Summer Storms

With Tornado season being over I tend to not really give weather warning much notice. Seems like lately a  severe thunder storm warning just means a good chance of rain.  Not so much the other night.  I was half sleeping and found myself listening to a sound I couldn't quite figure out...our air conditioner/fan, no...a never ending semi on the busy road by our house, no....an airplane, no.  It hit me at that moment-rushing train/Tornado!  I woke up Ron and looked out and realized it was a crazy wind storm and the noise was the wind rushing in the air, I kept thinking our tramp was coming through our back bedroom.  The power lasted long enough for me to watch a quick glimpse of the storm path on the news before both transformers blew.  This is actually what I hate the most-huge booms and blue light/creepy.  The kids slept through it all and were most confused waking up with no power.  Our neighbor lost a huge tree in their yard and half our back fence is about over.  Crazy thing is that it is the only part of the fence not touching trees...no sure why that part decided to break.   We lasted till 5pm yesterday with no power, thankfully it wasn't 100 degrees. I am very thankful for all the power crews in town!

After an evening activity at church with the kids I came home to find Ron up in this tree with a chain saw above his head and three neighbor men on the ground watching! After 14 years of marriage I shouldn't be surprised.   It was a tree cutting party last night.  The neighbor kids helped pick up all the limbs while Ron and men discussed and cut the entire thing down-I don't think we got in till 9:30.  Thankfully they were able to get the tree down without any damage to our neighbors house/garage.  What a day/night!

My determined three year old.  He is just as stubborn and determined as his big brother.  James is loving riding but still has lots of fits when he can't start or make it up a hill-but never wants to quit.  The other day we were roller skating with all the kids and he decided he could do it.  Even when he was crying out on the rink because he was tired he would refuse to get off and quit and then ended up throwing a fit because he wanted to keep skating??  Ahh the joys of a three year old-good thing he has a cute smile!

SUMMER FUN

What do your kids like to do on summer break??  So it seems like my opinion is quite different than my kids.  All the planning and excitement that surrounds a vacation is always a highlight, but the kids obviously have other things on their brain.  The week is about the last free week we will spend here in Tulsa before School starts and all the kids could think about was that they didn't get to go to Chucky-Cheese yet this summer.  Even James asks when he will get to see Chucky-Cheese.  Funny thing is that we hardly go....I can't stand those types of places and they fall to the way bottom of my "things to do" list.  I am convinced it is the advertising on TV??  Summer vacation is the one given time that they will get to go once!  So, yesterday we headed out.  Actually it turned out to be survivable, meaning I was able to walk out without a screaming headache. We have found doing activities in the middle of the afternoon works great-no people!  The kids had the place to themselves and had a blast.  I am just thankful I can check it off their summer list of things to do.  DONE!  I think it was a little quieter than normal as on the evening news I discovered the place had just been robbed two days before, definitely more reason to hand out at the house.

Summer Time

I need and want to document our summer days, I know they are fleeting these times we have all together and although we have our moments of total annoyance with each other we are loving just having time to hang out.  The kids always ask, "What are we doing now?" and their favorite response is for me to say...just chilling out at home.  We have been walking the dogs in the morning before it gets too hot.  A lot of our neighbors are out...and if they are not up I am afraid the kids give them a wake-up call!  James has started riding his bike without training wheels-it going well except for starting which results in him screaming 'I CAN'T DO IT!!"  until someone comes and gives him a push-he is such a loud kid!  Ron was taking Brayden Mt biking this past Saturday and James was throwing a fit because he wasn't going.  I told him only big boys without training wheels rode at Turkey Mt.  He looked at me and then walked out into the garage and promptly told Ron to take off his wheels.  What do you know, he actually rode...with help.  Not really the plan I had in mind.  Now he came up to me and told me that he was going Mt biking because he could ride a bike....now what?  We ended up all doing a short little loop-Andrea and Becca....and James.  We were all dripping sweat-but still fun.
    We are still having lots of fun going to the library.  It is fun to see what books the kids decided to look at.  Today they were all deep into the craft and experiment books, so we decided to make it a craft afternoon. Each kid had different ideas.  James really had no clue what was going on and was determined to check out a  dirt bike book for his craft.  As usual the other kids tried to explain to him that it was not a craft book-resulting in a huge screaming match at check-out.

 This week the kids are taking a class at the local community college in the late afternoons.  It is a nice break and they are enjoying learning (I think)  I am just reminded of the schedule and driving that is soon to come with school.  The kids are loving hanging out at the house and playing with friends.... Summer is such a fine balance of activity and relaxation for the kids, and me!

 Before our trip to Telluride Brayden sweated it out at the ORU soccer camp just down the road.  He had a great time especially when he discovered a classmate was also at the camp.  After four days of early mornings and extreme heat I think he was beginning to have second thoughts about the camp.  Temps reached 100 degrees on his last day...we were all ready for some slushy's and a break from the heat....lots of afternoons spent at the local pool!


All the kids think they are camping out in our room tonight?!?

Telluride Vacation

From June 28th through July 8th  we took a family vacation out to Telluride Colorado.  It was such a great vacation.  The only reason I have not updated the blog about our trip is that anything other than, kids, animals and housework seem to be near impossible to accomplish this summer.  I have finally put all the pictures together-we had such a great time exploring the area around  telluride.  Ron did a ton of research and we were never short on things to do.  I thought a week might be long in one place but it was crazy how the days flew by.  Ron did some mountain biking with and without Brayden.  The first trail down the mountain was a stretch for Brayden but Ron found some beautiful trail around for them to do together on which they had a lot of fun.  We did a lot of driving-the truck up two track roads...including Ophir pass, on which we about ran off the ledge when we ran into another vehicle.  Some how both Ron and the other driver thought the other would stop....but neither did.  Lets just say we were all on edge including the kids especially  when Brayden spotted  a wreck of a car below.  Snow was a big hit, even if it was really cold.  Renting a jeep for a day was an experience.  I think Becca laughed for five hours straight.  With four kids bouncing around in the back seat we had a lot of head banging going on.  I think I not only had a headache from all the jostling but from all the back seat craziness that was going on.  The kids swam most every evening.  Our accommodations were totally spoiling to us.  The kids were in heaven having a TV in their room to watch cartoons in the morning.  The girls loved their own bathroom and thought they were queens taking baths in the tub complete with hair/shower caps!  James kept up most days, although lack of naps only added to his hunger issue.  The classic line yelled from the back seat, "MOM....I, HUNGEE"  was heard at least every 30 minutes while in any vehicle...drove us crazy.  Ron did some crazy hike complete with climbing harness on a cliff by bridal vial falls-totally unsettling to see him clipped to a mountain rock face by himself.  The kids threw endless rocks into many streams and water falls.  I have to say we were all in our element and without any outside pressures or influences on our day we truly relaxed and enjoyed the beauty surrounding us.  What a perfect break and getaway.


link to all Telluride Vacation Pictures

 Surrounded by beauty....although I don't know why most amazing views came after some insane drive up some cliff wall.  Height are just not my thing and being a passenger on one of their roads is not much better.

 Tons of fun finding new places to play-Blue Hole in Grants New Mexico.  Terribly cold water but Brayden did his first dive off a high dive and Becca off the low ledge.  No floats allowed making for on very un-happy three year old.

Exploring the lava caves in New Mexcio- James had his flashlight ready for the next two days.

Brayden learning to Mountain bike-so much fun hanging out with Ron.

 Heading up Imogene pass-who knew dirty snow could be so much fun.

Beauty along the jeep trail was endless-from mountain sides exploding with wildflowers (tons of columbine), to cute chipmunks, yellow-bellied marmots and rippling streams into gushing waterfalls, all in addition to the mountain views, our drives were never lacking for things to see.

Who knew you could have so much fun just hanging out in the woods!

 I think we threw in half the stream back at the base of bridal vail falls waiting for Ron to finish his crazy cliff hike.

Even extreme heat could keep the smiles off the kids face in Moab Utah.