Some Family Time

After a week of moving at breakneck speed, we decided to take a family day yesterday.  The boys have wanted to go to the zoo, so we packed a lunch and headed out.  My goal for the day was to have as much of a "yes day" as I could. I say "no" to the boys all the time - sometimes I feel like it's the only thing that comes out of my mouth.  I figured that saying "yes" as much as possible for the day would be good for all of us.

We bought ride wristbands and spent a good hour and a half riding the rides before even entering the zoo proper.  We pushed Wesley's comfort zone a bit and got him to try a few new rides. He really hates anything too fast, or that spins too much, or that has much of a surprise element.  So really, most rides at amusement parks are out.

We talked him into trying the log ride by telling him it was much more tame than most of the waterslides he did at Kalahari.  He panicked a little bit once the log pulled away from the boarding area, but wound up loving the ride even though we got really wet.  Oh well, it just kept us cool for awhile, right?

The bumper cars were a "hit" with the whole family.

This was another new ride for Wesley. For some reason the swings have made him really nervous in the past. He rode this FIVE TIMES in a row yesterday!

Ryan and I took a couple of spins on the roller coaster - front car & no hands

Wesley and I skipped this rise, but Duane and Ryan had fun

Love this kid!

This man still makes my heart skip a beat

We spent some time in Sting Ray Bay as well.

That was honestly most of our trip. We got caught in a big downpour, but just broke out the umbrellas and ponchos and kept at it.  We saw some animals, but never ventured into the far side of the zoo. Mostly just North America, Polar Regions, and Africa. We played a little Pokemon Go.

Oh, and we got dessert!

Ryan begged for a double scoop of ice cream in a waffle cone. I tried to talk him out of it because I knew it would be too much ice cream, but he really wanted it, and really, what was the worst that could happen? Duane and I would have to help him out? Darn!

Now THAT'S an ice cream cone!

Ryan tried his hardest, but the ice cream won. As he admitted defeat, he turned to me and said, "You were right, Mom. I should have listened."

WOW! I tried to him to repeat in into the camera, but I guess he didn't want video evidence.

It was just the kind of low key "yes day" we all needed.

Scout Camp and Baseball Championships

It's nearly nine o'clock on Thursday night and I am so tired I can barely keep my eyes open. This week has been totally and completely draining. It's been a good week, but it has flown by so fast that the W. family has barely had time to breathe.

As you probably know we celebrated Ryan's birthday pretty much all last weekend. We dove into this week bright and early Monday morning with the first day of scout camp. We only have 7 scouts from our entire pack attending camp and there is a parent required for every 5 scouts, so several parents decided to rotate days of chaperoning so no one would have to take a full week off work.

Side note: it bugs me to no end that parents are required to attend scout camp. I can understand that you'd want a parent with the real little ones, but come on people, parents don't send their kids to camp so they spend time with them. The sad truth is that parents send kids to camp because we need child care when school is out for the summer. I really wish they'd just charge more and hire more staff.  End rant.

Monday was Duane's day to go to camp. Oh, did I mention that we've had temperatures in the low to mid 90's all week with LOTS of humidity? Great camp weather.

The first day went alright. Duane was with Ryan's group, not Wesley's group, but that was fine. He even managed to send me a couple of pictures throughout the day.

Ryan loved his first day of camp - especially the BB shooting. Wesley....tolerated his first day of camp. And I use that word loosely. When I asked him about his day he promptly told me everything he disliked from the day. 

"Well, you'd better find something to like about it, because you are going to be there for four more days," I told him.

Camp ends at 4:20-ish and is about 30-40 minutes away. Really not that bad, but Ryan had baseball semi-finals Monday night and he had to be at the baseball diamond at 6:00. So after a very full day of activities in the heat, he had to scurry into his baseball uniform and spend a couple more hours out in the heat.  And of course, the team we played was the only team in the whole league we've had any issue at all with. Anytime we played them there was just an undercurrent of tension and it came out BIG during the semi-finals. The game dragged on and on and on and there were some iffy calls. Our team wound up winning, but it didn't even feel good.

Poor Ryan didn't fall into bed until a little after ten and the kids had to be up at 7:00 the next morning. Of course, my alarm was set for 5:30 this week, which is almost an hour earlier than I am usually up, but when the carpool leaves for camp at 7:40, you do what you have to do.

Tuesday was my day to go to camp. I was placed with Ryan's group, but I did run into Wesley a few times.  Now, I have to admit, I was not looking forward to scout camp for a number of reasons. One reason was the heat. The other big reason was, well, I am pretty girly. I camped as kid but as a grown up, it is not on my list of things to do. But I decided to take my advice to Wesley to heart and find something good to focus on throughout the day - spending time with Ryan.

I have never attended scout camp. I have to say, they took the whole "Be prepared" thing seriously - especially when it came to possible dehydration in the heat. The day I was there began with a camp wide PSA (or is that PeeSA) about what color one's pee should be if they are drinking enough water.  They even had color charts up next to some of the toilets!

Slingshot target practice

Looking for macro invertebrates while creeking

You know, I used to go creeking a lot. I loved it when I was a kid and a teen. Let me tell you a little secret. I did lot love it as a 42 year old woman. All I could think was "Why does this water smell so bad? What are we walking in? Do I really have to get my shoes and socks wet? I hope someone has some hand sanitizer after this." and so on and so forth. But Ryan loved creeking. He loved finding bugs and fish and crayfish. He loved the feel of the water on his feet and picking up rocks. He even managed to make me forget about all those questions grown up me was asking - at least for a while.

A little disc golf before lunch

Hey! Look at this cool camper!

Selfie after buying treats at the sugar shack

Ryan's first time trying archery. Both he and Wesley loved it!

Not too shabby

Mommy got in on the action too.

I also learned a couple of things about Ryan by spending the day at camp with him. First, Ryan has an ability to float among kids he doesn't know and fit into the group. I'm not saying he is going to be lifelong friends with these kids, but when the one other kid from his den wasn't there, it didn't phase him. He just talked to the other boys and it seemed so natural.

The other thing I learned is that my picky eater can really pack away the food when he wants to. After Monday Duane warned me that we'd have to pack more snacks for Ryan, but I totally underestimated the kid. He ate a package of fig bars after the first activity, a granola bar after the second, a cheese stick after the third.  He ate everything in his lunch PLUS a snowcone that he bought. He had another snack after the first afternoon activity and mooched my snack on the drive home! I have never seen him eat like that!

We had to scurry home from camp on Tuesday too, as Ryan's team was playing in the championship game. Ryan walked into the dugout, turned to the team mom and said "You know, the Crusaders (the other team) worked really hard to get to the championship. Too bad they aren't going to win." 

Unfortunately, Ryan's prediction did not come true and we were thoroughly trounced. But you know what? Even though we lost by a lot, it was a great game. Everyone - kids, coaches, parents - had a good time. There were smiles. There was cheering. There were cupcakes.  It was just a completely different vibe from the night before.

Celebrating second place

You know you are tired when you fall asleep between getting undressed and getting in the shower

Even without baseball the last two nights, we have kept up a frantic pace. No one has gotten into bed much before 10:00 and those alarms seems to come earlier each day.  Wesley has started to enjoy camp more, especially woodworking, leather craft, BB shooting and archery. Ryan loves it all. Really, the only issue we've had is getting up and out the door in the morning. This morning as I was trying to get Ryan up for the third time he said, "Mom, don't you understand how tired I am?"

"Ryan, don't you understand that no matter how tired you are, we still have to be at the carpool at 7:40?"

Just one more day to go. There has been another perk for me this week. I have had two days of going into work early and getting to go home early. It's been wonderful! I wish I could work that schedule all the time, but since I have to get the boys to school in the mornings, it isn't going to happen any time soon. Tomorrow I actually have to go in late and stay a bit late, but I've decided to make the most of it. After I drop the kids off at carpool I plan on driving myself to a bakery I love and sitting at a table to read and have a delicious and relaxing breakfast treat before work. Kind of makes the early morning worth it.

Birthday Weekend

We spent the weekend celebrating Ryan's 8th birthday.

Saturday was kind of a crazy party day. Ryan had a birthday party to attend, then had his own friends party in the late afternoon/evening. Of course, he also had the first play-off game for his baseball tournament at the same time. Wouldn't you know it?  We skipped baseball in favor of celebrating, but since his team won, he'll get a chance to redeem himself tomorrow night.

Wesley and Ryan got all the stuffed animals in the house ready for the big party day.

Duane and I tried to talk Ryan into a video game party at our house, but he had his heart set on SkyZone.  I didn't take a bunch of pictures there because it's really hard to get a decent shot of kids jumping on trampolines. You'll just have to trust me when I say a good time was had by all.

Ryan's Heatran (Pokemon) cake for his friends party

The gang at SkyZone

Today (Ryan's actual birthday) was more of a family day.  Duane and I surprised Ryan with his present as soon as he woke up, because to be honest, it's kind of hard to hide a drum set. As soon as he saw it, he climbed me like a monkey, clinging to me and saying "thank you!" over and over and over.

Of course, I think it might become a family gift.

We also had a special birthday breakfast of funfetti cheesecake rolls. YUM!

We had a do-nothing, lazy kind of morning, which was perfect since yesterday was so busy. We did go out to do a couple of errands and grab lunch. Ryan said he wanted "those dog things" for lunch. At first we thought he meant Hound Dogs Pizza which was going to be a big "NO" since we were getting pizza for dinner, but Wesley helped us decipher that Ryan really wanted hush puppies from "Barbecue City" - or more accurately, City BBQ. So we had barbecue for lunch. Break my heart.

We had our family party this afternoon, just cake and ice cream with the gang. 

Ryan chose a simple baseball cake for his family party

Blowing out the candles

Success!

Hmmm....I wonder if that wish will come true

Me and my birthday boy

Mom and Wesley selfie

Lucy entertained the party by decimating her stuffed animal

Working on a new Lego set

Aunt Susan and Wesley sorting Pokemon cards

The family getting in on the sorting act

Kei and Lucy

We wound down the day with pizza and a movie on the tv while Ryan finished his Lego set.

 It was low key day, which just what Ryan wanted. 

Ryan,
   You are a such an amazing kid. You are ornery and sweet, kind-hearted and one to push the rules. You drive me to edge, then you crawl in my lap and give me a kiss and tell me you love me.  You are fascinated by numbers and science and animals. I really think you are going to be a veterinarian someday, although you say either a vet, an inventor, or a baseball player.  You don't like to be the center of attention, but you love joking around with your "bros."  You make me proud of you every day and I love you.

Love Always,
Mom

Putting Others First

Ryan is counting down the days until his birthday.  We've got his party planned and he's working on making the big important decisions about food and cake and ice cream.  But even in the midst of birthday planning, Ryan is remembering to put other people first.

Ryan tried a new kind of ice cream today and absolutely fell in love with it. It was called Buckeye Brownie Blast and was full of brownie chunks, peanut butter swirl and chocolate chips. After polishing off a bowl Ryan came into the front room and asked, "Does that ice cream have peanuts or peanut butter in it?"

I told him that it did and he responded, "Well, then I don't want that ice cream for my party because A. and M won't be able to eat it because they are allergic to peanuts. I think I'll have mint instead because everyone can eat that."

We aren't actually going to have ice cream at his "friend's party" but I was so touched that he was willing to forego his first choice of ice cream just to make no one would be left out.

He also surprised me when a parent of a young man who was invited to party asked what Ryan would like for his birthday. He looked at the mom and said, "Oh, I don't want presents at my friends party. I just want everyone to come hang out and have a good time and eat cake."

What a kid!  I am so proud to be his mom - even when he makes fart noises.

VBS Week in Review

I'm usually so good about posting during VBS week, but this year the week just flew by! It was like we blinked and it was over. Duane and I collapsed into bed by 10:00 every night last week and slept like a couple of logs. We must be getting older because it really wore us out this year. So instead of a well thought out, daily post, you get the jumbled, "try to remember" week in review.

This year we were blessed to have five of our friends from school join us for VBS. They arrived at our house before 8:00 each morning and spent the entire day with us. That meant that the older kids (Wesley, Jack and Cooper) helped with some of the preschool stations while the younger friends (Ryan, Daniel, Mya and Becket) spent the morning with our fantastic child care staff. The bigger kids were a really big help too. I think we have some future VBS assistants in the making.

Trying to get seven kids to look at the camera and smile at the same time is darn near impossible. This is the best I could do.

This year our theme was "Cave Quest: Following Jesus the Light of the World."

For about the fifth year, I lead the preschool Bible story and Duane (for the second year) ran the preschool games. We both helped out in the afternoon elementary school session too, but as guides rather than station leaders.

On Monday our lesson focused on the Bible point "Jesus gives us hope" and the kids received a Bible buddy of Sal the salamander to help them remember the lesson.

I got to share a lesson about the prophets who foretold Jesus' coming and how they gave the people hope.

And of course, VBS week requires a lot of prep work - like blowing up balloons at 10:00 at night for the next days round of games.

On Tuesday we talked about how Jesus gives us courage.  Our story was about how Jesus walked on water and gave Peter the courage to do the same.

 

 
I had some high points on Tuesday too. It was the day that a preschooler called me "Miss Weather" instead of Miss Heather and a guide told me that her group of kids look forward to Bible story time even more than snack time! And best of all, it was the day that one of my favorite young ladies at church informed me that when she is old enough to help at VBS, her number one best job would be to help me with the stories.  Love it!!

Ryan made a cross out of his snack time waffle to remind him of Jesus and how He give us courage.

On Wednesday we used a bat Bible buddy to remind us that Jesus gives us direction.

Wesley helped the preschoolers in arts and crafts and entertained them by hanging cardboard bats from his ears.

In that day's Bible story, I got to share some of Jesus' directions for our life with the kids. He gave us important directions like letting go of anger, loving our neighbors, treating others as want to be treated, and how to pray.

Love your neighbor

Thursday is always the day I jokingly call "Crucifixion Thursday" and the day we talked about how Jesus gives us love.

You may be wondering why Wesley is dressed so strangely in the above photograph. Thursday is always "Twisted Thursday" at VBS and everyone is encouraged to don their wackiest apparel.  I don't usually "twist" in the morning, because of the seriousness of the Bible story, but I got my twist on in the afternoon.

Our twisted little family (Ryan decided not to dress up)

Friday was our final day of VBS and the day we learned that Jesus gives us his power.

But one of my favorite VBS moments took place during the opening singing on Friday morning. The kids were singing a song that went "He is the light, light, light, light of the world. And He shine, shine, shines, all over the world."  I was wandering around the sanctuary during the song and something on the floor caught my eye.

There was a rainbow on the floor! It was NOT coming from the stained glass windows either, but from a clear glass window that was next to a small fountain in the sanctuary. It really felt like God was with us that morning, and all through the week.