Painted Rocks

When Jim was away in Alaska the kids and I (well, me mostly, but the kids got right on board) decided to paint some rocks to keep ourselves busy.  First, we went on a walk looking for said rocks.  Tralee and Hunter each picked their own out of the drainage area outside our subdivision.  Not sure if that's legal, but I decided that two rocks wouldn't be missed from the hundreds that are there.  Next, we painted on the base coat (white).  After that was dry I let each kid pick a color to paint their rocks.  My plan was to let them pick one color, let it dry, then let them pick the next.  My hope was to get some kind of funky multicolored rocks to display in our flowerbed.  Unfortunately my babes didn't get the memo, and completely covered the rock in each new color, making the old color obsolete.  Towards the end each child choose the color brown to paint their rock.  REALLY!?!?!  Brown?  I tried to talk them out of brown by saying positively convincing things (sort of).  The following may or may not have come out of my mouth: "You guys!  Brown is ugly!  Do you want your rocks to look just like brown rocks again, or worse, look like rocks with poop all over them!?  OR do you want them to look like nice painted colorful rocks?"  My nay-saying didn't deter, and both children were convinced that brown was the perfect color for their rocks.  I lost, two against one, so I gave up until the next day.

By the next day I decided I would have to delegate a little bit more instead of, "just let the rocks turn out how they turn out!"  I explained we would be picking a new base color (not brown), painting the rock (yet again), and then picking out a shape from my Silhouette collection and use vinyl as a stencil to paint the shape onto the rock.  

To help inspire my children I googled "painted rocks" and showed them the images of what some people did.  Tralee decided she wanted to paint a butterfly after seeing a pretty butterfly painted rock.  Hunter usually copies his sister, so he picked a butterfly too.  I helped Tralee with the rest of her rock.  She choose all the colors, she chose her butterfly shape, the flower shape, and had limited help from me painting the colors on.  The only addition I made to her rock was outlining the shapes with a black paint pen, I added the white dots, and sprayed on the sealant.

I can't say the same for Hunter's rock.  He helped apply the new base color, but lost interest soon after that.  So, I finished up his butterfly on my own.  I have to say, I quite like it.  "Hunter's" rock turned out very well indeed.

All-in-all it was a fun little project to do with the kids. 

Applying the base coat

Hunter had to use each and every paint brush

I love when kids stick their tongue out when they're hard at work.

I love Hunter's face here.  He was admiring Tralee's work.  "Oooooo!"

Finished.  Tralee's rock is on the left, Hunter's/mine is on the right

We might be doing this project again in the semi-near future.  It was kind of awesome.

One More Thing. . .

I ADORE this little boy!

All done.

I LOVE This Little Girl!

That's all.

More Summer Fun

Tralee really loves her second cousin, Brinley.  She always talks about her, and asks if we can go to her house, or if Brinley can come play at ours.  About a week ago Tralee got her wish when we went over to watch Brinley for a day while her mom ran one of Brin's brothers to Scout camp.  I told Tralee we were going to go play at Brinley's the night before, and the first thing she said the next morning was, "Ok, It's tomorrow, let's go to Brinley's!"  Despite Tralee's expression in the following two pictures, she had a lot fun playing with her cousin this day.  They were outside most of the day running around in the sprinklers, jumping on the tramp, playing in various forts, snuggling with puppies, and pushing each other in the hammock.  Hunter tried to keep up with the older girls, but his little legs weren't quite fast enough.  He spent a lot of time playing with his dear ol' Mom while the older girls ran off to their next adventure.

It was a fun summer day. 

Sprinkler Time

Just playin' in the sprinklers this hot summer!

Fun and cute!  Doesn't get any better than that.

Jim's Alaskan Adventure

Jim just got home from his 11-day adventure in Alaska.  He had a great time with his uncle and cousins.  I'm mostly going to post some pictures of their trip.  For a more detailed account. . . talk to Jim!  

Flying out to the drop-off point

Getting their gear ready

The next few pictures are of all the different fish Jim and his fellow fishermen caught.  One of the last photos is a rainbow trout.  Jim said it was the biggest rainbow trout he's ever caught--or seen for that matter! 

We have a little waterproof point-and-shoot Jim was testing out.  Not too shabby!

 Playing games in their tent at night. . .

Here's the trout. . . HUGE!

The boat that took them back to civilization

Jim had a blast, but he's glad to be home.  We're glad he's home too!!  Tralee was so cute at the airport, as soon as she saw her daddy, she ran up to him giggling and laughing so hard!  It was like her little body couldn't contain so much joy in seeing her daddy, so it all came out in a burst of laughter.  All day long she kept asking Jim, "You're not going to leave us again are you?  I want you to stay here with us for a long long long time!"  Jim promised not to leave again for a while.  Phew!  We're happy to have our family together again!

Funny!

My cousin put this on her facebook page. I thought it was pretty funny! So. . . enjoy!

Hunter's Latest

Hunter has thing for skin (not in a creepy "it puts the lotion on its skin" kind of way), just in a curious kind of way.  For as long as I can remember, when you snuggle him, he'll rub his hand up and down your arm.  If he feels an bump, scratch, or anything out of the ordinary he'll stop rubbing, look at the obstruction and ask, "What's that?"  So far he's got moles, scratches, zits, bruises, and owies down pat, but he'll still ask just to be sure.  If he thinks you're wrong, for instance if you say, "that's a zit" when he thinks otherwise he'll correct you by saying, "No!  That's a mole!"

I have a small beauty mark (it's just a mole, but beauty mark sounds nicer) on my forearm that Hunter is a little obsessed with.  He always has to check on it.  Every time he climbs onto my lap Hunter asks, "Where's your mole?"  I show him my arm, he finds my "beauty mark", touches it, and all is well in his world again.  The same thing happens when we're snuggling before bedtime, if I'm reading him a book, or if I'm putting him in his car seat.  I will admit, I kinda love it when he asks about a scratch or bruise and I say, "That's an owie."  His response is always, "Oh!  I will kiss it better."  Then he plants the sweetest, softest kiss on wherever he thinks I'm hurt.  In fact, sometimes I point out where an owie is, just so I can get a little kiss from my two-year-old.  I'm not sure if his curiosity about skin is normal, but it doesn't seem to be hurting anyone, so I just go with it.  I swear, this kid will probably be a dermatologist one day.  Wahoo!!  With all the stupid unprotected sunbathing I did as a teenager, I'll probably need a good dermatologist in the family someday!  

Another Great Ensemble

This is ALL Tralee.
Funny girl!

Raspberries

   Tricia and Jeff (Jim's mom and her husband) recently put their house on the market and moved to a different city to start a new adventure.  As we were helping pack them up and clean a bit, Tricia let me know that until the house sells, I am more than welcome to help myself to the fruits of her labor in the garden.  Not one to say no to free produce, I gratefully accepted.  

A few days ago Trish called to let me know that her raspberries were prime for the picking, so the kids and I took some buckets and headed on over yesterday.  Tralee loved to pick them, but she's not a fan of raspberries.  Never has been.  Hunter on the other hand ate more than he put in his bucket.

We picked about an ice-cream-bucket full of raspberries and headed on our merry way.  I would have liked to pick more, but my kids were getting grumpy and hungry, and it started to rain.  So, we might have to go back in another few days and pick some more. 

When we got home Hunter and I ate some more raspberries, and then I froze the rest.  Although it's sad that Tricia and Jeff have moved away, I'm grateful they're sharing their garden with us!  Those raspberries will be put to good use!  

Driving Home

Our drive back into the states wasn't too exciting.  We said our goodbyes and left Canada on Sunday, July 3rd in the afternoon.  We drove about half way and stopped in Butte, Montana.  The first thing our kids did when we got into our room was jump on the beds.  I didn't even stop it.  In fact, I encouraged it.  Those active little bodies had been cramped in a car for six hours, so by all means, have at it!  Tralee's favorite activity was jumping from bed to bed.  Little dare devil! 

We also burnt off some more energy by swimming in the hotel's pool.  After Mommy and Daddy were ready to rest (the kids weren't on board yet), we got out of the pool, showered, jammied-up, got back in the car, and found a place to order some food.  Arby's was the closest, and only place open, so Arby's it was.  Love me some horsey sauce!  We parked our car outside the hotel, ate our curly fries, and watched the fireworks that were going off all around the valley.  We saw at least three different sets blasting in the sky and heard the ooohs and aaahs of the little munchkins that sat in our laps munching on their chicken strips.

When the fireworks were over, our dinners devoured, and our bodies in much need of some rest, we found our way back to the hotel room.  Teeth were brushed, prayers were said, stories were read, and then tiny bodies were snuggled into slumber.  At last Jim and I had a few moments to reflect on the wonderful vacation we just had, and then watch some bad TV (something about Bigfoot. . . did I ever mention that Jim's obsessed with Sasquatches?  Geek alert!)  It didn't take me long to dose off, and morning came too quickly.

Monday, July 4th we ate some breakfast at the hotel, packed up, and tried to leave.  The problem was there was a HUGE parade going on right on the road we had to leave on, so we hung out for an extra hour or so while the parade took place.  Once it was over, we were finally able to leave Butte, and continue on our merry way home.

We made it home safely, and now that I'm finally done blogging about our Canadian vacation, it's probably time to finish unpacking!  (YIKES!)  I REALLY REALLY REALLY hate unpacking!! I don't know why, but it usually takes me a good week (or two) to finish unpacking from a trip I hate it so much.  Anyways. . . I better go take care of business.

Go CANADA trip 2011!!

Our Last Saturday in Canada

On our last full day in Canada we took another group trip to Beazer Hole.  Here are some pics:

After swimming, Jim and I left the kids with Grandma and Grandpa and drove into Cardston for some poutine.  I HAVE to have poutine every time we go to Canada.  I also like to have fries with salt and vinegar.  I ALSO like to order fries with a side of gravy instead of ketchup, but mostly I'm all about the poutine.  So, Jim and I ordered a basket of it and enjoyed our little Cardston date sans kid-os.

When we got back into Mountain View we just hung out with family some more, and relaxed a bit before we had to back up and leave the next day. (Sniff Sniff).

Saturday was a nice day!