Summer Begins

Since we just got back from vacation, it feels like this is our first week of summer. As I looked at our calendar last Sunday I suddenly felt behind. We hadn’t done swim lessons or enrolled in any extra-curricular activities and there’s only seven weeks til school starts. So when a friend of mine told me she was enrolling her daughter in a gymnastics camp this week I decided to enroll the girls as well. They loved it and it was nice to be down to only having one child every morning this week (an added bonus is that he was napping so I was able to spend some time scrapbooking).

We love having smoothies, especially on hot summer days.

Jason really likes them too.

Yesterday was Justin’s annual work party. We look forward to going each summer. The surroundings are gorgeous and there’s lots of food, fun and free stuff. This year Justin’s parents joined us. Abigail loved climbing the rock wall several times; she made it all the way to the top and looked like a pro! Justin was surprised he made it to the top as well.

My personal favorite is the BINGO tent; I can’t seem to get enough. We learned from last year that the best time to play is at the very beginning when there are not as many people. It still took over an hour, but I finally won. I picked out an awesome duffle bag as my prize. We made it back to the BINGO tent just in time for the last game. They had six cell phones to give away and Justin’s Mom won one of them… her first and only game and she won a phone.

At the end of the evening we had just enough time to do one more activity so the girls decided to ride the ponies. This was Carly’s favorite activity of the day.

On our way home Abigail was saying her eyes REALLY itched. She’s allergic to grass and trees so we figured that it was because she had been outside all afternoon. She sounded so miserable and stuffy all the way home. I turned around and saw this…

I don’t know why the leotard is on the top of her head; I think she was using it to rub her eyes. It’s hard to tell but her eyes were really puffy (and still are today). It was obvious it wasn’t just the grass… we learned she’s allergic to horses too. Poor girl.

The kids were so tired from their busy week that we all slept in till after 9am today. Hope you are all enjoying your summer too.

Jumping Ahead

Where Jason is concerned there are three positions you will see him in: lying down, sitting, and standing. When he is lying down he rolls from his front to his back and from his back to his front (not often, but he can). When he is sitting down he has learned to turn himself in a circle while remaining on his bottom (he doesn’t actually move anywhere, just turns in a circle). When he’s standing he can cruise around the furniture. All great things, but the hard thing for me is that he can’t switch between these three positions on his own. (He doesn’t pull himself up, he doesn’t sit down, etc…) I haven’t been concerned with his progress... I figured he’d catch on sooner or later (probably later) and if he doesn’t ever learn to crawl then I guess we’ll see if there really is any correlation between crawling and learning how to read. However, over the past day or so he’s started taking steps:

How can a child walk if he can’t stand up or sit down?? It’s the weirdest thing and honestly frustrating because usually walking means independence, but we’re missing a few key developmental milestones here…

Independence Day

The 4th of July was our last day in Minnesota. We traveled to Crosby, a small town about 30 minutes away from our cabin for their parade. We backed the van into a parking spot along the parade route, it was the perfect setup. I could sit in shade in the back of the van while the girls collected candy with Grandma.

It was a great small town parade. I’ve never been to a parade with fire trucks, snowmobiles, hydroplanes, and tractors all in one.

After spending the afternoon on the lake, we heading back to Crosby for the firework show. My sister brought tons of bubbles and “pop-it” fireworks to keep the kids entertained with until the show started. It was awesome to be there with my entire family. We were quite the group and had several other kids join in on our fun.

The fireworks were fantastic. Jason was tense when they first started, but he just laid down and watched the show until he fell asleep. The girls said the best part was watching them with all their cousins.

Keeping it real

Bookmark & Share

Vacation Rentals By Owner

Favorites	Email
Digg	Del.icio.us
Google	Facebook
Live	More ...

To:
From:
Note:

One of my concerns going into my family reunion as that our accommodations would be less than satisfactory. My brother found the lodge on the internet. It was described as a 12 bedroom/7 bathroom lodge "perfect for family reunions or corporate retreats" and "completely updated in 2004" with the following two pictures.

Clearly not luxurious, which is fine. What had me worried is that the rental website allows previous guests to leave comments. There were zero positive comments and one negative comment (which had been deleted by the owner). So all we knew was that somebody didn't enjoy their stay, but we didn't know why.

Before I go any further, I've got to make it clear that we've had a great time at the reunion. With 12 bedrooms there's plenty of beds for everyone and we all have our own space. The living area is a great size... four big couches and three long tables for eating and playing games. Having a lake right across the street has been so much fun. The girls can spend all afternoon out there.

With that said though, I've got to document the less than fabulous aspects of our accommodations. It's all part of the memories and in spite of it all, we'll definitely look back at this week as a great one.

• The "fully equipped kitchen" includes a vintage 1978 microwave and two equally ancient and unpredictable ovens. It doesn't include: 9x13 pans, measuring spoons, or a garbage disposal.
• Our ping-pong table is buckled across the entire middle and since the net is secured with duct tape, it needs to be adjusted throughout your game. As if that wasn't challenging enough you still have to find a ball that hasn't been smashed in and a paddle that won't give you slivers.
• "air-conditioning included" consists of ceiling fans and a few other fans throughout the lodge. Thankfully we've only had one really hot day.
• My sister-in-law joked that after swimming in our lake the kids will never again need to have iodine in their salt. I wonder what it is that makes the water so red...
  
• I've never been in an environment with this many bugs. Besides the millions of mosquitoes we battle each day there are creatures all over the house. Our first day here I vacuumed up an entire colony of dead ladybugs on my bedroom floor.
  
• In addition to the insects, we finally caught the mouse that's been living in the kitchen. I'm still not sure what I saw scurry across my bedroom floor early one morning... maybe it was all in my imagination... maybe not
  
• I don't think there's a single piece of furniture in the entire 5000 square foot lodge that was made before the 1990's (including the mattresses)
• "pets welcome" means that the owners pets are welcome to join in on our fun (and do their business on the beach)
• A guy in his twenties runs the lodge. That should give you a little insight into how clean things have been (as if the bugs and mice didn't give that away)
• There are two bathrooms downstairs and five upstairs. A few of the showers upstairs leak through the downstairs ceiling. One more minor distraction when playing ping-pong.
• "kid-friendly" means there's very little kids could ruin or destroy. Thankfully Jason doesn't crawl around. Pipes are exposed, the floors are disgusting, and seeing him eating dead bugs or playing with a mouse would be a bit much for me.

Okay, so maybe it sounds pretty bad, but the week has flown by and I'm sad to see it end. Being here with my family has been great. We're all so different and I'm sure everyone has been frustrated or frazzled at some point, but we've been together and that's made it all worth it.

Family Pictures

Yesterday we finally got a picture taken with my entire family... it's been too long!

My siblings

The grandkids

My awesome Mom

Activities

Besides playing at the lake the kids have had a blast playing games, painting, coloring, playing the Wii, and just hanging out with all their cousins.

The kids sugared up on candy from a patriotic pinata yesterday.

Today the kids participated in a "field day" organized by my talented sister-in-law. Games included, potato sack races, filing up jugs with water squeezed from sponges, egg races, and balloon popping... Lots of fun.

Tonight I went fishing. I haven't been fishing since I was a child and my family went to a local fish farm. My brother is an avid fisherman so he showed me the ropes. I spent over two hours casting without actually catching a single fish. It really was a slow night, even my brother only caught one fish. In his expert opinion, I "did everything right and I should have caught a fish." It sure was beautiful to be on the lake though.

In times of war

Have I mentioned that the mosquitoes in Minnesota are outrageous? I've only experienced mosquitoes like this once before when Justin and I were waiting for the pizza-delivery-man outside our hotel in Cancun. Our hotel was located right on the beach. On the other side of the hotel was a lagoon. I wasn't outside for more than five minutes before I received over 20 mosquito bites. They seem to love my blood, but for the most part leave Justin alone.

It's quite warm in Minnesota and without a/c it's tempting to leave the windows open. However, if you open your window, you run to risk of letting in the swarms of blood thirsty mosquitoes. When we laid Jason down last night, Justin told me he closed all the windows in our room. It was hot and stuffy and I woke up several times during the night itching the mosquito bites covering my body (literally from the top of my head, to the bottom of my feet... seriously the bottom of my feet!) This morning as I got out of bed I noticed a few squashed mosquitoes laying in tiny pools of blood on my sheets... and an open window. I smacked a mosquito resting on the wall beside me... leaving behind a trail of blood on the wall. There a trails of blood all over the house... so much carnage. In addition to the mosquitoes the flies are also getting in on the action and their bite is much more painful.

At the Lake

Saturday afternoon we picked up our rental van at the airport and drove the 3.5 hours to our reunion location. Each of my siblings is in charge of cooking all the meals for one day (our day was Sunday) so we stopped at the Super Wal-Mart closest to the lodge to pick up all our food. I was hoping we could get in and out in an hour. Nearly two hours later and spending more money on groceries than we ever have before... we were back on the road. Since Sunday was our cooking day we spent most of the day in the kitchen either cooking or cleaning up, but now we get to enjoy the rest of the week having all of our meals prepared for us. Yum, yum.

Yesterday was the first day the girls we able to go out on the lake. We have a fun trampoline on the water that the kids have loved jumping off of. Abigail didn't hesitate to take the plunge...

Carly had second thoughts once she started sliding down...

Justin had a hard time even getting on it.

There's also a paddleboat and fishing boat that we can use during the week.

Check out the rust color of the lake...

Last night we bundled up (not that it's cold, but the mosquitos are savages here) and had smores by the campfire... delicious! I also saw my first fireflies... they are awesome, but impossible to take a picture of.

Mall of America

We woke up early last Thursday to catch our 9 am flight to Minnesota. I was hoping to be able to take Jason's car seat on the airplane so he could nap on the way. He has no problem falling asleep in his car seat, but falling asleep in our arms is a rarity. Unfortunately it was a full flight so I spent the next three hours dealing with a restless baby. It was a lot like sacrament meeting, but with no place for him to get down and cruise around. Jason finally gave into the exhaustion and fell asleep in my arms... five minutes before we landed... just my luck. In spite of being so tired, we didn't have to deal with any crying fits, I'm definitely grateful for that.

We spent the first two days in Minneapolis with the majority of our time at the Mall of America.

I remember as a teenager thinking how awesome it would be to go to the BIGGEST mall in the US. It was definitely huge, but I've outgrown my teenage passion for shopping. Instead we bought Justin and the girls a unlimited pass to enjoy the amusement park in the center of the mall. They had a fabulous time.

Carly is much more adventurous than Abigail and seemed to always be smiling from ear to ear, even on the "scary" rides.

Jason tolerated the loss of regular napping surprisingly well.

The price paid

I usually cut my girls hair myself. First, I’m totally cheap and can’t justify paying $10-15 or more per child just for a haircut. Second, they are so young that they could care less how their hair looks so if I make a mistake, no big deal. A few months ago I received free hair cut coupons to Gene Juarez Academy for the girls. I told them after school gets out they could have their hair cut in an actual salon (in truth they would be guinea pigs for young girls dreaming of being real beauticians, but it would be free). They were so excited. When I called to make appointments, I found out children have to be at least five years old. Seriously?!? I tried to convince them that my four-year-old would sit perfectly still, but policy is policy. Being the kind and generous mother that I am (wink, wink) I decided we’d head down to the mall and they could still get a “professional” haircut. I found $2 coupons online so that aided my generosity. We went down Monday afternoon only to find out they were “training” that day so they weren’t taking any customers… so frustrating. We went back last night, here’s their before and after pictures (my camera was on the wrong setting... sorry.)

Abigail got a few layers which really helps give her curly hair a little bounce, especially in the back.

Check out Carly’s before picture of the back of her hair. Abigail gave Carly a haircut several months ago. If you look at the right side you can clearly see there’s a section where the hair is at least 3-4 inches shorter. Obviously I’m not a Mom that’s totally into having my girls all cutesy because she’s been walking around like that for ages.

I never walk out of these hair joints happy. They don’t wash the hair, they don’t style the hair, and quite frankly they don’t even cut the hair very well. After I got home I noticed that the back of Carly’s hair is totally choppy. So even after paying for a “professional” cut, I still have to trim it myself… argh!

Aunts and Cousins

Three of Justin’s Aunts were in town visiting his Mom last week as well. We got together with them Sunday afternoon. It was a perfect summer day (upper 70’s, nice breeze) so we spent some time walking around Justin’s parents property. The girls really enjoyed playing with their cousins.

Justin’s sister, Tami had her fancy shmancy camera there so she took lots of pictures.

All the Fletcher grandkids with Grandma and three of her sisters.

The big kids enjoyed finding candy at the end of “treasure hunts” set up by Justin’s aunt.

I love this picture of “J”, if only that darn flower wasn’t in his hair. Maybe Tami could magically erase it with her editing skills.

Friends and Food

We had some friends stay with us last week for a few days. It’s hard to believe it’s already been over three years since the Gibbs moved away from our neighborhood. Thankfully they still come back to visit at least once a year. Jason really enjoyed having another baby around. He was very interested in her and liked to give her lots of love taps (slapping her head). She must not have minded too much though cause she kept coming back for more.

We organized a BBQ at our house on Saturday so the Gibbs could spend some time catching up with friends. We had nearly 30 people at our house (including kids). Who would have thought we could manage that many? It was lots of fun, but I’m TOTALLY bummed I didn’t take any pictures.

It all started with a phone call…

Justin’s cell phone rang on Sunday, June 8th. Caller ID indicated it was the 1st counselor in the stake presidency, President “B”. He asked if we could meet with him some time that afternoon. (Oh no, I thought, stake conference is in two weeks) Of course we both started speculating who was getting a new calling. I have been in my stake calling for over four years, but we wouldn’t have to meet with the stake presidency just for me to be released. We both love our ward callings. I am serving as the young women’s secretary. The girls are amazing and being a secretary (behind the scenes with little speaking or teaching involved is perfect for me). Justin has been ward clerk for over three years so we figured it was probably his turn for something different. Of course we were nervous what that would be. Justin’s work can be very unpredictable. I feel like I can’t fully commit to being someplace at any given time because he might have to work late.

Justin met with President “B” for only a few short minutes before I was asked to come in. I felt a huge sense of relief. I figured if it was a calling that required a great deal of Justin’s time they would have needed to talk for much longer. I walked into the room and Justin was smiling… at that point I knew we were in for something we could easily handle.

President “B” started talking about various callings and responsibilities. He mentioned that some callings aren’t even in the manuals. (Now I’m thinking, yippee, Justin’s going to be the stake grass cutter, we can handle that). Then he continues by saying that some callings are even included in the scriptures (oh, no this is heading in the wrong direction). He turns to the scriptures and starts reading from Doctrine and Covenants 107. I don’t remember what the verses were I just remember hearing words like: “high priest” and “council”. I was so confused. Why was Justin smiling when I came in? He couldn’t possibly be excited about this. As soon as President “B” officially asked if Justin would accept a calling on the stake high council, I turned to Justin and asked if he knew what the calling was before I came into the room. He didn’t, this was the first he’d heard it as well.

Justin (and I) accepted the calling and was ordained a high priest yesterday afternoon. I’m certain he will learn a lot as he serves in this capacity. When he receives his assignment (i.e. assigned to a specific ward or to a stake auxiliary) I’m sure we’ll have a better idea what were in for.

Wish us luck (I don’t think “congratulations” are in order)

A Special Day

Today was Abigail’s last day of school. Actually they didn’t spend any time at the school. We spent the day at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma. Justin stayed home so I could tag along and help chaperone. There were so many parent volunteers that I was only assigned to one other girl besides Abigail.

My favorite animal at this zoo is the beluga whales.

Check it out, he even smiled for the picture!

We were standing so close to this cute pair of elephants.

No trip to the zoo would be complete without the tigers… doesn’t he look mean?

I like to watch Jon & Kate plus 8 on TLC. It’s the story of a family with seven-year-old twins and three-year-old sextuplets (that’s six three-year-olds!). They recently started a tradition where each child gets a special day to do what they want with Mom and Dad (Jon & Kate) all by themselves, obviously something really rare with eight small children. Today while we were riding back to school on the bus Abigail said, “it’s like it’s my special day and I wanted to go to the zoo.” It was a special day. I rarely have the opportunity to spend one-on-one time with my kids. When we got back to the school Abigail really wanted to walk home together. As we walked hand in hand she commented about how great it was to spend all day, just with me… melt my heart. She’s a sweet girl. Her special day didn’t end there. We have friends in town staying with us for a few days… busy, busy, but lots of fun too.

Bathtime

From his first sponge bath in the hospital Jason has always loved being in the water and taking baths. The other day Jason rolled over for the first time in the bathtub.

Don’t you just want to squeeze those cute little cheeks?!?