Zip Zip Hooray

And I wonder why I am exhausted.

We have had a whirlwind week.

Here are a few highlights-- Greer turned the big 13.

Yikes another teen.  Heaven help us.

Byron helped the girls make the cutest flip flop cookies

out of Nutter Butters for her pool themed party.

 Greer planned it all-- just handed me a shopping list

put the rest of us to work.

She played a series of "Minute to Win It" games...

from seeing who could eat a donut the fastest

without it falling off a string....

  to moving Oreos from the forehead to the mouth using

only facial expressions, to playing "Junk in the Trunk"

where they had to shake their booties to shake

ping pong balls out of empty Kleenex boxes..

Of course, I was too busy running around to take many pictures.

But I did get cute ones of them swimming in the 84 degree pool

(thank you Gobily's for spoiling these kids).

 And I got pictures of some of Greer's food spread--

her flip flop cookies, her Veggie platter with the sign: 

"take a dip"...

 Her blue Kool-aid:  "Pool Water", peach rings that were labeled

"life preservers", licorice labeled "pool noodles"-- you 

get the idea.

She obviously knows her way around Pinterest.

 They roasted S'mores, played, giggled and jumped

on the trampoline.  Greer must have thanked us ten times

for such a fun party.

Kind of nice to get thanked when she did most of the work!

 The next morning, Holland and I got up before dawn

to help out at the Bubble Run.

My friend Jeanie and I set up and manned the Baldapalooza booth.

We were the charity partner for the race.

 It was pretty cool-- for the first time they've run the race 

here in Boise, they had over 7 thousand participants.

Not bad.

 The race track snaked around the fair grounds

and was filled with lots of families covered in

colored foam and bubbles.

 Case in point-  here's Holland along with two other friends.

And they were just the volunteers.

 I think everyone got drenched and dyed.

 If not running through the "bubble bogs" in the race...

certainly at the end when they had a field of foam

they launched out over everyone and everything.

 It was a blast.

We came home tired and happy.

Oh, one more thing.

This is what Greer unwrapped from her family.

Can you guess what her present is?

It is all she wanted and my husband (aka MacGyver)

built a top notch- much higher quality one than we could get on line...

drum roll please...

Zip Line.

 It goes at least 200 feet across our upper yard.

And hasn't stopped being used since he put it together

Saturday afternoon.

 Even Kean is addicted to the speed.

That's him on  Byron's lap.

Trust me, it's a bit scary the first time- stepping off at the top

but once you go, you want to go again and again.

The Wild Side

I swear this time of year is busier than the the holiday season.

My calendar is jam packed with school events.

Guess that's what I get for having four kids at four schools.

(Kill me now)!

Today was Reese's day.

All the fourth graders in her school district (there must be

about a thousand of them)-- had their big field trip.

 It's called Rendezvous and is the highlight of 4th grade.

They learn about American and Idaho history all year long

and get to "live it out" on this day.

There are 44 stations for the kids- each school only gets to visit

about 13-- but it is quite the production.

This was one of the first stations:  an old cowboy singing

mining and Idaho history songs to our group.

The booths are pretty cool-- ranging from panning for gold

and calf roping to Indian artifacts and prehistoric tools.

This booth below is the highlight for the students.

They "earn" trapper dollars by keeping their desks clean,

turning in all their homework on time and having good behavior.

Those trapper dollars are spent at the Trading Post where they can

buy all kinds of goodies (homemade Indian arrowheads, rain makers,

jewelry, masks etc.).

 It was going great until the winds picked up and the rain

came down-- cold and hard.

Rather quickly we had a huge group of shivering, blue lipped,

teeth chattering, soaked 9 year-olds.

 I think most of the kids (I know mine) were relieved

when the organizers said they were cancelling the rest of the day.

Another storm was coming in (supposedly with lightning). 

So they herded all of us into the gymnasium

(can you say crowded?)... where the kids got to eat lunch...

see a few wildlife exhibits...

and act a little wild themselves! 

Here's Looking At Zoo

After an extremely rough day yesterday, 

we had a great day today.

I got to go to the Zoo with Kean and his Kindergarten class.

 He spent a chunk of the time in the stroller but

loved trying to explore and keep up with the other kids.

 Kean was quite the good luck charm-- this sleepy tiger

got up and walked right by us several times before

hunkering down for another nap.

 It was the same with several other animals--

we had perfect timing.

He LOVED the petting zoo...

 it's a good thing those goats, sheep and llamas are all

patient with little boys who like to pull ears.

 From a mama standpoint, it was so great to see him

motoring around- even though, we kept a much slower pace

than the other kids.

 Of course, we had to take a spin on the old carousel.

That boy and his rides.

 You know it was a successful day when

he yawned all the way home.

Rodeo Barker Style

Ahh, what a long way I've come from my days in New York and L.A.

Should've seen me last night... chasing down a cow in my flip flops!

Greer and I came home from getting her hair cut to find Byron

and Holland trying to round up our remaining two cows and a baby.

 We joined in the chase... helping to get the Mama and the other cow

in the trailer.  You'd think the calf would be a cinch to lasso.

Um no.

You'd have laughed yourself silly watching all of us running

back and forth across the pasture to 1. wear the calf out

and 2.  get him close enough to Byron so he could lasso him.

 And Byron tried so hard and came so close- many, many times.

Like, a hundred times.  Or attempts.  No joke.

It was hilarious and exhausting and everything else.

 Finally, the planets aligned.  Or the calf got too tired.

No matter, Byron got him on a dead run.

And got a horrific rope burn to show for his efforts.

But we got them all loaded, locked and moved

to our friend's greener pastures

where they will get nice and fat.

 And... hopefully, a little action.

They are now back in the company of our neighbor's bull.

And I think I'll just leave it at that.

 Oh, and by the way, Greer got 8 inches cut off.

That girl has enough hair for half the country.

The Swinger

I don't know where she gets it-- certainly not from me

(my own mother says I run like a newborn calf).

But our eldest is an athlete!!

She's been running track this season

and has done better than average but over the weekend

she pulled out a surprise.

 At the last minute, she was pulled in to run the 4 x 100 relay--

she's never run a relay.  And get this, they came in 3rd in Districts and more

importantly, she loved it!

Way to go Holland.

 I went to Kean's Kindergarten Mother's Day Tea

on Friday.

 He has a new classmate- actually a little girl we've known

for years from therapy.  Mika is also blessed with that

extra chromosome.  

 She's ahead of him socially and scholastically

(guess 3 plus years of Chemo do have an impact)

but it is fun to see them together.

 The children sang a song for the moms (Kean clapped at the end--

better than nothing, I say).

 We had treats together and even made a craft.

Love this boy.

 Then we headed up to the cabin in Cascade.

We are all about done with the big remodel-- the

laundry room is the last hold-out and we are getting there.

 We even got ol' Byron to take some breaks and cut loose

on the swings at the park.

 No joke, Kean stayed on the swing for at least 45 minutes

and would have stayed all day if we would have.

 We had a yummy Mother's Day weekend with Greer

leading things in the kitchen.  That girl can cook!!

 We wrapped up the weekend with a rousing game of Charades.

Trust me, you haven't played Charades until you've played with this guy.

Hope everyone had a relaxing and loving Mother's Day weekend.