Just the Facts, Ma'am

I wrote a whole post, but then decided it was to whiny. So I'm just going to give you the facts.

 

Megan went to school four days.

She had a project.

She complained about the people working in her group.

She wrote a paper.

She went to a party.

There were cats at the party.

She is allergic to cats.

By the time I picked her up, she wasn't breathing terribly well.

We had medicine at home.

She is doing much better.

 

Catilyn got in a bike wreck.

She wasn't on the bike, having managed to jump off.

The bike is probably not repairable.

Or at least not worth repairing.

She also went to Cowtown for a Girl Scout Camp.

This involved eating only era-approved food wrapped in era-approved wrappings.

It also involved running around in a dress and sunbonnet.

She called at 10 p.m. because she had a migraine.

So she came home.

We also deep cleaned her room, which included color-coordinating her books.

 

Alison had Tae Kwon Do.

Which she says she likes, even though she complains.

It's the aching legs, mostly.

She also had a sleepover at Sophia's house.

She was very excited about this.

And a dentist appointment.

Which took much longer than we thought.

So we have to go back this week.

The hygenist says eats too much candy, and that her "teeth are turning brown".

I suspect it's actually ketchup.

I am not sure that's a battle I want to fight.

 

Kristen went to gymnastics.

She helped dad with building the playhouse some more.

She had Sarah over for a play date.

She went swimming twice.

Once it was hot enough to actually enjoy the pool.

The other time, it wasn't.

She watched a lot of TV.

Including Star Wars (the original!).

Which she didn't really like.

Mostly, she watched Cyberchase.

The library program with snakes was pretty cool, though.

 

I worked two days.

Russell worked three or so.

We threw a murder mystery party.

We gardened.

The zucchini is taking over the world.

We had the missionaries over for dinner.

We put over 250 miles on the car this week.

We watched the rest of The Big Bang Theory, season one.

("Soft kitty/ warm kitty/ little ball of fur/ Happy kitty/ sleepy kitty/ purr purr purr")

(Leonard's still my favorite.)

The Wild West

Because we weren't going to be in town for our anniversary this year, we decided to go ahead and do our (what's now become annual) murder mystery party early this year. The theme: wild west. And because we have a couple of single women friends we wanted to have play, I got to take one for the "team" and be a dude.

Hence the FANTASTIC mustache. (That itched unbearably, and didn't make it through the evening.) Russell raided the Friends' theater department and got us some boots and vests and hats (well, I found mine at Goodwill). And since I have never before worn cowboy boots (and since I will probably never again wear them), we figured it was worth taking a picture of:

We managed to have EVERYONE dress up, and everyone was a grand sport (even the girls, who were relegated to downstairs, watching Star Wars; except for Caitlyn who hid on the stairs listening in). In other words: it was a LOT of fun.

Russell's Death Trap

Or, at least that's what we've taken to calling it.

Our playground was falling apart, so last fall, Russell took it down. But he didn't get rid of it. So, it just sat there, piles of wood-like substance, under a tarp all winter. Until spring, when Russell had an idea: he could build a playhouse for Alison and Kristen with the scraps. I gave an okay, and then basically stayed out of it.

Since I've been working this summer, sometimes for a full 8+ hours, Russell's been staying home, and the girls convinced him to start working on it. It's not done yet -- there are a few details here and there (like building a bench into one of the sides and I want to plant some climbing flowers along one of the sides just to prettify it) but the basic structure is finished.

 And you know what?

He done good.

The lower platform is strong and sturdy enough to hold at least a couple of kids, and aside from the potential of people falling off and breaking something, it's a great playhouse. And, so far, the kids are really enjoying having it around.

Is the Universe Trying to Tell Me Something?

All in one day (actually, within minutes of each other). (That's not even mentioning the annoying dental experience this morning...)

On the upside, the bike was free to begin with and (more importantly) Caitlyn's just fine. That said, universe: I got the message.

Being Honest

I should just steal the week from Caitlyn since she already put up her version of it (and a nice version it is, too).  But I'm actually going to sit down and figure out what we did this week.

 

It's been a whirlwind of a week! Megan's still in school -- which involves a LOT of driving across town, and has gotten me thinking about getting a second car, though we're not going to get one -- and I'm still working. Which means less time at home. And there's classes and volunteering and sleepovers and events and phones being dropped into toilets and going over to friends houses (the girls, not me) and Master Chef and late night throwing up and whining and choir practices for the Stake Center dedication (and going to said dedication) and and not quite hot enough for the pool and going shopping for stuff for girl's camp and remembering too late that it was Father's Day and being cranky...

 

In short: I probably could have done a lot better this week.

 

I will try to do better next week, though if I'm really be honest with myself, it probably won't get better until July. By which point the summer will already be half over.

 

At least no one's killed themselves. Yet

Braindead

Megan at Youth Conference

We are -- almost literally -- at each others' throats today, and it's entirely because we've ALL been up too late for the past two nights. WE are ALL going to bed early tonight. Mostly because Monday morning comes early for us these days.

 

See, Megan started summer school and Monday through Thursday, she has to be across town by 7:30 a.m. *sigh* It makes for non-lazy, non-early, non-relaxing summer mornings. But it's in pursuit of a greater goal: without this class, she can't graduate a year early and go to India. So early morning summer school it is. Aside from that, she's enjoying the class, though.

 

The rest of us are just schlepping along. Caitlyn's stepping up to babysitting duty, thankfully, though whenever she starts looking glum about being "camp director" for Alison and Kristen, I remind her that I'm actually paying her. Eventually. We've got a tally board going with how much I owe them for babysitting. It helps to know that she'll get something out of all the work she's putting into being a good big sister. Especially since Alison and Kristen can be highly, um, obnoxious sometimes.

 

We did get to the pool once this week. And lasted exactly a half hour. This is the real change from last summer: it's been warm, but it hasn't been HOT, and the pools aren't heated, so if it's only in the mid-80s, the younger girls don't last too long. Seriously: a half hour, and Alison's lips were blue. I'm not wishing for 53 100+ days this year, but it'd be nice if going to the pool would be a wee bit nicer.

 

I worked -- just Monday; Russell was lovely to stay home -- and got to the library (brought the girls with me; they love coming to the Alford branch, where I volunteer). I also spent all of Friday and part of Saturday reading for my blogging 48 hour book challenge. Russell was lovely to be Dad on those days, too. I took Alison and Kristen to a play as part of Riverfest, too, on Tuesday: The Three Billy Goats Gruff. The play was a lot of fun, and both the girls had a grand time. Even though Kristen was a bit stressed out about the parking meter, and kept asking whether we'd get in trouble if the meter ran out before we got back to the car.

 

Friday, Russell took the girls to a science show at the library, which was quite good. At least, Alison and Kristen had a grand time at it and came home raving about the cool things the science guy showed them. And then, he took them back to Riverfest one last time to bounce on the inflatables and make crafts at the craft center. Which was one of the reasons that they've been up late.

 

Megan spent Thursday afternoon through Saturday afternoon at Youth Conference. She had a grand time, hanging out, going to classes, dancing, and sleeping over with a bunch of girls her age. We heard about the service project on Friday, when she called and asked to be picked up so she could shower during a break: she spent three hours shoveling and moving sand for the zoo. Aside from making her exhausted, she had a grand time.

 

And yesterday: well, the girls went fishing, we went to a party to say good-bye to a British faculty member who is leaving to go back to Scotland (and they've invited us to visit... hmm... wonder how we can swing that?), and then hung out at home. I don't know why we were up late: somehow, we just didn't get to bed before it was really quite late. (Well, I was reading, so that's my excuse.)

 

And so, because we had a really active past two days, we're all pretty tired around here. We slugged through church, and are slugging through the afternoon, making our Hawaiian(ish) meal in honor of King Kamehameha day tomorrow. Yum. Pineapple.

Fishing!

The girls enjoyed this enough last year, that when we found out the Wichita Eagle was sponsoring another one this year, we decided to go. The downside? This year it cost money, though not much. The girls still had a grand time!

Those are, obviously, not fish. Because it was at the nature center this year, they had tents set up with people talking about different aspects of nature. Alison and Kristen were fascinated by it all, and talked about holding the snakes for hours.

Riverfest 2012

So, remember all the things we didn't do last year?

We did them this year. And yes, they were as fun as we thought they'd be. (Well, except for the pony rides. Those were kinda lame.)

Riverfest: Botanica

So, one of the reasons we wanted to go to Botanica as part of Riverfest (the other being the discounted admission) was because a children's garden opened up last summer, and we never got there. So, what we really needed to do was rectify that. And we're glad we did! It was a ton of fun!

The conversation went something like this: 
Yoga-going Mom: "What are you doing? Meditating?"
Avatar-watching Kristen: "Nope! I'm opening my life chakra!:

And, as always, we had to make a stop in one of our favorite places in Botanica: the Butterfly House!

We love Botanica!

What Day is It?

And we've entered that time of year when no one knows what day it is. I wear a skirt to work, and the kids freak out: IT ISN'T SUNDAY IS IT?? And Saturday chores are hard to do: WAIT A SECOND, WE'VE BEEN LAZY ALL WEEK, YOU WANT US TO WORK NOW??? They sleep in until 8 (not a bad thing) or later, and stay up until all hours of the night (well, we do manage to get the littler ones in bed by 9 or 9:30). It must really, really be summer.

 

Unfortunately, as a result, I really can't remember much past the last couple of days. In fact, yesterday Russell reminded me that Memorial Day was only last Monday, and I was flabbergasted. (Okay, yes. I just said that so I could use "flabbergasted" in a sentence. Although, I was a bit surprised.) Really?? It feels like it's been much longer...

 

What I can remember:

 

We did go swimming on Monday, when the pools opened. It was warmish out, but not quite warm enough to make the (very) cold water tolerable for much longer than about 45 minutes. That said, everyone enjoyed being back in the water, going down the slides. We're planning on going as often as we can, of course.

 

Wednesday, we got a HUGE hailstorm/rainstorm. Not tornado level huge, but still, some good-sized hail. And tons of rain. Unfortunately, it wiped out about a third of our corn "crop", as well as several pepper plants.*sigh* The joys of gardening in Kansas.

 

(As an aside, it's blinking hard writing a letter without the use of the backspace key. I never realized how much I used it until it broke. ARGH.)

 

At some point, we had a plumbing crisis. We had that layered green salad that I grew up with for dinner, but NO ONE liked it (not even RUSSELL!), and so, when doing the dishes, Russell dumped it down the drain. The drain rejected it, and began backing up. Several pots of boiling water, a call into a plumber, a flooded dishwasher, and water sitting underneath the dishwasher, we go it fixed. For future reference, the pots of boiling water did the trick, we were just impatient with the results. And next time, don't run the dishwasher until we're sure the pipes are clear.

 

Friday, we headed down to Riverfest. We were going to do a whole bunch of stuff on Friday, but it was raining all afternoon, and it was kind of coolish, so we decided to postpone the activities, and just headed down for the Twilight Pops concert (which we listened to outside even though the concert was inside; they were nice and piped it out through the speakers by the stage wher it was originally supposed to be) and the fireworks. I hate to say this, but the Riverfest fireworks beat the Fourth of July ones around here, hands down. It was a great show, one which EVERYONE enjoyed. And, because of the rain (although it cleared up) and the coolish weather, the crowds weren't nearly what they could have been. Which was heavenly. (And there were less people to get offended at our boisterousness.) Kristen was funny: the show didn't end until nearly 10:30, and we were hiking back to the car (there is no nearby parking for Riverfest), and someone mentioned that we wouldn't be home until 11 p.m. "When is 11 p. m.?" she asked. "Nearly midnight," someone said. To which, Kristen had a complete meltdown. "BUT THAT'S TOO LATE! IT'S TOO LONG PAST BEDTIME! WE CAN'T GO HOME THAT LATE!" Seriously hysterical over this. Chalk it up to being tired. (Is it bad that I found it funny? My poor children.)

 

And yesterday we spent all afternoon down at Riverfest, doing the things we were going to do Friday night. Much better time to do them, too! It was gorgeous, sunny, and not too hot. (Which, unfortunately, led me to forget the sunscreen, a move we all regretted Saturday night.) We went to Botanica (reduced admission, woot!) and hung around the children's garden and butterfly house. Went canoeing/kayaking on the river (first time we'd actually been ON the river since we've moved here). Megan and Caitlyn rode the zipline across the river (pretty cool) while Alison and Kristen played in the bouncy houses (fun stuff), and they rode some ponies as well (which were supposed to be "Free" but instead  were a $5 "donation". HA!). We also had a picnic by the river, and watched the boats go by. It was a great afternoon.

 

Today's been nice. Nothing to write home about, mostly because we were all tired out from yesterday (and from Excitement late last night, which involved our house being surrounded by cops and a police helicopter swooping over the field behind our house; don't worry, they caught the guy) (that's not to mention the thunderstorm that rolled through at about 3 a.m.). So, we've been lazy today.

 

It's really because it's summer.

Old Hawaii Pictures

So, Phil is putting together a... something... for the Fox Family reunion this year with all the pictures from our times in Kona over the years. As I was scanning the pictures, I realized I didn't have any of them up here, and figured it'd be fun to do a little bit of a walk-through-the past.

Enjoy!

1998

We did a fair amount on our first trip out there... we drove over to Hilo (top small, bottom left) with Marjorie; went whale watching with everyone (Dan McSweeny! He was the best!) (top and bottom right); and just hung out at the pool (and went to Wendy's, center). We also took our first of what became an every-time thing, and went to the Place of Refuge (bottom small).  It was also the place of one of my favorite pictures of Megan:

We also went to a luau, looked down at Waipio Valley, snorkeling, and a bunch of other things... but for some reason, none of the pictures turned out really well. (Or at the very least, they shouldn't be shared with the world!)


2001

We did stuff on this trip, but not as much. Mostly we hung out at the condo, playing with cousins, since we overlapped with Samatha and Michael's family.

 We did go down into Waipio Valley (top), to the Place of Refuge (center left), Hapuna beach (or maybe it was a beach close to Hapuna; I don't quite remember) (center right, bottom left).

 We also went snorkeling (far right), and whale watching again (not with Dan McSweeny, which is why there are no pictures). But, really: it was all about the cousins on this trip.


2005

This trip, we did a TON of stuff. We found a really cool luau, the best one we'd been to (well, better than the other ones), and took a trip down south.

 The one on the center right is from the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Alison's asleep, I think.

These are definitely from Hapuna Beach. Which is a really awesome beach.  The bottom center two are from our whale watching trip (back with Dan McSweeny!), and the far left one is from one of  my favorite memories: Russell and I kayaked across Kealakekua bay and went snorkeling by the Captain Cook monument. As we were coming back, spinner dolphins swam practically up to the kayak. Very cool.

The one on the center bottom is from our first full day there: Caitlyn was SO exhausted, she fell asleep like that! The top is from Punalu'u beach, and the bottom right from South point. The bottom left is from -- you guessed it -- The Place of Refuge. The top center is the only picture I have of Russell golfing with his father, even though they went every single time.  That year, they had a condo right on the golf course, and they drove right up to the lanai. It was pretty cool.

We'll always be grateful for the times we've been able to visit Hawaii -- it really was wonderful going there -- and grateful for Russell's parents for making it possible!