I finally found room to get Hudson into swim lessons and he has thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it.  I had kind of put lesson off for awhile.  I wanted him showing interest so they would be enjoyable and I wouldn’t feel like I was wasting money.  This happens all too often with me.  Either way, since our summer heat is just getting started, he should be able to enjoy his new found hobby for awhile longer.

We regrettably had to bail on our ward camp-out recently due to swim lessons and other odd happenings.  In our children’s eyes, a promise is a promise and there is NO breaking a promise.  Our backyard camping and Smor’e making resulted.  We let the kids sleep in the tent outside until 12:30 when Will and I went to bed.  Yes, the over protective mother that I am did not let them sleep in the back by themselves.  I don’t care how safe the neighborhood is…either way, fun was had and all was good until 2:30 in the morning.  Annie came screaming into our room, “I’m not in the tent!  I’m not in the tent!”  Never a dull moment around here.

Part of cousins camp found everyone at Jungo Playa.  I wasn’t able to go and although a picture is worth a thousand words, Will assures me the picture doesn’t come close to capturing the day.

Honestly, I never would have thought to fly my kite with a bike, but it seems to be a fantastic combination.

The kids rode as far as their little legs could carry them into the horizon and back again.  Notice the gloss on the ground-no mirages there.  The kids all came home covered in a fine white dust.

Buried deep inside lies a little bit of cowgirl.  I’m not quite sure where she came from or how she got there.  To be quite honest, I’m oblivious to her most days.  But, when PBR(Professional Bullriding) comes to town, I tend to get a little self-indulgent.  Our friends Buzz and Emily found out about my little cowgirl  and one double date later she was out a whoopin’ and a hollerin’.  I was actually gasping, ooing and eeking as well.  Thank-you by the way, it was fabulous! I don’t have a thing for cowboys, trucks or wranglers, however; there is something amazing about bullriding to me.

I’m amazed that cowboys can take such a beating time after time.  Those bull are usually close to or more than a ton.  For those of you who don’t know about bullriding…indulge me for a moment-if you will.  The cowboys get ranked according to scores our of 100(50 of it comes from the bull’s performance and 50 comes from the cowboy’s form.  Is the cowboy dangling from the side for dear life? or is he making you think it looks easy and that you might want to try it one day).  They only get a score if they manage to stay on the bull for at least 8 seconds.  You may wonder how intense my indulgence is?  Let’s just say Bodacious is my favorite bull of all time; has since been retired and died quite a few years ago.  He was only successfully ridden 7 times of the well over 100 cowboys who rode him.  May he rest in peace.

Between rides, there were other forms of entertainment that were beyond crazy.  Take the Torro Totter for instance.  The last one on gets $1,000-yeah that isn’t enough money to get me out there on a teeter totter.  I couldn’t believe they were crazy enough to be out there with a charging bull, but I couldn’t help watching.

Then you have the poker table…same idea.  Last one left at the poker table wins.  The bull ended up getting up under this guy in the end, running him down and flinging him into the air.  I was impressed his pants were still intact when it was all said and done.  He also seemed to walk away unharmed.  I think my thirst for bullriding has been quenched for the time being.  Maybe this time next year I’ll be digging my hat back out again looking for a matching pair of boots.

Hudson enjoyed building his rocket with Will and then launching it with Papa.

]]> http://mrsblattman.com/2010/08/up-up-and-away-4/feed/ 0 http://mrsblattman.com/2010/08/cousins-camp-and-the-spacey-cadets/ http://mrsblattman.com/2010/08/cousins-camp-and-the-spacey-cadets/#comments Tue, 03 Aug 2010 06:31:32 +0000 Jessica http://mrsblattman.com/?p=2893

Cousins’ Camp in Winnemucca enjoyed a space theme this year.  Although my children aren’t quite old enough to attend, they enjoyed watching all the big kids as well as getting to do some of the activities.

I really appreciate how much the cousins get along and help each other out.  Annie followed all of the older girl cousins around asking them questions, but mostly just wanting to hang out.

They were kind enough to include my kids even when they weren’t asked to.  Hudson loved that so many people were willing to play games with him.

I was lazy about taking picture over the 4th so Amy was nice enough to email me these.  Our 4th of July continued into day 2 where we did a little BBQ, kicked back and relaxed.  The kids made a tree swing and did a few crafts.  It’s nice having them old enough to sit for any sort of extended time to do an activity.

We sat around and chatted as the kids did their thing…just another sunny, San Diego day.  The shade we could find brought welcome release from the heat of the day.

Since the 4th of July is on a Sunday this year I have been struggling over appropriate activities.  This has resulted in a 3 day long celebration.  We commenced the celebrating with a Padres games.  Really, what’s more American that baseball…the 4th of July and Uncle Sam?

The kids got to go to their first baseball game.  We had some fun seats down on the field up the 1st base line so they could watch the action.  I felt a little guilty for bringing them in the beginning since they completely ignored the game and were coloring.  Once the Padres started scoring I couldn’t peel them away.  They were loving the crowd, the cheering, the music.  Of course the firework show at the end was the icing on the cake.

In our on going quest for summer entertainment, the kids and I painted, sewed and assembled a make-shift puppet theatre.  That’s right, how many uses can we get out of our dishwasher box before it goes to be with the recycling…permanently?  It already served as a playhouse for about a week and a half.  During this time it under went a washing of sorts, courtesy of the sprinklers.  I know it’s ugly…but it serves it’s purpose and I got to practice a little bit of sewing on something I get to throw away so there is no stressed involved.  I figure one needs to be in the making since Annie is using her doll house as a theatre.  I am not willing to invest in a permanent one unless the kids show interest in this one.  So here is puppet theatre…Take 1.

Yes, Will took these pictures.  Yes, those are my feet…I’m well aware they look like Vienna Sausages.

We took the kids beach camping for the first time this weekend.  We headed up to Camp Pendleton with some friends.  Roasting marshmallows and making dough boys were just the beginning of it all.  Besides, time is always better spent in the company of family and good friends.  And for the record I constructed and deconstructed the tent all by myself.  I just had to make sure I can still be organized and efficient if needs be.

The kids went crazy in the water…both ocean and shower.   The tide did come up around the fire pit at one point and gave us all a nice feet washing.  Some of the little kids got more of a foamy bath.