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Wordless Wednesday 7/22: Summer Water Fun at Wilderness Resort Edition

July 22, 2009 by Leave a Comment

006Last July, we visited the Wilderness Resort in the Wisconsin Dells with another family.  The kids have been begging to go back ever since.

Although, we had a little check in issue at the resort – one of those we can not guarantee things but they told us they did on the phone – we still had a ton of fun!

Eli went on a few of the big slides and as we were going down one of them he yelled out “Ride ’em Cowboy.” It was adorable.

Sofia did not start having fun until the last day when we found a really fun baby area. We couldn’t keep up with her on the slide! She would go up and then down so quickly a few times we missed her and she went under before we could catch her. It didn’t stop her from going up and down over and over again.

There are so many water rides for all ages. Their was many rides for the older kids to go on. I don’t think I heard anyone say “I’m bored” all weekend.

At night after dinner, we would head to the giant play house in the Wild West. The older kids played laser tag as a treat!

Here’s a few pictures from our family fun:

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40×40

June 18, 2009 by 5 Comments

I’ve never made any kind of official list about things I’d like to accomplish/do in life. I hear myself often say, I would love to do that or it is on my “list” without really having a list.

So, after reading Just Heather’s 40×40 list, I’ve been inspired to write my own official list. Since I’m going to be 30 forever, I should have plenty of time to complete this list.

  1. {Completed} Visit New York City.
  2. Go on a girl’s only weekend.
  3. Visit the Grand Canyon.
  4. Plant more trees.
  5. {Completed} Take my kids to Disney World and see their eyes light up with the magic.
  6. Go to a Britney Spears concert.
  7. Take the kids to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum again.
  8. Organize my photos digitally and real photos.
  9. Take a road trip with the family.
  10. Meet Peyton and/or Eli Manning.
  11. {Completed} Travel with a purpose like I did in 2008. (Preferably to Columbia or Africa.)
  12. Visit Texas.
  13. Take a tour of the White House.
  14. Go blonde.
  15. Renovate my kitchen into my dream kitchen.
  16. Take the family to the Wilderness Lodge in Wisconsin Dells again.
  17. Go to the Superbowl.
  18. Be a work at home mom with a flexible schedule.
  19. Take my kids to the Indianapolis Zoo again.
  20. Take my kids to Christmas at the Zoo again.
  21. Get to a healthy weight.
  22. Run a 5K.
  23. {Completed} Get my upper lip hair lasered.
  24. Try golf for at least 18 holes.
  25. Take and pass the CPA exam. (Even though I have no intention of being a CPA!)
  26. Teach a coupon class to share my couponing skills with others.
  27. Visit Maine.
  28. See the Statue of Liberty.
  29. Visit a live taping of the Oprah show.
  30. Go camping.
  31. Visit Machu Picchu.
  32. {Completed} Hike to the top of volcano. (Okay, so I rode a horse half way up, does that count?)
  33. Learn to speak Spanish conversationally.
  34. Ride a camel in the desert.
  35. Make my own jam.
  36. Ski in Colorado or Utah.
  37. Ride my bike on the Monon Trail.
  38. Write a sitcom script. (I already have a great cast of characters.)
  39. Vacation in Hawaii.
  40. Visit a Hot Air Ballon Festival.

Extra Credit (Basically, things that I should have thought of to put on the list but missed somehow!):

  1. Laser Tag
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Wordless Wednesday 6/17

June 17, 2009 by Leave a Comment

eli-riding-bike2

eli-riding-bike

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Plumbing Humor: Turd Whisperer

June 12, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Time for a little break for plumbing humor! There is always something  funny going on around here. Plumbers, really, who are more hilarious than them?

The other day my aunt sent me a texted message:

I am behind a plumbing van. Above the doors it says “Turd Whisperer!” LOL

Hilarious. The most hilarious part is this is part of his advertising campaign. It is pretty funny but I don’t know if I would want that on my work vehicle. Sounds like something more acceptable for a facebook or twitter profile.  Not something we’d be putting on business cards, ya know. Some people just aren’t going to be getting that humor.

Then again, maybe it is brilliant. With all the plumbing companies out there, you aren’t going to forget about the turd whisperer. Next thought, you’ve kind of pigeon-holed yourself into only doing toilet work. What if you are really good at unclogging hairy drains too?

Which got me thinking about another campaign from a popular movie.

There is something strange in your toilet bowl. Who ya goin’ call? The Turd Busters.

It is yet to be determined if my aunt is in Indiana or in Florida right now. So if you live in one of those states be on the lookout for the “Turd Whisperer.”

Heather sent me a tweet stating there is a plumbing business in her area that advertises “We’re #1 in the #2 business!” More proof that plumbers have the best sense of humor about their chosen career path.

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Gear Shift and Window Wipes are not to be confused.

June 12, 2009 by Leave a Comment

I have to admit something in this post. I left my 10 year old and 8 year old in the van while I dropped the younger two children off at daycare. I know lock me up now! Mind you, the daycare is attached to a church in a very safe neighbor with no drive through traffic. It is a secure spot behind the church with only one entrance/exit.

While I was walking out of daycare, this older gentleman, who I have never seen before, stops me and asks if I am the owner of the silver mini-van. Uh, yeah, I am. What did my kids do? In my mind, I’m thinking he was mooned, someone stuck his tongue out at him, the two kids were fighting to the death in the back seat….

The story went in a direction that I did not expect. He claims my son was in the front seat trying to move the gears. He went on and on about how dangerous it was, blah, blah… I thanks him for the information but I knew it didn’t sound right. While Peyton may be ornery, he would not try to drive off in my car, right?

As soon as I got into the car, the both kids started telling me about how this weird man tried to get in the car and told them not to mess with the shifter. Come to find out my son was turning on the window wipers which are to the right side of the steering wheel where a gear shift is sometimes located. In my Honda van, however, the gear shift is closer to the radio panel than to the steering wheel. Since it was raining and both kid’s stories matched up, it made complete sense.

So in fact, in an effort to be “safety” conscious, this man freaked my kids out by trying to get in the car and talk to them when he was a stranger to them. I know he was probably harmless but they didn’t know that.

I don’t really know what the point of this story is besides the old man probably went around telling everyone he knew about an untrue story about a kid trying to move the gear shifter while the mom wasn’t in the car….the things that irritate me…

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Wordless Wednesday 6/10

June 10, 2009 by Leave a Comment

eli-with-bulldozer

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I can ride with no training wheels

June 10, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Last night, my mom had both of my youngest kids over to spend the night. Somehow Sofia maneuvered  her way into going. I think it was the “I’m going to your house”  in a sweet voice combined with her you can’t say no to me smile. Who can say no to that?

While we were doing the kid exchange in town, Eli kept asking me to go home and get his bike. Uh, no, we live across the county from my parents and I would be 35 minute round trip not including all the chit chat time! I suggested he offered my brother $1 to come to our house and get it. He doesn’t have anything better to do, ha!

After arriving at the house, Eli was bugging  my dad and brother to drive to our house and get his bike. My dad, not knowing Eli had never rode a bike without training wheels, suggested Eli ride my youngest brother’s orange bike.  My youngest brother (9) gives Eli a little push and he is off! Seriously, it was that easy. He wasn’t even wobbly or anything.

I was told he did have a few close moments but it doesn’t sound like anything we had with our two older children.

I feel a little guilty because Eli had been asking us to take his training wheels off his bike since he turned 5. According to Eli, once you turn 5 you can just magically ride your bike with no training wheels and he was right!

Here’s the video my mom sent me of Eli taking off on his bike (note he is wearing a safety helmet!):

While this was all going on, the two older kids and I decided to make it movie night at our local theater, which is really cheap $2 for kids and $4 for adults.  Plus, the concessions is just as reasonable. We watched Night at the Museum 2 and while it was funny and enjoyable and it was a little over the top!

It was odd to be a movie and not have to really chase anyone around. Hannah and Peyton sat in the third row with friends who were also at the movie. I sat completely by myself and was actually able to enjoy the movie.  Minus the two times the kids wanted money from me for popcorn & cokes! It was really weird.

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It is gone, gone, out of here…

June 3, 2009 by Leave a Comment

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Peyty Pie, as I call him, hit his first over the fence home run at last night’s Pee Wee game.

It came at a critical time when we were only up by 2 runs in a close game against a hard hitting team.

We had two runners on base with 2 outs. First pitch, he swung and it was so out of there!

After that beautiful hit, everyone could breathe a sigh of relief in this close game. We want to keep our undefeated season ya know. Cuz, Pee Wee is LIFE.

We couldn’t find his real home run ball so we think it may have fell into the creek but he was given a new ball which one of the coaches scuffed up a bit to make it look like the home run ball.

Now the home run race is on between two of the 8 year olds on our team.

After the game, we celebrated with dinner at the Dairy Queen with no coupons. Our life is consisting of lots of dinners out right now with our hectic schedule!

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