More random vacation pictures

This was the last night before we were heading back to Salt Lake. This was about the closest that Mckenna got to Curt the entire trip. She always warms up to him on the last day. One day, Curt, you will be her favorite uncle.

I think that they are wondering what the heck everyone is doing. Maybe that was when dear old dad was dancing to YMCA?

Mckenna was very proud of her pirate treasures. Notice in the background lots of legs -- this was the only picture that I took of everyone playing wallyball. Um I think that's what they called it. Anyway this is what everyone was doing in their spare time. Sorry I can't explain to you what wallyball is except it's played in a raquetball court with a volleyball net.

Every year, they have pool games one afternoon. I am not sure what they are trying to do with or to Danielle but she is being a good sport about it for sure!

Cody repelling down from his walk in the trees. To get up their you have to climb up a tree log and then up this climbing wall. Then you get to walk around on a very thin wire up in the trees. Our whole family did this with the exception of Mckenna, Dani and I. I can safely say that I will NEVER attempt to try this!

Cody getting ready for his first dance. Notice all the stuff in the back ground the boys lived out of their suitcase for a week.

Jessica walking in the trees!

Michael following Jessica in the trees.

Mike and I with his sister Sherry after our hike up the the waterfall. The four of us took a nice leisurely hike up to these waterfalls. It was so nice to smell the fresh mountain air and take in the beautiful sights.

Michael and Cody with the cousins at the dance. They were too cool for words.

Summer Vacation

I know it's almost Halloween and I am just posting pictures from our vacation. But, it's not entirely my fault. Our camera broke so I couldn't get the pictures from the camera until yesterday. Ok well I could have if I would have taken the memory card out of the camera and put it in the computer -- but honestly I didn't think about it.

Back in July we took our family to Utah, yes 8 of us. In case you were wondering, this is what it looks like when you pack for 8 people for 2 weeks, 8 checked bags and 16 carry-ons!

Notice the anguished look on the faces of these children.

There is no room for ANYTHING after we strategically place every piece of luggage and child in the car. We got to the airport and arrived safely in Utah and didn't leave anyone home alone!! That was a feat in and of itself. I know there are other pictures of the airport fiasco but I am not sure which computer they are on and honestly I am so far behind I just better keep going for now. Just trust me when I say that in Tampa we got a lot of looks when we were walking through the airport with 6 kids and lots of carry-on luggage.

The pictures are a tad bit out of order but if I don't do this now -- it won't get done! The second part of our family vacation was spent with the rest of the Jones family at Aspen Grove. It's a family camp run by BYU. We always have a great time and you have to admit the scenery is beautiful!

Mckenna caught her "whopper"

The Jessikca's trying to look cool by NOT swimming.

All of the grandkids in age order from oldest to youngest minus three grandkids Mckenna was done taking pictures so she is far right just out of the camera view. One is on a mission the other is at school.

Here are all the grandkids in height order.

Everybody loves Jessika!

Mckenna learning how to get a real old fashioned drink from the hose at Aunt Ramona's house.

The first week we were in Utah the Jessikca's went to Especially for Youth at BYU. They got to ditch the rest of us for the week, live in the dorms and hang out with a bunch of kids there own age. I tried to convince them to let me stay but they weren't buying it. They had a blast, even though the air didn't work in their room. But good thing they have a great dad because he ran to the store and got them a fan so they wouldn't be too miserable.

Behind the smiles they are really ready for us to leave so they can go check out the scenery.

Walking to the dorms -- they are so cool with their matching tie-dye shirts. They made those as well as matching bandanas that said Jess #1 and Jess #2. I don't think we ever got pictures of those. They also had these huge sunglasses -- oh to be young again!

The kids minus Mckenna with Grandma and Grandpa Jones.

There are more pictures but this blog won't cooperate so for now this is all I am posting so I can move on and catch up!! So stay tuned for more of our Utah adventures......

Shopping for shoes.....

with Dad!!!!! While I was at girls camp, Mckenna went shopping with Mike for new dress shoes. Shopping for shoes with Mike is an experience in and of itself. It's a very slow, thoughtful process. Needless to say Mckenna loves shopping for shoes as much as her dad does and has to try on EVERY shoe! So on a recent trip for shoes, Mckenna tagged along and was able to find some shoes and a bag to match. Mike said she searched diligently for the right shoes to match each bag!

Family fishing trip.....

One of my memories growing up was going fishing...I seriously love fishing. Not the picking up the bait and putting on my hook part, but being near the ocean. Mike shares that same love of fishing as well. We don't do it as often as we'd like to but we decided that we would load up the kids and go fishing Monday night. 

Everyone loaded up in the truck and we were just getting ready to leave when Cody rushed in the house and announced that we needed to come outside immediately. My first reaction, is someone bleeding? No mom, but you have to come out right now. See my previous post for what we found when we went outside. No, Cody hadn't got into the car yet he wanted one more minute with the basketball. 

After the initial shock, we headed out, broken windshield and all. I loved the looks people gave us as they looked at our broken windshield wondering what happened. We arrived just as the sun was getting ready to set. That's my favorite time of the day. It was such a perfect evening. 

Dani caught the first fish...actually she caught the first three. She was pretty happy with herself! 

Meanwhile Jessika decided that she should try to recreate the scene from the Titanic.

Mckenna was so excited to go fishing. She kept asking Dad to put a snack on her hook so that she could give a treat to the fish. Poor unsuspecting fish. 

Once the sun set the other girls in the family got in on the action. Jessica caught one fish and then turned the fish into bait only to have half the fish eaten off her hook. 

Mckenna finally got tired waiting for the fish to come so I got to fish. I won the award for the ugliest fish....but I caught something so that's all the counts!

Mckenna and Cody were a little bored with the whole fishing thing and not being able to catch anything so the decided to watch a movie. 

Since there weren't any fish to be caught that night and I they haven't developed an appreciation for just sitting out in nature and just enjoying the quiet we decided to leave. They didn't have much fun fishing but they sure had fun dropping the unused squid and shrimp down the holes in the bridge. That seriously was the highlight of the night. 

After the squid and shrimp ran out they decided they would have a little dance party. There wasn't music but I guess it's all in their head. 

No, don't jump we really will go home now.....

Ahh, fun times!

Next time Mike and I have decided that we will have a date night and go fishing.

What happens when.....

 you have a 13 year old boy wearing black and white Nikes....

playing an innocent game of  basketball in the front yard....

with great scenery behind the basketball hoop....

Are you kidding me???? How did that happen?!?!?!

Kids, you should NEVER ever kick a basketball not even when it's the opposite direction of your parents car! AND especially when there is a huge oak tree in the same direction that you are attempting to kick the ball. With the right amount of skill and effort you could kick that ball right into the side of that big oak tree and cause the ball to ricochet off the tree and straight into your mom's windshield. Makes for a not happy mom! Good thing that insurance in Florida pays for broken glass!!!

Lesson learned.....basketballs are for dribbling and footballs are for kicking but never in the direction of a car or window and especially not toward a tree!!

Kids say the darnedest things.......

We started this little list on the side of our blog with some of the things that Mckenna said. The past couple of days our conversations have gone like this:

While looking at my new water bottle:

Mckenna: Mom who's sippy cup is that?

Me: It's mine

Mckenna: WOW Mom (gasp gasp drama drama) is that YOUR new gym sippy cup?

Mckenna: Daddy, is that medicine? 

Dad: Yes

Mckenna: what's it for?

Dad: it's for my cold

Mckenna: after thinking about it for a minute said "I hope it helps you keep warm, Daddy." 

While on a listening walk with Dad:

"So dad.....when you get small like me will you chase lizards with me?"  By the way she is obsessed with lizards and catching them....YUCK!

We were sitting watching Finding Nemo, we, meaning Mike, Jessika and I, were getting a little bored with the excessive CARS mini movie interruptions. I started to go through the guide of 5000 channels to choose from. I announced sorry there's nothing else on, Mckenna announced "Nothing on the TV for you, DAD!"

Today after dropping Jessika and a friend off at the mall I had to run to JoAnn's fabric because I am recovering my dining room chairs, story for another day....I had promised Mckenna that we would play at the playground in the mall. As we were pulling away from the mall she reminded me that she hadn't played at the playground yet. I explained to her that we had to go to JoAnn's and then we would head back to the mall...she thought about it for a minute and then said "Well mom maybe that's fun for you but it's not fun for me". As we went through JoAnn's she reminded me several times that she was not having any fun but when we went to the mall she would be having fun at the playground and I would not. 

She is wise beyond her years. I haven't decided if it's a good thing or bad thing yet. All I know is by the time she gets to kindergarten she is going to give her teacher or anyone who will listen an earful. 

Yea...its summer!

This has always been one of my favorite times of the year. When I was younger I counted the days until it was time for summer break. It seemed like an eternity and then summer just flew by and it was time to go back. Now it seems the school year flies by and then the summer seems really long. I don't remember having 3 months vacation for summer, maybe I did and perhaps my perspectives have changed from child to parent. I remember riding my bike or walking to the city pool, making forts in my mom's VW van, endless bowls of fruit salad in my mom's huge green bowl, going to the beach, going all night fishing and going to the mall and movies. 

When I was younger, my mom started a tradition by bringing watermelon to my class on the last day of school. That worked as long as I was in elementary school and it's a tradition that I carried on with my children. I realized last year we didn't have a tradition on the last day of school anymore so we decided that we would go to Chili's for lunch after I picked the kids up on the last day of school. It has been fun to sit and talk about the school year and be excited for the next school year. 

When we were there today, Jessika couldn't help remind me that she only has one more of these lunch dates left! Thanks, Jess! No I didn't cry luckily Mckenna was busy trying to rinse her mouth in my water. (Another blog) As we were sitting at the table we noticed that Cody's 5th grade teacher was sitting at the table next to us. I can't believe that it's been 3 years since he was in 5th grade and he will be starting high school!

Then we started talking about how old everyone was getting etc. etc. Mike and I have 1 child/adult in college, 3 children in high school, 1 child in middle school, 1 child in elementary school and 1 child a year away from starting kindergarten. We figured out that Mckenna would be in the class of 2028!!! That's just crazy! Jessika with all of her 17 year old wisdom was quick to point out how old I would be then....but no worries I was quick to remind her that she would be 36!!! Ha I got her! She didn't think I was funny! I promised her that 36 really isn't that old! She isn't convinced!

I am so looking forward to summer. No schedules, no homework, no studying just playing, hanging out or whatever we were in the mood for that day. As time goes on I am treasuring the summers because in a quick second summer is over and the school year will begin again with the children getting older and closer to moving on with the rest of their lives. 

Hopefully with all of my "free" time this summer I will get back into the habit of updating the blog more regularly.