Fall Is In The Air

Have I told you  I really love fall?  It's my favorite season.  Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte.  Flag Football.  Cool weather.  Leaving changing colors.  Sweatshirts.  Did I hit all the wonderful fall things? 

This is the second season my son has played flag football.  He has really enjoyed it.  He is a tad smaller than most of the other guys, but he's pretty quick.  So far his team has only lost one game.

Okay, this has nothing to do with fall, but it happened yesterday.  A while ago, my daughter purchased a Disney John Smith and Pocahontas doll.  While she was playing with them, John's leg snapped off.  She put it away and hasn't played with it since.  The officer decided to try to screw the leg on so she could play with it.  Out came the power tools.  This is where my son enters the story. 

"Hey dad, why don't we put a Bionicle leg on John?  I think I can build one!", my son exclaims.  The officer replies, "Can you build one the same size as his leg?  Try it!" 

Viola....

Back in 2004, the officer, his dad and our friend, Matt, built an awesome two-phase playground in the backyard.  The kids played on that playground for many years.  This year, we got a trampoline.  We didn't have room for both in our backyard, so the decision was made to tear down the playground so we could put up the trampoline.

They have not regretted the decision.  The kids have thoroughly enjoyed the trampoline.  They've been working on perfecting the front flip.  Last night, my son finally landed it.  Then he landed again and again.

Sunday night when we put the trampoline up, the kids really wanted to sleep on it.  However, possible Oklahoma storms put the kibosh on that idea.  We had to move the trampoline again the fence and put sandbags on the legs.  With winds up to 60 miles an hour, we were really hoping we had a trampoline in the morning.  Fortunately, it was still there and intact the next morning.  Last night, the weather was perfect with lows only in the 50s.  The kids got their mummy sleeping bags out and put their sweats on.

I wasn't sure if they would make it all night long.  I wasn't sure if Jetta would try to hop onto the trampoline.  I was nervous because they were out there all night long by themselves.  The officer was nervous because the back door was unlocked.  So I opened the windows in my bedroom and opened the blinds so I could see them.  I did not sleep well.  I kept waking up and checking on them.  

However, they were fine.  I tried to not be all "GO TO SLEEP!" mom because I was so tired.  I heard a lot of giggling.  I saw someone running around the yard.  I saw glowsticks being thrown around.  I saw a headlamp continuously sweeping across the yard and shine into our bedroom.  I heard the springs of the trampoline squeaking.  I heard lots of talking. I heard some crying.  I heard the dogs walking back and forth and their tag jingling because the kids were in the backyard.  I know memories of a fun fall evening sleeping on their trampoline under the stars was being made, so I relaxed and enjoyed all the sights and sounds.  They slept outside all night long.  They got cold, but they made it.  My son woke up at 6:40 a.m. to come use the restroom, but then went back outside and laid there until sister woke up.  They came in around 7:20 a.m.

Lastly, a couple of days ago when I was jogging, I started to notice all the leaves that are starting to fall onto the ground.  They are starting to change colors.  On my last lap, I was wondering how many shades there were so I picked some up.  I found all the wonderful, brilliant colors of fall.  

And then I was rewarded with a beautiful sunrise.  In a couple of weeks, daylight savings will happen and I won't see too many of these sunrises so I'm enjoying them now. 

So many reasons fall is my favorite time of the year!

Camping out

I don't know why it has taken me so long to write this post. I've written several other posts, but I knew this one would be kind of long and there would be a lot of pictures.

Two days before the officer had his hand surgery, we camped out with some family friends. They had not been camping before with all four of their kids (one of them under a year old), so we decided to camp at the officer's parent's place. They have 20 acres. We decided to do it there to have clean restrooms and a back up plan in case the "camping" part was too much. It was supposed to get pretty cold that night.

We camped out one night and spent a day there doing a lot of fun things. We had all the standard camping food, hot dogs, hamburgers, smores, pancakes, eggs and bacon.

We met with the Mr. R and Mrs. K and their four kids in the city and we were off. When we arrived, we walked around the property to find a good place to pitch our tents.

My daughter with Miss B and Miss L.

We found a great location just behind the house. We had quick access to the pond, gun range and the house.

At first the kids were kind of shy. They haven't spent a lot of time together, so they do not know each other well. However, it didn't take long before they were going on hikes together.

The menfolk pitched the tents. Actually, I had to help the officer because he didn't have much use of his right hand. It was kind of fun working with him. When the tents were set up, we decided it was time to go fishing. I think I was the only one who did not touch the worms. I believe every single person caught a fish - probably at least two fish. However, I think Miss L set the record. She caught 8 or 9 fish. Practically every single time she dropped her line in the water Mr. R was reeling it back in. I know Mr. R tried to fish, but I don't think he got to do much because he was reeling in all of his girl's fish. Even Little Mr. M fished.

Miss L fishing. She's the one who caught the most fish!

Mr. R with his two girls.

I wouldn't want to touch it either!

I just loved this picture. I love the way his knees are together and the expression on his face.

The officer helping my son take his fish off the hook.

Could he look more like a fisher or what?

Mrs. K proved she is much cooler than I am to my kids because she was baiting hooks left and right. Of course she doesn't mind touching raw meat. :) Even my son baited his own hooks.

I did important things like.... say, "Hey officer, our daughter caught a fish"

or

"Look at the pretty lily pad."

or

"There's two frogs!"

or

"There's Gary, the snake!"

Important stuff like that.

Once the officer was baiting a hook on a rock for one of the kids. Something moved out from under the rock and the officer jumped back like a jack rabbit. It turned out to be a little lizard, but he had Gary on the mind. He thought it was a snake. He kept saying, "I'm thought it was a cobra viper rattler.!"

Oh there's story about Gary, the snake. When the officer went to his parents to mow before we came up, he had seen a 3 foot snake. He named it Sam, but my son thought his name should be "Gary". It was getting warmer (this is in the beginning of May) and the snakes were starting to say hi. We told our friends about Gary. When we saw Gary in the water, talk about getting the guns out started.

So after everyone had their fill of fishing, we brought out the BB gun. Mr. E and the officer went to the gun range and practiced with their guns. Mrs. K and I took the kids to the pond to shoot the BB gun. Everyone had a turn. Mrs. K turned out to be a pretty good shot. Miss B and Miss L enjoyed shooting too. I think everyone had a turn. In case you were wondering, I was not a good shot. Surprised? Didn't think you'd be.

After all the fishing and shooting, everyone started getting hungry. The men had started a fire so we could roast our hot dogs. Hot dogs aren't my most favorite food, but they are good when you are camping and roasting them over an open flame. We chowed down on hot dogs and smores. Yummy!
Mrs. K took this picture. I didn't get a picture with the boys in it. Of course the baby is left out of this picture, but my daughter made sure he didn't feel left out. She loved having him around!

As it started getting dark, the kids played with their glowsticks and ran around more.
After dinner, we sat around the fire. We sang some song, looked at the constellations and read from the Bible. We ended the evening with prayer. Perfect.

It was time to start getting everyone ready for bed. We had to bundle up the kids a bit because the temperature that night was supposed to be in the low 40s. A little chilly. I love it when it's like that, but the officer's not a big fan of it. Everyone was in their tents getting settled. The officer was making sure everything okay outside. He tried to opened the back of our car and the car alarm went off. The officer was urgently asking me where my keys were. I am the only one with that little thing-a-ma-jig on it that will turn off the car alarm. I told him they were in the car. The car doors he had tried were locked. Luckily the driver door was unlocked and he got the alarm turned off.

It didn't take long for everyone in our tent to fall asleep. For some reason there was more noise out there than we've ever heard before. The coyotes were howling - a lot! We heard cars, dogs, and a fire truck. So much for a peaceful night. Mrs. K and the baby ended up having to go inside because it was too chilly out there for them. Our air mattresses went flat. It's almost best to not have an air mattress than to have one going flat. The officer and I had decided to each sleep with a kid on an air mattress so we could keep them covered up and warm. In the middle of the night I would wake up with my daughter literally half on top of me because our air mattress was deflating. I would roll her over onto her side of the air mattress just to have her roll back on top of me. For some reason, in the middle of night I couldn't figure out it was because of the deflating air mattress.

At 5:50 a.m. the car alarm went off again! I said, "Turn the car alarm OFF!" The officer said, "Where are the keys?" I calmly, politely (not) said, "I DON'T KNOW you had them last night!" Suddenly, the alarm went off. We went back to sleep. I felt horrible because we had set our alarm off just as every had gotten settled and then again early in the morning. I thought, "Oh they are never going to camp with us again!"

We woke up around 6:30 a.m. and went up to the house to cook breakfast. Everyone was awake. As we were cooking breakfast, we found out it was Mr. R's truck car alarm that had gone off at 5:50 a.m. He had the keys in his pocket and had rolled over onto them and set off the alarm. Didn't think we'd have a wake up call, but we did. (You know I couldn't help but tell that story Mr. R!)

After breakfast, we tore down camp. The kids ran around and gave each other wagon rides. My son went down to the pond again with his BB gun to see if he could find Gary again.

All of the sudden, I hear him yelling, "IT'S GARY!!!!! IT'S GARY!!!!! GET DAD!!!!!" My daughter came running up to tell us they found Gary. We could see him crossing the pond. Mr. R got his gun so they could shoot it but he got lost in the willows.

Our friends had to get back to town so they left after we packed up camp. It was a perfect camping outing. All the kids got along great and no one got hurt. Everyone caught a fish, shot a gun, and had a great time. We had a clean restroom and a back up plan for those who got cold (not the ones we thought!) :)

After our friends left, my son and the officer took their guns down to the pond to see if they could find Gary again. I wish I had a picture of them with their guns walking around the pond. My son spotted Gary first. The officer told me happened. He said, "He saw Gary, put his BB gun down on the ground, put his fingers in his ear, and said, "Blast HIM DAD!" The officer shot Gary but it was only a flesh wound. They fished him out of the water and killed him. The officer actually took a picture of it but I'm not going to post that one. Turns out it's not "Gary", but a different snake entirely. In all we saw three different snakes out there.

Since it's been about 4 weeks since we went camping and the officer has been forced to be inactive due to the surgery, splint and cast, I'm very thankful we got to go camping before all of it. Thank you guys for going with us. It was a lot of fun.

camping overnight - and not in the backyard this time

since i had to work two days this week, the officer decided to take the kids camping. of course, they had done the backyard camping thing a couple of months ago. it went pretty good, so the officer decided to try a campground this time.

the officer decided to go to a koa campsite he knew was clean and had a playground & swimming pool. monday we did all the essential food shopping (hotdogs, smores, bacon & pancake mix) and packed all the gear.


they headed out there tuesday around lunchtime. it was kind of hot. they got to do a lot of hiking and walking around on nature trails. they started their campfire for dinner but it was kind of too hot for a campfire. plus, the firewood must have been a little wet because the officer said it smoked quite a bit.

there was a stray cat that made it's way around to the campsite. my daughter named it "campy" because they found it when they were camping. they fed campy their hot wings (apparently left over from lunch) and she ate it bones & all. campy stayed around the whole time they were there - probably because they kept feeding it. my son found a little black lizard he named "mr. lizard" (original huh?). he tried to catch him, but mr. lizard was too fast. that's okay because i didn't really want a pet lizard.


the kids had fun "trying" to chop some tree limbs for fire - and if i was telling you this in person i would use air-quotes. they had fun. however, even though the limb was not more than 1 inch in diameter the limb was never completely chopped off.

the officer put the kids to bed around 8:30 p.m. they went right to sleep. however, the officer did not sleep as well. they were close to the highway and the sound of the cars all night long kept the officer awake. in addition, the officer's air mattress had a slow leak. when the officer woke up at 4:30 a.m. it wasn't long before he decided to pack it up. they were home before 6 a.m.

backyard camping

the officer wanted to take the kids camping. you know the weather around here though, possible thunderstorms, tornadoes - not out of the questions, hail and high winds - maybe. the officer called the campgrounds and found out there was a burn ban in effect. however, the burn ban was not in effect for the county we live in.

the plan was formulated.

camp out in our backyard.

the officer wanted to check out all our camping stuff to make sure it was all in working order.

the officer started to work out the "campfire" issue first. he decided to use part of our grill and put wood, bricks and sand underneath it. the ground was still pretty wet from the rain the previous night. it worked out pretty well.

while the officer put up the tent, i went to the grocery stores for all the necessary dinner items, hot dogs, chips, capri-suns, all the fixins for s'mores. by the time i returned, the officer had the "campsite" completely set up. i had to babysit for my sister, so i couldn't actually be present for most of the evening.

when i got home that evening, the officer was sitting around the fire. the kids were running around the backyard with their glowsticks. i roasted my hot dogs and enjoyed the rest of the evening with the family. the kids headed to bed in the tent but did not got to sleep right away. i think it wasn't until the officer went into the tent at 10 p.m. that everyone settled down and went to sleep.

i slept inside because i had to work the next day. i thought they might come in during the night. it was supposed to be a low of 35 degrees. even with their two layers of pajamas, sleeping bags, flannel blankets and one heavy comforter on them, they might still get cold. the kids would have slept all night. the officer was awake at 5 a.m. he was cold despite sleeping in warm clothes and in his 0 degree mummy sleeping bag. wait - if the officer was here now he would exclaim his body was warm but his face was freezing! his mummy sleeping bag worked great. he did mention he was unable to move much - ummm- mummy sleeping bag. since the officer was awake and could not go back to sleep he brought the kids into their own beds. they had a great time - a memory made.