One Week, 30 hours, and 9 states!

Our summer adventures have begun!  The boys set off for summer camp at Emerald Bay via an 18 hour train ride, bus thru L.A. and ferry over to Catalina.  After a week of lots of fun, pink sunglasses, bad food, merit badge earning, and very little sleep, they returned home with the Nora Virus from contaminated water at camp.  As of last count over half of their troop was sick. Thankfully it seems to run through quickly and E- and I were not home to get it too:)

M- and friend at In 'n Out Burger with their pink sunglasses - on the way home from camp

In one week, E- and I drove at least 30 hours hitting New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and finally Kansas!  I even managed to let my 15 year old drive for part of the trip - on the highway- with many semi trucks - going 75 miles/hour!  Breathe...she did great, but honestly this driving bit is one of the hardest parenting things I've done.  

In TN, we picked up Mom and headed for the OYAN summer workshop (Ellie's writing program).  She was so excited, we were happy to drop her off with friends to get some peace and quiet:)  Just kidding... She is staying in the dorm for the week, meeting with critique groups for her 2nd novel, listening to authors/agents/writers, and soaking up all things writing along with her forum friends from all over the country.  The OYAN program is one of our favorite homeschool curriculum purchases!

E- on day 1 of her summer workshop!

Happy OYANer friends!

Mom and I are relaxing in the hotel and checking out Kansas City this week.  Already finished Book 1 - Shanghai Girls... good read if you need a summer book.  Will return to Tennessee at the end of the week to finish packing up my parents home as they'll head to their new home in ABQ in about a month!

Two is Better Than One

We always have news here!  M-'s orthodontist fosters older shelter animals for an organization that rescues them before they get put down.  Every 6 weeks when I bring him in, she has a new dog in the office.  So far, despite my children's urging/begging/pleading, I have resisted.  My husband isn't allowed to take him to the ortho appointments!  This week, there was a problem...I fell in love - the pup was just like Addy!  We are adopting her!  She's with us this weekend for a sleepover..  Gifford loves her, the kids love her, the husband loves her, but I may love her the most.  Super sweet little thing.

This is Clara

The timing couldn't be worse as we are all embarking on various journeys in the next few days, but the orthodontist is going to keep her until we return:)  She did a home visit with us today - kind of weird. 

What else?  I started a homeschool teen group (I know crazy!).  We had a pool/pizza party Thursday and 6 teens had a blast.  Happy me - happy kids! 

M- and Daddy head off to summer camp for scouts tomorrow.  Such excitement.  Train, bus, and ferry to Catalina Island with kayaking, shotgun shooting, snorkeling and more.  

E- and I head off to Kansas for her writing camp next week.  She can hardly contain herself.  Meeting writing friends from her online forum, staying in a college dorm, one on one with an author and/or agent, and Doctor Who/Sherlock/Swing Dance free time.

Me and my mom will be relaxing by the pool and reading books in Kansas - pretending it is Hawaii or somewhere tropical:)

And E- got her grades from Memoria Press.... yipee for her - all A's!  Now to finish that geometry...

Little Bunny(s) Foo Foo

We have (had) bunnies!  This a.m. while doing yardwork (which is what we are always doing!) - Michael found a baby bunny.  SO CUTE! We named him Basil.

I continued the yardwork and found another bunny!  We named this one Roosevelt (Rosie).

After finding the two, I thought maybe there were more... it was a like an Easter egg hunt for bunnies.  Guess what?!  We found 2 more!  We named them Jumpy and Chubs.  They were happy to be reunited with their siblings - Bunny Pile!

Gifford was pretty fascinated with the bunnies - 

I cannot even tell you how cute these guys were - they made our day!  My husband really loved them and wanted to keep them.  But, alas. we turned them over to the wildlife refuge center this afternoon.  We knew they'd keep them alive.  No momma to be found and no nest.  We had a big wind storm last night and assume these little guys got displaced.  Such fun!  Now we want a baby bunny (well - some kiddos and a husband do!)

This post has to make you smile!  Enjoy the week:)

Oh What a Week!

Well so much for a quiet week sans M- (at camp)... My grand plans of getting caught up and finding time to relax didn't exactly go as planned.  Maybe getting a lot done and relaxing don't exactly go in the the same sentence and that was the problem?  Nonetheless, as always it was a fun week.

In addition to our zoo day, I subjected E- to one of my fave 90's movies - "That Thing You Do" (such a happy movie and really catchy tune!). She liked it.  And, we all got to go see "Les Mis"!  Took E's friend since M- was away.  Such fun and the ABQ Little Theatre is very sweet.  The girls loved it - hubby endured it!

Hubby and I did get away for an evening out at the Prairie Star - yummy!  Check out the view through my artsy photo!  Funny thing is that we actually have a view similar out our back porch:)

Not only did we indulge in dessert, but we tried a flight of grappo?!  We'd never heard of it, but basically it is a very strong 80 proof liquor made from the remnants of wine grapes.  Yikes!  Won't be doing that again.

We picked M- up from Brownsea scout camp today.  He was gone all week - I was missing him after day 1!  Oh boy did he have fun!  Got elected by all the boys to be SPL (Senior Patrol Leader) which put him in charge of about 70 kids for the week.  He led the closing ceremony this morning which was very cool to see.  All that public speaking through the years with our homeschool group paid off:)  He looks tired, tan, and skinny!  Apparently the food lacked a lot as he said he basically ate salad at every meal and that was about it.  Must have been bad as he never eats salad!  

I'm glad he's home:)

One more week and he is off to the next summer camp - this one in California!

Animals, animals, everywhere!

E- and I headed to the zoo early today to beat the heat.  We sort of succeeded - should have left before it hit 97 and we didn't.  I am feeling the effects as I am very tired this afternoon!  I love our zoo.  Such variety of animals, and always lots of babies.  Today didn't disappoint and most of them were active and/or eating while we were there.  I always take waaaay too many pics at the zoo.  It's a little crazy really as who needs that many animal pictures?  Lucky you - here are my faves of the day:)

I took way too many of baby Pixel the orangutan 

We saw an African Porcupine - on a leash!  He was hot - drinking his water.

Sleepy Koala

Sea Lions need sunscreen too!

It's a wombat!

A 3-week old Takin - he was still a little wobbly.

Tasmanian Devils are only cute while asleep.

This one is my fave - the colors!  

Hope you enjoyed:)

Monday Madness

Hi there my 5 blog followers!  Here's some stuff from today...

Cecil turned into a frog

We decided it was time to turn him loose in the pond - mostly because I didn't want to catch/buy live bugs!  He was a happy frog as he went swimming to find his friends.

Mmmm - Lemon Meringue Pie in celebration of the end of school (this is actually from the weekend) - I've never made a meringue pie before.  So Good!

This morning I got up much earlier than normal to drive M- to scout camp.  He's gone all week - we haven't left him at a camp before for more than a night - I miss his loudness already:(  I doubt he misses us too much - he was super excited!

The boy is camping in a beautiful area - lucky guy!

I thoroughly enjoyed my 4 hour round trip to camp and back home - gorgeous country.  Even stopped to snap some fun photos of a cool church in Nambe Pueblo.

Camel Rock - pretty funny!

Once home, E- and I enjoyed a quiet crafty day and made some fun clay creations:)

With M- away, she has plans for my week.  Tomorrow the zoo and Thursday "Les Mis"!  Oh boy.