Camping at Fools Hollow Lake

You know it's been a busy week when I haven't even had a chance to look at pictures.  I'm supposed to be working right now, but whatever.  I'll get that done later.

So, here's our wonderful camping trip.  This was the Fools Hollow campground in Show Low.  We had camping spot #23 and I have to say, it had the best view of any other spot.  However, the sites were way smaller than normal.  But, there was still plenty of room. 

When we got there, a monsoon storm was rolling in.  There was some thunder and lighting, so we set up camp as quickly as possible.  And nothing, no rain.  Thank goodness!  We never normally camp in July for that reason.

Here's camp almost set up.

And relaxing after it's set up.  David and I have everything down and we are a good team.  We get everything done in about an hour.

Then, we went off exploring. 

The entry to the water was all nasty with seaweed and David found this nice little 10 foot area that was like a beach entry, so that's where we went in.

Noah loved David's Father's Day gift.

David was fine with his chair.

The Suttons came over to visit.  We thought their camp would be closer.  This one has full RV hookups, so they were in that area.  But, they were probably a 5 minute walk to their camp.  We had 3 families close together in the tent section and 2 families in the RV section.

David and Ryan.  Ryan has lost like 40+ pounds since  March!

Dak and me.  She's lost 40 too!

The girls all brought bikes and went back and fourth between camps all weekend.  

The last time we camped, David said he needed an apron.  Not that he wears fancy clothes camping, but he doesn't need grease stains from popping bacon all over.  I got this Phoenix Suns one free from Fry's.  He looks cute.

There was this awesome playground right near our camp.  The kids loved it.

At night, we hung out at our friends campsite that was 2 down from ours.  Smores every night!

This is Savannah.  Noah and her are adorable and played all weekend together.

Here's David frying bacon and Noah relaxing. 

Our first full day there, we headed to the big part of the lake and everyone went swimming.  There aren't a ton of swimmable lakes in Arizona and even less at campgrounds.

There's David's head way out there.  I taught Gina's Frog School and took 8 kids across the lake.  They had life vests on.  The next day, I think there were 12 kids.  They all did great.

At first this just looks like a picture of a big tree.  But look closer....

That's Emily, in the navy shirt almost all the way at the top.  Her friend, Alissa, is below her in pink.

Here she is on the way down.  Talk about a heart attack.  I didn't let her do that again.

Noah loved doing the dishes.

And starting fires.

David finally got to try out his hammock.

We went for an afternoon swim by our camp.

Then, more kids joined in.  It was fun.  The next day, David took them all swimming across this part of the lake.

There's David's head way out there again.

We got back and made Jiffy Pop for everyone.  Seriously, it is so good.  Good think we brought two of them.  It was gone in record speed.

Here's David and Aaron.

And Noah and Savannah.  I joke that I'm working on their wedding video montage already.  HA!

The last full day there, we went down to the lake again.

Several of our friends had kayaks and blow up boats, so that was fun.

Here's Noah in the boat with all the girls.

Ben was happy rock jumping in  his pajamas.  There was a small drop off at the edge of our camp and it made me nervous the whole time.  I think I told him to stay away from the edge about 50 times.  It was like a 15 foot drop, and on boulders...not good!

Everyone came to our camp for a little afternoon chat.

Noah looking cute.

It looked like an afternoon storm might roll in, so we all decided to go out to dinner sine the town is less than 5 minutes away.  We all wanted mexican.  We should've made reservation.  We had 24 people.  The first place couldn't get us in for an hour.  The second place had a huge back room that they were able to get us in to.  Whew, talk about lucking out.  And they had the best chimicangas!

Boys table...

Girls table...  Can you tell the girls outnumber the boys?

Adults.

The food came out fast and everything was correct in the order, which was shocking.  But, getting the bill was taking a little while.  So, I took the kids all out to the parking lot and they piled in Ryan and Dakri's truck.  They were like crazy monkeys!

It rained and thundered some the last night.  We are so thankful we don't have to bring Rocco on these trips.  He's a nervous wreck in storms and we wouldn't have been able to join everybody for dinner.  Thanks to my Mom for always house and dog sitting for us!

We liked the site so much, we already booked for next year!

Glasses and Jr. High

The kids glasses came in and we headed to Costco today to get them.

Here's Emily's. You can't see the sides, but they are a pretty teal blue color with a little almost tiger stripe pattern. Very cute. She's amazed at how much better she sees. Her eyes are worse than mine, so I know they are helping her a lot.

Here's Ben. He put them on at first and said, "Whoa, these are blurry." But, that's the idea. It'll make that bad eye work more and hopefully, stop the drifting. He's already used to them in a matter of hours.

And then this afternoon was Jr. High registration. We had no clue what we were doing, but managed to figure everything out and get through the school in about an hour. Em found her locker and learned to open it. That took awhile. She's never done a lock like that. But, she got the hang of it quickly. Then, we walked to each of her classes and met with the PE coach about uniforms for PE (gray shirt and athletic shorts) and we chatted with a few friends and found where she'll pick up the bus at the end of the day. We squeezed a lot in an hour!

Emily is in all honors classes...She has Art, Honors Language Arts, HOnors Science, PE, Honors Social Studies, Lunch, Honors Math and iChoose (which is like a study hall).  That's a heavy schedule, but I know she can hang.  She may just need to play less Minecraft.

So, the plan is David will take Emily to school since he works about a mile from there. And I'll take the boys to school. Then, all the kids will take the bus home. That's new. But, the way they have it scheduled they are they are like the fifth stop for the bus and are at the corner by our house about 20 minutes after the bell rings to let school out. Seeing that Emily's school is 13 minutes away and the boys is 8 minutes, they aren't on the bus for very long. So, that will be nice for me! No more spending an hour everyday trying to pick up kids and fighting in the pick up line. Yippee!

School starts in 5 days! We're ready! Or at least I am. :)

All Day Doctor Appointments

My kids are all very healthy, and for that Im' truly thankful. But, we still have routine appointments. Today, they all had dentist appointments.  We are trying a new dentist since our current one is a 45 minute drive round trip.  We wanted something closer.

The boys love that it had a playstation in the waiting room.

And even more exciting, was the TV on the ceiling that they tuned in to cartoons.  

Here's Noah totally relaxed and Ben is like a hyper basket case.  God love him.  Nobody had cavities.  Yea!  They all got xrays and we could see all 4 of Ben's wisdom teeth under the gums.  Emily, nothing.  No wisdom teeth, not one. They said by now, she should have a little bubble where the teeth would be or full grown teeth, like Ben. She has nothing.  And she is thrilled.  

The appointments took longer than I thought.  I barely had time to drop the kids, pack a lunch for Ben and I and we were off to Scottsdale for Ben's annual eye appointment.  Here's Ben after drops.  He hates the dialating drops.

The doctor is concerned with Ben's eye.  It was a lazy eye and turned in, which they did surgery to loosen the inside muscle and he patched for years.  This was to get that eye stronger and not lose sight, which it worked great.  But, now the doctor is seeing his eye drift, which means it's going to the outside.  He's hopeful that a stronger prescription will fix the problem.  And he wants to see him again in three months.  I didn't like that.  We have been on yearly appointments for about 3 years, so to go back to 3 month appointments is not good.  But, he just wants to stay on top of it.  He says as Ben grows and changes, it's just life that the eye can change like it is.  Kind of like how I got Lasik surgery 15 years ago and had perfect vision, and now I need glasses.  

So, the worst case scenario is Ben would need another surgery.  This time to do just the opposite of what they did ...loosen the outer eye and tighten the inner eye muscle.  But, he's hopeful the stronger prescription will help.  Needless to say, we are getting him new glasses tomorrow.  The good news is the vision is good in his eye.  The stronger prescription is just to train his brain to keep using both eyes together.  

We drove straight home after.  Ben is miserable after his eyes are dialated.  He was literally in his room laying there for hours, but he's doing well now.  

It was a super long day and it was so hot in Phoenix, it felt like a sauna.  

Looking forward to a good nights rest and a nice weekend.
Next weekend, we have one last hooray before school starts...another camping trip!

Around Our House

Well...I fell loved. I talked to my Dad a few ago and he told me that I haven't blogged in 11 days. My Mom texted yesterday wondering why I haven't blogged and to make sure all was alright. Aunt Linda emailed me this morning and so did Aunt Paula. It's so sweet that people miss us and my little blog posts. And Gwynne, I know you would've emailed but are refraining as to not be a "pest" as you'd say, but you know you never are. Anyway, it's nice to be missed.

So, what have we been up to....

Well, this happened while we were on vacation. We sold it on Craiglist.  We are sad it's gone, but the kids just rarely played with it anymore.  It was time for it to be sanded and stained again and we didn't want to do that for something the kids go on about once a month.  Hopefully, another family will get good use out of it and we are turning the area into an outdoor firepit!  The kids all agreed they wanted that more than the swingset.  So, I'm on Pinterest trying to find cheap ideas. It kind of makes me teary to think that they've outgrown it.  I'm glad I wasn't here for the disassemble and haul away.

The kids did the annual patriotic singing and piano playing at the senior care home.  I was so sad to here that Oval had died.  She was there from our first visit, but died at 105.  

The kids did another week of church camp.  They are having a blast.  It's daily from 9 to 3, so it gives them something to do and me a break.

School is starting in 3 weeks!  I don't know how that happened so fast.  I still have stacks of school papers from last year to go through.  I'm not feeling on top of my game....yet.

David had his final interview and exam to become a U.S. citizen yesterday.  He studied for the 10 question oral exam and was totally prepared.  He knew all about Congress, our Senators and everything in between.  And then they asked him questions like what ocean is on the west side of the U.S.?  Really, challenge the guy some.  There was only 1 question out of the 10 that he even had to think about.  So, he's approved for citizenship and we will get a letter about his final swearing in ceremony.  That'll be fun to go to.  

And that's about it!  I wish I had something exciting to report, but we are all doing great and I guess that's exciting enough.  :)