Day 329: Camping...Part 1!

We went camping today for Jen's 35th birthday, and it was a blast!  A little bit cold for our liking, but we survived!

We're going camping!!!

I had our tent set up straight away so I could start in on the beer and marshmallows!

Oh, and falling out of the hammock...not related to drinking!

Jen got tired of pumping up the air mattress, so she took a break and Brian finished!

Deb started up a nice fire for us.

Aaaaaand, I fell out of the hammock again.  Still not alcohol related!

Home Sweet Home for The Green's


Chris & Daniel's abode - big enough for all of us and then some!



Brian & Jen's tent is nice and big, with a screen porch!

Chris falling out of the hammock, probably alcohol related.

The dam looked awesome when the sun set - the entire lake was shadowed and the dam looked like it was glowing.

Paul, Deb, Brian, and Jen - everyone drinking and sharing stories.

I'm not sure if Chris fell or Brian flipped the hammock...definitely alcohol related.

Eric showed up around 9:00 - tonight was his last night working at the Checker's Deli!  This means we are burning his greasy ass pants!

Burn-baby-burn!

The hat had to burn too! 

Goodbye greasy chicken work, hello greasy car parts work!

It's not drinkin' 'til the men lose their shirts!

Ah, so happy to be drinking (and photobombing!)!

Awe...so in love...

 We all know Eric is a floozy...even Brian has his eye on him.

Hi Chris!

Oh yes.  The Hump Walk. Gooooood night!

Day 328: Really? Another Cat Post?

Well, not every day can be exciting!  Even on a day as interesting as Friday the 13th...  Here's a funny picture of Addy!

Mooooooom, I'm stuck in the top of the closet and scared to jump down!

Day 327: Field Trip & More Packing!

Today was my school's third grade Lawrence History field trip.  We went to the Watkins Museum, The Eldridge Hotel, Liberty Hall, the Lied Center, and two cemeteries.  After spending a solid seven hours with an active kiddo with autism, out and about in Lawrence, I took a quick 30 rest at home before we went BACK to Papa's house for more packing.

An early electric car!  

The first version of the Eldridge, originally called the Free State Hotel.  

 The second version of the Eldridge, built by Colonel Eldridge, who was super mad that Sheriff Jones burned it down.  

A painting of, what I believe is, Quantrill's raid on Lawrence - burning down The Eldridge for a second time.

The Eldridge as it stands today!

A cornerstone from the second rebuild of The Eldridge.  It is believed that they spelled William Quantrill's name wrong on purpose as a final jab at him.
 

The Allen family headstone - as in "Phog" Allen.

Forrest C. "Phog" Allen - Rock Chalk!  Probably my favorite sight of the day.

Day 326: How Long Does It Take To Pack A 2 Bedroom Apartment?

Oh my goodness - decades of stuff all stuffed into a two bedroom apartment... It is taking us such a long time to pack everything up and move it.  Some things are easy to pack, others have to be gone through to see if it needs to come with us, even more stuff is quite obviously trash.  Tonight Eric and I worked with Mom, Alan, and Papa at the apartment.

Lucky for us, we have our third free dinner this week!  Mom and Alan took us to Cheddars.  It has a fantastic environment and really delicious food - and the prices are $2-3 cheaper than your average bar and grill type restaurant!

Alan being...Alan.

Eric being...Eric.

Day 325: Getting Settled In

We've still got quite a ways to go to get Papa moved to his house and settled in... but some things are starting to fall into place!  Papa's house is definitely starting to feel like home!

We've got until Sunday to finish, and it looks like it will be a race against the clock.  There is still a lot left to do!  It's all worth it though - another round of free dinner!  We took Papa out to the new Buffalo Wild Wings in Olathe, yum!

The duck painting in it's rightful place!

Day 324: Bottled Water

Tonight Eric and I wanted to watch a movie that neither of us were terribly interested in as background noise to our homework and regular playing on the computer.  We have a ton of documentaries lined up on Netflix, and decided to watch "Tapped" - a documentary about the bottled water industry.  I've got far too much to say about the movie, so instead of typing it all out, I'll post a review and hope you will all watch the movie as soon as you get a chance!

The rest of the night we took care of business at home - laundry and graduation announcements.

"Tapped, a new documentary about the bottled water industry from director Stephanie Soechtig and the producers of Who Killed the Electric Car?, is a pretty damning look at how consumers have been tricked into spending too much money on water packaged in plastic and quite often not as clean as what's available from the faucet.

I knew bottled water sucks, but I didn't know it sucks this much. Not only is it a clear waste of resources (only 20 percent of plastic water bottles used in the United States are recycled, and far too many of the rest probably end up in the Pacific Garbage Patch), it's an incredible waste of money for consumers, who pay more than the price of gasoline for water that's marketed as "pure," but in reality is largely unregulated, full of harmful toxins like BPA, and far less safe for drinking than free tap water. (In fact, 40 percent of the time, bottled water is nothing but municipal tap water, freed from the government oversight that keeps it safe.)

Tapped, which began a one-week run at the IFC Center in New York on Friday, traces the evolution of bottled water from its hoity-toity Perrier days to its present ubiquity, and succeeds at making the industry reps look like total jerks. A few too many mid-interview cutaways to Soechtig looking concerned came off as a little journalistically self-important, but Tapped does a solid job of covering every aspect of this damaging industry and inspiring more outrage than despair. It features interviews with the likes of Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin and Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), not to mention some footage of Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) tearing into an FDA rep at a government hearing.

I will never look at bottled water with anything less than loathing from now on.

Watch the trailer:" ~ Claire Thompson, grist.org

Our collection of reuseable bottles and travel cups - we are definitely through with supporting the bottled water industry.

My second round of line dried clothes!

 Eric finishing up his graduation announcements.

It was a really hot day and we don't have our air conditioner turned on yet, so I cooled Mystic down with an ice pack.

As soon as Eric stepped on the chair to adjust the fan settings, Mystic was immediately laying on his feet.

Ta-Da!

Day 323: Happy Mothers Day!

This morning we rode the motorcycle out to the Topeka Zoo - where we met Paul, Deb, my mom, Brian, Jen, Rose, Cameron, Caleb, Colin, and Kris.  Did I get everyone?  It was a nice hot day and most of the animals were being more active than usual.  We got to see bears fighting with each other, a giraffe who couldnt quite reach the leaves, and some fish that werent hungry at all.

After leaving the zoo, we waited in line for awhile and rode the train around the park.  Cameron demanded to sit with me, which was pretty cool.  Jens kids are some awesome little people.

When we finally got back to Olathe, Eric and I went to Paul & Deb's house to have dinner with them and to work on Eric's graduation announcements.  This ended up taking a great deal longer than we'd hoped, but we got all of the pieces ready to put together!

We were at a stop light, don't worry!

The giraffes at the Topeka Zoo.

These two bears were chasing each other around and kept boxing on their hind legs - very cool to watch!

After their play fighting, this bear went to chill in his pond.

Up close an personal with sleeping flamingos.

Caleb and Cameron hesitantly checking out the flamingos.

The super cute, and soft looking, otters!

A very pretty macaw.

The giraffe was reeeeeeaaaaching for that branch with his tongue.

Bored hippo is bored.

Time to feed the giraffe!

Munch munch munch!

The "Addy" lemur.

Cameron and Colin trailing the fence.

Caleb was the professional photographer all day.

Complacent orangutan is complacent.

Eric became an exhibit.  It worked out because we couldn't find the sloth!

Pondering gorilla is pondering.

Cameron has got quite a bit of catching up to do if she wants to be an ape when she grows up!

"No Cash Value" :)

"Good for one ride"!  Haha!

Monkey boy.

(Most) everyone on the train.  In the back is Rose (Jen is hidden), then some strangers, then Colin and Brian, Paul and Deb, and Eric, Cameron, and Me!  I'm not sure where Caleb landed.  Mom is taking the picture and Kris is standing with her!

Eric, Me, and Cameron.