Living

In the midst of looking through and sorting out the pictures I took while we were on our trip (and a few that Wendy took, too...which are better than mine; I might be handing her the camera next year) time keeps slipping by.  Christian has started back to school, we have enrolled Michaela and Eliana in a weekly class that is designed to complement what home schoolers are doing at home.  We are still adjusting to the routine that comes with the start of a new school year.  The summer has ended, even though it is still well over 100 degrees here everyday.  And I find myself living in the past as I peruse the photos, remembering the fun we had, or looking very forward to the distant future as I contemplate the thought of one day not having to get children up early for school, make lunches before 8am, or constantly sweep up the crumbs under the table.

As I think about that future time, a time when children are no longer at home, I hear the voices in my head (just barely, over the yelling and ruckus which is often occuring all around me, sometimes happy, sometimes not) reminding me that one day I will ache to hear those little feet running through the house, and to feel those sweet arms cling to my neck, and even to hear the noise and see the toys scattered all around.  It is so easy for me to long for quiet; to long for clear coffee tables, and no dirty underwear flipped inside out in every bathroom and sometimes in the bedrooms; to long for smaller laundry piles and less dishes to do at the end of the day.

I have to pause.  I have to tell myself be here now.  Even when I don't want to be, even when it's hard to be.  I have to remind myself that life is not happening in the past, and I can't make the future get here faster.  Life is now.  Life is around, behind, and right in front of me.  Life is that giant pile of laundry, the cooking and the sweeping, the shuttling and the school work.  It is dealing with bad attitudes, sassy girls, and surly boys.  It is listening to my kids say to me,"You're awesome," as well as,"You're a meanie."  It is feeling the spontaneous hugs, hearing the hysterical laughter, cleaning up the forts after a couple of days of having no couches to sit on.  It is watching baseball games together and matching up socks; it is cleaning toilets and going grocery shopping.  It is all of the work, the tears, the laughter, the anger, the love, the frustration, the joy, the difficulty, the fun, the effort, and the heartache. 

And I'm supposed to exercise in the middle of all that?  Maybe in the future...meanwhile I will try to be present for these noisy, messy, full-of-life days. 

Ready for S'more?

I bet you'll never guess what else we did.  If you guess fencing you won't be far off the mark...

Did you guess?  I bet my title gave it away.    

The kids anticipated the making of s'mores almost as much as the water sports. 

You know how they say,"Where there's smoke, there's fire"?  Well, also and equally important, where there's fire, there's smoke.  It's in your eyes and your nostrils, it's burning up the hair on your arms!  But the kids didn't care (so much)...toasting those 'mallows was priority numero uno.  I tried helping Eliana but had the wrong angle, so Dad took her around to the side of the fire (above the fire, up the hill, was off limits; aren't you safety people proud?).  It was still dang hot.

She was not too sure about all this getting-close-to-fire business.

These two ladies were all about getting as close as they could, however. 

Michaela may have gotten a wee bit too close.

Grandma Lillie would have been so proud.  (My grandma burned her biscuits on purpose.  She may very well have loved burnt marshmallows.  I'll have to ask her some day.)

The kids

got ooey, gooey

and loved

every bite of it.

Cousin J. eventually had enough of the fighting fire and smoke and just went straight for the marshmallow on the graham.

However they ate them, though, they were very happy in the end.

Mike's mom and brother were around to help and to watch the marshmallow mayhem.  I think they had fun observing without partaking.  What self-control!  I can't claim to have the same virtuous ability to refrain from eating chocolate whenever offered. 

But that's nothing new around here, right? 

Tube Be or Not Tube Be, That Is the Question

In Florida we have to watch out for gators, but in North Carolina it was Crocs.  They were down on the dock, and right in the middle of the walkway!

Without a doubt the kids' favorite thing to do while in North Carolina was to be in the water.  It didn't matter if they were in a boat, in a tube, or swimming around...they couldn't get enough.

One of the coveted activities was paddling the Versa Board; I know all of the kids loved this board, but Michaela really seemed to enjoy gliding all over the place on it.  Her arms had to be so sore at the end of the day!

Diana's house in the mountains is on a lake and this particular part of the lake has a small cove or inlet kind of area which is perfect for the kids to zip and cruise around safely (out of the way of motor boats or jet skis).

I really mean it when I say Michaela paddled and paddled.  She took herself all around, and often had passengers.

Aunt Wendy also liked the Versa Board, and carried small children to and fro.  That is not too different than a normal day in her life, just switch out the board for a van. 

I think she thought this was more fun, though.

The kids took turns on the Versa Board as well as the kayak, and we managed to get through the days with a minimal amount of whining over who had more turns than they should have.  It was at least a small enough amount that I can't remember it any longer, or I've just blocked it out altogether.

Aside from paddling there was leaping off the boat or dock into the lake.  Even Eliana had a blast doing this.

The kids were ever-creative in coming up with ways to entertain themselves.  Cousin N. was determined to stick himself upside down in the water even though he had a life jacket on.  Pretty tricky.  He told me to take a picture of his feet.

 

There was plenty of digging in the sand.  They found many treasures and created many life-threatening holes on the beach.

Now.  I would say that they had the most fun on the board and kayak, but they also loved going out on the big boat and tubing. 

Cousin J. liked that I was taking so many pictures, which was a refreshing change from the past.  He is usually elusive for the photographer.  He said to me,"Take a picture of my foot.  Are you gonna put it on your blog?"

Then it was clear.  He was just using me on his road to fame and glory. 

One day when he is famous (possibly a professional athlete?  Or creator of extraordinary and exquisite paper cut-out art?) he can look back and say that his rise to stardom and riches started here.

The kids went out in tubes two at a time.  The speed varied depending on who was in the tubes, and who was driving the boat. 

It took a few trips to figure out who ought to go with whom (both tuber and tuber, as well as tubers and driver).  There were definitely the speed lovers, and those who enjoyed a less volatile ride.

Can you guess which category Cousin N. would fall into?  Speaking of falling into...he spent a significant portion of his turn experimenting with what it would take to fall out of his tube and into the lake.

He was successful in his mission.

Michaela liked to go fast.  Cousin C. was a bit more cautious.  (Wendy, if that's not right, let me know...that was my recollection.)  We probably should have sent Michaela and Evel Knievel out together, and Christian and Cousin C.  Noted.

In case you wanted proof that I was actually on this trip, and not just in NC but on the boat, here is a picture of me, on a boat in the lake.

This was a very pleasant place to be.  I liked riding in the boat.  Somehow all of the other people on the boat contrived to get me out of the boat, however.  Indeed, they managed to talk me into taking Eliana out in a tube. 

Folks, I am not a water person.  I am a spaz in any body of water.  I freak out when I wash my face in the shower for fear of drowning.  But Eliana wanted to go in the tube, so in we went.  Bobby was careful and went very slowly.  Even with that you can be sure I hollered.  Riding in an innertube is a very bouncy endeavor.  A bouncy endeavor that makes you feel like you are going to go flying any minute.

Things were going just fine, though, and I think even Eliana was having fun.  Then Bobby stopped the boat.  Do you know what lay between the above picture and this one?

An eternity of tipping and screaming, tipping and screaming, tipping and screaming.  I may have scarred Eliana for life with my screaming.  I am pretty sure that the good people at the bottom of the mountain heard my desperate, shrill screaming.  The wake of the boat is what did us in.  That and the fact that my rear was so far above the bottom of the tube (so that Eliana wasn't in danger of getting stuck under the ring of the tube) that it was easy to get turned over.

I was lauging in the end.  But before that?  There was a lot of screaming.

Poor Cousin J.  He is a speed lover.  So after his lame-o turn with Aunt Christina he got another go with his speed loving brother. 

These children love the water.  That obviously comes from Mike's genes (at least for our kids; I think Wendy and Bobby's kids get it from both sides); I really think it's great, but I probably won't be getting in a tube again for a long time.  And Eliana will most likely want to go for a ride with Daddy next time.

There were more fun times that involved no water at all!  Stay tuned...

(I'm sure everyone [read: 7 people] is on the edge of their seats.)

"Breaker, Breaker, 1-9"

We headed to Florida for our annual visit but this year there was a twist.  After arriving in time for dinner out with Mike's mom, her husband Bob, Wendy, Bobby, and the cousins we unloaded our stuff at my in-laws' house (yes, all of it, because I am not organized enough to pack one bag with what we needed for our one night stay there) only to load up again by 8:30 a.m. in order to drive to North Carolina.  We caravaned with walkie-talkies for the ten-hour trip.

I confess there was at least one "10-4, good buddy" and "Roger.  Over and out."  Give a girl a walkie-talkie and she just can't help herself.

I also confess that I was tired on this trip (I was driving one vehicle with the girls, Bobby and Wendy had the boys in another, and Mike and his brother were coming along behind us) (as well as Diana and Bob).  Even though we lose an hour when we visit the East Coast my kids get confused and wake up even earlier than they normally do, which in the end is two hours earlier.  I had my alarm set for 7:30 so that I could get dressed, throw our toothbrushes back in our suitcase, and pack the car up quickly before Wendy and Bobby arrived for the kid swap.  But Christian woke up at 6:40, having fallen to sleep the night before with visions of Fruity Pebbles dancing in his head.  Do you know what time that is in Dallas?!  5:40!  In the morning! 

We rolled down the road, with me wishing I could actually use toothpicks to keep my eyes open.  With that many kids there are ample opportunities for potty breaks (a.k.a. drink-stops)...I kept my internal reservoir full of caffeinated beverages.  We made it to North Carolina in good time considering the stops.  We arrived early enough that the kids had time to run around the place a bit and reaquaint themselves with the house.  Our kids hadn't been there in six years (of course, this was Eliana's first time as she wasn't born six years ago.  She also wasn't born four years ago, okay?  OKAY?!).  

While we were in North Carolina the weather was amazing.  It was so beautiful, and the kids loved being outside in the lake.  My crazy husband introduced them to The Polar Bear Club, but ironically the water was usually warmer than the air.  We spent most of the afternoons down on, by, or just in the water.

For the sake of time I am going to post this as an intro to our entire vacation.  I have some other photos that will be fun for me to share, and hopefully my memory will serve me well as I try to document this trip.  That is asking a lot of my brain, but they say the older you get the better it is to make your mind work hard.  Until soon!