Waveboard!

We had our amazing friends over today for summer fun. We just wished that the weather cleared out faster so the kids could have enjoyed some water fun in our backyard.  Next time.

Our girls dance together at the same studio but unfortunately we live far enough apart that we can't logistically see each other as often as we would like for hang-out-time.  But we make the most out of our times we do plan and it is always so much fun. The kids get along so wonderfully; this is one girl that my son is excited to hang with (yes, she's very cute, but she also has an incredible, easy-going personality and smarts).

When the moms were planning the gathering, I mentioned that we had plenty of bikes and scooters to go around if her daughter just wanted to bring her helmet (since we don't have extra of those).  It was mentioned that while this girl has ridden a bike before, it is not her favorite thing to do and she wasn't the most confident. Partly because they live on property, and their driveway has a pretty good slope, so the exposure to bike riding hasn't been as accessible as with my children living in a neighborhood. But her driveway is big enough to enjoy a Waveboard and she'd been having fun with that; so she would bring it.

Great!  My kids have never been on a Waveboard, and her girl needed more confidence on the bike, so we took the opportunity for a learning session for all three.  It was fantastic!  Our friend surprised me because she took off on the bike and looked confident; all the while her mother was next to me in shock that her girl just "did it."  I was so proud of her!!  Love to see kids conquer, succeed and lead!!  Go A!!!!

Then it was her turn to show her friends the Waveboard.  She made that look extremely easy too. If you haven't seen one up close, a Waveboard is similar to a Skateboard, although it twists in the middle and only has two wheels. Part of her gym class at school was learning skateboards, scooters, and Waveboards (how cool is that!).  Balance is key. When she wasn't riding it, it looked very challenging to start.

She was very patient and a very good teacher to her friends.  I was impressed that by the time the session was over both of my kiddos glided for a short, very short but it counts, distance.

All the kids were pumped about their friends' success and their own!! Yay to happy, supportive friends!!!  It was a very good day for adult time and kid time.

Wishing our friends Happy Travels as they venture off to Africa in August.  We can't wait to hear their amazing stories and see their photographs.


Thanks for a great Saturday, D Family!!!   

Retro Bike Fix

I goofed.  The kids were all dressed to swim at our local pool, I fixed an earlier dinner, I drove them to the pool, we walked in, I started to pay, and the receptionist told me I had the wrong day of the week.  There were no Public Swim hours at 7pm on Wednesdays.

Luckily, my kids were not disappointed as we headed back to the car. They quickly found a back up plan of inviting neighbors out to ride bikes in our cul-de-sac. Whew.

My husband worked late that night and came home about the same time.  I warmed up his dinner and we both ventured to the front porch to catch up and watch the kids ride their bikes.  There is something cool going on on our porch and patios this summer. My husband and I have the best talks!  Maybe it is the fresh air that gives us new insight compared to chatting indoors.

Anyway ....

My husband's wheels were turning as he watched our son with his two friend switching bikes, riding through the sprinkler water that was hitting the sidewalk, rushing down the one and only steep driveway on our block, and listening to them chat about their bikes. He went in and came out with a stack of his business cards and some tape.  We did not have poker cards and a clothes pin.

Next thing you know, the three boys are getting their Bike's Retrofitted.  Take a listen to the video and remember back to the 70's and 80's (maybe 90's?? By then I was grown up). Brings my husband and I both back to our summer bike days as kids with cards on the spokes of our tires.


The boys LOVED it.

However, we noticed instantly that the boys could not hear us talking to them over the loud sound of their new "motor"bike. That part is a drawback, but we'll work around that for the sake of good, summer time Retro Bike fun.

~~~~~~~~~~~
I received this email from my dad and I think it is amazing, really, when you stop to think how long trends, fads, things to pass down from generation to generation that do not involve big business have been traveled. And, my dad is super cute in his writing:

Hi Elle J.

The retro-fit goes back further than I remember, the 40's and 50's, as it was the "motor" of choice of us young wanna-be motorcyclists. We were eco friendly and didn't realize it. The hardest part of the whole experience was stealing those spring loaded clothes pins from mom as they were more expensive than the regular push pins and were prized by both of us and had to be shared. We didn't have "tape" or "business cards" to fall back on but good old fashion light weight card board worked as well too.

I'm sure if you'd ask your Uncle he would tell you that the "motor" was available in the 30's, after all, I learned from him.

Love you, Dad

Milestone Outdoor Swim

A few weeks ago we were invited to the pool club that my brother and family belong to. There are not too many outdoor pools in this area so having been invited to one during a hot summer day was really nice. The kids enjoyed playing while my sister-in-law and I enjoyed catching up.

As children age it is easy to pass over milestone moments because they can tend to blend into the natural order of growing up. For example, the first time your child jumps off a diving board.  For many this happens when they are little and by the time they reach being a tween it is just something that happens and it is easy to overlook those who have never done it before.

But for my sometimes overly cautious girl jumping off a diving board was a huge milestone that happened this summer! It was her first time, right there in the outdoor pool with her cousins and her Aunt and her Mom and her brother looking on. She climbed up, walked out, thought for a few seconds, and leaped. It was the best thing ever.

She conquered yet another fear, reached another milestone this year. As my son said shortly after as she swam to the side of the pool, "My sis is doing a bunch of new things this year! Wow!"  

Wow is right!  Way to go, Girl!!!  This has been an exciting year for you in so many different ways.

Finale of our Camping Adventure

I know I have been doing a lot of catching up from our camping trip, but I personally don't want to forget. Now that my husband has been turning my blog into hardbound books I want to be sure to capture big memories.

Having my husband's Aunt and Uncle over just before leaving and teaching their great-niece and nephew the fine art of the Telephone Game proved to be a good thing. My kids were anxious to play the game while camping by the campfire. Although, the logistics of getting up from the camp chair to maneuver around the fire pit, that was basically ground level, in order to whisper in an ear did not seem so safe. Therefore, we opted for a sitting game by the fire and it went like this.

One person would start a story and say as many sentences as they liked before passing the story to the person sitting to their right. Then it was this next person's turn to continue the story until it was circled around the fire many, many times. Our story started off really well, and then the middle part just got a little silly and didn't make too much sense, and then we brought it all back around for the finale.

The fun part was hearing my dad and my husband chime in on their turns and making great "play on words" and other interesting funnies. They were quick too, which made it all the more fun. For example, the story started with cute little mice among buttons and spools of thread. They were on a quest to find a certain button. Five people later and it was my dad's turn to which he chose that the certain button would actually be Sir Tun Button; an English Mouse. The story grew from there with every turn of my dad and husband's being a play on words or a twist of vocab that actually made sense.

The next morning the kids were still wanting to play the telephone game.  So we did it after breakfast around the picnic table. Carrying on the tradition of our Aunt and Uncle the last person to receive the message had to announce the message to the group with as much drama as possible. It was fun.

Another highlight is singing campfire songs. This started when my daughter was little. She quickly fell in love with the campfire because my dad would play his guitar and sing in the dark of night with the quiet echoes of other campers in the distance enjoying their fires. Then she received a guitar for her birthday one year and she has been bringing hers with his ever since. While she does not know how to play the guitar, my dad takes time to tune hers so that she can randomly strum notes to the beat. It is really sweet.

Of course there are random pictures taken on hikes, around the camp, and truly miscellaneous times where there is no real story to tell but you know it is great because you were surrounded in God's beauty with family. It doesn't really matter what we were doing, it always felt fresh, new, and relaxing. There is something great about the limited responsibility in the beauty of nature. It is so free. Truly family time at its best.

Siblings taking pictures of siblings.

Wrestling with Dad and chilling out by the lake mid-hike.

Daytime campfire fun; aka - my son playing with fire. He found the mini marshmallows in the trail mix my mom had made were still yummy-good cooked over the open fire. This occupied him all.the.time.when.hanging.at.camp!

Our raft ready to hit the water.

Gold tokens = hot-long-my favorite part of waking up-shower!

Family Hike in a gorgeous forest by the water.

Family Fishing our last night.

Photo Journal - Our Personal Amazon River

Our trip up the Amazon River; an absolute favorite place at this camping location. It is peaceful. The water is so shallow you can see the bottom and the large fish zooming beneath the boat. A complete paradise, a glimpse of Heaven, a relaxer's dream.

Sleeping Arrangements

My parents have a really neat camping trailer with the highlight being the bunk beds in the back.  My kids were assigned each a bunk when they were younger and they have claimed it as their own ever since (sharing with their cousins, but they'd rather stick to what they were assigned when it comes to each other).

Because my daughter is a sleepwalker she has always been put on the bottom bunk and her brother on the top. The cubby-size is just perfect for them and the length will fit until they are well into their teens.

My son begged me to climb the ladder and join him on top for a rest before bed one night this week while camping. I did. It was definitely cozy and I can see why he enjoys his space. His bunk even comes with a little window that opens for good wildlife viewing.

My daughter's bunk is taller and that fits her well as she is an avid reader during any downtime while camping. She can prop up her pillow and sit comfortably to read. The side of her wall opens as a door from the outside for easy access to storage when the bunk is not in use. My dad likes to surprise her on occasion when she is reading by opening the wall/door, and he triple makes sure it is locked before every goodnight.

While I have already shared where my husband and I sleep, the kids have never ventured into a tent for naps when they were younger, or during the night when they were older. Because they have their specialized bunk they did not have any interest in the tent.

(Our original tent set up at our campsite)

(Our new tent set up in our backyard)

Until our upgrade.  My husband set up the new tent in the backyard on Saturday (complete with a fire for S'mores in our fire-pit) so that we could extend our camping adventure in the backyard. It was spacious and fun.

My husband likes to experiment with S'more ingredients. He has added peanut butter to the graham for a S'nore (because you can't pronounce S'more with peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth, it comes out sounding like S'nore).  During camping he added the Hershey's Chocolate into the middle of the jumbo mallow and roasted both over the fire.  At home he split the jumbo mallow and added Chocolate Chips. Both ways were satisfying and named it a Morsel S'more.

Our family has gotten into watching the new game show Minute To Win It, and having missed it last week while camping, my husband thought it would be fun to hook up my laptop and watch it in the tent before bed. It was pretty neat and an added luxury for sure.

The kids did really well and slept the entire night outside.  Although it was iffy getting started as my son begged and begged to either 1) let Cora come in the tent with us, or 2) he would go back in the house and sleep in his room just to be in the same shelter as she was (a sign they are true buddies).

Whatever it would take to get my son to sleep outside and experience a first-go-round with tenting we decided to grant and we brought Cora out to the tent. Set up beside all the sleeping bags was the dog's small travel kennel. My son, not even sleeping next to her, jumped from his sleeping bag into my Eddie Bauer industrial-styled one and settled in ... happy ... for the remainder of the night.

We woke to brilliant blue skies, birds singing, and warm air. It was lovely.