#41 - Camping

We visited the Blue Ridge Reservoir area.... I say area because Jonathan convinced all of us that we could camp right by the water....  notice the second picture below... there are absolutely NO places to camp right by the water.  The closest we got was about 100 feet above with no accessible way to the reservoir.

We did end up making it to a nice place... if you don't mind that no one else is around to see or hear you murdered.  Jonathan thinks that campsites are for wimps, thus we were subjected to a 5 hour truck ride to find just the perfect spot.  Mind you we passed about 4 other perfect spots on the way...

Top of the Mogollon Rim

The Kids' tent... which ended up being the empty tent since they both crammed in with us.  It was very warm and cozy.

Hayden is the cook when we go camping... seen here boiling water for Ramen noodles.  (Did I mentioned it rained most of the time there... thus the bag on his head).

Zoe's practicing her casting with her new Princess fishing rod.  Mostly she caught trees and sticks..which are sooo fun to unhook.

There's his Ramen noodles... a favorite.

The hike down the hillside to the Reservoir... the hike where I warned that it was too steep and there is NO way we would make it to the water.  After about 10 minutes, they all started to believe me, and we ended up back at our camp site without having gone to the water.

What you should be looking at in this picture is our toilet, and maybe Zoe's cute butt, ... courtesy of Home Depot (the bucket) and our neighbor Jim who loaned us the toilet seat that snaps onto the bucket. What you should not be looking at is me... because I haven't figured out how to pull off the super model look while camping.

Where's Hayden??

Cooking again... this time bacon, which took FOREVER!!

Really fishing... and me trying not to fall forward in my chair because the ground was so slanted.

Top of the Rim

And what camping trip wouldn't be complete without some crawdad fishing??

101 in 1001

#32 - Girls' Gettaway!!

Call me lame, but why would I retype when Kim has it all??....

Read ALLLLLL about our 2nd Annual Girls' Gettaway!


101 in 1001

#43 - San Diego!

This is long overdue... like most of my blogs.  I will keep it short and sweet.

In June my family was able to join my Aunt Carrol, Uncle Charlie, Grandma, my cousin Cheryl, Tom, and Josh and Zach at the beach in San Diego.  We rented a house just one block from the beach... such a nice place too!  We were at the beach for 3 days, then the last day we went to Legoland - minus Jonathan and Hayden who went to Sea World.

Here are a few pictures.... I had TONS..

Here's most of our crew... Great Grandma camped out in her chair for most of our visits.  Tom, Charlie, and Hayden are out of the pic... and that's the bottom half of Cheryl (sorry Cheryl!).  :)

Jonathan and Hayden took off Geocaching one day...

Good thing Tom was there... I was too chicken to go in the freezing water... and so was Jonathan half the time.

Are we tourists or what??

.... and if we stuck Great Grandma in the front basket, wouldn't she closely resemble E.T.?

101 in 1001

Loving the rain...

First Day of School

Well... I'm SOOOO behind on my blogging, it's almost annoying.  I got bogged down with starting up at my new school and have not wanted to do anything.  BUT, I have to put up my pictures of my kids (albeit they are not great pictures at all because we were in a hurry) of their first day of school.

Hayden started 6th grade this year.... and got a boat load of responsibilities dropped on him all at once.  He leaves the house about 45 min. after we do, has to lock up, catch the bus for school... then afterwards, get the bus home and let himself in.  I am usually home when he gets here, but sometimes not.  And then of course he just has to deal with being a middle school kid.  But he has done fabulous!! We are so proud of him.  Side note... he did have a little trouble with is locker on the first day and couldn't get it open at the end, so just left his backpack and lunch box in it.  ha!  And speaking of lunch box, poor kid is one of the only ones with one.  Guess I'll have to let him be cool a couple times a week and buy.

And Zoe started preschool this year at my school.  She loved the first three days... and has been a little clingy when I've dropped her off since.  However, she is still doing great and tells us all kinds of stories.  She is really looking forward to "losing her lunchbox" so she can eat the school food.  Good thing it's cheap!

This is Zoe at open house, which my parents brought her too.  Notice her fake nails... compliments of Grandma.