Come Sail Away

Some pics from our fun cruise that we took this past fall with friends.  I think there were over 40 of us.  We went with the Hoyts (plus Addison Tuttle), the Robinsons, Staffords, Bemis (plus their parents and Derek's sister and her husband), Josh and Kayla Robinson (and her family from Texas), and the Remunds.  We set sail from Jacksonville, Florida and stopped in Key West and in Nassau, Bahamas.  We had beautiful weather and the food was so good that I'm still trying to get rid of the extra pounds I put on.

Visit with Grandma Mickie and Papa Phil

My parents are currently serving a three year mission at the Detroit Temple in Michigan.  They don't get to get away much during their service, but, two times a year the temple undergoes a very deep cleaning and during that time, it closes for a two week period.  This year during the closing we got the pleasure of having my parents come to visit. 

This is also the same week that Dave took his new job with UCB, Inc., so we really put my parents to work, painting and patching and helping to get the house ready to put up on the market.  When we weren't cracking the whip, we got to do a couple of leisure activities.  One of those was going to Onondaga Caves  .  I had never been here before, but we do live in the cave state, and so I thought it was high time that changed.  We had a great time and the drive down there was beautiful and the weather was exceptional. The cave was AWESOME.  I highly recommend it if you're looking for something to do here.

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Labor Day Weekend

Wow, am I ever behind.  Wow, do I ever say that a lot.  One of these days I'm going to be on top of it.  One of these days....

But for now, here are some pictures of our first Missouri float trip that we took over the Labor Day weekend.  We had such a great time.  It was even better because we were able to enjoy our day with great friends. 

 Getting loaded up

 Phillip and Harrison

 Dave retrieving a lost paddle

 Phillip LOVED paddling

 Exploring a cave

 When we stopped for lunch, Phillip and Harrison kept trying to take off by themselves

 Ryan hitching a ride on the back of Noah's kayak

  Love these girls

 Dave coming back after ALMOST jumping off a cliff

 rock jumping

 Jordan Robinson came to help these guys get over to the rocks

Maddie, the Gardener

Last year it was pumpkins, and this year Maddie tried her hand at cantaloupe.  She recently harvested her first of many and we enjoyed it with dinner.  You can see she is becoming quite the gardener.  Papa Doug will be so proud.

 Proud gardener

One of the best ways to enjoy cantaloupe...or anything really for that matter!

He Tri's...Er...Bi's?

Yesterday Dave ran his first triathlon.  Unfortunately the morning started out with rain and sightings of lightning, so the swimming portion of the race was canceled (that begs the question: did he shave his head, and legs for nothing?).  They continued with the rest of the race in the rain and by the time the running portion came around, the rain had let up.  The spectators were very appreciative.

Dave did a great job and finished 1st in his weight division (Clydesdale-over 200 lbs, which he is barely).  It was fun to watch and all of the kids enjoyed cheering him on...well all except for Phillip who found a nice pile of dirt to play in which kept him entertained for the most part.  We are all so proud of him.  What a great accomplishment.  I have a feeling this will be his first of many.  The kids all enjoyed the excitement of it so much that they are now talking about wanting to get involved too.  Maybe this will become a family affair...

Swim Team

Our summers for the past several years (wow, I think this was the 5th) have consisted of lots of sitting, sweating, swimming, and swearing (ok, not really on that last one, well maybe from Dave a little... I was getting carried away with my alliteration).  In other words, we've (well, the kids, really) been on the summer swim team.

This year was especially fun because it was Phillip's first year.  He started getting excited about being on the swim team close to a year ago when we bought him a speedo on a clearance sale.  He couldn't wait for his first swim meet to actually get to wear it.  One of my favorite memories of this summer is at our first swim meet when he actually got to wear it.  He had just gotten out of the pool after warm-ups and someone mentioned to him that they liked his Speedo.  His response was: "Well, it doesn't have much speed...people kept passing me.".  I think he thought that wearing a SPEED-o would put some speed in his swim.  I love it.

I volunteered to be in charge of the concessions for our home meets this year and that was quite an adventure.  I was in charge of buying all of the inventory to sell (drinks, candy, food, supplies, etc.), as well as prepare the meat for our "walking tacos" (basically a small bag of either Fritos, or Doritos topped with taco meat and all the fixin's....if you've never tried one, I highly recommend them....YUM!)  During our first meet we ran out of a lot of food and I quickly learned how to better judge quantities of items to buy.  Thankfully my kids put up with me.  They knew that Mondays were "mom's crazy days" and would try extra hard to get along and to help me out where they could.  Finally, by the last meet I felt like I was getting a handle on things, which will hopefully give me a leg up for next year (yes, I was crazy enough to volunteer to do it again).

Everyone had fun and improved.  Phillip started off not even being able to make it across the pool and by the end he not only mastered that, but also figured out the backstroke.  Ryan continued to improve on all of his strokes and has decided that he too would like to join  the year-round team.  Maddie was a huge help.  Not only to me on swim meet days, but to the coaches at practices.  After her practice, she would always stay after to help during the little kids' practices and was always willing to stay after practice to help put away the lane lines.  She also continues to swim great and enjoys it.  Sophie helped with the coaches a lot too.  I think her favorite part of swim team is that the competition is not quite as fierce as during the year-round season, and so she consistently pulled off 1st place finishes.

Firsts and Lasts

Summer is officially over.  It might not be by the season's standards, but it is according to the school district here.  The three younger kids started school today.  Sophie is going to home-school this year, so we haven't officially started yet, but the other three are off and running.

Maddie was so excited to start her first year at middle school.  She packed her lunch last night and set out her clothes.  She got up at the crack of dawn and got her own breakfast and was ready to go.  the only problem was that we were not expecting the bus to be EARLY.  We heard it pass as we were upstairs putting the finishing touches on her hair.  0 for 1 so far this year.  We'll do better tomorrow.

The boys also almost missed their bus.  As we were outside trying to find a good place to take their pictures, we heard the rumble of the bus starting to head down our street, so the only pictures I have are of their backsides going to the bus stop and one of them getting on the bus. 

I guess one good thing came out of our hectic morning; I didn't have time to contemplate the magnitude of this year and let my emotions get the better of me.  However, now that I'm sitting down and thinking about it, it's another story.  Where are those tissues?

Maddie's first day of middle school.

Ryan's last year of elementary school.

Phillip's first day of Kindergarten.

My last child off to school....tear!