This Moment Friday

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember

and now to answer your question.   Yes.  we cut Syd's hair more.  actually twice.
I cut it the first two times but the shorter it got the thicker it seemed to get, so we had a professional cut it to her chin including some layers to help with the bulk.
I think she's happy with the length.  
finally.   

I think it's cute on her.  although I think she could wear a bag over her head and still be cute ;-)   I'm a little biased.

Summer Bucket List

Grocery Store Field trip.

Ok first I have to say....HOLY INTERNETLESS MOTHER F'er !
I've been without the internet since Monday morning.   I damn near cracked at 9pm Monday night.   by Wednesday I had the shakes.   I was randomly visiting friends so that I could use their internet capabilities. (ok, just that one friend...but had it not been so late when I got home....I TOTALLY would have visited more.  of my other friend)
wooooooooo.
Glad to be here folks.   Glad to be here.

Ok.   So Perfect day to be back online.   We did a fun bucket list check off today.
We went to Smith's Food King and had a tour of the grocery store.
It helps to know people in small places.   Although when you have as many kids as I do....I'm sure most people thought that it was just another school tour.   ha ha ha
My mom works at Smith's.   She happens to do these tours with elementary classes when she's not making signs, hiring baggers and randomly drug testing people.  I don't know why we haven't done this before....but it was well worth the wait.
The kids loved it.   and LUCKILY for me...they were all well behaved.
Unlike the time this week when we checked off another item on our bucket list to get the big boys library cards.   At one point, both little boys removed their shoes and socks and began jumping back and forth on the padded furniture in the corner of the kids area.   When I went to retrieve them and put said socks and shoes back on....the one I wasn't holding (Nate) went running barefoot screaming and laughing up and down the aisles.   
(sigh)  keeps me on my toes those 2.


Here are some pictures of our day.   I felt like we needed to balance it out.  So I took 3 sets of twins with me instead of my normal 2 sets and Syd.    Piece of cake :)

We all got hats :)

We learned about produce

We touched mushrooms

We got to walk in to the bakery oven to feel how hot it is

We watched one of the cakes get decorated

We got doughnuts 

We walked through the produce fridge

We saw boxes smashed for recycling

My favorite.   The fridge where they load the dairy.  

Meat department :)   Hamburger. mmmm.

That's a wrap

Bringing down the house

I suppose there is a reason to my grabbing a camera and not just going straight in to the...HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU...WHAT KIND OF ANIMALS ARE YOU...YOU DON'T TREAT FURNITURE LIKE PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT....LOOK AT MY WALL....THIS MAKES ME SO MAD !  speech. 
Reason number one.   When I'm old and Jan is super old, I will pull this video out and say.....remember when you guys broke the outlet cover on the wall, damn near broke the chair, and put a nice crease line in my relatively newly painted wall.  
THAT alone will save me several weeks in the assisted living center.
And I'm certain to have WEEKS and even YEARS of earned time with the videos and pictures I'm keeping.

Syd has already promised to put me up in her pool/guest house....but I fear the guilt won't hold her over for very many years.
I'm really banking on the boys for the last really crappy years.  :)

and Reason number two.  kinda lame..but...now I can add.....DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT YOU DID TO THE CHAIR/WALL/OUTLET IN THE LIVING ROOM WHEN YOU WERE SCREWING AROUND.....to my speech.

first and most important.  I must mention to you that this is not a clip from the movie Brave.   The 3  boys in the movie are animated characters and were not harmed during the making of the film.   (oh and they all had red hair)   these three cause just as much chaos and damage and will eventually get hurt.   after I'm done posting this video. :)


 also...do you love how Sadie stands in the back and is practically rolling her eyes. She reminds me of Nana in Peter Pan. :)

Summer bucket list 2012

Picnic in the canyon (check)

lunches packed

friends packed

This was awesome...it was like "The Little Critter" book.   This spider crawled up on his shoulder and  stayed  there for most of our hike

Syd's 2nd time catching a butterfly 

AAAAND.  a rattlesnake.

The rattler

LUCKILY.....I was the only one who was by this snake.
Spencer fell and scraped his knee so our time was cut short.    I ran down a short path to the picnic tables to retrieve our lunch bags and garbage while the kids buckled up.    As I ran back with arms full I heard a rattle and immediately stopped.   When I looked down, 1 ft away from me was this guy.      So I of course called for the camera and took a picture.    When I walked up the trail a little my water bottle that I had balanced on the pile of bags and garbage fell and he started to coil up....(not like a tight coil...but he bundled up a little...the above picture)     I know it's REALLY hard to see....but if you look close at the leaf in the middle right that comes about half way across the picture....you can see his chin resting on the leaf.   His one black eye.  
Pretty exciting.

We came home and went to a neighbors house to see a dead tarantula in a glass box and her very alive gecko.   :)
Fun day !

Summer bucket list 2012

Water gun fight.   (check)
Adults v Kids

This was fun.  
Rules were.  If you were on the grass...you could squirt or be squirt at.   Otherwise...you were off limits.

It all had to be documented, so I left Jan to defend herself while I took a few pictures.  :)

filling station

must get back to patio....must refill tiny squirt gun

outnumbered

girls against boys

when all else fails.  just shoot.
Pathetic little guns.  held all of 4 tablespoons of water :) ha ha
Yes.  The adults were at a disadvantage I must say.

Papa's Day !

Yip....TOTALLY stole it.   Saw it on a blog or whildst scrolling through google on homemade fathers day crafts or something last night and immediately knew I wanted to do it.
I used flimsy paper, I will use card board next time, and do it before the sun is straight up.   oh and plan it on a day that's not windy.   Urgh.   Either way...we got it done.   it's not perfect and I think I like it more because of that.
I love the idea.  and I can't wait to do it for other events.

We dubbed today to be papa's day.  
My kids were talking about it being Fathers Day and Sydney piped in with...we don't celebrate fathers day because we don't have one.
I quickly said...SURE we do.  We know lots of people who ARE fathers and so we get to celebrate them.   Papa happens to be my father....and my kids adore him....so we celebrated Papa's day.

Happy Fathers day to all of you amazing dads out there.  

Summer Bucket List (check)

Utah Kennecott copper mines.
It's 25 minutes west of my house.   you follow one road clear out and then turn left a few hundred feet and BOOM, you're at the entrance.
Nope.  never been.
There are a lot of things we've never done/seen/been to.  Thus my bucket list.

It's vastness is astounding.   I don't think you can get a real feel for it in pictures.
The tire in the picture below with the kids is on one of the trucks that look like ants on the road in the first picture.   Kind of puts it into perspective aye.

I heard a lot of, "WOW...look out MY window.  COOL!  Holy Cow !"  as we were driving up to the visitors area. (4 miles in)  I was SO excited that it would be a different experience for our family from all of the other families that had gone before and didn't find it so fun.
As we pulled into the visitors area it all changed.   "This is it.   I thought we got to ride in one of the trucks.   Can't we climb up the mountain.  I thought we got to climb the mountain.  This is dumb.  Lets go.  This is boring.   I hate this place.   I don't want to come here.   I'm mad"
(sigh)

They looked out into the hole.   Stood next to the tire for a picture.  (after begging and rounding them up for 5 minutes) and then we hit the visitors center.
They actually liked it.   Finished the entire 1,200 sq feet in 5 minutes and it was time to go.

I paid 5.00.   I had a great time.   Totally worth it.

Oh. and for the first time ever....I had to pull over on the side of the road to break up a fight between Sydney and Cameron.   OH HOLY HOT HELL OF SUMMER !
Whatever.
We got out of the house and learned something today.
At least the kids weren't in my house to do this :

Yes....that is in fact dirt and sand in my fridge water dispenser.    What I didn't take a picture of was the mud puddle below this and the trail of sand and water leading to my back door.  
It's movie/pizza night  2 hours.   only 2 more hours.

Summer 2012 bucket list

I have seen the summer to do lists and wanted to do one for our family.

Checked off :
                                      -Have a bike wash-

 In the end.....wait.   no.  there is no end to playing in the water.   The bike wash ended and the sprinklers came on under the tramp.   Fun day in the sun, day 11 of summer.
not pictured.  the bucket of soap, wash rags and towels.   Yes.  they really did wash them. :)

A note about the PVC pipe building bike wash.
J bought misters and installed them.   The kids didn't feel like there was enough sprayage....so she ended up just drilling holes into the PVC pipe.   I think we should have made aNOTHER bike wash and left the mister one to cool off on hot summer day.   aaaaah.  but..once again...not all about me. 
She's going to add to, or change this one.   I'll keep you posted.   Her mind is always working :)

1 by land, 3 by plane

As I travel around this country of ours....and countries of others....I find myself less and less inclined to get excited about the places I see.   
A bit like, been there done that, if you've seen one you've seen em all...maybe it's that I'm spoiled.
So to share with you a little treasure we visited this weekend makes me giddy.
J, my mom and me went to Boston over the weekend.   Or should I call it little Italy.  a bit of Florence with flecks of NY and sprinkles of Seattle spread out on the pages of a history book.
It's gorgeous.   
We flew first class, had a 5 star hotel on the wharf.   I imagine part of my beautiful and great experience could be a bit jaded by both of those facts.  :)
Nah, when I share a few pictures with you....you'll know that it's true.


Celtics were only a game away from heading to the finals...sadly that didn't happen.
Gay pride.
Gorgeous Weather.
All of the above made our trip that much better and then also a bit crazy.  
I can't WAIT to go back and can't imagine why anyone would ever move away from such an amazing city.
LOVE Boston.

old ironside

1 if by land, 2 if by sea

not the real Cheers...but still an important part of Boston