To my Surprise!

After a long day of doing family stuff together we were all famished. We headed to one of the local chain pizza buffets for an easy quick dinner. Then the inevitable happened, again. "Do you have a quarter? Please! Just one, Paaaleeeaasssseeeee?" So I finally caved. Normally this is where I would inject that they should be using their own money. But we had been out for so long I figured fine. At least this will stop the whining and you know there would have been a lot more. So my darling daughter went strait to the candy crane machine. You know the one where you are guaranteed you will win. When there is candy available you can bet your sunshine my daughter will be one of the first in line. My son on the other hand. He is becoming quite the oportunist. He decided that he was going to go for one of those toy crane games that nobody ever wins. When he first went to the machine it wasn't posted how much it was. So he decided he was going to give it a shot anyway. Surprise, surprise, surprise! It wasn't a quarter and then to add salt to the wound. It wouldn't give him his quarter back. Normally I would have just said well lesson learned and been done with it. He kept saying "I know I can get one." Once again I caved and decided to let him learn his lesson giving him the second quarter he needed. Saying, "No one wins those things." Then much to my and my husbands amazement the claw actually grabbed the toy. Then it actually pulled it up. Then wonder of all wonders it actually fell into the retrieval box. Holly macanoli! He actually did it. I think you could have picked mine and my husbands jaws off the floor. That little turkey came back to the table with a smile as big as the ocean. "I told you I could do it!" Then he followed it by saying "Aren't you going to put it on the Internet where you tell stories about us?" Of course I am.

Dad's Re tard

This last week my dad is officially retired. His announcement is that he is re tard. So what better way than to take a couple of his grand kids down memory lane. My dad's first retirement was from the 45th infantry. Lucky for us we have a whole museum here dedicated to them. Honestly I wanted to make sure my kids had a way to put history into reality. It was fun listening to my dad tell them some stories about the different pieces of memorabilia that was on display and how it was used or wasn't used according to regulation specifications. It was interesting how he was (not so much) complaining about how the equipment outside was being painted black. It is supposed to be army green. Without him saying this I remember many times visiting my daddy at work and climbing on all the green trucks. Of course back then I was probably as tall as some of the tires. I remember trying to use the treads for steps. I think the young men that were doing the painting were actually listening to my dad tell some of his stories. Even if they weren't I have to give them credit for being respectful and kind. The following are pics of the kids and him at different things that he actually worked on while they were in service.


Now dad never did any work on the planes but these pics were just for fun.


As you may have read in my previous post that we have started kayaking. My son was complaining that his arm was hurting to much so you can see the posts all to well. I think the picture is deserving if for no other reason than the complaining.

This is one I really liked. My dad has always had a fascination with weapons. What better way to show that then him explaining the displays to my son. Aren't Grandpa's the best.

These next two pics are for those of you military types that understand it because I don't. They are the flags from two of the units my dad was in.

By the time we made it to the patches display dad was getting a little silly with me taking so many pictures. But just as any good grandpa would do he obliged (another) for the picture.

Now this is the bonus picture for this blog. My dad likes to skip the highways when possible and so on the way back to my house we stopped here. This is the house that my mom and dad brought me home from the hospital to. The other nice thing about this house is that MY Grandpa built it. After getting home I realized that it was close to 40 years to the day that this picture was taken for the first time. What a hoot. I love you Daddy and Happy Re tard ment!

First ALL Family Kayak

I was beginning to think this day would never come. We finally received the required state paperwork to get the titles and registration on our 3rd and 4th kayaks. After a few trips to the store for stickers and city lake permits we were finally ready. We now have something that is both fun and healthy for our family to do together. DH and I wondered just how much the kids could handle and they did pretty good. The sun was shining and the wind was mild so we headed out to lake Hefner. We were lucky to meet up with some other kayakers. I thought I grabbed a picture with them but after the down load I found that I did not. I think we were out for about an hour and a half. The kids were pretty excited and while we were on the lake they started to come up with different funny names for their boats. We have already decided that they are going to be allowed to personalize them (almost) however they want.

It seems that our daughter took to kayaking like a duck to water. She was paddling circles around the rest of us most of the time. She is pretty excited about it and can not wait until we can go out again.

Look at her go. Is that a wake she is creating behind that boat?


I hope that I get more secure in my skills soon so that there will be more pictures coming in the future. Every time I would attempt to get my camera out I kept envisioning getting dumped. So I would scare myself into keeping it in the dry box. We all know that electronics and water don't mix well.

July 4th Success

This July 4th seemed to go over pretty good this year. Our first activity was our local parade where we ran into a sweet friend/teacher. We enjoyed the parade together where we saw several of our friends including this guy. Whom shall remain nameless in order to protect his wife's children.
Dh and son decided to stay home this year and while that was disappointing we my daughter and I still had a great time.

When we came home it was time to enjoy all the food I had been preparing the last couple of days. Don't you just love my little patriotic jello with the flag made of stars. This one I was a little worried that it would not turn out right since I placed the stars on before I poured the the jello in the pan. It was also fun because I had not seen that type of marshmallow's in the store before so I just HAD to do something with them.

Then for the perfect dessert! Oh yea, you guessed it baby. Home made ice cream!


You can all ways determine the feast was a success when this occurs. I promise I did not use any triptopan or medical aid to induce this behavior.


In the evening we headed over to a friends house for swimming and fireworks. This turned out to be the best decision since the local display ended up being canceled due to a storm. We just waited out the thunder and lightening then went for it.


Those are fire works on the other side of the pool this picture just did not turn out as well on this post as I had hoped.



I'm not sure where my daughter gets this from but she insists on picking up and touch any and everything. Tonight's example was one of the toads that were every where. This pic was taken while she was attempting to kiss it! She reminds me of the that little girl from the cartoons. "I want to hug it, and squeeze it, and love it, and play with it, and, and, and..." In the mean time I am looking for the sanitizer, bleach, soap and what ever else I can find to clean her.


The final proof that the day was a success is what I found in my sink by about 10:30 in the morning today. All those empty little dishes mean they were going back for leftovers already this morning. (They did like it, they really did!)