Mother's Day 2013 and My Meeting with Raymond Cameron

I'm dusting off the cobwebs off this ol' blog and trying again to post here.  I have lots of things to talk about!  We'll start with Mother's Day 2013.
We had a lovely day!  The girls and I went to church and then headed to my folks to join up with them and then head to my sister's house.  After a yummy lunch, we decided to go to a neighborhood "lake" for some canoeing and kayaing fun.  Mimi (my mom) recently bought a second kayak and so Hanna took it in its inaugural spin around the lake.  Trever took my nieces and Harper in the canoe and then came back and Hope traded places with Harper.  We had sopapilla cheesecake for dessert and so we took that out there to enjoy as well. 

 

 

 

 



Now, I know that this sounds like a regular and somewhat boring time.  It was pretty smooth up to that point.  Then, I decided that I would take the kayak for a spin.  I have never been in a kayak and have canoed only once in my life!  Hanna and Hope helped me climb in--or perhaps I should say squeeze in because they don't really make these things for "big mommas" like me.  I toodled around the little lake a bit and then as I headed in, I suggested that Hanna take my picture in the canoe, just to prove that I did indeed do it.  She grabbed the camera and my Sister did as well.  Sister came to help me get out of the thing and did her best to pull me up onto the shoreline (about a 4-5" rise above the water).  Again, remember "big momma" here is in the kayak!  Then, the laughing began!  We laughed SO HARD that neither one of us could talk...or breathe!  And then, it started.  I was laughing so hard, I wet my pants.  Yep, I just admitted that.  Sister really lost it then and let go of the kayak!  Back into the water I went and I had my face to face meeting with Raymond Cameron Lake as I tipped over and fell in!  EEK!  Now, the water was only about 6 inches deep but I was fully clothed and I had on my tennis shoes!  As I looked up, I realized that Hanna was filming this, not taking a still shot as I had asked.  And yes, I know.  At least the tipping over washed me off a bit!  Argh! 

I did have a change of clothes...at Sister's house.  As my Dad said, this will go down as a Mother's Day we will always remember!

And all of the fun made this one SO tired that she fell asleep on the way home.

Circus

Sometime during the summer, one of the interns at my work gave me two vouchers for free circus tickets.  I wasn't sure if we would get around to using them (and almost forgot about them on my desk).  When they resurfaced on the ol' desk, I decided that perhaps Harper and I would go since I didn't have the big girls that weekend.  We had a great time!  I'm not sure if Harper really "got" all of it, but the lights and acrobats were a huge hit!  We had great seats, especially since they were free tickets.  No complaints and it was great morning.
Here are some pics from my phone (which is not a smart phone and has a pretty yucky camera!).

Can you tell that the elephants were her favorite?  She saw them on the screen just now and reminded me that they are BIG!

The Circus has changed quite a bit since I went before.  There were no trapeze things done--that was my favorite part!.  The part with the animals was somewhat interesting to me, but to Harper?  Not so much.  It is not impressive to her that you can get a tiger to lay down and roll over.  It's also not impressive to her that you are a strong man, can lift a telephone pole, and can lift that same telephone phone pole with a lady sitting on each end.  She could have cared less about those parts!  Ha!  All in all, a fun time with my Harpie!

Watching for the Bus

Yesterday morning, Harper and I were waiting for her school bus.  I was putting on my shoes and told her to look out the window, watching for her school bus.  She came and sat down next to me but I reminded her she needed to look for the bus.  "OH!"  she said and she ran out of the room.  I wondered what she was doing (and found myself getting a bit frustrated that she didn't look out the window like I had asked twice!).  She came running back into the room with a pair of BINOCULARS to watch for the bus!  I had to smile (and put my frustrations away since they were unwarranted!).  What a clever girl!

And no, that's not her.  I didn't take a picture but what's a post without pictures? 

S-T-R-E-T-C-H!!!

ah!  Boy, I've taken a long "nap" and break from blogging.  Lots has changed and I'm sure there will be more changes in the future too.  Writing is therapeutic for me, so I guess I should get started again....  It would probably be good for me.