Snow Tubing

People often complain about the weather during the winter months but it is so much more fun to embrace it.  As the Alaskans say "There's no such thing as bad weather just bad clothing."  So as long as "ye are prepared ye shall not fear" the winter.  However getting all of those clothes on several people and making sure that everyone is properly dressed can be quite a task.  But alas everyone was geared up and prepped to face our Saturday adventure of Snow Tubing.  It was a really cold day but the sun was shinning and it felt good to spend a few hours outside enjoying the elements.  Andrew was all too excited to be dragged on his tube where ever he went and he loved the tube lift.  While on the lift he became accustom to laying on a tube, making it taxing on the person dragging the item usually me, he carefully watched his mittened hand drag in the snow making tracks all the way up the hill. We alternated going down o single tubes and the big family tubes.  We had fun watching each other get hurled down the mountain.  I really enjoyed seeing everyone having a good time.  At about the end of our three hour lift pass we were getting "done".  It wasn't until I was a few feet away from the lodge that Andrew let me know that he was really cold.  Poor little guy had ice for hands and feet.  He is a tuff guy and for that he should be rewarded (he got an airplane).  Everyone was great and I didn't hear any complaints about personal discomforts until it was time to go.  Perfect day! 

Pine Wood Derby 2015

It is that time of year again for the pine wood derby!  Not our forte.  Josh really doesn't like the whole thing and we really are not equipped with the tools to build a successful car plus it is too cold to be fiddling with this stuff in the garage.   The pack usually plans a night where they bring in saws and sander etc. but I thought there might be a problem with that and so when I was at Hobby Lobby and saw kits with the car already cut out I bought them.  It is a good thing too because Adam's car was cut wrong at the pack meeting and there were tears.  I was able to step in and tell him not to worry because I already had another car for him at home. I felt like a super mom at that moment.  We spent part of a snow day getting the cars ready and went off to the races.  On the way there I prepped the boys on how to win and how to lose so we were totally ready for anything. 

It was pretty official with registration cards and an official weights and measures officer of NJ there to officiate.  Adam and Zach raced their cars and got about middle of the results.  It was nice they won some and lost some and they were very sportsman like about the results.  It was a good experience and I'm really happy that it is over. 

Bring on the Snow

We woke up to a snowy Saturday. Finally this winter got pretty with a wash of white snow.  It was barley cold enough for it to be snow so it was s super wet which made for great snowballs, snowman, and snow fort.  We got all of those in however our snowman fell before we got  chance to take a picture of him.  Making the most of the wet snow we threw on our gear and played in the yard and since we were still relatively dry we decided to go sledding and snowboarding at the local hill.  We all got some runs in and all of us tried our skills on the snow board.  I think that Zach got the gold medal in snowboarding for the day.  He did pretty good considering the board he was riding was something that was bought at Target.  He had good balance and so did Adam.  Josh and I did it too but...let's face it we were too big for the board.  After some time Andrew was wet and I got cold so we went to the car to warm up.  I thought that the rest of the fam would be right behind us after a few more runs down the hill but I was wrong.  When I got out to do some investigation I found them at the bottom of the hill, Adam and Zach behind the cover of a snow fort and totally involved in an epic snow ball fight with Daddy.  What a cool dad!  I think Adam's winter dreams were coming true at that moment; throwing snowballs at dad with no way for dad to get me back.

School Year Wrap Up

After Memorial day weekend the school year is in "wrap up" mode and things get busy with the approach of the ever exciting Summer.  I'm not sure who enjoys Summer vacation more me or the boys.  I love the relaxed schedules and the much anticipated vacation to see family.  I feel that as the earth rotates towards the Sun resulting in the longer brighter days and life thriving all around the extra energy feeds my soul and I find myself seeking out adventure with the assistance of my kiddos. 

The school year wrap up includes; school concerts, end of year parties, preparing the yard to be a summer oasis, finishing soccer & baseball seasons, and Adam and Zachary's birthdays. 

June started off with a trip to the beach.  It was a nice warm day near the house but when we got to the shore it was a different story.  It was quite chilly, Adam and Zachary didn't mind but Andrew remained wrapped in a towel on my lap the whole time.  Adam and Zach buried each other and played in the waves despite the cold.  I felt the same as Andrew that it was a little too cold and I enjoyed the snuggles that I got from my 3yr old. Still the sun was shinning and I'm glad that we seized the day and enjoyed the first sweet fruits of summer. 

Memorial Day Weekend

Josh and I got the weekend started off right with a Friday night dinner cruise.  It wasn't quite what I expected.  I thought that it would be more site seeing and soft live music but it was rather the opposite.  We started off in Perth Amboy and went up into the Raritan bay a little ways we saw an amazing lightening storm and that was about it.  The food was nice and the music loud.  So when we weren't outside enjoying the boat and rain there was nothing left to do but go dance.  Josh asked me if I wanted to and of course I said "yes".  I had a good time dancing but my favorite was watching Josh try and mimic the naturally talented African Americans that were moving around us.  I'm sure that we looked "so stiff white" to them and it made me laugh to think of what must have been going through their minds.  My cheeks were sore from smiling.  I really enjoyed our evening together.

Saturday:

We got ourselves ready to go somewhere and finally decided to go to Seven Presidents Beach.  When Andrew hopped out of the car he was elated.  We were at the park.  He loved running round to the different slides and aperatices.  His favorite of course was the tunnels (slide) and swings.  He loved being there with his family but especially his brothers.  Once the park lost its sparkle we went to the beach.  There is something magical about sand, water, and waves.  Even though they weren't in swim ware, it was cold and eventually cloudy Adam and Zachary couldn't resist the temptation that the ocean provided.  They planted their feet in the waves and as the tide came in a couple of unpredictable waves got the two boys wet.  They didn't care until the cold air kissed their wet skin and they noticed it was uncomfortably cold.   We went back to the car and our family outing ended. 

After dinner we headed over to a friend's house to celebrate a birthday.  It was nice to visit with friends and for the kids to play with their buddies.  The time flew by and before we knew it bed time had past and it was time to leave. 

Sunday: 

As I was sitting in church I was overwhelmed with gratitude for my good looking well behaved boys.  I know how that sounds....conceited but it is true and I would be in danger of being ungrateful if I didn't recognize how wonderful they are.  As I was feeling such i snapped this pic because i wanted to remember how I felt at that time.  

 Later after church was over Adam's teacher stopped me to let me know about the weekly assignments and to tell me that Adam's participation was really good today.  She told me that during sharing time he was the only one that knew the picture of King Benjamin and told the whole story.  This made me feel so good because sometimes I wonder if anything that I'm trying to teach them is sinking in.  It turns out that something is.  Phew!
We enjoyed each other's company and had an impromptu water fight I got soaked and retreated indoors and took some sniper shots from Andrew's bedroom window.  Adam and Zach teamed up against dad and soaked him real good.  They got their just desserts served to them by their dad and everyone had a good time.  There is nothing more pure than the joy that Adam had on his face as he plastered daddy with his water shooter.  His eyes sparkled and smile spared nothing.  I wish I would have captured it with a pic.
We Bar-B-Qed and later had a family movie night.  It was fun being with my people.

Adam and Zach really liked daddy's face in this pic

Monday: Happy Memorial Day!
We went to Duke Farms for a family bike ride.  We rode around for a little bit and stopped at a gazebo/well house for lunch.  I sat with boys eating our sandwiches and we talked about trees.  I identified a few trees for them and Zach was super impressed he asked "mom, how do you know all of this?  You must be real smart."  I told him that I'm observant and that Grandad taught me a lot when I was their age.  Zach exclaimed "wow grandad must be really smart."  Oh how easily impressed he is and I love it!  He makes me feel so good with all of his complements.

Easter 2014

We got home from Aunt Kathryn's house just in time to celebrate Easter with Daddy.  The Easter Bunny brought some fun toys and candy for the boys.  It was fun to watch them explore what they got in their baskets.  We dressed for church and went to stake conference for a few hours and took some family pics out in the front yard.  The boys got a lot of attention form the neighbors because they were dressed so crazy cute! And because they are just delicious!  It was a really a beautiful day.

Spring Break

A few days before the start of our spring break I was talking to my sister Kathryn and learned that our spring breaks matched up.  I had thought of going down to visit her for a long time but lacked the energy and spunk to really entertain the thought.  However in recent weeks I started a regiment of vitamins and started to regain my clarity of mind and motivation to get up and go.  So when Kathryn got excited at the thought of me coming down and helped me come up with a plan to take on the long 13 hour drive with my three boys by myself, I was encouraged.  I thought it over with Josh and made up my mind to Do It and I did.  I know that Heavenly Father really does answers prayers and that was the case for my the day I drove down.  Adam and Zach were helpful and best of all Andrew took a super long nap.  He has very rarely done that on a drive and he slipped into sleep just when I thought very seriously about turning around.  

We arrived tired (all except Andrew) and excited to be with family for the first time since Christmas.  We had only stopped three times and one of those it was just a 15 min gas up and I was the only one to get out of the car.  The boys were troopers and now we had the whole rest of the week to play and be with cousins.
Monday 4-14-14
 Cypress Gardens
Our adventure for the day was to Cypress Gardens.  A fun park with a butterfly house, swamparium, and an cypress swamp that you can take a row boat through.  The swamp was our first stop because everyone wanted to hunt for alligators.  Kathryn and I ended up squashing our group into one small boat.  With me at the front with Andrew and her in the back with miles.  We got a little ways off from the doc and it started to rain on us.  We were about to turn around but pushed on.  What an adventure.  We spotted about 5 alligators and several turtles in the swamp.  I'm not sure which was a bigger rush: seeing the alligators or me and Kathryn paddling through an alligator infested swamp with 6 boys under the age of 8 and the little ones standing up and crying.  I pick the later.  The rest of the outing was a visits to the butterfly house and the swamparium and just trying to keep my eye on our kiddos durnning around the place.  We ate lunch and i got my first mosquito bites for the year appropriate souvenir from a swamp.  The boys all wanted souvenirs and when Chase was told that Mom wasn't going to buy him anything he was disappointed to tears.  I was on Kathryn's side of things but I had promised Adam and Zach that we would come back to the gift shop and we had all ended up in the car with our fulfilling that promise and I felt bad.  I looked back at the boys and they looked a little sad.  So I ran back and made everyone desires come true and bought everyone the desire of their hearts.  Everyone was happy about their little remembrances but Chase's face was priceless.  I'm not usually one of those parents that will buy my kids what ever they want but this was a fun occasion and I enjoyed surprising everyone.

After we got all the kids to sleep we went to walmart made a plan for the week and got all the supplies for a fun Easter themed week.

Tuesday 4-15-14
Children's Museum in Charleston
We took the crew into town to the Children's Museum.  It was a super cute and fun museum.  Apparently everyone else in the surrounding area thought it was a good day to spend at the museum too because it was super busy.  We started out the ball room which I think was Adam's favorite room because he spent the most time there.  We went to the water room and that was by far Andrew's favorite place.  This room had a miniature of the bay with the bridge and tunnel and lot of boats and cars to play with.  I think Andrew could have spent the remainder of the day there.  He collected three cars that he made into a train and got very possessive with them and it was fun for me to watch him protect his territory from other grabby kids.  Zach and Ben and Chase went to the pirate room with this enormous ship.  They had a good time playing with one another.  We eventually came to a castle room with tunnels and balcony.  Adam at some time spotted someone with a sword and shield and he got in his mind that he wanted to go to the art room to make one.  So I set Zach and Andrew up at the paint easels so that I could help Adam with what he had in mind.  This sparked a huge trend and before I knew it every boy and girl wanted to make a sword and shield including Ben and Chase and Zachary.  Kathryn and I were frantically trying to hoard supplies to makes these thing while keeping our eyes on our lil'ones.  It was the climax to a very kid saturated morning and we were happy to call it a day after the art room.
When we got back tot eh house and kids were down for naps and we were chill'in Zach and Chase decided that they needed a change up to the relaxing atmosphere and they got their suits on, turned on the sprinkler under the trampoline and jumped in the cold rain.  Zach and Chase was out there putting on a show for a while.  Andrew thought that what they were doing looked like fun so I suited him up and when he got out there and felt the chill to the skin he decided that he didn't really want anything to do with this.  Never a dull moment.


Wednesday 4-16-14
Pilate's Class, Chick-Fil-A, Water Front Park

I got to attend Kathryn's Pilate's class (which was awesome) while with kiddos hung out in a lil kid's room.  We stopped the party wagon at the Chick-Fil-A drive through on our way to Water Front Park.  There we had a picnic on the pier and played at the park.  It was beautiful!  I try my best not to be too jealous of where Kathryn's lives every time we come to visit but going to all of these fun cool places has made it hard not to fall in love with this place and want to join myself and family with it's residence.  I'm glad that Kathryn lives here so that I have a great excuse to visit often.

We died hard boiled eggs in the afternoon.  While Miles snoozed we got out the die and let the kids die some eggs.  It was a fun traditional activity to do together.

It was the first night that they all went to bed together at the same time since the nights before the older boys stayed up watching "Harry Potter" while Andrew and Miles were laid down first.  After a good duration of squeals and total mayhem in the boys room they were tucked back into bed and warned that if they gave us a hard time that I would have the energy to fill the Easter eggs for the hunt the next day so they had better stay in bed or else no hunt.  While we were visiting and finishing cleaning up etc. we heard noises come from the bed room and Ben say "No Chase! if you come here right now I'll be your best friend and give you a dollar."  It worked.  We didn't hear any noises from the room after that.  I wonder if Chase ever saw that dollar.

Thursday 4-17-14
Park - Strawberry Picking

Boyd had a procedure in the morning and needed a ride home from the hospital.  So we had a quiet morning and Kathryn made the best buttermilk whole wheat pancakes.  We all piled in the car and dropped off Kathryn at the hospital and came back to the house.  We went straight to the park and they boys played in the fort that they made in the woods.  As I was pushing Andrew in the swing Adam came to announce to me that they had made a new room in the fort and before I could inquire about this new room he says "it's a bathroom!  Zach made it.  It has a tree in it and he peed on it.  It is the pee tree."  Great! I thought.  I praised them for their resourcefulness.  Later we went looking for turtles across the road at the turtle pond and there were several that we could see sunning on the bank and several more in the water.  Andrew got pleasure in spotting these creatures poke their lil'heads out of the water.

Later on while Miles was taking a nap and Boyd was snoozing we took the rest of the crew over to Boon hall Plantation to pick strawberries.  I've been berry picking before where it had been really picked over and you might find a few good ones here and there but this was not the case.  There were red tantalizing morsels everywhere.  You could hardly walk a foot with out finding the "perfect berry".  The boys had no problem filling their baskets with beautiful ripe berries.  It was like a treasure hunt and the boys had a really good time.  We stopped by the plantation store and got some southern delicacies like boiled peanuts, pecan oil, and pickled okra.  YUM!

We had promised the boys an egg hunt the night before and they had been salivating for it ever since.  So we hid about a hundred or more eggs for our boys and turned then lose on the back yard.  We left one egg empty to symbolize the empty tomb of Christ and we told them about it before so that they wouldn't be disappointed but feel good hat they found that special egg however I don't think that thought it was winning because they shook their eggs before putting them in their bags.  Zach was the one that found the empty tomb and was super cute about it.  I hope that they learn about the real meaning of Easter.

Friday 4-18-14
Beach Fort Moultry

On our last day we decided to go to the beach cause after all you can't go to South Carolina and not go to a beach.  We decided to go some where that had more than a beach so we picked Fort Moultry.  We got there to witness a lot of pelican diving into the water and feeding.  I got super excited about the dolphin that I saw popping out of the water.  They boys were most interested in throwing rocks, shells, and what ever else into the water.  Zach, Ben, and Adam found several rocks that were very precious to them and just had to keep if they were too big then they had me take pictures of them.  It reminded me of when Kathryn and I found these muscle shells at the lake and we just thought they were the most precious things and we added them to our collection that we kept in our special "hello kitty" box.
We walked our crew over to the fort where it was like Ben had been kept on a leash and was released.  His agenda was to see everything and quick.  He wanted to leave no tunnel unexplored, no cannon untouched.  It was cute seeing him run around.  Andrew LOVED going through the tunnels.  He spends is time at home building tunnels so his cars and trains can go through them.  So he was especially excited to have this experience.  Really this place is a boys heaven, dirt, hills, tunnels, and very big guns.  We took lot of pictures and simply had a good time just being with one another.

The best part of coming down to visit with the Harris crew is simply that we have a good time with each other.  We are family and we understand one another and things and feelings are just easy.  Our boys spend every waking moment with each other and there wasn't a single falling out or quarrel.  I'm so glad that things fell in place for me to be able to make the tip and be with family.