Reece's Gift

With Many Thanks, Again to Auntie Sara, Reece was able to spend some birthday money at Target.
On Thanksgiving he had gotten a gift card for his Birthday that is coming up on December 1. I had to work til 5pm and when I got home I made sure that he had the house picked up and some food in him for supper. (Delay tactics really is what they were) I was avoiding any lines and large groups. When we finally headed out, it wasn't bad AT ALL! No lines, no Large groups of people. We headed for the Toy department. After much consideration, he picked out a game called Battleground: Crossbows and Catapults. He had seen that on TV and really wanted that. He also picked out Star Wars Droids Battle Pack Legos. He even had enough money left over for a Popcorn combo he just loves! (You can get a small popcorn and medium soda for a buck, at Target!)

The Hunt.

After a day of turkey and stuffing, it was time do some serious planning. I was able to have sometime off and wanted to make the most of the after thanksgiving day deals.

I had scoped out the 'ad's' online and in the paper. I had narrowed my plan to Toys R us, Dick's Sporting goods, Target and possibly Wal-mart.

It didn't take long for me to be asleep once I finally decided the plan of action. I was rather annoyed when I woke up at 2:40 am, unable to go to sleep. Yes. 2:40am.
I stayed in be until 3 am, then I got up and discovered that Zeb had woken up and was watching TV. I hopped on the computer, hoping that some deals would be available, so I wouldn't be have to go out in the cold.

Of course, nothing was 'Currently Available Online'. *sigh*...
Ok, time to get my butt to the store.
My theory was to sit in my car, when the line began moving walk up. I wanted to get a Zune MP3 player, Robo-reptile, some kind of Lego set and batteries.
I was craving a warm beverage, so I stopped at Starbucks Coffee. Yes at 3:30am. I got a Grande Mocha and headed to Toys R Us. Adrenaline setting in.

4AM I pull in the parking lot. Not bad. Not quiet half full, but it didn't open until 5am. My plan to sit in my car disappeared as I pulled in the parking lot. Temp outside is 20 degrees, I did not have my winter jacket, no mittens, or hat. Wasn't dressed in Layers. I really had planned to stay in my car.
I began seeing the MP3 player fly off the shelves. I grabbed my coffee and made my way to the line.

Since I was by myself, I wanted to pass time, so I began talking to the couple behind me. The were from a city an hour away. They didn't have a clue what they were going to be going in for they just picked Toys R us because they wanted to.

As my toes chilled more and more the crowd began to get restless, especially after they came out and gave away all the tickets for the Zune. Only 16 were in the store. They were gone. Okay, one of my big ticket items gone. A handful of people left the line, some flipping the bird to the crowd as they drove off. Jerks!
Some were beginning to complain others were 'in there space', or complaining about the people that joined the line on the way in the store. I was not feeling a warm and cozy holiday spirit there! Geez.
I grabbed a cart from outside and some yelled at me as I tried to get in the store with it, since they couldn't squeeze themselves in past my large cart. Excuuuuuuse Me!
I walked in, going over my list in my head. Robo, lego, batteries.
I found the robo-reptile right away. I turned to my right, and there was the lego display. What Karma! On to the checkout. No Lines and the batteries are right there! Woo Hoo!
As I walked out, the line of people was still entering the store. I heard a few people say "Oh, now those are gone." As I walked past with my Large Robo-Reptile.

On to the next store. Dick's Sporting goods. I wasn't there for the Heely's but when I got there at 5:07am (seriously), I had to wait for them to open at 5:30 pm. Bummer... I was hoping my standing in the cold was done.

Heely's are shoes with a roller at the heel so you can skate or walk at any given time. They were half price. They guy I met in line was getting some for his son, I was getting a golf club for Duner, but the Heely's would be a nice idea for Reece.

Thankfully they opened a bit early so I didn't have to stay out side too long. I found what I needed right away. I decided to grab some Heely's for Reece I knew that he would like them. I just grabbed the first pair of Grey Heely's. By the time I reached the check out I had to wait for 2 people. Still not bad.

I was leaving Dick's as the parking lot began to fill up. Sweet! I am just in an out of these places...
I drove to the other side of town, it was 5:45am as I pulled in the Target parking lot. I noticed not a lot of cars were parking on the side of the building, but a ton were in the front. I just went right for the side. I also noticed they TOO WERE NOT YET OPEN. Geez. I was waiting in my car this time. I don't care about the lines. I really wanted to use the bathroom, but I knew they were not going to let anyone in for 10 minutes.
At 6am I headed for the door. They were only letting people in through one door, in order to avoid a stampede. Smart move, I thought, about my experience at Toys R Us. They also had a guy standing at the door like a body guard. I think there was a fight 'cause one guy left before getting in, after some pushing near the front of the line.
I finally got in, even though I needed to use the bathroom, I figured I would go and quickly find the gift first. I was looking for the Star Wars II game Target had in the flyer. Zeb had wanted it. I wasn't able to find it but I wasn't upset. I just looked for the Ten dollar weather station they also had. I was pretty much just taking in all the chaos. I didn't find it, but I didn't want to look to hard. I had to use the bathroom, so I headed to the front of the store and left.
I had gotten most of what I wanted, and that was good.

I wanted to get some PS2 games at Walmart, but I just didn't want to go through ANOTHER store opening. I don't mind one but 3 stresses me out too much. I was happy to be done by 6:20am.

Makin' Cookies

Last night we made some cookies.

Here are some of our pictures from that experience...










"I am going to make a doughnut!" He said.










"I really don't want to do this." He said to Reece before sitting down to cut out the Gingerbread men!

It didn't take long for him to change his mind...











Reece just couldn't wait to get out the dough and start cutting. He just loved to help. He is such a GREAT Helper!













FLOUR POWER???

Yes, it was messy but they turned out some really neat looking gingerbread dudes.

Many Thanks Auntie Sara!

We have returned from a fun weekend at Verona to visit Aunt Sara and Jason. You can read about that adventure on her blog here.

We returned by 11:30 am so we could make it to a Baby Shower for a High School friend.
As much fun as it was, it was good to be back home, but we had to leave again.

After picking up another friend from school we headed to the baby shower. We played a very interesting game of 10 substances of white powder consistency. That was interesting. We had to guess which was what and we were not able to smell them or open up the baggies. There was 5 baby items and 5 cooking items. The women at my table worked together to guess each item. We got 8 right. Powdered milk and laundry detergent really were tough to guess.

Zeb managed to leave with a balloon, bubbles, bowl and plate. I won some floating candles that Zeb had his own ideas on where to put them.

We got home and Zeb immediately headed over to his Moon Sand, that Auntie Sara gave him. She also let him come home with a Rubiks Spaceship.

Brock and Reece were home from the Cabin by then and Zeb couldn't wait to tell them how much fun he had.
"We went to see Bee Movie! And the Zoo! And I got to play Call of Duty 2!" and on and on he went...
Then they started talking about how much fun they had playing on the PS2 and what they played... and then on and on they went....

I think fun was had by all the boys, with many thanks to Aunt Sara for all of the Adventures and trinkets.

Rambling's in Mom's Free time.

There are so few times these days that I can sit down and type out anything, without one of my kids stopping to read what I am writing. Thankfully, these are one of those times.

They are all off to school. I am able to be in a peaceful house. I don't even watch my soap. I read about it from time to time and that seems to be enough for me to catch up and what has happened. Not even a radio. Just me and my thoughts. Ahhhh....

Reece was signed up to play soccer next year with the Rec Dept here. He used to be really good at it. Since we moved here he hasn't been in a league because he was too shy. Hopefully he finds out a friend is on the league this year. We had to bring his birth certificate and pay an insane amount to get him in but I think he really needs this. He likes to be physical, he doesn't like to sit around all day and play video games, like Brock.

Brock went to the Flight School on Saturday. At the last minute Brock was able to go due to a last minute cancellation. He was excited. I only was left with Reece, since Duner had taken Zeb to scout out his hunting area. Zeb is so funny. He gets SO EXCITED about hunting or ANYTHING to do with hunting. The other two could care less. Brock is supposed to go Deer hunting for the first 'Real' season on Saturday. We will see how this plays out. I predict he will only go Saturday AM. Regardless if he sees anything or not, I think he will stay in the Cabin the rest of the Weekend.

Zeb and I are heading to Auntie Sara's for the Weekend. Zeb REALLY wants to see Bee Movie and I really want to try a Kick Boxing Class with Aunt Sara. We may do a family swim too. We will see how much time we have and how Zeb's behaving. He keeps Asking when we are going down there. It's hard to explain days or Weeks to a 5 year old.
I had Zeb's conferences today, it seems Zeb has a hard time following directions, keeping his hands to himself and not talking to his friends. No surprise there! Otherwise, he is polite, shares, takes turns, interacts appropriately and seems to enjoy being at school. I believe he likes being at school, but he was none to happy to see his 'friend' Caitlin sitting next to a new boy... Hmmmm. Friends huh? I heard about that all weekend!


I got my new passport photos taken today. Next October, Auntie Sara and I are going to Germany. So, I have to renew my passport. It was 15 years ago this December when I last used it. I have since misplaced it, but since it was within the 15 year mark, so I can just renew it. (Yay, it saves me some Cha-$-ching)
I hope to go in next week to get that taken care of. It seems funny to me that to pay for it I have to make out two checks. One for the government and one for the county. Do they not get along??? Geez.

Well, times up... must get back to work... uh... House work that is.

Too Funny.

It's a good thing they were not on a bike ride...
: - }

Cow falls off cliff and crashes onto van near Manson, Washington The Associated Press

MANSON, Wash. — Charles and Linda Everson were driving back to their hotel when their minivan was struck by a falling object — a 600-pound cow.

The Eversons were unhurt but the cow, which had fallen off a cliff, had to be euthanized.

The year-old cow fell about 200 feet from the cliff and landed on the hood of the couple’s minivan, causing heavy damage.

A Chelan County fire chief, Arnold Baker, said the couple missed being killed by a matter of inches in the crash Sunday on a highway near Manson.

The Eversons, visiting the area from their home in Westland, Mich., to celebrate their first wedding anniversary, were checked at Lake Chelan Community Hospital as a precaution.

Everson, 49, said he didn’t see the cow falling and didn’t know what happened until afterward.

He said he kept repeating: “I don’t believe this. I don’t believe this.”

Welcome Fox Cities Triathlon Clubbers!

Since I am the featured member of the Fox Tri Club this week, I will write about my triathlon life. I am not a FAST tri-athlete. I COMPLETE THEM. Not to be confused with compete. It is so nice to have fellow athletes that know our pain. Understand our fears. Not to mention, know our lingo.
Now, I admit, when I am not the last one on the list of finishers I am happy. Ok, I have to admit I would love to be in the top 10, but I am working on that. I am a MOM first. I need to balance the two aspects in my life.

So I was trying to talk my husband in to doing a triathlon, but he is still TOO SCARED! I don't know what to say to get him to just jump on in! He thinks he can't do it unless he has a new bike. Which is strange since he wouldn't let me just BUY a road bike until I proved myself.

I was trying to tell him NOW is the time to get going and pick which one(s) you want to do so you don't have to pay so much to do them. I just sent in my money for the High Cliff Triathlon.

I am trying to get improved in my running. I have improved, SLOWLY! I know it is not going to happen over night. I have lost weight, but only about half way to where I want to be next year. Running is a great way to help lose weight.

This school year it has been tough finding the time to workout. I usually like to get my workout in right in the morning, but since my youngest is in afternoon 4k, we usually stay home until the bus comes to get him. I don't want to leave because I am afraid I will lose track of time an miss the bus. Zeb LOVES the bus.

Speaking of Zeb, we took him to the Dentist yesterday. About 2 weeks ago he fell while riding his scooter and knocked one of his front teeth lose. It is now turning a nice dark color. It was shifted back a little bit, too. According to our dentist he should be ok he told us what to watch for, in case of infection, but otherwise it should just stay there until it is ready to fall out. (crossing our fingers and toes) I really don't what to have it pulled. He was terrified when he found out that his teeth will fall out. He told me he no longer wants to have anymore birthday's. He wants to stay 5 forever!

Ahhhh... now that was nice.

After a couple of weeks with extra hours put in at work, I was really in need of some piece and quiet. Last night after work Reece comes up to me and tells me that he got yet ANOTHER late slip.

I was furious! On Thursday, the night before his late slip, I told him there would be NO TV, Computer or video games. He needed to find something constructive to do. I was just so sick of the extra noise.

And yet somehow he didn't get his homework done....

I had told the kids to throw a pizza in the oven for supper since I had to go to get some groceries. I was looking forward getting out of the house after that. I really didn't want to come home.

But...

Then today Duner to the boys and the dogs to the cabin to scout out for the upcoming hunting season. I was left alone from 8am until 2pm today.
I was able to clean the bathrooms, organize my desk, put away Halloween Decor, vacuumed up the dog hair in the garage, drop a load off at the thrift store and worked out.

There was No TV. When I was by myself, it was so peaceful, no Lego's magically appearing. No noise. Until I put on my itunes. I had treated myself to Starbucks on Friday and they gave me a free song from itunes. It was a song by John Mayer called Dreaming with a Broken Heart.

Well, needless to say that is no longer the situation. I am now in the company of my kids, since Duner has now gone hunting. I guess we each have different ideas of bliss.

It was a Dark and Crisp fall night...

Here we are with another weekend come and gone.
On Saturday, My husband and I were invited to a wedding of his cousins. It was the second wedding in row that we were invited to. It was also the same side of the family.

We were not able to make it to last week's wedding and Duner had to work yet again, so we didn't make it to either wedding. It bothered me a little. I really don't like missing things like that if I can help it. But Duner worked both weekends at the Restaurant. At least we were fair to both and didn't make it to either one.

We were invited to a neighbor's Halloween party on Saturday as well. I was feeling guilty about being home and not stopping over so I managed to get really creative and dress in my Triathlon gear, swim cap and googles. I was tempted to wear my bike shorts but after a quick look in the mirror I changed my mind on that one, and opted for some running pants.

I entered their garage and was greeted with questions asking if I was the Police? There was probably 20 people and only one was not in costume. There were lots of pirates, a boy-girl cheer team, a caveman, hunters (2) many witches, grim reapers, an Indian, a few clowns, and a chauffeur.

I stayed for about an hour and headed home. I was so cold I didn't warm up until the middle of the night.

I wish I would have taken some pictures but I didn't. You will have to use your imaginations.

So What have I been doing since I have Not been Blogging?

Oh Boy!
Where do I start???
Ok.
Last I left you I was patiently awaiting my husband to return home from a week long existence with out his family (unless you count his brother). I waited a week and a few hours before I heard from him again.
Yes one FULL week without hearing from my husband. AT ALL.
Honestly it felt like he was working long hours again like he was when he was on 12 hour shifts, but I wasn't able to call his cell phone.
They didn't get the trophy cow they were hoping for but they gain LOADS of knowledge. Such as, Three hours in the 3rd seat of the Durango is Way too long to be sitting there.
I then spent the duration of my weekend in Laundry Central, cleaning the weeks worth of campfire clothes, not to mention our own, as well.

The boys had a friend spend the night on Saturday, I spent the majority of my time trying to maintain the level of clean I was able to do while my husband was gone and I was off of work. That is just about impossible these days. It was kind of nice while it lasted, but *sigh*, farewell clean house of mine.

I did manage to sneak away to grab some Halloween customes for the boys.
B is going to be the 'King of Pop'. He is going to have a cape with names of soda on it a crown and necklace of soda bottles or cans.
R. is going to be a ninja. He is so excited about that he was told twice to remove his costume. I finally hid it or else he would lose an accessory.
Z is going to be the CUTEST skeleton you have ever seen!! He loves his costume too!

I visited with a cousin of mine that recently had a baby. A Boy she named Isaiah. I am a bit biased when it comes to babies. I love boys. It was nice to be able to hold him and get him to fall asleep, but be able to leave. I really don't miss the 'baby' stage. I LOVE to visit that once in a while but as far as I am concerned, NO WAY GOIN' BACK NOW!

Zeb was hoping to go hunting with Dad but since Reece wanted to go he couldn't. That was when we decided to let him go out and play with my cousin's 3 older girls. Zeb just loves to play with them. It was hard to get him to leave, but once the girls began giving 'Good-bye kisses' they left pretty easily.

Duner and I also spent some time doing some pre-holiday shopping, while the kids were in school.

The boys have been off of school since Wednesday, so I don't have much on the selves anymore. I will be having to go get some food soon.

Ma Ma Shopping trip.

I was able to spend some time without kids and without anything going on. It was a nice change. I took this time to do some much needed shopping. My job will be switching from wearing scrub tops to 'business casual', so I need to update my wardrobe.

There are some very good sales on right now, and I haven't been in a clothing section like that in a long while.
I found some shirts, unfortunately, not what I prefer. I am not a huge fan of 3/4 sleeves and that is practically the only thing out there.
As I violated the maxium number of garments to bring in the fitting room, I discovered some rules for shopping...

1. If you are having difficulty getting it over your head, chances are it won't fit the rest of you.
2. The words 'Modern fit' mean you will need the next size up, don't bother with the size you think you wear.
3. When undressing, Never look in the mirror until you are dressed. Your in the store with size 2 mannequins, You will not appreciate the view.

I had over 3 hours to spend so I stopped in some 'Big Name' type stores. Hoping to score a few good deals. I am amazed at what we as a public are spending our money on! So much for Quality! WOW! I was amazed. I could have bought a long sleeve t-shirt material type shirt, that looked like it was put together by a 8th grader and worn 5 years, before going to the store! That was something like 15 bucks, on 'SALE'!!

Needless to say I didn't find anything there. As I continued a women stopped me to give me her sales pitch about some dead sea skin care. I will agree it was neat, but not for the 'great deal price of $59.95! Which shrunk down to $29.95. (I noticed online it is only $39.95 and the salt scrub she told me was $80 bucks I can buy for $64.95 online!)

I managed to sneak away from her by telling her I was going to stop back on my way out of the mall. Then I made sure I took a different way back to the car.

I managed to leave with just about what I came with, except I grabbed a Hot Dog and soda at Target.

Fall Fun 2007

Saturday a local landscaping place had a Halloween Fun Day. We had gotten something from the kids school telling about it so I decided we would go check it out.

Shortly after we parked we were met by a guy made up to look like he had cuts all over his face. He also had sun glasses on so you couldn't see his eyes. He was wearing dark clothing and a hooded sweatshirt. Even though it was high noon, it still freaked Zeb out that he was looking at Zeb. He walked with us for a little bit, but then he pointed at Zeb. If Zeb could have climbed me, he would have been on my head. Then he started to wave at Zeb, that helped a bit.

As soon as we walked up they had some hayrides. We hopped on the first one we saw and began traveling through the various trees and landscaping elements they had for sale.

This peticular location has a fancy water fountain, pond and boulder display. As we got closer we were treated to a girl pirate show, complete with costumes and even a Bassett hound dressed as a shark.

As we wandered on we came upon 3 plant houses that were made up in various scenes.

The first was a guy in a coffin that made a very loud noise and made you jump as he got up out of the coffin and followed you down to the next one.... , where two guys were 'cutting up a skeleton.

The third one was 2 girls fighting in jail and then they would start yelling at you.

The rest of the ride was a graveyard from the decorative boulders, a truck buried in the dirt, various 'dead bodies', a witch and 2 guys with chainsaws.

That was only the Hayride~
Then we go to the Store where they have cotton candy, popcorn, Hot Chocolate, Culvers custard, candy bars, face painting, pumpkin decorating and photo studio to take pictures of the kids in costume.
It was all Free! It was VERY fun. The boys completely enjoyed it.

We finished out the adventure by picking some pumpkins at the apple orchard by our house and headed home. Reece barely made it out of the car he was so tired after all the fun he didn't want to wake up to pick his pumpkin.

Moraine & More Hunting...

Reece recently went to Kettle Moraine State Park, as a result, he was to build something resembling what they may have seen if they were around during the ice age. Here is how his turned out. He was pretty happy. We used a recipe to make play dough for the glacier, and tinted some of it to make a Mammoth, we used a toothpick for the tail.

He used some duct tape to hold the grass he picked out of our front yard and added some sparkle glitter to the dough for ice effect. We used long cinnamon stix and some green paper to make some trees, just to help give it something more.
I hope he stays pretty happy with it since I saw some of the other kids projects and they were pretty good.
In other news, Brock recieved a new shotgun just in time for the Youth Gun hunt this year. Reece was just as excited as Brock about the new gun. Don't worry, yes he know's about gun safety and how he is not allowed to touch it without Dad present. He just wanted to pose for the picture.

Brock's youth gun hunt was not quiet successful, but it was a learning experience. Brock needs to learn to not talk so much, but I don't think that will change any time soon. They did manage to see 4 deer total on Sunday but that was it.

Update on Dad: Duner called from Iowa tonight at 6pm, he has approximately an 8 hr stretch through Nebraska then about 6 hours to Steamboat, CO. The latest weather called for rain on Saturday and Sunday. Yuck. I think they are going to come home early. Just my opinion.

The Big hunt is coming

I have been busy getting my husband and car ready to go hunting.
Something is wrong there, I know.

Tomorrow he leaves for Colorado with his brother and some friends to hunt for about a week in the hills of Colorado. I have heard all kinds of interesting stories about how dehydrated and exhausted you can become. He was supposed to be running about 2 or 3 times a week to get prepared, but he maybe ran 5 times total.
Our Truck is the transportation for all of the guys. We cleaned up our truck, gave it an oil change and made sure the tail lights are working correctly, which brought to our attention the battery needed to be replaced. They are bringing our truck for 6 guys, their gear and food. I am glad they decided to bring a trailer. They think it will be to bring home the "big Hunt's Rewards".

I am NOT holding my breath.

They are going to be enjoying the balmy temperatures, as the high will be in the upper 60's, and the low in the low 30's. Sometimes lower it depends on the website you check. For some fun, the big guy upstairs has decided to throw some rain there way.

I remember watching the athletes at last years Wisconsin Ironman as it was in the mid 40's and rainy. Brrr. I watched for about 2-3 hours. Then I was ready to go in to a warm home. I can not imagine Eating, Sleeping, and just camping with rain and cold.

I am certain he and the rest of them will have loads of stories; From the email's we have been getting, I can tell, they are a bunch of clowns when they all get together.

Just Runnin'

I managed to guilt myself into waking up at 5:45 and head out on a run. I laid in warm cozy bed thinking how I was awake, B was home to hold down the fort until I came back. Since my window was cracked open, I could tell it was colder than it had been the previous days this week.

The last time I ran was Thursday. I did a 4.4 mile run. It was at sundown, and by the time I had gotten home he was very dark. It was a beautiful time to run. It wasn't 80 degrees and I really enjoyed the lack of sun beating down on me. (No lectures necessary)

I was hoping to run on Saturday or Sunday, but I just couldn't find the time.

So... I needed to do it this am or else I have to wait until the afternoon. That is when Z will be in School.
I got my butt out of bed. I grabbed my ipod and workout pants and long sleeve shirt. I was feeling pretty good and actually awake. I got my gear on, told B. that I was going for a run. He was already on the computer. The kid is nuts he actually wakes up insanely early to sometimes play on the computer or sometimes just watch tv.

Anyway, as I headed outside, I was in awe of the sky. It was still dark and crisp. I love Fall. It is probably my favorite season. I began out on the country roads, I like to go the opposite way of traffic. That way I can see if a car is coming. The only bad part of running that early is the lack of natural light. Not so much cars, but road kill. I knew that there was a dead muskrat, frog and cat along my route, I just had to avoid it. The muskrat was on the side of the road in the gravel. I tried to avoid it but each time a car would come I would go into the gravel, and be blinded due to the headlights of the upcoming cars as I tried to watch for the dead animals. Somehow I managed to skip it, but I don't know how.
Luckily the cat was on the other side of the road. There was also a dead frog but he was already pretty flat, so no chance of falling on that one.
My hands were pretty cold as I finished the first mile, but I was warming up pretty good by my 2.5. As I was coming to the 3 mile mark the sun was begining to come out.
That was the neatest and scariest run I have had in a long time, but things went well I think.

Career Searching

Brock is in something called Education Talent Search. ETS is a 'magically funded' program that helps kids whose parents did not go to a 4 yr school or can't afford to do so, a guide in the right direction. We qualify for this since Duner and I did not got to a college or university.

Last year, I had to fill out a bunch of paperwork and send it in to get the whole thing started. They had a get together with pizza but that was it.

This year they will have monthly workshops, field trips and various speakers planned.

One field trip is to a Flight School. HOW COOL IS THAT!!!

The school is about an hour away, but a bus will bring him, and the other kids that are going to participate in a variety of activities designed to help them explore aviation. They will also go on a flight simulation machine after they complete "pilot training". I haven't talked to Brock about this yet but I imagine him worrying about his ears... The last time we flew he had a lot of ear pain. We visited a specialist for ears and he told us to load up on decongestant, and basically allergy medication. It sounds like Brock has a lot of fluid in his head normally and by getting it out that should help.

I heard from a wife of a pilot that I work with that flight school is outrageously expensive, but college is not cheap either. She said the big bucks in flying are with the larger companies, not the local Midwest Airlines, that we have around here. If we could get his ears in check, I bet that would be an interesting career choice.
But, OF COURSE, that is HIS to decide.

Ok that was FUN!

What a busy weekend...
First I meet the girls from the neighborhood out a local establishment to record a Happy Birthday message secretly to a neighbor. I drove a neighbor and passed one walking to the place on the way. We probably could have walked to but we both had time reasons to leave early. She is a nursing mom and Duner had to work nights Friday.

Bright and early on Saturday I woke at the crack of dawn to get ready to spend the weekend away. I showered, packed and headed over to my friend's J's house. She was ready and waiting for me to get there. After loading up my bag we headed out. Three hours later we were pulling in to a parking stall and gearing up for a busy day of shopping.

Warrens is a town of 400 that becomes flooded with about 100,000 people. The entire town gets taken over. We walk all over the place. In peoples yards, in Church yards, in ALL the streets and a few nearby fields.

After a loaded baked potato, we warmed up a bit. The air had a slight chill to it. Every year the weather in this city is the opposite of what you think. It was forecasted to be in the high 70:s on Saturday, it was really in the low 60's in the highest. We decided after it began to sprinkle after 4 hours to head back to a hotel and sit in a hot tub and realax.

We had forgotten the name of the hotel we had a reaservation at. We were able to stop in at a hotel to use their computer to look up the name of our hotel. We kind of wished we were staying at that hotel, but we had another reservation.

After checking in our hotel, the hot tub was in need of a really good cleaning so we retreated to our room. After calling a local theater for movies times and prices we decided to rent a DVD player and some movies instead. It was nice. I learned my friend has not seen very many movies recently, but I was still willing to re-watch any that she wanted. We picked out Knocked Up and We are Marshall.

After the first one, we barely made it through the second. It was a busy day so we went to bed early.

The next day I woke first and tried to get the coffee going for us, but when I turned on a light I ended up waking up her too.

Within a short time we were ready to try our luck again.

The weather was beautiful!! We heard there was a posibility of showers, but none appeared. It was nice being only two. I think we covered more ground. I definitely got further than I ever have. We found better deals on day two; Not to mention many less people. It seems like a shame, so many people stuck it out on a crappy day, to miss out on the deals and weather the very next day.

I came home and learned Reece got his first bee sting. Apparently he is not allergic. He went to some festival with his Aunt Shannon and was using a port-o-potty and as he was getting out it got his hand. I guess the bee's were just mean that day because Aunt Shannon ended up getting stung too!

Sounds like they had fun too! Enjoy the Photo Show, just ignore my funny face...

Help for Brock, Please.

Please allow me list little bit of your time for my child's benefit. I don't do this often,
I really despise this about the K.A School District, but they send this home each year.

B. is selling magazines. They will will plant a tree every time a 3rd magazine is purchased by the same household through a non-profit organization called Plant-it 2020.
Brock is desperately trying to sell as many as he can. He hopes to earn enough for a MP4 player. (That is 75 magazines...) so any help I am sure is appreciated.
They have all different kinds.

Cooking
Fitness
News, Business and Home
Lifestyle
Sports & Leisure
Entertainment & Fashion
Outdoors
Travel


Please go to this Website.
Click on Order Magazines.
Then enter the School's Code. WC2350.
Then click on 'Start Shopping'
Enter B's First Name. Enter the Last name. (So he can get credit for it)

If you are more comfortable please email us your choices and we will reply back.

Thank you for your time....

Wow!

Who knew a dictionary would be such a treasured item? Too bad R is in not in 3rd grade.
Apparently the 3rd Graders from R's school think it is the 'Greatest Dictionary EVER!'
Take a peek

Field Trips Everywhere!

I am not really sure why but this school district likes to front load all of the field trips for the kids in the early parts of the year. I don't know if parents aren't as likely to pay later in the year or what, but it is a bit overwhelming.

Two kids have a field trip to an apple orchard. I am sure they will pick apples, probably some gourds or pumpkins, too.

One to a historical state park, Kettle Moraine State Park, and a local nature center.

Some need a bag lunch others not. Apparently if I would agree to chaperone, I need a background check. That never happened in the other schools. I guess it is a nice feature, but I just didn't realize they were so picky.

Then my oldest tells me that he only has $7 in his account for school lunch. Ok, we are less than 3 weeks into school and he should have had more than enough to make it through the first month, no problem!

Well, evidentially, he has been getting some extras... ala carte. His school lets him buy additional items if he wants for additional money.

He told me at first he was getting an extra milk. Hmmmm.

After a little bit I thought no there is more than just milk.

It didn't take much longer for him to crack. He confessed to having COOKIES AND MILK!

AH HA!

Boxer Boy

Brock has been looking to break the the world record for length of wearing underwear without washing. Yes, he is out to impress, I know. I don't think there is an existing one, I Google'd it but was afraid I was getting too many porn references.

So, this AM I had to wake up Brock, he forgot to set his alarm and I just happened to get up 2 minutes before he is to leave. I quickly told him to hop in the shower and I ran around getting clothes and making sure he didn't miss the bus.

While I was looking for clothes I noticed I couldn't find any clean underwear. Hmm. I remembered the 'record' he was trying to set. I wondered if he secretly hid the others to remind him of his record setting attempt. Yes, I am so very proud of him.

So, after doing some laundry today I asked him about the lack of underwear.
He said he didn't know where more were.

To which I said "Either they are lost or they ran away because they didn't want to have to be on your butt that long. There is only one on your butt and one in the laundry room."

He was so amused by that he had to run down to his brothers and tell them what I said. He giggled about that for a good 10 minutes.

So, I will be adding boxer briefs to my next clothing adventure. (probably not in camo)

We are goin' to Albuquerque!

It's official we are going March 9th to March 18th.

I was online yesterday and found an insanely cheap airfare. I called a travel agent just to make sure that was correct and she said it was and we should snap it up since it's not often that happens.

We are going for 9 days. Now, I have to finish preparing for our baby's 5th birthday party, opening of bow hunting season, Warrens cranberry Festival, Duner's Colorado trip, and Halloween. All in the next 45 days. Yikes!

Gone!

Well it is official.

I have 3 (yes, 1.2. and 3!!) kids in public schools!

Ahhhhh!

Of course we had to get some last minute pics, which he hammed up for the camera.




He was the first one on the bus, I had to buckle him up as he got on.

At the last minute I stuck a ID Badge, that I was going to use for his birthday party on him with which teacher he belonged to, so he wouldn't get lost.




One last picture then he was off on his way on the little bus...

I am sure he will be just fine.

Now I must get my butt out on a run/walk. I am hoping to do 5 miles today. Yikes!

Learning to swim in a sea of chaos

This weekend I was able to escape the craziness with kids to live the life of non-kidness.
What a nice change.
I went down to Madison to volunteer with the Iron Crew for Ironman Wisconsin. Otherwise known as the Cheddar shredder. My sister had some pics on it on her blog. It will also air on TV on FSN network on October 15th at 7pm.

I can't possibly begin to describe how my fun, it truly was. Our shift began at 8:30am and lasted until 12:30pm. I was so filled with the adrenaline that I couldn't believe it was done. It went so quick!

My sister and I both worked at the food both. It was part of a long line of refreshments meant for the athletes. Water, Gatorade, bananas, oranges, power bars, and gu. There was MANY athletes from different countries as well. It was fun trying to understand some of them as quick as they rode by pointing and repeating what they needed.

I gave bananas. My sister was oranges. She began handing out bananas and oranges after while because a lot of the athletes wanted bananas. Probably to avoid the cramping that was inevitable after excising as hard as they do for at least 10 hours straight. I was the first person of our food station, immediately after the water group. Lots of athletes wanted water. It was scary to see them get so close, and so fast. I would say less than 10 athletes actually slowed down. Many times I had to keep my eyes on the water guy in front of my because you have to run with the athlete. Yah! Try doing that backwards! They are going DOWN HILL and about 2o miles per hour, some up to 30! Not easy! (I know this because they had a police radar trailer set up monitoring speed, so you could see it as they went down hill)

I also had to watch for flying bottles of water that were slipped out of the hands of athletes as they tried to grab some water. Some not realizing they twisted open would throw the unopened bottles back at us. Yes, a little Scary, but so FUN! We also, had to make sure the road was kept clean from debris. We didn't need any bikes plowing in to us or the crowd across from us.

The athletes went by us twice. On mile 55 and 95. Some kept going past on the first round, but as they came around again that was when it got tricky. Some said thanks to us for working that day, some cursed they way they were given their water/food. Some would be delighted with the options and say 'Ohh, BANANAS!', some would say 'GEL, GEL, GEL' in a heavy accent. (Meaning the high energy Hammer Gel or GU packs that we had.)

I saw one guy take a nasty dive in the water part. Luckily, he was the only one, even though others ran into him, they didn't fall. On girl also fell, but she got back on, too!
Two athletes had to replace tires, one had to replace 2 tires, his spare had a hole! One guy needed some screws tightened.

After some pizza, my sister and I headed out to cheer on some athletes. It was interesting to see the people that cheered people on too.

Many people had T-shirts custom made for this event. (or maybe many events, I am sure)

One groups said...
'See Mike Swim
See Mike Bike.
See Mike Run.

Another said "The beatings continue until the morale improves". The had some kids with them and they were all decked out in pirate bandannas.

The groups cheering on the Mexican Ironmen were by far the most colorful and excited. I don't know if it is the Spanish language, but it always sounded so encouraging. One woman had a mega phone and would yell anytime she saw one of the over 300 Mexican team members. They also had many instruments to help make noise. That was a nice idea. My hands hurt so bad by the time we left at just before 3pm.

I had almost forgotten about the Packers that were playing during that time, until one of the female athletes asked us what the score was.

I had gotten a nice T-shirt and sunburned face to remind me of this adventure. It was definitely not the last time for this!

It's Begining...

So I am at work today and I get a phone call from Brock. Exactly 4:22pm. (The time he gets off the bus) I was very busy so I had to call him back.

I get a minute and call him.

He answers the phone "MOM" (obviously he saw the Caller ID)
"The weirdest, most strangest thing happened to me today. You'll never guess." as he continued...
"At lunch a girl asked me out, but my friends and I ran away from her. Later, as I was getting on the bus I told her I don't want to go out with her and I don't like her."

ok.

So, I told him that he will need to be more considerate when declining a date. You never know when she will get a really cute friend that you will need help with.

It's deader than dead!

The other day, we put up the deer head that Duner's bro mounted for us and Zebbie asked me
"Mom, When you put that up, will it come alive?"
"Oh No!" I replied.

Later Duner said I should have told him 'Yeah, the rest of it is on the outside of the house.'

Bad Daddy.

Reason # 5

to hate Circuit City....
Our computer monitor decided to die. Yes, not even 10 months old and it dies.
Apparently the salesman that sold us the computer didn't include the monitor in the 'optional warranty' that we purchased.

Lovely.

The recommend we call Gateway.... THREE phone numbers later, they tell us our monitor will cost us $40 bucks to have them LOOK at it.
**sigh**

I love Best Buy.
I love Best Buy.
I miss Best Buy.

We hop in the car and head to Circuit City to chew someone's ear off, but by the time I get there common sense takes over and we decide they won't exchange a monitor no matter who I talk to, so we just have to chalk that up to a learning experience from Circuit City and bite the bullet and get a new monitor. GRRRR.

We grabbed a new keyboard too since our space bar only worked part of the time. (Which is partly why the blog has been quiet).

Now 4 hours later...
1 new monitor
1 new keyboard (cordless no less, it was cheaper than the corded)
1 new mouse (it was included)

Finally!

Ok, now Breathe! Ahhhhhh.

After much running around the kids and I made it up to the cabin late Friday night. We washed the kitchen counters and fridge down and popped in a movie. Brock won the coin toss so we watched Blades of Glory. I didn't care too much for it, but Brock was dying to see it. After trying Zeb's movie Called Kart Racer, we ended up putting in Reece's movie, In the Army Now, since Zeb's didn't work. I had to talk Reece in to getting that movie, but he LOVED it so much he watched it twice.

We got together for a horseshoe tournament this weekend at Crooked Lake. Duner and his Brother team up each year. Last year the had a really bad loss to kick them out in the 2nd round of play, so this year the goal was to make it past that. They succeed! They made it into 4 rounds and then a couple of older guys that have played much more than Duner and Cory, kicked their butts. But they were still happy. They made it further than they did before.

That night we lit a campfire and let the boys dig a large hole to fit Zeb in it all the way up to his neck. We stopped the fun when the boys began to dream up tunnels underground and rooms big enough for more than one person. They were so dirty, we made them bathe before getting in bed that night.

They had so much fun they decided to dig the next day too!
We gathered up the boys, and some fishing gear and headed out to a small pond. The boys caught about 12 Pumpkin Seed fish.
We didn't expect to catch that many fish, so we didn't bring anything to keep them in. We had to release them all.

After lunch we walked through the woods near the cabin and picked out some wild Sweet Ferns. The kids also got a nice lesson about poison Ivy. Thankfully, no one got a rash or anything, but we came close. The woods we were in had roads made of sand, Zeb and baby G loved that. They slid, rolled and ran around on them. The boys loved the carpet moss they found in the woods.

We ended up coming home that night to get the kids ready for the upcoming beginning of school the next day.
Of course the kids waited until the last possible moment to tell me they don't have this or that.

It was so nice to get that over with. Reece was afraid he wasn't going to wake up in time, but by 6am he was fully dressed with his backpack on. The boys were very excited to get the day going.

The list never ends...

I have a constant to do list running through my head.

• lay grass seed for bald spots lawn at home.
  
• paint cabin
• plant tree spikes for tree at home.
• kill hornets or wasps at cabin.
• don't forget to turn on hot water at cabin (never fails, I wait til I want to take a shower to remember this)
• water trees at home
  
• water plants at home
  
• laundry
• make a food list for cabin.
• pick up house.
• kill dogs (just kidding) they are just really noisy tonight.
• remember paint, air chuck, and bug spray for cabin.
• remember to buy dish detergent for work kitchen. I just used the last of it today.
• check on laundry
• find out why the kids have the TV on and no one is watching it.
• Get a new keyboard. The one I have, the space bar doesn't always like to work. Grrr.
  
• pack clothes for cabin
• rent movies for weekend.
• bring some bikes up for the weekend?
• buy some asphalt sealer for the driveway at the cabin?
• Kill kids that are whiny and crying???? Ahhh, only 5 more days until school... who's idea was the 'waiting until AFTER THE HOLIDAY'?

Wow, that is quite the list, maybe I need to get out my Complete Book of Pocket Positives and get some encouragement.

Yikes!

Are we done yet?

Today was Ducks Unlimited at the EAA fairgrounds in Oshkosh. We decided to bring only one dog, the lucky dog today was Lighting. He generally listens better. After letting Dad sleep a peaceful 2 hours, we woke him up and headed out. He was actually very much awake and ready to go.
After parking, we headed directly to the dog area where we tried our dog with others to see how well he was at retrieving. I am so glad it was Duner up there with the dog.
After getting into the water, he lost the dummy and began swimming in circles. At least the dog before him was worse.

After that was canoe and kayak time, catfish fishing, rockwall climbing, bike riding, archery and paintball shooting.The boys had fun. Zeb was a little pre-occupied with the thought of going to the races today. By the time we finished the Rock wall he kept suggesting that we need to leave so "Mom can drop me and Dad at the races."

Unfortunetly, I wasn't able to lose the other two.

So I am home with the older two boys...




On a side note... Let the Exodus begin.... I think the neighbors are finally fed up Crazy neighbor Craig's driving everyone has decided to leave our old yard!
House#1 (Almost exactly across the street)
House #2 (Next to House #1)
House #3 ( 2 doors away from House number 1)

Today was school shopping day with the boys. We began at a shoe store, found a buy one get on FREE event and got one pair for each. Then we headed to the Outlet Mall in Oshkosh to see what they had there.

Someone told me there was a pretty good deal on some shoes at a store down there, I didn't find any shoes, but I did manage to pick up a few shirts for Zeb and Reece.

We shopped at Oshkosh B'gosh, Some shoe store, Old Navy Outlet, The Children's place and Land's end outlet.

We also managed a stop at a few fun-for-Mom stores, like Ralph Lauren and Bath and body Works Outlet.

The kids Loved the Bath and Body store, it was completely hands on activity for them. They were allowed to smell and Try just about everything.

One of the items they tried was a smelling area for room fragrances line called Wallflowers. They fell in love with a fragrance called Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, so we picked it up.

I talked Reece into putting it in his room, now the boys keep coming up from the basement looking for my Chocolate Candy Cane cookies... YUM! Not really the ice cream but still sounds good!

Pre K shot day

I like to prepare my kids. I don't like to surprise them with getting shots. This time it was Z's turn.
He is entering preschool at the public school, so he needed to have immunizations. Four to be exact. Yes 4. That is his age. It is hard but not impossible to reason with someone that age. I hear all kinds of 4 yr olds SCREAM, when it comes to the shots. Brock was just about IMPOSSIBLE to reason with when it comes to shots.

Anyway, I warned Z the night before about him getting shots. I told him he would get some medicine so it would not hurt so much, before we even left for the doctor appointment. I worried about it some more, and I kept trying to reassure him he was going to have medicine to help with the pain. I told him it wasn't going to take the pain away, but it will hurt less. Again, I just really don't like to lie to my kids. I will joke around but lying is just not a good thing to do to them.

Z fell asleep next to me on the couch that night and when he woke up the next morning, the first thing he said was "I don't want any shots."

**sigh**

"Sorry honey, but you will be getting your shots" I replied. Bummer. Sleep didn't help anything.

So I gave the Tylenol before hand, brought his tough brother R with us for support, so he could tell him how he doesn't mind shots at all.
They brought in the shots. I asked for an extra nurse, just because Brock is such a wimp when it comes to shots. We laid him down and I tried to side track him, while the double teamed him. He whispered "OW, OW, OW" a few times but otherwise did GREAT! No screaming, wailing, or hitting from him!! I have seen teenagers do worse than him.

And then they were GONE!

So I was outside, when it briefly wasn't raining this weekend, and I kept having to look at my watch to see what the date was. What a temperature change from last weekend. I swore that it was September already. It was over cast, rainy and chilly this weekend, all weekend.

On Sunday I figured I would fully take advantage of the crappy weather to kill some wasp's or hornet's that made a nice home by the dog's kennel. They said on TV the high temperature for Sunday was 61 degrees. I know how much they hate cold weather, so flying wouldn't be so easy for them. I bought a bonus package of wasp and hornet killer, that said it could spray up to 27 feet.

The kids wanted to help take care of them so I had them watch from behind the dog privacy fence. They had they perfect view of the action, but they kept trying to sneak a better one.

As soon as I sprayed they started dropping like rain. It was perfect for this. I kept spraying until I used up all the spray, just in case. You could see where they had baby wasp's or hornet's and I wasn't taking any chances, everything had to go.

We have a ladder but we left it up at the cabin. If I could have gotten on top of the roof I was going to us a shovel to get the nest down. Brock was insistent that I not wreck it, since he wanted to see if the queen was in the nest, but since I couldn't get on the roof, I had to use water to knock it down. I tried to spray just the top of the nest, but after a short time I had to shoot towards the middle of the nest to get it moving.

Parts and pieces began to fall down the siding. The more I shot, the more stuff fell down. Soon half of the nest fell down. The kids scampered over trying to see the nest. They were disappointed to see the condition of it. Nope. They don't hold up well to high pressure water. The kids decided it was no longer fun to watch, so they went on their way playing what they were before we started with the bee's.
I finished spraying down the rest of the nest and put it in with the dog waste. It had nicely sealed container and the contents were going into the trash for pick up the next day. All that was left was some black marks where the nest was hanging on.

Now that we know they were there, I am sure the kids will let us know when more appears again.

Ha! Take that you nasty beasts!

Yay!!!

Boy's Paradise

Thanks to happy miscalculation on our part we were able to take the kids out to eat last night and to a place I like to call Boy's Paradise.

We loaded all the kids in to the car and went out for supper at Mr.Cinders. Zeb sometimes orders and sometimes doesn't but after the peanut and butter sandwich that Brock made for Lunch, he was hungry for supper. He ordered the Mac-n-Cheese with apple dippers (apple dippers are the newest favorite for him). We happily watched as he chowed down his mac-n-cheese, then worked on his apple dippers. He actually ate 3/4 of it!

He was very well behaved, it was Brock and Reece that wouldn't take there hands off each other. Constantly poking, tapping or pushing each other. They were a little excited. We ended up having the kids separate and were not allowed to even look at each other, that was actually quite fun to watch that. Reece finished his sundae with his hand up by his face the entire time. If he would briefly forget he would let out a Homer Simpson 'D,Oh!' and put it back.

Reece ordered a Cheeseburger with fries, a usual for him. He ate just over half of his burger, and then a small sundae (it was included with the meal).

Brock ordered a grilled cheese sandwich. He ate all of that, then he just wanted to go, so he didn't want his sundae.

Duner had the All You can eat Whitefish. I had my typical grilled chicken sandwich and cup of chili.

We finished our food and headed out the the paradise.

Lil' Zeb likes to call it Golden Corral. We keep explaining to him that Golden Coral is a Restaurant, but he has short term memory loss when it comes to this. He also knows the location to it but not the actual directions. It is conveniently located just off a highway, so when we took the exit before it Zeb told us we were going the wrong way. We explained to him we were taking a short cut and he was happy with that.

We purchased a package, which was cheaper,and got in line for the go-carts.

For August, it was a little chilly, so I wasn't looking forward to it.
We all hopped in to a car. Dad with Zeb, Brock, Reece and I in our own. Thankfully, the heat off the engine kept me warm. I was stuck the entire time behind Reece. He takes up the entire track when he drove! If you get to close to someone they shut down your engine, so I had to slow down.

I went once, Duner took Zebbie 2 times and once by himself (cause all the double go-carts were taken), and Brock and Reece got to go 3 times each.
Needless to say they didn't want to leave, but Duner had to work.

As soon as we got home Zeb was asking to go back there.

And when he woke up this morning what was the first thing he said?
"Can we go to Golden Corral today?"
"No, and it is called Badger Sports Park." I replied...

What was his 2nd question?
"Where is Brock and Reece?"

I think he is in search of some allies...

Road Trip!

So as we headed out on Saturday the kids were excited to say the least. They began chanting 'Road Trip, Road Trip... ' before we even left Appleton. Our Camry has the basic of air conditions, called open windows. After about an Hour and half Zeb asked "How much longer?" Happily I replied "Only 30 more minutes."

As we arrive in Downtown Wisconsin Dells it is 3-4pm and the street is full of people and traffic in all directions. The kids are excited but when we turned left onto the road with the Hotel on it they become beside themselves with excitement. Wow. Look at that! Can we do that? Can We go there? Were phrases I heard over and over. We found our hotel with no problem and check in. We quickly became the minority there. Three Chinese looking women were checking in and many dark skinned and hair people around us. He scooped out the view of the indoor water area and it was filled with African Americans. It is so different to see that in a Wisconsin town, even if it is a tourist place. A lot of the staff seemed to have a strong accent of some type. Ordering our food was interesting. The guy was very nice though.

We spent our time going between the indoor and outdoor area. We got a life jacket for Zebbie, but we were unsuccessful in getting him to go down the water slides they had.
We took a break from swim time for food about 6:30pm, just in time for the Packer Game. We went up to our room, via stairs due to the elevator being down, ate and took some time to let the food digest. The kids were to excited to sit still so they found the arcade. It was on level 2. Our room was on level 3. We only gave them a few dollars but only 1 dollar at a time, so they had to keep coming up by us for more money. Finally we headed back for 2 more hours of swim time.

Zeb did a constant flip flop between the kiddie slide and hot tub. (probably to warm up) Toward the end of the night we actually go Zeb talked into the deep water, with the life jacket, to doggy paddle by HIMSELF. He was so pleased with himself.
I tried to work with swimming for all the kids. Brock actually does a very good front crawl. He kept his head in the water face down, only turning as he should to breathe.
Reece's technique is a work in progress. He still has a tendency to arch his back to breathe, instead of turning his head.

Unfortunately, we had to go to the room to hit the bed.

We woke up bright and early to goto a favorite restaurant of ours called Paul Bunyan's.
Can you say YUM?

We quickly attack our buttermilk donuts, as they bring out our drinks. Brock- Decaf coffee, Zeb- milk and Reece-Orange Juice.

As we finish our donuts out comes the scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, sausages, ham and pancakes. Our server asks us if we would like biscuits and gravy, but we declined. Zeb said yes, but he was just about up for anything, even though he hadn't yet finish his donut.

We quickly finished out food an hour before the water park even opened, so we browsed the gift shop for a while to waist time. Zeb got a truck and car that was on clearence (half-price), goodboy Zebbie! Reece got a bow and arrow set with tiny suction cup arrows. Brock got a mini pirate set, Duner got a new T-shirt and I got a anti-gas sign for my house. (Yes, I know that would help..).

We get back to the hotel change into our swimsuits, sunscreen ourselves, and check out. Our hotel was directly across from the water park. We quickly found a parking stall and began to exit the car.

After getting our wristbands for Noah's Ark, Zeb immediately sees the Stingray slide and decides that is the first thing he wants to go on. Not the best choice. After we get to the top, we found out Zeb can't sit on our laps, so only one of us can go. Duner quickly chickens out after seeing the drop so I am it. Zeb had to sit backwards because they want the heavier person in the back. Zeb's tiny little butt, just barely staying in the tube. As soon as we move to the edge I realize just how bad this ride is for Zeb. As we are going down on part of the slide to head to the other, he folds in half. When we reach the other side I quickly grab his leg, just in case he would panic and try to get out. After losing my sandal under his butt, the ride slows down quickly. When we stop Zeb has a hard time getting out of the tube. He wanted to make sure it really stopped.

The next was bumper boats, then Flash Flood. The boys didn't want to go on that ride so they waited on the bridge to get soaked, as Duner and I rode the ride. It was so empty that we got to go on 2 times in a row. They have special nets and railings on the bridge due to the powerful water that comes due to the boat. It was very fun for us and the kids. I don't know which ones got more soaked, us or the kids.

The rest of the day was spent on various tube rides, rope gliders, short slides and in the wave pools. Zeb found some kiddie pool areas that he throughly enjoyed. The older kids couldn't wait to head in to the wave pools, I hardly had a chance to tell them about not going to deep before they wandered in. Luckily the waves go in timed waves. They turn off the waves to tell if anyone is having a difficult time in the water. After the first time, a lifeguard actually had to jump in a save a boy that was near Duner and Reece. He looked to be about a year or two younger than Reece. He was ok, just shaken up.

We managed to sneak in the 4-D theater, that had the smell of pickles, the feel of air and water, and real floating bubbles. We also stopped by the Noah's Incredible adventure, that Zeb loved.

By the end of the day, we had sore feet and thirsty mouths, but we all loved each and every minute of it. As we left, we wondered, what can we do there NEXT year???

Reece's Triathlon 2007

Reece was in the water warming up here... Very Nervous. After a stop at the poly john (aka Port-a-potty) He confessed he felt like he was going to toss his cookies.

Coming out of the water after the swim! He did great in the swim! Coming out in 3rd place. He later told me "Mom, my legs were SO tired after the swim. I liked the run better than the swim." His swim goggles were only for looks, they never made it to his eyes. He completely forgot about them until he was getting his bike helmet on.

Just Finishing the bike, heading in to transition area to start the run.

Wow! What fun! Here Reece is holding up his Medal. I love that all the kids get a medal. Brock is pretending to be sad in this picture, Geez, can you tell?
I had a blast watching the 2 and 3 year olds do this. Zeb would be awesome. It was cute to see them walk the swim (only going up to there waist) and run out to the transition area. One little boy was carried the entire swim, crying just like a siren, but as soon as he came out of the water, he was movin'! I think Reece's entire Triathlon was maybe 20-25 minutes max. It went quick but he was so tired. This was a great self esteem booster for him. He worried about it so much. He didn't mind when other kids would pass him, he said he told a few of them 'good job', as the passed him. I was glad to hear that because he is so competitive. We didn't stay for the trophies. Reece didn't think he would have gotten one. (He did take his time in transition, so I don't think he did either).

He did a great job, just tri'n.

Now, on to Wisconsin Dells...

His Final Countdown...

Ok.
Swimsuit. check.
Socks. check.
Shoes. Check.
Goggles. Check.
Towel. Check.
Bike. Check. Safety check of bike. check.
Helmet. Check.
Gee, Did I forget anything? I guess we will find out. Tomorrow is the big day. Reece is VERY nervous. Mainly about the swim. I think this is almost as stressful for me, trying to make sure he has everything he needs. I can't imagine having more than one doing this tomorrow. Yikes!

Busy Saturday...

Where do I start? Boy, what a crazy weekend!
I began it with a 3 mile run, not record breaking but I did it. I had been running on a treadmill the last 2 times so Saturday I wanted to see if it helped at all. Not yet.
We then went shopping for landscaping. We wanted to get more in our yard than the limited items we have now.
Large trees are NOT cheap. I have tried with 3 small trees, with no results. We visited 2 local plant nursery's and 2 local home improvement stores. I was hoping to get some year or season ending plants but they aren't quite on sale yet. We did get a birch that was kind of sad looking but it is larger than normal, so I am hoping we can nurse it back to health.

We then had to get ready for our neighborhood block party. Duner had to work but the rest of us still went. We met more neighbors that are building than we did of people that just moved in to the neighborhood. We met 3 neighbors that are building homes and 1 that just built behind us. They have twin girls that kept them very busy, so they didn't stay long.

They had a pig roast, which really grossed out many girls but not my family. Of course they were all checking it out. It was stuffed full of wieners and sauerkraut. Also, they had cob's and cob's of CORN. YUMMY! First it was soaking in a tub (of sugar water, I think) then they used a metal barrel cut in half the long way for a grill to grill the corn on. The kids were in heaven. Brock said he had over 10 ears of corn. I heard another kid had 18 ears! They had a blast. There was a water ballon fight and a pinata was a hit. Reece got bummed out because he was next in line to hit when it was busted. The candy seemed to ease his pain a bit.
Zeb had to use the bathroom, but asked if Their toilet took 'took long ones'. Meaning he had to go #2 but was afraid to plug up the toilet. After some reassuring he visited the restroom.

Duner stopped in from 8:30 to 9:20, then he had to work at his other job for 4hrs. I let the kids tell me when it was time to go, finally Zeb wanted to go home after midnight so we headed home and went to bed.

The next day I learned Duner stopped by after work and there were still people there. He stayed for a little while and then headed home, too.

Attention to Details

Since the kids discovered the scale, we have noticed a few things.

-We went though 3/4 of a box of saltines in 24hrs. 60 calories =5 crackers.

-One ate an ENTIRE box of microwavable sausage links 700 calories
(500 from fat- no more buying those!)

-We went through TWO gallons of milk in 48hrs.

-We went through 2 bags of Chips in 48 hours. (They were on sale 2 for 5.00)

-I can feed my kids and I, for under $10 bucks at a Taco Bell. Now, with the Fresco Style Tacos, Healthier (minus any drinks). Not my husband though, his tacos are 2 bucks each!! He is the expensive one!

I put Zeb in charge of physical therapy for the boys. B. & R. had to do whatever Zeb (the endless ball of energy) loves to scooter around the block. B. & R. had to go around with him as many times as he wanted!! He was good after 3 times.

I showed the kids a neat website that helped them realize how activity and food work TOGETHER. They need to eat no more than 16oo calories if they are going to sit in front of a computer or game system all day. They can eat 2200 calories if they are more active.

It showed them how many calories are burned if you do different activities, such as, jump rope, running, biking, swimming, walking, playing a board game (which is only 68 calories per hr).

After one of the kids noticed some fruit pies that Dad picked up, we checked out the calories. OVER 350~! I told him according to the website if he was going to eat ONE he had to ride his bike for one hour before he could have one of those, in order to burn over 350 calories.

Where did the weekend go?

We drove up to get Brock from Camp on Saturday mostly uneventful. We would have gotten home sooner, but we had to stop for gas, food and potty breaks x 2.
After we got home we welcomed our newest nephew over. His Mom had to work and his Dad had something else to do so we baby proofed the home and let him play. Zeb was playing really well with him considering he was used to being the 'baby'. I had to laugh as Zeb got frustrated when G would pull apart the track. He fell asleep about an hour before his Dad said he would. I guess we wore him out.

Apparently Brock has gotten into some fertilizer but I don't know where. Man, did that kid grow this summer!! I bought him some jeans while he was at camp, I asked him to try them on yesterday and they were short. REALLY SHORT. They were one size larger than the size he was in last year. He is just about to MY height and he is only 12! He is going to pass Dad up soon! He was 14 and now he is a size 20~! Not because of the waist either. The store didn't have any size 20 so we had to go in to the Young mens department and get 29 x 30 pants for him. The waist is a little large, but since the jeans are all cotton I am hoping they will shrink a little in the wash.

Today we are gearingup to take the boys Rafting today. I think everyone is pretty excited about it. Brock was preparing to make 8 sandwiches (1 per hour for him and Reece) and bring 2 liters of water and bring something to keep him occupied. Well, I have to get the troops ready with a good breakfast.

Reece is my stresser. He called me from home while I was in Madison, because he was worried about a black 'thing' on his toe. ???? (Which was gone by the time I got back, of course)

So we were watching Shaq's Big Challenge the other day on TV and he asked if we had a scale.

He dug it out and stepped on it. He was over double of Zeb.

Now I have been trying to get him to stop eating out of boredom, or excess snacking. since school let out.

Well... He REALLY is now motivated to move it into gear. He has been watching the calories this week as he runs on my parents treadmill. Yesterday he burned 53 calories today was over 100~
Last night he did 10 push ups, but was lacking in the sit ups portion. But he is determined.

Is he EVER!