, and drip lining our backyard. It looks much better, and now that I understand our drip system and how to properly add plants to it, I feel much more confident that some of these plants will actually survive.


 As an added back up, I took careful measure to choose plants that appear, well, idiot proof. Or should I say lazy proof? To give you an idea of what they are up against.... JJ informed me a couple of days ago that the water has been off in our front yard for months because he needed to fix a drip- Nice, right? Yet our Lantana and honey suckle have been growing beautifully and fast all this time-- Yep- idiot proof!!! So, let's just say I picked a lot of Lantana,  also Bouganvillea, a couple mesquite trees (love those things) and since our Rosewood is the lone survivor from our last attempt, I got one more to boot. We also ventured to an orange tree. Jordan got so excited, he asked if we could get a basket so he could pick the oranges. I told him if there are EVER any oranges on it to pick, I will buy them each a basket. He excitedly passed on the news to his sisters. Here's hoping for oranges and general plant prosperity.  If nothing else, now that my Dad fixed our timer, we should at least be seeing some grass growing soon-- yeah!

My great little Dirt Mixers!

JJ, Herculing through the concrete ledge underground.

Drip lines here we come-- Thanks Dad!

Mud Trauma

Taking a break to be with her Grammy

Here are some of the results

This little nook should be really pretty when it all fills in :)

Someday, that Hibiscus will be able to shop in the Big and Beautiful

Section!---hopefully

The start of our Mexican Heather Hedge

My lovely Mother's Day Dinner

Lasagna,Asparagus, and Bruschetta

Who could ask for anything more?

It was a wonderful Mother's Day weekend, and I especially love the little notes and gifts from my sweeties. They each picked out such thoughtful things that I needed like lotion, hair clippy claws, squirt bottle (perpetually lost), and Isabel wrote me a thoughtful Poem and put it in a frame with a picture of a flower.

It is a nice reminder of my weekend so I will share it:

Mother's Love

Garden so pretty

Flowers full of love

More colorful than the rainbow

as beautiful as a dove

As wonderful as a sunset

If each flower was part of my mother's heart

My garden would go on forever

Here's hoping our little garden may go on forever.... Well at least until next week.