The Latest Happenings

Not much happened the first few weeks of June.  We finished up school and got ready for our three week summer break (meanest mommy ever!) and we bought a BOAT!  More about that later though. 

The middle of June brought one of Ryley's favorite weeks of the year - Twilight Camp!! I had the privilege of going as a one of the chaperones two days of the week.  I also had a cold for those two days so that made it even more awesome!  At least it was the coolest two days of the week.  I thought it was going to be absolutely miserable but it really wasn't that bad.  I got to hang out with Ryley and watch him and help him do all the activities so that was fun.  Almost all the activities were in the shade and it helped a TON!  I would totally go back - and having three boys I'm sure I'll get that opportunity.  Also a plus:  I got to take lots of pictures!  The first day I didn't really know what to expect so I just took my point and shoot camera with me.  Here we are waiting for all the other dens to arrive.  This was the hottest part of the day just sitting out there in the sun at 4:00. 

After opening ceremonies we headed out for some Ultimate Frisbee. 

Then we made our way over to what I call "The Obnoxious Section" of the park.  They had several crafting stations over here and almost all of them required the use of hammers.  On wooden tables.  Hammers and 8 and 9 year old boys = OBNOXIOUS section!  At this station they were making leather slides for their neckerchiefs. 

Then we had dinner and got to head back over to the crafting area to make some catapults.  It was way confusing and a little frustrating for the boys.  Only two leaders to help 6 boys meant the boys had to show some patience, which they did super great at!  I was really impressed at how patiently they waited.  The catapults were a big hit and the boys really wanted to keep playing with them but we had to head over to the last station of the day - archery!  All the boys were dying to do this and so excited when the time finally arrived. 

I was really impressed with Ryley.  He listened carefully and followed all the safety directions and rules to a "T".  I don't see that side him very often.  But now that I know it's there. . .

After archery we joined everyone again for the closing ceremony and then made the long walk back to the parking lot.  We got home around 10 PM and I seriously crashed.  Like took my shoes off, fell on the bed and CRASHED.  Being with six 8 and 9-year-olds for 6 hours out in the heat will do that to you.  Being loaded with Benadryl didn't help the situation any either. 

The second day I felt a little better and came armed with the good camera.  They started out with Cub Games again and did an obstacle course this time.  I was directing one of the obstacles so I didn't get any pictures.  After that we went to make some puppet show backgrounds.  Ryley had a specific vision and worked really hard on his.  I didn't get a picture of the final product but it included volcanoes, his name and an underwater scene.     

 

This was the day we also did the duct tape wallet project, or as I like to call it - *&%#@*.  There was very little guidance as to what the boys were supposed to do, the station was run by teenagers, they didn't have enough duct tape for everyone and it was super windy.  Needless to say no one went home with a completed wallet.  Ugh.  Luckily we got to go shoot BB's after that so the boys' disappointment was quickly replaced with excitement for that. 

Again, Ryley listened carefully and was the epitome of a good Cub Scout.  He did everything exactly like his instructors showed him.  (How do I get this kid to show up at home?!)    

Some of you may recognize Monica Burns in that last photo.  We ended up being teamed up with their ward and 2nd ward for the whole week so it was fun to get to see all the boys that I haven't seen since they were teeny tiny babies and their moms!

Here we are all lined up for the closing ceremony again.  The boys enjoyed swapping while we were waiting each night.  It really is a good group of boys and I had lots of fun getting to know them all a little better. 

 

That's about it for Twilight Camp - in pictures anyway.  Josh went two other days that week and Ryley had lots of fun with him, probably more fun than with Mom.  I'm cool with that though - I think Daddy's more fun than I am, too.  :)

So back to the whole boat thing. . . after my comment at our camp out at Lake Texoma Josh was on a mission to find a boat.  We'd actually looked at boats and seriously considered buying one about year or so ago (but we decided that it wasn't a good time for us to get a boat then) so we knew what we wanted.  We just had to find it.  We wanted a Yamaha dual engine jet boat - because of the low maintenance, the power (being able to get Josh up out of the water) and the fact that if something happens to one engine you have another one to get you back to the dock.  We weren't interested in buying a brand new boat so we were on the hunt for a used Yamaha.  They are pretty popular boats and they go quickly when a dealer gets one and we couldn't find one through any dealers around here.  Josh did find one on Craigslist out in Wylie that sounded perfect for us and so we jumped at the chance to go see it.  We ended up taking it out on the lake that night.  That's the one we ended up getting.  We've been out several times since then, mostly at Lake Lavon, and have been loving it.  The kids are having a blast too.  It's definitely a money pit  though.  It seems like there's always something we "need" for the boat.  :) 

After taking the boat out to Lavon several times and getting comfortable with it we decided to take a little trip down to Lake Whitney (near Waco) over the 4th of July.  It's a beautiful, big, deep lake with lots of cliffs.  Since it's so huge there aren't very many places for smooth water so there wasn't much skiing going on but there was lots of tubing!  And there was even a little cliff jumping.  Here's a little video Josh took of me and Maddie jumping.  You may want to fast forward about 2 minutes since that's all just us standing there talking ourselves into it.

088 from Jeni Hopewell on Vimeo. 

So since this post is already crazy long I think I'll save all the Lake pictures for the next post.  :)