Sherwood Family Reunion 2009

Okay, ready for this one? This is going to be a LONG post! We had a great fun-packed weekend. What a whirlwind! Here are Tim and Pea-ma when we first got there on Friday. This resort is great! It has spots for camping, but it also has rooms in a lodge, and cabins for those who don't own rigs.
Here is a picture of the HUGE cliffs that we were surrounded by. I put Tim in the pic to give it scale, but it still doesn't do it justice.

These are what I call the King Kong Spires. At night, when the moon shines between them, it reminds me of the 1976 movie. Those of you who have seen it will know what I mean.

It rained really hard during the afternoon, but it quit by evening. We had dinner with the entire family Friday night then were able to enjoy a campfire. The next day, we had breakfast with the entire family again, then Terry's Aunt Fran had a ton of crafts for the kids to do. They were able to make their own hats and boomerangs. Here are Tim and Toph showing theirs off. Alex and Brendon didn't come this time. They were busy!

After the hats and boomerangs, the kids made pet rocks. Here are "Bob" and "Crocky Rock".

After the crafts, the kids played for a bit. Tim and Topher were getting their butts kicked by this hammock. It was pretty funny.

After a brief rest, Aunt Fran led all of the kids on a pirate treasure hunt. They had to get into costume or they couldn't participate! Here is Captain Topher Sparrow.

Here is Long Tim Silver!

Here is the whole crew. A fearsome bunch!

Grey Beard (a.k.a. Terry) was the pirate treasure guard. No one was getting past him! ARRRRR!

They got TONS of treasure and it was really fun. They had to follow the clues to find the treasure boxes. There were 20 of them! After that, it was time to rest and get ready for lunch. Terry's cousin Ashley had a baby chihuahua with her and we babysat for a while. She was so cute, her name is Boo. Gizmo and Dusty didn't know what to make of her. Is she a puppy or a guinea pig???

She is trying to play with Dusty.

After lunch, Tim and Toph decided they were going to swim in the FREEZING river water. Here is Tim showing me muddy hands.

Topher decided the river was a little too fast for him, so he decided to swim in a little brook that led to the river. He must have gone back and forth across this bridge about a zillion times. As you can see, he is in character (I don't know which one, but he is definitely letting somebody have it!)

After swimming, it was time for the jello eating contest. Here is Tim slurping his up. He came in 3rd place. He wasn't quite sure what to do, but I think he got the hang of it!

After jello came the three legged race. Tim is pairing with his cousin Sabian here. We tied them up and they took off like naturals!

Needless to say, they won! Then it was time for an adult/child three legged race. Tim and I were partners. We won too! (although this one was very close). We got medals, but Tim wouldn't get his pic taken with me. So I posed by myself!!

Then came sack races. Here is Tim vying for first place. He won and the other little boy was right behind him. They got medals too!

We had been trying to get Topher over to the races but he was too busy playing his fantasy game (real fantasy, not on a Wii or anything!) We finally talked him into participating in the sack race for his age group. He won too! After that, we wanted to do more races, but that was the last one. He was sorta disappointed.

Here is Tim with all of his medals. He made a killin! Here is Topher with his. After the races, we had a water balloon fight. I didn't get any pics because I was running for my life! After that, we went back to the trailor for naps and we ALL took one. We were whipped! We had dinner with the family again and then they had a prize drawing and the awarding of the guessing jars. We didn't get a jar this year, but I won a blanket Pea-ma had crocheted. Topher won a big stuffed monkey (now Kung-Fu Monkey has a dad!), Terry won some chocolate body spray and lotion (funny!), and Tim won a hand made wooden pen. Tim and I traded so he could have the blanket Pea-ma made. He slept with it that night. Later on that night, we had our last campfire. Here are some of Terry's cousins. This is Tom and his wife Misty. The little boy is Terry's cousin Tish's son. He was literally sleeping sitting up!

This is Terry's cousin Toni.

Terry's cousin Tish is being squashed by her husband Jeff.

Our campfire stories ranged from getting shot, to bears, to farts, to school, to kids, to whatever else, you name it! We had a great time, always love going to Sherwood functions, it is a blast. Can't wait for 2011!!!!

Alex and Alli graduate!

Wow, what a whirlwind. I knew this day would come, but I was afraid it might be a real struggle getting there. Alex is so smart, but I am afraid he has inherited my "throw responsibility to the wind" attitude and he followed in my footsteps with regard to graduating high school. He almost didn't make it (like me!) I am glad to say that he got his $%# together and was able to walk across that stage. Alli is his girlfriend and as most of you who read my blog know, she has a little boy named Boston. I am so proud of her for finishing high school and for all of her plans for the future, she is truly a great mom!
What a cute couple! Before walking out on the floor.

Here I am with my "baby". Yes, I started boobing. I AM the mom!

Here is Alex with his dad. I love that they are the same height. Alex is tipping his head down a bit so it looks like G.J. is a little taller.

Here is Alli with her parents. Notice Boston is looking at me! I was making funny faces at him so he would smile.

My grandparent, and my parents came to the grad. Tim was too shy to get in this group pic. Poor Toph, we should have had Alex pic him up!

Tim made me take Alex away so he could have his pic taken with him. So shy!

Here is the little family! Notice Boston is still looking at me! (I am not proud or anything!)

This is my favorite pic. They are about to go up on stage and receive their diplomas. It is always easy to get good pics when people are so happy. Congratulations guys! I love you more than you know!

Kindergarten goes to Hogle Zoo!

The annual kindergarten trip to Hogle Zoo that Mountain Shadows Elementary takes every year is here again. This is the first year I didn't have any younger children at home, so I got to be an official chaperone and ride on the bus. Here is Topher's group. There is Topher, Alex, Daniel......
and Yesenia and Nathalie. We sat at the back which is like sitting at the back of a roller coaster, bumpy and crazy!!

There is a gal that has always come into the classroom to help with her daughter as well. Her older daughter is also in Tim's class, so we have become friends (her name is Jill). We decided to join our two groups together. They posed for us when we first got there! Have you ever tried to keep a bunch of kindergarteners still when they first arrive at the zoo! (didn't think so!)

Okay, Nathalie, Alex, Yesenia, Elsa, Salvador, Andrew, Daniel, Kolton, and Topher. Only a mom that is in the classroom ALL OF THE TIME would know this :)

Here is Topher by the Cockatoo. He is such the poser lately!

Here we are by a cool looking orange bird. Topher wanted me to take this pic. I had to take it quick because I was under another bird's butt and I just knew it was waiting to poop on me!

Here is a scary looking croc! I just love Topher's facial expressions (can you say ham?)

Here are Topher and Alex by "Topher's favorite bird" a parrot. In fact, every bird we passed was his favorite, and every monkey we passed was his favorite as well.

This is the "GQ Smooth" photo that Topher insisted I take of him and Alex. (did I say ham?)

They were at the entrance to this cave you can go in and actual get up close to the elephant. Here we are underneath the big fella while he was having his lunch.

Here are a bunch of monkeys posing on a gorilla!

This was a blast, but it wore my butt out! I swear, I don't know how teachers do it! I am out of practice since my daycare has dwindled down to one! (plus two occasionally) Topher fell asleep on the bus on the way home and I lost my hat out the window (good thing it was an old one). Thanks to Jill for keeping me sane during the trip!

Summer can NOW begin!

Okay, so I will be the first to admit whenever I heard of anybody getting something big for their house or yard, I would feel a little jealous. Especially a pool. I will now tell you just how friggin hard they worked to get that sucker in! Don't let me deter you from purchasing a pool. Constructing the actual pool was not hard at all. Getting your backyard ready can be a real pain, especially if your backyard was a $%^& hole like mine was. Okay, here is the playground area I showed last week. As you can see, we took the sand toys out and put them in the playground. We also added some little soft spongy mats to make it look nice and to create a soft "landing". Also, after clearing out the sand and pine needles from these toys, there was no way in hell I was putting that stuff back in the sandbox! It will be just that.... a sandbox, but that is another blog post.
Now, if you walk around the side of the house, you can now see the pool. This pic is to give you an idea of what you are looking at. As you can see, the lifeguard station sits right in front of the pool.

Terry the lifeguard, on duty! (Ignore the fence. I still need to paint it. The work never ends!)

Here are the happy boys playing in their new pool. Brendon was still asleep after a hard night out with the boys. I am sure he will get in it at some point this summer!

Notice the beautiful landscaping rock at the bottom (i.e. pain in the a$$ to set up!)

The water heated up pretty fast. When we filled it up, it was a crispy 52F. BRRRR! But as of checking last night, it had risen to 63F. Not too bad for two days, eh?

As you can see, it is already a blast. That is a good thing, I have spent all of my money now, so we will be using it quite a bit this summer because I don't have the money to do anything else!

Kathy, this one's for you!

I just wanted to take a moment and tell the world what a wonderful mother-in-law I have. Not many people can say that (hence all of the mother-in-law jokes) but I truly can. I call her mom and I mean it. I have two moms! Anyway, she is always doing things for us and I came upon this comic and it reminded me of her. No, SHE is not stupid! If you know her, anything that has to do with "stupid" is her mantra. She has a bumper sticker on her car that says, "You can't fix stupid!" I love it! So this is her motto right here! Love you, mom!

Chelsea Grin New Pics!

Touring Canada the end of June!!! Europe the end of August!!!