106.8 degree day

We are experiencing record heat here in our neck of the woods. And the McDougalls have no A/C. So they came over and took advantage of the hose bib on the front of my house that we recently had fixed. Having little girls is something else. You will notice them referring to the mist setting on the nozzle as perfume. *sigh*

First Camping Trip with Kids

Play Video

We have been beaten. Ian and I both took a half day of vacation for a camping trip whose preparation time to trip time ratio was way too big. Upon arrival Molly started to get sick resulting in several puking episodes and the mosquitoes at this place were overwhelming. We were so excited about the views that we experienced on our way to the campsite that we were shocked by the kamikazi-like attack we experienced when we stepped out of our cars. Imagine 5 grown adults going into a frenzy trying to get their hands on any bug spray they could find. Of course we tried to get the kids covered first. But in the end there was quite the fall out. Alli, we now know, welts up in a horrifying manner when bit by these skeeters. She got one by her eye that made her look like she got decked in the face.

On the bright side, I have new camping gear. The kids slept great, and Rachel specifically enjoyed camping. On the down side we got to the campsite at 6PM on Friday and left by 5:30 PM on Saturday. A whole day earlier than we planned (and paid for)

Winners:
Mosquitos who got way more food in their first 2 hours than most get in a lifetime.
Kim and Kurt who decided not to go purely based on the length of the drive
Pat who left after work and did not take any vacation time.
Nicole who continues to declare " I LOVE CAMPING!"
Bruce - I had 4 goals, hike around the lake, a campfire, a nap and canoeing. I did not get to canoe since we left early. 3 out of 4 ain't bad.

Losers: Molly whose whole trip was pretty much miserable. She even paid for a fishing license which did not get used, not to mention she was the one who anticipated this trip the most and tried the hardest to keep it going.
Alli: Welts
The kids who lost out on time on the water and a second night of s'mores.
Bruce and Ian who spent a half day vacation which equaled 1/6 of the entire time at the campsite.

In the end, there were some good pictures, and some quality time spent with friends which can at least be called an "adventure".

Might I add that I think the fact that I have to go to great lengths to get these music backed videos to your eyes is super annoying. I tried to put this on youtube and it stripped the sound track. LAME!!

So Big

Someone likes the limelight!

Here's moms garden Grandma

Since you do not get to see this in person, Grandma, I thought I would show it to you.

Sarah Learns to Crawl

All we could hear from the kitchen while we were working on dinner was, "You can do it! You can do it!:"

Also go to our "Link List" on the right hand side of the page and check out our YouTube Videos. I have posted some new ones there as well.