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!

The Ultimate Pay Off

The day finally came. All the hard work had paid off and our Disneyland adventure had begun. Rayce, Ryan, Val and I put on our traveling shoes and off we went. We were hoping to just take the direct flight from Boise to LAX and seats looked good, until 9pm the night before (I wonder if Michael Jackson's funeral had anything to do with this) . Change of plans. Looks like we'd have to get up early and connect through Portland. Which, by the way, happens to be my favorite connection city. Because I have some hook ups there in Boise, I had them issue us seats together and apart. Val and I together in row 1. Rayce and Ryan together in row 16. Hmmm. That's some fancy planning. We were able to have fancy mom chit chat and let the flight attendant deal with the 14 year old boys. The drink of the month was a Jones Soda: Blue lemonade. Loved it and the boys did ask for their "own" can. They felt like grown ups in the back and we felt like school girls in the front.

Here the boys are at the Boise airport. Just getting started for the day. This next one is a shot of Val and me at the Portland airport waiting for our connection... See, we're still smiling. The day would tell. After landing in Lax, we rushed to the shuttle that would take us to our car rental. We felt like we needed to hurry. For one, Disneyland was waiting, and two, we had to clear the LAX area before Michael Jackson's funeral let out. That could be disastrous. We made good time. Picked up the PT Cruiser (if that doesn't yell TOURIST then I don't know what does), dropped off the luggage at the hotel and marched across the street to the Happiest Place On Earth. We got there at 1pm and worked the fast pass system all day. We picked up fast passes for Indiana Jones around 3 and our return time was 11:50pm. Oh boy! We played and played. Lines were not bad at all. Most lines were 15 min or less and add that to the fast passes, we were able to cover the whole park in half a day. I did make everyone wait in line for over 45 min for the Nemo attraction. I don't think I would do that again. Especially if I wasn't going with anyone under the age of 7.
At 11pm we made it over to Space Mountain. I guess this was the last straw for poor Ryan. He was tired, shaken, hot and now sick. He was done. But NO... we don't come to Disneyland and get 30 minutes from Indiana Jones and not ride on the attraction.. OH no we don't. Rayce was stuck with me and now that Ryan and Val were out.. we had 4 tickets to ride! Woot Woot. Rayce was a good sport and went with me. My poor kids.. It's like Halloween time.. I get on the tennis shoes and we are walking that neighborhood until people don't answer their doors anymore. Usually the kids are begging me to take them home. AS was Rayce after one ride with Dr. Henry Walton AKA: Harrison Ford: AKA Indiana Jones. Two lucky folks at the back of the line got 2 fast passes. I was exhausted too and wondered if I was gonna be able to walk to the hotel. Rayce took my arm and we mustered up the strength to get across the street. What would day number two bring? Luckily we had convinced the boys that it was going to be spent at California Disney and that park didn't open until 10. AHHH, We would be sleeping in.