Camping of Sorts

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.

Let’s Go Fly a Kite

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.

Urban Cowgirl

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.

Up, Up and Away

Since camp was space-themed this year, the kids made several rockets throughout the week.  Papa launched a huge rocket.  This is why the kids all love having a physics/chemistry/biology teacher as a grandpa.

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

Cousins’ Camp and the Spacey Cadets

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.