Sweating and A Sticky Situation

Last Friday, on Shawn's day off, we headed to Barton Creek Greenbelt and did a little bit of hiking.  Two-thirds of the kids had a good time and a good attitude.  One just cried and complained the whole time.  This time it was Levi.  We have come to understand (after 11 years) that if we do anything outdoorsy, at least one child must be a constant state of hysteria.  It's the rule.  The rule was obeyed yet again.  But the rest of us enjoyed the hike.  

Interestingly enough, at the one mile mark, you can leave the trail, climb a little hill, and walk right up to a Tacodeli.  Would you be surprised to know that Shawn mapped our route out...and got a yummy taco half way through our hike.

The ONLY thing that kept our kids going (it really was only 2 miles altogether but it was hot...) was a promise that we'd play in Barton Creek which was nice a cool.  Of course, there were fish in the water, so I didn't put even a toe in...and it smelled kind of fishy too...which also detracted me from getting in.  But the kids loved it and had a great time!  I enjoyed sitting in the shade and watching.

We walked a little further down the creek and found an area almost entirely to ourselves.  It was perfect for the kids.  The only reason they were willing to leave, was because it was 12:30 and they hadn't eaten yet.

Here we are finishing up our hike.  The last little bit was completely no shade and just that little bit was brutal but the rest was really nice.

Onto Monday: On Monday, the girls and one of their friends got together and we made blackberry jelly from our blackberry vine!  Everyone got to do a little squishing...I found specks of blackberry juice all.over.my.kitchen even in places where I have no idea how they got there.  We were able to get almost 12 cups of juice altogether!

Then we started cooking the juice.  This is truly my element....I love this age of girl...they are interested in learning and I love to teach! (But let's be honest, it's also like having raccoons in the kitchen while you try to work.)

Finally it was time to fill up the jars...carefully.

Somehow, all three girls worked with boiling blackberry juice, boiling water that had to be poured out of the jars as we got them, and boiling lids and yet no one, as in zero people left with burns or scars.  

Ta Da!  The finished product!  And it tastes good too!

A Hairy Situation

So this happened today....and before I get lots of "smart" comments, I'm not taking about me...I'm talking about Elle!  She asked me towards the end of school if she could start shaving her legs and I told her we would wait until the summer.  She didn't bring it up again until a few weeks into summer and I told her that she's have to heal up all the mosquito bites on her legs before we tried....that bought me a little more time.  She hasn't pushed for it really at all, so I could tell it wasn't too big of a deal to her.  But, yesterday, she asked again and I told her we could do it today.  No turning back now.

She's laughing during this picture because although she's put up with my picture taking antics for 11 1/2 years, she still thinks it's funny when I pull the camera out for moments like these.

No turning back now!

It was a family affair.  Ava and Levi were both quite interested and entertained by the whole event.  Of course Ava asked when she'd get to start shaving....that child is not ready for a razor.

I'm happy to report that no band-aids were needed during this first time....I'm sure in time, she'll use up the whole box if she's anything like I was.  For now, she keeps talking about how soft her legs are and making me touch them over and over.  I see longer showers and higher water bills in our near future.

CBH 2015; Year 13

It is so daunting to narrow down 2 weeks of camp, into a blog post.  I tried to pick only my very favorite pictures to include....but still ended up with 35 "favorites."  Enjoy a snippet of our 2 weeks at camp.

Early on the morning of the 4th, we loaded up and headed west.

This has been by far the easiest 12 hour trip we've done.  The kids were just easy to please.  I can't imagine what it will be like in a few summers when only Levi rides with us.

We stayed in Las Vegas (New Mexico) that night and went downtown to watch the fireworks display which was fun.  We headed back to the hotel and burned sparklers with any kids who weren't too tired.

Sunday night is Silly Songs night and everyone dresses crazy.  We had no problem doing that.

I greeted all the campers as they came down to the barn in this outfit with an edge of crazy in my voice...I was very convincing. 

Shawn stood on the other side of the entrance like this.  

Reunited and excited!

Todd, one of the other teachers was willing to take all of these kids fishing.  Bless his heart.  And no one was pierced with a hook which is amazing.

Elle's brother cabin lost a challenge so the girls got to put makeup on the boys.

Crazy hair day

She caught a fish...and grew a beard (it was paint your face day and this is what she requested.)

We took the kids on quite a few hikes. 

We ended this hike with a huge cinnamon roll.

The kids got care packages for Nana and Poppy!

A jawbreaker on a stick.  I made him wait until the ride home to eat it and it gave us almost 12 hours of quiet.

Gramme and the Valdezs sent care packages too, but I couldn't get a picture before they were ripped open and taken apart! 

Elle's cabin

Cowboys and Indians day

Here's Shawn doing the Leap of Faith

We celebrated my 37th birthday out in the woods.  We were going to eat ice cream too, but my stomach was hurting and Ava was getting sick and had fever.  We ended up going to the cabin the next day and eating ice cream :)  Thank you to everyone who sent cards, to Shawn and the kids for some great gifts, my mom and dad for some super cute new shoes, Paul and Carolyn for a Starbucks gift card, and Barbara for $$!  :)

Here are the "precampers" with Mrs. Toni.

Here are the teachers of 4th session.  Many of these teachers have been coming to this session and teaching for over 20 years.  We just taught our 13th year!

The camp provides all the staff and teachers with a delicious steak/shrimp dinner one night as a thank you.  This year is fell on my birthday so I had to get up in a chair and be sung to.  I hate this.  

Ugly shirt day outfits.

Twins day

We are technically triplets....but we won anyway!  I loved how these turned out....we will be wearing this for Halloween too!

Our annual picture with Hermit's Peak.

The class we taught!

Gramme and her 10 ducklings.  Gramme took them to the cabin for most of the second week of camp and it was wonderful!

A little bit of 4 wheeling.

 Banquet Day at camp and the theme was sports....I love my shirt.  It says "Hooray Sport, Do the Thing, Win the Points."

Our family of 5 all wearing a Blue Haven shirt.

It was another wonderful year at camp....physically and mentally and spiritually exhausting, but wonderful!