Merry Christmas to All !!! From the McKinnons!

Merry Christmas everyone! We hope your holidays are merry and bright!!! This is our holiday message from our family to all of you . . .

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1313779629

Turn up the volume on your computer and go to the link/website above! If is doesn't work, just copy and paste it into your address bar. It may take a minute or so to load, but be patient, it is worth it! We hope it brings some smiles, or laughs into your holiday season!

Pass the Cheer!

The picture of this cup makes it kind of hard to read - so this is what it says:

"Pass the Cheer . . . A good way to pass the cheer when you are on the road is to pay the toll for the car behind you. Do this and you might start to look at stop lights as holiday lights instead. Red means stop and be thankful for a moment. Green means go out and do nice things."

Aaaaaahhh! Starbucks. The home of delicious hot holiday beverages. I hope we can all take some time to "Pass the Cheer" this holiday season, and even all year long. Here is my story about how the cheer was first pass to me. . .

When I was in Indiana a couple weekends ago, my friend and I stopped at their local Starbucks drive thru. My friend Tamara was in front of me in her car. I ordered and pulled up to the window. The woman at the window said "The person in front of you paid for part of your order, so you now owe $1.56." I thought, oh that was nice of Tamara, but then the woman continued. She said, "We have something we do called Pass the Cheer. You are welcome to pay the $1.56, or pay a little more and pass the cheer for the next person behind you." I thought, "This is pretty cool." So I handed the woman $4 and told her to put whatever is left toward the order behind me.

I wonder how long the cheer was passed that day. (Hopefully there wasn't a scrooge who stopped the cheer - that's got to be some bad carma ;o) The cup above was the one I got that day at Starbucks, so I thought I would share the thought and experience. I hope we all have the chance to "Pass the Cheer" sometime.

I love you all!!! Pass the Cheer and Have a wonderful holiday season!

Visiting friends is always fun . . .

I got to visit my fun friend

and her family in Indiana this weekend. Tamara and Jimmy lived here in Utah for about 1 year, from July 2006 to June 2007, and we became fast friends with them. (They now live in Indiana)Hana and their daughter Kyla were best friends instantly. Kyla was born 9 days before Hana, so they loved having their b-days so close together. James is about 10 or 11 months younger than Conrad. As you can see from the picture above they loved playing together (when James was feeling good - he was sick when we were there) Of course we planned the trip to come over Kyla's 5th birthday (picture of Hana and Kyla, above, is at her party).






Now these pictures above and to the left side are of the fabulous experience it was, and continually is, traveling with just me and my two kiddles. As you can see my loony son must be restrained in unique ways, or he would be lost by now in some other state. Hana, as I have said before in other blogs, is a seasoned, and very well behaved traveler. Of course she has her moments, when she is bored or tired, but don't we all.

Anyway, it was a good trip. I am now getting ready to have Hana's birthday party (she turns 5 this Sunday, Dec. 16th). Wow, December is way too busy. I need to take a few of the extra things off my plate next year. :)

My teacher, Hana! I sure love ya . . .

This picture is Hana's first day back to preschool in Oct. this year.

I am finally blogging after a 2 month break - not on purpose.

I wanted to blog today about my sweet daughter, Hana. I am amazed at how quickly she is growing up. I find my self wanting to stop it somehow. She now is tall enough to reach things on top of our microwave, which is on out counter. I know that does not sound so great, but it is just a conformation that she is growing fast. Just yesterday she could bearly reach the light switch - ya know?

Scott and I also decided that we know how to do this parent thing with 2 year olds, because we've done it before. However, Hana is turning 5 in less than two weeks and we don't know how to raise a 5 year old. AH! Sometimes we feel like we are in over our head. :)

I have also recently taken on another parttime job, working at the YWCA, with kids and teens. I leave for work right after Scott gets home in the afternoon. I am still really enjoying it, but it has been a big change for our family.

Hana has said to me a couple times that she wishes everything was back the way it was before. She first explained that a couple of her preschool teachers are different, and she wished that they were the same again. Then she wanted her bedroom back the way it used to be (when we had the bunk bed set up and Conrad's crib up ) - we now have the bunk bed separated and the kids sleep in each of the beds. Then the final heart breaker for me was when she said "And I just want our family back the way it was, too. Mom, it sure is hard having so many changes." Well, there goes a little piece of her childhood, toddling out the door. Oh Man! What do you do? Yes, I have to agree with Hana, it is very hard watching changes happen - especially with my kids.

Don't get me wrong, I am very excited for my kids to continue experiencing life. What a great adventure! But ya know - I also hope I can be there for them the way that is need for them to have the fullest life possible. I guess it is a daily "giving up." This is where I put my hands in the air and say "I give it all to you, Father. Show me the way and Thy will be done! I give it up! It is Yours - knowing I will be shown my role in this beautiful life!"

I have also realized how individual my sweet children are. I mean in the sense that they are separate from me and each other. They are not mine. They only belong to themselves and the God or Goddess that they are. They are their own people living their own life experience. It is hard to explain from my true perspective, and everyone will have their own interpretations of what I am explaining. All I can say is that I am so glad I am their "mom" right now. I "know" these people or Spirits who have joined in on this particular life adventure. We are friends and they have gifts they have brought with them. It sure is a beautiful thing remembering that.

Airplane travel as a way of life . . .

Above: Hana is ready to fly! Hana is definitely a seasoned flyer. It is hilarious as she walks down the halls of the airports wheeling her little bag behind her. She walks like a little woman with a purpose. Scott says she looks like a little business woman.

Hana has been flying since she was about 1 month old. I remember the first time we flew to St George with her. She was tiny and we surprised my parents and fam with a little trip to St. G. I had called Brad, or maybe it was Becky, to come pick us up at the airport in St. G. We walked into my family's house. My dad was sitting on the couch - just in view of the front door - and he saw us walk in. His face lit up and he haulered to my mom in the kitchen, "We got a baby here!" Everyone was so surprised and excited. Good memory!


Above: Scott and Hana, as we get off of the small 30 passenger EMB 120 prop airplane we fly on to St. G. - Look at her :), all about business. :) It was a little rainy and cold that day we arrived back into SLC from sunny St. G. We didn't have jackets, and were wearing tanks and shorts.

Below: We put on our jackets as soon as we got our bags. Burrr. Here are the kids riding on the bus back to our truck, to go home. Conrad is getting pretty good at knowing what to do in an airport as well. Their favorite is putting their own belongings in the bin to be scanned when going through the security check point. Especially Conrad. He thinks he is so big. He has to take off his own shoes and put them in the bin by himself. :) Funny kid. They also love it if they have the puffers on the metal detectors. Funny. I just love 'em.

For those of you who don't know - Scott has worked with SkyWest Airlines since before we got married. He has been a Ramp Supervisor for the last 5 years, or so. It is pretty much a way of life now, for us to travel by airplane. It is very convenient for me that SkyWest is based out of St. G. so there are several flights a day that go there. Scott sees my uncle Harv every once in a while as he flies through. He also works with Jodee Hazon (spelling?). She is an aunt on the other side of the fam of some of my fun Glauser cousins, Steve's family (Tam's sister). Jodee keeps us informed sometimes with some of the Glauser happenings and updates, since we are so out of it most of the time. Funny. Oh well, we'll get on the ball soon.

Anyway, it is an awesome benefit to fly for free. Although, we have traveled quite a bit lately and are taking a little break - for a couple weeks anyway. ;) I am excited to fly once again to St. G. in a couple weeks to stay with my family for the weekend. Oct 20th. All the boys are going on a hunting trip, so all us girls and the kids get to hang out. Everyone is welcome to join us. It will be fun!!! It is beautiful weather in St. G. in October! Anyway, we will be there. ;)

ALOHA Maui!!! A little dream come true!!! Sept. 17th - 20th

Wow! MAUI!!! What a cool place!! This is a huge lava field in Makena, near Kihei, Maui -where we stayed!

This is Hana and I at the Makena lava beach. The little drive there was a skinny road surrounded on both sides with an enormous lava field - amazing - with the old volcano in the back ground (the above top picture).

Well - we finally did it!!! We went to Maui!!! What a beautiful, fun, relaxing, little dream of a vacation!! About a 1 1/2 weeks before we left, Scott found a condo, thru his buddy's timeshare. Scott had time off anyway for this week and we were trying to find somewhere to fly. So what better place than Maui!! We were so excited when it all worked out!!!

Conrad and I over looking the pier, with all the whaling and some tourist boats! Near the Maui Ocean Center. Cute kid!

We arrived on Monday night. Then stayed until Thursday night. On Thursday we went to the Maui Ocean Center! The most amazing, extremely large aquarium we have ever seen. It was a very fun place for the kids. We learned a lot about all the animals in the ocean. In their huge Open Ocean section of the aquarium we saw five different types of sharks, two kinds of sting rays, and tons of huge and colorful fish, all swimming together. The kids loved it - Scott and I loved it! Then there was a tunnel where all those sea animals would swim over us! It was amazing!

We took the great advice of my uncle Brian Neff and went to the Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant, in Lahaina, on Wednesday night. It was a very cool place. Good burgers! Great atmosphere! We all loved the great live music. We also sat upstairs next to the balcony as you can see and it was additional, perfect entertainment for the kids to look over and see all the people, cars, and bikes. As Brian said - Lahaina definitely is like the Park City of Maui. We did a little souvenir shopping. It had a great time! But the restaurant was the highlight that night!

Chaka! Scott and Hana hangin out, playin around in the ocean. On Tuesday we went to the beach right across the street from our condo. It was a great one for the kids. The waves were not too big and they loved the water and the sand. Fun fun day - light sunburns, but not too bad. It was pretty funny - there was a smaller wave that took Hana out. She tumbled as we watched with surprise, as all we saw was her little bum and legs do a summersault in the wave. She popped up and just stared at us - no tears :). All we could do was laugh and give her high fives for how awesome she handled the wave. She laughed and thought it was pretty funny. She was pretty proud of herself too. Feeewww! (wipe the brow) She handled it a lot better than we thought! (Although this was not the last time this happened -read further)

The kids with the "tootas" - sea turtles - at the Maui Ocean Center - they were so cool to see. The kids loved them.

We had a fabulous time! We realized that activities with the kids were limited, also because it was such a short trip - so we spent most of our time different beaches.

The story of Big Beach . . . This was a cool beach - maybe for older kids :) ! Tuesday afternoon we went to Big Beach - and upon arriving, we realized why it was called Big Beach! It was a pretty big beach, but also the waves, as they curled, were about 10 feet high and every once in a while there was one about 15 or so feet high. Wow! It was a little scary for the kids - so Scott and I did a little body surfing on and off while the kids played on the beach. Conrad came in with me for a few minutes - it took some persuasion to get Hana to come out with us. Finally she came in with Scott - holding on very tight. We were enjoying the large waves - out just past the point where they were breaking. Suddenly Scott looked at me and pointed out to the ocean and said "Um, Amy!" I looked out and saw a huge wave suddenly upon us with no way of avoiding it. I said "Wo! Okay, hold on!" I embraced Conrad with his head a little above my head (mean while Scott was just a couple feet more toward the shore- and he said all he was thinking was "Please don't break on us!") So the wave came and I did my best to keep our head above water. We made it - it splashed our faces quite a bit. But it did curl right on Hana and Scott. I turned and they were gone. A half second later Scott pops up without Hana. He looked at me and scrambled for only a few seconds to find her as the wave went back out. Suddenly Hana stands up on the sand, popping her head out of the water. With a very disoriented, surprised look on her face. I instantly grabbed her and was holding her and Conrad. Scott came up quick and grabbed her from me. By that time the waves had pushed us more onto the shore. Hana's hair was tossled - again no tears. We just went for the positive approach again. "Wo! Hana that was awesome! You did great! You just popped right up! You okay? (double checking) You did exactly what you were supposed to! Good job!" She again was shocked, but proud of herself. For the rest of the trip she talked about how awesome her tumble in the ocean was, and also added that she never wanted to do that again. :) We then continued to just look for seashells on the shore at that beach. ;)

We also rented snorkle gear and went to a very cool beach with great reefs right off the shore. Scott and I took turns all day, snorkeling. We also rented a boogie board with a window in it and took Conrad out on it. He was able to see a couple fish too. Unfortunately, do to the experience that day before, Hana did not join us in the ocean for the rest of the trip. But that is okay. We all had a great time though.

After an incredible vacation and great memories, it was time to go - took the red eye flight- last night (Thurs night). The kids slept the entire flight home! It was great! Yet Scott and I didn't sleep too well! So we are tired and now going to bed - so that is our great Maui vacation in a nut shell!! Love you all!

Football Season! What is the deal?

Okay so football season - Ute football season - has begun!!! As you can tell we are big fans in our house!!! Yet I am asking myself that same question again!!! What is the deal with men - or my husband - and football? And I am honestly curious! Okay, so besides the obvious male aggressiveness displayed amongst the fans of the game - as well as being a part of something big . . . a fan club? Well in any case, it is an "Event" that lasts for 5 months +.


Scott was extremely siked for Conrad's 2 year olds birthday (Sept. 14th) - yesterday! We decided to have a Utah theme. Scott said - "I love planning a kid's birthday when they're not old enough to care what the theme is!" It was fun. I made a Ute symbol cake and decorated the house with black and red steamers and white and red balloons. Conrad's favorite part was the "boons" - balloons. We were excited to have Scott's family join us for some "pidat" - pizza - and cake and ice cream.

It was really fun making the cake! I love decorating cakes - it is a little secret passion of mine, that I have been able to slowly develop - thanks to the early instruction from my mama, when I was a teenager. Someday I will take a course and decorate cakes as a side gig for weddings, birthdays, and such. (Just a little dream of mine).

Here is Conrad trying to blow out the cake! What a funny kid! He would do a small blow, without blowing the candle out, and then stand back with his arms folded with a face of confidence! Hilarious!

Soooo, back to the football season . . . I have decided that I must accept the fact that I lose a large part of my husband September through January, every year. What is the deal? I love my wonderful husband with all my heart - well it goes way beyond even that - and I do know that College Football, well I should say UofU Football has been a part of him since he was a kid. Yet, it still baffles me every year, the intense conversations that occur between Scott and other football lovers. Most of the conversations I see usually happen between Scott and his dad, or friendly banter with Uncle Jordan ;) a BYU lover. Sometimes I think Scott hates the Cougars more that he loves the Utes - or maybe its the BYU fans he dislikes. Yet, my hubby has a lot of emotion and passion for the Utes game and in the past has been viewed as possibly on the verge of, dare I say, unhealthy? He is getting better - a little less attached, you could say. It's actually sort of funny - all the hoop-la! Hee hee!

Yes, and now the kids are being brought up in this tradition :) - with mom's semi-failed attempts to delude the intensity of it. Scott has now taught our kids to "love the Utes and hate the Cougars." Aunt Marie did point out to me that "hate" is a very strong word for a 4 1/2 year old to use - which I completely agree, and have yet to discuss this with my wonderful hubby. Aside from that thought, the recent cheers and chants heard in my house lately (mostly on game day) go something like this:


Scott: "Who do we love!!?"


Hana: "The Utes!"


Scott: "Yeah! And who do we hate!!?"


Hana: "The Cougars!"


Scott: "Yeah!!!"


Followed by high-fives and more chants of "Go Utes! Go Utes!"

It is pretty funny to see dainty Hana get into it so much!


And can you just guess how much Scott loves that? He also loves it now that Conrad is saying "Oots!" (Utes). He points to the new Utes poster Scott put up and says "Oots!" Cutie!
Fun Fun!!! Football season - game days- the spirit of it all! It is pretty fun! Yet - I am sure, reading this, you can sense the conflict I have about it! It is really fun, the first couple months, and then there is a point in the season that it starts to get a little long! ;)


So I still ask - laughing and shaking my head with question - What is the deal?

HTC! Me Hulk! Me Running! Me had FUN!

Wooo! Hooo! Hood to Coast Relay! What a fun and intense race! It was quite an experience! The best part was bonding as a team! Look at these cool pics! We had a crazy blast together! That group pic is our whole team! Wooo - I love them! We were the Incredible Holt's (my mom's maiden name, it was most all my mom's side of the family on the the team). The Hulk was our mascot.

The 197 mile race started at Mount Hood (OR). Van 1 started us off at 8:00 am Friday, Aug. 24th. We had two vans - I was in Van 2 - we split the team in half as we all ran different sections of the race. We each ran three different times. I ran section #9, which was the longest distance out of all the sections. My first Leg was 6.8 miles, which I started at about 3:30 pm. It was on a paved trail the whole time which was nice. My second Leg was 5.0 miles, which I started at about 2:30 am. This was easy, yet annoying. The whole run was on a decline, so it made it very easy, but the entire run was on a gravel road and all the vans from the other teams were passing us runners, which made it very dusty. I had a paper painters mask, which helped, but also felt restricting. But it was the Leg that I ran the very fastest - 8.55 min mile. COOL! The third and final Leg for me, was 7.8 miles. I was pretty nervous leading up to it, because after running 11.8 miles and having my longest Leg last, I was not sure how my body would do. But, it turned out great! I kept a steady pace and ran the whole Leg, along the beautiful country of Oregon. I ran it in 8 minutes less than I anticipated. My leg muscles were pretty tight after, but not too much limping.

Then we all waited at the finish line while Marie - my aunt, and our awesome team cpt., ran the last Leg to finish our relay! We finished at about 5:30 pm Saturday. Then we all joined her for a run across the finish line! It was so damn fun! I hope I get to do it again some day soon. The race ended at Seaside Beach, where booths were set up and lots of free stuff. It was great to be with all the team at the end! Truly - such an emotional bonding experience!

I loved seeing our other team mates from Van 1 and hugging them and cheering eachother on, at the Van exchanges. My greatest experience was on my runs, knowing that my team in my van would be waiting for me with water or what ever I needed along the run! I loved seeing them as I approached different points of the run. Each of the other people had their spouse their running on the team, and their to take care of them. Yet it was so touching for me to have almost everyone in my van each time, there waiting to cheer me on, and get water or gatorade or a towel to me. I want to thank each one of them for showing their love in such a perfect way. It was tough not having Scott there (not that he didn't want to be), but my team was there and it was perfect!

SO GREAT! I am so glad we did it! I love my team!

Lasting memories of camp! SO FUN!

This is a picture of Jeff crossing the monkey bridge he helped make up at Camp!
Jeff had a lot of fun at one of our staff party's the week he stayed with us at Camp!
This is our beautiful lake! We loved taking a row boat out together and fishing! (w/o Zephyr :) )
We loved our cabin! It was built in 1930, very rustic, little one room, with a tiny loft! No plumbing or water to it and no electricity. Its like sleeping in a big wooden tent. The way it looks on the outside, with the big logs, is exactly how it looks on the inside with a wood, deck-like, floor. It's very cool. We laid pieces of carpet down to make it more comfy.

AAHHHH!

Can my life get more insane? We are finally back from camp. . . But now I am off to see my family in St. George before Cami leaves for school and then off the run the Hood to Coast relay this next weekend. AHHH! Well, I will post more pics later. Love you all.

One more week! We've had a blast!

We have one more week to play at Camp Steiner! It has been quite an incredible, crazy summer! Scott and I have mixed feelings about it. It was very hard and busy a lot of the time. However, we absolutely loved being in the amazing beauty of those mountains. It has been so fun staying in our little one room, authentically-rustic cabin. Hana, Conrad, and Zephyr have their beds set up on the main floor and Scott and I have a little bed up in the small loft. Scott has only intensified his passion for fly fishing, as he has been able to go out in a row boat and fish 2-3 times a week. The kids and I love going out the in the boat with him every once in a while. When ever Scott catches a fish he lets the kids touch it, then he releases it. Then each time, Conrad spins around to me and says, "Mo! Mommy! Mo" as he also does the sign for "more" with his hands over and over again. He loves the fishy's. Hana has been Miss Independent. This is her 3rd summer up there and she knows her way around like it is our second home - which I guess it is. She lets me know where she will be and reminds me matter of fact "I have to follow the buddy system to be safe, Mom."

I decided to participate in the Polar Bear plunge this week. The Polar Bear plunge takes place at 7 am every morning. You have to jump into the freezing cold lake, and holding the scout sign, repeat one of the scouting promises, such as the Oath, Law, Motto, or Slogan. It is different each day. Then the Aquatics Director throws tennis balls out for us to swim out and retreive (yes, like a dog). Speaking of dog, Zephyr likes to do the plunge with me as well. Its fun. So each morning this week I did it and when I return next week I get a cool Steiner mug as the prize for doing it each day. Silly, but a fun memory.

Jeff, my bro, is here playing with the kids. He is spinning both kids around on our broken computer chair. Hana is saying "Hey mom look at us!" and Conrad is repeating "Us! Us! Us!" Man, they are such cuties!
Jeff joined us at camp this week. This was his first experience at a scout camp. It was really his first experience with the Boy Scout program. He absolutely loved it. He completed 6 merit badges and he will complete his 7th as soon as he completes his other wood carving project. He got to learn cool lashings and knots, shoot a bow and arrow, shoot rifles and clean them, and map and compass stuff. He also got to do lots of fishing. Also, a little black bear decided to hang out around our camp all week. Jeff saw it climbing on the boulders by the lake while he was fishing on Thursday. Scott was so jealous. Scott wanted to see the bear so bad, but seemed to always miss it by just a couple minutes. Anyway, it was a blast having Jeff up there with us. It was cool to see him accomplish and learn so many cool things. We are going to see if we can find a really good, exemplary(spelling?) troop in St. G to get him hooked up with.

So that is a quick up date. I will include some pictures as soon as I can.

Dislocated Parts to Honorary Members . . .

This last week at camp was so crazy!- in a good way! It started out feeling like it was going to be a rough week. However, it ended up being surprisingly, very cool!!!

Monday is the day when all the scout troops arrive - although, this week a large troop of 32 boys and about 20 leaders arrived with their Semi-truck on Saturday (troop 411 - I will mention them later, so this is why I give these details). This was also the weekend that Marie and Jordan, Matt and Lucy came and stayed with us in our little cabin. It was so fun having them there. We started out with a yummy lunch and then decided to take a couple row boats out on the lake. We played some cards into the early evening and then decided to go for a little hike and have a late dinner, since we pigged out on treats and snacks (As it should be when you are camping). So, on the way to our cabin to get ready, Scott and I took Conrad's hands and did the 1,2,3 swing and right away he began to cry. But it was one of those cries that says, "Ouch, that hurt and I don't know how to respond to that." So I picked him up and he usually cuddles and stops crying, but he kept a painful wimper going. Well, as Mom, I could of course tell right away that this pain he felt was not going to go away in a few minutes. We took him into the cabin and he did not want me to put him down. He held his right arm close to his body. I tried moving it around a little to check if it was broken. He didn't scream in pain, it was more of an uncomfortable-pain. We figured something was dislocated. He also could not even grip his binky with that hand, but he could with his other hand. So, we decided I needed to take him to SLC that night and get it checked out. I left right away, bummed to leave the fam and the LeBaron's, but of course I needed to help my poor little son. About 30 minutes away from camp, when I finally got cell phone service, I called Insta Care and told them Conrad may have a dislocated shoulder or elbow. The lady told me, "Oh you have to take him to Primary Children's ER for that." I said "What! Why! Can I please talk to a doctor or nurse!" I was very frustrated that he may have to go to ER, only because I could tell is wasn't that bad. But, after talking to the nurse, she said to come in and check it out. I guess if it was the shoulder, because if his age, they'd have to knock him out to set it in, but if it is an elbow, it is easy to set back in.

So, to cut to the ending, it was a dislocated elbow, and about 3 minutes after the very sweet doctor set it in, Conrad was using his arm as usual and pretty much forgot about what had happened.

(Needless to say, it was a not-so-fun drive down to SLC (1 hr, 30 min). Conrad fell asleep for 1/2 of it, but when he woke up it was a rude awakening for him to be reminded of his arm. Anyway, it all worked out and he is fine. We stayed at our house in SLC that night and got up early the next morning and drove back to camp.)

We had a very FUN day playing in the lake with the Lebaron's, when we got back. Jordan funkified his knee climbing back onto the dock from the lake, which I hope is better now. We played on the water trampoline, and I have to say that Marie wimped out on doing a trick off the trampoline, but it was pretty cold water. ;) Anyway, we are sooo glad they came and would love it if anyone else wants to come hang out with us up there.

Oh also, while I was in SLC with Conrad, I got a msg that my cousin Corey was in town. I called him the next morning on the way back, we chatted for a bit, and later that day he showed up at our camp and hung out with us, after the LeBaron's left. It was so fun to see him for a few hours.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

So to get back to our week with the scouts there. . . On Monday while all the scout troops were checking in, two troops showed up that were suppose to be there last week. This started out my craziness, because it is my job to deal with stuff like this. Basically after lots of confusion we got it all worked out and they turned out to be pretty cool troops.

But the really fun part for me and Scott was hanging out with that huge troop I mentioned earlier, troop 411. I was there camp commissioner, so to basically make sure they were taken care of (I was also working with a few other troops too). I visited them a few times a day to share in their fun and to make sure they had all they needed. Scott and the kids joined me a few times as well. Scott also instructed several of the boys in 411 to get the climbing merit badge. It was fun because they were an incredible example of how a scout troop should really be ran. If you are familiar with the scouting program you will know what I am talking about as I explain their troop. They had about 5 or 6 scout patrols, and 3 leader patrols. Each morning they had their own flag ceremony and patrol report, yell and cheer time. They call it Gilwell, named after the field where the scouts had flag ceremony at the very first scout camp on Brownsea Island, in England. Anyway, they were a great and fun example for all scouts.

On Thursday night they invited us to dinner and asked us to join them in their closing flag ceremony for the evening. During the ceremony they asked our little family to come to the front and gave us troop gifts and invited us to be honorary members of their troop. They explained that they would usually do it Saturday morning, but since we were leaving early, they did the ceremony with us that night. They also explained that each summer camp they attend the boys in the troop choose a couple staff members who exemplify true scouting values and share the same excitement for scouting as their troop. The Scout Master said that by unanimous vote, they chose Scott and I as those people, to be Honorary members. We were truly honored and so surprised. It was a very cool, fun experience.

That is our week - yes a long read, but worth it - thanks for reading.

Splash Splash!

We gave up trying to keep the kids out of the puddles after a huge rain/hail storm. They got soaked, and had a blast! Although Conrad was quite shocked when he face-planted it as he ran through a huge puddle!! This was also hilarious!

Fun on the Lake

These pictures are hilarious!!! Conrad was mad because I wouldn't let him lean over and side to touch the water - later I did when I held onto him, but I just had to post these pictures of him crying. It also made him more mad when I started taking pictures of him crying. Yes, we are entertained by are son's drama! :) After a few minutes were all having fun! I was just fun rowing around the lake.

Jealous? Hee Hee! Instead of TV we get to view our beautiful sunsets each night. They are especially beautiful after a good rain storm. Isn't Conrad a cutie?! I also have to admit that he is also a little hellian up there. Man, its tough chasing that kid around. He's a fast one, that little stinker!! If I wasn't watching, he would run straight into the lake. He did fall in once - off the dock - into a very shallow part, so he didn't get all the way in, but he was soaked. He was quite shocked. :)

Finally a little Update

Finally a little update. We have been having a great time at BSA camp. The kids love it. These pictures were taken at the table in Scott's High Adventure teaching area. The kids are sitting in left-over boxes from the Trading Post (the store) - pretending to sit in thrones - Hana said that she was the Queen and Conrad was the King. We are with some fellow camp staff members in the other picture.

Also, Scott's mom and dad came to visit us on July 4th. It was fun having them there and showing them around!!!

I finally did it . . .

So my fab sister, Becky, who know's what is "all the rage, in Europe!" ;) was urging me to set up a blog about my simply wonderful little family!! So I did!! Here it is - I hope you enjoy!!!

Our World - Up and Coming

We are going to SCOUT CAMP again this summer!!! We decided this will be our last hoo-rah for a long time. The above pictures are from last summer and we are very excited to have another summer of this adventure. Scott will be the High Adventure Director again, which means he is incharge of climbing, rapelling, hiking, and fishing programs for the scouts that attend camp. I will be working as the Head Commissioner, which is having fun with the scouts, working with the Junior staff we have and making sure the scouts are getting all they can out of camp. The kids will be my assistants :). In between all that, we will enjoy the beautiful wilderness while we hike, fish, climb, canoe and play!!!