Camping with the DZ's.

What a great weekend!

Phil, the kids, and I arrived at Brushy Creek Park on Lake O'the Pines about 4pm on Friday afternoon... two stop and one flat tire later. But that is another story. We hauled the travel trailor and boat up for our weekend adventure. DZ sisters Janet and Jennifer and their families were to join us later that evening.

First Jennifer, seems there was some in-law/family confusion so they were not going to be able to camp with us. Jennifer and her handsome little boys visited on Friday evening and the whole family came out Saturday morning for a visit. It has been TOO long since I've seen Jen... shame on us- she only lives 45 minutes away!

Then, Janet- step-daughter Carly was sent to the nurse's office on the last day of school with a strange rash, what was suspected to be Fifth's disease. So her Mom took her to urgent care. After a long wait, the doctor said she should not be camping so she had to miss the trip. Janet and husband Byron arrived around 10:15pm with the older daughter, Katie.

Saturday morning it was time for some good 'ole lake fun! Sydney was in the lake before 9am! The kids (and adults) had a great day swimming, bike riding, and tubing. Katie got a little too much sun(burn) and was asleep by 9pm. I had to leave camp at 7:30pm to take Sydney to her dance recital in Marshall. She danced beautifully, but boy are we glad that is over! After returning we had a bowl of homemade ice cream (with sprinkles!) and hit the sack by midnight!

Sunday morning Sydney was in the lake again! We got up, ate breakfast and enjoyed the beautiful morning before beginning the packing up process.

We will definitely have to do the DZ campout again... wonder what other DZs we can get to come along??

Gone Camping... and other CRAZY thoughts.

Yay!

We are going camping with good friends this weekend. Been looking forward to it for quite some time! I will have a full report next week!

I had a CRAZY thought today... not sure how it will pan out so I won't say just yet what it is. I will tell you it involves this guy below, but in a new and different way:

Suprising huh? What can I say... it's a sickness.

Since I'm always thinking about Disney World...

Here is a GREAT site I found to earn money for Disney. I usually cash out in Disney Dollars and let the kids spend them, however you can cash out in other ways- including paypal! My goal for December's trip is $100 in Disney Dollars.

It's not hard to use. I opened a new email account that I use JUST for Sunshine Rewards (my husband doesn't want all that stuff in our main email). I get on daily and do clicks, surveys, and paid sign ups!

If you want to become a member... use my link and I will get credit and you will be on your way to earning FREE CASH!

http://www.sunshinerewards.com/signup.php?r=7094

Wow... I am LAZY.

It has certainly been a while since I updated this blog and SOOOOOOO much has happened.

Caleb and Sydney have completed the 2009-10 school year successfully. It is hard to believe that they will be 4th and 1st graders next year. Where in the WORLD has the time gone?!?

I am looking forward to summer break, just about a month left for me and I will be at home with my kids. I am thankful for this job and the time it allows me with my family.

We have so much going on in our house it is just crazy. Sydney recently started taking tumbling and cheerleading classes at Gym-Fit in Marshall. That keeps us on the road 2 night a week. She is now a member of the Gym-Fit USA Spirit All-Stars Cheerleading squad. This is really her "thing" and she loves every moment. Her skills are developing nicely, she recently finally got the backhandspring independently. I wouldn't say she has "mastered" it yet, but she is well on her way. She is also now a "flyer." Eeeek! That means she is the one being thrown around in the air... something that she loves and can't get enough of. I just hold my breathe and hope for the best. I have complete confidence in her skills and the expertise of her coaches- so it will all be ok. Right?

Caleb is now a Weebelo scout and I am so incredibly proud of him. He has earned his bobcat, wolf, and bear ranks and we will start working toward the Webelo rank this summer. Phil has really taken the Cub Scout thing by the reins and works with Caleb all the time. Caleb is growing and becoming quite the young man. (Little brag here: Caleb won 2nd in his Den in the Pinewood Derby this year- he won 3rd the year before... only 1st left for next year!)

Summer is really here... it is going to be a HOT one. Which means fire season and Phil on assignment... but hey... it's part of it. Phil did break down and buy me an alarm system for the house this week so that staying alone won't be quite so stressful on me. I am relieved!

So before it gets too hot and Phil is gone we are spending some time CAMPING. We spent a weekend in May at Martin Creek Lake State Park with the Cub Scouts and will be spending this weekend at Lake O'the Pines with my best friend and her family and a college friend and her crew. So looking forward to this one. The kids will have a ball... and so will the adults!

When I get a chance I will get some pictures up here!

At a podcasting workshop...

and of course I am going to find SOME way to incorporate Disney. LOL. It's a sickness, I know. Anyway... we were playing with Microsoft Movie Maker functions and I had these 2 pictures from our trip last December...

On the countdown...

So close, but so far away! Wohoo... we leave for Disney in 93 days. The kids are getting excited, I am past excited and I need to get planning!

We'll be there soon Mickey!

Coby TF-DVD7750... what a piece of junk.

I'm a stickler for car seats... and seatbelts. Probably because I was saved by my seatbelt in an accident in 1989. I remember the days of crawling all over the car while we went down the road. I absolutely don't allow this. So the question is, how do you entertain your children and keep them still on the 3.5 hour trip to the Grandparent's or even better the 16 hour trip to Disney World. A DVD player- how else?

My parents bought us one for Christmas several years back and we had very few problems with it... until Caleb left it hanging by the cord outside the car door in June of 2008 (I didn't realize it) and I drove off and lost it somewhere between Carthage and Center. Ooooops.

We were heading to the Grandparent's for the 4th of July- so I bought a new one from Walmart- couldn't find the one we had previously so I got a Coby TF-DVD7750. Worked great for about 3 months when the cord went bad- it has one unit that plays the DVD and the 2nd screen is a "slave", attached by a 3 part cord- the video portion of the cord quit working. I called the company and sent them $12 to get a new cord. All is well in DVD land again right? Fast forward to July 2009, one year and one week after buying the unit- the kids and I are headed to my parent's house to see my sister and her family, we are 30 minutes out of Carthage and the stupid thing just stops working. I pull over take the DVD out, reload and then I get the message "wrong disk". Hasn't worked since. I looked it up on the internet- this thing is JUNK. I have read ONE good review and oh, 50 bad ones. We used this stupid thing a total of 10 times maybe and it is a PAPERWEIGHT. Junk pure Junk!!! Customer service? What do they say? "Clean it with a DVD cleaner and canned air." Did that. 10 or 15 times. Doesn't work. Oh, and they were rude on top of that.

So now, we are again in the market for a portable DVD player. I will be doing my research this time.

I will NEVER buy another COBY product. I recommend you don't either.