Camp Horseshoe (8/1)

Andrew was at Boy Scout camp this week and yesterday(8/1) was family day. I have never been to the scout camps before (since Tim is usually with them) so I was excited to see where he was staying. Steven and I went for family day (Tim and Kendyl stayed home as it was a long day 2-10).

I stopped along the side of the road for the pictures above!

Here is Andrew's tent (and Josh). Yikes! Thankfully he had a good one that didn't leak as there were storms almost every night this week. There sides were up for inspection which everyone passed with perfect scores this week - yeah Troop!

Here's a broader view. His camp was Conestoga. Basicall there were a bunch of tents, a pavillion, a few random picnic tables, a fire pit, "bathrooms", and a hard 3 sided shelter where the adults stayed.

After visiting camp, we headed for the pool where they had games planned. Only scouts participated, but Andrew was entered in 3 events and came in 3rd in "Hot Shot". He had to carry a match across the pool, then light it. He did well in the 50 yard swim too, especially since most of the kids were older. The hike to the pool was quite long and rough. No easy paths out there.

Here is my handsome guy ready for the nightly marching event (sorry, I don't remember what it's called). It was a nice ceremony where they take down the flag, but tonight, they also inducted new members into OA (Order of the Arrow).

The troop won the marching trophy last night for the first time in 10 years!!!! They were quite proud. Then, then won it again while we were there. 2 nights in a row. They were on fire.

Here are the Troop 100 campers this year.

Andrew watching the ceremony. The indian is part of the induction ceremony of the new OA members. Indians are a large part of all ceremonies at camp.

Here is a picture of them marching, when they won the award. Guess the judges weren't watching as Billy was off :-)

Here is Andrew's patrol flag. His troop is broken into 2 patrols. Shockwave and Ace. They even have patrol shirts that one of the mothers made. Nice group of boys in his patrol too.

Andrew earned 4 merit badges this week. Swimming, Shotgun, Weather and Papermaking (or something like that). He also did the polar bear swim every day so he will get a patch for that. He also climbed the 40 ft. rock wall (the hardest section). His favorite was the shotgun. Well, he should be home soon, time to wash the smelly, wet, gross laundry from the week.

Great Wolf Lodge Getaway! (7/12-14)

On the way to GWL, we stopped at Callie's Pretzel Factory (and then Callie's Candy Factory) for a quick tour and snack. Yumm! They had fresh made soft pretzels in lots of shapes and flavors. Kendyl got one on a stick, I had an everything pretzel, Tim went traditional, Andrew picked a dollar sign, and Steven had a cinnamon sugar. We also got some bags of hard pretzels for snacks later.

Once at GWL, we headed straight for the waterpark (our room wasn't ready yet). Kendyl loved the wave pool (the boys took off for the water slides). She loved the little fountains, and the waves!

She even got into the kiddie slides. Her big brothers were big helpers taking turns taking her up or catching her if Daddy or I weren't around (if were were off riding with someone!). Actually, Steven was the first one to take her up to put her on the slide.

I love this shot.

I think all of the more fun shots must be on the water camera (I hope so). It's hard to take pictures at a water park. We did have an amazing time though. It was so nice to just let the boys go do whatever and not worry (they would usually come back and check in every few slides or so). Tim and I would take turns riding with them or playing with Kendyl together. We all rode all of the slides at least once, with Andrew riding each at least 3x if not many, many more. Walking up the 3-4 flights of stairs for each slide got old real quick, luckily the slides were fun! No lines or very, very short lines made it even better.

We surprised the boys with a special room....the Kid Kamp room. A little room within our room designed to look like a tent that had bunkbeds (so they didn't have to share a bed). They were thrilled! They also had there own TV which was nice after Kendyl went to bed. Bonus....we put Kendyl's bed in there for naptime so I could have the main room to myself.

Kendyl climbing on the bottom bunk and peeking out.

Before the waves would start in the wave pool, the wolf would howl. Kendyl quickly learned to howl! Here are Tim and Kendyl practicing their howl.

Monday night while Andrew and I showered (we stayed at the park a little later) Tim, Kendyl and Steven went to story hour in the lobby and met Wiley the Wolf! Luckily we made it down with the camera just before he left and got a picture....then we went for ice cream.

Unfortunately we didn't get to go back to the park on Tuesday morning as planned. While loading up the car, we discovered the car wouldn't start. Our mechanic thought it was a dead battery, but could have been the alternator so we had to get a jump ASAP to see what was what. We missed the last couple hours of play time we had planned for the kids (Tim and I had enough) and all of the pictures I wanted to take of them :-(

Thankfully, I think they would have only lasted 1-2 more hours anyway, so not too much was lost. It was nice to come home, eat a home cooked meal and get Kendyl a good nap. It was only the battery and after the GWL gave us a jump, we made it home, Tim got us a new battery and installed it.

Now to develop the water camera to see what we captured (and to see the video).

Next on the summer agenda....Andrew goes to Boy Scout Camp.

Bari is in the house! (7/9)

Andrew is now officially the baritone saxophone player for the OJR middle school band! We picked up Bari #1 today (#2 stays at school). It is so big, they give him one for home, and one for school!

Kendyl was excited!

He even played a bit for us. He loves it so far and has been practicing every day. He seems like a natural! We'll see if he still likes it when he has to march around the parking lot in the August heat during band camp!

4th of July

Today we celebrated with our good friends the Bob, Marianne and Joe. They invited us to the pool they belong to. Kendyl hasn't been in a pool since last summer so we weren't sure how she would do. We don't have to many pictures because we were busy with her, and Tim got stung by a bee! Bob took him to get benadryl (allergic) and I was able to get Kendyl in the water and we had a blast! She took too it just like her big, big bro Andrew.

After the pool, we got cleaned up, and we all came back to our house for a picnic. Good food, great friends and some family pictures.

All the kids!

Bob, Joe and Marianne!

Then off to fireworks! Tim and Kendyl stayed home as she was tired (only a 10 minute nap) and Tim still wasn't 100% from the bee sting. The rest of us went to see the Pottstown fireworks and got a great last minute spot right under the fireworks. The boys enjoyed their glowsticks and the show.

Happy Birthday America!

July 3 - Aboard PEGA

Here are Kendyl and I on PEGA! Mom and Pete recently got a new boat (sailed it up from FL) and it is docked in Rock Hall, MD. They are doing a lot of work on it, so no sailing today, we just went to see the boat, and them.
The boys LOVED the boat and can't wait to go sailing. Here is Andrew pushing the limits and hanging off the back.

Steven is quite comfy sitting up front. Wonder if he would do that while sailing?

Kendyl was quite the dare devil trying to run around on deck. Thankfully, no incidents. She would run right up to the rails, and look over without a care in the world.

Here's Andrew! He REALLY loved it and can't wait to sail. He doesn't remember their old boat, but he loved sailing then too. He was only a toddler.

At the marina we enjoyed Andrew's birthday gift from Grandmom and Grandpop, ladderball. It was a lot of fun!

Grandmom and Kendyl watched Steven in the pool while Andrew, Pete, Tim and I played the first game of Ladderball.

Kendyl loves to wear my shoes.

We stayed late that night....to see fireworks right from the boat!

Here's Grandmom and Kendyl enjoying the show.

It was a great day, even 2 days later, the boys can't stop talking about it. They can't wait to stay over next time and sleep in the closet (aka v-berth).

Happy 12th Birthday Andrew!!!!!!!!!!!!

My first baby is 12 today. Oh my...where does the time go? I can remember my pregnancy and labor with him like it was yesterday, and here he is, almost a teenager. I am happy to say, I am proud of the person he is, and he seems to be becoming. He has a good head on his shoulders and he is so much fun to talk to and be with.
He had a party with his friends last night. I really didn't want to do a party this year, but I'm so glad we did. He just wanted his friends over to play/hang out, and that's exactly what they did. They slept in the tent (which Andrew put up by himself), we cooked burgers on the grill, and besides that, they just played. Baseball, capture the flag, wii, and flashlight tag. Oh, and after dinner they had the brilliant idea to give each other spinny rides on the tire swing. J, pictured above was the first to volunteer stating the loved rides, had an iron stomach....well, let's just say our parties rock as - you guessed it, he threw up! Twice. So after that (and a few other kids were still recovering) we banned the spinny rides).

Boys in front of the tent.

Andrew and J (yes, he stayed and felt better after awhile).

Thanks Uncle Chuck, Aunt Rina and Cousins Kyle, Jason and Alex for the awesome hat, and gift card!

Andrew has been saving for 6 months to get an iTouch. Today was the day! His birthday money finally gave him enough to get the gift he has been waiting for. Thanks to everyone who contributed. I took him to the Apple store to get our questions answered, then he decided to purchase it at Target so he could get the $25 gift card they were giving away with it! Smart kid. He used the gift card to buy and iTunes card and has purchased games today. He is having fun with it while I update the blog.

Andrew didn't want a cake, instead he wanted to go to Coldstone Creamery. Here are his crazy siblings saying "cheese".

And our yearly picture with Pooh. Tim bought this for him when he found out we were pregnant! I'll have to find some infant/toddler pictures of him with Pooh and post them.

Happy Birthday Andrew....you will always be my baby!