Cami's Bum Arm (and Mommy's Birthday)

The other night Mommy's folks took us all out to dinner for her birthday. Can you believe it!? She is finally 21 years old! We went to Fuddrucker's, which is one of our favorite places. It is very yummy but this time around the service was really slow. A family that ordered the same time we did ate their food and were ready to leave by the time our food arrived. I don't know what we ordered that caused such a long wait, but we didn't complain. We were having too much fun watching Cami be creative.

While there Cami cracked herself up by taking a photo of her elbow but made it look like a picture of a butt. She thought it was hysterical. I laughed more at her laughing than the picture itself.

Sorry the video is so dark, but the restaurant was dark. I think restaurants keep their places dark so you can't see the food. Hmm, food for thought...

Cami's Bridging Ceremony - 2012

 

 

Cami had her "bridging" ceremony tonight. This involved getting some recognition patches and then walking over a bridge as a symbol for graduating up to the next level of Girl Scouts. The ceremony took place at a local park that had a nice bridge that could be used. Alas, it rained all day and all night, so the girls got very wet. But they didn't care. They all had a great time.

 





 

 

After the ceremony Cami decided to play on the playground and generally roll around in the puddles. She got really wet and enjoyed every second of it.

 

 

 



The First Day of School - 2012

It's that time again, the dreaded first day of school. The kids were excited to start school, or more accurately to see their friends again. Cami is in 4th grade now and has a new teacher this year. Ian is in 5th grade, the last grade before he moves on to middle school, and he has the same teacher he had last year.

It is so hard for me to see Ian in the oldest grade. He and Cami both are growing up so quickly. In the mornings the kids line up in rows according to grade. I have watched my kids over the years go from the youngest rows all the way over to the oldest rows. Next year he'll go back to being in the youngest grade in middle school and Cami will be in the oldest grade in grade school.

I remember Cami's first day of school 3 years ago now. The teacher grabbed Cami and took her, kicking and screaming, into the classroom and closed the door. It made me sick to watch.

I hate school. It is a fulltime job keeping up with all of the homework and the other paperwork the teachers send home. They send so many pieces of paper home that important ones get tossed out among all the umimportant ones. Then we miss events and sign up sheets for science fairs, etc. And then there are the lunches to keep up with. Ughh. I don't like it at all.

Flat Ginny Goes to Springfield, IL - August, 2012

 

The end of summer is upon us and Flat Ginny wanted to take one last little trip before the kids went back to school. She wanted it to be close to home so we didn't spend all of our time travelling, so she decided on Springfield, IL. The KOA there had a large "Kamping Kabin" available so we decided to rent it for three nights. We have been in typical KOA cabins on prior trips and they are very rustic, but this cabin was really deluxe.

 

 

The cabin was nicer than a hotel room! It had air conditioning, satellite TV, a kitchentte, a refrigerator, a bathroom with shower, a little bedroom with a set of bunkbeds, and a separate bedroom with a queen size bed. It was so nice! It also had a deck and a fire pit and BBQ, and several outside tables.

 

You can see that Flat Ginny settled in very quickly. Here she is eyeing the bananas for a snack. She had already polished off the two McDonald's pops, a root beer, and a diet coke. She ate so much that she didn't feel good enough to go along with us to Lincoln's home.

Here are our three kids at Lincoln's home. It was a glorious day, weather-wise, which made the excursion much more pleasant. We and hot weather do not mix well, though Mommy does like a really hot day at the beach. We went through the visitor's center and saw the interesting items on display. Ian really enjoyed the large replica of the town of Springfield and Cami enjoyed the military weapons (like swords, etc) from the Civil War.

Here is a picture of Lincoln's home from the outside. It is quite nice and would have been really nice by the standards of 150 years ago. I thought it was interesting that Mrs. Lincoln had her own potty chair in her bedroom (she and Abe had their own bedrooms).

The next day we woke up with quite an appetite, so we headed out to find some much needed food. Woohoo, we found a Golden Corral! We like buffets because everyone can find something they'll eat and we don't have to wait 30 minutes for the food to arrive at our table. This really helps when you have fidgety children.

Daddy ate himself silly and later had a hard time back at the campsite trying to enjoy bouncing on the giant bouncy pillow thingy. Speaking of the campsite, the pool was nice but a little chilly. I found this interesting as the Midwest has just experienced one of the hottest summers in a while and the water was still cold. I'm not sure how this is possible.

Later this same night we cooked a wonderful meal at the campsite. We cooked corn-on-the-cob on the grill and we made good use of our Coleman stove. Speaking of this stove, Daddy used it most mornings to cook very tasty breakfasts. Here Flat Ginny is seen helping remove the silk from the cobs.

By the time we finished dinner Mommy had time to create a makeshift cake out of marshmallows and candles for Cami's birthday. See the video below of the birthday "cake"...

 

Cami said later that it was the best birthday cake she's ever had. Kudos to Mommy for thinking of it.

You can't really see it in the video because the blog shrinks the window size down so much, but the expression on Cami's face is priceless as she looks at the candles. She is so excited that we remembered her birthday!

After lunch we went to Lincoln's tomb. There were very few people there so we were able to take our time and see what there was to see. The kids were impressed with the building and all of the statues inside. Our kids are great. They actually like museums and places such as this. Other kids would probably find it very boring. Flat Ginny found it impressive as well. She had never been to Lincoln's tomb before.

 

 

We all took a turn rubbing the nose of Lincoln's bust that is outside the monument. Below see a compilation of our lovely little family.

 



After the tomb we went to the Illinois State Museum, which is a small museum next to the capitol (capital?) building. There were several sections on evolution (an old stand-by that all museums have) and a lot about the geology of Illinois. There was also a section on the Native Americans that lived in the area hundreds (thousands?) of years ago. There was a large diarama constructed that showed various aspects of their lives.

Flat Ginny, and Daddy, were very impressed with how detailed the displays were.

 

Yep, Daddy was very impressed with the level of detail.

 



An awesome find in the "Americana" section of the museum. A plate dedicated to the Nauvoo temple construction.

Later on Flat Ginny and Mommy hit the gift shop. So many things to buy and so little money.

Ian and Flat Ginny both had to take the occassional bathroom breaks. Here we see her helping Ian wash his hands.

If you get a chance to visit the Illinois State Museum it's worth the price of admission, which is free! Well, it's free at the door. Don't get me started about the high taxes in Illinois. Don't bother with the "art" gallery part of the museum unless you enjoy talentless "artists".

Well, it's time to leave, at least for a while. Of course, the kids are horsing around while the rest of us pack and clean up.

Everyone had a great time and we can't wait to go back to the Springfield KOA again. There was so much to do that we barely had time to go swimming and we never did go fishing. The kids had a great time and we made a lot of memories, plus it felt good to get out of town for a few days.

Our Spoiled Fairies - 2012

The other day Cami made our fairies a nice dinner and a new house for them to live in. Before they ate the dinner I made sure I got a nice photo. She used the furniture from her Polly Pocket toy set, which is probably the perfect size for a fairy.

She made the house from cutoffs from a Cub Scout project. It doesn't look like much from the outside, but the inside is quite cozy. She made them a bed, and a little chair, and added some artwork to the walls.

Here is a view into the interior of the house. It shows a great attention to detail.

A nice touch was the umbrella that Cami put up above the house while it sat in the tree. For her efforts the fairies left her a nice note thanking her for the treats.