Day 364: Kid Camping

We slept off the wine party, and narrowly avoided hangovers.  I drove home in the crazy pouring rain last night because I deemed Eric one drink too many, or more so I had just not had a drink in an hour and a half and he had one right before we left.

This morning we took our time getting ready for an awesome day of camping.  This is our third camping trip this summer, and we're hoping to go again at least one more time.  This round was "kid camping" because Jen brought her kids along.  Cameron, Caleb, and Colin hit every mark on the fun scale from crying and pouting to giggling and playing.  Campers included Brian, Jen, Cameron, Caleb, Colin, Heather, Seth, Phil, Eric, and me, and camping *visitors* included Hackey, Paul & Deb :p  We'll get them on an overnight camp trip eventually!

Activities included swimming in the lake, sitting in the poison ivy conversing, and cooking steaks, potatoes, corn, brats, hot dogs, burgers, and tons of marshmallows.  After the kids went to bed and Paul & Deb went home, the rest of sat around the campfire discussing A..., B...., Cars, Dogs/Divorce, Eggs/Eves, Fantasy/Fiction, Gambling, Hell, Ice cream, Jokes, Kites, and Leprechauns!  Eric and I missed the A and B topic starters.

All day today the weather app said we had a 40% chance of rain on the hourly forecast.  There wasn't a cloud in the sky until after the sun went down, then we started feeling a few minor sprinkles as we were cleaning up before bed.  As soon as we got into our tent, the sky split in two and dumped torrential rain on the campsite until nearly 5am.  Luckily, our tent held up really well and we were totally dry!

The boys took up wood chopping as a hobby.

Hackey speared his steak on a stick he cut off of a tree, then cooked it medium-rare on the fire!  What a man!

Eric and I shared a HUGE (and delicious) steak

And baked potatoes!

Caleb, Colin, and Cameron roasting marshmallows - and I finally know all of their names and can tell them apart without thinking about it, haha!

Awe!

Swimming at the lake - totally dirty water, but fun.  Cameron kept finding tiny snails and floated them around on her floaty ring.

Caleb was enthralled with the Jiffy Pop - he probably ate half of the bag.

Day 363: Another Wine & Tequila Party

Happy birthday to Mom and Happy Fathers Day to Alan!  To celebrate, they're throwing another wine and tequila party!

We couldn't find the keys, so Eric threw the Mustang into neutral and rolled it forward in the driveway!

Alan's friend Rick played "Amazing Grace" on the bagpipes in our driveway.

Hello ladies!



Ashley said she was tired, so I offered to carry her upstairs...again! (Look back to previous wine part posts :p)

 Eric tried to pioneer the topless party movement!

Ashley and I...playing with cups...

Look at the fun things we can do with...cups!

Oh, silly sisters!

 One of the many popular hangouts of the night - the porch!

Cera, always the life of the party!

Day 362: Clean Carpets!

We haven't had people over to our house in ages, mostly because our apartment smells terrible!  With Bubsy and Mystic both having advanced kidney disease, Bubsy had, and Mystic has a problem making it to the litter box.  The Stanley Steemer guys said the stains aren't coming out, but that the smell should be under control now!

Eric and I moved the furniture BACK into place, and had a fully tech night - blogging, internet shopping, and Netflix!

Empty dining room.

Full kitchen.

Empty living room.

Full office.

Mystic, Addy, and I chilled on the porch while the Stanley Steemer people worked.

Mystic cuddled with me, and Addy got scared and had to watch the men work through the window.

Shots, shots, shots!  Tequila helps us work!

The living room put back together, view 1.

The living room put back together, view 2.

When I posted yesterdays post on Facebook, the captcha said "THE geakee"!  I thought it was fitting!

Day 361: No Tech Night!

We are getting our carpets professionally cleaned tomorrow, so we have moved ALL of the furniture out of the dining room, living room, and hallway.  This means that our kitchen has shelves and couches in it, and the office is completely packed with the rest of the stuff...including...dun dun DUN!!!!!!!...the TV!

This prompted our first official "Tech Free Night"!  We started by laying on the floor for awhile trying to figure out just what to do without TV.  We started off with one of our combo roller blading/bike walks - it was super hot out, so we spent more time laying on the floor cooling off after we got home.  Then we had dinner at Subway and tried the new Turkey Bacon Avocadooohhhh sandwich, yum!  Finally we went to bed early and read for over an hour.  I finished a book, and got 50 pages into my next book!

My first ride with my new wrist guards and my helmet.

Day 360: Pizza Party!

Darn, I should have gotten a picture of everyone tonight!  Mom and Alan took Ashley, Eric, and me out to D'Bronx for pizza because we helped them clean up the house for the party on Friday.  I invited Alison, Zach, and Kristie along to spend some time with us.  D'Bronx has delicious and GIANT pizzas.

Zach got a hunk of pizza dough to entertain himself...it worked!

Ashley is a pizza hamster!

This is Zach's directions home because he wanted to leave before we were done.  I told him no getting in vans, and no nuts/eggs/bananas/tree nuts!

Zach was pouty because I wanted a picture of him with his dinner, toys, and directions - he stuck out the BIG lip!

Day 359: Reading

Eric has been a big reader ever since I met him, but it's been more of a recent hobby for me.  With so much reading for college classes, I used that as an excuse to not read other books.  As a New Year's "goal", I wanted to read as many books as I can in 2011.  I have been keeping track of them on Facebook, and here is my list so far...

I want to keep a running tally of how many books I read this year!  I'll star (*) the nonfiction books :)

Books read in 2011: 27

Tabloid Baby by Candace Camp

A Daddy for her Daughters by Elizabeth Bevarly

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

Yes Man by Danny Wallace*

Finger Lickin' Fiftenn by Janet Evanovitch 

A Year Without "Made in China" by Sara Bongiorni*

My Secret compiled by Frank Warren*

The Secret Lives of Men and Women compiled by Frank Warren*

Gazelles, Baby Steps, and 37 Other Things Dave Ramsey Taught Me About Debt by Jon Acuff*

The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs*

The World According to Twitter compiled by David Pogue*

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

365 Ways to Save Gas by Ronald M Weiers, PH.D.*

A Lifetime of Secrets compiled by Frank Warren*

Farenheit 451 - The Authorized Adaptation by Ray Bradbury and Tim Hamilton

My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler

Ellis Island: A Pictoral History by Barbara Benton*

The Elephant in the Playroom by Denise Brodey*

Letters to a Bullied Girl by Olivia Gardner*

Do One Green Thing by Mindy Pennybacker*

No Impact Man by Colin Beavan*

Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Give It Up by Mary Carlomagno*

The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club by Laurie Notaro

Troll Fell by Katherine Langrish

Currently Reading:

Get Me Out by Randi Hutter Epstein, M.D.*

The Metamorphosis and other stories by Franz Kafka

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Keep The Change by Steve Dublanika*

Eric hasn't read as many books, but he also chooses books that are nearly three inches thick.  His books this year have been sci-fi, including books by Steven King, Douglas Adams, Terry Goodkind, and Clive Cussler.

My current bedside reads - I switch around between multiple books at a time.

Day 358: A Mish Mash Sunday

Last night, on our way home from dinner with Mom and Alan, Eric noticed that BOTH of my headlights were out.  Apparently last week Eric noticed that I was down one headlight, and I didn't remember him telling me about it.  So we headed out to O'Reillys and picked up two headlights and the one turn signal that has been out for months - oops!

We tried to fix them last night, but it was dark and the owners manual lists the wrong size headlight - so we had to go back this morning to get new headlights.  We changed them in the parking lot, and were on our way!  Then there was an awesome lunch at St. Thomas after the service.

EcoGreen headlights!

Eric says he can still reach the top of the tree.

Sharing some Franzia white zin with Grammy, it was her favorite!

I furminated Addy, and she probably lost a pound!