It's a school night

I had a good bit of fun with this phrase tonight, especially at Cooper's expense. Back to school tomorrow. Honestly though, I am sad to see summer end. Not looking forward to those early mornings and packing lunches.


So as a last hooray, we had a family day today. We started the day at the crack of 10am and by 11:30 we were eating pancakes. We decided to go bowling since the weather was a little iffy. After that we headed back home for snacks, a movie, some b-ball and frisbee in the yard and nachos for dinner. Perfect. A few little remarks about nerves just before bed (cooper and hudson), but nothing too serious.


Here's a few bowling photos. (hard to get good shots inside a bowling alley but we did our best)

Seriously, this girl has fun wherever she is
Tag seems to pretty happy with his performanceBut sometimes the ball took a really long time to reach the pinsSo Tony stepped in to help speed things up and boost his numbersShe had the funniest little move where she lifted her right leg when she let go of the ball. I don't think it was serving her too well but she wasn't at all interested in any of my advice.

Cooper worked hard on his form and thought he was going to pull off a win but Tony's game improved in the last half and he was able to pull off three strikes in a row. Cooper was not impressed.

Serious and solid - that's Hudson
I thought I was okay at bowling but apparently I was mistaken. I think the lane was crooked.

Tony entered the names and yes, CHICKEN is me. I really have no idea why.
Now it's off to bed. After all, it's a school night.

My date with Cooper

Ever since we spent the day in Vancouver back at the beginning of summer, Cooper has kept saying that he really wants to go back to downtown just to 'walk around'. He, just like me, really loves the hustle and bustle of being in the city. So we decided that just him and I weould go one night this summer. Since school starts next week, time was running out. So we picked a night and last night was it. We headed down just after lunch and met Tony at the Shangri-La. He took us up to the top and and showed us the view, which was great. Tony headed down with us and Cooper and him had a crepe on Robson before Tony had to head home to hang out with the other three kids who were left behind with Nana.

Cooper and I had a great evening just walking around, looking at the shops, and having dinner together.

What I noticed most was how grateful he was for everything. So many "thanks Mom"'s all night long. Made me realize, once again, how important theses one on one times really are. This was sort of a big one but I know that all it really takes is a trip to get an ice cream. Mental note to me to make this happen way more often, with all of them.

FPOTM - August

How could this not be my favorite?

The fresh face of five

This handsome little guy turned FIVE today. Crazy! If I let myself, I could get really sappy about how I can't believe my baby is so big and how does the time go so fast and what happened to my baby boy but I won't go there. Rather, I'll focus on the awesome day he had and that we all had with him. Just a lot of hanging out at home, in the backyard, just what he likes best I think.

A birthday hug from big sis before she pretty much disappeared for the day with her friends. She came back for meals and birthday cake.

Smacking the ball around with his new t-ball set.Time with Nana - the best.Playing with Hudson. Old toys became new again.Some sillies with mama.A good old-fashioned pile-up in the backyard.Story time.Helping Dad beat up Cooper - always a good time.Five looks great on you, little buddy. We love you lots and lots.

Here are the highlights (and a few low lights):

The beach
It was beautiful and by far my favorite thing about this place. We never aftually ventured into the water (way too cold) but the top activities were playing 'follow the leader' across the logs, looking for pretty rocks and shells, knocking down the log houses built by others and then finally on the last night building one of our own.

The bridge

When we drove across it for the first time as we headed in to the park I was completely in awe. The view up there was really something to see.The next day we hiked up to the top, across it, did some hiking on the other side and then headed back over the way we came. I could have sat there all day just taking it all in. The kids had a great time exploring.

The hikes

Our hike up to bridge was the only one we did as a family. Taggart's not really the best hiker (or hunter, like he calls it). "When are we going on the hunt? Can I wear my hunting boots?"

We made lots of stops and brought lots of snacks so he did okay. Hudson had a serious run-in with a wasps nest on the way back. I won't go into great detail because the story could become a long one and I already have a lot to cover, but I will say this - Hudson was ready to pack up camp and head home right then and there. At that point - the worst trip of his life. He bucked up though and enjoyed himself, oh...until the last day when he got stung just one more time. That experience will stick with him until he's a grandpa, I'm sure. If you ever want the full details be sure to ask me, not him though. The fact that he was standing on the trail without his shirt and his pants down around his ankles was not embarrassing then but it has proven to be so now.

The food

We ate well and there was no shortage of it. Camping is not camping without an ample supply of candy in this family so there was definitely that. Dinners included tacos, spaghetti, chicken kabobs, and tex-mex chicken complete with corn muffins warmed over the fire. Food somehow tastes better around a campfire.

The knives

Tony has introduced the boys to his love of his knives this summer. A little scary for me as I already talked about in my Lac Le Jeune post but it provided a lot of entertainment this trip as well. The throwing knives came out again, as the little hole in our tent shows. When I told Tony there was a hole in the tent about the same length as the width of a knife he was not at all annoyed which surprised me greatly, until later when I heard from the kids that it was Daddy who put the hole there. Those rumors have still not been confirmed nor denied. Whittling was the new thing and lots of little spears and other things good for poking and such were created. Reagan thought she would test out Dad's giant toothpick he made.

The memories

We really liked this place and would come back there in a minute if it weren't for the naval base right next door and the jets roaring over our heads making conversation at certain times next to impossible. That aside, we had a great time just hanging out. All the stress I had before we left was gone as soon as we got there and I decided I am a pretty good camper after all. Eventhough I was accused a few times of trying to keep the campsite too neat.

We're off

We're off to the wilderness but we have Taggart the Tiger to protect us so I'm sure there is no need to worry.

face painting courtesy of the very kind and patient Aunty Mary

Back to the blogging world in a week or so.

Little rock stars

Forgive me if this is something only a mother could love - I just had to post.

Hudson discovered a no-fail mode on Rock Band - very 'ego-boosting' for Taggart.

They are singing the GO-GO's as I type this. So funny.