Cousins Camp

Earlier this week, two of our darling nephews came to hang out and spend the night with The Boy.  The Girl has been at Girls' Camp this week, so it was a great chance for the boys to get together.  They have been trying to have a cousins' camp out for weeks--and their work schedules haven't meshed, until this week.

Garett and Taylor both graduated from HS this year, with The Girl, so they are slightly older than The Boy, but they are great together!  The three of them caught up with each other after The Boy got of his shift at the pool at 8 PM.  They drove over to the Macey's for treats and beverages!  Genius Golfer and the Cousins Trio went to a local Nickel-cade to play arcade games for a couple of hours--which then love because they come home with sorts of silly "prizes".

Then they came back here and hung out and talked for a while and then broke out the computers, laptops, and any other electronic device they could and links everyone together to play a game on the network called League of Legends. They play over the internet together quite often when they can't get tog ether physically.  But this is more fun, I suspect, when they are in the same house together.  It sounds like Genius Golfer got in on it too.

I have no idea how late they were up playing, because I had to go to bed so I could work in the morning.  But they were incredibly respectful and let me go to sleep while they played in the family room, my office and the basement--I never even heard them!

When I got up for work the next morning, this is what I discovered in our family room:

 

It isn't quite wall to wall boys, but they were definitely all sprawled out across the two couches, and The Boy was all over the floor.   Garett was sleeping with his face pointed straight up and when his head was on the arm rest of the couch he almost looked dead--he was so still and quiet.  As I scuttled around to get ready to leave for work, they stirred a little but not much.  When I got home from work, and The Boy got home from the pool that night, he said they didn't all get up until almost lunch time.

I love that they love each other and enjoy doing things together!  Just wish they didn't all grow up so dang fast.  Taylor will be leaving for a mission to Mexico City next month and Garett will get a call to serve once his knee surgery is done and he is healed up.  I do love that they are good examples to each other and encourage one another to do what they have been taught--while having fun at the same time!

Another Break

We are headed off for a little vacation with the extended family on Genius Golfer's side this week.  A handful of heavenly days on the beach near San Diego and a quick stop to The Happiest Place on Earth!

Yes, we were just at Disneyland in April.  But taking one day to visit with the whole fam-damily will be fun, since the kids haven't been there since 2008.  And we all want to see CARSLAND!!!

Plus GG's sister Kathy hasn't been since they were kids and lived in Anaheim.  She is in for a real surprise...if she even recognizes the place.  And we are thrilled she is going with us.

The rest of the week will be laid back and relaxing...or so that is the plan.  I have a marvelous book form the library that I will be trying to read...Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand (see details of it here).  I am hoping to catch up on sleep and renew our family ties with my sisters- & brothers-in-law, and of course the cousins!

Wish us luck.  And I promise to get back to regularly scheduled blogging this weekend.

Let's Do The Time Warp Again

How can it be Saturday already?  What is wrong with this picture?

School ended this week, exhaustion enveloped me, slept longer than I should and still took a nap, like a bad mom I didn't make the kids go to the last hour and a half of school Thursday, had a Seminary Council Parents' meeting, YW presidency meeting and Girls' camp field trip, and neighborhood end of school BBQ, while kids both at camp outs, and Genius Golfer is...well, golfing.

I guess that is how that happened.

Still Waiting

I can't believe it is already June 28th! What happened to summer?! Who described this time of year as the "lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer"? Crazy, yes. Lazy, not on your life.

Saturday I got The Boy off to Timberline camp--scout camp with a leadership emphasis. He'll be gone a week. I had fanciful plans to get a lot of things done while he was gone. I think I may get to about a third of them.

Next week at this time, The Girl and I will be off to Girls Camp for a week and by the time we get home, immediately have another swim meet, it will be the middle of JULY!

People, what is going on here?! Where does the time go?

The week after we get home, The Boy and Genius Golfer--in his role as assistant scoutmaster--are going to Scout camp for a week. I'm still not exactly sure where they are going, but GG is going too, so I have sort of delegated that worry to him. They will get home in time to have the final week of swim practice and the county finals meets (The Gold meet is on The Girl's birthday) and then it will be August!

Yikes!!!

So much for the opportunity summer will give me to sit by the pool with my favorite book and a big cup of ice water with my feet up. I'm still waiting to pencil that day in the schedule.

Video Sunday

Ever think, "Where can I go for a summer vacation?" I know...it can't be too far anymore, can't be too expensive, can't take too much time. Here is a solution for those of us stuck in the Beehive State for the summer: Check out all the places mentioned in this video. Uh, yeah. Good luck with that.

Summer Staycation just doesn't have the same ring to it, does it?

End of the Month?!

Here it is, June 30th. How does this happen? Not literally, of course. I understand that each day is a different and subsequent date of the one before. Each month has the requisite number of days assigned and June happens to have 30.

What I mean is, where has the summer gone?! The kids got out of school on May 30th. They go back on August 18th this year. That is the earliest I can remember. But here it is the end of the the first full month of summer vacation and what have I to show for it?

This does not bode well for July which, having 2 holidays in it, plus The Girl's birthday, a Scout campout, a week of Girls' Camp and several swim team meets and activities, will slip from my grasp before I know it too. Is this what old people mean when they tell you as a punk kid that "You'd better enjoy it now, because the time goes by faster and faster as you get older"? Am I that much older?

I remember summer vacation going on forever. Of course, that was when I was a punk kid and had the whole day to myself to go about the neighborhood on my bike and play with friends, pets, fields, my imagination, until dinner and was called home to eat. Where did that time go?

I guess I had better make better plans for July or the whole month will be a loss. I think there is something to be said for unscheduled play time as a kid. I hope the same can be said for stay-at-home-moms in the summer. At this point, that is my only defense.