OKC TO SLC--er Payson rather

David flew all the way to OKC to pick up kids on Monday, July 27th. They made it back to Boise late late late Tuesday night. They were home just long enough for me to move the clothes from the suitcase to the washer and dryer and back to the suitcase again. I loaded the car with all our camping gear and Friday morning we were off to the Annual Bauer Camping Reunion. Mom and Dan show their legs for the camera. Relaxing while the kids swim. This year we were camping in Blackhawk campground just above Payson lakes. We had a really relaxing time. It was nice to have kids big enough to help set up camp. Ah... I remember the days when the kids were little and I always wondered "why am I doing this to myself!" No sleep, kids are cold and there is always more than enough dirt and fire for everyone. Nope, not this time, the dirt and the fire, ut uh, didn't bother me a bit. We stayed Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. The weather was beautiful, not a mosquito in sight.
This is Ryann and Sadie. They were best friends all weekend. Soooo good to see the cousins. I guess that's why we go. Earlier, while the kids were swimming, I was sitting in my camp chair and Ryann zooms over. She's spotted something in the water and she is trying to swoop it up. Ryann: Look mom its a mini seal. Mom: A mini seal? (In Payson lake? Hmmmm?) Ryann pulls her hand out of the water and sure enough.. there is a mini "EEL" aka "leech" stuck to her fingers. Now I really can't handle suckling bugs. I start to get up... pushing vowels and consonants out of my mouth. I could not form words. Flashbacks from the movie Stand By Me are running through my head. Ryann recognizes the panic that has taken over me and she starts to accept it as her own. Ryann:I can't get it off! She pulls a little harder and off it comes. Thank heavens! She throws it back into the lake where all the kids are swimming. EEWWW! What are the chances it was the lone leech in that lake? All of a sudden I don't feel like swimming anymore. Mandy, my sister who was sitting next to me is laughing. She asks "What is it you were going to do?" I can't answer. I just really wanted to roll helplessly on the grass. Where's David when I need him. He usually takes care of these things.Here we have Porter, Savannah and Abbie. Trying their luck with the fishing poles. Not so lucky. Don't they look like they are having a great time though? Austin, Mallory and Corinne are getting their grins on for this pic. Not much else happening with those poles. Austin was a great sport. He got all the kids hooked up with their fishing gear. The kids returned the favor by feeding the ducks Dorritoes right where he was fishing. The ducks kept crossing the lines. Better luck next time.
Rayce and Mallory.. Getting some sun. Unfortunately, That's all the pics I took. I guess I had other things to do. But the ones I got are keepers. (I do have one of Bo and Mandy.. but I'm saving that in case I need to do paybacks. wink.)

Camp Grandma Choctaw Oklahoma 2009

This is the Camp Grandma bunch. David's mom, Grandma Jeanie, threw her very first Camp Grandma. I think she is amazing! We are counting it a success and looking forward to Camp Grandma 2010. On the heals of Rayce's scout camp and the theme for our summer... fly fly fly. We were up up and away again. Seriously, I don't think our clothes were in the drawers all summer. We went from suitcase to laundry room and back to suitcase again. Flying non-rev can be quite challenging. Yet, the non-rev heavens opened up for me this year. I had a plan. All flights connecting from BOI were full and so I had to get really creative. This was the plan..Southwest airlines BOI-SLC. Try for a Skywest airlines flight SLC-OKC (oversold). If SLC was a no go we were to jump to Frontier airlines SLC-DEN-OKC. Then I would stay overnight in OKC and do over the next day back to BOI. OK? you with me? Not for the faint of heart. We got to SLC no problem. I knew when I left BOI that the Skywest direct flight was oversold. But holding on to the golden rule of non-rev travel: Always try the first flight of the day. It has the most chance for no shows. I've decided that if they can get one, two or three on we would separate accordingly. Porter is a fabulous traveler but his nerves can't take the anticipation of the open seat game and my nerves can't take his nerves. Porter would go first, then Ryann and last Rayce. We had a few minutes before check in cut off and we ran to get some breakfast. Upon my return.. the happy gate agent made a happy mom out of me. Three kids, three seats! Woot Woot. They boarded and were on their way. I waved to the plane, changed terminals and caught a Delta flight back to BOI.. 1st Class. :) As I was landing in BOI, I got a call from Jeanie letting me know she had the kids. Can't ask for more than that!
The kids had a blast! They got to know Grandma and met some of their cousins for the first time! They enjoyed swimming, playing in the sand, riding around in the Grandma wagon, fishing, karaoking and so much more. On Saturday, Jeanie had set up a carnival. There were lots of games and prizes! Kudos to Grandma! Building memories that will last forever!

Over the River and Trough the Woods

Saturday July 18, 2009.

3:30 am: Making preparations for our two hour road trip to pick up Rayce from scout camp.
5:00 am: Working
10:30 am: Working still. Supposed to be leaving for our drive to McCall. Rayce has his reward ceremony at 1.
11:00 am: Finally get on the road. Pressure Pressure.. Feeling rushed.
11:30 am: David is driving like a crazed person up the two lane canyon road. I am in the front seat praying for our lives and the lives of the other drivers that are impeding Davids progress. Ryann is singing away. Pretty sure she is the only one enjoying the beauty of the mountains. Porter is in the back seat contemplating whether to barf or not.
12:30 pm: Ahhh still not there. I'm getting worried that we have put our lives in danger for no reason. That we will have swerved and weaved through traffic and will still miss the ceremony anyway. Ryann still singing. Porter starting to search for a barf bag.
1:00 pm: Phew! Two more turns and a half a mile to go! We're gonna make it! OR NOT!
Porter: Mom I need a bag.
Mom: We don't have a bag. Use this cup.
Porter: BLAHHHHHH
He barfs all over himself and the back seat. Still holding the cup in his right hand. Porter has always gotten car sick. He is also very skilled in the art of throwing up in cars. Just takes a bag out puts his head in and then ties it off. Sometimes he barfs and we don't even know until he hands up the sack. We always carry bags and should be chastised for not checking the supply. When we handed him the cup to throw up in he was unsure of what to do with it. So Picture our car now swerving to the side of the road. David throwing everything that hinted of barf out onto the street. Kids crying and one of us covered in barf. Not a good moment. And now we are late for sure. Then from behind the car, a barf fairy appears. She was watching our spectacle from across the street and she brought over some water and some trash bags. So nice. We were able to clean up and finish the last half a mile.
1:30 pm: Program starts. Charity made a mistake. Not 1 but 1:30. Oops.

Really? Do we need scout pants?

Have you ever priced out a pair of scout pants? Oh golly! That was the dilemma set before us. I had received the "list" of required items for Rayce's leadership camp.
Sleeping bag, flashlight, bug spray, all your typical items and then... Scout shirt (2 recommended), Scout socks (4 pairs recommended) , blah blah.. Scout Pants (2 pairs long, 1 short recommended). Come on... Add that up people.. We have one of everything except those darn pants. There is no way we can outfit him like he's on the cover of Boys Life Magazine. But, on the other hand? I want him to "Be Prepared". So I got to digesting the word "recommended" hmmmm. Highly recommended? Partially recommended? Bring them or else recommended? As I read and reread the list I noticed the * noted by the uniform list. Ah, they are going to define it for me! Phewey! I scan the papers for the * and here is what it said: (My thoughts are in italics.) *It is recommended-ok good. recommended not required-that all the boys wear an official scout uniform while participating in this camp. It has been our experience that the boys that do not have all the pieces of the uniform feel under dressed and embarrassed when everyone else is in full uniform.- 2 things here; One: it sounds like, in their experience, that there are indeed boys who do not have the official pants. Therefore, Rayce may not be the only one without scout pants thus eliminating his presumed embarrassment. Two; They don't know my boy. He would be fine with everything but the pants.- Ok, that settles it. I don't need to worry about the pants. With this comfort I put all the worries behind me and off to Disneyland we go.
We would return from Disney on Friday and Rayce would leave for leadership camp the following Monday. Friday afternoon I start getting haunted by these dang scout pants again. Maybe Rayce would be embarrassed? Maybe he would feel under dressed? Maybe all of the other reindeer would laugh and call him names? Oh, why didn't I fully resolve this issue before we left. Now, it's Saturday, oh the agony. So much to do and so little time. Off we go to D.I. If we can't find them there, then he'll have to deal with the consequences. We scour the racks. No scout pants. I'm ready to give up. The anxiety is weighing heavy on me. Then I see it. That green that can be no other than.... dang not official shorts. But they would work.. better than nothing!
To wrap up a long story... In the end.. Recommended meant Required. When we arrived to pick him up on Saturday, he informed me that he couldn't wait to get out of those shorts. He wore them for 6 days straight. And the scout socks, well that's gonna have to be another post.
Go ahead. Click on the picture. Not only will you get a close up of those lovely green shorts.. if you look really close you will see Porter, Ryann and someone with a hood and a purse.. yep you guessed it.. David.

Third and final day--Laguna Beach- Disneyland

We talked the boys into going to Laguna Beach that last morning. They weren't too happy about it. They thought we should be milking Disney for everything.

We played on the beach and ate a fantastic lunch. They were soooo happy by the time we left and very grateful for the coaxing.


And back to Disney we would go. We really had accomplished everything that we had set out to do. We were now just enjoying the culture of Disney and trying to fit in some last minute rides. We got some fast passes to a few of the rides that were "do overs". The boys wanted to separate and do their own thing.

Val and I were quick to oblige. We told them that we would meet them at Splash Mountain at 8pm and not to call and bother us unless there was an emergency. Off they went and off we went.. We snuck across the street to the hotel room for a 2 hour nap. Who could ask for anything better. Seen here: Val and I stopping by to see "Chip and Dale" shhhh. Don't tell.

SACRIFICE

Scene 1: Family driving in the car. Mom and Dad having a conversation in the front seat about how things have been harder lately. How money has been tight and will get tighter soon, school shopping put on hold and Christmas shopping will look sort of the same. Dad has been working very hard and traveling for both HP and Ready Receipts. Dad decides to bring the kids in on the conversation, it goes like this:

Dad: Kids, I just wanted to tell you what good kids you are. I know I've been working a lot and have been a little stressed out. I want to say thanks for your SACRIFICING. Just hang in there, my business is about to take off and our lives will change for the better.

Mom:(thinking to herself) Hmmmmm. Maybe next year.

Kids: Silence.
We continue on down the road about 10 more minutes.. and we hear from the back seat:

Porter: Dad?.... pause.... How long have we been sacrificing?
Mom and Dad looking at each other in bewilderment.

Dad: Porter.... pause.... For you? About 11 years.
Family laughs.. Parents realize that kids don't know we are sacrificing.... Is that a good thing?

Day 2- California Disney

We did indeed get to sleep in. I for one, seriously needed it. This pic is of Rayce and Ryan posing by the "R" (which stands for RRRRayce and RRRRyan) at the enterance to Californina Disney. We opened and closed it down.. Then continued across the way to close down Disneyland....Again. It was so fun to be with these boys. I love this age!