Schools Out for the Summer!!

So, we've been hearing this lovely song by Alice Cooper on the Guitar Hero around the house alot these last couple days. I actually didn't even know the song until we got the game (there's alot I don't know about these things having grown up very sheltered without TV). Aiden is quite good at Guitar Hero and actually is the best in the family. He's my gamer . . .I'm always setting time limits, like a good parent should and he's always breaking them. How did my mom ever do it with 15 kids to keep track of? I can hardly keep track of 5. Anyway, I thought I would be good at Guitar Hero because I'm musical, but I'm realizing it also requires a level of gaming skill that I do not possess. It is a fun thing to do with the kids, tho. Kenny loves playing Tiger Woods Golf PGA Tour '09 with the boys. . .they have so much fun together in the evenings.

Aiden finally got the flu/cold that went thru the family one at a time. He had such a high fever yesterday, he was quite delirious. Whenever he gets sick, he gets a really high fever and delirious. If it wasn't so scary, it would be funny. He says the most random things and his eyes are huge and look right thru you. I remember seeing weird things in my feverish state when I was sick as a young girl. Guess he gets it from me . . . He seems better today, except for neck pain and a sore throat. Kenny is working overtime today and took Sylas with him, so the house is quiet. The kids are re-discovering old Disney movies, Bugs Life anyone? They've been watching Tarzan, The emporers new Groove, among others. We own way too many movies, but most of our Disney ones are on VHS, so it's not like we could loan them out. Who has a VHS player anymore in this day and age?

I need to get out and water the garden and the flowers. I'm trying to plant a few things from seeds, that would hopefully come up year after year, like poppies. I don't know if it will work. I usually don't have much luck with seeds. I'm trying to do more in the yard this year, so we'll see.

I have a lot of ideas for fun stuff to do this summer. I really want to start camping with the kids. I have such good memories of camping as a child, my parents took us alot in the summer. We went to O'dell Lake, Elk Lake, Suttle Lake, Crescent Lake, and many others. Our favorite was always O'dell . . .and it was very primitive and rustic. Here in Ohio, we have no natural lakes; they are all man made. But, there are a few that are close to home to try camping out on, with fishing, so we'll see. There's Kizer Lake, only 1/2 hour away and Indian Lake, the more popular of the two, about an hour away. We need a tent and have been researching some of the new styles, like Cottage tents and Cabin tents that sleep 9-10 people. They have rooms and closets and a center height of 82" . . .they sound wonderful! Most of our camping stuff is still in Oregon . . .we left our tent, camp stove, lantern and accessories. They were still at my parents in storage 6 years ago, but I don't know if they have survived the clean-ups and purges that have gone on since our absence.

Well, it's been a year since Kenny's grandma, Marlys, went to heaven. She was such a wonderful woman and a good grandma. She liked me from day 1 (I think!) We shared a passion for roses and the month of June and coffee. I miss her letters and her phone calls. She always kept me up-dated on the family. She was generous and loving always. Kenny has some of his best childhood memories from times spent with her and grandpa. She was Norwegian and I had been to Norway and learned the language a bit before I met her, so I think it's such a coincidence that we had that little link. I really want to teach my kids Norwegian, as they have a bit in them. I love history and heritage. They know a few phrases already, just from me using them around the house, like "ikke gjorde det" (don't do that) , "ikke ta paa den" (don't touch that), "sett deg ned"(sit down) "jeg elsker deg" (I love you).

We are in the process of remodeling our front room, which we used as a play room and a living rm before. It will become an entry with a hall and closet and an office/guest rm. We realized in our remodeling that our existing living room has about 3 different kinds of base boards, because it has a lot of the original 100 year old wood work. They tried to match the base, but when you look closely, it is different. Kenny just found a ton of base in one of his buildings in the attic that is real wood and very similar to what we have. He is getting that base today, as the attic isn't part of building that will be remodeled. They will just seal it off, so he's allowed to have the base boards for free. I'm really excited about it . . .it is beautiful dark and wide. We're going to redo the living room with it and if there's enough, the new entry. We were going to do the newly remodeled dining rm with it, but it's more of a modern room already, so we're gonna keep that one with simple base and trim. So far we have been able to do the remodeling fairly cost free, as Kenny and I have done the work ourselves and he gets alot of material from work. I'm so glad he is so handy; and he's very meticulous, so it gets done right. In our new dining rm. we took two rooms and made 1 big room. It's a really functional room now.

Well, this blog is getting quite long as I haven't written all week and had a lot to say, I guess. We got the kids a pool, and it's set up. It is small, because our yard doesn't have much room for one and I want Rona to be able to feel confident and touch the bottom. It's 12' x 33" , but they all love it. On those really hot and humid days, it's just nice to be able to get wet . . .it cools you down so nicely and we don't have any shade in the back yard. And, you can only eat so many popsicles in one day. We tried sprinklers that last couple years, but Aida chews them up. So, I think they'll be happy with it for this summer. We go once a week to the Eubanks (a family in our church with an in-ground pool with a deep end) and swim, so they are really looking forward to that too. I have to go check the chemical level in the pool now, so they can swim.