this past week on the island

we have been busy this past week but it's been a great busy. we've loved just about everything we've done! i haven't kept up with posting the new love dare challenge this week because we've been gone most of the weekend so i apologize. i will just start with the next dare on the post.

we've been busy playing in the rain.

we've been busy with the usual school, tae kwon do, and gymnastics.

the kids decided on wednesday night they would like to sleep outside. the officer had to work the next morning so we decided they could sleep outside until we went to bed. right before we went to bed, we would bring them in. i figured they would be asleep, but they weren't. we put their sleeping bags on the the playground and gave them some glowsticks. we tried to turn out a lot of the lights so it would be dark for them. i heard a lot of giggling and whispering. after a couple of hours, my daughter came in with her pillows and glowsticks because she said, "i don't want the squitoes to get me!" she's allergic to mosquitoes - we all are. my son came in right behind her because "sister came in and i didn't want to be alone out there!" they had fun! in the picture, they have pajama bottoms on their head "to keep their heads warm".

on friday we went to the fair with our homeschool group. we all met up together and started together, but quickly dissipated. i thought we would all be together doing this special "academy" thing the fair had set up. however, we were able to go wherever we wanted, so it didn't turn out bad.

my kids were able to see a lot of the animals. the first thing we saw were baby pigs and chicks.

we saw huge clysdale horses and goats. a boy let us into his stall to pet his goats.

i forgot the name of center, but in a little agriculture town they had set up specifically for children, they had a movie playing. it was called the store wars. it was a play on star wars. the character's names were darth tater, obi wan kanoli, chewbroccoli, ham solo, c3 peanuts, and so on. it was only about 5 minutes, but it was pretty cute.

we passed by some loggers having a competition. they were log rolling. one was even in roller skates.

we also rode the og&e space tower. my son was concerned it was going to go very fast. it didn't.

as we were leaving we heard someone saying, "the pig races will start in 3 minutes." we couldn't miss that. so we watched several pig races. each pig had a piece of cloth on it's back. you cheered for whatever number the announcer gave you. at the end, he announcer put college teams on the pig's backs. just so you know, the OU pig beat the osu and texas pig! :)

after the fair, we went to my moms. my mother loves to write. she has started what i could call a creative writing class with them. it's not a long class. she is just teaching them about main character, plots, and the order of a story so far. she makes up stories with them. i think it will be a fun thing for her and the kids to do and my kids will learn something.

saturday i went to a family reunion. my batteries died in my camera and i couldn't get them charged in time so i have no pictures yet. when i get some from other family, i will post them. we had a great time. my kids love playing with their cousins. not everyone was there but there was a good turn out.

when i was little, we used to have big, long family reunions. we had it every three years. different families planned it every year, so we often traveled to different parts of the united states. for me and all my cousins, these are fond memories. we often camped along the way. we must of not had car seats back then because i remember being in the back of station wagons or playing on the floor of the car a lot. as the family has gotten bigger it has been harder to plan family reunions. our family reunions used to consist of my grandma's family and all her siblings families too. however, my grandma's family is so big now, we have to plan just her family's reunion. we have yet to travel anywhere but we hope to next year.

we had our reunion at the seminole community center. it was a great place to have it. they had a huge playground (much like the one they have at the zoo). they also had a baseball field, tennis courts, volleyball fields, and a golf course. i'm sure basketball was around there somewhere. we started at 10 a.m. there was a light breakfast served. a lot of the family arrived between breakfast and lunch. i lost in ping-pong 21/19 to my cousin, john. the queen lost her ping-pong crown. great job john!

before lunch, we had a meeting. the families gave their latest updates and we decided when we would have our next family reunion. i think we are going to travel somewhere cooler next summer for our family reunion! yeah!

after lunch our whole family played kickball. since it wasn't softball, all the older and very young could play. the only ones who didn't get involved was my grandma and a cousin, who is expecting. it was a lot of fun. i think all the kids loved being able to play a real game they could actually play with the "grown ups". after kickball came volleyball. after volleyball, we all ate at western sizzlin. everyone was exhausted by the end of the day.