FHE and the Air and Space Museum

Being in Maryland has been an extraordinary experience. There are few things in this life that bring me greater happiness than being with family. Although I have felt at times that we have been like fish (become stinky--time to leave) guests, I would do it the same all over again.  We are finishing up Owlets tomorrow and so I will post the news of the past two weeks later. Kole and I have worked hard, learned a lot and been fairly creative. I have been thoroughly exhausted--this learning gig is hard. 

Monday was FHE. In the summer FHE is hit or miss. Well we decided it was to be a hit this week. We talked slightly--ever so slightly--we could have done better--about Samuel the Lamanite. How he stood on the wall and proclaimed the gospel but was still shot at by with arrows. What greater way to incorporate a night of archery than learning about Samuel the Lamanite? We also talked of the "wall" Maybe, and we're using our imagination here again, but the wicked Nephites we're trying to climb up the wall to get Samuel--hence the use of the climbing wall as well. The tramp well--everyone needs to practice their jumping skills. So below are some pics of FHE. 

Can you imagine having this stuff in your backyard? Mary and Chief do. How fun would that be?

Here are Sam and Sotir at the top of the wall. Hanging. They enjoyed the climbing but even greater fun was had just swinging from the top. Zooming down wasn't all that bad either. 

Miss Lu is already quite the accomplished climber. A welcome talent from her dear dad and Kole. 

A "wicked" Nephite--although he's quite tan right now so he may be considered a Lamanite--trying to get Samuel. I believe he did get a bull's eye that night. 

The Air and Space museum at Dulles was amazing. I'm certain it doesn't get better for a 2 boys than a bunch of real airplanes under one roof. A Hangar to be exact. Sam and Sotir just ran all around pretending to be blackhawks but then ventured on the space shuttle and decided being an astronaut was not all bad either. They also allowed us to go up a tower to hear the air traffic controllers talk. It was quite fantastic. 

Here's LuLu in the tower kicking back

Sam and Sotir as astronauts holding their blackhawk planes.  These outfits have to be bribed off the boys just to wash them. They wear them daily in 85 degree weather with high humidity. I am hoping we can hold on to the outfit for Halloween. 

And last but not anywhere near least is Dad. This is the plane he flew in while in Vietnam. His was camouflaged but this is the carrier. Now dangit I can't remember the name of it though and it's far too late to give Bob a ring.

performers

I had to post these two performances the boys put on for us in Cape May. They really are a hoot. The first one is a song the boys learned at Calleva (obviously). Sam has quite the lungs. Thanks to Jaclyn for being their stage manager. I think they may have a future in the theatre. 

Memories of Cape May (2)

Grandpa's time we'd like to say reading but I think more realistically polling his audience for answers to the crossword puzzle of the day. 

Sam and Sotir had personalized towels. We certainly had to make sure they had the correct towel. They look like they're freezing here but instead it was just rather windy that particular day. 

Sotir loves sharks, hates to be cold and was a bit sunburned on his cheeks. Hence his outfit for the day. 

I waited for days to have LuLu come back to the beach after her nap so we could dig her a pool during low tide. I thought she would love it and she did. 

Our last night in town the "girls" had a night out at the Black Duck.

Memories of Cape May

Here's the home we rented in Cape May. The wonderful thing about Cape May is that it is this old Victorian town and the homes there are so charming. The home was about 1 block away from the beach and 1 block away from the "mall". There is this cute little play house to the right that LuLu would claim as hers "Ma houssse..." The home had 3 floors with 47 steps. Poor Mom and Carolyn. What a work out. The kitchen which was beautiful was in the basement. 

We would enjoy sitting out on the front porch every day after the beach. Here's our discussion on the 100 things every woman should have by Nina Garcia. Jaclyn of course is well on her way to topping out. 

I love this picture of Jaclyn with Lu on the beach. Of course this is Jaclyn pre boogy board. Too bad her older sister dominated the waves :-)

Bob always made sure we were first at the beach so we could have our choice of spots. Later the plethora of umbrellas, towels and chairs would surround us.

Images of Cape May (1)

We had a great time in Cape May New Jersey. There are a few things better than relaxing on the beach, watching your child brave the cool, forceful water and come out laughing. Rather than go day to day the next few posts are of our time as a family enjoying our time as a family at BEACH WEEK.

Here's Sam taking it out boogy boarding
Riding it in. Sam enjoyed the boogy board.

Sam and Sotir being buried by Grandpa. Sam 

Sam waiting for the Seagulls to eat com and eat 

chip off his head. Never happened.
Ready, Set

GO!

4th of July

We had a great 4th. Aunt Carolyn flew in on Friday night and as she has never been canoing we took her. She doesn't pride herself on her swimming skills so we thought the Seneca river (creek ?) being a shallow body of water fit her needs perfectly and would squelch her fear of drowning anytime soon. Matt being the ever perfect host got the canoes from Calleva but also thought he'd keep the boys entertained and got them fishing poles as well. Taking off the hooks they were not deterred, maybe a little mystified on how that was going to work, but nonetheless ready and willing fishermen. Matt had to have the kids in one canoe, Bob and I even though we feel we have our steering down we're not too certain it's consistent, had our own canoe and Kole being the once Calleva employee and being married to one of the owners of Calleva so it must be that she is no novice at driving (at least getting from point A to point B in a fairly straight line--which is better than Bob and I did for awhile) drove Carolyn. It was fantastic! Lovely day and beautiful scenery and the good news is no canoes tipped. However, no fish were caught either. Go figure.

After we finished our canoe trip we stopped at Riley's Locke and loaded the canoes. While the boys were waiting they tried their hand at fishing off dock. Still to no avail not a fish caught however, we did get a little musical performance from our fair opera singer Sotir below. He sings all day. It's lovely.

After we went canoeing we took a picnic dinner to Poolesville and waited to watch the fireworks. There the kids played "patiently" as they waited. They also got kettle corn and yummy funnel cakes. Also a first for Carolyn. A day of firsts.

Sam had a good day at the 4th of July. He got a glow stick and would stick on everyone's neck and want to take a picture with them. Below are ones with Aunt Carolyn and grandpa. The first picture is the one with Grandma (and LuLu).  





We end with Kole and LuLu. It was a late night of course but it seemed like it was the adults that were spent rather the the kids. The fireworks were so fun and Sam said they were the best he's ever seen. Not that Uncle Ryan and Uncle Karl don't usually do a fantastic job at the ranch. We love those too. 

Saiing and sores sustained

Matt took us sailing at the National Harbour on the Saturday before Kole went to camp. It was a beautiful day and we were all excited. It was a new sailboat for Matt so he called for some last minute detail and so we call him either brave or rather looney to take 2 grown women who know little about sailing, 2 boys that are terrified of tipping and a 2 year old girl with no fear ready to jump right in the water without notice. I steered as Kole had to watch her baby(s) and mine and I think I won out on that toss. To move back and forth from one side to the next depending on where the sail ended up was exhausting. Poor Matt started out by saying Lisa go steer to the bow side or steer to the stern, couldn't get that so he said go to the left or right, finally he just ended up by saying pull toward you or push away from you. Now we were communicating! By the end LuLu had put her head in the water, the boys were finally over the fear of tipping (well mostly) and they wanted to jump in and swim and I had gotten the hang of steering (well mostly). We got out and rewarded ourselves with a gelato, some cake love cupcakes and played in the sand play area. Sam is below next to the huge hand. Attached to the hand is a huge head,  a huge knee and other parts of human body. LuLu has sensitive eyes so we need to glamour her up with some cool glasses and hats. Although they don't stay on for too long.

Well there's a smile on that face but it's one of shock. Poor LuLu has had a heck of a time with us. We pray she'll survive our stay. The day mom and I went up to girls camp we took LuLu and she got stung by a bee. Well her little forehead swelled up and she looked pretty miserable. Well the very next day she was playing on the couch with Grandpa and she pulled away, fell and hit the other side of her forehead on the corner of the coffee table. Got a small deep cut and wow--blood everywhere. The picture below does not do justice. Blood was all over faces and our clothes, mom's crying, Lu's crying, I'm trying not to cry, it was crazy. We called Matt and had him come home. He put on a brave face but this poor little beautiful girl with an already swollen face now has blood covering it. It had to be pretty painful for a dad to see. Even one who knows first aid as well as he does. He glued her right up while grandpa held her. She was very good and it didn't hurt one bit that daddy put "Snow White" on video, her favorite disney princess, on the computer. At the end of the day mom, dad and I plopped right into bed and slept like babies. Mental stress is incredibly exhausting!

 The next day (Friday) Kole would come home. All we wanted was a injury free day. We hadn't told Kole just yet about the fall, we thought it better to wait mainly to get rid of the evidence of the immense blood spilt--head wounds are the worst! And secondly to give us enough time to think of good way to tell her her baby was once again injured. Oh we prayed the swelling would go down from the bee sting, it had pretty well disappeared and she was well on her way to being in her mothers safe arms. With 10 minutes to go before Kole came home she went outside to see the stroller because she wanted to go on a walk and bang--the stroller fell on top of her. We're quite certain Kole will never ask us to babysit again. I'm pretty sure we've secured that future for us.

Kolette asked us rather Bob to teach Sot to ride his bike without the training wheels. Kolette and Matt live on a curvy, hilly, tree lined road and so it is next to impossible to find a safe place to learn anything. However there is a road a little ways down that's not too long but good because it is flat and basically rarely traveled. Here's Sot on the bike, yes we failed in teaching but who has the time when the boys don't get home until after 4? They are certainly not ready to be taught anything new they would rather swim or sometimes they would need to make stone soup who has time to learn to balance on 2 wheels? Maybe next week after Owlettes. That ends at 1:00. Still monsters get hungry then too.

We don't have bikes for everyone so "some" have to run. Some being Sam whom really when it comes down to it loves to run more than anything. He's always wanting to race from anywhere to somewhere. As Sotir rode Sam ran. He threw a little bit of a fit initially but when it got down to it he would rather race on foot and try to beat wheeled bike . Besides, when we started out on the bike it was on a steep hill. Sotir told Sam he could ride the bike then. Sam then thinking he would show off a bit forgot the bike still had training wheels and the bikes balance would be off a bit. It threw him for a loop and then literally threw him into 3 mailboxes. Basically, Sam came out unscathed but filled up on humble pie. As you can see the run below is post crash and he still felt the need for speed. After all there's no time for sulking when there are minnows to be found/caught by Hand Fish Catcher and his worthy companion Sotir. 

Misc Sam

I love this kid. Truly with all my heart. He is having a wonderful time at camp and he even won some kayak race today. It was very exciting for him. He and Sotir get along somewhat but Sotir is right when he calls Sam "Mr. Bossy". I don't know what to do about it. Sam really is a bossy bossersteen. I have talked with him time and time again but to no avail. I have even tried to bribe him. I know wrong--but what's a girl to do?!  Bribery usually works--not this time however. I know he's bossy with Micah as well but she seems to take it. Agh!

To take my mind off this bad behavior I thought I would write down some sentences Sam wrote. They are so cute. So wrong (in spelling that is) but so endearing. Here they are:

1,  I em haby it is mi brda I hav 2 kax. dig in
(I am happy it is my birthday. I have 2 cakes. Dig in!)

2,  The mukee had a plan flite. the plan wuz on fire. The mukee fel off. The mukee got a perushoot.
(the monkey had a plane flight. The plane was on fire. The monkey fell off. The monkey got a parachute)

3,  I am hapee it is sunee or sunflowrs ar groieen. I wodrd them
(I am happy. It is sunny. Our sunflowers are growing. I watered them.)

4.  I rode mi motr sicoole home. I went throo a home to get home. I go up a hil and throo a home. I forct  I went bown a slid.
(I rode my motorcycle home. I went through a home to get home. I go up a hill and though a home. I forgot I went down a slide.)

 

Don't rock the boat baby

What a day, Mom, LuLu and I went up to Kolette's girls camp today to see what she's been up to and more importantly for me--to learn from Natalie how to teach archery. Kolette and I are in charge of teaching archery at Owlettes in 2 weeks. Natalie's off to India on Sunday so there was no way to pin her down between now and then. It's a great camp, really spread out, but it looks like the girls are having a blast. It's such a great theme. It's something based on stories. The girls have a story (like beauty and the beast or princess and the pea etc..) and they fit it to a value. It's remarkable how clever the YW are (and of course the leaders) It's was so fun for me to see girls camp from another perspective, to see how other stakes run their camps. I wish I could have stayed longer to see more actually. I think perhaps Kole will do it again next year and so I'll have another chance to see. Kole does good work. Really good stuff. 

My poor "baby LuLu" who still can't say my name, got stung by a giant bumble bee on her head. Oh she cried a little and she seemed ok and it looked like she didn't have any reaction but when we got home her forhead was slightly swollen. She looked like a different girl. Poor baby. She hasn't slept that well anyways and to be stung just kind of tired her out even more. The trip up to camp was only an hour and so mom and I were hoping on the trip home that it would be a good opportunity for Lu to fall asleep. Well she did right away. Mom and I just kept driving as long as she was asleep--which was over an hour and half, happy to have LuLu belle sleep but we were a little nervous as were literally on empty.  As luck would have it she woke up just as we were pulling up to a gas station.

Here she is with us after we picked up the boys from camp and Matt took us (Dad, Sam, Sotir, LuLu and me) to the island. Matt had the boys and Lu in his canoe and dad and I had our own. Matt kicked our butts. In fact, even before we got ON the canoe dad and I lost ours and Matt had to dive into the water to retrieve it. 

Here are the boys heading out. Matt stopped right after the aquaduct and showed the boys these 2 HUGE snakes. They, of course, were thrilled. It was funny as we were headed toward the island the boys were so concerned  about tipping over and LuLu couldn't wait to dip her head into the water or in reality to jump in the river. Well she did. She was just fine and was laughing and the boys were screaming in concern. However, on the way home the boys were rocking the boat and wanting to tip the canoe and swim to shore--against the current I might add. Suddenly they were the super heroes they play day after day.

We got to the island and docked one of the canoes joined Matt, the boys and LuLu on their canoe. Matt then took us down the rapids and showed us around. It's quite amazing actually I wish I could explain all that they have there. They have these tree houses that are so cool and seem to be able to live--teach quite "green" out there. Here's dad on this swinging bridge they have there. If anyone knows me they know my fear of bridges, which is quite ironic as living in Seattle doesn't really allow bridge phobias. Bridges are everywhere! 

 

After we explored the island we (Matt rather) paddled us across the the water to the other side to show us the rope swings. Sam and Sotir swam across--I was so proud of them, there was even a little current and that didn't even deter them. My camera was on the fritz but above is the best picture I could get of Sam swinging off the rope. He loved it. I think he could have stayed all day. Matt did a flip off the rope and Sam was determined to do one as well. We never gave him ample time so I am assuming we'll have to head there another day for Sam to master the flip. Matt took LuLu too off the rope swing. It was not her favorite thing to do that day. But her owee was hurting and she was getting hungry so she had good reason to be sad (only a little Kole). 

The whole island has all these little shells. That is heaven for my shell seeker boy. If he had had a way to get them off the island he would have and we would need to pay the extra baggage fee on the way home. Among the small shells once and awhile a large one is found and one can only imagine the joy the boys feel. This is Sotir's find for the day. 

We headed back on the trail for awhile with Sotir as our leader. We couldn't touch any leaves because they had monsters on them and we had to scream if we touched one.  Dad and LuLu were on a different trail and Matt was in the canoe paddling up river. He was to meet us where our other canoe was docked and we'd then head back together.  I can't imagine what they thought they were hearing from deep in the woods. We headed home after many diversions. The ADD can kick in once in awhile I found but eventually we made it. Yea home where grandma had our 

spaghetti waiting all ready. It was so cute, not being a lover of spaghetti myself, however to hear the boys cheers and they expressing their gratitude to their grandmother of what a great cook she is and how delicious the meal was made me so happy. Sometimes the teaching of social graces really do sink in.