Tea Party

Actual Date: Tuesday, July 19, 2011

This day is pretty much a blur to me.  After staying up ALL night watching movies and laughing until I thought I was going to throw up.  This Mama was worn the heck out.  I headed inside around 6 a.m. because that is the time that Parker Man had been waking up and I wanted to get to him before he woke my Grandma up.  She had been watching the kids for me a lot lately and I wanted to give her a break.  

All of the kids woke up soon after me getting in so I started a pot of coffee to try to get me going.  Even with coffee I was feeling like I was sleep walking.

  

I thought I dreamed this but I guess I didn't...  

He found a pirate earring in my purse.

Don't ask my why it was in there.  There are a lot of things in there.  Most of them you wouldn't want to know about.

Soon after my kids woke up, Chelsea's kids did to.  So everyone came over for breakfast.  My Grandma has a great collection of tea pots and cups.  The kids had been asking if they could have a tea party so on this day we let them.

We had some left over cake from Crystal's Birthday so we let them finish it off for us.

Star approves.  Star is Crystals daughter and she is so stinkn' cute.  Tanner kept asking her if she was his best friend and she kept saying "No, I'm Staaaa!

Speaking of Tanner here he in all his Glacier Park shirt glory.  He had just gotten back from spending time with his Grandpa in Montana and they had camped in Glacier Park.  Grandpa let him pick out what he wanted from the gift shop and the boy chose a shirt that was about 500 sizes to big and now he insists on wearing it every other day.  It's the little things in life that make us happy.  

I kept teasing him that I liked his dress but he didn't get it.  He calls clothing his "dressed" so he thought it was a real compliment and replied "Tanks!" (Thanks)

On this afternoon I snuck in a nap and it was glorious!  I decided Parker was cranky and tired, he wasn't I was, and declared nap time.  He and I laid down and didn't wake up till early that evening. 

Twilight Marathon

Actual Date: Monday, July 18, 2011

Last Summer we stayed almost 2 months with our family in California.  It was a blast but it was also rough because Brian couldn't be there for most of it because he had to come back to Texas for work.  I had a hard time falling asleep at night without him so my cousin Chelsea suggested I start reading the Twilight books.  

To be honest I had absolutely no interest in reading a vampire book.  I never could get it when my friends would dress up and stay up late just to watch a stupid movie about a vampire and werewolf.  What is wrong with these people?   Everyone kept telling me it was not all about vampires and werewolves but more of a love story.  

I finally gave in and started reading the first book, fully expecting to hate every minute of it.  A week after we got home from our vacation, I fished the last book of the series and I was sad to be done.  I wanted more.  

Ever since I finished reading the books I really wanted to watch the movies I just haven't ever gotten around to it.  On this trip I met my cousin's friend Sarah who is a huge Twilight buff.  We decided that we were going to have a girls night and have a Twilight marathon. And tonight was the night.

We put the kids to bed (thanks for watching the Monsters Grammy Girl), and headed over to Chels' Salon, coffee and sugary snacks in hand.  For the record, do not try to steal a red Gummy Bear from Sarah.  You will not make it out alive.  She's serious about those Bears.  

We were all covered in our powdered glitter, sparking like Edward in the sunlight- ready to watch all the movies, no matter how long it took.

But before we pressed play on the first movie we had to know where everyone stood.  Team Edward or Team Jacob?

Clearly Chelsea is Team Jacob.  I bought her that shirt for her Birthday last year.  Now I wish I would have got one for myself.  

After the first movie we took a brief intermission to sing Happy Birthday to Crystal.  

This is the cake Chelsea made for her.  Crystal loves skulls so Chels found her a scrubby sponge holder skull and plopped it right on the cake.  

We didn't quite make it through all three movies.  But considering that we didn't start the 3rd movie until around 5 in the morning I think that's ok.  We had a blast.  Painting nails, telling scary stories, and laughing at Sarah's hilarious imitations.  

Thanks for the fun night girls!  I had a blast.  

Squid Dogs

Actual Date: Sunday, July 17, 2011

This day was a little sad for us.  We had to say goodbye to Uncle Chris and Auntie Jen and then soon after we had to take Daddy to the airport.  We wouldn't see him again for another 3 and 1/2 weeks.

When we dropped him off for his flight Brooke was bawling, I was crying and Ava was looking at us like we were nuts.  That is until about 20 minutes into our drive home.  That's when the flood gates open up.  I asked her what was wrong and she said "I want Daddy!"

It broke my little heart.  This was going to be a long 3 1/2 weeks for all of us.

After we got back from the airport we went to my Mom's house to hang out.  

My mom has this stupid black truck at her house that all the kids just go crazy over.  Everything is broken on this thing.  Everything...

I'm pretty sure you probably shouldn't play with it unless your up to date on your Tetanus shots...

But the kids love it so that's all that matters.  

Every year we say "Ok well when Winter rolls around we'll chuck it." But obviously that has yet to happen.

But just think, if we had thrown it away we would have missed out on those faces.  

And these ones.  Parker's face is killing me here.  He was just screaming "Ahhhhhhhhhhh" at the top of his lungs until he was blue in the face, while Ava spun them around and a round.

Garenn and Tanner came over and everyone was hungry so I decided to try out this idea that I had seen on my friend Kristine's blog.  It was a little idea called Squid Dogs.

Basically it's just hot dogs, cut in half with noodles stabbed in them.  When you cook them the noodles go limp and it ends up looking like squids!  

Genius.

Parker was very focused on making his Squid Dog.

Well, that's when he wasn't busy stuffing his face with the raw hot dogs.

I loved Tanners. He made a guy out of his.

Finished products before they hit the pot to boil.

While they were cooking I was looking around my Mom's house at all the crazy knickknack things that I remember from my childhood.  One of the things that's been on the wall as long as I remember is this.  It's a letter that Frank Sinatra wrote to my Mom telling her that she was a hero in his eyes.  Isn't that an amazing compliment.  If you don't know what he's referring to you can read the piece Reader's Digest did on the story by clicking here.  My Mama's a pretty amazing that Woman.  And if she ever tries to deny it, that paper proves her otherwise.  

Ok back to the Squid dogs, they're done!  This is the one that came out the most like a Squid.  Cool huh?

They were a hit with the kids.

I think there must have been crazy pills inside those hot dogs or something because as soon as the kids started eating them they turned into goofy goofballs.

All and all, Squid Dogs were a hit.  I'm not sure that I would want to eat one but the kids sure loved making and eating them.  

Off The Beaten Path

Actual Date: Saturday, July 16, 2011

After breakfast on this day we decided we wanted to do a little hiking.  For some reason when we lived we used to live in the mountains, we took them for granted.  Now when we go back to visit we appreciate just how beautiful and unique they are.

We decided to hike up this old trail that covered wagons used to travel on to take things out of the mine at the top.

  

Here's Brian and Jen taking in the view about 20 minutes into our hike.  We were bout 6,000 feet up at that point.  And look at those fools sitting right there on the edge with their feet hanging over.  No thank you.  I don't do heights. 

God invented zoom lenses for a reason.  And that reason was so that I don't have to stand on the edge to get a good picture.  

Amen.

Just a few minutes of hiking later and we were there.  Or so we thought we were.  We found out later that we were actually only at the bottom of the mine.  I was thinking we got there kind of quick because the sign on the way in said it was 4 miles to the mine.  But then when we found it I thought well, maybe it was 4 miles round trip. 

We were wrong.  As we were standing the talking about how the hike wasn't as bad as the site made it sound, a group of people went hiking by and one stopped and said "This isn't the mine,  well it is, but it's not the end of the trail.  This is the end of the mine!  The top is two more miles up."

Thanks for popping our bubble Mr.!  We thought we had made it.  

The end of the mine was licked up tight.

I'm guessing something on this sign has something to do with the reason why.  

I was really interested on what it looked like inside there.

There was water flowing out of it.  It looked like it would be fun to jump around in but I don't really want to know what was in that water.  

We decided we to continue on because we were interested to see if the top of the mine was actually open.  We headed up the mountain but the trail got really rough.  Recently they had had a lot of big storms and rock slides had washed out the trail.  It was really slippery. 

We were all slipping and at one point the trail was really bad.  It was really rocky and washed out and it was right on the edge of the cliff.  Which amazingly I was fine with as long as we were moving and I was looking straight ahead.  I WAS fine with it, until we stopped. 

We decided to turn around because the trail was starting to get a little to dangerous for my newly pregnant Sister In Law to be trudging along on.  Or that's what I tell myself.  That sounds much better than "I was to petrified to continue on."  So yeah, we were keeping the Prego safe.  

Even though I was the one hugging the mountain while trying to turn around.  We decided to turn around at the worst spot.  It was literally only enough room to put one foot in front of the other, and it was right on the edge, 6,000 feet up.  A few minutes later and a few thousand prayers later, I safely made it off of that tricky section and back on to stable ground.

Oh yeah and so did the rest of the people, in case you were wondering. 

On our way back I spotted these HUGE pine cones.  They were enormous.  I wanted one but no one would climb up there and get one for me.  Besides that, I think it might be a little illegal seeing as how we were in a State Park.

Chels, Chris and Jen halfway back down the mountain.

I have to give Chel's some credit.  She hiked that mountain in slip on Vans because that's the best hiking attire she had.  Us California girls don't very far from flip flops in the shoe department.

We probably could have done it in flip flops but we didn't want to make everyone jealous of our mad skills so, ya know.

Chris, Jen and I.

Why do I look like the pregnant one?  

When we got home we were all ready for some rest and relaxation.  I love this picture of Auntie Jen and Ava.  You are going to be such a great Mom Jen.  You're already a a great Aunt!

Ava and Parker were being goofy.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  But they had us all rolling.  They were singing the ABC's over and over in crazy voices with silly faces.  I swear they probably sang that song about 2,045 times and we laughed every single one of those times.  

And because we weren't quite convinced that they were wound up enough, we added some sugar into the mix.  

Some super sticky S'more sugar.

Did I mention,  it was sticky?

Forever Wild

Actual Date: Friday, July 15, 2011

"Wild thang, you make my heart sing."

Sorry I couldn't resist.  Grandpa gave Parker these very cool glasses and he thinks knows he's a Bad Mama Jama in them.

Early in the day Brian's brother Chris and his wife Jen arrived to spend the next couple days with us.  They live in Nevada so we were excited to get to see them while we were on the West Coast.  And this time we were extra excited to see them because Jen is pregnant with our very first Nephew (We actually just found out today (9/23) that he's a boy!  Parker is going to have a little buddy! I think Kyle is a good name... I'm just sayin')

We all headed out with the Wild Man to see something else a little more wild.  

A few years ago when we were still living in California, Extreme Makeover Home Edition did a show in my home town.  Brooke and I used to watch that show together when Brian was traveling so I knew we had to go down there and check it out.  It was really really wet and cold and since Ava was only a few months old so we left her with Grandpa and Grandma.  My cousin met us there with her two boys and our neighbor, Janelle met us there with her pregnant self ( I think she was due in like weeks!  She was a trooper standing out there all day.) and her daughter who is Brooke's age.  

It was so much fun to be out there and be a part of the excitement of it all. They were redoing not only the peoples home but also their business.  They ran a Wild Animal Sanctuary so they were not only helping the family but also the animals.  The best part of the whole thing for me, besides having Ty wave right at me, was listening to Brooke scream "Move that bus!" over and over again in her cute little baby voice.  

We were all excited to get inside and check everything out.  I saw what it looked like when we watched the episode on TV but I had never actually been inside.

The first thing we looked at was a room full of poisonous reptiles, mostly snakes.  Yep, it was as creepy as it sounds. 

They had a wall displaying some of the skins they had shed.   

After that we headed outside to see something a little less creepy crawly.  Gators!  Ok they are still creepy crawly to everyone except for Ava.  She LOVES Alligators and Crocodiles.  Long after everyone was done looking at them Ava was still standing there in awe.  Then one of the little ones started to head for the water to cool off.  You know what that girl said?  "Aww.  Look at you little baby. You are so precious.  Mommy look how sweet this little baby one is crawling to the water."  

Oh that girl, she's a crack up.

We saw turtles and tortoises.  

Look how cool his shell is.

We also got to see some more cool things like lama's, a horse, a pig, and some parrots.  

Next it was time to head into the best part of the whole place, the Big Cat section.  Um yeah, they ain't messin' around.  "Keep your kids with you at all times!" 

Right when we got there they were getting ready to feed the Lioness.  You can pay extra to do that.  We didn't but I was excited that we were going to get to see it.

Yikes, I would hate to meet her in a dark alley.

There were lots of other cool cats in there.

Then we saw saw the infamous "Coladas."  What's a Colada you say?  You don't know?

Racoons silly!  

Coladas= Raccoons 

At least in Ava's world.  We were all standing there looking the other animals and Ava said "Look at the Coladas!"  We had no idea what she was talking about.  Auntie Jen said "Pina? Pina Coladas?"  And then Grammy girl figured it out, she was trying to say Kola.  She thought the Raccoons were Kolas. 

There was a beautiful Black Leopard.  Her eyes were so pretty and bright green.

Look at that big belly.  When she stood up it almost touched the ground.  I think she was pregnant.  We meant to ask when we went back inside but we forgot. 

Then we saw this sign.  And let me tell you, make sure you pay attention to signs! They are there for a reason people.  One of the guys in there tried to get us a few times.  He was not happy to have us there I don't think.  

This guy could care less.  He was taking his morning nap.  I love when cats lay like this.  It reminds me of our old cat Kitty Face.  I used to love when he would lay on his back.  I would always try to rub his little tummy because it was so soft and fluffy.  I just wanted to rub my face in it.  Kitty Face however did not enjoy it as much as I did and I have the scars to prove it.  

When we were standing there looking at this Tiger he moved one of his paws a little bit and Ava got so excited and said "He waved to me!"

Parker telling Uncle Chris some big story.

Brooke striking a pose by the Coladas.

After we had seen everything there was to see outside we headed back inside and checked out the snakes one more time.  I told Brian to smile by one of the Cobras who was moving around.  Right after I took this picture the Cobra banged against the glass in an attempt to strike Brian.

It made us all jump.  Honestly it scared the ever loving life out of me.  

He even played the blinking game with him.  I think the snake won.

Parker checking out the Piranhas.  

After we had checked out all the wild animals we went home to play with our wild animal.  Chester was having such a good time at Grams.  I know people probably think we're crazy for dragging our dog with us in the car all the way to California but he loves it as much as we do.  He gets so excited when you ask him "Do you wanna go to Grandma's?!"

Later that night we headed over to our good friend John and Angie's house.  We had not seen them and the kids since last Summer so it was really good to see them.  We also got to catch up with some old friends who showed up.  It was really great to see everyone and the kids had a ton of fun swimming all night long.  

I can't believe that this is the only picture I got of the whole night.  I was definitely slacking on my picture taking this trip!