Randomness v15

1. 

Monkey was swinging....Pumping on his own.  "Look Mom, I’m getting higher.  I’m getting so high!  I hope I don’t hit the moon!"

2. 

Elijah(my nephew)-" The most funniest thing ever.....A man in tights."

3. 

Bear- We’re underground mommy.

Me- Why?
Bear- Because, we’re at grandma’s house.

Me- Grandma’s house is underground?

Bear- Yes
Me- Why?
Bear- because we can't see our home.

4.
Bear- Josie, do you want to play this game?
Josie- BINGO?
Bear- Bingo the gringo, that’s what I used to call it when I was a baby.

5.
Me-I’m going to have some Coca-Cola Classic
Bear- mmmm.......Coca Cola Plastic.

6. 

Monkey- You know how I get my boogers out?  I stick my finger in my eye.

(Monkey says things like this all the time....we have no real idea what he is talking about because he is very bad a describing....it wouldn't have sounded so weird if he described more and said, that's how he got his eye-boogers out...but he didn't so it was pretty funny.)

7. 

Bear- A bug, Oh it flew away.  I was going to slap it until it died.

8. 

Me- Bear do you just want to take a nap in your underwear?
Bear- No, that wouldn’t be appropriate

9.

I think my tongue is shriveling up because this popcorn is so salty.  -Jamie (my sister)

10. 

I have to keep myself entertained so I don’t pee my pants. -TJ 

(we were waiting for the fireworks and TJ didn't want to miss the end....but he had to go to the bathroom pretty bad.

If two's a couple.....

Do you ever say things like......here's a couple of these for ya.  

Or over there, there are a few things laying on the floor....  

Or why is there so many of that thing?   

But how many of those items are you really referring to?

Well, TJ is very specific on his couple, few, many/several word choices.  If you say you have a 'couple' things for him and give him more than two.....he will correct you.  And likewise if you say you have a few things for him to do, but list more than three....watch out! :) 

2 is a couple

3 is a few

4 or more is many, or several

Today he was telling me a story about someone using the term couple, but he looked over and there was 9 of that particular item.

Oh Boy!!!

He was confused because he thought he was going to see only two of this item, but found nine there instead.

I think this is hilarious.  I don't use them right.  I will say a couple even if there are 3 or 4.  I will say a few if there are more than 4....to me they just mean smaller increments....and several to me means a much larger amount.

The funnier part is he is passing this on to Monkey.  I think I used one of these terms the other day and Monkey said, "Mom, there is only a couple because there is  2.  That's what Dad says....2 is a couple, 3 is a few."

My Trail Mix

A couple years ago we were going to camp, and wanted a good large snack.  We thought of trail mix, but sometimes I don't like all the stuff they put in the 'prefab' trail mixes. :)

So we made our own.

And it is SUPER YUMMY!

Not like I made, made it....but you know bought the three ingredients and then put them in a bowl and mixed it up.  That counts though right?!

So are you ready for the best trail mix combination ever?!?!?!

Party Peanuts

Chocolate covered Rasins

Peanut butter M&M's

Oh yeah....you're going to love this one!

Multi-Bean Hotdish

This is a potluck standard it seems.....and I feel like I enjoy the one at the potluck more than my own.  

We haven't had this for a really long time though, so today my version was super good.

This is a hotdish, but today we decided to eat it out of a bowl instead of on a plate.  It's almost like a soup, but a very very thick soup that you have to chew.....so not really like a soup. :) haha

1 can Pork & Beans (don't drain)

1 can Kidney Beans

1 can Garbonzo Beans (also known as Chickpeas)

1 can Lima Beans

1 can Large Butter Beans

1 can Navy Beans

1 lb hamburger

1/2 cup ketchup

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp mustard

salt and pepper

Don't drain the Pork and beans, but take out the fatty pork part.  Drain all the other beans.  Dump everything together in a pot on the stove and mix together until heated through.  You can also put this in the crockpot on low until it's heated through. 

We like to eat it as a meal, but it could also be a side dish....which is probably how most other people eat it I think. :)  But we eat side dishes as meals all the time.  They still taste good, you just eat a bigger helping and all is well!

Cheese Tortillas

I used to make this all the time as lunch or for a snack when I was a kid.

Just take a flour tortilla shell and sprinkle it with cheddar cheese.  

Then sprinkle on a little garlic salt.  

Microwave it to melt the cheese and cut into serving size pieces.

yummy....cheesy....yummy....cheesy

Today the kids each had one and lettuce salad for lunch.  

Wasn't really in the plan, but I didn't have many options to work with....I need groceries, or leftovers. :)  It would probably help if I were home long enough to make real food for there to be a chance of  having leftovers laying around.

Talk about improvising with what you have laying around to make lunch! :)

'Small' Town

I am so glad I live in a small town.

And by small I mean, not that big of a town.

Owatonna, is not really a small town by my standards really because I grew up in a FOR REAL small town.  Only 300 people.  But after living in Des Moines and now in Owatonna, comparatively Owatonna is a small town. :)

Today we were on our way back from visiting family in Little Falls.  On the way home you have to go through the Twin Cities.  Unfortunately I was coming through at around 5pm....super bad time to be driving through the Twin Cities!  Their rush "Hour" is from 3-6 or maybe even longer.  Anyway.....side track.....  Here I was anxious to get home, with lots to do right when I got home, and stuck in traffic.  If that is not bad enough....The kids start piping in....
"Why aren't we moving?"
"Are you going the speed limit?"
" Why did you do that?"
"Can't you just get over?"

AHHHHHHH!!!!!

Seriously?!?

Do I really have to answer all these questions from a 3 and 6 year old, who have zero driving experience?

Not that it's really that bad for them to be curious about what's going on, but I had so many other things on my mind that I was previously frustrated about that these questions were not coming at a very good time.    All is well, just take a deep breath. :)

Kitchen Tips v3

Bacon

Do you like bacon?

I like bacon.

But I don’t like the smell of bacon lingering in the house for the rest of the day or so.  And I don’t like having the bacon grease fly up out of the pan and burning my arms, or ruining my shirts.

So here’s my bacon cooking kitchen tip.

Again, maybe you know, maybe you have a different way to do this..I’m just sharing in case someone else wants to try, or has never done this before.

So, I take my bacon which is thawed, and put 3-4 pieces on a paper towel.  Then I put it on a plate and cook it in the microwave, with another paper towel on top so it doesn’t splatter all over.  I usually cook it between 3-4 minutes. 

I like to do it this way because like I said, it doesn’t leave the lingering smell, doesn’t splatter all over, cooks much faster, and leaves the bacon nice and flat!
There’s my kitchen tip for the day!

Enjoy your bacon.

Art idea

Today we walked around the "Art Festival" downtown.  We were only there a few minutes.  But long enough to see things and get some mini donuts.  YUMMY!

While we were there, I was reminded of an "art project" that I did while we were on Vacation in June.

I saw this sign that had a word and the letters were pictures of things.

Most of the time I look at things like this and say...I could do that.  So then I do.

Here's the one I put together from our vacation.

Someone had an art stand where they had 2-4 pictures of letters and you would pick which one you wanted and then they would put them together in a frame spelling what you want.  Like above.  And the trick is it can't actually be a letter, you just have to use your imagination and see the letter in the design.

I SO COULD DO THAT!

I just don't think about selling this kind of stuff, but I'm going to seriously going to consider doing this for someone or for sale or something.

Want me to make one for you?  Tell me the word/name you want and I will find the letters I need and put it together for you.  This would make a great birthday/wedding/anniversary/christmas gift.

Contact me to create one for yourself!

Chicken & PeaPods

Chicken & PeaPods
1 can chicken broth
Soy Sauce
cornstarch
3 chicken breasts
1 tsp sugar
1 clove garlic
1 cup chopped carrots
1 can water chestnuts
1 pkg frozen peapods
2 cups minute rice

Sauce:
1/2 cup chicken broth, 2 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp sugar and 1 Tbsp cornstarch.  Mix together in a bowl and set aside.

In a medium bowl combine chicken, 1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch, 1 Tbsp soy sauce and 1 Tbsp chicken broth, mix well and cook until chicken is done.  Put in a bowl and set aside.  In a pan, heat 3 Tbsp oil, stir fry carrots, garlic and peapods, until tender-crisp.  Add cooked chicken to the pan, along with sauce mixture and water chestnuts.   Stir until bubbly.  Serve over rice.








I noticed that is important to cook the chicken first so the veggies are not in the pan the whole time.  That can result in making them mushy instead of a nice tender-crisp. 
This time my veggies got a little mushy too....I tried a new kind of peapod, and it did not work out.  I guess I will have to stick with the Schwans peapods.  They are the best.


This used to be a favorite, but recently I've found so many more chicken stir-fry's that I think this may be getting replaced.  It is still good.....but you know how it goes....after trying similar new recipes....you don't want to make so many things that are the same so you just stick with a few for awhile.  So out with the old and in with the new....but we'll try to cycle this in, every once in a blue moon. :)

Creamy Crockpot Chicken

Tonight's recipe comes all the way from Tennessee. :)

When we were on vacation to Tennessee in June, TJ's Aunt made this for us.  So I thought I'd try it out myself.

Creamy Crockpot Chicken
1 can cream of mushroom
1 can cream of chicken
1 pkg cream cheese
4-6 chicken breasts

I cut off any extra fat off the chicken breasts, then put them in the bottom of the crockpot still frozen, but cut up into small pieces.  Maybe about 3 chunks per chicken breast.  Then mix the creams together and top the chicken.  Cook in the crockpot on low for 4 hours.
I did it on high for 1 1/2 hours and then on low for another 2 hours.  The chicken was nice and pull apart style.  Yummm...  We served this over some rice.  The creams end up a little soupy so you pour some extra over your rice almost like gravy.  TJ just said next time we should have it with homemade mashed potatoes.  That sounds good too.

DVR review

If you don’t have a dvr....you are so totally missing out! 
Big time. :)

I think I talked about this before.  But, we are so spoiled since we got the DVR for our TV.  

We never have to watch commercials because we can just pause and fast forward through them.  We can just record everything by the push of a button and watch it whenever we want to.  You can pause and rewind live tv, so awesome.  Even though we’ve had it for a few years TJ still forgets that sometimes.  I’ll start talking to him, and he’ll say something like can you wait until this is over, and I say...You can pause it! :) 

Oh yeah!

We talk about how we are spoiled with this feature, and we find ourselves thinking in other situations in life....Oh I missed that, can we go back and see it again?!?  

Well, sometimes I think that on the radio.  

What did they say?  

I need to rewind so I can hear it again.  

Well, it’s finally here.  We do not have it, but I was surprised to see it.  There was a commercial, and you’re thinking, why were we watching a commercial....hahaha side track....anyway, it was a commercial for a brand new Buick, and they had radio that you can pause and rewind.  Sah-weeeet! 

We are soooo getting that car.

Or maybe that’s not really a good reason to buy a car?!

hahahaha

Homemade Pancakes

Today has been a change of plans kind of day.

First I was supposed to be at the Crazy Days downtown this morning.  But since it was raining this am, we decided to not do it.  So then I ended up being home when I was planning on being gone all morning.  That kind of put me in the mood of not really knowing what to do with myself!

Then we were going to meet some friends after crazy days, but since we didn't go down there they came over instead.  That was totally fun, and bonus it gave me motivation to go through some stuff and clean up even more.

And lastly tonight I had planned to make BLT's for supper, but after I started frying up the bacon I realized somehow our bread has depleated itself.

Ok, maybe we ate too many sandwiches this week! :)

So now I have half the package of bacon already fried....no bread....what to do?!

I guess we are having breakfast for supper tonight.  Pancakes and Eggs and bacon.


Homemade Pancakes

Homemade pancakes
1 1/4 cup flour
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
(cinnamon) if desired

When TJ makes these he puts cinnamon in the pancakes.  I had never heard of this before, but I guess it makes sense since you put cinnamon in your french toast and it's pretty much the same idea.  But anywho....I did not do it tonight. :)

Mix the dry ingredients together.  Mix the wet ingredients and add to the dry ingredients.  Pour onto a skillet and cook evenly on both sides.
Then since I was running out of time, and didn't have enough time to make a double batch of pancakes, I threw a few eggs in a pan and just made basic hard eggs.  Eggs are not really my favorite, but if I'm going to eat them, this is the best way I want to eat them.  And making sure there is no gooeyness to it.

This has a few more ingredients than french toast for just remembering, but even if you use a box/packet whatever to make your pancakes this is still a good thing to put in your cookbook so you don't forget about adding this to your menu every once in a while.

Well, we scarfed our food down and ran out the door to a foster care meeting.  All is well.  The day of change is over, and now the weekend can start.

Seriously?!? v2

Remember this?

There are so many little times when I tell my kids to do something and they either do nothing, or the exact opposite.  And these moments are when you look at them and say, Seriously?!  Then there are times when you are at the store and you see something or someone, and all you can really think is.....Seriously?! :)

Today they are just funny instances.....

We are playing outside in the sprinkler and we told Monkey to try and dry off so we could put sun screen on him.  We were sitting in the shade and he says....”Where’s the sun?” ----Seriously?!?!

My sister told her daughter to go clean up a few things in the garage.  She responded, “what garage?”  ----Seriously?!?!

Bear got his finger pricked a couple weeks ago.  When we went to get in the van, I opened the door for him and he just stood there and looked at me.
Me- Get in, Bear.
Bear- Can you help me get in the car?
Me- Why do you need help?
Bear- Because I have an owie on my finger.
Me- An owie on your finger makes your feet not work?!?
Bear- No.
Me- Then I think you can get in by yourself. :)
Seriously?!?  Hahahaha




We were in the pool and I asked Monkey to not kick so hard when he goes under so he's not splashing everyone.  Ok Mom.  Then he dives under again, and kicks his feet above water splashing everyone.
Seriously?!

Me- Bear, I want you to go up stairs, put your dry clothes on, and then come back down here with your swim trunks so I can hang them on the line to dry.  Ok?
Bear- OK
Me- So, what are you going to do?
Bear- Obey my parents.
Seriously?!?

This is a totally classic Bear move.  He wants to "please" you with his words, so he will say Ok Mom, or Yes, Mom.  But then continue to stand there, or go and do something else.  Because he's not really listening.  That's why we usually like to have them repeat back to us what we asked them to do. :)

Pool Fun

We decided to get a big pool instead of a swingset for now.    It's 16 feet across and 4 feet deep.

My children are like fish.  They love, love the water.  They would stay in forever!  So with the pool in town being super expensive, and parks being free.....we decided to get a pool instead.  TJ worked on leveling out the ground while he was home alone all last week.  Then setting it up.  We put the water in on Saturday, which took almost all day to fill up with the garden hose.  Then you have to start the filter and let it run for 24 hours before you can swim in it.....so we did that on Sunday.  And today, it was all ready to swim, along with beautiful weather outside.  It was a little bit cloudy, but there was enough break in the clouds for it to be warm.  And the water really wasn't that bad, which I was surprised at.

Looks like they were having fun.  I've gotta admit.  I was having a blast as well.  I've never had my own pool before.  I super duper loved it.  We swam this morning, and again late this afternoon.

And tomorrow if we want to swim again, we can cuz it's just in the back yard.

Woooo-Hooooo!!

Wanna come swim with us?

Homemade Oreo Ice cream

We usually make this version just as Oreo Salad.  But a friend made it as ice cream.  

It was super yummy.

So I made more today and want to share it with you all!

Homemade Oreo Ice cream

 Super easy.....Are you ready for this?!

Vanilla Ice Cream (1 regular container)

1 8oz container cool whip

1 package of Oreos

Crunch up the oreos, soften the ice cream and coolwhip.  

Mix together, and put in a pan in the freezer to re-harden.  Enjoy!  

Careful, it'll start to melt....but I don't think 

you'll have any problem eating it up before it all melts. :)

Can it get any easier than that?

What up with that?!

This is what I was talking about on the previous blog. 

HILARIOUS! 

check it out

What up with that?!

4-Way Stop?!

Today I was apparently treating every stop/intersection like a 4-way stop.  

That doesn't really always work.

The first time I stopped, and thought, there's no one else around, so I can go right?

Well, no I couldn't because it was a red light.  

Luckily I caught myself as I was getting ready to take my foot off the break.

And I did NOT go through the red light.  Just for all of you to know! :)

The second time I was looking ahead and noticing the red light.  So I started slowing down.  By the time I came to a complete stop where I thought I was behind the other vehicle.  I realized that vehicle was already through the intersection because the light was green.  

What am I doing?!

Or as they would say on Saturday Night Live....."What up with that?!"  

haha...did any of you see that last night?  I think it was the first sketch.  

It was really all we saw, and then went to bed, but it was hilarious!

Family Camp Extras

Bear learned out to use floaties for the first time at Family Camp this year.  At first he was terrified because he's never swam where he can't touch, or without holding on to me for dear life.  But once I got him to not freak out, and to just move his arms and legs slowly he loved it.  

At first I had to keep reminding him the difference between flailing your arms and freaking out, and slow/relaxing movements, which would be the better way to swim without having to drink so much pool water.  Once he stopped freaking out he thought it was sooo cool.  

Then he was telling everyone......This is relaxing.  It doesn't work when you freak out about it.

 The boys love swimming.  I think they are part fish. :)

Grandma took Monkey out on a Paddle boat.  His first time on one!  

He thought it was cool.  He had a hard time reaching but he tried to help peddle a little.

 We got to spend some time with some friends of ours from Iowa while at Family Camp this year.  After Monkey and I did the zip line on Monday we all sat down by the zip line and watched other people fly down it while we chatted and caught up.

Both of the grandmas were at Family Camp  and they wanted to take the boys on the hay ride.
So, of course, we let them!  TJ and I kinda looked at each other and thought, now what do we do?! :)

So we made some smore's for ourselves, and then went for a walk.

Speaking of Smores.....Here's the boys enjoying their smores! :)

Another funny story from Family Camp.  The climbing wall is along the lake shore, and there are benches built up along the climbing wall edge.  This bench is built up and overhanging the shore line.   It can be kinda freaky because there is a big gap between the back where you lean against, and there are just rocks and some slanted ground going down into the lake.  Well, we are sitting there supposed to be listening to the rules of the climbing wall.  And TJ turns to me and says, do you want to take some pictures of the lake from up here?!  I had my climbing wall stuff on and was trying to listen, TJ was holding the camera and also holding the video camera.  So since I was trying to listen, I thought if you want to take pictures go ahead, so I went to take the lens cover off for him so he could take pictures while I listened to the rest of the rules.  Well.....he was moving the camera while I was reaching to take the lens cover off, so meanwhile....the lens cover comes off, the camera bumps my hand at the same time and the lens cover falls down that crack of the overhanging bench, into the rocks that slants down to the lake.   Are you kidding me?!

Begrudgingly, TJ climbed down there, almost fell in the lake, looked around, had a huge rock roll down past him, then another rock fall, and smash against his leg.  

But....It was NOT in vain!  He found the lens cover!

What a guy huh?! :)  

My Hero

Deep Frying

As you all may remember my oven coil is still broken.

You may think it's been a long time, and well, you'd be right! :)

However it hasn't seemed that bad because, even though it's broken for about 5 weeks,  3 of those weeks we have not been home to use it anyway.  However, we were home for 2 weeks in between there and I ended up making almost all my stovetop/crockpot/non-oven meals, so I am ready to make real meals in the oven, and COOKIES! :)  I miss my cookies. 

So,  as I was saying.....I am home finally now
and had to actually make something for supper. 

So we had deep frying foods.  

Popcorn Chicken, Cheese Curds, French Fries and Onion rings.

I super love these foods.  However, they super do not love me.  

So, anytime now I should start feeling sick. 

Is it worth it?!  

Sometimes. :)

When I make my Cheese curds, I have a hard time getting them out because they are always stuck to the bottom of the basket and stuck to each other.  So any of you deep frying connoisseurs have a great way to get it to not stick, please let me know!  I know it doesn't have to be that way.  I mean, when I get my cheese curds from the fair they are not all stuck together, or smushed because they were stuck to the fry basket.  What's the trick?!

Individual Fruit Pizza's

I used to do this for pampered chef parties, when I sold it. Tonight this was kinda like a craft, treat. We made sugar cookies earlier today and then after church tonight we came home and each made our own Fruit Pizza.

Sugar cookies

1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
3 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:
Combine sugar, butter, milk, vanilla and egg. Add dry ingredients.
Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour. Roll out on lightly floured surface. Bake at 400 for 5-9 minutes.

This is the recipe we use for our Christmas cut out cookies too. Yummy.

Today however, I must be honest, my mom decided to just use a package of sugar cookie dough instead of the homemade.

Next, mix 1 container of strawberry cream cheese and 1 container of cool whip. Spread a nice layer of this on your cookie and top with fruit of your choice. We did whatever fruit we had laying around the house tonight which was kiwi, banana and grapes. It was yummy. I might see if there are any more left so I can have another one!

Randomness v14

1. I don’t think much of my kids falling because it’s pretty much a given. They are going to fall, or drop something, or hurt themselves somehow.  Monkey is the worst of the two. The other day we were on a walk with my sister.  Monkey was on his scooter. He usually falls down, but then gets back up and keeps going. This time was no exception. But my sister was kinda concerned so to ease her mind, I said “Monkey are you ok?” To which he replied “Super-Duper Mom!” while he was riding his scooter and not even looking back at me. Just what I figured. If he was hurt, he would have stopped riding, or jumped up and down, or had a weird look on his face. This is his body language for, “ouch”.

2. We were in Cabela's looking at the animals the other day. We came up to the Polar Bears, and TJ said Bear, what kind of bear is that? He said, “A Coca-Cola Bear”. haha
This would be why.....



3. Bear was coming in to second place the other day with the klutziness idea. First he bent down to look at the movies in the movie basket, but somehow didn’t see the big entertainment center. :) and Smacked his head right on it! He didn’t get hurt that bad but it sure was funny! :) Then he went to put the stool back in the bathroom, and for some reason tried to lean on the shower curtain as if it were a wall. Well you can only guess what happened! The shower curtain is not a wall, and his hand went right through and then knocked over the shampoo and conditioner, and he falls over hitting his arm and head on the tub. I’m so horrible because I just started laughing at him, (knowing he was fine) just shook up a bit! So hilarious! I said, did you forget that there’s nothing back there? It doesn’t work to lean on the shower curtain does it?! hahaha.

4. I was singing....I’m so glad, Jesus rescued me..I’m so glad Jesus rescued me..I’m so glad, Jesus rescued me, singing glory hallelujah Jesus rescued me.
Monkey’s verson.. I’m so glad, Jesus rescued me..I’m so glad Jesus rescued me..I’m so glad, Jesus rescued me, Hi-ho the Cherry-O Jesus rescued me.
wha-hahahahahaha :) (that’s me laughing)

5. When we were at Family Camp last week, TJ took the boys on a boat ride. So he said they were sitting there, and there were a bunch of other people that they didn't know from camp on the boat with them. Then Bear YELLS out......HEY, I KNOW YOU!!! And points. TJ thought he was pointing at the girl, and thought she was one of his children's church class teachers or something, so first hesitated, but then decided to see where this headed. Thinking it would be no big deal. However, he then continued yelling, "YOU'RE BILL GAITHER!" Bear was pretty adamant that this guy looked like him. Until everyone started laughing. Then he wasn't so sure. Afterwards I asked him if Bill Gaither was on the boat. He just laughed at me and said, "I said that!"
Too Funny!

Castles in the Sand

Monkey and Bear playing in the sand.



Creating our mountain, and making the lava flow down the middle. :)


Monkey and Bear standing next to our creation. It's hard to make something very intricate or detailed with a 3 and 6 year old. :)


One of the workers there made this dragon. It was pretty cool.


Then I tried to take one more picture of the whole court where we all made our own sand "castles". Just before they were going to knock everything down right away, so they could start the volley ball tournament. So while we were sweating and getting all dirty and sticky from making our sand castle...I was thinking about a song that talks about that. Here's a link to a You Tube video of the song I was thinking about from the Booth Brothers. And yes it's from a Gaither DVD.....I know. :)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JbOczFPsbo

Here's the lyrics.

Castles in The sand
Like a child by the seashore
Building castles in the sand
Foolish dreams I have dreamed
Day by day
Leaving God out completely
Till the day my castles grand
Fell apart in the tide and swept away
In each life storms will gather
Rains descend and wild winds blow
Wise the man who in God
Is anchored fast
Are you then like that wise man
Are you anchored do you know
You are safe till the storms of life are past
Castles built upon the sand
Though they seem to be so grand
Will surely melt away
For in life’s raging storm they cannot stand
In the Rock of the Ages
All my hopes are built today
And in the Rock they will never pass away
And in the Rock they will never pass away.

Festival

The Thursday of Family Camp there is always a Festival/Carnival. This year was perfect weather for it!


They have a bob for apples section.  Monkey did it twice. I think the second time he put he whole head in the bucket.


They have lots of races. This one was a 3 legged race. They do all different age groups, brothers, siblings, and husband/wife pairs. TJ and Adam raced in this picture. They did a good job staying together and not falling. But they were not the fastest ones. Bummer.


They have a basketball game where they have markings on the ground and you have to make a shot on each one in order. You get 2 tries at each line, if you make them all you get a free shirt from the gift shop. Nice shot JOY!


They have a jousting match. Jamie, and I did this with 2 other girls/ladies. They were out right away, and then it was down to Jamie and I. She eventually pushed me right off.


They have a covered wagon that they pull behind a tractor. The boys like that ride.


They have a little "Train" made of barrels connected together pulled behind a lawn mower. All the little kids love this ride. They have benches for them to wait. They have fake deer and a couple other birds or something out in the yard that they drive around and see while they are on their train ride.

Other games activities include, the dunk tank, balloon animals, or swords/hats etc, ring toss...this year it was magnified....throw the hoola-hoop and make it around a barrel, redneck horseshoes....throw a toilet seat at a pole, people pull....they put harnesses around 2 people and then you are connected with a rope and you pull each going the other way, trying to get your flag in the bucket first, face painting, a water balloon launch, a huge slip and slide and a few other games that would be hard to describe without a picture. But I didn't want to have a million pictures per post.

Plus while we are out and having fun they grill hamburgers and we get to have a picnic outside for supper.

Fun for everyone!

Minute To Win It

Every Wednesday night at Family Camp they have some kind of game show thing. This year it was "Minute To Win it". It's really not like the show so to speak. I mean you could maybe find a couple similarities. But really it's just people doing some really funny things in 1 minute and seeing who does the best, gets the most, is the fastest, whatever by the time the minute is over.

The first things was 4 people were given a stack of cups, and the bottom cup was red. They had to move the cups one at a time from the bottom to the top of the cup stack and whoever got back down to the red one first was the winner.




The next event was a husband wife event and TJ and I got picked to go up and participate. One person had to put a bucket on their head, and the other person had to bounce some ping pong balls off the floor and into the bucket on the other persons head. I had the bucket. I could move to try and help the ball get into the bucket. The hard part was knowing where it was going to land. I couldn't see up there. And I guess a bunch of them would go in, but then bounce out too. We lost by 1!!! Bummer!


Then we had to pose for a picture of course! :) heehee


After each event they would dim the lights and these people in the corner would be talking like sports announcers. They had some pretty funny comments. They were hilarious. Not sure how they come up with some of this stuff.


My brother-in-law was playing this game. They had to bring 8 shoes up with them, and then they had 1 minute to try and kick as many shoes as they could on to the table that was about 6 feet from them. Our side won with the most, and that was only 3 shoes. Apparently it's much harder than it looks. :)


Here each team had a target, and 6 kids shooting finger rockets at the people targets. There was another lady standing to the side writing a check mark on a sheet of paper for each time a rocket hit the person. This was pretty suspenseful because we couldn't know what the numbers were at. Apparently the other team had better aim because they had 54 hits and we only had 30 or something like that.


Here they each had a box of kleenex and they had to pull them out 1 kleenex at a time. Whoever got to the bottom of the box first wins. We won this one. We were the North..my sister was on the South. Sad for her, because the NORTH won!!! :)

It was a fun night.

Zip Line

ZIP LINE HERE WE COME!!!!!


Monkey and I all strapped up and ready to go! It's a long walk from where you get harnessed up to the tower. Then you are already tired, and you have to go up 4 flights of stairs to get to the top of the tower just so you can jump off like a crazy person! :)


There we are standing on the edge getting ready to jump off and have the ride of our life! Since it takes a bit to get harnessed and up there, and then the ride is only 30 seconds long, they let you go twice right away before you have to take your harnesses off and give them to the next person.


Here we come. This is the second time we went down. Monkey and I switched sides this time.


And there we go!

They got new cables this year, and they are remarkably faster than last year. Last year there were lots of little kids who would stop way before the end of the zip line and they would have to try to throw a rope up to the kids for them to grab on so they could pull them to the end where they could unhook them from the line. This year, everyone came barreling in to the end! The bigger the faster yet! They have this new way to stop the people since they are all coming in at a faster speed. They have a wood brick on the cable which is in between the top of my harness and the top of their rope. Then they start down the hill and hope to slow you down before you get to the top of the hill so you don't run into the posts. Some of the bigger guys coming down the hill were fun to watch, because they would make the workers who are trying to hold on to that rope and slow them down get knocked off their feet! Super Hilarious! :)

I wonder if they have a way to track how fast people are going when they come down that line?!

Here's a video clip of us going down. I was trying to get the camera to stay on Monkey, but I kept spinning around, and couldn't really see in the screen very well to see if I even had the camera pointed at him most of the time or not. But you get the idea. Hope you enjoy it regardless of the quality.