Yes. I am still alive...barely!

I pretty much lost myself these last few months. Between running Cub Scout Day Camp, taking a Woodbadge course, graduating my first child from High School, working part-time, working on my Woodbadge ticket items, helping to run Cub Scout Summer Games, being a mom and a wife, planning a vacation, helping with a wedding and whatever else needed doing, blogging hasn't fallen anywhere near the list of priorities. I feel bad because this was to be my "journal", but life just took me on a roller-coaster ride and it is only now slowing down a little.  


And so, since Kallen decided to wake me from my restless sleep and then promptly go back to sleep himself, I am going to take these few quiet moments and try to get caught up. I guess I should apologize for the length of this post now. This is like 3 posts in one!

~DAY CAMP~

Day Camp. Day Camp. Day Camp.

    I have done nothing but eat, sleep, breathe and work on Day Camp since February. I felt like I was almost completely absent in my own life. I'm surprised my kids and husband even recognize me!! 

Yes, every boy sat this still and paid this close attention to directions. ;)

     For some reason, even though this was one of the busiest times in my life, I got just about every ounce of the day camp responsibility dumped on me. I'm not sure what happened. I know everyone on the committee had things going on in their lives (as if I didn't), but somehow I seemed to be carrying the heaviest load. It was very unfair; not only to me, but to my family, to have been expected (not asked) to do so much.  The stress must have finally gotten to me because come day TWO, I had completely lost my voice!! Camp's been over for a month now, and I am still harboring some HUGE resentment. Is it obvious? >=/

Denis Johnson and I with our lunchtime entertainment.

 Now that I have whined a little, let me tell you about the amazing time I had at camp! If I didn't have scouts running through my veins before, it most definitely is now. I really LOVE this program! I got to know some pretty great people and boys! I am so grateful to the amazing people who went out of their way to help me out, most of which, didn't even have boys in cubs! 

There are angels among us, and I was so very blessed to have had so many lift me up through that week. 

Webelos Camp with Smokey the Bear.

 As stressful and taxing as this year's camp was on me, 

I can't wait for next year! 

~ASHLEY'S GRADUATION~

    My baby girl has graduated! It was such a bittersweet moment for me. To have our first child enter into adulthood, was harder on me than I even care to admit. Perhaps it's partly due to the obvious aging of myself, but it is also a beginning to a chapter I wasn't prepared to face yet. 

Letting go.

 Two little words that have changed my world. Everything is different now and I don't recall giving anyone permission to do so. I fear for her and her future as much as I am thrilled for it all too. Please. Somebody tell me that it gets better!!

Perhaps these words were meant for me...

~HAWAII~

Paradise! After all these months of stress, I got to jump on a plane with my hubby and spend a week with my parents and (most) of my siblings. We had a great room up on the 39th floor of the hotel. These two shots are from our room! What a view to wake up to each day!! Believe me, I didn't take any of it for granted!!

The first 2 days there were filled with pandemonium and stress as we busied ourselves with wedding preparations and I dealt with everything falling apart at home. We were on the phone pretty continuously with the kids those first two days. 
-So and so wasn't watching the kids-
                  -Someone isn't doing their chores- 
                                -Hadley fell out the living room window, but she's ok.-
 It was honestly enough to make me wish I hadn't gone in the first place. In fact we even looked into the possibility of cutting our trip short...by about 5 days!!

You see, I had made plans a least 2 months before to have the youngest kids stay with their Grandma. But 2 weeks before we left, we got terrible news. Hattie's breast cancer had come back. She had surgery just 6 days before we left. As she was recovering at my sister-in-law's, we now added another stresser to our trip...NO supervision for our kids. There wasn't anyone to call to burden with this, so Rick and I made a plan. The kids were old enough to do this on their own. (We thought.) It wasn't the most ideal situation, but I put a lot of planning into making sure menus were done, food was bought, babysitting schedule was in order. I made sure that the kids went on 1 hour rotations and that there was a 2 hour break in between. (They only watched one child at a time.) I thought this was a good plan. A DO-able plan. But, NO! 

After Hadley fell out the window (It's a good 5 foot drop onto the grass, but there is some concrete down there too that she thankfully missed!), my brother and sister-in-law came to our rescue and took the two youngest home with them for the remainder of our trip. After feeling like foolish parents for assuming that our kids were more responsible than that (and more than a few tears shed on my part), Rick and I tried to forget about everyone and everything at home and just TRY to be present in this once in a lifetime vacation.

 Alone. Together. 

First thing on our agenda was John and Amanda's wedding. 

Sadly, the day before the wedding was the first time that I actually met Amanda. But surprisingly, it seemed like I had know her all my life! She has melded into the "King Family" and into our hearts seamlessly. We are so truly blessed to have her in our family!! 

My brother and his family! =)

We had an amazing time! The wedding was beautiful and Amanda's family is wonderful!! We really appreciated all their hospitality! And we really enjoyed getting to be so much apart of all the wedding plans and preparation. 

Rick and I drove around the island in a 2011 Jeep Wrangler with the top off. Only our's was black! Believe me when I say Rick was in heaven. He wanted a Jeep before, but now he REALLY wants one!! I have to admit, I kinda had fun in it too! (But, SHHHH! Don't let him know that!)  ;) All I can say is, if you ever have the opportunity to go to Hawaii, do NOT drive ANYWHERE without a GPS!! They definitely don't make that island tourist friendly!! 

We took a drive up to see the Laie, Hawaii Temple.

Turtle Beach.

We saw about 30 huge turtles along the beach that day.

We drove up the North Shore and walked along a couple of beaches. We also had some amazing shrimp at a very scary looking shrimp shack and ate pineapple ice cream at the Dole Plantation. What a great day we spent with John and Amanda!!

Pearl Harbor was very sobering. We toured the museums and saw all the exhibits. We also had an amazing time finding all sorts of treasures at the swap meet. 

Top of Waikiki

Evening storm rolling in.

This was the view from Schooner's out at Pearl Harbor.

Finally, we were able to go to some pretty amazing places for dinner. The Top of Waikiki was quite an experience. The restaurant revolves as you eat your dinner. Schooner's had a great atmosphere right on the water. But as great as they were and as good as the food was, the best part was visiting with each other! 

Hawaii was an amazing experience. I hope someday to go back again and spend sometime just sitting and relaxing. 

So where are we going to take our next vacation that could possibly top this one? 

ALASKA!!! 

And yes, we will be taking the kids...