Odds and Ends

Hmm. Usually I have ideas coming out my ears for blog posts, but lately it's been a dry spell around here. Nobody's been doing anything out of the ordinary, or if they do I don't have my camera with me! So, some quick updates on our lives....

* Jerry, Mick, Aubrey, and Luke took the boat over to Kanopolis last Saturday. It was an absolutely GORGEOUS day - no wind, mid-70's, and almost no one else on the water. Jackson had a birthday party in the afternoon, so he and I loaded up and drove over after the party. We got there in time for a cruise around the lake, and then we set up the campsite. I stayed for marshmallows and then headed home. The rest of the gang spent the night in the tent, intending to spend Sunday fishing. The wind ruined their plans, though. It started gusting early in the night and was pretty darn cold by morning. The campers came home about 8:30. They had a great time though!

* Aubrey made jazz band, so we are looking for a tenor sax for her. If you have one in your closet, give me a call! We went over to Olive Garden in Wichita (her choice) last night to celebrate. Yum.

* For those of you planning a trip to Hutchinson for Thanksgiving, we rented Jumpin' J's party place for Aubrey's birthday on Friday (the day after Thanksgiving.) It is a big building full of inflatable boxing arenas, slides, and obstacle courses. We thought it seemed an excellent way to celebrate and let the kids burn off some energy all at once! The owner let me know that it is perfectly okay for adults to jump around also - can't wait to see the slide races some of you adults will get into!

* Jerry and his two assistants have a chiropractic seminar in Kansas City this weekend. I am going along to socialize with his friends' wives and to shop on the Plaza. He said they were all starting to wonder if he was really married, since I usually stay home. Hmm. Nanette is going to let the kids hang out at her place - they can't wait! We're still not sure what Luke is going to do. He hates to miss his football game, but he hates to miss a weekend with Adam and Ryan also. He is in a quandry.

That's about it around here! The weather's beautiful and my house is clean, so I'm headed outside for a walk.

State Fair 2008

Jackson's class spent all day Tuesday at the State Fair. It was a lot of fun, as field trips go. We had seven well-behaved children and two monsters. That's not a bad ratio! Here are the kids with Oscar the Robot:
The kids never clued in that "Oscar" was the man speaking into his cell phone a few steps away! It was so amazing to them that Oscar could carry on a conversation with them. A real, live robot!

Another fun activity was sponsored by the Fire Safety Program from the Community College. The firemen let the kids try on their gear and climb all over the fire trucks, inside and out.
We watched the pig races, the alligator wrangler, and a magic show. We all ate huge ice cream cones and saw the butter sculpture. A good day. Then on Wednesday every school in Reno County had a teacher inservice day so the kids could go to Ride-a-Rama at the fair. Aubrey went with a friend, but the boys were stuck with me. I have no pictures of Aubrey, but I guess she had a good time. She came home at 9:30 and was wiped out!

A highlight for the boys was the Army tent. We were able to say thank you to a few soldiers who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan. They were so nice to the boys, and took a lot of time explaining the workings of four or five big guns, one was an M-16 and I have no idea what the others were. A grenade launcher was there, I think.
Here they are, flying by on the Blizzard. Remember the Blizzard, everyone? It's been around forever! It used to play the song "Wipe-Out" constantly, but now it plays lots of other songs very loudly. The operator on this ride was hilarious - he danced and lip-synched to the songs. He was a total carney - long ponytail, etc.
Jackson had enough money to buy a toy sword. He spied it on his field trip day and brought his money from home the next day. Luke doesn't have any money - he blew it all on a bow, remember? (A good purchase, by the way.) So he was pretty bummed that he couldn't buy a weapon. Anyway, later in the day we were walking through the Domestic Arts building so I could look at the quilts, which totally bored my boys. There were some benches set up in front of a demonstration kitchen, so I told them to sit down and rest while I browsed for awhile. The next thing I knew, they were both entered in a "Creative Culinary" contest. They had to make something out of some kitchen items within 30 minutes. The prize - $10.00
You guessed it, Luke won! He was interviewed for a short article in the Hutchinson News, and got his picture in the paper. More importantly, he had enough money to buy a 12-shooter rubber band gun. Much cooler than the sword. Luke is just golden like that - things work out for him! Jackson was a good sport about the whole thing.

Jerry met us for lunch at the fair, and the whole family went to the Jeremy Camp concert Tuesday night. All in all, a good fair week.

Quote of the Week

“I’ve been an imperfect servant of my country for many years. But I have been her servant first, last and always. And I’ve never lived a day, in good times or bad, that I didn’t thank God for the privilege. I’m not running for president because I think I’m blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save our country in its hour of need. My country saved me. My country saved me, and I cannot forget it. And I will fight for her for as long as I draw breath, so help me God.”- John McCain in his acceptance speech at the RNC

I have to admit I was not exactly watching his acceptance speech very closely. The man is not a charismatic speaker, unlike his running mate. I did read a transcript of his speech though, and the above quote really struck me.

Annihilation

Luke's first football game as a Buhler Crusader was this morning. His team crushed their opponent, Hutchinson #2 (which I think means it was the weaker Hutch team) 32-0. Luke got quite a bit of playing time and did well, at least from my perspective. I was peering past the RAIN and through the UMBRELLAS to watch. We aren't sissies, we play no matter the weather! At least the temperature was in the fifties and there was no wind. We weren't freezing, just wet.

I'm gonna go get some hot chocolate and dry off!

So what did you think?

Did you watch? What did you think?

Personally, I think McCain made a brilliant strategic move to save his campaign. Especially after watching him last night. Just can't get excited about him.

Giggles and other stuff

I keep giggling every time I get a note from Aubrey's school. It was built in the seventies, maybe early eighties, and is really a pretty nice facility. The funny thing is, though, that they don't have a separate auditorium for meetings. The cafeteria is made with a stage at one side so meetings and performances can be held there. What cracks me up is the name they've come up with for the space. They call it a "cafetorium" ! I don't know why that strikes me as funny, but it sure does. Maybe after four straight years of having kids in the middle school I'll get used to it! Either that, or they'll finally pass their bond issue and add an auditorium on to the building :)

Aubrey has auditions for jazz band at 11:44 this morning. She is nervous! There are eighty kids trying out for twenty spots. I'll let you know how it goes.

Jackson had his first flag football practice last night. He enjoyed it. He thinks he's pretty big stuff, getting to do something Luke never did. It sounds like practice was utter chaos, but what do you expect with first graders?

The Fish Were Biting

Jerry took the boys out of school early yesterday since Grandpa Ed was in town. They took Grandpa's boat out on a small lake owned by a friend of ours. The boys were beyond excited. The boat has been sitting in our street for over a month and a half, and has not moved.

Luke got to drive, a highlight of the trip for him, I'm sure!And then they started catching fish. The way I hear it, Jackson caught one the first four times he stuck his pole in the water!
They were little ones, until this one came along!
And then, the big one jumped on Luke's hook:
Oh Yeah!

Grandma, Stacia, Aubrey and I stayed home this time. We thought we'd let the men get any bugs worked out before we went along.

Happy Labor Day, everyone! I hope you can take it easy and enjoy some R & R this weekend.

I almost forgot. You know, I've about decided that Barney really tries to make us not like him. Thursday night Jerry let him inside for a few minutes, and he immediately jumped up on my leather couch and threw up. Okay. So then last night, when us girls were killing time watching "What Not to Wear" and waiting for the guys to get home from fishing, we let Barney in again. He ran straight to Grandma Kathy, jumped on her lap, and peed. See what I mean?