Family

You know so many of us feel guilt if we don't take our kids somewhere for a big vacation every year or every spring break. I try to explain to a friend of mine that sure your kids will remember those trips but they may not be the ones they cherish the most. Growing up we only took one big vacation that I remember and that was to Florida - I was ready to move and luckily as a adult my daughter and I got to spend two years in Florida and honestly that was the hardest part of the divorce - leaving the beach. My family also took trips to Branson and to Magic Springs - a local amusement park here in Hot Springs, AR and those were great times too. The time I remember as the most fun was when we had a family water fight. My Mom and I were on one side of the house with a water hose and my Dad and brother was on the other side of the house with a water house and the fight was on. I don't really remember any other specifics of it but the laughter and the giggles. That was a great time and a great memory.

I hope that Erynn will have memories like that to remember. I know from our big trip that we took one of the memories that I will always have is of her "stealing" rocks for me on the trip. It started with the Petrified Forest and them telling us that you couldn't pick anything up to take home and we didn't, but after that everywhere we went we took at least one rock with us. When we were coming out of a motel in Jackson Hole, WY Erynn said, "Mom I've found the perfect rock for you. Pull the car over here for me." So I moved the car to where she was at and she put in this nice round rock. She was so proud of herself and that's really when it began. I kept hearing, "Mom, what do you think of this rock?" My back floorboard by the time we got home was full of rocks, but she had rocks to share with her Nana too of the trip. What an inexpensive souveniour but I hope that it always brings back memories for her of that special time we spent together.

What's a memory that you have of a special family time?

August 5, 2008 - Wow where did summer go?

">
">
This is what I worked on this weekend - making a bird bath look like aged copper. I used metallic folk art acrylic copper paint and sponge brushed the whole thing and then used calypso sky blue where I would think water would run down the bird bath and then to age it I sprayed it with black spray paint here and there. I sealed it with clear acrylic spray paint - twice but I'm still scared to put water in it!LOL

I got out the sewing machine this weekend too. My sewing machine and I have a love/hate relationship and usually the machine really hates me. I have been needing to make a curtain to cover the shelves over my washing machine and have had the material but just haven't done it yet. So I cut that and started working on it but nothing finished yet. I also cut material out for two pillows to put on the bench on the front porch. In the Lowes magazine I got several months ago they had pillows they had decorated with acrylic paint for chairs on the porch and had house # and then Welcome on another and I'm thinking of doing that with these. I think I will spray them with scotchguard first to try to keep them from molding and then paint the info on them and then stuff them.

Erynn will start 9th grade on the 19th of this month. Where does time go? It seems like it was just yesterday when I dropped her off for Kindergarten. She has been wanting her hair blonde so we did it at home this weekend with the Loreal Dream Blonde they came out with. It looks good. She was a blonde until the last few years and it had darkened up to a dirty blonde/light brown. She went to cross country practice yesterday and all the girls were "oohhhing" and "aahhing" over it so it made her happy.

It's been pretty quiet around our household this summer. I haven't taken any summer classes and we did our vacation in June. So we have just been soaking up the quiet before the storm hits again. Erynn starts back the 19th and I start back the 25th. I have 5 business classes I need to take before I can get into the college program I'm wanting in. So I'm in no rush this time, I'm just taking one class this semester and going to enjoy life a little.

Hope all is well in blogger land with all of you! Enjoy the last days of summer!

June 15th

Well all good things must come to an end. The end of a two week vacation - the final night before I have to go back to work. I have dreaded it for two days now knowing that the vacation is coming to an end and I'll have to be back into a routine again of getting up, getting ready and getting my butt out the door on time. Vacations you don't have to worry about being on time unless you are catching a plane or something.

Our worldwind trip was wonderful and I have over 300 photos that I'm having printed - not including the black and whites I did and the winkflash photo book I ordered. The scrapbook paper has been bought but nothing has been scrapped it. I haven't found the perfect embellishments yet - or so that's my excuse of not working on them.

This week I've been in a funk - who knows why but I put it out there. So maybe getting back into routine is what I need. Honestly, I think I'm still messed up from not taking any classes and not having homework holding over my head - am I missing it or just screwed in the head - probably both.

Hope everyone has a great first day of the week!

June 8th

We spent the whole day in the car driving home. Erynn and I both couldn't wait to get home. So she slept and I set the cruise control and we drove. We left South Dakota at 6am and got home by 7:30pm. I never want to get in a car again!

It felt great to sleep in my own bed last night. We drove a total of 4373 miles last week and saw a ton. I really hope that it's a trip that Erynn will remember and look back on. I totaled up the gas last night and I spent $362 on 86 gallons of gas. My little car got about 50 miles to the gallon. How cool is that! I set the cruise control the majority of the time and tried to keep my foot off the gas!

Thanks everyone for following our trip. Now the rest of the week will be laundry, laundry!

June 7th

On the way to Mt. Rushmore we stopped at Bear Country U.S.A. It's one of those drive through zoo's.


Erynn really wanted to see a bear and they had a ton of them at this zoo. They even had a bunch of babies too.

Mt. Rushmore:



This is Keystone, SD. You drive through this town on your way to Mt. Rushmore. We stopped and did a little shopping and had a lunch.
Badlands:




I was a little disappointed in the badlands. I just really had this picture made up in my mind and it wasn't like I thought at all. It was neat but after seeing the Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest it was really no big deal.

Day 7 - June 6

This is Cody, WY were we stayed.
There is a big Buffalo Bill museum here in Cody.
Wyoming is considered a highland dessert - but it's still greenier than AZ, NM, NV.

Here is Devil's Tower. You drive 37 miles off the highway to get to it and you can't see it until you are almost there.


There is prairie dogs as you go in the park. Guess were we spent most of our time at!

We stopped in Deadwood, SD and spent the night and are on our way to Custer State Park and Mt. Rushmore!

Day 6 Continued

Here is Old Faithful Geyser. Did you know it blows about every 90 minutes give or take 10 minutes. The way the wind was blowing all we could see was smoke where we were at.
Baby buffalo on the side of the road

One of the many falls in Yellowstone
You can't really tell but this caldron had a blue green color to the water.

Day 6 - June 5th

We left the cute town of Jackon Hole, WY on our way to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone




<
Moose on the loose! He's outside the wildlife refugee trying to get back in!

This is cottonwood creek! Erynn and I played in it. It was could.
Elk in the Grand Teton park.
Jennie Lake.

Momma moose and the baby. The baby is a dark brown.
I'll post more this evening on Yellowstone. Having a hard time getting blogger to work today!

We are leaving Cody, WY on our way east today!

Day 5 - June 4

Hi from Jackson Hole, WY! Wow is the weather cool here! It was 48 when we drove in yesterday and I think the high is supposed to be 51. We were glad we put on pants and tennis shoes!

I told Erynn the only thing she has seen on the trip is the inside of her eyelids!LOL She has been a great navigator and speed monitor!


It was a beautiful drive up here. I definetely like the Utah, WY, ID area more than the desert of NM,AZ, NV. I love the greens better than the browns.



We drove through Provo Canyon and saw the Bridal Veil Falls.



There were several wild life refuges and we saw these antelope.






This is the snake river. It's huge!

Today we are off to the Grand Teton and Yellowstone!