Vacation 2014

I debated on which of my blogs I would post this and I decided here this time. Let's get going on our family vacation 2014!!!

Because of all the hail damage and expenses we all decided to go on a smaller vacation this year but in place of fanciness the kids were allowed each to bring a friend.  A very relaxing fun vacation was had by all as you will see by the photos that follow.

First off, as we are driving I just had to have a picture of this water tower. It is the absolute coolest water tower I have ever seen - an 8 ball!~! The water towers around here are all boring compared to this one.

I also "had" to include this photo as it is a joke. On every family vacation we have gone on with Superman he ends up intentionally or not taking us down some spooky out of the way gravel/dirt/other type of road. This year was no exception! :-)

Next we are onto swimming.  I don't know what is going on with this child but she decided eating rocks was fun.

Superman tried and tried but this was the closest photo we could get of all 4 kids looking at us...we got 3. They had a beautiful day to swim while I lounged on the beach in the shade.

No matter what I tried on this photo the blog turned it sideways. Even when I uploaded it was horizontal until I brought it into the blog so we will have to live with the photo the wrong direction. Even with that you can see the kids were all getting along great and having fun with the bunk beds.  NO they did not sleep like this!!!

Next we are going fishing!  We even got the girls to fish and Ann caught her very first fish ever. You can see them holding it here. Right after this shot was taken the fish decided to "beeee freee". He leaped out of their grasp and went flying through the air landing on my second toe spearing it as it landed. Blood gooshed from my toe. Ann's friend ran to get paper towels. I am healing and that was the worst injury on the trip.

Here is Vern with one of his MASSIVE  catches.  Hey ~ at least they were catching fish.

Here is a much nicer sized fish for a photo.

I am including this next photo because I think it is a great photo of Vern's friend!!! He and Vern had a great time doing boy stuff. Yes, we let them do a bit of playing on games in the evening...

I also included this next shot as it is my favorite of those silly boys of mine. They were chilaxin in the hammock. I could barely pry Superman out of the thing!!!

                                     

Next is Vern on one of the zip-lines. The proprietors were very safety oriented and no one was going to fall out of their lines!

Next is a shot of the two younger guys relaxing in that same hammock.  It was the favorite thing to do after zip lining.

And here we have rock eater posing for some crazy reason. No wonder her and Ann get along so well both are drama princesses!

Another zip line shot of the kids having fun.

Here is a nice shot of Ann on the zip line. She of course thought it was not nearly exciting enough. My dare-devil and fearless child.  She is so beautiful in this photo. (Yes I am biased just go with it k?)

I will end with this scenic shot of the lake the kids swam in. It was so peaceful and not crowded. I loved the afternoon we spent here.

Now back to work and reality...vacation is over.

Summer Camp 2014 - #2

Vern was home for one night and then off to summer camp #2. This was a Boy Scout Camp near Medicine Mountain in South Dakota.

There were many hurdles for this trip. First his dad backed out at the last minute. This did not leave us any time to arrange for Superman to go. Coincidence? I think not.

Next Vern's second day there entailed a long trip to town to a doctor!~~!!!  Vern's allergies were acting up so badly he said that his throat was getting tight. So in addition to his normal allergy medication, he got additional nasal spray plus Benedryl. He was stuffy the entire trip. I heard from another mom that the pine trees were pollinating so I am guessing that is what made Vern so stuffy and miserable.

Then it was onto the bug bites. Camp number 1 left him with chiggers and bug bites on his legs so on camp #2 he scratched and scratched until they bled. He may have some scars with those horrible bites.  When he got home I had him use hydrocortizone and now he is doing better.

Rain, storms and more rain. There were thunderstorms every single day of his camp. Not fun but he managed. It was also cold.

Yes there is more!

Vern had a run in with some nails in a board in tall grass. He wasn't wearing his boots as they had given him some nasty blisters so he just had on his running shoes. Well you guessed it, Vern was walking through the tall grass and bam. He stepped on the board containing the nails and one punctured his foot. Thank goodness it didn't go all the way through his foot! He had a nasty hole in the bottom of his foot and a limp for a few days.

Next was the bad food. If Vern says the food is bad, it is BAD!  He said some of the food was expired for 3 years.  The Oreo cookies had green stuff in the middle instead of the normal white.  Thank goodness his tent mate had a lot of snacks and was willing to share.

Finally Vern was home but that is not the end of the story.


Vern had been away from mom for 2 weeks so he had none of her "Eat your vegetables." "Don't eat so much junk food."  or the infamous... "Eat that crap and you won't be able to poop!"  Yep I get home from work on Tuesday night and the tummy was hurting. Vern was also having issues going P. Finally we got tired of the screaming and took him to Children's ER. We arrived around 10:30 pm. You know how ER's are...wait-wait-wait.

Doc finally sees Vern and we take an x-ray. Vern is all backed up. He gets his first enema in his life and low and behold it does not work!!!! We get a prescription and head home. Finally climb into bed around 3:15 am. Talk about a short night... Zzz  Here is a photo of Vern in his hospital garb.

Happy Pooping!!!!

Summer Camp 2014 #1

Summer camp #1

Well Vern is back from his first camp of the summer. This was confirmation camp through the church. As you can see from the photos below it is a lot more than studying the Bible. It is fun together time with great counselors. 

I asked Vern so what did you learn?  His typical response, "Oh stuff I all ready knew like God loves you."

This year they got to stay in a new building - more of a dorm style. This was much nicer than the old sheds converted into sleeping quarters they had in prior years.  Vern did say he did not like his counselor and one time a counselor hit a boy. I don't know what was all up with that but plan on looking further into that.

This week Vern is off to Summer camp #2. I do not know if I will get any photos from that camp out but will be sure to update how it went.

Paddle boating -

Fishing - Vern said they only got to fish for a short time and the other kids kept catching his line. No fish either. :-(

Vern is the second kid on the high ropes. He ended up with a nasty scrape down the front of his leg from falling once.

Zipping down the line at the end - always fun!

 

Schools out for summer!

Well Vern is now finished with 7th grade and onto 8th grade. His final grades were similar to 3rd quarter with A's and B's. I was happy but the part that made me the happiest was there were no "N's" or needs improvements from any teacher!!!! Vern was using his time more wisely and trying harder. That is what we have been asking for and Vern finally pulled through. GREAT JOB VERN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next year in 8th grade each student receives an Ipad to use for the year. We have to attend meetings in August on this. If it helps Vern with studying I am all for it. I just hope he doesn't sit in class playing games. This will be quite the test of his abilities to resist temptation. I am sure you will see blogs on the topic...

Vern has a lot of summer activities planned. There are camps and vacations and trips to see people. He will keep busy.

We are trying to push Vern to get off the electronics and get out and do different things. This is a huge challenge. Last weekend we "made" the teenagers go on a bike ride.  Vern actually had a good time and enjoyed it. His sister....let's just say she hates us and can't believe she had to be seen in public with a stupid helmet on. My God, we are trying to ruin her!  The drama was unbelievable.

For the summer we are hoping there is more of this:

And less of this!!!

We shall see how it turns out!!!

Just like all the others...

Vern is very much into puberty. Not so much yet on the outside but zowie on the inside. His emotions are all over the place. He is mouthy. He ignores you. He is disrespectful.  Yes, he is 13.

Now I as most parents probably try to curb this bad behavior. I believe those same parents have about as good of results as I do - NILL.

We talk about it. We inflict punishments for poor behavior. We talk about it some more. We dole out more privilege restrictions. Things get better until the restriction is released or the item returned. Then the poor behavior returns.  Can I say frustrating???

How do I know this is typical 13 year old behavior, because our nephew turns 13 this week and he acts the exact same way!!!! He hasn't seen his uncle in months and the first thing he tries to do to him is rack him in the balls!!! After that he is super mean to Uncle and wrestles and fights with him the entire time.  He is rude and mouthy and just like Vern. Hmmm, I see a pattern.

OH PLEASE let this phase pass quickly.  Soon it will be driving. AHHHHHHHH!!!!!