He is Bitten...

Last week Sam participated in a local track camp. He was able to experience all field and track events available to kids his age. He enjoyed the first day, but as the week went on...he was hooked on track!! 

 

Sam likes football and basketball, but Sam actually found a softball and practiced throwing it like a shot-put one evening.  Jason showed him his old track spikes and soon Sam was trying them on and running up and down the lane. "I love these spikes!"

Last night he was on Google.

"What are you looking up?"

"Fastest 400 and other track events."

He just watched Michael Johnson run the 400 in 43 seconds.

 

We had to go to Scheel's and Sam asked to go look at shoes. "You are not getting a new pair of new shoes!" I hastily stated. "Oh, I don't want new shoes, mom. I just want to check out the track spikes."  He has even showed me spikes he has found on-line which he thinks are petty sick. (which means extremely cool!)

 

He was to go to an ISU basketball camp this week, but that didn't work out. So we asked if he wanted to do the second week of track camp.  I bet you can guess his answer!

A Happy Girl...

Nothing makes me smile more than when Moose is happy!

And nothing makes Moose smile more than a brand new bag of tennis balls!

She keeps them close to her at all times.

AH HA!

Sam had an AH HA moment while on vacation.

(love how his freckles pop up in the summer!)

 

Jack found another stuffed monkey that he thought he had to have.

To his request I replied, "How about we wait...we know it's here."

Sam walked up to me later. I could tell his wheels had been turning.

"Mom, I just figured something out. When you say 'We know it's here' you are really saying 'Nope. Not getting it.'"

What a smart guy!!

 

Learning About Oysters...

While on Hilton Head, we wanted to take a boat ride to experience the local wildlife and see the much talked about dolphins.

So, on Tuesday, we headed to the Old Oyster Factory and joined our tour guide, Jared on a small boat and headed out to learn about the waters! (Jack's Band-Aid is from falling on the mini-golf course. Only Jack.)

We headed out at high tide, boated for about two hours and had to head in due to it being low tide and the boat wouldn't be able to get back to the Oyster Factory.

When we headed out, all we saw was the marsh grass. When we boated in, we saw all this "dirt." Well, I quickly learned, it wasn't dirt, but oysters and they were everywhere! 

A friend of Jared's tried his hand at an ice-cream boat. He lasted a year in Florida with that gig and headed back to Hilton Head. The boat has been parked here for years! There was once a big ice cream scoop on top of the stack.

Sam and Jason were on dolphin watch. Where's Jack? He is sitting by my struggling to stay awake! Put him in a car...he is out...We found out the same goes with a boat! Who knew!!

It didn't take long until a dolphin fin was spotted near our boat!

Did you know the back of every dolphin fin is different? Just like our fingerprints, no tow dolphin's have the same pattern on the back of their fin.

This big guy came right up to our boat to check us out.

Unfortunately, I missed the picture of the year as it came out of the water and went right along our boat. I caught it just as it went back down in the water and it didn't come back up! Darn it!!

Jared got picked us some edible grass. It was extremely salty and tasted just like pickles! Sam stated, "WOW! This is some good grass!" Hmmmm....

Jared picked us some oysters, popped them open and showed us the insides. I am not an oyster fan and...I still am not an oyster fan! Slimy is an understatement. And boy are those shell edges sharp!  Jared explained that the "whack" the edges off so people don't cut themselves.

Time went so fast! We came back with oyster shell, mussel shells and some really good TASTING grass!

Thanks to Jared for giving a family from Iowa a great Hilton Head tour! (He thought for the longest time we were from Idaho!!)

Amazing...

If you haven't seen this video, you have to watch it.

 

I think it is so wonderful...Amy's reaction and those who took the time to be there to celebrate her!

 

I couldn't load the video from You Tube because the song the family used is copywrited (?) and so You Tube doesn't have the original song that the family played, which makes the entire video. 

 

So click on the link below to enjoy this touching video...

 

A Flash Mob For Amy

Sand Dollars...

At Hilton Head we discovered Sand Dollars. Not the ones you buy at the store, but the ones that you find by dragging your feet along the ocean bottom.

This soon became the universal sign that a sand dollar was found!

I can just hear Sam say, "Oh, good job Jack!"

And then the comparison in size was discussed.

The boys found lots of sand dollars, so we put them in a baggie to take up to our room for souvenirs. A gentleman shared with us what we needed to do in order to bleach the sand dollars and stop them from becoming smelly.

Little did we know, that it is actually a $500 dollar fine for each sand dollar taken off the beach!

 

This lady, which I photographed on a later day, actually told on us and our sand dollars.  How do I know it was her, she tilted her chin toward the boys and said to another gal, "Do you see that!" and off she went down the boardwalk and soon the lifeguard was up where we were, asking, "Is there a family with a lot of sand dollars up here?" Jack freaked out! He was so upset that he had to give back his sand dollars. Jason walked the boys back down to the ocean and released them all. I don't have an issue with releasing them, I get that, but I wish that the tattle tale would have just kindly mentioned it to us quietly, so it wouldn't have been so embarrassing because people were actually standing and watching us!  Later that week, I followed the super tan old tattle tale lady (not bitter at all) up the boardwalk and almost said, "You should try not to be someone's bad day or bad vacation memory." But I bit my tongue.

Later, Jack found a hermit crab walking down the beach. It was cool to watch how it would come out of its shell and then take off walking sideways into the water...

And don't worry, we didn't even take this little guy from the water...we released him right away!

Happy Birthday Mom and Meg!

Happy Birthday to my two favorite girls!

Yep, mom and Meg were born on the same day!

I think my big sister is pretty fantastic. Who else can I convince, while shopping at IKEA, to crawl under a cow rug and moo out loud?  I did try to get her to go over to the grass rug, with her cow rug, and pretend she was eating the grass. No?  Well, how about going up to customers, with her rug on, and politely asking them to milk her. Again, No? 

"Why not?" I asked.

"I still need to do some shopping and I think that we will get kicked out at that point."

So, I had to clarify:

"So, if we were done shopping, would you do it?"

"Oh sure, as long as mom was done, too."

That's what I love about Meg, she is spontaneous, goes with the flow and OH SO FUNNY!

My mom is pretty spectacular, too. Who else can I just look at and without saying a word, she know EXACTLY what I am thinking and needing. That's my mom. In this picture she came over to help me out with Christmas prep. She loves to decorate gifts, but not wrap them, "I would work at the mall decorating gifts if I didn't' have to wrap them!" she told me once. She had bows, greenery and tags on my presents in 30 minutes this day. She then went on to decorate my house with greenery, bows and ribbon in the next hour. Perfect. That's the best thing about mom, she is there, even without me telling her I needed her, she just knew.

 

I read this on a card and I think it goes for both my girls:

 

She's the one you've know forever.

The one you go to for honest advice and genuine support.

The one who accepts your quirkly little habits and understands you in a way few others can.

She' s the one you can call at any hour - to laugh, cry or complain.

The one whose voice has been there all along, sharing secrets and dreams and singing your song when you needed to hear it most.

She's the one who can read your mind, hear your heart, and love you just they way you are.

She's your lifelong friend...

but so much more.

 

Happy Birthday Mom and Meg.

Love you.

 

The First Sighting...

Last week we vacationed in Hilton Head Island.  It was one of the best family trips because all we did was hang out, which was a greatly needed by all of us!

 

When we got to HH, we immediately went down to the ocean. The boys have never been to the ocean and it was great to watch their first experience and brought a tear to my eye to watch Sam...

Jack took to the water right away!

Very much like his father...just go for it!

Love how Sam is holding up his shorts! So him. Sam is much like his mother, test it out just to see what it holds for you, make sure nothing bad will happen...

Pure Joy on his face...he loved it!

 As you can see, Jack is SOAKED by now! Sam is still in the "testing" phase and I can totally read his body language...He's checking Jack out and thinking, "I can't believe he is doing that, but I think I can do that too...it looks safe and FUN!"

So, Sam let down his shorts (still a little unsure, which you can tell by his shoulders) and with a supportive hand by his free-spirited brother, Sam experienced the ocean as it should be...

 

 

 

 

Look at Sam in the background..so free.

Love.



Summer has started...

What's the best thing about summer vacation?

No alarms and sleeping in! 

Sick Buddies...

Last week Sam and I were sick buddies...we both had strep throat and boy we were miserable!  Sam woke up with a sore throat and I thought it was just a scratchy throat from allergies and being outside.  That afternoon, he made himself a big cherry water and said, "Mom! You have to try this out!" So I did!  Next day, I woke up with a scratchy throat. Long story short, we both ended you in the doctors office that afternoon with the diagnosis strep. Lite the test up like a Christmas tree! No school or work for 24 hours. So Sam and I hung out the next day playing games, watching TV and taking our meds! Sam recovered faster than I...Oh to be young again!!