Vacation, Day 4 from 2015

Vacation Day 4 from 2015, I think.

Ok, long story, but I'm working on saving my blog in pdf docs to back it up and somehow, I must have saved this one weird and it published it on top as a current post.  I don't want to delete it, so it's now out of order.  And I don't care.  :)

Did the kids ever sleep in this morning. They were beat. I pulled Ben out of bed at 8:45 since breakfast lasted until 9 and he eats a pound of bacon. Noah was still sleeping at almost 10. Emily was asleep too until 8:45. These kids have been playing hard. They rarely sleep past 7:30.

We got checked out of our hotel and got settled at Aunt Paula and Uncle Terry's. Then, we headed for the beach after lunch. We planned to go to Starfish beach, but the smoke from the fire is still not great and that beach is closer to the fire. So, we stayed close to home today. Besides, the kids wanted to do more dock jumping.

Here's Ben jumping in:


I like this picture of Ben. It looks like he's standing on water.


David jumped.


And more jumping:


Then, the kids wanted to jump on the other side. And for some reason, it freaked them both out. Ben wouldn't jump and kept stopping. There were like 15 teenagers there jumping in and playing and they were so nice. They started chanting his name and encouraging him to do it. At one point they stopped chanting his name and he turned and said, "can you keep going?" and started using his fingers like a band conducter.


It worked:


Then, they started chanting Em's name and in she went.


This is the ladder to get up to the dock. Last night, you could only see about six rungs when we jumped. The tide was low today when we went and it was double the height.


Then, Noah jumped off the floating dock. It's about 3 feet. Hey, you got to start somewhere.


Here's a jellyfish Em found. He's dead.


Noah found a crab.


Then, we played on the beach for hours.








Before we left, Em and Ben wanted to jump again. Here they are holding hands jumping.

NJHS

Tonight Emily was inducted into the NJHS!

She's there on the bottom right during the swearing in ceremony.

And here she is on stage.

So proud!

After, they had cake and cookies for everyone.
Then, we went to Sonic for ice cream!  

We are so proud of her.

Ben took this picture. and cut off David's head.  It's my fault because I set it up on for him and thought it would be fine.

And her I am taking partial credit for Emily's achievements.  I ride my kids pretty hard and don't let them get away with much.  So, I felt like I became a member of NSHS too.  That would be National Senior Honor Society!  :) 

Our Weekend

Noah had his first ever play date at a friends house.  This is Collin and Noah was SO excited.  He was so nervous on the way there which is kind of strange for Noah. He's my social butterfly.  But, he does get nervous in new situations until he's comfortable with everything.  It took him about 30 seconds to get comfortable.  They have this cool loft and basement and Noah had a blast.

Here he was after the playdate.  We couldn't get the smile off his face.

We woke up Saturday to some snow which is always nice and welcome.  It's never very much.  The kids went out and played.

Note the view of our street.  This was about 10 am.

Then, David went out to play with them by about 10:30.  Notice it's getting a little sunnier.

And by 1:00, this was the view of our street.  What?  Where did all the snow go? That's how it rolls here in Arizona.  And it's why we love snow.  Nothing to shovel and no hassle.  Just beautiful and then gone!

Emily went sledding with her friends and tried her hand at snowboarding. We really need to take the kids skiing sometime.

And that was our weekend.  But, it was my Mom's 69th birthday on Saturday.  My Mom is such a sweet and special lady with the biggest heart.  You can't meet my Mom and not feel welcomed by her and love her.  We all love you Mami!

So Proud

I couldn't be more proud of my girl!  Last week at her assembly, they said if you had higher than a 3.8 gpa, you could pick up an application for National Junior Honor Society.  I told Emily she should try for it since she has above a 4.0 gpa.  

Emily was hesitant as she is with anything.  I encouraged her to try.  She doesn't have a lot of school involvement, but she has a lot of volunteer projects in the community....helping at church, park clean ups, piano and violin playing at the Senior homes, etc.  So, we filled it out and she got her invitation today!  The induction ceremony is next Wednesday.  We are so, so proud of her!

To Be, Or Not To Be...a Sloth

The first week back from a long vacation is so hard.  I don't like to get back in the swing of things and I find myself dragging.  Before I got out of bed this morning, I checked my phone and my Aunt Paula shared a video of a kitten and sloth napping.  I just want to be a sloth.  To make things worse, there are 131 days until summer vacation. What?  That's like FOREVER.  

I'll make the most out of those days, or I'll try to.  

Here's what went down this week.

Emily had her first assembly for academics.  She made Principal's List for the semester, which was no small feat.  She's in all honors classes and I think it was a huge adjustment for her.  But, she struggled and worked and she did it!  We are so proud of her.  She's in the back row in the pink jacket almost right in the middle.  

David got a new work phone and asked that I send him a new picture of myself so when I call, my face shows up.  I sent him this one.  I didn't even notice the punching bag stand coming out of my head behind me.  That just makes it better.

But, he went with this one.  I like my hair brownish.

Then, Emily was in the tub and told Noah to put on a fashion show for her.  So, he was going through my closet and I knew he'd make a mess, so I just helped him. And then, it was so fun, I couldn't stop.  We didn't get a pic of the evening gown, but boy was he stunning.

Up first, is take me out the ball game look.

Then, ready for bed.

And winter wonderland...

And my favorite, the beach!  You can't see in this pic, but my sarong/scarf didn't cover his tushie, so his butt crack was showing. 

He was a good sport.  

The boys brought home good report cards too. Ben got Principal's List again.  He also passed his test for the Wright Flight Program.  He'll be flying a plane in March!  Yep, we all get to drive down to Tucson where his honors class gets to take turns flying a plane, with a pilot of course.  How fun is that!  It was not an easy test and there was course direction, nautical miles and a bunch of other stuff that was hard for even me to understand.  I'm excited that he'll get this experience, and glad we get to go down and watch him.

As an example....do you know the difference between a Nautical mile and regular mile?  Yeah, me neither.  I know a regular mile is 5,280 feet.  So, what is a nautical mile.  Here's a definition and imagine your 10 and in fifth grade!  

A nautical mile is based on the circumference of the planet Earth. If you were to cut the Earth in half at the equator, you could pick up one of the halves and look at the equator as a circle. You could divide that circle into 360 degrees. You could then divide a degree into 60 minutes. A minute of arc on the planet Earth is 1 nautical mile. This unit of measurement is used by all nations for air and sea travel.

I still can't explain it, but I know it's a little longer than a mile. Good enough.

It's a snowy, cold 3-day weekend, which sounds like a the perfect time to practice being a sloth!

Around Our House ~ 2 Week Roundup

It's been a crazy two weeks after Christmas.  So busy, that I haven't had much time to blog.  But, it's been fun and we got to visit with family and friends.

A few days after Christmas, David's sister Alisa came with her husband and 2 kids.  It made for 10 of us in the house, which is crazy and fun.

Here are all the couins.

And Grammie and her grandchildren.

Our friend Eunice and adorable little Kate came for dinner from Vegas.

Noah and Kate drawing...

The kids teaching Kate the art of Otter Pops.

The boys watched Jaws.

The girls opted for something less scary in my room.

Here I am chillin' with the kids on the bean bag.

Then, our company left and our friends hosted a Bachelor viewing party. It was cool.

I took the kids to the dentist.  No cavities...yea!

Then, Aunt Pam came up to visit. She spoils the kids with so many gifts.

Legos...

And pajamas...

And she always bakes us snickerdoodle cookies, which are Ben and Noah's favorite.  And we hate 24 cookies in the span of about 3 hours.

She bought Emily this game, which is hysterical.

The next day, we did a little shopping and then it was time for her to head back home.

But, not before we found a pretty filter on Snapchat.

The last few days have been relaxing.  The boys wanted to have a sleep over with each other.  They sleep together every night, so as to why this is exciting I'm not sure.  But, I put up a tent in Ben's room, I let them stay up as late as they want and I bring them a tray of snacks and they can eat whatever.  No wonder they love it!  So, tonight will be night 3 of slumber parties.  Emily has joined in too.  Whatever.  They have 1 night left of vacation.

Then, on our walk today, we passed this house and this couple in their 60's were in their front yard. The husband was holding the ladder and the wife was on it taking down Christmas lights.  He probably had some health reason as to why he wasn't able to climb the ladder.  Well, we passed them and I told David we should go back and ask if they needed help.  They had high eaves and I had no clue how the lady was planning on getting the lights down.  So, we turned around and David ended up spending 20 minutes on their roof taking down their Christmas lights.  This was the short part of the roof.  It was so high at the tip.  Thank God David helped them.

Anyway, they were very appreciative. They said their son hung them up at Thanksgiving and he lives in Phoenix and they had no one to take them down. So, we did a good deed.  I know, it was actually all David, but I'll take some credit for making the suggestion.  

Now, the break is over and the kids go back to school.  We can't believe they are already half done with the school year.  And the next big thing we have to look forward to is this:

Cruising to Mexico for Spring Break in 63 days!